Speaker 1: I do get a little crazy, nervous, anxious, excited. I
Speaker 1: sometimes play the reverse psychology pessimistic game as a sports fan,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure a lot of you can relate to that.
Speaker 1: It's so different from what I do for a living,
Speaker 1: which is a world of neutrality, where you don't just
Speaker 1: try your best to be neutral calling a game. You
Speaker 1: actually learn over time to have zero emotional attachment to
Speaker 1: the outcome. Viewers don't always believe that, but I promise
Speaker 1: you it's It's the same checklist every time. You want
Speaker 1: a close, competitive game, you want some nice plays to
Speaker 1: call for the viewers to enjoy, and you want no
Speaker 1: serious injuries from the players. That's the same every time.
Speaker 1: And I love my job, but there's something about stepping
Speaker 1: away from neutrality and just being a fan and being
Speaker 1: heavily emotionally invested. For me, there's just a few things.
Speaker 1: At the top of the list is Colorado Avalanche hockey,
Speaker 1: Chelsea soccer, and of course the US national men's and
Speaker 1: women's soccer team when it comes to big international competitions
Speaker 1: like the World Cup. So I record this the morning
Speaker 1: after the US has been eliminated in the round of
Speaker 1: sixteen by the Netherlands a little deflated. It did happen
Speaker 1: during CFB Championship Saturday, when I was about to go
Speaker 1: on the air, so the disappointment was buffered. A day
Speaker 1: later I could process it. It's a semi qualified success
Speaker 1: this World Cup in Qatar for the US. They lost
Speaker 1: to a superior team, but the way they lost poor
Speaker 1: defending lapses in marking was a little bit of a bummer,
Speaker 1: which is why I am so excited to say that
Speaker 1: I've got Alexei Lallis as my guest now. Before I
Speaker 1: worked with Alexei covering the twenty ten World Cup in
Speaker 1: South Africa, and before he went on to success with Fox, Yes,
Speaker 1: Alexei was a great, proud, tough, passionate player for the
Speaker 1: U S national team, central defender who would score some
Speaker 1: strategic goals, usually with his head off that wild mane
Speaker 1: of red hair for which he became globally known. So
Speaker 1: Alexei was good enough to come on board, share some
Speaker 1: old stories, evaluate the US performance, and at the end
Speaker 1: we look ahead to the next World Cup, of course,
Speaker 1: which the U S will co host with Canada and
Speaker 1: Mexico for years from now. He did this just before
Speaker 1: going on the set for Vox to set up the
Speaker 1: next round of games. So it's the shortest ever episode
Speaker 1: of this podcast, but it's jam packed with good info,
Speaker 1: good stories, and great to connect with. Mail buddy Alexei
Speaker 1: lalas part of this podcast. By the way, it was
Speaker 1: hijacked by his colleague, my former colleague and my buddy
Speaker 1: Rob Stone. You'll get it when it happens. But in
Speaker 1: the meantime, UH storytelling an analysis with Alexei Lallas from Qatar. Alexei,
Speaker 1: I am grateful for your time, every minute of it,
Speaker 1: and Qatar is accounted for, so it's great to see
Speaker 1: your smiling face in the afternoon their morning. Here we'll
Speaker 1: tell some stories, will wind the clock back, but I
Speaker 1: want to start with what is top of mind for
Speaker 1: US soccer fans, and that's your reaction to the World
Speaker 1: Cup Round of sixteen, you know, getting out of the
Speaker 1: group but following to the Netherlands. I want to ask
Speaker 1: you as an analyst, but first someone to ask you
Speaker 1: as a as a passionate fan of US soccer, as
Speaker 1: a former great who wore that shirt. So not what
Speaker 1: do you think about it, but what are you feeling
Speaker 1: about it? So the day after elimination yeah, because there's
Speaker 1: there's two different you know process is there, right, So
Speaker 1: what I think and what I feel about it. You
Speaker 1: know what I feel about it is. Look, I've been
Speaker 1: around a long time, you know, from back in the
Speaker 1: nine back in the previous century, running around, and I've
Speaker 1: seen the growth of this sport, and so I feel proud, um,
Speaker 1: but I also feel that stuff was left on the table.
Speaker 1: And I also feel, for lack of a better word,
Speaker 1: it always gets me worried that you know as well
Speaker 1: as I do, that people come into this soccer tent
Speaker 1: every four years and it's wonderful because we get a
Speaker 1: chance to spread the gospel. But you know, then they
Speaker 1: leave and the impression that they get is really really
Speaker 1: important because it leads to the credibility um and it
Speaker 1: ultimately leads to more popularization of the sport. And I
Speaker 1: hope that they saw a team that when we know
Speaker 1: we all gravitated to it. But I hope that they
Speaker 1: saw a team like me that they can be be
Speaker 1: proud of. But we also know we're in the American
Speaker 1: culture and it's about winning. And while most of the
Speaker 1: things when it comes to America, we are number one,
Speaker 1: and when we are winners at you know, unlike our
Speaker 1: women's national team, our men's national team has not been there.
