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Speaker 1: Welcome in Clay Travis Wins and Losses. For those of

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Speaker 1: you who have not listened before, we've done a lot

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Speaker 1: of these, I think over forty now, and the idea

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Speaker 1: is these are long form conversations, not a lot of

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Speaker 1: commercial breaks, but that will be just as good if

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Speaker 1: you listen to them today as if you listen to

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Speaker 1: them in five or ten years. And we're exploring the

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Speaker 1: idea of the wins and losses that exist over the

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Speaker 1: course of someone's career, can be in sports, business, media,

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Speaker 1: can even be a big story in general, just a

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Speaker 1: really fun conversation allowing you to be a little bit

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Speaker 1: more in depth than you might be able to on

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Speaker 1: television or certainly in a quicker radio interview. And our

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Speaker 1: guest today is a guy that I have been watching

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Speaker 1: since I was a very young man. Alexei Lawless, one

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Speaker 1: of the most famous American soccer players of all time,

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Speaker 1: recently returned from twenty twenty two World Cup. I guess

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Speaker 1: technically it was the twenty twenty one World twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 1: all the years run together out in Qatar, which I

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Speaker 1: believe is the way you're supposed to pronounce it. Alexei,

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Speaker 1: have you recovered from being on the road for that

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Speaker 1: long in Qatar in the Middle East for the most

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Speaker 1: recent World Cup. Well, I can keep my years straight.

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Speaker 1: What is going on with you? Are you okay? My man?

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Speaker 1: Holy I'm getting to be an old man, like I know,

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Speaker 1: we just moved into a new year. But they all

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Speaker 1: run together. Well, look, I know we live in interesting

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Speaker 1: times and it's been a hell of a we'll say

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Speaker 1: last three years or something like that. But yeah, so

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, in November December, we were in Qatar,

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Speaker 1: and yes we decided to call it Qatar, and a

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Speaker 1: wonderful success from a box perspective and a broadcast perspective,

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Speaker 1: but also from a soccer perspective, one of the great

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Speaker 1: World Cups, especially when it comes to the final, and look,

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Speaker 1: you followed sports finals can often be real letdowns, and

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Speaker 1: this was anything but as a matter of fact, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of people that believe that that's final with

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Speaker 1: France and Argentina and ultimately Messi holding up that trophy,

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Speaker 1: was the greatest final in World Cup history. So all

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Speaker 1: well went on and off the field and I'm back

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Speaker 1: and I am safe and sound. I can't couldn't be

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Speaker 1: more n happy to talk to you. I'm really excited. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think there's a strong argument to be made that

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Speaker 1: that is the greatest soccer game, potentially of all time.

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Speaker 1: And I think certainly when you consider the number of

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Speaker 1: people who watched probably the most watched soccer game of

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Speaker 1: all time, which is a good combo as well. And

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Speaker 1: so you let's start for wins and wass as we

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Speaker 1: start early. So you obviously came to prominence in the

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Speaker 1: nineties as soccer started to take off in the United States.

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Speaker 1: But I'm curious when you were a kid growing up,

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Speaker 1: were you a soccer exclusive player? Did you play other sports?

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Speaker 1: When did you start to realize, hey, I'm pretty good

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Speaker 1: at soccer and maybe focus on it. I'm just curious

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Speaker 1: how you came to become such a lightning rod in

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Speaker 1: many ways for American soccer. Yeah. So I grew up

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Speaker 1: in the suburbs of Detroit. I grew up in this

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Speaker 1: seventies and eighties, and you know, MTV and Bubblem and

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Speaker 1: Little Caesar's and all that kind of stuff. And I

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Speaker 1: grew up in Michigan, and I know you're whites from Michigan.

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Speaker 1: It is the law there. If she hasn't told you

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Speaker 1: that you also have to play hockey no matter what.

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Speaker 1: Yeah I am. I am from a generation that played

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Speaker 1: multiple sports. I you know, I'm not gruffy old manning

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Speaker 1: it because the world has changed. Obviously sports have changed

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Speaker 1: with specialization. But yeah, from a young age, I was

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Speaker 1: playing all different types of sports. I actually played more

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Speaker 1: hockey growing up than I did soccer, but eventually I

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Speaker 1: just gravitated to it. I loved the international aspect of it.

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Speaker 1: I loved the creativity and the way that you were

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Speaker 1: given autonomy in a way that other sports don't have

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Speaker 1: it where you know, let's be honest, when you're watching

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Speaker 1: a soccer game, once that whistle blows, the coaches have

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Speaker 1: very little to do with ultimately what happens. And you

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Speaker 1: can't say that for a lot of sports. And so

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Speaker 1: I loved that that responsibility and like I said, the autonomy,

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Speaker 1: being able to do whatever I wanted once that whistle blue?

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Speaker 1: Did you get? Do you think you could have been

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Speaker 1: in a NHL professional hockey player if you had gone

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Speaker 1: all in on hockey? Oh? Absolutely? And I played at

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Speaker 1: a very high level. I was freaking awesome. I loved it,

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Speaker 1: But I know I grew up I grew up, you know,

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Speaker 1: skating on ponds and flooding the uh you know, the

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Speaker 1: driveway and doing all that kind of stuff. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: I was huge. I'm a huge Red Wings fan, always

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Speaker 1: have been. UM. So hockey was a huge part of

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Speaker 1: my life. And you know, the hockey culture in Michigan

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Speaker 1: is something to behold. And so it's obviously very very

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Speaker 1: different than what soccer was, and I loved many many

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Speaker 1: parts of it. But like I said, I also, you know,

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Speaker 1: my father's from Greece. He was a professor, and my

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Speaker 1: mom's a writer, and you know, this is what happens

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Speaker 1: when you get a kid who comes over from university

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Speaker 1: to the States, a Greek kid, and marries a girl

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Speaker 1: from Jersey, and so this is what you get. Um.

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Speaker 1: But you know, soccer was there, and you know I

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Speaker 1: grew up also going back and forth between Detroit and Athens, Greece,

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Speaker 1: and so I also got that that sandlot type of

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Speaker 1: existence that we associate so much with baseball and other sports.

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Speaker 1: But in Athens, where I was the kid, I was

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Speaker 1: the red kid. I would go down to the corner

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Speaker 1: to the sandlot and just kind of sit on the

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Speaker 1: side until eventually a kid didn't show up in goal

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Speaker 1: and say let's throw the American and goal. And then

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Speaker 1: I worked my way up, learned some swear words in Greek,

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Speaker 1: and then they let me play on the field. And

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Speaker 1: you know that that type of existence and that type

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Speaker 1: of a background and childhood within sports really really helped,

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Speaker 1: whether it was playing hockey or whether laying soccer. And

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Speaker 1: I definitely think that playing other sports, and in particular

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Speaker 1: playing hockey really helped my soccer. Did it toughen you

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Speaker 1: up the fact that you play I mean, it's interesting.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know the hockey background, but you played a

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Speaker 1: very physical style of soccer. Do you think that that

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Speaker 1: was partly connected to having grown up playing hockey, which

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Speaker 1: obviously is super physical. Sure, you know absolutely the movements

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Speaker 1: in hockey, obviously, the ruggedness and the physicality that's involved

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Speaker 1: in hockey. I definitely used that in the soccer that

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Speaker 1: I was playing, you know, with the understanding that there

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Speaker 1: are rules and things that you cannot do. But I

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Speaker 1: looked at my my physical attributes as something that could

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Speaker 1: help me in different ways. And you know, the hockey players,

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Speaker 1: you know, they are a very different breed in terms

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Speaker 1: of the way that they think about the sport, the

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Speaker 1: way that they think about themselves, I guess, even the

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Speaker 1: way that they think about the world. Also, there's plenty

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Speaker 1: of hockey players that you will see actually warming up

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Speaker 1: playing soccer. And obviously the international connections is probably the

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Speaker 1: most closely associated with soccer of the sports out there.

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Speaker 1: With the international aspect that started a while ago, but

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Speaker 1: really is dominant right now when it comes to the

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Speaker 1: NHL and that sport. I mean, it is a very

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Speaker 1: very international league and it's a very very international game.

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Speaker 1: Were you a defender in soccer and in hockey or

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Speaker 1: did you play all positions? Like, at what point did

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Speaker 1: you become a defender in soccer it's kind of specializing

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Speaker 1: or was that something that was a late thing or

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Speaker 1: was it something that fit your personality? How did that

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Speaker 1: end up happening. I played on the wing from a

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Speaker 1: hockey perspective, out there on the left wing, and I

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Speaker 1: was right hand sells on the off wing, so I

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Speaker 1: could cut in and do that kind of stuff. And

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Speaker 1: even from a soccer when I was playing soccer, I

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Speaker 1: was a much more of attacking player. And what happened

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Speaker 1: is I went to Rutgers University, State University of New

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Speaker 1: Jersey over there Exit nine off the turnpike because it

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Speaker 1: was the only place that I could get into. And

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Speaker 1: the coach said, listen, we're going through a rebuilding type

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Speaker 1: of years here. Have you ever played defense? And I

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Speaker 1: completely lied to him and say, oh yeah, I played

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Speaker 1: lots of defense, but I would do anything to actually

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Speaker 1: get on the field. And the rest is history, as

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Speaker 1: they say, from a defensive perspective in soccer. But it

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Speaker 1: was an opportunity that I saw. And you know the

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Speaker 1: reason why I ended up at Rutgers University. Like I said,

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Speaker 1: I was getting rejected at all these places. I was

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Speaker 1: coming from Michigan. My dad was desperate and he called

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Speaker 1: up the coach and said, hey, listen, I got this kid.

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Speaker 1: He's six four, he's done some things in soccer. He's

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Speaker 1: an okay student. And the coach said, well, let me

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Speaker 1: see you. We drilled the sixteen hours out to New Jersey.

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Speaker 1: We met with him for a couple hours. He said,

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Speaker 1: I can invite you to preseason. I can get the

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Speaker 1: agriculture school. And I was like, signed me up, not problem.

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Speaker 1: We drove sixteen hours back, I packed, and then they

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Speaker 1: came back and my dad basically slowed the car down

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Speaker 1: enough to kick my ass out Exit nine over there

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Speaker 1: in New Brunswick and New Jersey, and you know, I

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Speaker 1: fell into a really really interesting and very very different

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Speaker 1: environment scholastically and athletically than I had ever been exposed to.

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Speaker 1: You're a smart guy. Could you not get into Michigan

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Speaker 1: or Michigan State or they didn't have athletic programs that

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Speaker 1: focused on soccer? How did you end up at Rutgers?

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Speaker 1: You said that was the place you could get into.

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Speaker 1: What was the story there? I just got rejected in

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Speaker 1: a lot of places, and Michigan didn't have at that point,

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Speaker 1: Michigan didn't have a varsity soccer programs. You can believe it.

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Speaker 1: This was the late eighties, and so you know, I

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Speaker 1: was desperate and that you know, you're I have a

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Speaker 1: seventeen year old daughter right now who's going through the

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Speaker 1: college process, and it is completely You've got a few

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Speaker 1: years before that, Clay, but it is. It is completely

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Speaker 1: different than back certainly back in the eighties when when

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Speaker 1: I was doing it, and so I just needed somebody

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Speaker 1: to say yes, it didn't really matter where and from

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Speaker 1: a soccer perspective, though, you know, the New Jersey area

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Speaker 1: in the New York metropolitan area. It's a huge hotbed.

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Speaker 1: And so what ended up happening was I was surrounded

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Speaker 1: by much better quality and the strength of schedule that

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Speaker 1: we played put me on a national footing and platform.

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Speaker 1: So from a soccer perspective, it was everything that I

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Speaker 1: hadn't had and really kind of set me up to

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Speaker 1: have success later on. What was soccer like in Michigan?

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Speaker 1: You grew up outside of Detroit. For people who don't

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Speaker 1: know the geography there, that's where my wife is from

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Speaker 1: Oakland County. We actually got married in Birmingham at the

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Speaker 1: community house. For people who have been to Birmingham, Michigan,

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Speaker 1: it's a fantastic place. But were you primarily like now,

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Speaker 1: soccer is a very travel culture, right, there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of travel teams. It's very competitive to get on that

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Speaker 1: team or that team or this team. Was that the

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Speaker 1: case in Michigan at the time, or were you primarily

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Speaker 1: playing high school? Middle school? Like? What was the process

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Speaker 1: by which soccer evolution occurred then in the nineteen eighties

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Speaker 1: in Michigan. So I had been exposed to it, like

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Speaker 1: I said, when we were going back and forth to Greece.

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Speaker 1: Yea Greece. But then, you know, I did everything from

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Speaker 1: a very young age that a lot of the kids

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Speaker 1: still do today. I did mom and dad coaching and

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Speaker 1: orange peels and juice boxes at half time. And then

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Speaker 1: even back then, there were some travel leagues, and yes,

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Speaker 1: I played on a travel team and we started to

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Speaker 1: get at a higher level. But I'd be lying to

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Speaker 1: you if I looked at or played soccer with an

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Speaker 1: eye to the future. It was just something that I did.

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Speaker 1: My parents, like I said, they did not have an

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Speaker 1: athletic background, and as long as it kept me out

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Speaker 1: of trouble and it was something that I was good at,

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Speaker 1: they were cool with it, and as long as I

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Speaker 1: kept up my studies to the extent that I could.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, it just it was something that just fit

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Speaker 1: from a young age. But it was wild West back

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Speaker 1: then compared to what the kids have now. And I

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Speaker 1: know I found old saying that, but it warms the

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Speaker 1: cockles of my red headed American heart too to see

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Speaker 1: what this generation has at its disposal. I don't begrudge

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Speaker 1: them at all. I think it's wonderful. It makes me

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Speaker 1: incredibly proud that they don't have even close to you know,

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Speaker 1: the problems, and like I said, that wild less type

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Speaker 1: of existence that was soccer back then, even from a

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Speaker 1: young age, in terms of youth soccer to high school

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Speaker 1: soccer to college soccer. I did play high school soccer,

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Speaker 1: which even that in and of itself is a talking

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Speaker 1: point when it comes to sports nowadays, as how many

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Speaker 1: kids are specializing and you know, playing club soccer and

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Speaker 1: playing a travel team and not even being allowed to

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Speaker 1: play high school soccer. But I've benefited immensely from playing

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Speaker 1: high school soccer. And I'm not just talking about as

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Speaker 1: a soccer player, but as a student and as a person.

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Speaker 1: I remember a story, and we're talking to Alexi Lallas,

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Speaker 1: this is wins and losses. I remember a story about

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Speaker 1: Barry Larkin, who was one of my favorite baseball players

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Speaker 1: growing up. He went to the University of Michigan undergrad

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Speaker 1: and I believe it's I believe it's been publicly out

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Speaker 1: there for a while, but both Shimbeckler, who was then

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Speaker 1: the coach of Michigan had a lot of success, would

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Speaker 1: show up at Barry Larkin's baseball games and call him

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Speaker 1: a woos because he wouldn't come play football. Because Barry

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Speaker 1: Larkin was an elite athlete. I think his son later

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Speaker 1: played NBA. I mean, they got some good genes there.

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Speaker 1: You said you played hockey and then you made the

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Speaker 1: switch over to a soccer You're a big guy six

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Speaker 1: three six four, so maybe it helped. But did you

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Speaker 1: get trash talked at all for being more interested in

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Speaker 1: soccer than than than than playing hockey in Michigan at

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Speaker 1: the time. And I want to read this to you

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Speaker 1: as part of that, because I said I was going

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Speaker 1: to do it earlier on the Clay and Buck Show.

