The Splash Dips Into Cup Fever
Here in this soccer wonderland of ours, the Colombian national team fancies its footwork at Cal State Fullerton, Romania works out the kicks at UC Irvine, Sweden pounds some sweet balls at Loyola Marymount and Team USA undergoes survival training in Mission Viejo, all in preparation for a World Cup tournament that will be decided July 17 in Pasadena.
And in Anaheim, ancient burial ground of the unlamented California Surf, another feet-first entity springs to life tonight, whether we want it or not, giving us the opportunity this summer to watch soccer in every format imaginable--day or night, indoor or outdoor, in front of 90,000 riotous foreigners or 5,000 Orange County thong-wearers who came mainly to check out the cheerleaders.
Yes, the Anaheim Splash of the Continental Indoor Soccer League opens its 1994 season tonight when it hosts the Las Vegas Dustdevils at The Pond, followed by Saturday and Tuesday night matches against the San Jose Grizzlies and the Houston Hotshots.
(The date I’m circling on my calendar is July 19--Washington Warthogs at Anaheim.)
The Splash (pay attention here) used to be the Los Angeles United, not to be confused with the Los Angeles Lazers, and they now play in the CISL, not to be confused with the NPSL, although several of their league rivals, such as the San Diego Sockers and the Dallas Sidekicks, used to play in the MISL and later, the MSL.
But definitely not the NASL, APSL or USISL, the best that I can tell.
Ogden Facility Management bought the United from Jerry Buss--or, in the words of Splash “Co-Governor” Tim Orchard, “We transferred the debt”--and moved it to The Pond, which is not so much an athletic arena as is it a theme park.
The Ducks play at The Pond. So do the Bullfrogs. The Anaheim United simply wasn’t going to cut it. The Pond only accepts puns, so a name change was needed, although it’s still a mystery why Ogden said no to the Scum.
The Orange Roughies were considered. The team mascot, according to public relations manager John Nicoletti, was to be “a tough little fish wearing boxing gloves.”
Then, because “traffic is obviously a concern at The Pond, we considered the Anaheim Traffic and the Orange Crush, “ Nicoletti says. “Although with the last one, you needed to get a certain sponsor to make it work.”
There was some support for the Anaheim Inferno, “but that was no good,” Nicoletti says, “because there was a Phoenix franchise named the Inferno that folded mid-year and every indoor soccer player there is knows the problems they had. Bad karma.”
In the end, the Splash was it, and another pundora’s box had been opened.
The cheerleaders, of course, are the Mermaids.
The mascot is Finley the Dolphin, who may or may not be named after the Angel pitcher but is, judging from the media-guide photo, a first cousin to Barney the Annoying Dinosaur.
The gimmickry is nonstop. Billing itself as “the coolest team in town,” the Splash will hold promotions nearly every home game. There will 4-For-$40 Night--four tickets, four hot dogs, four popcorns and four sodas for $40. There will be Mermaid Poster Night. When Houston comes to town, there will be Country Kick Night--everyone wearing a cowboy hat gets $2 off the normal ticket price.
Andrew Shue, who plays Billy Campbell on “Melrose Place,” has also been enlisted to play at least two games with the Splash as a “protected amateur.” According to the Splash media guide, Shue has “an extensive soccer background,” which includes earning four varsity letters and scoring eight goals in four years at Dartmouth College.
Orchard says the idea is to appeal to the non-soccer fan of Southern California, which is keen marketing strategy, considering the legions of non-soccer fans living in Southern California.
“Even if you’re not a soccer fan, you can enjoy yourself at one of our games,” Orchard says. “The true soccer fan, most likely, is going to find the outdoor game more appealing. At an indoor crowd, you find more mothers and families . . .
“Look at this building we’re playing in. You could sit here and enjoy yourself without even watching the game. People come here to get out of the heat, for the food, for the beer and the sodas, to look at the cheerleaders.”
Or to look at the players.
“It’s hard to nail down who the prototypical indoor soccer fan is,” Orchard says. “It could be a 6-year-old girl. It could be an 8-year-old boy. Or it could be a 35-year-old woman who loves to watch young soccer players run around in shorts.”
And on the off-chance that a real soccer fan, exhausted from hooligan activity at the Rose Bowl, might want to kick back one evening with the Splash, he won’t be stopped at the door. The Splash hopes to draft off the World Cup, capturing the addicted as well as the curious who happened to watch Cameroon tie Sweden, 0-0, and now want to see what a goal looks like.
“After the World Cup leaves,” Nicoletti says, “people are going to ask, ‘Where can I go to see some more soccer?’ Our hope is that they come to the indoor game.
“We’re saying, ‘We’re soccer, too--only a faster-paced, harder-hitting, higher-scoring version of that. If you liked what you saw, come out and see this.”
And if you didn’t like what you saw, come out and see this, too, the Splash also implores.
The scantily clad Mermaids will be here. And the overly clad Finley the Dolphin. And, next month, the Washington Warthogs.
