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Pittsburgh Spirit Memories with Patrick McCarthy · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Hi everybody, welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Tim Hannon.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Steve Wirt.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: This episode's going to be about the Pittsburgh Spirit.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I was excited to do this episode because when I was a kid I went to a lot of Spirit games and I became a huge fan.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: And so was our guest today.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he's very passionate about the team and about preserving its history.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_02: And you'll you'll not only hear him talk about a lot of really interesting kind of facts and and stories, stuff that you've probably never heard before about the spirit, but you also hear him talk about why the team meant so much to him personally and and how important it was with his relationship with his mother.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: So we really hope you enjoy this look back at the Pittsburgh Spirit.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: Hi, everybody.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: We're joined today by Patrick McCarthy.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: Patrick is a Pittsburgh Spirit historian and he's also the administrator of the YouTube channel Pittsburgh Spirit Indoor Soccer, in which you can find just an absolute treasure trove of nineteen eighties Pittsburgh nostalgia.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: Patrick, thank you so much for joining us today.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, thank you for having me.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we're excited to talk about the Spirit.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um what can you just kick us off with kind of your history as a fan and then how you got started in becoming the historian and doing this channel on YouTube?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, uh, as far as the you know my induction into becoming a fan uh you know, I was a young guy, I was nine years old, young kid playing soccer.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and my family had had a bump in the road with well with my father's passing.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my mother was all of a sudden, you know, tasked with raising a kid on her own.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, she loved, you know, I was here I was playing soccer, and it just seemed like a natural progression uh for her to expose me to professional soccer and see how the pros do it.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we trucked down to the city, um, you know, and uh she did her best to get me to to games, and from that point, you know, uh it was it was just like I was hooked right off right off the start.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: And from that point, it just it just went from there.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then as far as me being an adult and and starting the YouTube channel, it it was you know, I had all this footage, I had all these games that my mother saved.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: What she did was she had all these VHS tapes that she wrapped in brown paper and stored them away.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if the brown paper in her mind somehow preserved them, but uh when I when you know when I dealt dove into them, they were all pretty good, no mold or anything like that.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I digitized them and you know, I just threw one game up on YouTube and and just you know went from there.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it it started to grow.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then in 2017, I was uh the Pittsburgh River Hounds reached out to me and asked me if I would contribute with a promotion that they were having um where they were doing a tribute to the spirit, and then that was really the um you know the launching pad from there.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um and uh you know I I I was able to start relationships with former players, coaches, front office staff, and um in a nutshell that was just how things got started.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: Very cool, yeah.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: So you so you mentioned you know being a big soccer kid.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh soccer traditionally was not a popular sport here in the United States prior to more recent history.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people always point to that '94 World Cup um as as being sort of a turning point.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: But certainly the the there was a generation of kids that played soccer, and certainly the generations uh after them started playing soccer.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: What what what can you tell us about when this league, the the major indoor soccer league?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's this starts up in the late 1970s, and and the spirit are one of the first teams.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: What's what's kind of the landscape for American soccer at that point?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, at that point, you had you had an outdoor league uh with the NASL.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Then I uh I think you had a lower tier below that.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it was regional.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you had the New York Cosmos, who were obviously the um the you know the the big team, and uh they had Pele and Kanalya and several others back in Bauer.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: But uh then if you if you wanted to watch a game back then, it it was you know you didn't have what you have today.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't have all the outlets to to find footage or anything like that.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we had WOR Channel 9 here in Pittsburgh.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: So if you were lucky enough to to see a Cosmos game on on tape delay, most of the time, you you you could get exposed to to soccer that way.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um then again, I then the ABC kind of ABC took the NASL and and that was the a big TV, you know, platform to push soccer.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: But back then it just it just didn't, you know, the game itself, the outdoor game, I should say, didn't really uh the ratings I don't think were that great.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you know, soccer's a tough soccer can be tough to watch, outdoor soccer, especially for the uh you know the normal guy who doesn't know much about the game.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't want to sit there and watch a million passes back and forth and no scoring, and and you know, so it didn't really work.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: And and it when the MISL came along, uh the model was great as far as you know appealing to the the normal, the nor the typical American viewer.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: And the scoring, you had you had more goals than than the outdoor game, it was faster, faster paced.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so you know, in the 70s, it it it was what it was.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Living in Pittsburgh, growing up in Pittsburgh, you know, it was really tough to be exposed to anything other than the Steelers and the Pirates.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And uh as far as media coverage goes, you you couldn't, you they wouldn't report it.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: If you turn on WTA even evening news and tried to catch a soccer highlight, it wasn't happening.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh then ESPN came along and ESPN looking for uh you know anything to to any type of content to fill up their their slots, they they took the NA NASL and ran with it a little bit more, well a lot more, I should say.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it was tough being a soccer fan and uh living living here at that at that point in time in the 70s, you know.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: So and and and and describe maybe a little bit more indoor soccer to folks who maybe have never seen it and and how it's different.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: You have you have how many players to each side, you have uh the size of essentially a hockey rink, like like just sort of describe what that looks like.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's pretty much the same, well, it's the same format as hockey.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, you have you have six players, including a goalie.