Speaker 1: And so I worry that people either leave the tent
Speaker 1: or go away from the tent for a little bit,
Speaker 1: thinking that we haven't made progress. But we have made progress,
Speaker 1: and I think that this ultimately maybe the time will
Speaker 1: be looked at as a step forward. And it's not
Speaker 1: about moral victories. I I don't want that anymore. But
Speaker 1: this was a very young team. This is a team
Speaker 1: also with an eye. So that's that's partly in my head,
Speaker 1: you know, and that's how I how I feel about it,
Speaker 1: you know how I think about it. You know, I'd
Speaker 1: give Gregg Berhalter in this team a B solid B
Speaker 1: B plus in terms of what they did going undefeated
Speaker 1: in group stage and you know, a very difficult group,
Speaker 1: playing really well against England. They just picked the worst
Speaker 1: possible moment to have a stinker of a game against Holland,
Speaker 1: and still it was there. There was a gift and
Speaker 1: we didn't bite the hand, uh and take it right
Speaker 1: out of that that Dutch hand. And you know, the
Speaker 1: Dutch are a good team and they all they needed
Speaker 1: is a couple of chances the ruthlessness that you saw
Speaker 1: of the Dutch is something that this team hopefully will
Speaker 1: develop over the next four years. Yeah, that's all. Well
Speaker 1: put what's tough among other things for US sports fans
Speaker 1: of crass but soccer is this sort of like not
Speaker 1: knowing how to react about it? Is round of sixteen
Speaker 1: good enough? Well? I mean I think the players felt
Speaker 1: like there was more. You felt like there was more,
Speaker 1: you know, perhaps, And this is this is the story
Speaker 1: of the World Cup for so many nations, the what ifs,
Speaker 1: would shoulda could have? Had you beaten Wales, had you
Speaker 1: won the group, you don't play Holland in the round sixteen,
Speaker 1: you have an easier match. I think it would have
Speaker 1: been Senegal, right, so, but but they didn't take those chances.
Speaker 1: They didn't win the group, and they made it hard.
Speaker 1: And it seems like US soccer only knows one way,
Speaker 1: and it's the hard way, right, And it's been that
Speaker 1: way since Europe Layer. Yeah, it's you know, it's this weird,
Speaker 1: purgatory type of place that we we inhabit right now
Speaker 1: because yeah, we got out of the group. Well service
Speaker 1: First off, qualifying for a men's World Cup is nothing new.
Speaker 1: We have done that That's why it was such a
Speaker 1: you know, a massive failure four years ago, but it
Speaker 1: was kind of an anomaly. And so you get back
Speaker 1: to the World Cup and you know, we we were
Speaker 1: happy to get back to the World Cup, but it's
Speaker 1: something that we've done. Getting out of the group is
Speaker 1: also something that we have done consistently, um, but getting
Speaker 1: out of that round of sixteen, we've only done that once,
Speaker 1: back into in two thousand and two where we were
Speaker 1: then we went on which was which was wonderful. And
Speaker 1: so you're in this moment where you look back at
Speaker 1: history and said, well, we had done better in previous
Speaker 1: World Cups, and yet are we more advanced? I mean,
Speaker 1: just within this cycle. I think that it's night and
Speaker 1: day when it comes to how far this group has
Speaker 1: come from that incredible failure of not qualifying for the
Speaker 1: two thousand and eighteen World Cup, and it certainly bodes
Speaker 1: well for the future. But I think where you know,
Speaker 1: a little hesitation is from from me and others is too.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not an a type of effort because
Speaker 1: you didn't find a way to win that game, and
Speaker 1: that was a winnable game against the Dutch, and you
Speaker 1: know they finished their chances. The United States didn't finish
Speaker 1: their chances and doing things that we have done as
Speaker 1: a soccer play nation for a while. And they're not
Speaker 1: And I said it on air, these aren't these involved
Speaker 1: type of uh soccer tactics that take decades and decades
Speaker 1: to figure out. You follow your men in the box.
Speaker 1: I mean, it doesn't matter whether you watch soccer or not.
Speaker 1: That's a problem marking men in sports, marking your opponent
Speaker 1: in sports, that's you know, that's a constant anywhere. So
Speaker 1: that was a little bit disappointing, and not that we lost,
Speaker 1: but kind of how we last exactly As a defender
Speaker 1: and and as an analyst, when you and you have
Speaker 1: three goals conceded and each time the defenses looking around
Speaker 1: at each other like what happened? Where were you? I
Speaker 1: mean that that does not look good. And I think
Speaker 1: that you're right. It was a bad time to follow
Speaker 1: asleep against an opponent unlike some of those in the
Speaker 1: group stage who can really hurt you. And they made
Speaker 1: us pay, and we made Holland look better than they are.
Speaker 1: Perhaps who knows, maybe they'll go on and make a run.
Speaker 1: I know you've fancied them a little bit as as
Speaker 1: a contending team. But that's the one thing is at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, um, you know you're not
Speaker 1: gonna get many chances, you have to grab them. We
Speaker 1: didn't early. But but when you look at the result
Speaker 1: of a goal and the team was looking around each
Speaker 1: other like, wait a minute, we broke down that that's
Speaker 1: what was a little deflating to see. Yeah, and it's
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's wide open men in the box
Speaker 1: and clear cut chances and and again you know there
Speaker 1: there are coaches out there, youth coaches, anybody that's coached
Speaker 1: long enough. You talk about being able to watch your
Speaker 1: being able to see the ball and being able to
Speaker 1: see the man. These are fundamental, basic type of principles
Speaker 1: of soccer. And so I think that's you know, that's
Speaker 1: where where it's disappointing. Having said all of that, you
Speaker 1: know that it was you know, we've we've seen this
Speaker 1: before in World Cups, where you know, people come together
Speaker 1: and as you know, especially in this day and age,
Speaker 1: very little brings us together as a nation. And to
Speaker 1: see these, you know, people in their classrooms because this
Speaker 1: is the World Cup where it was actually happening during school,
Speaker 1: which is something that was unique. So to see the
Speaker 1: classrooms and the and the cool teachers and the cool
Speaker 1: schools that kind of embraced it and used it even
Speaker 1: as lesson plans than all that kind of stuff. And
Speaker 1: everybody's screaming and young people in airplanes and obviously the
Speaker 1: bars and the fan fests and all that. That was
Speaker 1: pretty cool to just see that happen. And sometimes you're
Speaker 1: in kind of this this bubble of a World Cup,
Speaker 1: and now with this technology age that we live in,
Speaker 1: we can see what's happening back home, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't have fow move to, you know, because I
Speaker 1: get to do the best job in the world here.
