View From The Blues, Volume One: The Run-Around

This is a new addition to the View from Victoria Street, highlighting the Los Angeles Blues of USL PRO, the third tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The View from the Blues will feature game recaps and other news related to the LA Blues.

"But you, why you wanna give me a runaround?
Is it a sure-fire way to speed things up
When all it does is slow me down?"

-Blues Traveler, "Run-Around"

Tuesday, December 14, 2010 marked a new dawn in football on the campus of California State University Fullerton and Titan Stadium.

I asked a gardener near the sign at Nutwood and State College, "Have you heard of the Los Angeles Blues?"

She asks, "Who are they?"

I responded, "They are this new team that will be competing in USL PRO next spring."

"Oh? That's news to me."

It sure is news to a region that is used to two clubs taking center stage: Chivas USA and the Los Angeles Galaxy.

But the Los Angeles Blues Soccer Club are essentially the brother club of W-League side Pali Blues, owned by the Mansouri family. They will be taking part in a competition that features a team from Antigua and Barbuda, three teams from Puerto Rico and teams from the West Coast.

I came to this conference feeling a little bit wary about matters. Is this Blues side a team that will flourish in USL PRO or flounder like the Los Angeles Sol did after a year.

That is, fold after incurring losses from travel and collective lack of interest?

That was the question I wanted to ask Charlie Naimo and the organization in the heart of north Orange County: The question of sustainability.

I mean, come on. The Los Angeles Blues will be the only team on the West Coast and we all know how FC Gold Pride suffered as the only West Coast team in Women's Professional Soccer—they only lasted two seasons.

One day they are champions, next day they collapse and are nothing.

My concern about this team is that they will face the same fate as the Sol and the Pride.

Well, Pali Blues are still hanging around as a summer-only team in the North American W-League.

(You can see coverage of this past season for Pali here on Bleacher Report and the View from Victoria Street.)

And I am also wondering if the name "Los Angeles Blues" seems proper. After all, this team is based out of Fullerton, in ORANGE COUNTY.

Again, I say it: The OC, Orange County. So, shouldn't they be called Orange County Blues?

Or maybe they are trying to pull off an Arte Moreno, along the lines of, say, "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim."

The club announced their first player-signings: Former Tigres UANL and Puebla goalkeeper Oscar Dautt, midfielder Cesar Rivera and former Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Josh Tudela.

Dautt was a Primera Division starter for 15 seasons with Monterrey (1998), Toros Neza (1999-2000), Puebla (2000-01, 2003-05 and 2008) and UANL Tigres (2001-03).

His last assignment? 2009 Apertura with Lobos BUAP in the Liga de Ascenso (Mexico's second division).

Tudela is Loyola Marymount University's director of soccer operations and was an MLS SuperDraft second-round draft choice for the Galaxy in 2007. He was a trialist for Steaua Bucharest of Romania's Liga I and KS Cracovia of Poland's Ekstraklasa.

And so the question was asked.

"We have a strong ownership group [in the Mansouri family] that will help ensure that we will be here for the long haul," Blues general manager David Adams said. "We don't plan to be here for just one or two seasons.

"We do have a lot of work to do. So far we have signed three new players and you will see more from us in the future."

Ah, the usual lip service—also known as the runaround.

Well that's easier said than done, mind, but there was no hiding that in front of a crowd of maybe about 20 or 30 people—maybe even less—the LA Blues indeed have some work to do before their relevance in the Los Angeles soccer circles is affirmed.

In fact, the club wasted no time in giving fans who came out for the press conference free tickets to the team's first home game, scheduled for April 2011.

Blues team tryouts are scheduled for Jan. 22-23 at Riverside Community College—Norco Campus in Corona, California. More information is on the official website, labluesprosoccer.com.

Other teams in USL PRO include Barracuda FC (Antigua), Charleston Battery, Charlotte Eagles, Dayton Dutch Lions, FC New York, Harrisburg City Islanders, Orlando City FC (the former Austin Aztex), Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Richmond Kickers, River Plate Puerto Rico, Rochester Rhinos, Sevilla FC Puerto Rico and Wilmington Hammerheads.

I guess the run-around will work for now.

But the LA Blues will need to sing to the beat of a different drum to get the word out.