The Pythons, hometown indoor-soccer heroes, continue their quest for an upset against the powerhouse Dallas Sidekicks. Dodging bedraggled mascots, players from both sides get their game faces on for the second half of this pivotal World Indoor Soccer League contest. Devised 20 years ago by hustling capitalists, the indoor game pens soccer's wide-ranging energy into a space the size of a basketball court, stripping down strategy, amping up speed and cranking physical contact to 11. Rock music blares. Bodies crunch into hockey-style Plexiglas sideboards.
Players scamper on and off the miniature field with no break in the action.
Referees brandish blue cards instead of traditional yellow and red, banishing malefactors to a penalty box. If cricket is baseball on Quaaludes, indoor soccer is futbol on meth. Soccer purists hate it like preachers hate sin. Mainstream sports reporters couldn't care less. This year, though, this spasmodic hybrid enters its third decade of scrappy survival, and the men of the Portland Pythons fight for some breathing room in a new, unproven league.