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, they they would pull they would pull the goalie just like just like you do in hockey if you were down a goal and you wanted the you wanted a man advantage.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: They played on the hockey surface.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um they used the they would put carpeting down or Astroturf or they didn't call it Astroturf at the time, but uh you know, they would they would wet the ice and try to try to get um you know a good a good bond between the the the the playing the playing surface and the ice.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of times the the surface would pop up in the corners and uh you know they would have to either you know the players would either have to adjust it during play or they would actually stop the play and and do what they can to get it to bond to the ice.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: So what you were doing was was essentially watching uh a hockey game and and and it's you know, but it was it was with without the ice and an orange soccer ball, and um, you know, they pretty much m mimicked hockey into in into a form of soccer.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so so they they they Americanized it kind of like you said, for those of us Americans with shorter attention spans.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: And and it were you aware of is there any kind of I mean you certainly had a lot of international players coming to play, not only for the Spirits, but for these other MISL teams.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: What there was no was there any kind of backlash against like, hey, this isn't you know uh pure soccer.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: You're like you're you're bastardizing this game.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: Is was there any of that kind of sentiment?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: I I guess not after a lot of players were coming to play.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think if there was, and uh one player sticks out in in you know in my mind.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there was a uh a player by the name of Clive Charles who was an outdoor player.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um he played for Seattle.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and he I I remember reading something that he he was not a fan of the indoor game.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: He played for the Spirit in '78, '79.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: And uh then he actually went off, I think he went on to the LA Lasers as well, which was an indoor team owned by Jerry Buss of the Lakers.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: He's the one guy that sticks out that I that I know was was vocal about not really being a fan of the indoor game.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm sure I'm sure there were players that that weren't fans as well, but uh maybe they weren't as uh maybe they're a little less hesitant, you know, biting the hand that feeds because the indoor the indoor game was all that they had.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the NASL outdoor, um, it ultimately went, you know, it it got pushed aside and and it was no longer, and then you had the indoor game.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I I'm sure that the players, you know, weren't fans of it, you know, um, but it was all that they had if they wanted to play soccer in America.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: And and it's funny because I remember as a kid going to those games.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: I thought that's what soccer was.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't realize.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: I had never because like you said, you didn't what when would you have seen outdoor soccer on TV?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh uh and and so I remember going to those games thinking, like, oh, this is a pretty cool sport.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember later seeing real soccer in the World Cup, and I'm like, boy, this is a very different uh sport than I thought it was.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but but people did catch on, it starts gaining momentum in Pittsburgh.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: What what do you think the the kind of the turning point was for people in Pittsburgh?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because a lot has been made.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh anytime anybody brings up the spirit, people will always note the fact that it at their peak they outdrew the penguins in attendance.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: And certainly the this was pre-Marioline Penguins, so it wasn't like the Penguins were a big deal, but they were literally outdrawing one of the major sports franchises in Pittsburgh.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think the turning point was for people in Pittsburgh to say, hey, let's go check this team out?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, going back, I've thought about this a lot.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, it I was nine years old, ten years old at the time when I when I was inducted, so it's hard for me to um to say exactly why, but I have theories.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: And the Steelers weren't doing so great.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they they came off of four Super Bowls, obviously, and they were maybe in a in a in a you know a a time where they were maybe people weren't maybe they were looking for something else.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: I I I mean I I you know, and then the Penguins weren't weren't doing, you know, they had they had a couple years here and there where they would have playoff pushes and then they would ultimately lose to the Islanders, and and it was something different.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, the spirit marketing plan was just, you know, I laugh because you couldn't do it today.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, the hot legs promotions and everything like that, they really pushed um sex appeal.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean they really pushed, it was something different.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, people started going to the games, buzz got around.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you had these guys in shorts uh running around, and and you know, they had these hot legs promotions where they had Mrs.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Hotlegs.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, so they uh and then the games themselves, if you went to a game, it was like going to a rock concert.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean the lights would go off.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, one, you know, then they would they would have these uh runways that they would put on the pitch that would light up, and then the players would run out with roses in their hands, and then you know, after the anthem, the lights would come on, the players would hand the roses to the women.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um so they really just took it, you know, the MISL did these new approaches, and and you know, you you started to see the you know the the NBA and everything, they they every all that starts from the MISL.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they the MISL would play music while the action was going on, um the elaborate introductions.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: That that was all things that the MISL started.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I just think they, you know, they took creative approaches to getting their brand out there, and it just caught on.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, they did outdraw the penguins here and there.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um the ball day games.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: They they had they had these yearly annual uh promotions.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: One, you know, for one time they would they would do these uh a ball day, and they would do it once a season, and it would be like the first I don't know, 5,000 fans or everything.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you were a kid, you would get a free, you would get a an orange soccer ball.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And those games would draw 14,000 in attendance.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: So uh but seriously for a soccer?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, yeah, like that's almost what was the capacity?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: 16?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's almost a full house, pretty much.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: 8384.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Spirit played the blast in a the Baltimore blast in a in a ball day game, and it was like 14,600 in attendance, which is just you know, but that wasn't every game, you know.