« Today's fashion tip | Main | And the available players are... »
November 19, 2007
The Cowboy and Los Terremotos
So tomorrow MLS will release the list of protected players, which means we'll be able to see just who's going to be available for Wednesday's expansion draft. Personally, we think John Doyle should sign himself to a playing contract beforehand, just so he can be the first player ever for both San Jose's 1996 and 2008 incarnations, thereby becoming the answer to a great trivia question.
The Quakes have already started their search for players, though, as Embele Awipi notes in his weekly column for the Salinas Californian. The Quakes have held open tryouts in several cities to date (you can find pictures here), and none other than longtime Quakes' defender Troy Dayak is heading up the scouting committee. Check out Awipi's story for several quotes from Dayak.
Also interesting is the Mercury News' story on the Quakes' marketing efforts in the Hispanic community. The paper is also running an online poll asking if there's a large enough fan base in the South Bay to support professional soccer. (Our answer — yes, and there's a large enough fan base in Northern California to make the Quakes the most successful team in MLS.)
The story, written by the Merc's Javier Erik Olvera, highlights some of the front office's work towards building a lasting relationship with the region's multitude of Hispanic fútbol fans. Key to the Quakes' approach is the word "lasting." The idea is not simply to bring in a star from Mexico and expect people to show up, the way the Galaxy tried to do (and failed) with Luis Hernandez in 2000 and 2001. To draw a further distinction, the Quakes aren't trying to capitalize on Hispanic soccer fans a la AEG; they're trying to turn them into Earthquakes fans.
You know what they say: "The more, the merrier." ¡Bienvenido a la fiesta!
Posted by Jay at November 19, 2007 09:10 AM