RIP Atlanta Silverbacks

I have refrained from blogging about this for a couple days now so I can process what has occurred... but I cannot wait any longer. On January 11th, the Atlanta Silverbacks died, and Don Garber has secured another victory for MLS and SUM, In any other circumstance, in any other way, in any other market that had no true grassroots at all, I'd feel sad. This makes me sick.

I have been going on and on about how the Silverbacks need an owner for the past year or so. They have had passionate supporters from all across Atlanta and the nation that were willing them on to succeed. They have had players like Chris Klute, the man handpicked by Eric Wynalda out of the rec leagues to try out for the reserves, then made his way onto the first team and became a Silverbacks legend. The Gorilla Ultras, the Silverbacks Alliance, the Atlanta Ultras.... and the city of Atlanta deserved better than this. The players deserved better than this. They say there is a special ring in hell for murderers and rapists.... and Arthur Blank deserves to have his own section, for that is the man that destroyed real soccer in Atlanta and put in its place a bastardized version with byzantine roster acquisition rules reminiscent of the NFL and MLB and not of the EPL, La Liga, Serie A... need I go on? After this announcement, Atlanta has bowed down at the altar of holy MLS. They have lost their identity, their history... their pride. If we had promotion/relegation, this would NOT have happened. In fact, "Atlanta United" would not have been born. And in the current system, I blame Bill Peterson for literally giving up on finding an ownership group for the city that has a lot of the world's richest corporations sue it as their HQ. I blame the original owner for giving up on soccer in Atlanta and selling out before the club ould even take off. I guarantee you if you looked hard enough, someone would have gladly bought the Silverbacks.

For all the things US soccer and MLS have taken away fromus, like the ability for clbs to rise and fall on their own merits, this is the most egregious. It's like saying, "We're going to close down a diner to build a Denny's". Absolutely sickening, and to show off how mad I am, I am dedicating this month to the Silverbacks memory by redoing my background in black as a sign of mourning and of rememberance.