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: It was the ball day that brought people out.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, to answer your question, uh, you know, it was just the more it was something different.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they just they just did a such a good job of of of of breaking up the norm and getting uh fans to come out.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: The the ball day game got my parents to to bring us because I had one of those uh black and orange soccer balls that we got at one of those games for years.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: I remember my brother and I kicked that thing until there was no air left in it.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like it would have it had these glued panels on it, and then the panels would come off and then you would just have this crack.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'd I you know we all did that.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Any thoughts?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I know you're connected with some of the players and stuff.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: What about the ownership?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like obviously they were pushing, you know, the marketing, but um was there several different owners?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Was there one overall owner?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: I know I I always see Debartlow.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: How involved were the Debartelos where they just kind of like put somebody else in charge and walk away?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: They had malls to build, or yeah, yeah.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: What what was the relationship with like you know the franchise and how it was running the ownership?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the first owner was a gentleman by the name of Jim Mahalke.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then he ultimately well, he had it for a year, and then he he he there was a transfer of ownership uh to Frank Fuhrer.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Frank Fuhrer's name in Pittsburgh.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: It could, you know, a lot of it it could a lot of people know the name Frank Fuhrer.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: He owned the Pittsburgh Triangles, I believe.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the the world the championship tennis team, yes.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: And and he he uh he came on in 7980, and at that point in time, uh you know the Spirit weren't doing too good.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he came in, uh did a coaching change, uh team caught fire.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think they they they won, they went on a winning streak.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember exactly the amount of games they won.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: I know they won more than 10 in a row, and they um made it to the playoffs, uh ultimately losing to the New York Arrows.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, so Frank Fuhrer owned it for a year, and then in 80-81, they had a they they had a hiatus.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I'm not really sure as to you know the reasoning behind that.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it was just that the players who were on the spirit at that time went to different different teams, and then some came back, some didn't in uh 81-82.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: And uh at that point in time, uh the Debartal's had taken over ownership.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: And Paul Martha, uh who played football for Pitt and the Steelers, he was uh Edward Debartolo's right-hand man.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Paul Martha was the guy who dealt with Chris Wright, who was the general manager.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, that was the tier of of um ownership, and and it it so Paul Martha was the main guy at that point in time.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: And he, you know, he he was the guy that also dealt with the penguins, and he he was the sports guy.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, then the Bartlows owned it up until 85, 86, and then at that time uh it was it was reported that the team had lost nine million dollars uh total uh you know under the uh the Bartolo umbrella, which you know I kind of find hard to believe, but you know, obviously, you know, they had to have a number to justify folding the team.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, nine million sounds high, especially in the in the mid-80s, you know.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you have to wonder if they were losing that much money, well why they even you know held on to the team as long as they did.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, you know, that was uh a brief history of the De Bartolo holding the team.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: The the the losing money, I think uh on your YouTube channel, one of the interesting videos you posted, I believe, is that the team did some sort of a fundraiser uh in South Park, I want to say.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_02: Can you tell us about that?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was there.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was it was it was down where they had the horses and they have the track that goes around and they had that big tower that building with a clock on it.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the fairgrounds, yeah.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: They had an outdoor game with the Cleveland Force, and that was uh that was a rainy day.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my mother and I got there bright and early with a bucket of KFC chicken.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: We had this we had this plan of going out and watching this the sphere play.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then it was just raining, cats and dogs, and we ultimately left after staying there for a few hours because we didn't even think the game was gonna happen.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then the game happened, the rain broke, and the whole purpose for doing that was to um garner attention and and and maybe get you know let the public know, you know, that you know, the public needs to come out.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the team's in jeopardy uh of existing.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: And um so they you know that they they tried to get you know make that known to the public and get season ticket sales up.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: And they played the Cleveland Force uh in an outdoor game, and Stan Turlecki played, Drago Dumbovic, uh Dumbovic played, he scored.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, so that was the whole purpose for that, that that game.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: So um I was fortunate enough to find that that that clip just going scouring YouTube and and finding that that little piece of footage there.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Was it was it still eight on eight in like a hockey style, or was it like a for real it was a for real 11 on 11 years?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was the indoor players playing outdoor, which they did.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: They played in Cleveland.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: There was an an outdoor game at the Rubber Bowl, an acronym.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Ohio.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: They did that, I guess, just to keep keep fans interested in the down, you know, the down months.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, and you know, like I'm sure the players enjoyed that as well, you know, playing outdoor again, you know, and and just maybe and then that might have also been a tactic to expose the the fans who didn't know the outdoor game, you know, uh who were who love the indoor game.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, here, this is what real soccer is is supposed to be.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: So don't worry.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: None of none of us understand offsides and outdoor soccer.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still trying to figure that out.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm building a spirit bar in my house.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm building a bar and I'm gonna put on my memorabilia out.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe I'll have you over and I'll explain this.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's an offside side.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'll have some guys over who will You can't be beyond the defender before the ball's kicked, and maybe or something.