Socking It to the Sockers : Players Angered Over Owner’s Recent Criticism

SAN DIEGO — Bob Bell’s crusade to tame the Sockers is as popular with San Diego players as banning beer in the Padre clubhouse was with Goose Gossage.

Bell, the Sockers’ managing general partner, said Monday he is fed up with the off-the-field behavior of many of his players. He has implemented a dress code and wants the players to stop getting dissent penalties on the field and quit complaining in the press.

“I’d rather sacrifice a sixth championship and have certain players move on than put up with any more off-the-field non-professional activities,” said Bell, who passed that message on to his players in a meeting at the start of the season.

On a team where Gossage would almost seem reserved, the players--who have recently been fined frequently for what they believe are “petty” offenses--are not exactly taking this quietly.

“He (Bell) says that he lost $9 million (while full owner of the team),” said a Socker player who asked to remain anonymous. “Some of us have been here for years and some of us took salary cuts. Look what we did for him. Bob Bell can talk, but we won five championships.”

Fines of $50 were levied against Juli Veee, Jean Willrich, Kevin Crow and Hugo Perez for not joining the team in their customary trot around the field after the Sockers lost at home to the Lazers Nov. 22.

“It’s real petty,” said another player who also asked to remain anonymous. “Those fines are killing the spirit of the players. And then at the meeting he (Bell) went on a tirade. He called us a bunch of (bleeps). And he said, ‘I’ll get rid of you all.’ ”

Bell said he doesn’t plan to get rid of anyone.

But . . .

“I have tried over nine years to build an organization that has a first-rate reputation,” Bell said. “The players should act with more professionalism in their contact with the general public. They should dress and act in a manner befitting a team that has won five championships.”

At what has now become referred to as the meeting among the Sockers, Bell told the players to wear jackets and ties to home games. On the road, players usually wear their uniforms from the hotels to the arenas.

A dress code is not exactly the Sockers’ style.

The Sockers have traditionally been wild winners in a sport that has been compared to playing pinball in an arena.

Colorful personalities, controversial and funny quotes and off-the-field pranks have made them both the darlings and villains of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

This was a team that ravaged an airplane on a trip to San Diego last spring. And there were what Bell terms childish escapades at hotels and during public appearances. Supposedly frivolous behavior at a recent parade prompted people to call and write the Sockers to complain.

“A couple of years ago, you could get by with some of that stuff,” Bell said. “But the sport has matured and the team has matured. What you did when you were younger and seemed charming becomes ridiculous when you’re older. Some of these players act like they are 15 years old.”

One of the players who believes he is being singled out by Bell’s recent tirades is Veee, a veteran who was the subject of trade rumors last week despite getting off to a quick start this season.

“When he says ‘those elements,’ I’m sure he is talking about me. He should name the players,” Veee said.

“Maybe they want me out. Why don’t they just pay me off and I’ll leave? I don’t know if it’s Ron’s (Newman) or Bob’s (doing).”

Bell said he is pleased with the way Veee is playing and that there are no plans to sell him.

Veee, who was recently fined $500 by MISL Commissioner Bill Kentling for publicly criticizing a representative of another team, believes the league is trying to create “clones.”

“What happened to the attitude of us getting them (the Sockers) publicity any way possible?” Veee said. “We were told (by Socker management) to say stuff just so we could get off page eight.

“From now on, I’ll say everything is so wonderful I could die.”

Veee was fined for statements he allegedly made after the Sockers defeated the Steamers, 8-1, in St. Louis Nov. 18. He was quoted as saying that the Steamers should get rid of Steve Pecher and Sam Bick because they are too old and too slow.

“It’s fabricated, I tell you,” Veee said. “Bick wasn’t even playing. I said that they (Steamers) used to fight for one another and they don’t anymore, but I never mentioned names.”

Kentling did not accept that Veee might have been misquoted. “I never heard one athlete say another athlete should be fired,” he said. “I have said players could speak their mind. But just as they are free to speak their minds, I am free to do things. We’ll see how important it is to them to say those things.”

Veee’s recent statements were tame compared to what he said after the Sockers defeated Kansas City, 13-3, last season: “I have never played against a worse team in my life.”

Veee was not fined for that statement, but times have changed under Kentling this year.

“It was past the time that we do something,” said Kentling, who spoke with all the team owners before the season about making the league more professional.

Veee’s agent, Scott Simpson, said: “We’re not going to pay it (the fine). We’ll take it to arbitration.”

Veee believes such fines will take the fun out of the game.

“From now on, if you (the press) bring a ticket from Bob Bell, I’ll talk,” Veee said jokingly. “You’ll get good quotes like, ‘It was a good game’ and ‘We tried hard.’ Is that what you want?”

Said Bell: “I encourage our people to talk to the press. I think it’s important, but I also think it’s important we’re in a sport where we don’t demean and belittle each other. We’re trying to become more consistent with other sports in that we don’t allow individuals to make statements that are detrimental to the game.”