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Speaker 1: I was reading the Babylon b and I thought this

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Speaker 1: was funny, and I bet you even would laugh a

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Speaker 1: little bit. NHL player says if he wanted to support

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Speaker 1: the Gays, he'd be playing soccer again. That was that

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Speaker 1: was the NHL getting They had that controversy over whether

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Speaker 1: the guy would wear the LGBT h story proverov or not.

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Speaker 1: But did you get picked on at all in the

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Speaker 1: eighties for being like, yeah, hockey's kind of this macho sport.

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Speaker 1: I love it. You say you were good at it,

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Speaker 1: could have been a potentially an HL player, and yet

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Speaker 1: you got drawn to soccer. Did you have any of that?

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Speaker 1: Barry Larkin syndrome where guys would be like, why are

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Speaker 1: you being a whoos and choosing soccer? Yeah? I mean, look,

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Speaker 1: I lived through the age where it was starting to

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Speaker 1: transition into a much more for lack of a better word,

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Speaker 1: acceptable type of sport for you know, for young athletes.

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Speaker 1: Because when we were kids, Alexei and you're a little

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Speaker 1: bit older than me, but not that much, soccer was

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Speaker 1: considered a whoos sport for kids to play. Right, I

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Speaker 1: played high school soccer, and if in Tennessee, if you

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Speaker 1: compare that to say, playing high school football, like I

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Speaker 1: would have been considered a whoos for being a soccer guy,

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Speaker 1: and that was even more prominent. I would imagine when

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Speaker 1: you were playing and started to make that transition into

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Speaker 1: becoming a professional soccer player. Yeah, And so what it

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Speaker 1: made what was good is that when you got your

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Speaker 1: ass kicked by a soccer player like myself, it was

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Speaker 1: really embarrassing if you were shooting your mouth off. But

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Speaker 1: you know, I heard it all I heard, like you said,

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Speaker 1: it's for us, is it's for it's for girls. It's

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Speaker 1: it's not for guys. It's communist. A bunch of guys

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Speaker 1: running around in tight shorts and nobody ever scores, and

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Speaker 1: there's no physical nature to it, and it's not you

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Speaker 1: know all it's you know, all of those different things.

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Speaker 1: I absolutely heard, I laugh at them, I ignored them

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Speaker 1: in you know, my size certainly certainly helped out. And

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Speaker 1: you know, as as you know, as you can attest

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Speaker 1: to sometimes from afar, you can have a perception of

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Speaker 1: what it is and then when you actually see it

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Speaker 1: played or play it yourself, it can change that perception.

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Speaker 1: But look when I when I look at this generation

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Speaker 1: now that grows up, they look at soccer as anything

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Speaker 1: else in terms of their their palettes that they have

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Speaker 1: of sports, whether it's to play or whether it's to watch.

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Speaker 1: So the perception of soccer has dramatically changed in the US.

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think for the better. But

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Speaker 1: you know, it's still it's still not king and in

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Speaker 1: terms of history and in terms of popularity, but it's

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Speaker 1: it's a whole different ball game and it's a whole

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Speaker 1: different sport than it certainly was when I was growing up. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: there's no doubt. And I think that's interesting because for

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Speaker 1: people out there, depending on the age and as they

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Speaker 1: listen to us, the analogy I would make is. When

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Speaker 1: I was a kid, and obviously I was a huge

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Speaker 1: sports fan, the only international athletes I knew were tennis players, right.

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Speaker 1: I knew Boris Becker, I knew Ivan Lindell, Stefan Edberg.

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Speaker 1: Like we could run through all that era of great

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Speaker 1: tennis players and you saw the Americans compete against them. Nowadays,

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Speaker 1: I would say, tennis by and large is not anywhere

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Speaker 1: near as much talked about as it would have been

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Speaker 1: in America when I was a kid growing up. But

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Speaker 1: when I take my kids to elementary school and when

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Speaker 1: I go pick them up, Alexei, I am stunned by

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Speaker 1: the amount of international soccer jerseys. I see American second, third,

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Speaker 1: fourth grade kids in the Nashville area where I live.

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Speaker 1: They all, because of the FIFA video game, have favorite players.

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Speaker 1: They all have an opinion on Messy versus Ronaldo. Right

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Speaker 1: in the same way that Jordan lebron Is discussed. There's

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Speaker 1: a lot of debate about who the greatest soccer player

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Speaker 1: is of all time. It's amazing to me in a generation,

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Speaker 1: how that has changed so significantly. I bet even to you,

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Speaker 1: if you go back to when you started playing soccer,

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Speaker 1: that's kind of staggering. How much knowledge there is internationally

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Speaker 1: about the game now embedded in our society. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean it's insane. You hit a bunch of a bunch

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Speaker 1: of things, including, like you said, the FIFA video gaming

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Speaker 1: that was a game changer in terms of the education

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Speaker 1: of players, of teams, of leagues, of tactics, and everybody

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Speaker 1: was playing it and therefore everybody, whether they realized it

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Speaker 1: or not, was gaining an appreciation and an education for

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Speaker 1: it for what it is. The other part is, I

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Speaker 1: mean when you when you want to watch soccer in

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Speaker 1: the United States, there are people that I have friends.

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Speaker 1: I have friends that are over in Europe that are

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Speaker 1: jealous of the amount of soccer that we have at

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Speaker 1: our disposal that they are able to watch on a

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Speaker 1: continual basis. I can pull up any game from anywhere

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Speaker 1: in the world, and so you have a generation. Now.

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Speaker 1: When I was growing up, we were literally trading v

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Speaker 1: VHS tapes, yeah, from you know that We're bootlegged from

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Speaker 1: games and programs from over in Europe in order to

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Speaker 1: get it, or we were going to the local soccer

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Speaker 1: store to pick up what was the Bible for US

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Speaker 1: American soccer people, which, as a magazine called soccer America

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Speaker 1: and that's where we got our information, and so it

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Speaker 1: is completely changed. And like you said, this generation right

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Speaker 1: now doesn't see soccer any differently than other sports out there,

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Speaker 1: either in terms of their fandom or in terms of

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Speaker 1: playing it. Okay, you mentioned being a redheaded kid in

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Speaker 1: Greece sitting on the sideline watching all those kids play,

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Speaker 1: and I want to kind of go back to that

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Speaker 1: time and build on it a little bit. So your family,

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Speaker 1: your dad, I think you said, was was Greek and

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Speaker 1: raises you here. What are the chances you play soccer

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Speaker 1: if your dad is not Greek? If you don't have

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Speaker 1: that interaction and that experience in your life of being

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Speaker 1: over there in Europe, in Greece, sitting on the sideline

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Speaker 1: watching those kids play in the dirt, how much do

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Speaker 1: you think that impacted your decision to embrace soccer as

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Speaker 1: the sport that you would pursue at the highest level.

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Speaker 1: I definitely think it impacted me. But it was a

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Speaker 1: function of being a kid. Obviously, the culture over there

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Speaker 1: in Greece is rooted in soccer, and it was a

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Speaker 1: function of being lonely and trying to make friends, and

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Speaker 1: this was the avenue that you used over there, and

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Speaker 1: I still yea, so, yes, yes, absolutely that happened. But

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Speaker 1: I'm also still from a time where the advent of

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Speaker 1: youth soccer and ayso and all these different leagues and

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Speaker 1: the realization from a lot of let's be honest, a

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Speaker 1: lot of parents and a lot of schools and a

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Speaker 1: lot of communities that this was a way to get

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Speaker 1: people active that didn't cost as much as other sports.

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Speaker 1: You didn't have to be big to play it, and

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Speaker 1: so I think that really lent itself to what you know,

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Speaker 1: to what was going on in a consistent basis and

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Speaker 1: why I gravitated to it. But yeah, I mean if

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Speaker 1: my father wasn't Greek, I still think that I would

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Speaker 1: have been involved in soccer and been exposed to soccer.

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Speaker 1: But having that, you know, that organic type of experience

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Speaker 1: from a very young age, absolutely that impacted me. I'm

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Speaker 1: curious what you would say about this. I've argued this

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Speaker 1: for a while and you obviously would be an expert

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Speaker 1: on this. So I think a lot of people will

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Speaker 1: enjoy it. Basketball when it used to be a huge

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Speaker 1: insult to say to someone, oh, he plays like a Euro.

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Speaker 1: If you're a basketball fan and you listen to me,

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Speaker 1: you'll remember it. It used to be an insult. Oh

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Speaker 1: he's a big man, but he doesn't want to bang inside.

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Speaker 1: He wants to step outside and take threes. Then what

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Speaker 1: ended up happening was the European style of basketball conquered

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Speaker 1: in America because America, we were teaching basketball like, hey,

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Speaker 1: it's football, right, Like, you're a defensive end, you do this,

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Speaker 1: You're a quarterback, you have this role. And what became

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Speaker 1: the way that basketball was taught was soccer like in

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Speaker 1: that you played a one to five right a point

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Speaker 1: guard to a center, but you had to be able

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Speaker 1: to handle the ball, and you had to be able

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Speaker 1: to play every single position. And it's a much more

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Speaker 1: beautiful style of basketball and much less regimented. And I

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Speaker 1: think Americans have come to embrace actually the way that

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Speaker 1: Euros play basketball. But the European style of basketball is

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Speaker 1: just an outgrowth of the way that Euros played soccer.

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Speaker 1: Do you see that connection? Would you buy into that

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Speaker 1: thesis in terms of the evolution of the sport, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean the way and even just in terms of

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Speaker 1: my lifetime, the way the game is played I'm talking

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Speaker 1: about soccer right now is fundamentally different than anything that

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Speaker 1: I grew up playing. You know, to your point about

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Speaker 1: you know basketball, if you the interesting thing there, the

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Speaker 1: irony is that it was almost a return to what

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Speaker 1: basketball once was if you ever watched Hoosiers or something

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Speaker 1: like that, you know, the emphasis on passing the ball,

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Speaker 1: the emphasis on being able to shoot the ball, that

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Speaker 1: we've kind of went away with, and understandably so, because

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Speaker 1: dunking and showtime and all that kind of stuff, that's

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Speaker 1: what people wanted to see. But the problem was that

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Speaker 1: no matter what, no matter what is successful, somebody will

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Speaker 1: come up with something that is able to take it down.

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Speaker 1: And I think very very quickly from a basketball perspective,

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Speaker 1: they said, oh, fine, this guy can't dunk or this

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Speaker 1: guy doesn't do the showtime stuff. But it'll step back

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Speaker 1: even though he's a big man and be able to

431
00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:46,600
Speaker 1: drain threes. And that is points on the board, and

432
00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:49,040
Speaker 1: that can change a game, and that can keep jobs,

433
00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:52,360
Speaker 1: and that can win championships. And so that becomes valuable

434
00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:54,760
Speaker 1: in the game today. From a soccer perspective, right now,

435
00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:58,400
Speaker 1: possession of the ball and the ability for individuals to

436
00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:02,200
Speaker 1: keep that ball is and that comes down to individual

437
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,679
Speaker 1: technique that has started at a very very young age.

438
00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:09,240
Speaker 1: Certainly Europe has a long history of recognizing that it's

439
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:11,560
Speaker 1: all fine and well to be a huge star and

440
00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 1: to score a bunch of goals and stuff like that.

441
00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:15,600
Speaker 1: But the fundamentals, and that applies to any sport. The

442
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,920
Speaker 1: fundamentals in life are essential and they will always be essential.

443
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,560
Speaker 1: They are ever green, regardless of what style are you

444
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:25,560
Speaker 1: going to play. If you don't have the fundamentals, you're

445
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:28,480
Speaker 1: already lost. Because you have that, you know that base

446
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,040
Speaker 1: that is not there. So this leads into the other part.

447
00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:34,560
Speaker 1: I was gonna get you to break down the number.

448
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,040
Speaker 1: I'm sure you see it all the time. The number

449
00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:41,480
Speaker 1: one criticism that I see of soccer in the United

450
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:45,480
Speaker 1: States every four years as it cycles up and everybody's

451
00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,520
Speaker 1: paying a lot of attention that sports fans make is

452
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,400
Speaker 1: they say, oh, the reason the United States doesn't dominate

453
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:57,919
Speaker 1: is because our best athletes don't play soccer. My argument is,

454
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:01,640
Speaker 1: you're missing the boat, and curious how you would analyze this.

455
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:06,600
Speaker 1: Our athletes who play now soccer for the US are

456
00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:11,320
Speaker 1: wildly talented, but if you just looked at raw athleticism,

457
00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:14,280
Speaker 1: it isn't What is the focus here in soccer because

458
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,159
Speaker 1: what they do so well with all these academies in

459
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,639
Speaker 1: Europe and everything else is they find kids who are ten, eleven,

460
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:23,879
Speaker 1: twelve years old, they put them into those academies and

461
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:30,560
Speaker 1: they have had hundreds of thousands of touches and technique, experience,

462
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:35,000
Speaker 1: and talent that most American players do not get in

463
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,040
Speaker 1: our country. And what's fascinating about it to me is

464
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,439
Speaker 1: we have this idea of Europe as like socialist and

465
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:46,520
Speaker 1: not very capitalistic necessarily, which isn't always true, right, But

466
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:52,960
Speaker 1: they are incredibly, incredibly competitive and you know, will get

467
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:56,240
Speaker 1: their best talent and develop it in a way that

468
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily happen in the United States. So it's not

469
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:03,760
Speaker 1: raw letticism that the United States is missing. It's the

470
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 1: amount of technique and talent and repetitions that the Euros

471
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:12,400
Speaker 1: and other places have gotten their best talent through. How

472
00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:14,639
Speaker 1: would you assess that that. I'm sure you hear that

473
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,560
Speaker 1: conversation all the time. Oh, if we put Lebron and

474
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:19,960
Speaker 1: if we put you know, whoever the best athletes are

475
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:23,320
Speaker 1: in the world into our soccer academies in the US,

476
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:27,000
Speaker 1: we would win championships. I don't buy that necessarily. I

477
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,200
Speaker 1: think it's about the repetition. Yeah. I mean so, first off,

478
00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:32,200
Speaker 1: just from a pure numbers perspective, I know how much

479
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 1: you love Dad. If you were to put if you

480
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,240
Speaker 1: put everybody that played a sport and just had them

481
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 1: playing soccer, the chances are or you had your best,

482
00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:43,919
Speaker 1: that you would have more better players out there, and

483
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,320
Speaker 1: certainly more competition because more players would be playing against

484
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,640
Speaker 1: each other. That's that's undoubted when it comes to someone

485
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:56,480
Speaker 1: like Lebron James. For example, how tals Lebron James six eight? Okay,

486
00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 1: so he's sixty eight. There are no six eight players

487
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:02,760
Speaker 1: that are dominated soccer. So just know that when we

488
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:05,840
Speaker 1: say our best athletes, you have to qualify that with

489
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:09,040
Speaker 1: an understanding, in an agreement about what an athlete actually is.

490
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,080
Speaker 1: If I if you didn't know who Leo Messi was

491
00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:15,320
Speaker 1: and you saw him walking down the streets there in Nashville,

492
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:18,639
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have no idea that there goes arguably the

493
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 1: greatest soccer player ever to play the game, because textually

494
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:24,000
Speaker 1: he just looks like a guy that's walking down to

495
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:27,400
Speaker 1: his I don't know his insurance agency. Messi is five eight, right,

496
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:29,560
Speaker 1: is he five foot eight. Basically for people out there

497
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:31,640
Speaker 1: who may not know his size and stature, you would

498
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,119
Speaker 1: never know that Messi was the greatest soccer player in

499
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:36,640
Speaker 1: the world. Whereas if you see Lebron James, he's six

500
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,480
Speaker 1: foot eight, he stands out right shack ain't hyden anywhere.