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Something like that.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they had a they had a form of they had a what they had a uh a form of I guess you could call it offsides in the indoor game, where um on the uh AstroTurf, instead of having a a red line in hockey, they had they had a they had a line there, and they had they had a the the the field broken down into quarters.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if you were on one end of the field, say you were like uh close to the the the the goalie box and you and you lobbed the ball to the other end of the field, that was considered a three-line violation.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then the ball, the and then the opposing team would get uh a free kick or a start at the uh where the red line is in hockey.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of like icing, almost like an icing?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Almost like icing.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's great.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's the perfect way to put it.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: So so Patrick, I I want to get in a little bit of your you know, your personal reflections because you were around the you know, you obviously were a fan then you you've been around these players over the years.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, what can you tell us about the team?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: Some stories, some some some interesting nuggets that maybe yeah, we couldn't get from like a Wikipedia page.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, stories I I've I've amassed stories since the 2017 Riverhounds event that I that I touched touched on briefly.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, just in talking to players.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, it I'm always learning stuff.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the only way I can explain it is is that uh it would be like you know, it's such a thrill for me.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: It would it would be like, you know, if you were a fan of the Steelers in the 70s and you know Terry Bradshaw invites you to a party at his house, or if you you know you have a beer with Terry Bradshaw, or whoever, uh Joe Green, and and you and you start to talk about things.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, so some stories I could tell, some I can't.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, uh as far as personal reflections go, they all revolve around uh just that time in my life when when my mother was was trying to do what she could to um you know to expose me to something and and the and the you know take our mind off the fact that you know my mother my father had died and and um it was just it's just something it was a it was a thing to do.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And uh specific stories, you know, I mean I can remember going to that ball day that I spoke of.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well actually the first game I went to was in '82, '83.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: It was a ball day game against the arrows, and uh I didn't know that they only gave the balls out to a certain uh amount of um kids that came through the turnstiles.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't get a ball because I arrived late, and I can remember sitting there, you know, a little bummed out, but just taking in everything.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then the following year in 83, 84, uh went back and they played the Baltimore Blast, and uh, you know, I didn't get a ball again.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm sitting there, you know, and uh well, we're walking, I'm walking around the igloo, and while I've seen all these kids carrying these clear bags with these orange soccer balls in, and and uh my mother noticed the kiosk where they had uh little mailers and postcards, I guess where you could you know rate your experience at the game.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: She happened to know that one of the postcards was the same color as the voucher that they handed out to kids uh to get a ball.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: So my mother, being resourceful like she was, goes over, grabs this postcard, folds it, hands it to me, and says, walk up and get a ball.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I went up and then I got a ball, and then you know, I was I was happy as could be.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: So that was just my mother.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, she she just did these you had to do what you had to do to make things work.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: And if if you had any kind of obstacles in your way, you had to figure out a way to get around it.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, and and she always, you know, looking back, you know, she, you know, when you get an when you become an adult, you you start to see see things clearly, and you you wonder, you know, why was she so like uh you know adamant to go to these games?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then here she was, you know, she was a single mother, and you know, she probably enjoyed watching the guys run around more than I did.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, and uh so you know it's stories like that that um you know and memories like that that really it was just a perfect culmination of events that uh led me to uh you know have hold on to these memories that I that I you know that I had.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: And uh as far as stories go, other than my personal reflections, uh you know, I I honestly don't know where to begin.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um if I if I if I think of something that sticks out, uh well you gotta start with Stan.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: I obviously yeah, Stanislaw Andra Turlecki, born in Poland, you know, coming to the United States, and and maybe exiled from his home country, maybe not, we don't know.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: But he was he was the spirit's I mean, arguably best player.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: MVP of the league.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he came in his first year, he just he just took off.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think he got 70 plus goals.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if it wasn't for Steve Jongle uh with the New York Arrows, you know, Stan would have been, you know, Steve Steve was just, you know, he was just putting numbers up, ridiculous numbers.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: And and Mark Madden made a uh he addressed Stan's passing back in 2017, and he used a word that I felt was so perfect uh for to you know to to describe Stan Verlecky, and that was the word uh mercurial.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm looking at here the definition of mercurial, uh it's uh of a person subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um he he he was he he was a guy that uh you know I I I mean that just describes it right there.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: He was an unbelievable talent, uh, you know, just in the outdoor game alone.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then to put him in a confined space where he could just run all over the place and just score score goals left and right, you know, is is what he did.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, um he he uh you know I I don't know how else to say, you know, what else to say about that.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: He actually came back here ten, well maybe ten years prior to his passing.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: He came back to Pittsburgh, uh, which uh not many people know.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, he he he he he always had well John Kowalski lived here.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: John Kowalski was the coach of the spirit, and uh he you know he was friends with Stan while Stan went back over to Poland and I think Stan kind of took a tour uh to kind of make things right w with with people and players that maybe he rubbed the wrong way during his playing days.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know he he Dave McKenzie and him got together at the bottle shop in Bridgeville and uh ironed things out and uh you know and then he you know he he you know looking back, he probably had some regrets maybe with how how he approached things.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, he was he he was he was he was a young guy, he was a rebel.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um he he didn't conform to things in Poland, and uh you know that's what brought him, you know, to to play in, you know, to go from being a first division player in Poland to playing the indoor game here in Pittsburgh.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: So was so was he what was there a struggle with him being liked by his teammates?