Speaker 1: But it was kind of cool to see all of
Speaker 1: these people celebrating this game back in a country and
Speaker 1: culture that you know, we're constantly pushing that boulder up
Speaker 1: the hill and it you know, it made my old
Speaker 1: stock heart very very happy to see that happening. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I agree, and I can say it from this set
Speaker 1: of the Atlantic, the energy was there. And roll Lett's
Speaker 1: remember too, it's not easy to progress in the World Cup.
Speaker 1: We have one reaction, but but for Germany, for Belgium,
Speaker 1: from Mexico, it's an unqualified disaster to be stopped in
Speaker 1: group stage. I talk about it in college football. You know,
Speaker 1: if if people want a comparison, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma
Speaker 1: not winning their division, not winning their conference, not contending it,
Speaker 1: and and that is different because it happens every four years.
Speaker 1: And Germany have struggled. So we did something those soccer
Speaker 1: powers and much more talented teams didn't do. So yeah,
Speaker 1: sixteen teams went home. And you know, look, we've I've
Speaker 1: watched Olympics, I've worked Olympics. You you know, you've you've
Speaker 1: seen it and worked it. And you know, sometimes when
Speaker 1: you see these sports like where it comes down to
Speaker 1: you know, ten seconds is the entire you know, synopsis
Speaker 1: and uh and career and you're judged on you It
Speaker 1: blows your mind sometimes to see that. Obviously soccer is
Speaker 1: a little longer in terms of a game, but it
Speaker 1: but it still does come down two minutes And is
Speaker 1: it right? Is it fair to judge athletes just on
Speaker 1: those moments? It doesn't matter, you know, Soccer isn't fair.
Speaker 1: In life isn't fair. This is the way the way
Speaker 1: that it is. And ultimately Greg Berhalter is the coach
Speaker 1: knows this, and these players know that this can be
Speaker 1: defining and that we left a little bit on the
Speaker 1: table just means that we have, you know, still still
Speaker 1: some ways to go. But you know, as the saying goes,
Speaker 1: you've come a long way, baby, and soccer certainly has.
Speaker 1: And this isn't me being Pollyanna, This isn't me asking
Speaker 1: for blind faith out there when it comes to our
Speaker 1: soccer teams or just our soccer in general. It's just
Speaker 1: maybe some perspective that I've gotten over the years and
Speaker 1: seeing how, you know, how the game has played, how
Speaker 1: the game is coached, I mean, how even how it's
Speaker 1: how it's broadcast, and how that has evolved, you know,
Speaker 1: and the world over here in this incredible set for
Speaker 1: Fox over here, and you know we've seen over the
Speaker 1: years how it's been that broadcast. Then bringing it to
Speaker 1: you know, a country and culture that's really really unique
Speaker 1: because it's not just about the U. S team. It's
Speaker 1: about all of these different teams and are melting pot
Speaker 1: that is the United States in the United States and
Speaker 1: all this incredible diversity that we have, you know, giving
Speaker 1: people their teams and it's not always the the US team,
Speaker 1: but ultimately giving them a steady diet of soccer. And
Speaker 1: you know, as you mentioned, I still got another two
Speaker 1: weeks here and and we've been through this where the
Speaker 1: home team goes out and right, and there's this deflating
Speaker 1: of the balloon, right, but you gotta pick it up.
Speaker 1: And as pros were right back in here today and hell,
Speaker 1: you know we got we got France and Embobe here
Speaker 1: that I get to call. So I'm incredibly fortunate privilege
Speaker 1: to be able to do this messy still in the
Speaker 1: tournament where and all of that still in the tournament.
Speaker 1: It just goes on and on and on. And if
Speaker 1: you really if you got excited about the US team
Speaker 1: playing soccer in the World Cup, there's plenty more you
Speaker 1: will fall in love with this game. And there's plenty
Speaker 1: more as this World Cup goes on, and you know
Speaker 1: is coming to and that's gonna be a fun. That's
Speaker 1: gonna be a fun and you're both on and off
Speaker 1: the field for what it means for soccer in the
Speaker 1: United States and to to to a certain stent in
Speaker 1: Canada and Mexico. We'll circle back, I want to finish
Speaker 1: with that as we look ahead to the next World Cup.
Speaker 1: But let's spend back. You and I sat next to
Speaker 1: each other in Pretoria, South Africa, for a situation somewhat
Speaker 1: similar to the U. S Iran game. They had to
Speaker 1: be at Algeria to go through, to not go through.
Speaker 1: It had been a disaster. Algeria a very beautiful opponent,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't happening, and they had had chances, Us
Speaker 1: had had chances. And we're sitting there in this not
Speaker 1: a very glamorous stadium, kind of an old stadium, not
Speaker 1: one of the show place venues in South Africa, and
Speaker 1: we are preparing for a post mortem. Right It's the
Speaker 1: last game in the group stage. If they don't get
Speaker 1: the win, they go home. It's gonna be crushing. I
Speaker 1: can feel the emotion from you next to me. I
Speaker 1: didn't play, but obviously I'm emotionally invested. And all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, that that goal that landed Donovan scores. He
Speaker 1: had Andreas Cantor as a guest in the podcast. He
Speaker 1: talked about calling it in Spanish. I've talked to, obviously,
Speaker 1: lots of folks who have experience, and you said ten seconds,
Speaker 1: and that was a ten seconds change the World Cup, change,
Speaker 1: the life of Donovan and so many other players. But
Speaker 1: but that emotional ride, we we were we were deflated, depressed,
Speaker 1: and then there were literally tears of joy I think
Speaker 1: from you after Donovan scot and we won the group.
