starting 11 wise both teams could hold their own in D2, bench wise.. not so much. The only REAL difference in D2 and D3 is whether you want to lose $1.5m a season or $.5 mil a season

Ouch. Sonya and I celebrated rather heavily when we got home last night. Re-watched the match on the DVR and I think that we fried a speaker cranking the music (luxury of living in out in the country) on the stereo. Made it home in record time which is probably not a good thing *crossing fingers* with a smile that did not leave my face. In fact, I woke this morning with a headache AND that smile!

I thought that I learned my lesson a couple of weeks ago on "celebrating with alcohol". I'm way too old for this kind of thing but, considering the circumstances? WHAT A BLAST!!!

Thank you everybody. From the Regiment to the Battery to the Staff. Lot's of fun and I guarantee that we will be back next year. Cheers!

Mikeyratt, good meeting you guys yesterday. It was a great match and your team had me worried there at the end. I think had Melia and Fuller not come up big with a couple saves and Richmond drew even, you guys would have gotten us in Extra time.

Look forward to coming up to you place next season. Want to come this year but the dates just didnt line up.

here are some post match articles

Potomac soccer wire
http://www.potomacsoccerwire.com/news/460/12578

Richmond times dispatch
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/2010/aug/29/kick291-ar-478064/

two videos at this link from Channel 5
http://www.usldiscussions.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/265045/3

clip from channel 4
http://www.abcnews4.com/global/category.asp?c=189729&clipId=5067334&autostart=true

six minute raw video from channel 2
http://www2.counton2.com/sports/2010/aug/29/usl-2-championship-game-highlights-01117-vi-50442/

random Youtube find
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcMyvTVKk3Y

Post and courier
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/aug/29/29battery/

Photo gallery in the local paper http://www.postandcourier.com/photos/gal...pionship/12481/

Congrats to the players and the organization. That was a great win over a great team! However, after winning at the highest level of USL in the past, in some respects, it is a little bit underwhelming to win this particular championship (not to take anything away from the players or the opposition). Hopefully we some teams drop down to USL Pro next season. With the MLS exodus, I do not see NASL being a viable, long-term Div 2 league. Teams are going to lose way too much money especially in a difficult economy. I would not be surprised to see USL Pro become the default Div 2 league in the future as teams realize that coast-to-coast travel is not feasible. It only makes good sense for Rochester, Carolina, Tampa Bay to play in an East Coast league with Northern and Southern divisions. Sorry for the ramble... Again, congrats to the Battery on another championship (this organization has pretty much won at every level)!!!

When did USL add the PRO into the USL2 title? The day after USSF D2 Pro named their team?

http://www.uslsoccer.com/teams/

http://usl2.uslsoccer.com/teamdirectory/index_E.html

LOL... Did anybody see the Interview/paid add that Tim Holt gave during halftime? He's just not very good at selling, or lying, about who USL is and what their plans are.

Face it, we're all stuck in the mud and now need a big tow truck! The shovel full of $#!%, just is not going to work anymore.

I feel your pain today, we closed down the the Three Lions' and the Daniel Island Grill last night.

Of course then the current USL2 teams would have to agree to travel further than the very small distance they currently travel to...

Amen!! This is exactly the problem that may keep new franchise owners/investors from committing to USL2PRO(whatever...) because of the unknown league structure and travel costs that could be required. You can't plan, you can't budget so you keep you fingers cross and hope which is bound to fail.

If you commit to a business plan that has a regional bus league , the league should maintain that pledge to all new franchisees for the forseeable future. Circumstances may arise make this this type of league untenable. If this circumstance arises the franchisee should have the option of opting out without liens or encumbrances. Seems only fair.

Adding Carolina and Rochester is not going to add to existing travel. Tampa would (for the northern teams at least). To circumvent that have a Northern and Southern Division (play primarily in your division with some inter-division play). Pretty simple really. Unfortunately, teams like Minnesota and Austin are out of luck -- should play PDL.

Just a rough mock-up...

USL PRO CHAMPIONSHIP
NORTH
Rochester
Pittsburgh
Harrisburg
Dayton
???
???

SOUTH
Charlotte
Carolina
Charleston
Richmond
Tampa
Wilmington

All I am saying is that NASL (Div 2) is not going to be viable. Whatever teams are left in a few years will merge into USL Pro which will become the Div 2 league.

Which would bring them right back to their starting point of USL1 (last year) which has not worked for many years now! Great plan.

For the most part, USL1 was relatively stable. However, with the exodus of teams to MLS a shake-up was inevitable. The league needs to rebuild/rebrand itself as an East Coast league. A coast-to-coast league is unrealistic.