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: Was it like a a Barry Bonds or Antonio Brown kind of a situation?
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: What what was the dynamic like there with him and his teammates?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: Because he was he he he was obviously a big star, like we're saying, and then I think he at one point I think he left for a season and then came back to Pittsburgh, correct?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I think that just all stems back uh well okay to answer your question on maybe yeah, it was it was a rough road.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: It was a it was a bumpy road with with with you know with his teammates.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um in his defense, I I would say he was homesick.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he he he was taken out of you think about it, you know, you're taken away from your your country that you love and you're dropped in into an area that you don't know anything.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: You you don't know the language, or you're you maybe your language isn't as good, and and you know, it could be rough, and you know, you know, I think we can all relate to that, how difficult that would be.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um maybe like a Barry Bonds, but maybe not as bad.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um it definitely not Antonio Brown.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, it was it was it was it had to be tough on him.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: It it you know it it had to be.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: And he he was here uh 81, 82, and if you look at pictures of Stan, I've done this.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at his like team photo, uh the first year he had this huge smile, uh ear-to-ear smile on his face.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Then if you look at 82, 83, it's night and day.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he he he he his eyebrows are are pushed down, he he just looks he looks angry, and then um, you know, 83-84, he wasn't with the team.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: He he went off and he played with the New York Cosmos and he played outdoor and indoor uh because there were competing indoor leagues.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: There was the MISL that the Spirit played in, and then there was the fledgling NASL, which had the outdoor and the indoor.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so he went in '83 84, he went to the Cosmos, which was a you know, the Cosmos still were on a grand stage.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: They still, you know, they they they played exhibition games against Barcelona.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they had a transatlantic, I think transatlantic is the name of it, tournament where Maradona came over, came over here with Barcelona, and and uh it was like a three or four-team tournament that took place in uh Giant Stadium.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: So Stan was able to participate in that.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so it was it was it was good for him to do that, obviously.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: Got him, you know, uh, you know, more exposure, and and he you know got back to the outdoor game.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and in the 83-84 season, oddly enough, you know, you can make an argument that that was maybe the best uh team that the spirit had.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and Stan wasn't a part of it.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and the only, you know, you hate to say that they played more like a team, the team concept, but um, you know, they they did, and and and the numbers prove it.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then you know he came back in uh 85-86 uh or 84-85 and 85 and 86 before the team folded.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's interesting that losing your best player would lead to your best season, but like you said, maybe they needed that to just the team chemistry was just better without uh relying on one guy.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: Well that 83-84 season, uh what what happens to them?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: Because they lose in the I I actually remember this because it was one of my first like disappointments as a sports fan.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: They lose to Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and that was I believe an upset at the time because they they were they were the higher seed and they had a really good season.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: Do you can you tell us kind of about that season and what happened and was that a was that a big letdown?
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was definitely a big letdown.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um they they finished ahead of Cleveland and they had they you the the playoff was best of five.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: So the first two games were in Pittsburgh, and then and then the last three, or no, I think it was 2-2-1.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, uh the way it played out was so they they lose the opener, uh, and then they come back, and then and then they win the second game in Pittsburgh, and it was one to one.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then we went off to Cleveland, and they didn't broadcast uh the first two the first two games in Pittsburgh on TV.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, they wanted fans to come out.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's the only that's the only explanation I can make for that.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but they they broadcasted uh the final two in Cleveland because Cleveland ultimately won the last two um and then took the series three games to one.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: But it was a big letdown.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know it was um you know I there was uh you know, I don't know if you if you saw in even one of my video clips here where you know it ended in in a brawl, in a full-out brawl at the end of uh game five.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: See, my I'm doing the numbers here.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: Game four.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: Game four, right?