501
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 1: So soccer players like hockey player. I always say, Alexie,

502
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 1: I'm sure you'll appreciate this. Like I used to see

503
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,520
Speaker 1: all the Nashville Predators out back in the day, the

504
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:52,119
Speaker 1: hockey team. A lot of them weren't very well known

505
00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:55,600
Speaker 1: because hockey wasn't the biggest sport in Nashville, and so

506
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,040
Speaker 1: they'd be having beers hanging out at the bar, and

507
00:25:58,200 --> 00:25:59,880
Speaker 1: every now and then I would see a guy who

508
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 1: didn't know who they were and like bump into them,

509
00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,160
Speaker 1: and you know, I would be like, oh my god,

510
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,879
Speaker 1: this guy is about to get utterly wrecked because he

511
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:10,479
Speaker 1: had no idea he had just bumped into a hockey

512
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:15,120
Speaker 1: player who fought sometimes for a living. Because they're relatively

513
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,080
Speaker 1: average sized dudes, right, and they don't look like that

514
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,680
Speaker 1: much different than the regular guy would have in the bar. Yea.

515
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,600
Speaker 1: And also, you know, when you're talking about the development

516
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 1: of American soccer players, there is a stunt thing that happens,

517
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: and it's and it started to dissipate over the years

518
00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 1: because there are developmental academies and obviously the professional game

519
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,720
Speaker 1: is increased and there are many more pathways and opportunities

520
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,760
Speaker 1: out there. But there comes a point where players say,

521
00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,120
Speaker 1: either I don't want to play anymore because I don't

522
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:47,639
Speaker 1: see any future. When we say future, usually it is

523
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,440
Speaker 1: tied to you know, the next level, or going pro,

524
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,040
Speaker 1: or making a lot of money, or you know, dating somebody,

525
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:55,840
Speaker 1: whatever it ends up being. But you know, that's still aspirational,

526
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,680
Speaker 1: even though we recognize that even in all sports it's

527
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:02,000
Speaker 1: a very minute amount of people that are actually able

528
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 1: to do that. But not having that for so many

529
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,760
Speaker 1: decades that was detrimental to the sport. And it started

530
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:10,840
Speaker 1: a change now because they can see opportunities, even if

531
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,440
Speaker 1: it's just stars in their eyes, that is an incredible

532
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,920
Speaker 1: driving force. But I will say this, as we continue

533
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,760
Speaker 1: to grow, I think there's a real kind of moral

534
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 1: question that we have to answer, and that is what

535
00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:27,040
Speaker 1: is our responsibility to these young athletes that we are specializing,

536
00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:30,200
Speaker 1: that we are at times having them by pass school

537
00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 1: for what is our responsibility because we focus so much

538
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:35,640
Speaker 1: on that ninety minutes. The soccer game is ninety minutes.

539
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 1: Sometimes we forget about the other twenty two and a

540
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:40,960
Speaker 1: half hours. And I would submit to you that we're

541
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:42,880
Speaker 1: not just creating better in this case, we're talking about

542
00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,120
Speaker 1: soccer better soccer players, but we're hopefully we're creating better

543
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,080
Speaker 1: young men and women that are going to lead what

544
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:49,959
Speaker 1: I feel is the greatest country in the world. And

545
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:54,680
Speaker 1: advocating that responsibility that would pain me, and that would

546
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 1: hurt me, and I think ultimately you would be letting

547
00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 1: yourself down. You'll be letting your country down, You'll be

548
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,359
Speaker 1: letting the player year down and these people down, and

549
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,960
Speaker 1: you will be letting the sport down that leads in

550
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 1: Alexei Well, I think that's really well said because I

551
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 1: argue with my kids all the time, and I think

552
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:12,080
Speaker 1: this is true for anybody out there who's a dad, grandpa,

553
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:14,159
Speaker 1: or if you're a kid out there listening to this

554
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,280
Speaker 1: discussion right now, You've got to make sure you use

555
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:20,440
Speaker 1: the ball, that the ball doesn't use you, right, And

556
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:23,879
Speaker 1: that's a big part of anybody, no matter what sport

557
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:26,400
Speaker 1: you're pursuing, no matter what your talent level might be.

558
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,040
Speaker 1: And it brings me back to you going to Rutgers.

559
00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:32,760
Speaker 1: Was that a for you when you went there for college?

560
00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: Was that a culture shock to you? I know, you

561
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,760
Speaker 1: traveled back and forth to Europe some, but you're going

562
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 1: from Michigan. Now you're suddenly at Rutgers basically kind of

563
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 1: in the outskirts of the New York City, you know,

564
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:47,760
Speaker 1: environment that could be a culture shock. Was it for you?

565
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:50,840
Speaker 1: Or did you immediately thrive when you got to college,

566
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,920
Speaker 1: not only in athletics but in the classroom. So you know,

567
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,200
Speaker 1: I grew up, like I said, in the suburbs of Detroit,

568
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 1: and I went to a small prep school there, and

569
00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: I suddenly myself in the you know, the State School

570
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 1: of New Jersey, thirty thousand kids, like you said, right

571
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:11,280
Speaker 1: outside of New York, and I'm thrown into this, you know,

572
00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:14,960
Speaker 1: this very very different environment. I will tell you that

573
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,040
Speaker 1: what I did, and maybe this is just a coping mechanism,

574
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,960
Speaker 1: is I didn't speak to anybody for about the first

575
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:23,640
Speaker 1: month that I was on campus, and I scared the

576
00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 1: crap out of a lot of people off the field,

577
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 1: but on the field that actually worked out okay, because

578
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:30,520
Speaker 1: I was playing with a bunch of kids from New

579
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:33,840
Speaker 1: York and New Jersey, and basically they looked at Michigan

580
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:35,960
Speaker 1: as it might have been for them, as the other

581
00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 1: side of the moon. So I was as alien and

582
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,360
Speaker 1: foreign as you could possibly be coming from Michigan, and

583
00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:44,000
Speaker 1: that I wasn't saying a word. It just scared the

584
00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:46,600
Speaker 1: crap out of them, and that actually benefited me in

585
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,520
Speaker 1: terms of establishing a starting position. But you know, it

586
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:52,680
Speaker 1: was just it was. I mean, New Jersey in and

587
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:56,360
Speaker 1: of itself is a trip and takes a little getting

588
00:29:56,440 --> 00:29:59,400
Speaker 1: used to, but I consider myself and adopted New Jersey

589
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:02,280
Speaker 1: and out, and you know, I had a wonderful time.

590
00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:04,480
Speaker 1: And like I said, it changed everything for me in

591
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 1: terms of the soccer and you know, the education and

592
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:10,400
Speaker 1: the different people that I was meeting. It was. It

593
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,000
Speaker 1: was good. I'm it was a little bit daunting and

594
00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:16,120
Speaker 1: scary to begin with, but you know, you adapt and

595
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 1: kids adapt, and you know, it's either sink or swim,

596
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:20,760
Speaker 1: and like you know, I'm not a great swimmer, but

597
00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 1: I figured it out eventually. Okay, So the World Cup

598
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:28,840
Speaker 1: is in the United States In nineteen ninety four, I

599
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,160
Speaker 1: was playing soccer in high school at the time that

600
00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,160
Speaker 1: it was here, it was a big story, but I

601
00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,120
Speaker 1: feel like it kind of snuck up on people a

602
00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:40,760
Speaker 1: little bit. Right When did you start to think in

603
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 1: your head, Hey, maybe I could be on this US team?

604
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,000
Speaker 1: Was there a lot of conversation about ninety four? We're

605
00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:52,600
Speaker 1: talking right now about this in twenty twenty three. I

606
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 1: got the year right this time. It's not very far

607
00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,080
Speaker 1: till twenty six, which there will be the World Cup

608
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:00,120
Speaker 1: basically in the United States. I know it all so

609
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 1: be in Canada and in Mexico, but there's a tremendous

610
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,800
Speaker 1: amount of talk about it and has been for many years.

611
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: Was that the case going into ninety four? I don't

612
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 1: recall I was young. What kind of conversations were there

613
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:18,120
Speaker 1: about soccer? Then? When did the US even have the

614
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:23,840
Speaker 1: ninety four World Cup awarded? I don't know the backstory there. Yeah.

615
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:25,880
Speaker 1: So I mean, look, Clay, the reason I'm talking to

616
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,680
Speaker 1: you today on this show is because of the nineteen

617
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 1: ninety four World Cup. And for those that don't remember

618
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,400
Speaker 1: or weren't around, it was the first time that the

619
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,960
Speaker 1: US ever hosted the World Cup and it was significant

620
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 1: because the US, like we've been talking about, you know,

621
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:42,840
Speaker 1: it was not, and maybe you even argue today it's

622
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,800
Speaker 1: not necessarily certainly not relative to other countries and cultures

623
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,320
Speaker 1: a soccer country, and so this was taking it to

624
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:52,760
Speaker 1: a different land and obviously taking it to a different market.

625
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,600
Speaker 1: The soccer scene even back in nineteen ninety four was very,

626
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,800
Speaker 1: very different, and this was an opportunit tunity that I

627
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 1: think everybody recognized to kind of plant a flag. And

628
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 1: I still to this day meet people that were watching

629
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,480
Speaker 1: or at games in the nineteen ninety four World Cup

630
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:13,520
Speaker 1: that said that, tell me, that's when everything changed for me.

631
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:15,680
Speaker 1: That's when I fell in love with the game, or

632
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 1: that's when I knew that this game had a future

633
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:19,720
Speaker 1: if you were already in love with the game. And

634
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,320
Speaker 1: I'll just tell you the story to give you some perspective.

635
00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:24,200
Speaker 1: A couple of weeks before the World Cup in nineteen

636
00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,160
Speaker 1: ninety four, I got on airplane with the rest of

637
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:29,160
Speaker 1: my World Cup team. We were getting ready for the

638
00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,640
Speaker 1: World Cup. I sat in my middle seat as we

639
00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:34,400
Speaker 1: did as we traveled back then, back in economy, I

640
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 1: sat down next to an older woman. We struck up

641
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 1: a conversation. She said, what do you do. I say, well,

642
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:42,080
Speaker 1: I play soccer, and she said, well, what's your job.

643
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:44,720
Speaker 1: I said, well, I play soccer. And she said what

644
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:48,000
Speaker 1: do you do for money? And I said, well, I

645
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 1: play soccer. And two weeks later I'm in front of

646
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,360
Speaker 1: a billion people playing in the World Cup. And that's

647
00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 1: just to give you an idea of, you know, the

648
00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:00,160
Speaker 1: mindset and the landscape back then. Now it is. It's

649
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: the saying goes you come a long way, baby, and

650
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 1: we have on and off the field. But that was

651
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:08,320
Speaker 1: a seminal moment, as was the nineteen ninety nine Women's

652
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 1: World Cup. We'll remember Brandy Chastain and how that was

653
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:13,880
Speaker 1: important for the women's game and for the game in general.

654
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:16,320
Speaker 1: And that's why in twenty twenty six, when the World

655
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:19,520
Speaker 1: Cup is coming back to the US, it's just huge

656
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,160
Speaker 1: because it's coming back to a country and a culture

657
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,240
Speaker 1: that is a soccer country. We are a soccer country.

658
00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 1: We don't need to apologize for anything. As a matter

659
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 1: of fact, we need to lean into it. We're gonna

660
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:32,800
Speaker 1: do it in an American way, and that's a good thing.

661
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:35,680
Speaker 1: That's not anything to be embarrassed about. And in twenty

662
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:38,000
Speaker 1: twenty six, I'm telling you right now, play it's gonna

663
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,760
Speaker 1: be bigger than anything is ever that anybody has ever

664
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,080
Speaker 1: seen on the field and off the field. It's gonna

665
00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:45,880
Speaker 1: make more money for FIFA and everybody that's involved than's

666
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:47,880
Speaker 1: ever been made. And I think it's gonna be a

667
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:51,080
Speaker 1: real moment and yet another seminal moment, and I'll be

668
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:53,440
Speaker 1: really really proud when I'll be fifty six years old

669
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,440
Speaker 1: and it's coming back to our shores. Okay, So I

670
00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:59,440
Speaker 1: want to ask a couple of questions about that nineteen

671
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:04,160
Speaker 1: ninety four you would have made what in terms of

672
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:08,120
Speaker 1: rough income off the field? On the field, what is

673
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:10,800
Speaker 1: a start? What is a soccer player on the US

674
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:14,640
Speaker 1: men's team making in nineteen ninety four, Like, what would

675
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:17,600
Speaker 1: the range have been? Oh, I was probably making a

676
00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:21,719
Speaker 1: couple thousand dollars a month and they paid for an apartment,

677
00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:25,960
Speaker 1: and you know, we trained actually two years leading up

678
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:28,400
Speaker 1: to the World Cup to be ready for the World Cup.

679
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,279
Speaker 1: But what it did do was give me a platform

680
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 1: and I went from there and then went over to

681
00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:35,920
Speaker 1: Europe and played in Italy, which at the time was

682
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 1: the you know, the biggest and most expensive league in

683
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:42,439
Speaker 1: the world. And obviously, you know, my salary was raised

684
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:45,720
Speaker 1: significantly then, But that's the type, you know. I lived

685
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:48,160
Speaker 1: the power of what a World Cup can do to

686
00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:51,360
Speaker 1: an individual, and it changed my life forever. I milked

687
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 1: it for all it was worth, both on and off

688
00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:56,239
Speaker 1: the field. I remember, I remember some of it. I

689
00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:59,240
Speaker 1: burned it at both ends for many, many years because

690
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:02,239
Speaker 1: of that. But you know, I knew that this was

691
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:05,240
Speaker 1: the moment, that this was our moment, This was my moment,

692
00:35:05,239 --> 00:35:07,359
Speaker 1: and like I said, you need to be able to

693
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,319
Speaker 1: recognize that opportunity and grab it with both lahnds. Don't

694
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,799
Speaker 1: let anybody take it away from you, and use it

695
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,359
Speaker 1: and milk it for all its worth. So you would

696
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:19,279
Speaker 1: have been making prior to the World Cup less than

697
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:22,760
Speaker 1: fifty k a year to play soccer. That's probably fair,

698
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,920
Speaker 1: and almost everybody on the US men's team would have

699
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,160
Speaker 1: similarly been making that kind of set To kind of

700
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 1: put it into context for people out there, you know,

701
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,720
Speaker 1: compared to Christian Pulistic, who might be making twenty million

702
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:37,840
Speaker 1: dollars a year now. I don't know what his exact

703
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:40,120
Speaker 1: salary is, probably not far off from twenty million a

704
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:45,080
Speaker 1: year with all his endorsements and everything else. Christian Pulistic is,

705
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 1: you know, by himself making like scores of magnitude more,

706
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:51,560
Speaker 1: which is an interesting marker in the growth of the

707
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:55,200
Speaker 1: game itself than the entire US men's soccer team would

708
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: have been making. For instance, in nineteen ninety four. Yeah,

709
00:35:58,000 --> 00:35:59,520
Speaker 1: we weren't making a lot of money. And there were

710
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:02,040
Speaker 1: some plays that were already playing in Europe that obviously

711
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:04,880
Speaker 1: we're playing, that were getting getting more money. But for

712
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 1: those of us, you know, like myself, and if you

713
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,279
Speaker 1: remember Kobe Jones and Tony Niola and these types of

714
00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:13,120
Speaker 1: these types of players. Now keep in mind, the United

715
00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:15,680
Speaker 1: States men's national team had actually played in the nineteen

716
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:18,720
Speaker 1: ninety World Cup. I was a fan. I was bumming

717
00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:20,640
Speaker 1: around Europe with a couple of my high school buddies,

718
00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:23,920
Speaker 1: getting drunk and going to the World Cup games, painting

719
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:27,200
Speaker 1: my face, never imagining that four years later I would

720
00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:30,040
Speaker 1: be representing my country in the World Cup. That's how

721
00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:33,280
Speaker 1: quickly things changed for me on the field and obviously

722
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,080
Speaker 1: off the field with what was going on. But the

723
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:38,120
Speaker 1: money didn't come later, and the money only came because

724
00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 1: of the World Cup. And to your point, you know,

725
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:42,920
Speaker 1: I had to star in a World Cup to be

726
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:45,600
Speaker 1: given the opportunity to go and play in Europe and

727
00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:47,879
Speaker 1: go and make a living at one of the great

728
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:50,520
Speaker 1: leagues in the world over in Italy. There are players

729
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:52,880
Speaker 1: today that are growing up that don't even play a

730
00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:56,320
Speaker 1: single game in Major League Soccer and already have people

731
00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:59,440
Speaker 1: from Europe scouting them, bringing them over, paying them a

732
00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:01,880
Speaker 1: lot of money. And again I don't say that, I

733
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,279
Speaker 1: say that as a form of respect and progress and

734
00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:08,799
Speaker 1: incredible pride that's going on right now, but that all

735
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,719
Speaker 1: these pathways exist now, that MLS exists, right now that

736
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:16,360
Speaker 1: MWSL FUR the women exists. All of those things came

737
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,279
Speaker 1: out and started in nineteen ninety four. What was it

738
00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 1: like to make the team? How did you make the

739
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:24,440
Speaker 1: team in nineteen ninety four, And how would it compare,

740
00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:29,520
Speaker 1: say to today's tryouts and US men's team process. I

741
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:32,160
Speaker 1: have no idea, but I imagine it's quite a bit different.

