FLAT GROUNDS, January 15: It's a love-it-or-hate it building, this has long been established. Plenty of players see the Flat Grounds as the Mecca of the sport, even something larger, and grow inextricably drawn to it. John Barrywinkle, for one, talked at length about this at his 2008 press conference announcing his signing with the New York Seacooks after turning down a more lucrative offer to play in Detroit.
Part of this aura derives, directly or indirectly, from the building's age. Now in its 101st year, the charm of old trees and sightly bricks has not been drowned out through the numerous and somewhat patchwork renovations. However, with age comes relative inconvenience. When the Seacooks move into their space-age stadium in Hempstead after the 2013 season, they'll have approximately four times the locker room space that they do now in the cramped underground of the Flat Grounds. Plenty of Sharks complained about the inhospitable arrangements even before they were subdivided to make room for the newly invited tenant Seacooks in 2008.
These cramped spaces, 'Locker Room B', as it is unceremoniously called, provide the stage for the 2011 Seacooks funeral ceremony. For the third time in four years, the team earned the top seed, or the 'Regular Season Championship' (yes, they will receive a trophy to commemorate this achievement from the USSL sometime in the offseason); and for the third time in four years, they've been eliminated.
As was the case in 2008, the assassin was the New York Sharks. One cannot, of course, call them 'crosstown rivals'; they're not crosstown, as they play on the same field, and they're not even proper rivals: the Amazin' continue to hold that title, and the well-publicized, more-than-amicable relationship between Sharks owner Michael Barnett and Seacooks owner Matt Ruffalo colors the character of the football games themselves.
But, no, it doesn't trickle down to the players, nor the coaches. Perhaps this was the 'wall of separation' David Hanover so famously theorized about in his 1956 treatise/mission statement, 'On the Goals of Our Establishment'. (That is, in the USSL as he imagined it, the players themselves would not need be concerned with the political/ideological purpose they may be serving... most thinking people dismissed what he wrote about as thoroughly absurd, but times have changed.) And, it certainly hasn't trickled down, if you will, to Elijah Banker, though he must be conscious of it. He is intelligent and perceptive. He understands that football is, yes, just a game, but he does it for a living. And he perceives the great criticism he faces from our (predominantly Barnett-owned, mind you) sports media... and now, of course, he clearly understands that such catcalls will be even further escalated, reaching a fever pitch.
Banker, now age 31, sat for a press conference at about 1030am through 11am. He dutifully answered even the most, shall we say, instigative of leading questions. Mark Henderson of SKSL asked, point blank: "Now as you find yourself going on 32, do you fear that you'll never win a championship?" With grim depression stamped on his every feature, eyes remaining fixed on the flimsy table in front of him, Banker replied, in characteristic fashion, "I don't fear it, I understand it's a realistic possibility. I realize that the chances of it are higher today than they were this time yesterday."
This isn't the National Football League. Our media is sensationalist, but it tries to be objective. So none of us will propagate the nonsense, that Banker can't be called an elite quarterback, can't be given Hall of Fame consideration, if he never wins his championship. No, we understand that our very obsession with his ringless fingers indicates that the hand belongs to the most gifted player of our time....
Spare me from condemnation, though, and allow me to plunge into those murky, murky waters. And pose a hypothetical: What if Elijah Banker does not win a championship? How will it effect his legacy, how we remember him?
First of all, he will be eternally associated with never having won a championship. Much like Phil Mickelson pre-2004, maybe Dan Marino of the NFL. But it's more damning here. We only have 12 teams now, though there will be 16 by the time Elijah's six-year contract with the Seacooks expires after 2015. He's already lost two title games, and laid an absolute egg in the first of them, in his last game wearing the black and orange and brown of the Independence Walkers (who will play in their second title game in three years come Saturday, lest you not have noticed amidst the most predictable dramatic media orgy following the Shark-Seacook semifinal showdown). He's had two utterly perfect opporunities, gaining the top seed and only having to win two games in the home stadium to be crowned...