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um, you know, the the the team at IOPS, uh, you know, Cleveland, I think, lost to Baltimore the following series, and I think we would have fared well against Baltimore in that particular season.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it it was a letdown for sure.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: What were the penalties like in this?
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: Was it just like regular star where they do like a penalty kick or uh uh real similar to hockey?
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean you had you had a penalty box, you know.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like uh you get a man advantage?
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and um, you know, it was just real similar to hockey.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: So if you you you you would have the occasional penalty kick, uh, which was more than likely gonna go in because the you know the the the box uh was was a lot more smaller, uh and those guys would just tee off and and uh yeah, so you had the occasional penalty kick, but it wasn't like a um you know, it wasn't like a shootout goal in hockey where you had a running start, you know, the ball was placed at the top of the top of the key, top of the box, and then you know, players would get a running start.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so it was real similar to hockey.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_02: So so yeah, like 84 is kind of their their big, you know, their their run.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then, like you said, the the next two seasons aren't as good, and then they start running into you know reported financial trouble.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like you said, it it's curious what that really looked like in terms of the Bartlows and and maybe just running out.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um how how long did the MISL last after the Spirit were gone?
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: And did the MISL, you know, did they were they ever as popular again at as they were at this time?
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so the MISL went on until about 91, 92, and they actually changed the name from the MISL to the MSL, not to the MLS, which is the outdoor league now, but they they took away the indoor, so the I from the MISL and made it MSL.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why they did that, uh, but they did, and uh the ESPN the the the uh the last year of the spirit 85-86 uh they were fortunate enough the MISL got uh you know a big TV contract with ESPN, and then ESPN had the game of the week.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: And after the spirit folded, that continued for for a couple years, and uh for whatever reason ESPN stopped doing the games.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you would find Prime Network would would have the playoffs or the the championship series alone.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you know the league itself, you know, I maybe the De Bartlows saw you know saw what was coming down the pike.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: I I I mean maybe maybe, I mean, I I don't know.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um the league itself didn't do that great, in my opinion.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously I didn't have direct exposure to it because we didn't have a team, but um you know it it just it went on they they brought back Earl Foreman, who was one of the founders of of uh the MISL back in the 70s, uh in an effort to maybe get back and and write the ship.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it ultimately went into like I I want to say '92, now that I'm thinking about it.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then it folded, and then the CISL came along, which was the Continental Indoor Soccer League, and that went for that went on until the like late 90s.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: And since then you've had reincarnations of the indoor league.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: You actually have, I don't know if you guys know this or not, but you actually have an indoor league now, I mean, called the MASL.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: And some of those old teams, the branding, you know, is still still alive in the in the in the new league with the Baltimore Blast and uh the Kansas City Comet style sidekicks in an effort to try to maybe you know latch on to those years in the 80s that were probably the peak years.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I remember the Pittsburgh Stingers was at the CISO.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: That was the CISO.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: That went on for two years, and uh you had a lot of spirit connections with that, with that team as well.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I think that the spirit and kind of like we I I know I've talked to this on some of our other podcasts where we talked about teams that went away.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like there was that period from like the late 70s to like the mid-80s where there was this whole, and I think people realized that Pittsburgh could support a third professional team, and it was kind of like a scramble to who was gonna be that.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it could have gone either way.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: It could have, I mean, it could have been, you know, I mean, there wasn't a basketball team, obviously, but you know, it could have been, I mean, if the Maulers went the you know, folded, it could have been maybe them, or but it ended up being the Penguins, obviously, because of Mario.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, soccer never really, there never really has been, you know, until now, it seems like finally, like, at least for me, I've been the oh, I I I mean I haven't been to the Rivers Hound game last year, but I've been to many River Hounds games.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I of course I I went to the the the um Lamar Cup, the the cup game that they lost against DC United but took them to overtime.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: Then I missed the one where they beat Columbus, who won Columbus won the MSL.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: They they beat the best team in MLS.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so I mean I I I think you know it's kind of laid the seeds for for soccer, but you know, now we kind of have, you know, we're we have you know the pirates, the penguins, and the steelers are the three big ones, and now you kind of have like the minor jockeying the other teams that you know jockey.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like they've tried minor league basketball and you know, and all these other leagues, and just maybe it was just you know that that was that short period of time where somebody could have jumped in and got into that third spot, and it just wasn't meant to be for indoor soccer, unfortunately, because it's certainly I never went to any of the indoor soccer games, but it certainly sounds like a lot of fun, like like very reminiscent of like you know, minor league events, you know, just just a lot of stuff like that.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you only have so much on the entertainment dollar for the consumer.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's only so much that and that's the minor league pricing is you know, if you go to a Riverhounds game, you can take a family of four and spend less than fifty bucks, quite honestly.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean you can't have, you know, in Pittsburgh, you know, you have this there's only so many teams you can have.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, it it's for the the the typical consumer, you know, he has to pick and choose.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you can't, you know, and and and at that point in time, you know, it it was it was hit or miss.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it was it was probably like, you know, a 50, you know, either we, you know, it's winner, we're either gonna go to a penguins game or we're gonna go to a spirit game.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, odds of going to both, maybe not, you know, not as great.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, and that's a that's a good point because the NBA hadn't become quite what it was yet.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_02: The NHL hadn't hadn't gained that foothold.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_02: So you're right, it was it was kind of a wide open thing.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_02: And and you know, again, when I was a kid going to those games, and again, that was that was something that that was probably affordable for my parents, right?