742
00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:34,680
Speaker 1: So I can tell you exactly where I was. So

743
00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:37,520
Speaker 1: we trained down in well, you know a lot about

744
00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:39,279
Speaker 1: the coast out here, so a little further down from

745
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:41,439
Speaker 1: the coast. I'm here in Los Angeles, in Manhattan Beach.

746
00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:43,799
Speaker 1: But wait, you know, further down the coast, there's a

747
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:45,719
Speaker 1: place called Laguna Beach. You might have heard of it.

748
00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:49,279
Speaker 1: So we used to train down in Mission Viejo, California.

749
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:52,239
Speaker 1: That's where our training center was, and it was basically

750
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:56,359
Speaker 1: this what nowadays would be like a reality show survivor

751
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:58,600
Speaker 1: type of thing where they just kept for two years

752
00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:01,160
Speaker 1: prior to the World Cup. They just kept bringing people

753
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:03,959
Speaker 1: in and you would start out at the Holiday Inn

754
00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:07,160
Speaker 1: on off of the five off a Lapase Road there

755
00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:09,880
Speaker 1: and they would give you a room, a tryout for

756
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:12,560
Speaker 1: the week, and some meal vouchers and if you made it,

757
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:14,440
Speaker 1: you continued on to the next week, and if you

758
00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:16,960
Speaker 1: can do not enough weeks, they might sign you and

759
00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:19,239
Speaker 1: give you a month to month type of contract. So

760
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,280
Speaker 1: at the end of this two year trial and reality show,

761
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:24,800
Speaker 1: you were just hoping that ultimately you were named to

762
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:27,799
Speaker 1: the list of twenty two players. We were in the

763
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:30,880
Speaker 1: parking lot and the final cuts were going to be made.

764
00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:34,920
Speaker 1: I vividly remember no news is good news, and so

765
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:36,839
Speaker 1: if they don't want to talk to you, get in

766
00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:39,440
Speaker 1: your car, because we were at the beach and we

767
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:41,840
Speaker 1: had just gone for a beach run as a team,

768
00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:44,239
Speaker 1: and you had to get in your car and go home.

769
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:45,400
Speaker 1: And if they didn't want to talk to you, that

770
00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:48,040
Speaker 1: was good. I remember seeing players in that parking lot

771
00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:51,200
Speaker 1: get cuts and not realize their dream of going to

772
00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:53,239
Speaker 1: a World Cup. Now, you know as well as I,

773
00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:56,600
Speaker 1: you've you've dealt with professional players. We can be incredibly

774
00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:59,759
Speaker 1: ruthless and we can compartmentalize. It doesn't mean we don't

775
00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:02,719
Speaker 1: have empathy or empathy, but the reality is all I

776
00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:05,759
Speaker 1: cared about in that moment was myself. My roommate was

777
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:07,960
Speaker 1: one of the last cuts. How about going back to

778
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,200
Speaker 1: that apartment and having to having to deal with that.

779
00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:12,640
Speaker 1: But you know what all I cared about was being

780
00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:15,279
Speaker 1: on that team because that was where the opportunity. It

781
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:19,160
Speaker 1: was how many guys got cuts? Roughly in the parking lot.

782
00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:23,359
Speaker 1: Would it have been ten twenty? Like how many three

783
00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:25,120
Speaker 1: or four? Because we have been going through the years

784
00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:26,719
Speaker 1: and so you could not even make it through a week.

785
00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:28,680
Speaker 1: They might say, listen, it's great, but you are getting

786
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:31,080
Speaker 1: moved on. And so it was just you know, next

787
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:33,319
Speaker 1: meursing up and people came through, Some really really good

788
00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:35,160
Speaker 1: players came through, and it's you know, it's like a

789
00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:39,640
Speaker 1: tryout or anything. It's it's it's down to a subjective

790
00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:43,319
Speaker 1: type of assessment from a human being and the coach said,

791
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:44,960
Speaker 1: I like this guy. I don't like this guy. And

792
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:47,600
Speaker 1: eventually either you were left standing at the end of

793
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:50,359
Speaker 1: it all or you weren't. You're out in Manhattan Beach.

794
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:52,560
Speaker 1: You just mentioned a great place if you haven't been

795
00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:56,400
Speaker 1: out to the LA area. Another friend of ours, Matt Weiner,

796
00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,480
Speaker 1: lives in Manhattan Beach and he's got to be a

797
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,799
Speaker 1: good friend mine. And I'm fascinated by the fact that

798
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:07,960
Speaker 1: Liner came through being a kid's celebrity, basically, right, nineteen

799
00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:10,800
Speaker 1: or twenty year old, superstar kid who played for USC

800
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:13,880
Speaker 1: and he's a totally normal dude now right like you

801
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:16,560
Speaker 1: would enjoy hanging out chatting with him. Everybody who's listening

802
00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 1: to us right now, I think would like having a

803
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:22,520
Speaker 1: beer with him. Yeah, yeah, And I think you're the

804
00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:26,080
Speaker 1: same way. But I'm curious for you. You mentioned the

805
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 1: World Cup. You basically became super famous overnight, right You

806
00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 1: had been grinding away trying to make the team, as

807
00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 1: you just said, make it through the parking lot there,

808
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:41,680
Speaker 1: make the team. What was it like? There's this great story,

809
00:40:41,719 --> 00:40:44,400
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've heard it where all of the friends

810
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:47,719
Speaker 1: cast go out to dinner in Las Vegas and the

811
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:51,160
Speaker 1: producer or creator of that series is like, this is

812
00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:53,440
Speaker 1: the last time that you will all be able to

813
00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:57,440
Speaker 1: eat together as normal humans for the rest of your life,

814
00:40:57,520 --> 00:41:01,719
Speaker 1: because that show comes on overnight. Instantaneously, all six of

815
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:05,920
Speaker 1: them become massive superstars. Did you have a moment like

816
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 1: that in your life where you're like, nobody knows who

817
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:12,800
Speaker 1: I am? And then the World Cup starts and suddenly

818
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:15,799
Speaker 1: it's like everybody on the planet knows who you are?

819
00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:19,120
Speaker 1: And if so, what was that? Like? Oh? Wow? So

820
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,279
Speaker 1: if I ever write a book, I probably you know,

821
00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 1: the preface will be setting a scene of after the

822
00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:28,360
Speaker 1: last game that we played as a US in that

823
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:31,400
Speaker 1: ninety four World Cup. We lost to Brazil, who eventually

824
00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:33,080
Speaker 1: went on to win the World Cup, and there was

825
00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:36,160
Speaker 1: an after party and I'll never forget in the middle

826
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:38,120
Speaker 1: of the night, sitting at a bar and on one

827
00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:42,520
Speaker 1: side of me, uh you know, his large ulric uh

828
00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:46,440
Speaker 1: you know, uh from from Metallica and just doing shots

829
00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:51,680
Speaker 1: of tequila and Yegelmeister with the guys from from Metallica

830
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,680
Speaker 1: and looking around going what the hell is going on?

831
00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:56,480
Speaker 1: You know, this is back when they were drinking. This

832
00:41:56,520 --> 00:41:59,280
Speaker 1: was a long time ago and everything, but you know, again,

833
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:03,680
Speaker 1: my life confundamentally changed overnight because of the power of

834
00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:06,879
Speaker 1: the World Cup. Now, I also looked a certain way,

835
00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:09,879
Speaker 1: and I cultivated an image. You know, nowadays the kids

836
00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:12,280
Speaker 1: call it brands, but you know, I was thinking about

837
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:14,759
Speaker 1: my brand well before. You know, I grew up and know,

838
00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:16,799
Speaker 1: I've done a lot of music, and I grew up,

839
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:19,520
Speaker 1: you know, watching the MTV generation and everything like that,

840
00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:21,920
Speaker 1: so I knew that. You know, I've always considered myself

841
00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:25,400
Speaker 1: a performer and an entertainer, and that's not a pejorative actually,

842
00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:29,680
Speaker 1: you know, you you train for what for your sport, right,

843
00:42:29,719 --> 00:42:31,960
Speaker 1: which is the same thing as rehearsing. You go on

844
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:33,760
Speaker 1: a field, which is the same thing as a stage.

845
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:35,719
Speaker 1: You're in front of an audience, which is the same

846
00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:38,520
Speaker 1: thing as a crowd. You wear a uniform, which is

847
00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:41,719
Speaker 1: the same thing as a costume. And I've always believed

848
00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:46,400
Speaker 1: that performing and performance is a huge part of athletics,

849
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 1: and I love that I gravitated to that, and so

850
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:51,359
Speaker 1: the way that I looked, you know, it resonated, and

851
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,040
Speaker 1: you know, people knew who I was, and I had

852
00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:56,360
Speaker 1: a lot of huge red hair, a big red goatee

853
00:42:56,400 --> 00:42:57,719
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff. And it was very

854
00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:00,759
Speaker 1: comfortable for me, but it was you know, it was

855
00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:03,480
Speaker 1: by design, and it was something that you know, I

856
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:07,239
Speaker 1: cultivated over over that time and continued and used to

857
00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:09,879
Speaker 1: my advantage both on and off the field. But yeah,

858
00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:12,200
Speaker 1: it was. It was nuts and it was wonderful and

859
00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:15,319
Speaker 1: I I, you know, they were wonderful times. I've since

860
00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:18,719
Speaker 1: you know, grown and gone into different things. And obviously

861
00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:20,719
Speaker 1: I wish I could still grow that hair, but that's

862
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,960
Speaker 1: you know, that's not going to happen anytime soon. But man,

863
00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:27,080
Speaker 1: Oman Clay, it was. It was a wonderful time to

864
00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:30,520
Speaker 1: to be alive and to go through that craziness. It's

865
00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:34,480
Speaker 1: hard to you know, equate it with anything, but you know, I,

866
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:38,680
Speaker 1: like I said, I didn't find it problematic in anywhere way,

867
00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:41,680
Speaker 1: safe or form. The thing that I find so interesting,

868
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:44,279
Speaker 1: the thing that I find so interesting about it is

869
00:43:44,719 --> 00:43:48,680
Speaker 1: most people become famous over time, right, so you can

870
00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:52,839
Speaker 1: adjust to the way that your life might change. There

871
00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:57,520
Speaker 1: are relatively few people who become instantly, very very famous.

872
00:43:57,520 --> 00:43:59,799
Speaker 1: And to your point, you're six foot four, you've got

873
00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:05,239
Speaker 1: a big red goatee, you're very flamboyant and noticeable, you know,

874
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:07,880
Speaker 1: on the field, but also you're big enough. You were

875
00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:10,800
Speaker 1: talking about MESSI earlier. When you're five foot eight, you

876
00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:13,680
Speaker 1: don't really get notice. Six foot four guys in general

877
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:16,960
Speaker 1: kind of get noticed, right, And so what would you

878
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:19,480
Speaker 1: tell yourself? Because we talked wins and losses, I'm sure

879
00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:20,960
Speaker 1: there's some things you did and you're like, that was

880
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:22,759
Speaker 1: the dumbest thing I could have ever done. You had

881
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:24,960
Speaker 1: to learn it. What do you wish you could have

882
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:28,920
Speaker 1: told yourself, if anything, right before that World Cup, that

883
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:32,600
Speaker 1: you were going to learn over that ensuing seven six

884
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:36,000
Speaker 1: eight years as you became more and more of a

885
00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:40,760
Speaker 1: prominent public figure. I mean, I think that I had

886
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:42,719
Speaker 1: a pretty good head on my shoulders. I mean I

887
00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:45,080
Speaker 1: made mistakes on and off the field, just like everybody else,

888
00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:48,120
Speaker 1: and I have regrets, not a lot of them, but

889
00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:50,680
Speaker 1: I certainly do. I mean, look, Clay, let's be on

890
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,640
Speaker 1: if the worst thing in your life, if somebody wants

891
00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:55,919
Speaker 1: to take a picture with you or tell you how

892
00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:59,320
Speaker 1: great you played, or you know, to get an autograph,

893
00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:02,239
Speaker 1: then you live a charmed life. And if you're an asshole,

894
00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:05,560
Speaker 1: all right that can't deal with that, then I can't

895
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:07,880
Speaker 1: relate to you, okay, And I'm not saying that that

896
00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:10,759
Speaker 1: we don't have bad days, or that I probably at

897
00:45:10,800 --> 00:45:14,080
Speaker 1: some point wasn't you know, it was accommodating as as

898
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:16,400
Speaker 1: I should have been. But I've always tried to remind

899
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:19,759
Speaker 1: myself even when that happened, and in that moment, I'm

900
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:21,479
Speaker 1: not the smartest guy, but at least in that moment,

901
00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:25,520
Speaker 1: I was smart enough to know that if this is

902
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 1: if this is your life changing, okay, and this is

903
00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:33,400
Speaker 1: ten fifteen thirty seconds that this person is going to

904
00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:35,400
Speaker 1: spend with you, and it might not be fair, but

905
00:45:35,520 --> 00:45:37,160
Speaker 1: that's what they're going to judge you on for the

906
00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:40,040
Speaker 1: rest of your life. I want to make it good.

