Segota Is Just Looking for Some Respect

Quickie quiz . . .

How many times has Branko Segota been the Major Indoor Soccer League’s most valuable player?

How many times has Branko Segota been the Major Indoor Soccer League’s leading point scorer?

You say three or four for one and maybe two or three for the other? Maybe more for both?

If there is anything frustrating about Segota’s career, it is that so few people, soccer fans among them, know the answer to either of those questions. Baseball fans know, for example, that Tony Gwynn has won four National League batting titles, and football fans know Dan Fouts never played in a Super Bowl.

So here’s Segota, a local hero whose career hereabouts roughly parallels Gwynn’s in terms of both success and longevity, and he might not even be recognized in the streets if he was wearing his uniform.

Indeed, when a conversation one morning this week took an inexplicable turn to hockey, Segota seemed bemused.

“I skate,” he said, “but I don’t play hockey. Maybe I would be a Gretzky.”

In his sport, I reminded him, he is a Gretzky. He is No. 2 all-time in the MISL in both points and goals. At the age of 28, he is playing Wayne Gretzky to teammate Steve Zungul’s Gordie Howe.

“Well,” he said, “about the only thing I’m not happy with is that we don’t get the respect that people like Gretzky or Dan Fouts or Dan Marino get, key players who have done so much for their sports. We just don’t get the recognition.”

True.

The Sockers open their quest of an eighth indoor soccer championship tonight at Dallas, and this team just may be better than all its predecessors. And, after the literal trials and tribulations of 1988, the MISL itself seems stronger than ever. What’s more, to showcase this wonderful new beginning, the game is being televised live at 5:30 on Ch. 51.

All of this would have made for wonderful exposure, except for one thing . . .

Who would have imagined that Game 4 of the World Series would be televised at 5:35 on Oct. 28?

So Branko and the boys will be on the little black-and-white in the garage rather than the wide screen in the den.

But that’s the way it is.

It’s the game.

It just has not caught on beyond little pockets of enthusiasm, San Diego being one of them.

“I’ve wanted to leave so many times,” Segota said, “and just forget about it.”

Leaving would likely entail a return to his native Yugoslavia, where he was tempted once again this summer to give it up and join Dynamo Zagreb for the outdoor game.

“But,” he said, “I’ve devoted so much time and so many years to this game. I want this game to succeed.”

And so he is back for his sixth year with the Sockers and his 12th as an indoor player. He has played for either the MISL or the North American Soccer League since he was 17 years old.

Like Gretzky, Branko Segota is a young veteran.

However, he does not really consider himself to be like Gretzky.

“All we want to do is keep this league going and make it strong,” he said. “That’s what we’re all part of now. We’re the pioneers.”

Perhaps, then, it will turn out that Segota will be indoor soccer’s Gordie Howe, eventually passing his buddy Zungul and setting the records for some Gretzky on carpet to come along in a few years and break.

And the MISL is now actually daring to think it will be around in a few years. After being down to seven teams and one division a year ago, it is back up to eight teams and two divisions this year.

“I think it’s looking very good,” Segota said. “There’s a real positive attitude and we have some strong people behind the clubs now.”

Stability has never been a trait associated with the MISL. And this, Segota said, has hurt player development.

“A lot of kids are playing soccer in this country,” he said, “but they don’t keep playing because there’s no security. They’ve never known whether the league’s going to be here the next year or not. When we get where we’re stable, a lot more Americans will keep playing. Once we get television into it, maybe we’ll get to the point where we’ll get the recognition of a Gretzky or Dan Fouts.”

Who knows whether this will happen in the span of Branko Segota’s career, which he expects will last another five or six years.

“What I’d like to do,” he said, “is finish my career here in San Diego.”

And, of course, he would like to finish on his own terms. He would like his career to be finished because he is done, not the MISL.

One more thing.

Sometime between now and whenever the end might be for Branko Segota, maybe he will lead the MISL in scoring or win an MVP award.

Surprisingly, he hasn’t done either yet.