Plenty of that will be written later. Banker lives in Brooklyn, and is married. He left the Flat Grounds promptly after his Q&A with his paper-and-pencilled tormentors, and likely won't be back until June. Farewell, young squire! And, perhaps next year, will be...
Just a few other, football-related notes.
**Independence QB Danny Ome, on his second straight one-year deal with the team, says he "absolutely will not" retire, regardless of the outcome of Saturday's championship game vs. NY Sharks. His workmanlike performance on the year, despite an advanced age of 38, lead some to believe he could potentially seek a two-year offer in the offseason, perhaps from Independence, perhaps from Detroit, or even...
**The Long Island Amazin' almost certainly will not bring back Curt Anes as a starter. Anes has already mumbled a bit about his desire to retire after the conclusion of the six-year contract he signed with Long Island prior to the 2007 season. It would be difficult to trade Anes without eating a significant portion of his salary, and a negotiated buyout is possible (and would send Anes on his merry way to retirement if he so chose, while accruing service time for pensioner purposes, as per a sneaky clause the collective bargaining agreement).
And, so, who would Long Island go with at QB? They've been a hallmark of stablility since trading for John Barrywinkle on Christmas Eve 2001. Plenty of rumors abound centering around Ithaca's Cortes Sevenler, immensely talented but off a down year. Sevenler will be traded, as Ithaca has to rid themselves of his $15m salary for 2012 in order to avoid effective bankruptcy (and he already has, according to reports, indicated to the organization that he will depart via unrestricted free agency following 2012). Long Island may be able to get him on the cheap, give him a one-year trial, and offer a lucrative extension if they like what they see. Or they could sign him to an extension immediately and hope to get value.
Another option is Ome, who would be a stopgap, but not the worst idea for a primarily veteran offense that, despite unspiring point differentials the past two seasons, is built to 'win now'. Or the team could seek an option through the draft, like Idaho's Daniel Broussard or the next of the NY Unit-Tech crop, Jordan de Ridder. The go-with-a-rookie option would be a bit shocking.
**Some news on the coaching carousel. The surprise retirement of Buffalo's Ken Thatcher last week set off plenty of speculation that this could be The Opening for Shark offensive coordinator Benny Trousers. Long maligned for overintellecualizing, Trousers' unique offensive machinations churned out 522 points in 2011, easily a league high. Some still question whether his personality is at all tailored to handle personalities and not just the X's and O's aspect of the game, and others still question his desire to leave for any job other than one of the Long Island three. Trousers earned just shy of $2 million in 2011 and could extort a raise from the Sharks in order to stay (it was likely that James Rasbey hinted at the possibility by stating, seemingly out of the blue, his desire to enact a coaching staff spending cap among the organizations, a motion which was not tabled but could conceivably enjoy broad support among the organizations tired of seeing the Island Troika shell out figures for assistants inconceivable for the smaller revenue clubs to even offer head coaches... but I digress). Trousers has said he won't interview for anything until after the season is over: the Sharks can't prohibit him from seeking a promotion.
**Detroit will retain coach Marcel Williams, but he'll be in lame duck position entering 2012 barring an unlikely extension. Drew Drouightenoid will stay on in Ithaca, but he's a lame duck in his own right, likely only holding the fort until another relocation or sale puts the team back into sniffing distance of the cash-flow black. No 'nationalization' will happen, with the league's credit already as extended as it ever has been and grumbling over 'subsidization of petty, capitalistic games' coming from our idealistic youth back on USSL Island. There has been purely hypothetical discussion of sticking the team in Denver and calling them the Muffins, as the Denver stadium is most advanced and on track to be ready within 6 months, while granting expansion in 2014 to some other city. But this is unlikely for logistical reasons. The Muffins already have a skeletal, nascent organization, with Football Operations headed by Shark defector John McSorley. Ownership paid for the right to build from the ground up, and likely wants to keep it that way.
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