When Ron Fowler Talks, the Sockers Listen--and Then Win

William Jennings Bryan could do it.

John Kennedy could do it.

Knute Rockne could do it.

Ron Fowler did it.

It?

Inspire with oratory.

Ron Fowler?

That’s right. The Sockers have reached tonight’s Game 7 of the Major Indoor Soccer League’s semifinal series against Dallas in part because of a little fire and brimstone from their owner.

“It was like you’ve got a father whose kid is doing everything wrong and keeps doing it wrong and keeps doing it wrong and isn’t changing,” said Kevin Crow, the veteran defender who isn’t a kid anymore. “Pretty soon the father’s got to raise his voice. He got his point across.”

Pappa Fowler raised his voice before Game 6 Thursday. He did not like what he had been seeing as his Sockers had dropped behind, three games to two, after back-to-back losses in Dallas. As he talked, his team was a scary one game from elimination.

Indeed, the Sockers seemed to come home a defeated bunch. They seemed to be spending more time contemplating reasons why they were about to lose than they were spending looking for ways to win.

“I explained that I was tired of hearing excuses,” Fowler said. “Losers make excuses. Given what’s been going on, there was every reason for me as an owner to speak out.”

And so he did.

It took about 15 minutes. He did not have nice things to say. This was a vinegar shower. This team, his team, was not about to stink up the joint if he had anything to say or do about it.

Understand that players are not generally receptive to millionaires in suits who come out from behind mahogany desks and intrude upon their locker rooms. Even the coach is an outsider, albeit one to be tolerated.

Fowler thus was coming at them from an unfamiliar and maybe uncomfortable direction.

However, the difference between Fowler addressing the Sockers and, say, a Steinbrenner addressing the Yankees is that the Sockers appreciate Ron Fowler.

“If it wasn’t for the owner,” said Waad Hirmez, “there wouldn’t be professional indoor soccer in San Diego. We really appreciated that he came and talked to us. It came at the perfect time.”

Can you imagine Dave Winfield saying that about Steinbrenner?

The Sockers, you see, have been through tough times of a different nature with their owner.

During the less-than-perfect summer of 1988, when the MISL in general and the Sockers in particular were on the verge of collapse, the players waited tensely and hopefully while Fowler ushered the franchise through bankruptcy proceedings. Many of the players sat through each courtroom session, fearing that this one might be the one to bury them.

There were times, to be sure, when Fowler was ready to quit. There were times when the hassle did not seem worthwhile. He was smart enough to know he was just buying an opportunity to lose yet more money.

But the franchise survived.

As expected, Fowler has lost money. The bankruptcy proceedings blew a summer of preparation on and off the field, and the 1988-89 season started slowly both places.

“The last half of the season has been better,” Fowler said, “but it hasn’t been a very good year.”

Nothing this team does can salvage the year off the field, because championship or no championship, the franchise will lose between $350,000 and $500,000. Getting to the finals would help, since the championship franchise gets 30% of net playoff revenue and the runner-up 20%.

As Fowler addressed the troops, however, his concern was salvaging the year on the field. He was not talking strategy or tactics or anything of the sort, but rather attitude. To win a championship at the end of such a year may not erase red ink, but it would certainly sweeten bitter memories. Fowler was veritably insisting that his players were good enough to win and therefore should.

But the Sockers were not going to win anything the way they had been playing.

“We weren’t playing with playoff intensity for 60 minutes,” Crow said, “and that’s the only way to win in the playoffs.”

That’s what Ron Fowler demanded . . . playoff intensity. He wanted it for 60 minutes Thursday night and the Sockers put together a vintage, backs-to-the-wall 7-2 victory.

This was reminiscent of the best of times for the Sockers, and six championships have provided plenty of those. The Sockers won this game the way champions win.

One more game, 60 more minutes of intensity, now stands between them and another championship series.

“Maybe,” Coach Ron Newman said, “Mr. Fowler can think up some more nasty things to tell us.”