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March 27, 2008

Ryan Cochrane, Ian Russell, and a marketing idea

It's still kind of hard to believe, but we're officially one week away from the Quakes' triumphant return to the playing field. In fact, the new MLS season starts Saturday. Time flies.

But the team has one more game before the big opener, and that's this weekend when the Quakes take on the Timbers at the University of Portland. Quakes defender Ryan Cochrane grew up in the land of Powell's Books and microbreweries, and the Oregonian catches up with Cochrane in their story, "Trading Texas Heat for West Coast Cool." Here's a taste:

As a freshman at national powerhouse Santa Clara, Cochrane drew the attention of Dominic Kinnear, then coach of the original San Jose Earthquakes, whose first — and lasting — impression of Cochrane was of the defender flattening an opponent with a strong midfield tackle.

"When I saw it happen," said Kinnear, also Cochrane's coach with the Dynamos, "I thought, 'He'll be a good one.' "

Speaking of Pacific Northwest native sons, Ian Russell, who used to flash a "What's Up West Seattle?" t-shirt after scoring goals for the Quakes, is interviewed on MLSinSeattle.com, the site run by the owners of the 2009 Seattle MLS expansion team. Russell answers a number of questions, with perhaps the most pressing ones being about the Quakes' roster:

Since opening training nearly two months ago, what’s it been like in terms of evaluating players? For us it’s been difficult because we have to look at a lot of players. The old teams, like when I was with San Jose and we were successful and winning championships, we were only looking for 1-2 players for a certain position. For this team, we’re looking for every position, either to start or add depth, so we’ve brought in tons of players. We give them a chance, but we want the right players. With 14 players, we’re not saying we just need to sign four more guys. We’d rather go into the season with 15 players than have three guys that won’t contribute, and we have guys in the reserve team. We want to make the right decisions.

Kansas City signed a designated player just about two weeks before opening day. What’s the mood when you know your coach is still shopping for talent, yet you know it might come at the cost of your playing time or position?
The league wants us to fill out the roster and we will in time. But in Europe they are still playing and have to wait until some players who are out of contract. We might get some guys in May that might be our marquee guys. It’s just tough for right now. The most important thing for Frank is that he wants a good locker room, guys that get along and play well together.

Speaking of Seattle, the team is taking a vote on the new team's name and the polls opened today. The three names being suggested by the club are "Seattle Alliance," "Seattle FC," and "Seattle Republic," but they are taking write-in votes and "Seattle Sounders" is expected to make a strong showing. In fact, SSV has been contacted by several Sounders fans in the hopes that SSV members, who fought to retain the name, colors, and records of the Earthquakes, would want to help them retain the decades-old tradition of Seattle Sounders soccer. If you do, feel free to click the link above and cast your ballot.

Finally, we promised a marketing idea for you. Are you ready? Scottish premier league side Gretna has run out of money, and last night they released 22 players. One name in the list caught our eye: David Bingham. Sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it?

Is this a great marketing opportunity or what? We can see it now: press releases trumpeting the signing of the UK's David Bingham, with strategically-placed blotches of ink to cover the "ing" in his last name. A few mispronunciations in the TV and radio ads and the celebrity watchers will come out in force! Now, if we can just get his wife to change her name to something like "Push Space," we'll really be cooking.

Posted by Jay at March 27, 2008 11:46 AM

Comments

Jay,
Now we know why you're not in marketing. :)

Posted by: Guy Gayle at March 27, 2008 01:52 PM

I never said I thought it was a good marketing idea...

Posted by: Jay Hipps, SSV at March 27, 2008 04:13 PM

Voted for the Sounders - they deserve their name, they've been waiting forever.

Posted by: Xiphosis [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 27, 2008 05:29 PM

Sounders! They could market it as a promotion of the multi-time USL champions to MLS, like in every other footballing nation.
Now, if they could get the WhiteCaps & Timbers in as well, it would be like 1975 all over again!!
Oh, most of you don't have those fond NASL memories. We admired, even liked, the Sounders & Whitecaps....classy, like us. Hated the Timbers
....some of them were thugs.

Posted by: Len Kruwel at March 28, 2008 05:36 PM

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