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't go to a lot of um, we didn't go to any penguin games, we didn't go to to a lot of other games, so that was something that was affordable, fun to do on a winter night.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well now you could go, you could go too, and then if the if the spirit got six goals, everybody started chanting chili.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because if they got that seventh goal, you could you could you could go out, you could leave the game, stop at Wendy's with your ticket stuff, and get a free bowl of chili.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, that promotion that promotion was was a penguin thing too.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I remember that, yeah.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: But the odds of it happening for a penguin game were a lot slimmer than than a soccer game, you know.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_01: Especially an indoor, yeah, indoor soccer game.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so what yeah, when I was going to those games, I didn't realize I thought that the teams in Pittsburgh were like the Steelers, Pirates, Spirit, Penguins.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like I didn't think of, you know, like what you guys are talking about, kind of like the minor leagues and major leagues, right?
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_02: It was just one of the big teams.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: And and the other thing, Patrick, on your YouTube channel that I was really surprised by was that the there's a lot of local news coverage and media coverage of the spirit, right?
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_02: The the and and like you said back then you didn't have the internet, you didn't have um ESPN was was beginning, but in terms of local sports coverage, when you put on the 11 o'clock news or the six o'clock news and you and they had the sports, that was how you were getting all your local sports from a video perspective, at least, other than the two newspapers.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: So um were you were you surprised by that how much kind of local media coverage there was of the spirit?
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh as a kid, it was it was a child, you know, so what I would do, I'll tell you directly what I would do.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I I would uh my mother would let me stay up late just to watch the sports and uh to see what the highlights were.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, KDK w ha was the was the was the place to go if you wanted to catch the highlights of the games.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh first and foremost, they were they were the top, top one.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh WTAE, not so much.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah WPXI, you know, not not so much either.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know uh I remember talking to Paul Child one time.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh Stan Savron came came to see him.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_01: I guess he was Stan, if I remember correctly, Stan was you know, he had to go, he had to go and interview uh Paul Child.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and I remember Paul saying, you know, uh I he didn't really, you know, he didn't really want to do it, um to put to put it simply enough.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, he didn't know the game.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: He he maybe he was stubborn, you know, too stubborn to learn the game.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm not trying to to bash the guy or anything like that.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I grew up watching Stan Savron, and you know, um, you know, but it as far as the media coverage goes, um there really wasn't that much.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they would they it it seemed like they they if anything else was happening, you know, they they they would cover the Steelers, and then if there was a pirate story, they would cover that, and then oh yeah, by the way, the Spirit played a game today, um, you know, and this was the outcome.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so it was kind of a it's kind of a challenge to find any any footage.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I know the University of Pitt has a whole archive uh of the WTAE uh newscasts from I think the late 70s to early 80s, which I actually thought about going down and and and checking out.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know uh even the Stingers, I mean I mean, you know, when the Stingers were were were around in the mid-90s, you you would find an occasional highlight uh of the Stingers on on uh the local news.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, you know, like I said, uh KDKA always had something, and that was because they broadcasted the games.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Bob Pompeiani, uh I believe a young Bob Bob Pompeiani, uh I think I heard that that was the spirit you know was his first assignment, and he was uh you know the exclusive reporter for the spirit for KDK, um, which you know maybe kind of uh segued into him, you know, with the Riverhounds today.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean he's kind of the guy with the River Hounds, actually.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, uh media coverage was there, but it wasn't as wasn't that great in the 80s, to be honest.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I think I was just surprised that they covered the team at all.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_02: Right, because if you think about some of those future incarnations of Pittsburgh Stingers or Pittsburgh Bulls or or you know, whatever.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_02: Name name all the other kind of teams that have come and gone.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um you you just you just and and like you said, maybe there was some coverage of that too.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_02: It just was few and far between.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: What what about the newspapers, the Post Gazette and the Press, did they cover the spirit?
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, Jerry Dulak, uh he has a lot of he has a lot of uh he he did a lot of stories on the spirit.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, I I I I scour the archives, I see stories written about uh you know spirit results, and then if you look there, uh Sharon Everson, um, you know, they the you know the Post Gazette and um Pittsburgh Press, you all they all they all had stories and reviews on on the spirit, for sure.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, you talked about your your personal memories.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's what a lot of people hopefully have of this team, right?