907
00:45:40,160 --> 00:45:42,399
Speaker 1: I want to make it positive, you know. And it's

908
00:45:42,440 --> 00:45:44,719
Speaker 1: not that I have to go around chasing people to

909
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:47,680
Speaker 1: make sure that they loved me. But again, it's just

910
00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:51,000
Speaker 1: a small little picture and moment in their life, and

911
00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:52,759
Speaker 1: I want to make sure that that happens. And so

912
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:56,080
Speaker 1: I would just reiterate and remind myself from a young age,

913
00:45:56,520 --> 00:45:58,480
Speaker 1: never ever lose that. And I like to say that

914
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:00,880
Speaker 1: I haven't, but I went on and I you know,

915
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:03,000
Speaker 1: I did things on and off the field that you

916
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:05,360
Speaker 1: know didn't work out, or you know that I failed,

917
00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:08,440
Speaker 1: or that I would consider, you know, a loss and

918
00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:11,239
Speaker 1: made mistakes going forward. I try to limit them. I

919
00:46:11,239 --> 00:46:12,680
Speaker 1: tell my kids all the time. I you know, I

920
00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:14,680
Speaker 1: don't I don't mind that you make mistakes. I just

921
00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:16,840
Speaker 1: don't want you to make the same mistakes over and

922
00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:19,960
Speaker 1: over and over again. And so far, so good. Was

923
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:22,200
Speaker 1: there anybody you met during that time you mentioned doing

924
00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:25,200
Speaker 1: shots with Metallica, but which is pretty awesome. Was there

925
00:46:25,239 --> 00:46:27,480
Speaker 1: anybody you met and you were like, I can't believe

926
00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:32,279
Speaker 1: that you know who I am? Um, let's see. Uh.

927
00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:36,920
Speaker 1: I remember sitting outside of UM about to do Letterman

928
00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:39,759
Speaker 1: and Bill Murray came up and sat down and say, hey,

929
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:41,360
Speaker 1: you know, he started to tooth the shit about it,

930
00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:42,880
Speaker 1: and I was like, this is got to be filmed.

931
00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:44,279
Speaker 1: This has got to be you know, they don't have

932
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:46,440
Speaker 1: candid camera anymore. But yeah, that was that was a

933
00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:48,560
Speaker 1: little weird. Even you know, when I was talking about,

934
00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:51,000
Speaker 1: you know, the shots from Metallica, there was there were

935
00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:54,719
Speaker 1: celebrities all over the place. Robin Williams came in. Um.

936
00:46:55,040 --> 00:46:58,040
Speaker 1: It always weird, uh, you know, for for those that

937
00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:00,440
Speaker 1: don't know the ninety four World Cup was there of

938
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:04,040
Speaker 1: a lot of lobbying and uh, you know, just a

939
00:47:04,040 --> 00:47:06,040
Speaker 1: lot of effort on a lot of people's parts, including

940
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:09,520
Speaker 1: Henry Kissinger. And so before we played our first game,

941
00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:11,680
Speaker 1: which by the way, was in the Silver Dome Rest

942
00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:14,840
Speaker 1: in Peace in Pontiac, Michigan. Oh yeah, ten minutes away

943
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:17,759
Speaker 1: from where I grew up indoors in that dome there,

944
00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:21,279
Speaker 1: Henry Kissinger came around and shook our hand in the

945
00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:23,319
Speaker 1: locker room before we went out there, and I just

946
00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:26,360
Speaker 1: was like, Wow, this is this is amazing, you know,

947
00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:29,360
Speaker 1: and I'm you know, I'm a lover of American history

948
00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:31,480
Speaker 1: and history and this, you know, this was this iconic

949
00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:34,120
Speaker 1: person who meant so much to the world and obviously

950
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:37,759
Speaker 1: to our country and also from a soccer perspective what

951
00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:39,960
Speaker 1: he meant. So that was, you know, that was mind

952
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:42,920
Speaker 1: blowing type of stuff and it and it just never stopped.

953
00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:45,440
Speaker 1: You It never ceases to amaze me how many people

954
00:47:45,760 --> 00:47:48,560
Speaker 1: that you wouldn't sink are into the game, are into

955
00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:50,759
Speaker 1: it and the knowledge that they have when they come up.

956
00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:53,080
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm just as star struck as anyone.

957
00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:56,480
Speaker 1: So we're talking to Alexei Lawless. This is wins and losses.

958
00:47:56,680 --> 00:48:00,680
Speaker 1: I am Clay Travis appreciate everybody out there, listening um Alexei.

959
00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:04,560
Speaker 1: When you look you step off the field in nineteen

960
00:48:04,640 --> 00:48:07,600
Speaker 1: ninety four, you guys have just lost to Brazil, who

961
00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:10,080
Speaker 1: goes on, as you said, to win the World Cup

962
00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:14,240
Speaker 1: that year. If I could have immediately transported you now

963
00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:18,280
Speaker 1: all the way up to twenty twenty three, has soccer

964
00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:21,759
Speaker 1: evolved and grown in a way that you would have

965
00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:25,240
Speaker 1: thought that it would have over You know, that's almost

966
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:28,840
Speaker 1: thirty years now. As we get ready for twenty twenty six,

967
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:31,359
Speaker 1: what do you think would have surprised you about where

968
00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:33,720
Speaker 1: we are sitting here right now in twenty twenty three.

969
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:36,520
Speaker 1: What do you think might have disappointed you? How would

970
00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:40,279
Speaker 1: you analyze that path in terms of the impact of

971
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:43,640
Speaker 1: soccer in the United States and what you guys playing

972
00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:47,799
Speaker 1: in ninety four did to help seed the area and

973
00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:51,680
Speaker 1: the ground basically that we're standing on today. Yeah, I

974
00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:56,520
Speaker 1: don't think that I would recognize my country relative to

975
00:48:56,560 --> 00:49:01,279
Speaker 1: soccer in a good way. I think I would be

976
00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:05,399
Speaker 1: blown away. And I can tell you in nineteen ninety four,

977
00:49:05,440 --> 00:49:09,160
Speaker 1: while we had ambition and aspirations for things to change

978
00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:12,680
Speaker 1: and for evolution and growth and explosion, I don't think

979
00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:16,040
Speaker 1: any of us at that point envisioned what we look

980
00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:18,840
Speaker 1: like in twenty twenty three right now. And look, I

981
00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:22,359
Speaker 1: know we kick ourselves for what we aren't both on

982
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:25,520
Speaker 1: and off the soccer field, but the reality is we

983
00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:27,520
Speaker 1: also have to take a step back and pat ourselves

984
00:49:27,560 --> 00:49:29,480
Speaker 1: on the back for how far we have come. It

985
00:49:29,600 --> 00:49:33,040
Speaker 1: is night and day, Clay, what the game looks like now.

986
00:49:33,239 --> 00:49:35,640
Speaker 1: And we're America. So we want it all and we

987
00:49:35,680 --> 00:49:38,520
Speaker 1: want to win everything, and we want to be the best.

988
00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 1: And I get that. That's what makes us great and

989
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:44,759
Speaker 1: that's ultimately what has made us gain so much in

990
00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:47,359
Speaker 1: such a relatively short pod time. If you look at,

991
00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:50,719
Speaker 1: for example, you know, Major League Soccer, Okay, and what

992
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:54,320
Speaker 1: they have done over the last thirty years, it's unprecedented.

993
00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:56,799
Speaker 1: If you look at soccer in the United States just

994
00:49:56,840 --> 00:49:59,719
Speaker 1: in terms of the growth, unprecedented when you put up

995
00:49:59,719 --> 00:50:03,520
Speaker 1: against other leagues. Are the sports other countries now, there's

996
00:50:03,520 --> 00:50:06,480
Speaker 1: still plenty to do, and so you know, you look

997
00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:09,440
Speaker 1: at the infrastructure, the soccer stadiums that have come online,

998
00:50:09,560 --> 00:50:12,320
Speaker 1: the billionaires that are invested in the game, the men's

999
00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:14,560
Speaker 1: and the women's game, the players that we that we

1000
00:50:14,600 --> 00:50:18,560
Speaker 1: are producing, the broadcast that we do, all of those

1001
00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:22,040
Speaker 1: different things. It makes me feel incredibly proud and excredibly

1002
00:50:22,040 --> 00:50:24,439
Speaker 1: excited for the future because if you extrapolate it out

1003
00:50:24,640 --> 00:50:26,120
Speaker 1: and say, all right, this is what we've done in

1004
00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:28,120
Speaker 1: the last thirty years, who knows where we could be

1005
00:50:28,120 --> 00:50:31,000
Speaker 1: in the next thirty years, Which leads to a question

1006
00:50:31,040 --> 00:50:33,000
Speaker 1: you kind of hinted at it. The women have won

1007
00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:35,840
Speaker 1: World Cups, a lot of people look around and say,

1008
00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:40,160
Speaker 1: the next step, obviously is to advance to the you know,

1009
00:50:40,239 --> 00:50:42,319
Speaker 1: the semi finals, right where the US has not been

1010
00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:45,600
Speaker 1: in the modern era. Do you think that the United

1011
00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:49,160
Speaker 1: States in your lifetime or in the lifetime of people

1012
00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:52,000
Speaker 1: who are listening to this interview right now, will win

1013
00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:56,520
Speaker 1: a World Cup? Well, if if they're really old listening

1014
00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:58,160
Speaker 1: to it, it could be some problems. But I do

1015
00:50:58,239 --> 00:51:02,080
Speaker 1: think it. And you're a lifetime let's presume you've got

1016
00:51:02,160 --> 00:51:06,160
Speaker 1: forty years left. Yes, absolutely, and thank you for giving

1017
00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:07,640
Speaker 1: me forty years. I love it. I will take it

1018
00:51:07,719 --> 00:51:10,919
Speaker 1: right now, sign on the dotted line. Yeah, yeah, I think,

1019
00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:16,040
Speaker 1: I absolutely believe. Okay, so everything is impossible and until

1020
00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:18,359
Speaker 1: somebody actually does it. Yeah, and I you know, when

1021
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:21,520
Speaker 1: we do when we do World Cups, people ask me

1022
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:22,920
Speaker 1: this question all the time. Can we win it? Can

1023
00:51:22,960 --> 00:51:24,560
Speaker 1: we win it? Yeah? Absolutely, you can win it. It's

1024
00:51:24,600 --> 00:51:26,839
Speaker 1: it's seven games. You don't even have to win all

1025
00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:29,960
Speaker 1: seven all seven games. That doesn't matter with you whether

1026
00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:32,080
Speaker 1: you're Brazility the United States. You need a little bit

1027
00:51:32,120 --> 00:51:34,560
Speaker 1: of lucky. You need the soccer gods smiling on you

1028
00:51:34,600 --> 00:51:37,720
Speaker 1: to a certain extent at different times, and things can happen.

1029
00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:40,480
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty six is huge. Obviously hosting it. I think

1030
00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:43,160
Speaker 1: that that will have an incredible draw and power for this.

1031
00:51:43,440 --> 00:51:45,160
Speaker 1: What shouldn't the goal? Sorry to cut you off, but

1032
00:51:45,200 --> 00:51:48,719
Speaker 1: what should the goal in twenty twenty six? B oh,

1033
00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:53,800
Speaker 1: to win the World Cup? That's the goal? Absolutely, Yeah.

1034
00:51:53,840 --> 00:51:56,600
Speaker 1: And you think the US in twenty twenty six would

1035
00:51:56,600 --> 00:51:59,080
Speaker 1: be good enough to be able to win the World

1036
00:51:59,080 --> 00:52:02,319
Speaker 1: Cup because you everything's probability, right, and you're you're you're

1037
00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:05,080
Speaker 1: talking about that in the larger context, everybody out there

1038
00:52:05,120 --> 00:52:08,359
Speaker 1: who's a sports fan understands that. You know, it's hard

1039
00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:09,920
Speaker 1: to win the Super Bowl, it's hard to win the

1040
00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:11,960
Speaker 1: NC Double a tournament. There's lots of people trying to

1041
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:15,480
Speaker 1: do it. We know we'll be there in twenty twenty six. Uh,

1042
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:18,680
Speaker 1: and so the goal is to win the World Cup.

1043
00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:22,200
Speaker 1: If I told you the US will advance to the

1044
00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:24,760
Speaker 1: round of eight, we'll get obviously out of a group,

1045
00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:27,560
Speaker 1: will win one match. Would you sign on to the

1046
00:52:27,640 --> 00:52:31,160
Speaker 1: round of eight right now? Westen? We went to the

1047
00:52:31,239 --> 00:52:33,760
Speaker 1: quarterfinals in two thousand and two when we were handball

1048
00:52:33,760 --> 00:52:36,200
Speaker 1: away from going to the semifinals. So getting to the

1049
00:52:36,239 --> 00:52:39,719
Speaker 1: upper echelance of a World Cup can happen. I know

1050
00:52:39,800 --> 00:52:42,240
Speaker 1: some people when I say that that the goal should

1051
00:52:42,239 --> 00:52:44,120
Speaker 1: be to win the World Cup in twenty twenty six,

1052
00:52:44,600 --> 00:52:46,240
Speaker 1: or when I said it in you know, in twenty

1053
00:52:46,280 --> 00:52:48,880
Speaker 1: twenty two, you know, they say, oh, that's being you know,

1054
00:52:48,920 --> 00:52:51,480
Speaker 1: disingenuous or you're being delusional. No, that's not that's not

1055
00:52:51,520 --> 00:52:54,719
Speaker 1: the case at all. I just I believe and not

1056
00:52:54,840 --> 00:52:59,320
Speaker 1: And again this isn't blind faith. This is a belief

1057
00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:03,440
Speaker 1: that any thing can happen, even impossible things can happen.

1058
00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:06,480
Speaker 1: And I am I taking all of my money right

1059
00:53:06,480 --> 00:53:08,480
Speaker 1: now and going to Vegas and putting it all on

1060
00:53:08,520 --> 00:53:12,280
Speaker 1: the US in terms of smart money. No, but things

1061
00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:14,960
Speaker 1: can happen, and it's not completely out of the realm

1062
00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:19,120
Speaker 1: of possibility. Hell, we're America. We've seen our hockey team

1063
00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:22,480
Speaker 1: do something that said people said this is impossible to do,

1064
00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:26,000
Speaker 1: so any absolutely anything can happen. And I don't think

1065
00:53:26,200 --> 00:53:29,120
Speaker 1: that it's ridiculous to think that the men's team in

1066
00:53:29,120 --> 00:53:31,480
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, given what they are now, what they

1067
00:53:31,480 --> 00:53:34,279
Speaker 1: will be in twenty twenty six, can't find a way

1068
00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:36,680
Speaker 1: to do things that we haven't done before. And yes,

1069
00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:39,719
Speaker 1: to challenge for a World Cup? Would you take the

1070
00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:41,399
Speaker 1: round of eight? If I gave it to you right now?

1071
00:53:41,440 --> 00:53:44,719
Speaker 1: You said you'd take forty years to a lifespan, sign

1072
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:46,480
Speaker 1: on for right now? Would you sign on to the

1073
00:53:46,560 --> 00:53:50,600
Speaker 1: round of eight? Yeah, but I'm greedy, so yeah, I'll

1074
00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:53,440
Speaker 1: take it. But you know I want I want quarterfinals

1075
00:53:53,440 --> 00:54:00,640
Speaker 1: at the very least, all right, So Christian Pulisic. So

1076
00:54:00,680 --> 00:54:04,080
Speaker 1: there's a lot of scandals now around the US soccer team,

1077
00:54:04,200 --> 00:54:07,359
Speaker 1: and on some level I kind of take that as

1078
00:54:07,400 --> 00:54:10,520
Speaker 1: a sign of how much more people care, because I

1079
00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:13,680
Speaker 1: bet if you went back in time in nineteen ninety four,

1080
00:54:13,920 --> 00:54:16,840
Speaker 1: I bet there were twenty scandals that never went public

1081
00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:19,400
Speaker 1: that you're like, boy, I'm glad there wasn't, you know,

1082
00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:22,440
Speaker 1: social media. I'm glad that we didn't have everybody on Twitter.

