The Clarion Call

Go ahead — see how many soccer fans have signed the World Cup petition since Terry took to the airwaves to rally the troops. As I write this, we are nearing 4,000 and closing the gap with our DC neighbors. (Remember — The DC bid is actually a Maryland bid too, as Fed Ex and several proposed training facilities are in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties.)

Although we still lag behind some of the larger markets, the sudden surge has been duly noted by the US Bid Committee who were impressed with our communication network and media contacts.

So many thanks to those who helped us get the word out — our beat reporters from the Business Journal, Sun and Daily Record, WJZ-TV and our teammates, Visit Baltimore (responsible for a significant bump when Tom Noonan sent an e-gram to the hospitality industry) and Kevin Healy of the Blast and the Bays, who is wired into all things soccer.  Pete Medd of Crystal Palace stopped in for a visit and activated his data base, too.

We still think the committee plans to meet this weekend to finalize the 18 locales included in the US Bid. Terry assured the Merry Marketeers that a mere blizzard is no deterrent. They have a mission.

So if you’re reading this while holed up with your toity paper and milk (the twin staples of Maryland snow survival,) go to your email directory and send a brief note to your fellow sports fans and ask them to sign. After you’ve done so yourself, of course.

The game is in us, and Maryland is here to play.

While We Wait . . .

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It’s time for YOU to get in the game. Your help is needed.  Desperately.  Think of it as a shootout, and you’re kicking for the home side.

Team Terry has been working almost nonstop for the past few weeks, securing all the documents necessary for Baltimore to be included in the US bid to host a future World Cup. It’s a labor intensive process, involving numerous partners in the public and private sectors, particularly the educational institutions whose facilities would host practice sessions for participating teams.

Maryland is actually blessed with two chances at World Cup glory, since the Washington, DC bid features FedEx field for matches and several Maryland facilities for practice sites. However, the bulk of their bid is being prepared by a DC sports commission.

We’ve heard via the grapevine that Baltimore put together a very strong bid and is near the top in technical merit. However, when the US Bid team makes their decision THIS WEEKEND on the 18 sites they are selecting, they will factor in local support. This is measured by the number of people who sign the online petition that has been circulating for several months. Here, we are in a bad place. Perhaps the urgency of this poll has not been emphasized enough. Another factor is that votes from Maryland are actually divided by zip code with those from Washington suburban areas being credited to their bid.

No matter what the reason, the point is clear — we MUST GET MORE PEOPLE IN THE BALTIMORE SUBURBAN AREA TO SIGN THE PETITION!

Terry has been on the radio and TV, talking about this simple effort by our fans that can make all the difference in the world. Tom Noonan of Visit Baltimore sent an e-mail blast to his massive data base and nearly doubled our numbers in a day.  (Yea, Tom! Way to kick!!)

We need everyone who has a love of sports and appreciation for all the benefits it brings to take just a moment to sign the online petition, and urge their e-mail correspondents to do the same.