Newman Lives, So Does Soccer

Friday’s news did not exactly hit like an earthquake, coming from nowhere and rattling shelves and psyches all over the landscape.

It was not exactly a stunner that the Major Soccer League had folded.

This had been the Evel Knievel of sports associations, seemingly in precarious flight for most of its existence over the Snake River . . . or was it a snake pit?

It finally crashed short of the other rim and security.

Down to only five teams, it was getting to be more of a bridge game than a league. That being the case, the owners chose to fold their hands.

When Oscar Ancira Jr., the San Diego Sockers’ owner, stood outside the Sports Arena late Friday afternoon and announced the demise of the MSL, someone was missing from the picture.

Ron Newman.

The coach.

Ron Newman was the Sockers. He was the most successful coach of the most successful team in the history of the city. He was the thread as an ever-changing cast of characters weaved 10 championship banners in 11 years of indoor play.

Instead of standing there with a swap meet as a cheap backdrop for a wake, Newman sent a statement: “I haven’t given up hope yet. Even though the league has folded, I can’t believe this would be the end of the Sockers. We’ve got to consider all our available options at this point. The Sockers haven’t won 10 championships by giving up easy.”

I’ll tell you what, if Ron Newman is still alive, so is soccer and so are the Sockers. You tell Newman the Sockers are dead and it’s like throwing a cat out a window. He’ll land on his feet and hit the ground running.

Come Saturday morning, Newman’s feet were on the move. More importantly, his heart and his soul and his mind were on the move.

“I was so devastated yesterday,” he said. “I was thinking I’d spent my whole life building something it seemed nobody wanted. But I know better. I know people want it. I can hear the crowd ringing in my ears. It’s a good product. We just need a league to play in.”

This is not the most minor of details, to be sure. You don’t rent a tux and buy a gown if no one is throwing a party. The best of teams, which the Sockers always seem to be, must have somebody to play.

Newman and his players will occupy themselves running soccer camps this summer. This will bring in a few bucks and keep the players together and in the community. It also will buy some time, and this will be invaluable as Newman works to save his team for the community.

This community and this sport and this team have been Newman’s life for more than a decade.

“You can’t go to K mart,” he said, “and buy another 10 years of my life.”

And you cannot go to K mart and buy a league. There are no blue light specials on things like that.

Newman’s task is probably the most formidable he has faced. The Sockers have come from 3-1 down to miraculously win playoffs. However, indoor soccer hereabouts is now more like 3 1/2-0 down and it’s best-of-seven.

You couldn’t tell it from talking to the man.

“The San Diego Sockers are too ingrained in the community to disappear,” he said. “It’s not the game. It’s successful. Our league just couldn’t make it. The owners just couldn’t agree to go ahead.”

It’s come to this before, when the owners were waffling on whether to go ahead. The coaches took charge, at least leaders among the coaches such as Newman and Baltimore’s Kenny Cooper and Dallas’ Gordon Jago. They took the patient out of urgent care and put it back on its feet. It’s tougher now because they have to get the MSL out of the coroner’s hands.

There are concepts Newman insists will work, such as adding teams from Mexico and Canada or exploring the possibility of joining the yet-to-be-formed Continental Indoor Soccer League for summertime play. He has not, in his mind, concluded what would work best, but he is convinced something will work.

“There are enough people with ambition and passion and confidence,” he said. “There are people who are great believers in this game. We need the right attitude, a positive attitude, and good things can happen. We’ll find somewhere, somehow, to play.”

Time really isn’t a factor here. The MSL cannot get any more dead than dead. Fill that IV with energy and commitment and patience. A few bucks might be helpful as well. Add salesmanship to the list.

Newman embodies all of what indoor soccer needs to be resuscitated. To him, it is much more than just a game. It is the very blood in his veins.

Surrender? Not Ron Newman.

Understand though, had this man been at Little Big Horn, he would have sent out for pizza.