1083
00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:25,320
Speaker 1: You know, I'm glad, And that's the case by the way,

1084
00:54:25,520 --> 00:54:28,879
Speaker 1: for anybody that was on any team on basically any

1085
00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:32,480
Speaker 1: level for much of the nineties, the eighties into the

1086
00:54:32,520 --> 00:54:35,399
Speaker 1: early two thousands, I always think it's funny you talk

1087
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:37,960
Speaker 1: to athletes, they're like, man, you'all spend a lot of

1088
00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:41,000
Speaker 1: time talking about this scandal, but you didn't even hear

1089
00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:44,040
Speaker 1: about the four bigger scandals that never went public. Right

1090
00:54:44,120 --> 00:54:47,279
Speaker 1: Anybody who's on a pro athletic team right now is

1091
00:54:47,360 --> 00:54:51,399
Speaker 1: nodding along because a small measure of the actual controversy

1092
00:54:51,480 --> 00:54:55,040
Speaker 1: ever goes public. When you see the controversies that are

1093
00:54:55,080 --> 00:54:57,719
Speaker 1: out there, like the geo controversy that is out there,

1094
00:54:58,320 --> 00:55:00,319
Speaker 1: does it make you think, Okay, this this is a

1095
00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:03,560
Speaker 1: sign of the growth of America as a soccer country

1096
00:55:03,640 --> 00:55:05,919
Speaker 1: and we just have to get used to these interpersonal,

1097
00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:10,920
Speaker 1: dynamic conflicts. Or does it make you think, hey, maybe

1098
00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:15,080
Speaker 1: the US soccer culture in some way is more toxic

1099
00:55:15,120 --> 00:55:17,879
Speaker 1: than other countries. How would you assess it, as someone

1100
00:55:17,880 --> 00:55:20,719
Speaker 1: who has been all over the world playing soccer. All right,

1101
00:55:20,719 --> 00:55:24,160
Speaker 1: so we're not more toxic than other soccer countries, and

1102
00:55:24,200 --> 00:55:28,279
Speaker 1: we don't have, you know, more nepotism or old boy

1103
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:31,600
Speaker 1: network or people working in the industry. You know type

1104
00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:35,279
Speaker 1: situation in any other countries. Everybody's got that, okay, um,

1105
00:55:35,320 --> 00:55:36,799
Speaker 1: you know for for those that are that you know,

1106
00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:39,080
Speaker 1: maybe maybe don't know. Over the last couple of weeks,

1107
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:42,440
Speaker 1: they've had this, you know, this huge controversy and uh

1108
00:55:42,200 --> 00:55:44,480
Speaker 1: uh you know and this uh, this crisis, if you will,

1109
00:55:44,880 --> 00:55:48,480
Speaker 1: with uh with Geoana, one of our young players, and

1110
00:55:48,600 --> 00:55:51,799
Speaker 1: his father and mother comes find out we're you know,

1111
00:55:51,960 --> 00:55:57,200
Speaker 1: basically calling up and inappropriately calling up members and ultimately

1112
00:55:57,239 --> 00:55:59,920
Speaker 1: friends that are in charge, whether it's Greg Berhalter, our

1113
00:56:00,040 --> 00:56:03,360
Speaker 1: head coach, or Ernie Stewart who's the head of the federation,

1114
00:56:03,840 --> 00:56:06,279
Speaker 1: relative to their son not playing, and really when you

1115
00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:08,080
Speaker 1: when you look at it and read it, you know,

1116
00:56:08,160 --> 00:56:11,680
Speaker 1: basically blackmailing him with the story from thirty one years

1117
00:56:11,680 --> 00:56:14,600
Speaker 1: ago where he kicked his wife when they were both

1118
00:56:14,960 --> 00:56:19,319
Speaker 1: in college and ultimately, you know, there was there was

1119
00:56:19,360 --> 00:56:21,440
Speaker 1: you know, seven months apart, and they went to therapy

1120
00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:22,960
Speaker 1: and all this kind of stuff and then they worked

1121
00:56:23,000 --> 00:56:25,799
Speaker 1: it out and they were married now for twenty five

1122
00:56:25,880 --> 00:56:28,239
Speaker 1: years and they have four kids, and this story came out.

1123
00:56:28,960 --> 00:56:32,960
Speaker 1: I was an unnecessary self inflicted wound. That's the way

1124
00:56:32,960 --> 00:56:35,160
Speaker 1: that I look at it. And from a soccer perspective,

1125
00:56:35,440 --> 00:56:38,319
Speaker 1: Can we withstand it? Yeah, but it's not what you

1126
00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:42,160
Speaker 1: know why. So initially I was incredibly sad for everybody

1127
00:56:42,200 --> 00:56:47,280
Speaker 1: involved because people didn't deserve this. Greg Berhalter's wife, Rosalind

1128
00:56:47,320 --> 00:56:49,920
Speaker 1: didn't deserve this, and Greg Burhalter didn't deserve this. Then

1129
00:56:49,960 --> 00:56:55,719
Speaker 1: I got Then I got angry because again, look, you

1130
00:56:55,760 --> 00:56:58,359
Speaker 1: can make a bunch of different arguments as to whether

1131
00:56:58,360 --> 00:57:00,799
Speaker 1: it's to continue on with Greg burr Halter as the coach.

1132
00:57:00,800 --> 00:57:02,680
Speaker 1: And for those that don't know, raper Halter was to

1133
00:57:02,719 --> 00:57:05,040
Speaker 1: coach this past World Cup. He might have done well

1134
00:57:05,040 --> 00:57:07,000
Speaker 1: if you think so, he might not have done well.

1135
00:57:07,200 --> 00:57:10,200
Speaker 1: But you can make an argument that he shouldn't continue on.

1136
00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:12,799
Speaker 1: But in no way, shape or form should part of

1137
00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:16,560
Speaker 1: that argument be this story that was put out there

1138
00:57:16,720 --> 00:57:19,040
Speaker 1: in order to hurt him, and you can't put it back.

1139
00:57:19,080 --> 00:57:21,400
Speaker 1: That genie is out, you're not putting it back. And

1140
00:57:21,480 --> 00:57:25,040
Speaker 1: so that's where the anger in me came about. We'll

1141
00:57:25,040 --> 00:57:27,040
Speaker 1: get through this, you know, this too shall pass. But

1142
00:57:27,120 --> 00:57:29,560
Speaker 1: in the American soccer, as is the case probably in

1143
00:57:29,600 --> 00:57:32,120
Speaker 1: a lot of sports and a lot of industries out there,

1144
00:57:32,160 --> 00:57:35,280
Speaker 1: you know, we eat our own and it's disappointing it's sad,

1145
00:57:35,360 --> 00:57:38,160
Speaker 1: it's angering, but again, this is kind of stuff that

1146
00:57:38,200 --> 00:57:39,880
Speaker 1: you have to go through, and to your point, you

1147
00:57:39,920 --> 00:57:41,320
Speaker 1: know a lot of sports to deal with this on

1148
00:57:41,360 --> 00:57:46,880
Speaker 1: a consistent basis. How do you balance critique in the

1149
00:57:46,920 --> 00:57:51,360
Speaker 1: world of soccer where you know everybody and sometimes you've

1150
00:57:51,360 --> 00:57:55,680
Speaker 1: known people for generations, you might know their parents with

1151
00:57:56,240 --> 00:58:00,959
Speaker 1: also simultaneously those personal relationships, and then have a job

1152
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:04,400
Speaker 1: that requires you to comment on their performance in a

1153
00:58:04,480 --> 00:58:06,080
Speaker 1: public way. And the reason I bring it up, I'll

1154
00:58:06,080 --> 00:58:08,600
Speaker 1: give you a good example. We had Charles Barkley on

1155
00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:11,480
Speaker 1: and he's no longer friends with Michael Jordan. They used

1156
00:58:11,480 --> 00:58:14,040
Speaker 1: to be best friends. But he has to comment on

1157
00:58:14,080 --> 00:58:18,680
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's role as a GM or as an owner,

1158
00:58:19,200 --> 00:58:23,720
Speaker 1: and Jordan got super upset about that, and Barkeley said,

1159
00:58:23,800 --> 00:58:27,520
Speaker 1: ultimately that's painful to him, but the job requires that

1160
00:58:27,560 --> 00:58:30,919
Speaker 1: he be honest. I'm sure that's happened sometimes in your

1161
00:58:30,960 --> 00:58:33,720
Speaker 1: life where somebody has said you've got a great private

1162
00:58:33,760 --> 00:58:36,840
Speaker 1: relationship with them, but they have a public job. How

1163
00:58:36,880 --> 00:58:40,960
Speaker 1: do you balance that in terms of what you do? Yeah,

1164
00:58:41,000 --> 00:58:43,880
Speaker 1: I mean well to me that that says that Michael

1165
00:58:43,960 --> 00:58:46,960
Speaker 1: Jordan's sooft Okay, I never Yeah, I'd say that, but

1166
00:58:47,160 --> 00:58:51,200
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's sooft because he is Charles Barkley

1167
00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:53,720
Speaker 1: is doing his job. I'm sure you know the same.

1168
00:58:54,040 --> 00:58:56,440
Speaker 1: You know, you've probably had experienced this too. I have

1169
00:58:56,560 --> 00:59:08,240
Speaker 1: had girlfriend's, boyfriend, wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends, acquaintances, coaches,

1170
00:59:08,640 --> 00:59:11,240
Speaker 1: every single you know, one of these people at certain

1171
00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:13,600
Speaker 1: point has come up to me, either to my face,

1172
00:59:14,680 --> 00:59:18,240
Speaker 1: through text, over a telephone, or behind my back, doesn't matter,

1173
00:59:18,280 --> 00:59:20,960
Speaker 1: but at some point I have had those conversations. The

1174
00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:23,280
Speaker 1: best ones actually are where it's face to face in

1175
00:59:23,280 --> 00:59:25,000
Speaker 1: the humb in the human because you need you just

1176
00:59:25,080 --> 00:59:27,240
Speaker 1: need to let them get it out, and oftentimes that's

1177
00:59:27,280 --> 00:59:29,640
Speaker 1: all they want to do. I've got one. I remember

1178
00:59:29,680 --> 00:59:32,720
Speaker 1: once I said something about a player and his father

1179
00:59:32,800 --> 00:59:36,080
Speaker 1: cornered me in the bar after the game and started screaming,

1180
00:59:36,160 --> 00:59:38,080
Speaker 1: yelling and going off. By the end of the night

1181
00:59:38,360 --> 00:59:41,400
Speaker 1: we were having drinks at the bar. Okay. So, and

1182
00:59:41,560 --> 00:59:45,400
Speaker 1: that's wonderful. But I, like Charles, I have to do

1183
00:59:45,600 --> 00:59:48,440
Speaker 1: my job and I have to say things that at

1184
00:59:48,440 --> 00:59:50,680
Speaker 1: times can be critical. I like to think that I

1185
00:59:50,720 --> 00:59:52,840
Speaker 1: do it in a fair way, and I like to

1186
00:59:52,880 --> 00:59:54,680
Speaker 1: think that I do it in a balanced way in

1187
00:59:54,760 --> 00:59:58,080
Speaker 1: terms of also making sure that it's not all negative.

1188
00:59:58,320 --> 01:00:01,120
Speaker 1: But if I see something that I agree with or

1189
01:00:01,200 --> 01:00:04,640
Speaker 1: deserves criticism, I'm not doing my job. I'm not earning

1190
01:00:04,680 --> 01:00:07,120
Speaker 1: my money, or I might not get another job if

1191
01:00:07,120 --> 01:00:08,720
Speaker 1: I don't do it. And that's what I want to

1192
01:00:08,720 --> 01:00:11,360
Speaker 1: watch out of, you know, an analyst when it comes

1193
01:00:11,360 --> 01:00:13,920
Speaker 1: to sports. That's what it does. The job and the

1194
01:00:14,000 --> 01:00:16,960
Speaker 1: role demands. And I got no problem. And you know,

1195
01:00:16,960 --> 01:00:19,640
Speaker 1: there's people now even in my life that I you know,

1196
01:00:19,760 --> 01:00:21,480
Speaker 1: grew up playing with that I was, that I was

1197
01:00:21,600 --> 01:00:24,600
Speaker 1: friends with that you know, they might act differently around,

1198
01:00:24,640 --> 01:00:27,600
Speaker 1: but the best ones are the ones that recognize, hey,

1199
01:00:27,760 --> 01:00:29,600
Speaker 1: he is doing his job. And while it may be

1200
01:00:29,720 --> 01:00:32,520
Speaker 1: painful in that moment to have to have to hear that,

1201
01:00:32,760 --> 01:00:35,439
Speaker 1: I would rather he do that than pull punches, because

1202
01:00:35,520 --> 01:00:37,880
Speaker 1: then he's not doing his job. Not everybody's like that,

1203
01:00:38,040 --> 01:00:40,840
Speaker 1: and some people take offense, and maybe some relationships they're

1204
01:00:40,920 --> 01:00:44,440
Speaker 1: damaged and amy even some relationships are completely severed. But

1205
01:00:44,560 --> 01:00:46,920
Speaker 1: I'm okay with that because I'd rather I'd rather do

1206
01:00:46,960 --> 01:00:49,280
Speaker 1: this job the way the job needs to be done.

1207
01:00:50,760 --> 01:00:52,880
Speaker 1: What's it like to be on the road for the

1208
01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:55,720
Speaker 1: length of time in foreign countries? You'll get to be

1209
01:00:55,760 --> 01:00:58,480
Speaker 1: back in the United States in twenty six. What is

1210
01:00:58,520 --> 01:01:01,560
Speaker 1: covering the World Cup like and how does it compare

1211
01:01:01,600 --> 01:01:05,080
Speaker 1: to playing in a World Cup? So it's very different

1212
01:01:05,120 --> 01:01:07,919
Speaker 1: than playing, But there is that level of competition. There's

1213
01:01:07,920 --> 01:01:11,960
Speaker 1: the internal competition with yourself, there is a competition with

1214
01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:15,120
Speaker 1: the other talent that is involved, and there's a competition

1215
01:01:15,240 --> 01:01:17,520
Speaker 1: relative to being at the highest stage. This is the

1216
01:01:17,520 --> 01:01:21,240
Speaker 1: World Cup. Is the greatest groundhog Day from a soccer

1217
01:01:21,320 --> 01:01:24,320
Speaker 1: perspective for a former soccer player that you can have.

