CALL me old fashioned and a stickler for detail. But when a "professional sports franchise" can no longer pay its players a salary and can't even provide insurance for them, I think it's time to pack it in. It’s time for
Tsunami to give it upThe Hawaii Tsunami, which picked up a $15,000 gasp of oxygen from AT&T on Thursday, has not paid a player since 1995.
That's a disgrace.
Just before a homestand against the Los Angeles Fireballs at Cooke Field at the end of last month, team general manager Manny Menendez told his players they had no insurance coverage either.
"The day I found out, I went to the players, because I was worried about them, and told them they didn't have to play these games," said Menendez. "But two-thirds of these guys play on amateur teams that don't have insurance either. These guys play without insurance all the time."
Yeah, well, as I said to Menendez on the phone last night, the difference between the amateur teams and the Tsunami is that the Tsunami "franchise" is allegedly a "professional" operation. We might assume, at the very least, the team could cover these blindly devoted athletes.
They do risk their physical well-being for more than four months of the year playing on rough fields at home and on the mainland against opponents of sometimes questionable skill and sportsmanship.
Exactly how much the USISL has deteriorated in sophistication was on display May 25 at Pearl City High when the league's premier thug franchise, the Arizona Aztecs, chased the refs off the field.
Menendez said he's certain that by the time the Tsunami step on the field tomorrow night in Modesto, Calif., against the Stanislaus County Cruisers (now there's a big league name if I've ever heard one), they'll have insurance. In fact, he said they should have it by the time this paper hits the street.
You'd think we were talking about the imminent arrival of a franchise player from the roster of Manchester United.
The return of insurance coverage to the Tsunami organization almost warrants the same kind of fanfare, I guess.
Now don't get all cross-eyed.
I know soccer is a huge participatory sport in Hawaii at the youth and adult levels, and I know just how dedicated Menendez and his players are to the game.
Menendez has tossed $40,000 into the team all by himself this year and he's embarrassed to say how much altogether. We do know that in four years of the club's existence, four major investors -- Menendez, Ted Jung, David Carey and Greg Kowal -- have poured 85 to 90 percent of $400,000 into the Tsunami money pit.
Arrrrgggghhhh.
Of the four, only Menendez remains, ever optimistic that things will turn around at any moment.
According to Menendez, the team exists to give youngsters here a chance to see what pro soccer is like and to give the locally born Tsunami players a step up toward Major League Soccer.
The problem is that the Tsunami are a Division 3 team in a league drained of genuine pro talent two years ago by Major League Soccer.
You certainly could teach your kid a lot about work ethic and perseverance from watching Hawaii-born players like Jerry Proctor, Matt Snyder and Geoff Zawtocki.
But no Tsunami player is on the verge of going to the MLS. I'd love to see it happen, and I'd be the first in line to write a feature on the guy who made it. But it's not going to happen.
Yet these guys are willing to continue playing for free in front of sparse crowds, and sometimes without insurance coverage.
"I intend to pay them some day," said Menendez.