San Jose watches Dynamo from afar, but hope is alive

	Earthquakes faithful like Guy Gayle (right) are cheering for the Dynamo in the MLS Cup while yearning for their own team again. Douglas Zimmerman/ISI
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SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Guy Gayle wants to party like it's 2003.

In a few days, his heroes -- guys like Dwayne De Rosario, Brian Ching and Pat Onstad -- will take the pitch for a shot at the MLS Cup. It would be the third title for Gayle's beloved side in the past six years.

But there's one little problem: These guys aren't Gayle's team anymore. They're now the Houston Dynamo.

As recently as 12 months ago, Gayle was the guy beating the drum in the north end zone at Spartan Stadium as the leader of the Casbah, the raucous supporters' club for the San Jose Earthquakes. But that was then. Like most of the Quakes' passionate core following, Gayle was crushed when the Anschutz Entertainment Group moved the team to Houston last December after failing to reach a deal for a new stadium.

"I'm still bitter about the way it went down," Gayle said on Wednesday night. "[AEG] didn't put in the effort they could have. It seemed short-sighted -- they're missing out on an amazing fan base."

When the Dynamo kick off against the New England Revolution on Sunday, it'll be a bittersweet occasion for fans like Gayle. He admits he still watches his former team, and pulls for the players he cheered to so many victories. "The players got to know these fans personally," he said. "Seeing them still succeed is wonderful."

Gayle isn't alone with his mixed feelings. Bill Ward, another former member of the Casbah, said he felt "eviscerated" when the Quakes left for Texas, yet he and his wife will be in Frisco on Sunday to cheer on the Dynamo. And this wasn't even a spur-of-the-moment voyage. "We've had tickets for a month-and-a-half," he admitted.

Spotting fans in the stands clad in blue Earthquakes jerseys has been a regular phenomenon all season long for Dynamo players. More than 200 Quakes supporters even chartered buses to drive them south to Los Angeles when Houston played the Galaxy in September. Head coach Dom Kinnear has said he hopes to see blue-clad Quakes fans in the stands at Pizza Hut Park for Sunday's final.

It still seems unfair that the owners of a team with such a following couldn't get a deal done to keep the club in San Jose. The San Francisco Bay Area is the fifth-largest media market in the country, and the percentage of people who participate in some level of amateur or recreational soccer is in the top five nationally. The TV ratings for July's World Cup final were second in the country. Yet the Quakes crazies are now fans without a team.

But one of the greatest injustices in the 11-year history of Major League Soccer is on its way to being righted. Last May, Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff purchased a three-year option from MLS to start up a new team. The only catch was that Wolff would have to succeed where AEG failed: building a soccer-specific stadium.

It looks like it may actually happen this time. Wolff and his partners have been negotiating with the city of San Jose, Santa Clara County and San Jose State University and could soon strike a deal to build a state-of-the-art arena in one of two sites in the area.

There's cause for optimism among local business leaders and fans alike because Wolff brings instant credibility as a savvy developer and a team owner. That he secured a deal in the past few days with Cisco Systems and nearby Fremont to build a new home for the A's can only help his reputation as a guy who gets things accomplished.

Wolff, his team and assorted A's brass were on hand here at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose on Wednesday night to open the Earthquakes' official office space at a small reception. To the 200 or so fans in attendance, it was a sign that things could be -- that they have to be -- different this time.

"[Wolff] is a local owner," said Ward, referring to the fact that L.A.-based AEG ran, at one point, six MLS clubs at once. "That's a huge difference. It means we have someone who actually understands us instead of someone looking at a balance sheet."

For now, Quakes fans are going to have to watch their former team from afar. They'd like nothing better than to see De Rosario, this season's MVP runner-up, win his third MLS title. Then they'll quickly turn their attention back to Wolff, a man whose name they chanted Wednesday night with the same ferocity they used to spur on their star midfielder.

"I'm glad somebody stepped up to the plate," said Gayle. "Let's get this done."