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what I have.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_02: I just remember going as a kid and and and again, like at that time you're not thinking about uh is the team solvent or or any of that kind of stuff.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you're just enjoying yourself and you're rooting for this team.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um what do you what do you hope you know is kind of the legacy for the spirit?
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh how do you hope people remember this team?
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, my primary objective is just to make sure that people just remember the the spirit uh that they existed.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're all getting older.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, gener there's there's been generations that have come, you know, that have that have come since the spirit played their last game in 1986.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's not uncommon for for for you know you could go to a bar or Permanti Brothers and sit down next to a a guy who's maybe you know 40 years old or a little bit older and and and you could you could bring up the spirit and and they'll remember it, they'll have a story, you know, they'll they'll say, Oh, I remember this and I remember that, but you know, you know, you know, there's gonna be a time where maybe you know people will have no idea, or or like, you know, you know, I it's just it's more of a a self-serving thing for me because it gives me such pleasure just watching highlights and watching games.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, so it's it, you know, I guess if I had to answer your question, I I would say I I would you know I just want people, you know, instead of having that saying, well, you know, I remember um Drago Dumbovic and that you can go on my YouTube channel, you can watch a game.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't put the results of the game uh in any of the descriptions of my games.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_01: So you know, my goal is you can put a game on and not know the outcome.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_01: And you and you you you can watch it and and almost like you're watching a live game.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's kind of my thought there.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I just want people to you know not forget as as long as I can keep keep you know the idea and the and the and the memories alive, uh, you know, that's that's kind of my mission statement, I guess you could say.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's that's awesome.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, obviously you know, we're doing this podcast uh to to talk about Pittsburgh sports history and and how meaningful it's been to all of us.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I I just love that you're doing that with this with this part of Pittsburgh sports history that isn't as well documented as you know the Stewards of the 70s or or you know, whatever, fill in the blank.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I I think a common thread among like sports, it seems like there's always like a familial cloak connection, whether that's a father or a mother, or oh, I went to all these sports, like I remember watching this game with my mother, and I remember going to games with my dad.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that that's that's I think too like you know our way to connecting with our parents, and that that brings back those positive feelings when you know what I mean.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: You don't what what does a 40-year-old have in common with a nine-year-old?
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, that's something you did.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: You both enjoyed those games, and that was something that brings back those positive memories that you you obviously had with your childhood and growing up with your yeah, yeah.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think we all do it as adults when we get older, you know.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think we all kind of reflect on on on you know things that we did, positive memories, and you know, we we like to relive them.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you you don't want to live too much in the past.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, that it's a slippery slope there.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: You don't want to get, you know, you gotta think of like the future and all that.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, uh I think as adults we all do that.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you have people that buy, you know, cars because, you know, maybe it was in a movie that they liked as a kid or something like that, you know, which I've done, but that's that's a story for another day.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, like I said, you know, it's a nice place to visit, but we don't want to live there, that's for sure.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right, exactly.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: Patrick, uh, thank you so much for sharing your memories of this team.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for maintaining this um historical record.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_02: Folks, once again, uh the YouTube channel is called Pittsburgh Spirit Indoor Soccer.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_02: We will have a link to that from our webpage.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_02: And and like Patrick said, you can go there, you can check out, you can watch old games, you can check out some of this old media coverage and some other just unique clips of things that you won't find anywhere else.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh once again, a very unique uh time in Pittsburgh history, and Patrick's done a great job chronicling that so that uh we have those memories for for all time.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_02: Patrick, thank you.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I appreciate it.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I I never pass I never let a moment pass where I can uh relive anything that has to do with the Pittsburgh spirit.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, honestly, there's times where I uh talk to players, former players, and and I can tell that they probably don't even want to talk about it.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, um yeah, uh my channel's there.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I I I respond to everything.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: I was there, I I let all, you know, I never let any feedback go unresponded to.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_01: So um it's there, and I'm always looking for any any type of media footage.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: If there are uh VHS tapes out there that anybody has that are maybe sitting in a in an attic or somewhere and you think you have some spirit footage, it doesn't matter.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm always looking, I'll I'll do whatever I can to get it from you.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: If I have to send you a FedEx prepaid uh shipping label, I'll do that.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you know I'm gonna keep doing this.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, I'm still gonna be here, and whenever I get anything to add to the YouTube channel or or anything like that.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, I'm I'm I'm never gonna stop.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, but I appreciate you guys taking the time and including me on your platform.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a pleasure.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_02: Same, same on this side.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Patrick.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks everybody for listening.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for supporting our little show here.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh please check us out on Facebook or on Twitter.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we actually now have an option where you can text the show.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_02: That's in the show notes.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we'll catch you next time.