Thank You Tatu!

Weekends in Texas can be trying when you wan’t to be at multiple places at once. Cloning would be a viable option.

This dilemma becomes more ever present when April arrives and you have to fight with Opening Day versus NASCAR or that outdoor Grapefest or concert to be playing at the AAC or  Superpages Center. 

Over a decade ago (the week before an ice storm would hit and cripple the Big D) coworker Vince Ferrara would pull me aside to confide, ‘Will, I do some side stuff for the local soccer guys. You want to go watch some indoor soccer?’

‘Indoor soccer? For real? Sure, I’ll go!’

‘Catch the action and let me know what you think about the game itself!’

Never mind the fact as a youngster I was privy to watching the Cosmopolitans in Pele’s final year-1977-alongside such stalwarts as Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia, or even that Kyle Rote Jr. dude from the Tampa Bay Rowdies. I liked soccer but didn’t really know much about it.

From that day in late 2002 until now two names have been synonymous with the Dallas landscape. Tatu and Sagu! The history alone for those two men could fill up a week’s worth of posts. All of it merited.

Saturday night at the Allen Event Center a 30 minute tribute was given to Tatu Pecorari for all that he had meant to the city of Dallas and the sport of indoor soccer MISL and now PASL style.

There were encomiums at the center mark of the field where thirty chairs were assembled with a mix of current players and ex-teammates, friends, and family. And then…

The video tributes began. A crowd of over 5,400 fans erupted when Dirk Nowitzki spoke, followed by Nolan Ryan, Roger Staubach, Mike Modano, and others to thunderous applause.

An added bonus were the hundreds and hundreds of children who were seated in a circle outside the procession watching, learning, and admiring the merits of one great career in relation to Tatu Pecorari. For instance:

1. A 6 time MVP.

2. An 11 time scoring champion.

3. A 12 time All-Star.

4. A 3 time Championship MVP

5. The ONLY Sidekicks Player involved in all four Sidekicks championships (1987, 1993, 1998, and 2001).

5a. Let’s also not forget that when becoming head coach in 1998 would win Player Of The Year AND Coach Of The Year in same year!

A career that spanned 18 years, 557 games, 736 goals, 672 assists, 1,408 points, 4,182 shots, 98 power play goals, 68 game winning goals, and 7 overtime goals. That is some career!

The Sidekicks won the game against the Rockford Rampage by a 14-5 count including three goals in 51 seconds early in the second period by Brazilians Pereira, Da Silva, and Guarda. Dallas improves to 12-3 and is playoff bound.

The 5,400 in attendance will forever remember the night the #9 was officially retired in Dallas and the jerseys given off the backs of Nolan, Mikey Mo, Roger, Dirk AND Pele. It’s what Tatu liked to do after each goal.

March in Allen gets busy with the Revolution now underway, Allen now playoff bound, and the Sidekicks doing their best to rekindle the fires of two decades prior. PASL style!

THANK YOU TATU!

Over and out in Big D.

Mr. Will