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December 07, 2005

The rest of the story

First off, thanks to everybody who attended, watched, or simply sent good vibes to the SJ City Council meeting last night. It was truly an amazing evening. (You can see the video now, too. It's just been posted on the City Council's web site. Jump to the "Open Forum" section to see the proceedings.)

There's one small bit of unfinished business that we here at the SSV blog wish to take care of from last night. Jay Hipps' presentation to the council was cut short at the end due to the two-minute time limit set for public comments, cutting off a stirring finish to his story. We are pleased to present his full comments, below.

You may be wondering what it is about soccer in general and the Earthquakes in particular that brings all these people to a City Council meeting on a cold Tuesday night.

Better writers than me have tried to define what it is to be a soccer fan but I'll try to define the Earthquakes experience for you.

The best example of what it means to be an Earthquakes fan—or the best example so far—came on a rainy day in November, 2003. The Quakes were playing the second leg of a two-game playoff series against our rivals to the south, the L.A. Galaxy. The series was to be decided by the total number of goals scored in the two games, the first of which took place at the Galaxy's new stadium while the second was to be played at Spartan Stadium. The rain which had been falling much of the week finally let up the morning of the game and fans from around the Bay Area descended on Spartan.

The Quakes had lost the first game 2-0, leaving them in a hole for the return leg. the situation got much worse when the Galaxy scored twice in the first 20 minutes, taking what in effect was a 4-0 lead.

I don't know how much you know about soccer but you probably know that goals are hard to come by. (Many people see this as a failing of the sport but it is, in fact, one of its beauties.) A team can play an entire season without scoring four goals in a game, so the outlook for the Quakes was bleak.

Still, the fans would not give up. No one gave up. There was a small banner hung at one end of the stadium that said "We Believe," and we did just that. We believed, fan and player alike, that we could win. And when the team crept back into the game, scoring two goals before the half and two more afterwards—the last coming in the final minute of play—the fans in the stadium reached a loud, tumultuous frenzy, because we all knew that a miracle was about to occur. (That's what it's called when a dream comes true.)

So when Rodrigo Faria scored the only goal of his Earthquakes career in sudden death overtime, it was an experience the likes of which many people have never experienced. We believed and it happened.

To top off an evening of what felt like divine intervention, the rain that had let up for the day began falling again moments after that goal was scored.

That's why we're here now, because we believe. We believe that soccer is a blessing to this community and that San Jose is worthy of this great team. Please do whatever you can to ensure that they will be here for years to come.

Posted by Jay at December 7, 2005 08:24 AM

Comments

That link posted by city of San Jose webmasters for the video is bogus. I've sent them an email to get it fixed. I don't know how long it will take them to fix it. If more of us complain, the merrier. It will get them moving quicker.

Posted by: Nicholas [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 7, 2005 06:52 PM

I still haven't heard from anyone at the city hall about the bad video link. Maybe they're all busy with more pressing issues, like what to do with the mayor scandal. SSV, can you press them for the video link to be fixed? Thank you.

Posted by: Nicholas [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 8, 2005 12:12 PM

It's still not working for me, either. We'll see if we can get someone on it.

Posted by: Jay Hipps, SSV at December 9, 2005 05:52 PM

It's working now. Someone on BigSoccer posted the links. See this:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6919798&postcount=171

Posted by: Nicholas [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 9, 2005 08:30 PM

SSV:

Why have we been so hopelessly dependent on San Jose in the last few weeks?

A while back you asked us to write to the Santa Clara city council. There were stories in the papers about 2 promising locations in Santa Clara (Mission College, Great America). But your rally, showing up for city council meeting, all happened only with San Jose. Why did nothing happen with Santa Clara? There were no updates on those Santa Clara locations.

The 3.7 acre land San Jose provided was a joke. It was so small. At the same time, Ron Gonzalez scandal was rearing its ugly head. Don Garber's clock is expiring. Why did we put all effort into San Jose and trust their badly tarnished mayor? Even if Cindy Chavez and Cortese may have been helpful, they don't seem to care about the clock set by Don Garber.

There was so much promise in all this. It all seems to have come to an end.

Posted by: Nicholas [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 10, 2005 01:51 AM

If San Jose EarthQuakes moves to Houston, here is what we should hope. We should hope that this new franchise in Houston is considered to be an expansion franchise and not a relocated one. As for the players, here's an even better idea. Convince the Houston franchise to allow some of their guys from San Jose to come to the expansion EarthQuakes.At least Pat Onstad and Dwayne DeRosario if nobody else.

Posted by: Johnny Flushing at December 16, 2005 03:13 AM