Today, finally

It’s been more than two years since the Quakes last took the field, and for much of that time the story has been about the future: Will Lew Wolff and John Fisher exercise their option to buy the team? When will the team begin competing? Where will they play? There are still some lingering unanswered questions, with the main one being “When will the stadium deal be finalized?,” but finally we are able to use the word “today.” Today, the San Jose Earthquakes take on the L.A. Galaxy at Home Depot Center for their season opener. Yes, today, Thursday, April 3, 2008. The Quakes are back.

Considering the team’s great talent for comebacks — does “5-4 aggregate after extra time” ring a bell? — we’d like to say that there was never a doubt that the team would return, but that’s just not true. When Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment declined to follow through on their intent to purchase the team in December, 2005, and AEG made good on their threat to take the side to Houston, few Quakes fans were optimistic that the team would be back so soon. Thanks to the vision, enthusiasm, and financial expertise of Lew Wolff, John Fisher, and the members of what has become the Quakes’ front office, the team is back. And despite the fact that it’s not the same roster that left, with names like John Doyle, Frank Yallop, Ian Russell, Ronnie Ekelund, Joe Cannon, Ryan Cochrane, and Ramiro Corrales in the mix, there’s definitely a strong family resemblance. Call us an expansion team if you wish, but there are two stars above that crest and the team’s DNA is nothing but Earthquakes.

On with the day’s plethora of Quakes news. We’ll start off with a new blog, American Soccer Reader, and their interview with prodigal Quake Ryan Cochrane. Here’s Cochrane’s take on tonight’s match:

Guys who haven’t really been here, who don’t know about the San Jose - L.A. rivalry, they’ll learn quickly, and we’ve been warning them about it. That, I don’t want to say hatred, but it kind of is, for L.A. has never gone away for me, even when I was in Houston. And I know those guys in Houston feel the same way about L.A. as they did when they were in San Jose. So it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be heated, it’s going to be a battle. Obviously they have a lot of attention on them with Beckham and with their new coach and all that. It’s kind of the David vs. Goliath thing right now and we love that role for us.

Technically, that should probably be David vs. David (Beckham), but we get the point.

Next, have a look at Grahame Jones’ interview with Frank Yallop in today’s L.A. Times. We’ll give you the first and last bits of that:

It has been five months since Frank Yallop and the Galaxy parted company after the most trying and turbulent of Major League Soccer seasons.

The dark circles under his eyes have disappeared. The fatigue that showed in every line on his face has vanished. The smile is back. The quips have returned. Yallop is a happy man again…

“The ownership group is fantastic here, as it was in L.A.,” Yallop said, “but it’s a completely different feel. That’s what I like about it. They let me get on with my job.”

Over on espn.com, our own Jeff Carlisle takes a look at tonight’s match. (Don’t miss his new story on Ned Grabavoy here on Center Line Soccer, either.) Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney also turns in an excellent piece on the season opener, with quotes from Yallop and Doyle.

The region’s newspapers have stories today as well. Staff writer Tom Fitzgerald of the San Francisco Chronicle also spoke with Yallop and Doyle for his season preview.
The Mercury News has a column from Ann Killion recapping the last few years of Earthquakes history while her cohort Elliott Almond checks in with his own season preview.

Finally, we provide you with this link to an espn.com interview with Galaxy president Alexi Lalas. We actually don’t recommend that you read the whole interview unless you need to fertilize your garden or something, but we will provide you with Lalas’s best quote from the interview: “I make no apologies for the circus and I’m proud to be the ringmaster.” Hmm… you know, we always had Tim Leiweke pegged as ringmaster, so we don’t think the analogy really holds true. But with Lalas’s taste for outrageous hairdos, he’s only a pair of floppy shoes away from making a great clown.