1218
01:01:24,760 --> 01:01:27,760
Speaker 1: But it is a ritual. It is a routine and

1219
01:01:28,040 --> 01:01:30,320
Speaker 1: I've done so many of these now and you know,

1220
01:01:30,520 --> 01:01:32,680
Speaker 1: some younger folks will come and ask me, and I

1221
01:01:32,720 --> 01:01:35,800
Speaker 1: tell them, stick to ritual, stick to routine, because that's

1222
01:01:35,800 --> 01:01:38,200
Speaker 1: what's going to get you through. I mean, we're having

1223
01:01:38,200 --> 01:01:41,480
Speaker 1: at times four games a day and you're just cranking

1224
01:01:41,600 --> 01:01:43,440
Speaker 1: through this. You've got to take care of your body,

1225
01:01:43,640 --> 01:01:46,200
Speaker 1: You've got to take care of your mind, and you

1226
01:01:46,280 --> 01:01:48,720
Speaker 1: have to you have to love it. I mean, I

1227
01:01:48,800 --> 01:01:51,560
Speaker 1: know you've seen this phenomenon in our in our industry,

1228
01:01:51,640 --> 01:01:56,040
Speaker 1: right there are so many people that use television, use broadcasting,

1229
01:01:56,120 --> 01:01:58,959
Speaker 1: use media as a way station until something better comes

1230
01:01:59,000 --> 01:02:02,120
Speaker 1: along and I get it. I understand that, but I

1231
01:02:02,120 --> 01:02:06,880
Speaker 1: think ultimately that will manifest itself in your performance and

1232
01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:09,480
Speaker 1: you will be cheating yourself and you will be cheating

1233
01:02:09,520 --> 01:02:11,960
Speaker 1: the viewer. And I don't want to cheat anybody. I'm

1234
01:02:12,000 --> 01:02:14,080
Speaker 1: a junkie for what I do, and I want to

1235
01:02:14,080 --> 01:02:16,680
Speaker 1: be surrounded by like minded people. I want to be

1236
01:02:16,720 --> 01:02:20,920
Speaker 1: surrounded by junkies that love the game, that love the

1237
01:02:21,040 --> 01:02:24,480
Speaker 1: broadcast aspect of the game, that love debating and talking

1238
01:02:24,480 --> 01:02:27,400
Speaker 1: about it, and that bring it day in and day out.

1239
01:02:27,440 --> 01:02:29,680
Speaker 1: And look, we've both been surrounded by some greats in

1240
01:02:29,720 --> 01:02:32,400
Speaker 1: the industry. And when you see them work and you

1241
01:02:32,520 --> 01:02:34,880
Speaker 1: see that what goes on behind the scenes, it is

1242
01:02:34,880 --> 01:02:38,320
Speaker 1: incredible because it's not what you ultimately see on the screen.

1243
01:02:38,800 --> 01:02:41,880
Speaker 1: It's that iceberg type of theory where this this incredible

1244
01:02:41,920 --> 01:02:44,320
Speaker 1: base and all of this work that goes on, but

1245
01:02:44,400 --> 01:02:46,560
Speaker 1: that's what makes that tip of the iceberg that you

1246
01:02:46,600 --> 01:02:49,400
Speaker 1: do see on screen, that's what makes it good. And

1247
01:02:49,440 --> 01:02:51,360
Speaker 1: if you don't do the work and you don't have

1248
01:02:51,440 --> 01:02:53,520
Speaker 1: that base, then your tip of your iceberg is not

1249
01:02:53,560 --> 01:02:56,400
Speaker 1: going to look as Good's well said, and I tell

1250
01:02:56,440 --> 01:02:57,960
Speaker 1: everybody out there, and one of the reasons I love

1251
01:02:58,000 --> 01:03:00,680
Speaker 1: doing these conversations because there's lots of young people out

1252
01:03:00,680 --> 01:03:04,480
Speaker 1: there who see the success, but they don't have any

1253
01:03:04,560 --> 01:03:07,240
Speaker 1: idea all of the work that goes into it. In fact,

1254
01:03:07,320 --> 01:03:10,120
Speaker 1: I think that's really incredibly common in the United States

1255
01:03:10,160 --> 01:03:13,200
Speaker 1: and particularly around the world today. But I always say

1256
01:03:13,200 --> 01:03:15,920
Speaker 1: before I do my radio show, I got three hours

1257
01:03:15,920 --> 01:03:20,000
Speaker 1: of radio every day. I'm spending so much time feeding

1258
01:03:20,040 --> 01:03:24,200
Speaker 1: my brain with information every day so that I have

1259
01:03:24,360 --> 01:03:28,000
Speaker 1: a depth of knowledge to whatever topic I'm discussing, Because

1260
01:03:28,040 --> 01:03:31,120
Speaker 1: if I haven't done all that research, then whatever I'm

1261
01:03:31,200 --> 01:03:34,240
Speaker 1: saying on the air, ultimately you can tell that there's

1262
01:03:34,280 --> 01:03:37,840
Speaker 1: no foundation supporting it. And so a part of that,

1263
01:03:38,000 --> 01:03:41,320
Speaker 1: massive part of that is the passion. You have. Passion

1264
01:03:41,880 --> 01:03:45,720
Speaker 1: Still there are viral videos of you out there crying

1265
01:03:45,800 --> 01:03:50,120
Speaker 1: when the US wins soccer matches that that that we

1266
01:03:50,200 --> 01:03:52,240
Speaker 1: end up winning. I imagine sometimes you want to cry

1267
01:03:52,560 --> 01:03:54,680
Speaker 1: when the US loses in a match that you feel

1268
01:03:54,720 --> 01:03:58,080
Speaker 1: like they could have won. How do you how do

1269
01:03:58,120 --> 01:04:01,080
Speaker 1: you corral that passion? Right? Because I think about this

1270
01:04:01,120 --> 01:04:04,000
Speaker 1: all the time. There are especially when it's one thing

1271
01:04:04,040 --> 01:04:06,560
Speaker 1: when you're playing you have to learn how to manage it.

1272
01:04:06,560 --> 01:04:10,280
Speaker 1: It's another thing when you're commenting on it, reacting to it.

1273
01:04:11,080 --> 01:04:14,600
Speaker 1: What is that experience like in your mind, because that's

1274
01:04:14,600 --> 01:04:17,440
Speaker 1: the way that many fans feel. How do you harness it?

1275
01:04:17,600 --> 01:04:22,080
Speaker 1: What does that do for you as a as an analyst? Yeah,

1276
01:04:22,080 --> 01:04:25,840
Speaker 1: I mean you do, I think have to understand and,

1277
01:04:26,680 --> 01:04:29,200
Speaker 1: like you said, harness it. But I also think that

1278
01:04:29,640 --> 01:04:32,280
Speaker 1: you know, there was a there's always been a debate

1279
01:04:32,360 --> 01:04:35,600
Speaker 1: as to especially when you're talking about you know, oftentimes

1280
01:04:35,600 --> 01:04:37,960
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the United States men's national team or

1281
01:04:38,000 --> 01:04:40,600
Speaker 1: the US team, the women's team, men's team, whatever, and

1282
01:04:40,760 --> 01:04:43,560
Speaker 1: do you use we right because I'm an American and

1283
01:04:43,600 --> 01:04:46,680
Speaker 1: this is my team, and you know, it's a debate

1284
01:04:46,720 --> 01:04:48,680
Speaker 1: as to whether you do or not. And we really

1285
01:04:48,680 --> 01:04:51,640
Speaker 1: came down ultimately, and this has happened over years where

1286
01:04:51,880 --> 01:04:55,800
Speaker 1: absolutely I want to I want to recognize that there

1287
01:04:55,880 --> 01:04:58,880
Speaker 1: is a connection. I want to recognize in the people

1288
01:04:58,880 --> 01:05:01,600
Speaker 1: that I'm watching that I'm here, that there is an emotion,

1289
01:05:01,680 --> 01:05:04,720
Speaker 1: that there is a history that there that they are moved.

1290
01:05:04,960 --> 01:05:07,640
Speaker 1: I want to be moved by the people that I'm watching.

1291
01:05:07,680 --> 01:05:09,560
Speaker 1: And so it's not that you know, you should come

1292
01:05:09,560 --> 01:05:11,760
Speaker 1: on and blubber every single time you're on air, but

1293
01:05:12,120 --> 01:05:15,160
Speaker 1: if you feel that don't be afraid to show it.

1294
01:05:15,200 --> 01:05:17,240
Speaker 1: And yes, there's times where you need to be stoic,

1295
01:05:17,480 --> 01:05:21,080
Speaker 1: and yes there's times where you need to regulate what

1296
01:05:21,520 --> 01:05:24,000
Speaker 1: is going on in terms of your emotion. And if

1297
01:05:24,040 --> 01:05:26,280
Speaker 1: it impacts the effect for you to be able to

1298
01:05:26,400 --> 01:05:29,840
Speaker 1: articulate things or to be clear or to give information

1299
01:05:29,880 --> 01:05:33,400
Speaker 1: that you need, then that is problematic. But seeing human

1300
01:05:33,480 --> 01:05:36,840
Speaker 1: beings until they replace us all clay with robots, I

1301
01:05:37,320 --> 01:05:40,120
Speaker 1: want to see the humanity. I want to see that

1302
01:05:40,120 --> 01:05:43,280
Speaker 1: that person male or female out there has a connection

1303
01:05:43,560 --> 01:05:46,680
Speaker 1: and is feeling something visceral and is able to transmit

1304
01:05:46,760 --> 01:05:49,000
Speaker 1: that back to me and you can see it and

1305
01:05:49,080 --> 01:05:51,240
Speaker 1: you can hear it, and when it is there, oh,

1306
01:05:51,280 --> 01:05:54,120
Speaker 1: it's just it's a it's a it's a beautiful thing.

1307
01:05:54,160 --> 01:05:57,080
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what. There is a whole generation

1308
01:05:57,600 --> 01:06:00,400
Speaker 1: that is coming up that wants my job, you know,

1309
01:06:00,480 --> 01:06:04,000
Speaker 1: and they can pry it from my cold dead, redheaded hands.

1310
01:06:04,160 --> 01:06:05,800
Speaker 1: I'm going to hold onto it as long as I

1311
01:06:05,880 --> 01:06:09,040
Speaker 1: possibly can. I love what I do. I can certainly

1312
01:06:09,040 --> 01:06:12,080
Speaker 1: get better at at what I'm doing, but it is

1313
01:06:12,360 --> 01:06:16,160
Speaker 1: incredibly I'm incredibly lucky and fortunate to be able to

1314
01:06:16,200 --> 01:06:18,560
Speaker 1: do this. It is not lost on me I know,

1315
01:06:18,600 --> 01:06:20,400
Speaker 1: in this day and age, you got to admit your

1316
01:06:20,400 --> 01:06:22,320
Speaker 1: privilege or whatever and stuff like that. But so I

1317
01:06:22,360 --> 01:06:24,440
Speaker 1: am incredibly privileged to be able to do what I

1318
01:06:24,440 --> 01:06:26,360
Speaker 1: can do, and hopefully I can do it for many,

1319
01:06:26,400 --> 01:06:31,480
Speaker 1: many more years. So you're gonna be calling and analyzing

1320
01:06:31,560 --> 01:06:34,720
Speaker 1: games for decades into the future. I think. I think

1321
01:06:34,760 --> 01:06:38,680
Speaker 1: you're really good at what you do. Christian Pulistic A

1322
01:06:38,760 --> 01:06:41,360
Speaker 1: big part of whether we have a chance to ever

1323
01:06:41,480 --> 01:06:43,840
Speaker 1: win a World Cup in the next decade or so,

1324
01:06:44,240 --> 01:06:47,240
Speaker 1: I think will be directly tied to his development many

1325
01:06:47,240 --> 01:06:50,000
Speaker 1: other players as well. Do you think Pulistic is going

1326
01:06:50,040 --> 01:06:52,720
Speaker 1: to be the greatest American soccer player ever? Is that

1327
01:06:52,800 --> 01:06:55,600
Speaker 1: too early of a question to even ask? And how

1328
01:06:55,680 --> 01:06:58,800
Speaker 1: much of his growth as a player is directly tied

1329
01:06:58,840 --> 01:07:02,360
Speaker 1: in in your mind to the overall potential success rate

1330
01:07:02,400 --> 01:07:07,280
Speaker 1: for the US going forward. I think his resume may

1331
01:07:07,400 --> 01:07:11,400
Speaker 1: be the greatest that we have ever had. His impact

1332
01:07:11,640 --> 01:07:15,000
Speaker 1: on the game, you know that that remains to be seen.

1333
01:07:15,240 --> 01:07:17,560
Speaker 1: I mean, look, he had a he had a good

1334
01:07:17,600 --> 01:07:20,920
Speaker 1: World Cup, not a great World Cup, and we expect

1335
01:07:20,960 --> 01:07:23,160
Speaker 1: big things from him, and I think rightfully so. One

1336
01:07:23,200 --> 01:07:25,080
Speaker 1: of the most talented players that we've ever seen. But

1337
01:07:25,160 --> 01:07:28,360
Speaker 1: he's also you know, he's very shy and he doesn't

1338
01:07:28,440 --> 01:07:33,200
Speaker 1: necessarily like the spotlight. He's not, you know, a gregarious

1339
01:07:33,240 --> 01:07:37,400
Speaker 1: social type of bigger than life type of personality. I

1340
01:07:37,440 --> 01:07:39,840
Speaker 1: think he's going to get better. He's kind of grown

1341
01:07:39,880 --> 01:07:42,320
Speaker 1: out of I know he's injured right now, but there

1342
01:07:42,360 --> 01:07:44,080
Speaker 1: was a time where he was getting injured a whole lot.

1343
01:07:44,120 --> 01:07:47,000
Speaker 1: I hope that he continues to grow out of that.

1344
01:07:47,040 --> 01:07:50,720
Speaker 1: And I'm you know, Clay, Staying healthy is a skill

1345
01:07:51,080 --> 01:07:54,280
Speaker 1: in sports, and some players have it and some players don't.

1346
01:07:54,560 --> 01:07:57,600
Speaker 1: Christian has yet to shown that he is to consistently

1347
01:07:57,640 --> 01:07:59,760
Speaker 1: stay healthy. But when he is on the field, he

1348
01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:01,760
Speaker 1: and do some magic stuff. But I don't think he's

1349
01:08:01,760 --> 01:08:05,840
Speaker 1: ever going to be the focal point, the lebronish type

1350
01:08:05,840 --> 01:08:09,840
Speaker 1: of player, the messy type of player for the US,

1351
01:08:09,880 --> 01:08:11,760
Speaker 1: in that he's going to be surrounded by players that

1352
01:08:11,840 --> 01:08:14,120
Speaker 1: might take more of the spotlight. But he will have

1353
01:08:14,200 --> 01:08:17,120
Speaker 1: his moments when all is sudden done, you said earlier,

1354
01:08:17,200 --> 01:08:20,719
Speaker 1: hockey soccer For you growing up, hockey and soccer fans

1355
01:08:20,760 --> 01:08:25,719
Speaker 1: are somewhat familiar, mirror images almost sometimes of each other. Because,

1356
01:08:25,760 --> 01:08:28,320
Speaker 1: as somebody who did a national sports talk show, runs

1357
01:08:28,360 --> 01:08:31,400
Speaker 1: OutKick we talk a lot about football, we talk a

1358
01:08:31,400 --> 01:08:35,559
Speaker 1: lot about a basketball, certainly in baseball, and whenever we

1359
01:08:35,600 --> 01:08:38,920
Speaker 1: mention hockey or soccer, people are always like, hey, talk

1360
01:08:38,960 --> 01:08:41,000
Speaker 1: about us more, talk about us more. And then as

1361
01:08:41,080 --> 01:08:43,640
Speaker 1: soon as you start talking about him, they say, oh,

1362
01:08:43,640 --> 01:08:46,040
Speaker 1: you don't know what you're talking about. One of the

1363
01:08:46,080 --> 01:08:49,160
Speaker 1: interesting things I think about growing the game of soccer

1364
01:08:49,280 --> 01:08:53,919
Speaker 1: and its fandom is in the United States, uniquely, soccer

1365
01:08:53,960 --> 01:08:58,760
Speaker 1: fans are elitist. They're probably over educated, they probably have,

1366
01:08:59,640 --> 01:09:02,479
Speaker 1: you know, higher income, and the rest of the world,

1367
01:09:02,760 --> 01:09:05,360
Speaker 1: soccer is the sport of the common man. In the

1368
01:09:05,479 --> 01:09:09,360
Speaker 1: United States, soccer is the sport of the elitist fan,

1369
01:09:09,560 --> 01:09:11,760
Speaker 1: I would say, And I understand there's some criticism out

1370
01:09:11,760 --> 01:09:14,320
Speaker 1: there whenever you make this, but this is what I see.