Speaker 1: It was nuts, it was not And you know, listen,
Speaker 1: I had so much fun, you know, working with you
Speaker 1: and others, and I learned so much from you. And
Speaker 1: obviously I've I've continued on and and you know, being
Speaker 1: with Fox and working World Cups, Men's and women's and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But you know, TV is something that
Speaker 1: I have been so fortunate to come into and to
Speaker 1: learn from the likes of you and and other greats,
Speaker 1: whether it was ESPN and at Fox, and continue on
Speaker 1: and to see you guys work and to understand what
Speaker 1: goes on and how the sausage is made. Um, it
Speaker 1: was incredibly changing in terms of the way that I
Speaker 1: did did my job. And then you know, to be
Speaker 1: talking about a game that I love at at a
Speaker 1: World Cup in these incredible moments, and to experience that
Speaker 1: emotion now not as a player, but talking about it
Speaker 1: and you know, hopefully being able to in a you know,
Speaker 1: a to be able to articulate and to be able
Speaker 1: to tell the story in in you know, hopefully an
Speaker 1: interesting and entertaining type of way. Um. You know, talk
Speaker 1: about coming a long way. I've come along a long
Speaker 1: way since then, but a lot of the foundation that
Speaker 1: I still use today with stuff that I learned with
Speaker 1: you and others and others there. It literally changed the
Speaker 1: way that I that I do my job because I
Speaker 1: understood how it was done. But you never you never
Speaker 1: lose that love and that, you know, the beauty that
Speaker 1: comes from the game, the passion that you have, the
Speaker 1: emotion that comes out, and and it's you can't control
Speaker 1: it con apologize for one second about having the wrong emotion.
Speaker 1: Fans look to you for that. That's a moment where
Speaker 1: they could say, Alexei Lallas, I remember him playing, but
Speaker 1: he's one of us too, because you're allowed to care
Speaker 1: in the World Cup and that kind of a moment, Alexei,
Speaker 1: where we weren't calling it, We're just watching it and
Speaker 1: then getting ready to react to it. But that kind
Speaker 1: of a thing where where careers change on a dime
Speaker 1: because at one ball put in the net just in
Speaker 1: the nick of time, and I thought that was a
Speaker 1: beautiful woman. I've talked about that where you know, hey,
Speaker 1: it's okay to get choked up. Yeah, we have to
Speaker 1: have some distance, and you've become this wise stage, you know,
Speaker 1: delivering perspective. It only comes over time. I think that's
Speaker 1: that's sort of your your role in a in a
Speaker 1: knee jerk, no context reaction, short attention span world, that's
Speaker 1: what you're there to sort of counter, I think, in
Speaker 1: your role. But in that moment in ship, I mean
Speaker 1: that we were prepared to do a post mortem and
Speaker 1: it was a celebration that was fun. And don't don't
Speaker 1: never lose the rawness and the heart that you bring
Speaker 1: to it. Man, I am preciate. I can't. I mean,
Speaker 1: even if I tried, I couldn't. I I couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: And and sometimes you know when when all the crap
Speaker 1: is flying around and you know you're you're incredible at
Speaker 1: being able to still get the job done with all
Speaker 1: the craziness sometimes that live sports bring. And that's why
Speaker 1: I know you love live sports. I love live sports,
Speaker 1: and there's there's nothing like it. And it is becoming
Speaker 1: actually more and more unique and valuable as we go
Speaker 1: on in this in this world that seems to be
Speaker 1: packaged to end and already kind of predestined live sports
Speaker 1: are where it's at because you don't know what is
Speaker 1: going to happen, and you need people like yourself to
Speaker 1: be able to steer the ship and make sure that
Speaker 1: people stay on course, but also, like you said, to
Speaker 1: recognize the emotion, recognize the moment and what the moment needs,
Speaker 1: and to to paint a picture. And you know, ultimately,
Speaker 1: you know, you're you're an artist in your own right
Speaker 1: in the way that you do things. And I like
Speaker 1: to think we're all kind of painting this picture. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's a better picture than other pictures, and sometimes we
Speaker 1: get it right, sometimes we don't, But you know, we
Speaker 1: are living it, and the people are watching us living it,
Speaker 1: and we are for the time being, they're still using
Speaker 1: human beings, and as long as they do, you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have emotion and passion involved in what we do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, technology calls off size, but humans will always
Speaker 1: describe the action on the field. Yeah, you're very kind.
Speaker 1: I mean, I learned so much from you and from
Speaker 1: this collection of global rock stars that we assembled in
Speaker 1: South Africa and other World Cups. But I think that's
Speaker 1: where we kind of first brought ESPN resources to Bear,
Speaker 1: and then you had Rude Hullett, and you had Steve McManaman,
Speaker 1: and you had Jurgen Klinsman, and you had Roberto Martinez
Speaker 1: a lot of soccer brain power. But all these nations represented.
Speaker 1: All these dudes were, you know, multi millionaires who had
Speaker 1: global brands because of their success on the field. You're
Speaker 1: representing America to an American audience. But but in the
Speaker 1: global game, what was that like? You know, sitting there
Speaker 1: with with that collection of personalities who, by the way,
Speaker 1: did their job all day and night and then went
Speaker 1: out and enjoyed South Africa as only they could. I mean,
Speaker 1: for me, that was like a life changing moment. Incredibly
Speaker 1: proud to be the host of that coverage. I will
Speaker 1: always put that very very near the top of the resume.
