THIS DATE IN COMETS HISTORY NOVEMBER 2 Were loaded for bear today, so kick back and enjoy... 1960--Defender Barney Boyce was born in St. Louis. He played all of three games for the Comets in 1981-82 and had no stats whatsoever. He became a regular the following season with the Golden Bay Earthquakes (as pictured here) and scored one career MISL goal. Barney, we hardly knew ye... 1974--The paint was barely dry when the Comets one and only home, R. Crosby Kemper Memorial Arena, opened its doors for the first time as the NHLs Kansas City Scouts hosted the Chicago Blackhawks and lost 4-3 before a crowd of 14,758. Workmen that day rushed to put the finishing touches on the building, the construction of which had been delayed by several labor stoppages before the Scouts finally got to play at home after beginning their shakedown cruise season with an eight-game road trip during which they lost seven games and tied one. Chicagos Ivan Boldirev scored the first hockey goal ever in Kemper history, just 3:08 into the game, and Wilf Paiement (the closest thing the Scouts ever had to a star player) scored the first Scouts home goal ever at 14:58 of the 1st period. Cliff Koroll scored twice for the Blackhawks and Dennis Hull (Bobbys brother and Bretts uncle) assisted on two goals for Chicago. It would be another month before the Scouts won a game at 1800 Genessee, and the NBAs Kansas City Kings made their debut there on November 10, 1974 with a 102-99 loss to the Boston Celtics. The Comets outdid the Scouts and Kings by actually WINNING their Kemper opener, 5-4 in overtime against the Wichita Wings on November 28, 1981. Oh, by the way, the Comets hold the record for largest opening night debut crowd of any Kemper Arena tenant, 15,925. Kemper Arena was/is only a so-so venue for hockey and basketball (and concerts, for that matter), but indoor soccer fit like a glove there. The building still stands, but appears to be on life-support now, as the venue rarely hosts events now, and its infrastructure is in major decay. The wrecking ball most likely awaits within the next year or so. 1981--The Comets added forward Marco Antonio Abascal to the roster. Doug Pollard, Steve Juhasz, Dorivado Peres, Sukil Chong, Marinel Risnita and goalkeeper Tony Dallas were all released. 1984--The Comets lost a regular season home opener for the first time ever, 6-5 in a shootout to the Los Angeles Lazers before 15,502 at Kemper Arena. It was the final Comets game ever to be decided by a shootout, which the Lazers won 4 goals to 2. Tasso Koutsoukos scored two goals (three if you count the SO) and Israeli newcomer Bennie Tabak scored his first goal in his MISL debut. Defender Steve Pecher had two assists in his first game as a Comet and MF Charlie Fajkus also made his Comets debut. Starting goalie Enzo DiPede left the match in the 2nd quarter when he suffered a lacerated lip after being accidentally kicked by erstwhile Comet Stuart Lee, who was now a Lazer. Comet nemesis Poli Garcia had two goals and two assists for LA. The legendary Comets lazer show returned during pre-game after a hiatus, and the Comets altered their entrance during player intros by having them climb through the plexiglas and run down the steep ramp (see attached photo). The ceremonial first ball that night was kicked out by Lees Summit native Rick Sutcliffe, then-pitcher for the Chicago Cubs who today is an ESPN baseball commentator. The game telecast was tape-delayed on Channel 62 at 8:00 the next night. [Gee, I guess we couldnt pre-empt those all-important Friday night CHiPs reruns, huh?] 1985--In front of the largest home crowd ever in team history, 16,388, the Comets opened the 85-86 season with a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Steamers in a very festive home opener (and season opener) at Kemper Arena. The lazer show was back again, and local vocal legends Ida McBeth and Marilyn Maye tag-teamed to sing God Bless America and The Star-Spangled Banner, respectively (and respectfully, for that matter) and the 23rd Street Marching Cobras performed at halftime. And as this town was still buzzing over the Royals winning the World Series over the Cardinals six nights earlier, shortstop Buddy Biancalana joined the festivities by kicking out the ceremonial first ball before Kansas City continued its sports dominance over St. Louis. There were familiar faces on the Steamers bench, including head coach Pat McBride, who returned for his second stint with St. Lou, along with former Comets Mark Frederickson, Greg Makowski and Stuart Lee. Rookies Dave Boncek, Keith Fulk and John Cerin made their MISL debuts that night, while Ty Keough and Keith Furphy played in Comets uniforms for the first time. The first goal of the season went to (who else?) Damir Haramina, his first MISL career REGULAR season goal, after picking up right where he left off against Team Steam in the 85 playoffs, during which he scored five times. First Steamers goal? Who else, but Njego Pesa, who terrorized the Comets ever since the 84 postseason. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Alan Mayer also made his Comets debut in goal that night, got his first win, and picked up his first assist in KC midway through the 4th quarter to put the Comets up 3-1. Alan looked almost Joe Montana-like as he heaved a pass downfield to a streaking Angelo DiBernardo (on what looked like a football fly pattern), who got a shot off near the St. Louis red line that grazed off Daryl Dorans foot just enough to get Slobo Ilijevski falling the wrong way and the ball rolled past him into the net. Kamikaze also received a bloody nose from an unidentified Steamers elbow and was later named MISL defensive player of the week for his efforts. And with just over a minute remaining in the game, Gino Schiraldi drilled a shot from almost the same spot as DiBernardos goal, this time past 6th attacker Greg Makowski, to seal the deal. St. Louis outshot the Comets 35-17 on the night. 1991--Even though the NPSLs regular season had already gotten underway, the Kansas City Attack held its first exhibition game ever at Municipal Auditorium and defeated the Tulsa Ambush (led by player-coach Victor Moreland) 20-18 before a crowd of 4,794. Former Comets Gino Schiraldi and Jim Schwab each scored goals and the Attack led 15-8 at halftime. Tulsa tied things up at 18 with less than two minutes to go, but our man Gino assisted on Peter Hattrups game-winning goal on a re-start in the closing minute. Moreland, already a villain to most KC fans for breaking David Doyles leg in 1990, did a little rough-housing and was penalized twice for unsportsmanlike conduct, and even though it was just an exhibition game, a couple fights nearly broke out. Tickets for this game were only two bucks, but I came away from it feeling very empty. First off, as Ive stated before, indoor soccer at Municipal Auditorium was just plain weird. The layout of the building is all wrong for a glassed-in game, and the seats at floor level were all but worthless, as you could only see players from the chest-up over the dasher boards (not unlike at the Tacoma Dome, for those of you who remember those late-night Comets telecasts). The lighting was so poor, one couldve developed film in the goal areas, the scoreboards didnt work for most of the first half, and they even used the Comets old dasher boards and turf, but it all just seemed absurd to me. Even absurd-er was the game presentation, which was totally inferior to that of the Comets--no flashing lights, no pyro, and even worse, rotating public address announcers! The first guy wasnt very good at all, especially as he butchered the players names, and you could tell he was nervous. Then in the second quarter, fans were subjected to this shrieky woman who kept yelling, Attack! Attack! Attack! Show your support for the Attack! and she was like fingernails on a blackboard. Then, riding on a stallion to save the day, came our man Ed Bishop, who took over the PA in the second half and far out-classed those other two nimnuls. Then you factor in the NPSLs gimmicky multiple-point scoring system, and it just left me missing the Comets all the more. Like a bad haircut, this new league and team would take some getting used to...
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 03:14:38 +0000
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