The lobby of Clarence “Du” Burns Arena was painted red, black and gold Monday evening. Several hundred Baltimore Blast fans waited anxiously inside the arena to honor the 2006 Major Indoor Soccer League champion Baltimore Blast.
The Blast has won the championship three out of the past four years, with 2005 being the only year in that time Baltimore has missed the playoffs.
Team owner Ed Hale was greeted by the crowd with chants of “Eddie! Eddie!”
“We are a Baltimore team all the way because of the guts, determination they showed and the fact that there was no way the Baltimore Blast was going to be denied,” Hale said to the fans.
Hale said he wanted to keep the team intact for next season, but admitted with the upcoming expansion draft that may be tough to pull off.
“I asked Danny [Kelly] to step in when the things happened with Timmy Wittman. He stepped in, and at the end of the day we won it all,” Hale said. Hale announced that Kelly had decided to retire as a player and posed a question to the crowd: Do you think we should bring him back as a coach?
Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley spoke, after Hale was done, and declared May 8 as “Baltimore Blast Celebration Day.”
“Not once, not twice, but three out of the last four years (they have brought) the championship home to Baltimore,” O?Malley said. The Mayor was followed by short remarks from Kelly, Blast forward Machel Millwood, and team captain P.J. Wakefield.
“They have been there with us for the entire season and to see them turn out for the last time this year is a great feeling,” Millwood said of the fans.
Millwood, a Towson University graduate, scored the “golden goals” that won the semifinal series in Milwaukee and the championship series in St. Louis.
“I like to keep it short, but I spoke from the heart,” Kelly said, while he signed autographs. “I am proud to be a part of bringing a third championship home to Baltimore.”
Kelly said he had been thinking about retiring, as a player, and he knew the time was right. “I would love to stay here in Baltimore and coach the Blast,” Kelly added.