Speaker 1: But what was that like for you to sit in
Speaker 1: that desk with that characaustic here and then go off
Speaker 1: go off into the night with them to right? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's so much fun because obviously you
Speaker 1: see these players and they are acts players and what
Speaker 1: they have done on the field, and you associate moments
Speaker 1: in your life. Sometimes you might have played against them
Speaker 1: or idolized them growing up and watched them, and then
Speaker 1: you you get to know them as people and obviously
Speaker 1: as colleagues working, and there is a great equalization process
Speaker 1: process that happens because while you might have the cachet
Speaker 1: of what you've done on the field, ultimately now you're
Speaker 1: in the TV world and you've got to bring it
Speaker 1: again and to see how some do and some don't,
Speaker 1: and some like it, some dope, some don't. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I am so fortunate to be able to do what
Speaker 1: I do. I get you know, players sometimes asked me
Speaker 1: about it all the time, and I said, listen, if
Speaker 1: you can find a jumping off point, um, great, because
Speaker 1: your career might not end when you want it. But
Speaker 1: I'm so fortunate because I've found something that excites me
Speaker 1: as much and even in certain ways even more jacks
Speaker 1: me up than playing. In terms of television, it's not
Speaker 1: for every some people. You know, it's easy from the couch,
Speaker 1: we all, we all know that. But when you when
Speaker 1: you find something like that, you hold onto it and
Speaker 1: you know they can pry it from my cold dead hands.
Speaker 1: And listen, they're coming, all the young and are coming
Speaker 1: right now. But to be able to work with all
Speaker 1: of these legends and understand how they think about the
Speaker 1: game and to get their insight, especially when they're good
Speaker 1: on television, because it's one thing to be good in
Speaker 1: the bar, it's another thing actually be good on television.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. That's us. And now we have more and more,
Speaker 1: especially of these American legends. You know, here a Fox,
Speaker 1: I'm working with Landon Donovan and Contempse and Reesa do
Speaker 1: and these types of players that have been there and done.
Speaker 1: You know, we were just talking about the Landon Donovan
Speaker 1: moment that is iconic, and now I'm sitting next to
Speaker 1: him and he's talking about what he sees on the field,
Speaker 1: and so it's it's wonderful that, you know, I'm kind
Speaker 1: of the the old guy, the old I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm a sage or anything, but I'm the old guy.
Speaker 1: But to see it happen. And then the international aspect
Speaker 1: of the game that I know you love and I
Speaker 1: love because you know, it's there're very few sports out
Speaker 1: there that have this international aspect of it. Tennis maybe
Speaker 1: to us certain extent um, but it means that you
Speaker 1: have all these different you know, countries and cultures coming
Speaker 1: together and sometimes that is reflected in the broadcast that
Speaker 1: you do um, and it's cool. It's cool to see
Speaker 1: how they think about the game. It's also a wonderful
Speaker 1: moment when they experienced American television for the first time
Speaker 1: and the reality says, you know, and you you see
Speaker 1: the wheels starting to spin as they figure out, Wow,
Speaker 1: I'm not in Kansas anymore. And this is maybe a
Speaker 1: very very different type of broadcast, daily schedule and performance
Speaker 1: that I'm used to, and and broadcast executive behavior some
Speaker 1: of the guys. I don't think we're used to the
Speaker 1: intensity of some of the cast of characters we had.
Speaker 1: You know, you mentioned the global nature. I hope fans
Speaker 1: listening and fans who watch on their couch in this
Speaker 1: country do get a chance to go abroad and experience,
Speaker 1: whether it's a US game or a World Cup or
Speaker 1: Champions League final, or or a Premier League game or
Speaker 1: something where you see culture is coming together and this
Speaker 1: shared language of soccer. It's been said it's somewhat trite
Speaker 1: in my ends of some people, but it's so real
Speaker 1: and I get chills thinking about the moments around the
Speaker 1: world where where you're in a bar in the northern
Speaker 1: part of Chile, you know, watching them play Argentina. There's
Speaker 1: so many examples of that, and it's such a beautiful,
Speaker 1: you know, menu of experiences to have that people open
Speaker 1: themselves up. And I'm glad you talked about the global
Speaker 1: nature of it because that that is so rich and
Speaker 1: it's so unique. Yes, there's tennis, but that's not the
Speaker 1: same as an individual sport versus watching your country out
Speaker 1: there running around. I mean, look, I always tell the
Speaker 1: story of when I was a kid. I used to
Speaker 1: go out and I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit,
Speaker 1: grew up with you know, slurprites and MTV and you know,
Speaker 1: going to see rats played down at the Kobol Hall
Speaker 1: or Joe Louis Arena or whatever. And you know, I
Speaker 1: would go out when I was a kid and I
Speaker 1: would jug on my ball on my sidewalk in front
Speaker 1: of my house here in suburban Detroit, and it always,
Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't lost on me. You've been a
Speaker 1: young age that there's a kid on the other side
Speaker 1: of the world that I have absolutely nothing in common
Speaker 1: with sept this game. And that always fascinated me because look,
Speaker 1: I grew up in all the different sports. I was
Speaker 1: huge I actually played more hockey growing up in soccer,
Speaker 1: and it's the law and Detroit obviously in in Michigan,
Speaker 1: but the fact that this was an international game that
Speaker 1: really really appealed to me. Look, I I am incredibly
Speaker 1: uh you know, privileged and happening fortunate to come from
Speaker 1: what I feel is the greatest country in the world,
Speaker 1: in the United States. But I also recognized that, you know,
Speaker 1: we are citizens of the world and that world play
Speaker 1: soccer and that connection that this game brings. I think
Speaker 1: it's it's wonderful from an international perspective, but it's also domestically.
