Aside from providing local fans an entertaining sport at a family-friendly time and cost, the Baltimore Blast give the youth of Baltimore hope.
“Players out of our town end up on our team,” Blast president/general manager Kevin Healey said. “I think it gives people the realization thatif I can’t make it, maybe it?s somebody that I played with.”
The question of the team’s value to the greater Baltimore area arose after team investor/operator Ed Hale told The Examiner earlier this week the Blast would cease operations if the city opts to build a new arena where 1st Mariner Arena now stands. Doing so would leave the Blast without a permanent home for up to five seasons.
The team finished the 2006-07 season with a 15-15 record, narrowly missing the playoffs. After winning three titles in four seasons, the Blast led the league in attendance last season, averaging 7,448 fans per game at aging 1st Mariner.
“The Blast is very well-known,” Major Indoor Soccer League commissioner Steve Ryan said. “It may be the best-known sports team in the greater Baltimore marketplace.”
The Blast has a fan club, The Detonators, who often take to the road with the team and celebrate wins and accomplishments with the players.
“You’ve got your Ravens, you’ve got your Orioles, but these guys come out and do camps with kids, spend time with fans, come to our parties,” Detonators president Vickie Dulko said Thursday. “They don’t just come, eat and leave. They spend quality time with the fans.”
On Wednesday, the Blast announced they would be assisting in the creation of Cedar Lane Park, a multi-purpose facility slated to open in 2008 in Harford County.
The Blast had four Baltimore-area natives on last season?s roster ? Giuliano Celenza, Mike Lookingland, Billy Nelson and P.J. Wakefield ? and selected Fallston resident Kevin Mezzadra (Loyola Blakefield/ UMBC) in the first round of the 2007 draft.
“I grew up going to the Blast games, and now it?s turning around ? we’re starting to get big crowds,” said Celenza, a product of Archbishop Curley and UMBC who turned down further career opportunities to stay close to home. “I think it means a lot to Baltimore because it’s abig soccer community, and there’s really no other team in Baltimore.”
