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The 1980s Are Back, But What About Indoor Soccer???

The 1980s have been back in a big way for years now. Those big-framed glasses are definitely “in.” Thanks to retro ‘80s Netflix hit Stranger Things, a nostalgic Kate Bush hit was #1 on Spotify last summer. Mullets are (regrettably) everywhere. With all this ‘80s nostalgia, it seemed inevitable that the short-shorts-wearing European heartthrobs from the Major Indoor Soccer League would become hip again.

Yet…

Almost nothing has emerged.

Yes, the HBO show Winning Time did mention the LA Lazers in season two. But much like the original MISL, it has been cancelled. In even-harder-to-believe news, a couple years ago, the author of a NY Times bestseller confided in me that he had been writing a script for a comedic television series based on an MISL team. Who knows if it will ever see the light of day.

In an episode of the HBO drama miniseries We Own This City, one of the cops sports a Baltimore Blast jersey. So, we thank HBO for doing their part, but beyond that, it’s slim pickings.

It may seem ridiculous now, but from 2017 to 2020, while Adam Knapp, Kenny Linn, Tori Deatherage, Mike Romalis and I were shooting and editing God Save the Wings (our jock doc about the Wichita Wings), we kept looking over our shoulder for ESPN’s 30 for 30 to spend a bunch of cash on an MISL doc and beat us to the punch.

But that didn’t happen either.

Every blue moon, you’ll see a reference from a journalist. The Athletic’s Pablo Maurer, one of the best soccer reporters out there, spent some time talking about the MISL in his appearance on the always interesting Good Seats Still Available podcast. The British newspaper The Guardian did their part to keep the spirit alive in 2016 and 2018 with stories on The Lord of All Indoors and the league in general.

The “why” for all of this is not entirely clear, but there are facets of this neglect that make sense. Soccer traditionalists never much liked indoor soccer. The US Soccer Federation and the MISL feuded in the 1980s and many grudges were born. One can imagine that the people who worked so hard to build up the North American Soccer League and make something out of American soccer might grow furious at the apostasy of indoor soccer stealing their thunder.

Alan Merrick, the former English footballer for West Brom turned Minnesota Striker head coach, told me the rise of Major League Soccer wasn’t so wonderful for many MISL vets: he said they were frozen out due to their association with indoor soccer.

But those grudges ought to have died out by now.

There are legions of MLS fans today that grew up without any exposure to professional indoor soccer and know nothing of those old grudges. The passion they show for the game might make them ripe for an exploration of the past. At the same time, the zeal for the traditions of the game also might make them turn up their noses at an indoor abomination like the MISL.

The indoor soccer fans I know come in three flavors: soccer fans that love the Premier League, MLS, indoor soccer, and every other iteration of the game; general sports fans that enjoy the inherent excitement of the indoor game in the same way they enjoy March Madness; and, finally, people who don’t much care for sports, but love watching indoor soccer.

I am very much not plugged into the traditional soccer fanbase, but I imagine those categories exist for outdoor soccer fans as well. Guiding them to the indoor game’s fascinating history is the hard part.

Wichita Wings coach Roy Turner, a Wings Angel, and midfielder Kevin Kewley on KAKE-TV’s midday show, Kaleidoscope, in the early 1980s.

So here I am, the Pied Piper for the MISL’s past, blowing these notes as loud as I can, and hopefully in tune. I never thought I’d be the guy to do it. The coauthor of my book, Mike Romalis…now HE was the superfan, attending every game for years and years. Like almost every kid who grew up in Wichita, Kansas in the 1980s, I was a Wings fan. I watched them on TV here and there and attended a half-dozen games over the years. I owned an Erik Rasmussen jersey. When I played soccer, I pretended to be a Wichita Wing. But I never lived and died with the MISL.

If you’d asked me 20 years ago what I’d be writing now, I probably would have said, “The Great American Fantasy Novel” (if such a thing exists).

Sometimes you fall into a thing.

I fell into it in 2011, when the Wings returned from their decade-long absence. All credit goes to Mike Romalis. When he would break out his extensive DVD collection of old MISL games I’d start to get a little tickle in my brain. I happened to be writing for a local glossy magazine when the team came back to life. I interviewed the new general manager and pumped out a piece connecting the new team with the old feelings.

I don’t know what you call it when you feel nostalgia for a thing that you didn’t fully experience, but that’s what I had that day in 2011 when they had a press conference and introduced the Wings’ new coach. Yes, I experienced the MISL as a kid. But my time in the Kansas Coliseum as a boy barely registers in my memory. The only moment that pops out is a man with an airhorn sitting behind us and me putting my fingers in my ears.

But since that press conference, I dove right in. I went to all the games, I joined the Orange Army, and I made the rest of my life fit around professional indoor soccer. And then came the book and the documentary film and now this Substack. I don’t know what’s after all this. Maybe an interpretive dance piece about the life of Steve Zungul: The Lord of The Indoors. I’ll wear a bandana and have Michael Flatley choreograph it.

In the meantime, I am going to continue to dig into the history of this league. The MISL deserves it. Hopefully, my words can help explain this phenomenon and why it’s important. Besides, who doesn’t want to marinate in some ‘80s nostalgia?

Sorry, I gotta go. I need to tight-roll my jeans and get ready for this Huey Lewis concert.