Speaker 1: You know, when people gravitate towards this team and towards
Speaker 1: this tournament and towards this sport, a lot of times
Speaker 1: it's that there's this feeling that we are connected, we
Speaker 1: are something bigger than just the United States, and not
Speaker 1: all our sports are able to do that, and maybe
Speaker 1: this is the unique sport that is able to able
Speaker 1: to do that. And it doesn't mean you have any
Speaker 1: less uh pride or affinity for the country or your phone.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, you can celebrate that country
Speaker 1: within the context of this game that the rest of
Speaker 1: the world is also celebrating. I hope people listening will
Speaker 1: understand that before they were watching you on TV, you
Speaker 1: were running around playing and it was more than just
Speaker 1: the red hair and the beard. I mean, I want
Speaker 1: to ask you what it felt like, Alexei to wear
Speaker 1: the U S shirt. You're talking about the background you
Speaker 1: came from, your your love of soccer at a young age.
Speaker 1: But to get to the pinnacle of soccer in the
Speaker 1: U S and to wear that shirt and to score
Speaker 1: a goal against Argentina in a win in Copa America,
Speaker 1: to score a goal against England and a victory at
Speaker 1: International and then to put on those crazy stonewashed blue
Speaker 1: denim looking stars and stripes kits in nten ninety four,
Speaker 1: controversial to this day, loved by some, reviled by many.
Speaker 1: But to put that shirt on and you want to
Speaker 1: say Hi, Chris Bowler, Rob Stone, Oh my goodness, Rob
Speaker 1: Stone is stunner. I wish people can't see this who
Speaker 1: are listening, But Robson has jumped into the front one.
Speaker 1: What this one is? Yeah, they're they're clean, they're clean.
Speaker 1: What's going on? And you're sharing earbuds over in Qatar?
Speaker 1: That is that is team love, Lily. He just asked
Speaker 1: me about the denim kip back in the nineteen hundreds,
Speaker 1: it was it was incredible. Yes, so yeah, I was
Speaker 1: running around with a whole lot more hair back then.
Speaker 1: It was. It was wonderful. But we've come a long,
Speaker 1: long long way. Working Are we doing something? We're doing
Speaker 1: a podcast? Thank you for a podcast? Pod pod what? Yes?
Speaker 1: They It doesn't even there's no real real tape the
Speaker 1: way you used to do back and when you are
Speaker 1: ready ESPN, you know, running tapes all over the place.
Speaker 1: It isn't even involved. It's a it's a fledgling thing.
Speaker 1: Just a few of us have these podcasts. It's just
Speaker 1: starting out. But but yeah, thanks for jumping people tops
Speaker 1: and eleven people you know, I mean, and just they
Speaker 1: just communicate back and forth. The people want to download.
Speaker 1: It's cold downloading download automatically like Napster down like Napster.
Speaker 1: The automatically appears on their the mobile phones, not that
Speaker 1: the rotary phones that we're talking about. That are you guys?
Speaker 1: Are you guys punchy already? I sent some punchiness from
Speaker 1: working together whatever. You're already in a sixteen? How come
Speaker 1: I wasn't invited to this? Why you gotta go with
Speaker 1: the big time. You didn't you didn't return my text, Rob, Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, right, Chris Fowler and I go way wait,
Speaker 1: give a story before I'm gonna give you this. This
Speaker 1: guy's family raised Golden Retrievers, and I got a beautiful
Speaker 1: Golden Retriever of puppy that I gave to my mom because, um,
Speaker 1: we had two previous Golden's who were not doing well.
Speaker 1: And so this dog, this dog we named Higgins, um
Speaker 1: gotten from the Stone family, bravely put in a little
Speaker 1: cage and flew in a plane from Connecticut to Colorado.
Speaker 1: Gave my mom years of joy. Was there her companion.
Speaker 1: She began to struggle with Alzheimer's and but helped the
Speaker 1: quality of her life. So thank you to Robin the
Speaker 1: Stone family for the gift of a Golden Retriever. You
Speaker 1: didn't expect that in our kitchen, beautiful beautiful Golden retriever.
Speaker 1: So has has LEXI tried tend on Prime Time heading
Speaker 1: the Boder Yet we haven't. We haven't talked about that
Speaker 1: piece of college football news, and I'm not sure we will.
Speaker 1: But I went on the Horny Frog. So the Horny Frog.
Speaker 1: This thing, it's unbelievable. It's like I'm talking to a
Speaker 1: guy who played at Newcastle and has no idea what
Speaker 1: universities are. And you want the Rutgers University for crying
Speaker 1: a Big ten. The Rutgers are in the Big ten conference.
Speaker 1: They they got us for our education, not our football, evidently.
Speaker 1: But I love you, but you've give them the ear
Speaker 1: bed we got. We gotta get back to sucker a
Speaker 1: little bit here. What I'm doing, I gotta I gotta
Speaker 1: go work here. He's been telling me your time is precious, man,
Speaker 1: keep it doing your You're an awesome job. I'm allowed
Speaker 1: to say I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you.
Speaker 1: All right, I got, I got, I got two minutes,
Speaker 1: I got two minutes really big, you know what that's got.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna don't worry. I'm gonna watch this thing off.
Speaker 1: Don't you worry? All right? But the feeling of wearing
Speaker 1: the shirt, even though the shirt was funky and representing
Speaker 1: your country, and you know, back in the day they
Speaker 1: would have called it building a brand, but you were
Speaker 1: just doing what I did with exuberance and energy, and
Speaker 1: the look didn't hurt either. But man, to take me
Speaker 1: back to that that feeling of reap in your country. Yeah,
Speaker 1: never has so much been done with a modicum of
Speaker 1: talent and uh, you know, a lot of hair and
Speaker 1: a goatee and a guitar. Um. Look to your point,
Speaker 1: I grew up in the eighties and I grew up
Speaker 1: watching you know, MTV, and you know, the um the
Speaker 1: aesthetic was very, very important, and I incorporated that into
Speaker 1: I mean, I've always considered myself an entertainer. You know,
Speaker 1: you you rehearse, which is basically practiced, right, you take
Speaker 1: it out on stage, which is basically the field. You
Speaker 1: go in front of an audience, which is basically the crowd.
Speaker 1: You put on a costume which is your uniform, and
Speaker 1: then you perform. And you want that type of interaction.
Speaker 1: You want to be seen, You want to be noticed,
Speaker 1: and you want to do whatever act it is that
Speaker 1: you do to the best of the best of your ability.
Speaker 1: But you add the the other part of it, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, the opportunity to represents your country, and it
Speaker 1: is it is not lost on me. Um. You know
Speaker 1: how few of us get that opportunity and incredible privilege
Speaker 1: And there is nothing like putting on that jersey, walking
Speaker 1: out on that field, putting your hand over your heart
Speaker 1: and singing that national anthem and hearing the reaction from
Speaker 1: the people, and you know, the score at a certain
Speaker 1: point doesn't matter um to a certain extent, because you
Speaker 1: are representing everything that we hold dear as a country
Speaker 1: on the international stage. And I'll never forget that. I
Speaker 1: never took it for granted so many times that that
Speaker 1: I did it. If I could continue to do it,
Speaker 1: I would. And it still gets me each and every
Speaker 1: time when I see, you know, these young men and
Speaker 1: the his own women go out there and represent our
Speaker 1: country and within that Then to your point, I think
Speaker 1: we talked about it earlier, the potential for their lives
Speaker 1: to change. I mean, I'm sitting here in Dohak guitar
Speaker 1: talking to Chris Fowler here on on zoom because of
Speaker 1: the World Cups. It changed my life forever. I lived
Speaker 1: the power of what a World Cup continue to an individual.
Speaker 1: My life was never the same. And I love that I'm,
Speaker 1: you know, talking about the World Cups now and that
Speaker 1: there are players that in this World Cup, there will
Speaker 1: be players in the World Cup in the US where
Speaker 1: their life is going to change. It's a it's a
Speaker 1: wonderful and amazing thing, and very few of us get
Speaker 1: that opportunity. You talked about sports competition as performance, and
Speaker 1: just the same way that another dear friend and colleague,
Speaker 1: John mckinnur talks about it. He always felt like being
Speaker 1: on the court was like performing, And like you, he's
Speaker 1: a musician. His passion I think for music is almost
Speaker 1: as strong as it is for tennis. And he views
Speaker 1: it the same way, and and it makes me wonder though.
Speaker 1: But you, you're perhaps being too modest. Although some of
Speaker 1: your fame and notoriety came from the look these long
Speaker 1: flowing red locks in the beard, there was the quality
Speaker 1: of your play there, the intensity that you brought, the
Speaker 1: physicality that you brought to it. You're not sitting here
Speaker 1: telling me that if you'd had a red crew cut
Speaker 1: and no beer, that you wouldn't have been Uh one
Speaker 1: of the stories of the night before World Cup in
Speaker 1: your life would have change? Would you? No? I mean,
Speaker 1: I'd like to think that I had a little uh
Speaker 1: skill and ability when in talent when it comes to
Speaker 1: the actual playing of the game. But you know, the
Speaker 1: the package is important, and just because you recognize it,
Speaker 1: you know when I when I say that I'm an
Speaker 1: entertainer sometimes, you know, that's not a pejorative, that is
Speaker 1: an actual understanding of the theater that this that sports
Speaker 1: is and can be. And I know sometimes people cringe
Speaker 1: at that, but I leaned into it. I recognized it.
Speaker 1: And in no way did that mean that anything that
Speaker 1: I did, or the thing is that I wore, the
Speaker 1: way that I looked was was not authentic or credible
Speaker 1: or honest. I was incredibly comfortable in this costume and
Speaker 1: in this persona and in this brand that I was creating,
Speaker 1: and it, uh, you know, it worked for me. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that some people do get offended when they
Speaker 1: view it as as as theater or entertainment, and that's
Speaker 1: it's nonsense. I mean, you the more year around it,
Speaker 1: more you understand, Yes, it doesn't. You should not get
Speaker 1: in the way of being a team guy, of competing,
Speaker 1: of trying to be ahead in the scoreboard. But it
Speaker 1: never did for you. And I think you recognize before
Speaker 1: a lot of people that hey, you know, whether it's
Speaker 1: just you know, being yourself or being yourself times x,
Speaker 1: or you know, building a brand, whatever it is, it
Speaker 1: worked for you beautifully and it continues too. So no,
Speaker 1: don't ever apologize for that. UM is gonna wrap it up.
Speaker 1: I gotta go to work, my man. People, last thing,
Speaker 1: I know your time is valuable. UM. It's our shortest
Speaker 1: episode ever, but I'm very very gratefully making time spin ahead.
Speaker 1: We we talked briefly about the World Cup, which the
Speaker 1: U S will co host with Canada and Mexico, not
Speaker 1: just for the U S team, but what it's going
Speaker 1: to be like to have the World Cup back on
Speaker 1: US soil and a very different climate than the last
Speaker 1: time that we hosted it hopefully. Yeah. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: this is a wonderful ramp rate up to this incredible platform, uh,
Speaker 1: to help change the sport and again move it forward. UH.
Speaker 1: And it is a very very different scene than it
Speaker 1: was back in the Women's World Cup, two very seminal
Speaker 1: moments in terms of the perception of the sport. And
Speaker 1: so the world is coming back to a U S.
Speaker 1: And like we said of Canada and Mexico, that has
Speaker 1: fundamentally changed. The United States is a soccer nation. Okay,
Speaker 1: we don't have to apologize, UM, you know, we we
Speaker 1: can shed our insecurities and our inferiority complexes when it
Speaker 1: comes to what we are, and you know, we have
Speaker 1: a supporters culture, we have a knowledge you know, I
Speaker 1: think the American soccer fan is as knowledgeable and maybe
Speaker 1: more knowledgeable than others, just out of necessity. And it's
Speaker 1: all coming back to the United States. And keep in mind,
Speaker 1: the Night four World Cup was the most successful World
Speaker 1: Cup ever in terms of crowds, in terms of the
Speaker 1: money that it generated. And this is gonna blow it
Speaker 1: out of the water in twenty six and it's gonna
Speaker 1: be it's gonna be wonderful. Because look, I'll leave you
Speaker 1: with this story. So back in weeks before the World Cup,
Speaker 1: I got on a plane and I sat in the
Speaker 1: middle seat because that's what we did, right, And I
Speaker 1: had in my US pullo on and I sat down
Speaker 1: next to an older woman and she turned to me
Speaker 1: said what she said, what do you do? I said,
Speaker 1: to play soccer. She said, well, what's your job? I
Speaker 1: said about play soccer, And she said, what do you
Speaker 1: do for money? I said, I play soccer. And two
Speaker 1: weeks later, I'm in front of a billion people at
Speaker 1: the World Cup. Now that lady might have seen it
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks later, but the reality is that
Speaker 1: it's a whole generation that has grown up with soccer
Speaker 1: is part of their sports palt and that's wonderful and
Speaker 1: that's progress, that's evolution. And so this World Cup is
Speaker 1: coming back in twenty six. It's gonna be bigger and
Speaker 1: better than anything that we've seen. But it's coming back
Speaker 1: to a US that is a soccer nation and has
Speaker 1: plenty of culture, um and plenty of plenty of them
Speaker 1: ocean and passion for this game. It's unique. It's American,
Speaker 1: as I said, never ever apologize for that, whether you
Speaker 1: don't ever apologize for calling it soccer or or any
Speaker 1: of the other stuff that we yell and scream about it.
Speaker 1: It's our own version of soccer. But it's a it's
Speaker 1: the game obviously, it's played around the world, and we're
Speaker 1: going to invite everybody into that tent once again, and
Speaker 1: hopefully that ten's just gonna get bigger and bigger, and
Speaker 1: hopefully a US team that will not be the youngest
Speaker 1: of the World Cup in four years. These players can
Speaker 1: learn and grow from the experience playing abroad and and
Speaker 1: certainly building that enthusiasm and in that World Cup. Alexie,
Speaker 1: I think you joined me around a six team, won't
Speaker 1: be good enough. Not in four years, not with more development.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna be higher expectations and hopefully higher
Speaker 1: level of performance from the home team. When that happens,
Speaker 1: we should expect more from our home team. We should
Speaker 1: expect more from these young players that have been given
Speaker 1: every opportunity and resources halfway and with that comes to
Speaker 1: higher expectations, and I think that they can live up
Speaker 1: to it. This is a team that believes that they
Speaker 1: are destined for greater things. And that's good. I mean,
Speaker 1: whether that sports or anything. You want more for your
Speaker 1: I guess children that I can call them, but they
Speaker 1: are really you know. I mean, we took it as
Speaker 1: far as we could, and this is a new generation
Speaker 1: that believes that they can do great things and much
Speaker 1: better things than we ever did. And that's progress, and
Speaker 1: that's all that I ever wanted. All right, get back
Speaker 1: to our keep up the great job. I'll be watching him.
Speaker 1: Very grateful for your time for Squeeze and gets in
Speaker 1: from Qatar and sharing some old stories and bringing back
Speaker 1: some very nice memories for me. Appreciate Alexei. You're the best,
Speaker 1: my friend. Thank you so much, And just like that,
Speaker 1: away Alexei went. We stopped the recording. I turned on
Speaker 1: the TV a few minutes later and there he was
Speaker 1: on the set with the team talking about France versus Poland.
Speaker 1: So I'm very grateful for his time. This episode obviously
Speaker 1: was a sprint, but his schedule is so busy. Covering
Speaker 1: a World Cup is just about unlike anything else in
Speaker 1: TV sports. He were in the same hotel room for
Speaker 1: about forty days and he has got a ways to go.
Speaker 1: December eighteen is the World Cup final. Next time we've
Speaker 1: got the season five finale episode. I'm so excited about this.
Speaker 1: It's a year in the making. James Clear author of
Speaker 1: the global bestseller Atomic Habits, and he is such a
Speaker 1: smart guy. James is really in the forefront of self improvement,
Speaker 1: developing good habits, kicking bad habits, becoming more productive, doing
Speaker 1: more with less time, and a lot more so. Whether
Speaker 1: or not you've read Atomic Habits, and I recommend that
Speaker 1: you do, you'll get a lot out of this episode.
Speaker 1: Our season five finale is coming up. As always, deeply
Speaker 1: grateful for my co executive producer Jennifer Dempster and for
Speaker 1: Octagon for editing the episode. We'll talk to you soon
Speaker 1: for the season finale,