1371
01:09:14,360 --> 01:09:16,799
Speaker 1: You know, the Joe six pack is in the crowd

1372
01:09:17,200 --> 01:09:19,640
Speaker 1: at a football game, at a basketball game, at a

1373
01:09:19,720 --> 01:09:23,080
Speaker 1: football game, I don't necessarily know that he is at soccer.

1374
01:09:23,400 --> 01:09:26,800
Speaker 1: How does soccer interestingly become more of a common man

1375
01:09:26,960 --> 01:09:30,639
Speaker 1: sport and less of an elitist sport in America when

1376
01:09:30,680 --> 01:09:34,479
Speaker 1: it's the exact opposite basically everywhere else. Yeah, So I'm

1377
01:09:34,479 --> 01:09:37,360
Speaker 1: so glad you mentioned this because it drives me nuts.

1378
01:09:38,040 --> 01:09:40,439
Speaker 1: As soccer people, and I'm probably you know to your point,

1379
01:09:40,479 --> 01:09:43,080
Speaker 1: the hockey people are the kind of the same in

1380
01:09:43,200 --> 01:09:46,520
Speaker 1: that I want as many people into the tent as possible,

1381
01:09:46,760 --> 01:09:48,720
Speaker 1: and I don't want to do anything that is going

1382
01:09:48,760 --> 01:09:51,360
Speaker 1: to create a barrier to entry. I want I want

1383
01:09:51,400 --> 01:09:53,320
Speaker 1: people to love this game as much as I do,

1384
01:09:53,360 --> 01:09:56,200
Speaker 1: and until they actually see it and bring it bring

1385
01:09:56,240 --> 01:09:58,800
Speaker 1: into the tent, it's not going to happen. And so

1386
01:09:58,840 --> 01:10:01,080
Speaker 1: I want to be there welcoming people in. And yes,

1387
01:10:01,120 --> 01:10:04,839
Speaker 1: to your point, we as soccer people can be incredibly elitist,

1388
01:10:04,840 --> 01:10:08,679
Speaker 1: incredibly snobby, and it can be a deterrent to people

1389
01:10:09,360 --> 01:10:12,080
Speaker 1: or coming into the game going forward. We can also

1390
01:10:12,080 --> 01:10:15,000
Speaker 1: be incredibly insecure, and I think that just comes from

1391
01:10:15,040 --> 01:10:17,920
Speaker 1: not being king and having to fight and crow and

1392
01:10:18,120 --> 01:10:22,040
Speaker 1: scrape for absolutely every little inch of you know, whether

1393
01:10:22,080 --> 01:10:26,120
Speaker 1: it's media coverage or attention or ultimately what it comes

1394
01:10:26,160 --> 01:10:29,320
Speaker 1: down to is credibility. But whether it's on OutKick or

1395
01:10:29,320 --> 01:10:32,160
Speaker 1: anything else, you're a business. You are going to give

1396
01:10:32,160 --> 01:10:34,960
Speaker 1: the people what they want until the data tells you

1397
01:10:35,160 --> 01:10:37,920
Speaker 1: that they want something different. And it doesn't mean that

1398
01:10:37,960 --> 01:10:40,439
Speaker 1: you don't try different things. It doesn't mean that you

1399
01:10:40,479 --> 01:10:44,120
Speaker 1: don't recognize that your viewership and your readers have a

1400
01:10:44,200 --> 01:10:47,360
Speaker 1: palette out there that has expanded. But ultimately, you want

1401
01:10:47,360 --> 01:10:49,000
Speaker 1: to make sure you get clicks. You want to make

1402
01:10:49,040 --> 01:10:51,240
Speaker 1: sure that you have people that are subscribing. You want

1403
01:10:51,240 --> 01:10:53,360
Speaker 1: to make sure that you're giving them what they want.

1404
01:10:53,400 --> 01:10:56,680
Speaker 1: And so we cannot be a charity. We have to

1405
01:10:56,760 --> 01:10:59,280
Speaker 1: show that this is a sport on the field that

1406
01:10:59,400 --> 01:11:02,040
Speaker 1: is worthy of your time and off the field is

1407
01:11:02,080 --> 01:11:05,120
Speaker 1: worthy of your business. And to the extent that we,

1408
01:11:05,600 --> 01:11:08,360
Speaker 1: you know, put put our noses in the air, or

1409
01:11:08,479 --> 01:11:10,559
Speaker 1: do things in the way that we act, or the

1410
01:11:10,640 --> 01:11:14,160
Speaker 1: things that we say that drive people away, that is

1411
01:11:14,200 --> 01:11:17,000
Speaker 1: the worst possible thing that we can do. I don't

1412
01:11:17,040 --> 01:11:21,200
Speaker 1: want to be exclusionary. I want to be as inviting

1413
01:11:21,280 --> 01:11:24,439
Speaker 1: as possible as a sport for everybody in America. And

1414
01:11:24,479 --> 01:11:27,880
Speaker 1: I sure as hell don't want people to feel intimidated

1415
01:11:28,120 --> 01:11:31,840
Speaker 1: or scared about. But the vernacular that we use or

1416
01:11:32,120 --> 01:11:36,280
Speaker 1: the you know, the the supporters groups, and the culture

1417
01:11:36,360 --> 01:11:38,040
Speaker 1: that we have and the way that we talk about

1418
01:11:38,040 --> 01:11:41,320
Speaker 1: the game or dress or book it ourselves, that that

1419
01:11:41,400 --> 01:11:43,800
Speaker 1: cannot be a hindrance. And too often, to your point,

1420
01:11:44,040 --> 01:11:47,759
Speaker 1: it is um you have traveled all over the world.

1421
01:11:47,960 --> 01:11:49,600
Speaker 1: I want to give you an opportunity to give some

1422
01:11:50,040 --> 01:11:52,880
Speaker 1: give some stories and or tell people where you think

1423
01:11:52,880 --> 01:11:56,360
Speaker 1: they should go based on your experience. But also have

1424
01:11:56,479 --> 01:12:01,080
Speaker 1: you ever felt endangered at all while you've been covering

1425
01:12:01,120 --> 01:12:03,920
Speaker 1: the World Cup all over the world, Blake, I'm sure

1426
01:12:03,960 --> 01:12:07,000
Speaker 1: you found yourself in some interesting alleys at different points.

1427
01:12:07,200 --> 01:12:11,080
Speaker 1: Have you ever felt physically in danger? So a lot

1428
01:12:11,120 --> 01:12:13,880
Speaker 1: of times I have security with me. But you know,

1429
01:12:13,920 --> 01:12:16,280
Speaker 1: over the years, if you know, as a player, you know,

1430
01:12:16,360 --> 01:12:19,240
Speaker 1: especially going into Central America, and keep in mind that

1431
01:12:19,280 --> 01:12:23,639
Speaker 1: there's you know, there's this whole you know, social type

1432
01:12:23,640 --> 01:12:27,040
Speaker 1: of aspect to it and cultural and political type of aspect.

1433
01:12:27,160 --> 01:12:30,639
Speaker 1: To be honest with you, because even though soccer isn't

1434
01:12:30,720 --> 01:12:34,240
Speaker 1: king in the US, we still represent, you know, for

1435
01:12:34,439 --> 01:12:37,759
Speaker 1: many countries, you know, the big bag US and all

1436
01:12:37,800 --> 01:12:39,800
Speaker 1: of the baggage that you know that we bring. And

1437
01:12:39,840 --> 01:12:41,960
Speaker 1: so when we go down and play some of these countries,

1438
01:12:42,160 --> 01:12:45,040
Speaker 1: it may be their only moments when they get to

1439
01:12:45,160 --> 01:12:47,559
Speaker 1: beat up on America, when they get to say that

1440
01:12:47,640 --> 01:12:50,840
Speaker 1: they are better than America at something, and don't underestimate

1441
01:12:51,040 --> 01:12:53,000
Speaker 1: the power of that. And so we go down into

1442
01:12:53,040 --> 01:12:56,559
Speaker 1: these cauldrons to play, and so in the stadium. There's

1443
01:12:56,600 --> 01:13:00,479
Speaker 1: security everywhere, and there's moats, and there's fences, and there's

1444
01:13:00,560 --> 01:13:02,800
Speaker 1: guard dogs, and there are machine guns and all this

1445
01:13:02,920 --> 01:13:06,439
Speaker 1: kind of stuff to protect us as Americans from the

1446
01:13:06,479 --> 01:13:08,960
Speaker 1: moment that we land to the moment that we that

1447
01:13:09,040 --> 01:13:11,559
Speaker 1: we leave. Now, I've been in situations, whether it's as

1448
01:13:11,600 --> 01:13:14,160
Speaker 1: a player as a broadcaster at different times in different

1449
01:13:14,160 --> 01:13:17,000
Speaker 1: countries where stuff has happened, and you know, people have

1450
01:13:17,400 --> 01:13:19,200
Speaker 1: you know, threatened me and do all that. But you know,

1451
01:13:19,280 --> 01:13:21,800
Speaker 1: some of that comes with the territory. And yeah, at

1452
01:13:21,800 --> 01:13:24,360
Speaker 1: the moment, it's it's it's not great. But like I said,

1453
01:13:24,880 --> 01:13:28,160
Speaker 1: I I don't want to I don't want to deny

1454
01:13:28,240 --> 01:13:31,720
Speaker 1: myself the opportunity to have these great experiences, to see

1455
01:13:31,760 --> 01:13:35,800
Speaker 1: different places, to to understand and to meet different people,

1456
01:13:35,920 --> 01:13:39,240
Speaker 1: and to experience different cultures simply because you know, there's

1457
01:13:39,280 --> 01:13:42,000
Speaker 1: the possibility of something happening. But yeah, I mean, didn't

1458
01:13:42,000 --> 01:13:44,000
Speaker 1: you get a gun pulled on you in Russia? That's

1459
01:13:44,000 --> 01:13:48,200
Speaker 1: what I was trying to key the key Yeah, yeah, yeah,

1460
01:13:48,280 --> 01:13:50,479
Speaker 1: So I mean it was you know, that's scary, that's

1461
01:13:50,520 --> 01:13:53,320
Speaker 1: not fun um. But you know, I mean, obviously they

1462
01:13:53,680 --> 01:13:55,799
Speaker 1: didn't like the way I talked about the game or something.

1463
01:13:55,840 --> 01:13:58,200
Speaker 1: I don't know what the hell they were angry about.

1464
01:13:58,280 --> 01:14:00,400
Speaker 1: But you know it's Russia too. So we were in

1465
01:14:00,479 --> 01:14:03,439
Speaker 1: my mouth of the World Cup and uh, yeah, you've

1466
01:14:03,479 --> 01:14:07,200
Speaker 1: never seen our security go into action faster? When when?

1467
01:14:07,320 --> 01:14:10,800
Speaker 1: When that happened? And luckily nothing ultimately did happen? Of

1468
01:14:10,840 --> 01:14:13,240
Speaker 1: it happen and become of it, And I'm I'm still

1469
01:14:13,280 --> 01:14:16,720
Speaker 1: here to tell the tale. Um, if you could go

1470
01:14:16,800 --> 01:14:19,080
Speaker 1: anywhere in the world, you've gotten to travel all over

1471
01:14:19,120 --> 01:14:22,240
Speaker 1: the place to play soccer. Where is your favorite place

1472
01:14:22,280 --> 01:14:24,720
Speaker 1: that you have been both potentially to play soccer in

1473
01:14:24,800 --> 01:14:26,640
Speaker 1: terms of a stadium that you've gotten to play in,

1474
01:14:27,040 --> 01:14:30,880
Speaker 1: but also just a city or a country where you thought, Man,

1475
01:14:31,080 --> 01:14:33,800
Speaker 1: I would love to be able to spend more time here.

1476
01:14:33,840 --> 01:14:36,920
Speaker 1: This place is exquisite. Yeah, I mean, so, I know

1477
01:14:37,000 --> 01:14:40,160
Speaker 1: you recently visited Italy and so I played there many

1478
01:14:40,240 --> 01:14:44,040
Speaker 1: years ago. And you know, the culture just in general

1479
01:14:44,120 --> 01:14:46,640
Speaker 1: is incredible, the food and the travel and these you know,

1480
01:14:46,640 --> 01:14:49,080
Speaker 1: the incredible history and I know you're a big history buff.

1481
01:14:49,400 --> 01:14:52,480
Speaker 1: Uh that's wonderful. But then you add this this incredible

1482
01:14:52,479 --> 01:14:54,680
Speaker 1: culture and history when it comes to the game. You know,

1483
01:14:54,720 --> 01:14:57,479
Speaker 1: these stadiums that they have, whether it's Sensiro Stadium in

1484
01:14:57,800 --> 01:15:02,360
Speaker 1: uh in Milan, you know, these types of legendary cathedrals

1485
01:15:02,400 --> 01:15:04,320
Speaker 1: that we have. You know, I played in the old

1486
01:15:04,360 --> 01:15:07,559
Speaker 1: Wembley Stadium and you know that's the stadium that where

1487
01:15:07,680 --> 01:15:11,240
Speaker 1: England played and where you know Freddie Mercury played in

1488
01:15:11,280 --> 01:15:13,200
Speaker 1: all these different places and all these different, you know,

1489
01:15:13,240 --> 01:15:16,599
Speaker 1: incredible moments through history and so being able to use

1490
01:15:16,640 --> 01:15:19,080
Speaker 1: soccer to see some of these some of these places,

1491
01:15:19,080 --> 01:15:23,160
Speaker 1: but seeing a country and culture through the eyes of soccer,

1492
01:15:23,439 --> 01:15:26,679
Speaker 1: I think can be incredibly illuminating because soccer is so

1493
01:15:26,720 --> 01:15:30,040
Speaker 1: important in many of these countries that it informs everything,

1494
01:15:30,080 --> 01:15:33,880
Speaker 1: and it forms you know, politics and social uh you know,

1495
01:15:34,360 --> 01:15:39,200
Speaker 1: pleasantries and obviously you know it's incredibly tribal from wherever

1496
01:15:39,280 --> 01:15:42,879
Speaker 1: you are, and it infiltrates and like I said, informs

1497
01:15:42,920 --> 01:15:45,400
Speaker 1: almost everything that happens on a day to day basis.

1498
01:15:45,439 --> 01:15:48,240
Speaker 1: And it's really amazing to see a country because and

1499
01:15:48,400 --> 01:15:50,280
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's better or worse, I'm just saying

1500
01:15:50,280 --> 01:15:52,640
Speaker 1: it's very different in the way that we look at

1501
01:15:52,680 --> 01:15:55,320
Speaker 1: our sports. And a lot of people will try to say, well,

1502
01:15:55,560 --> 01:15:58,280
Speaker 1: that means it's more passionate and we have more you know,

1503
01:15:58,360 --> 01:16:01,200
Speaker 1: we don't have as passionate sports fans here in the US.

1504
01:16:01,240 --> 01:16:04,519
Speaker 1: That's a bunch of bs. Okay, I think that we are. Actually,

1505
01:16:05,439 --> 01:16:08,960
Speaker 1: I think we understand much more about what sports is

1506
01:16:09,439 --> 01:16:12,080
Speaker 1: and what it isn't. And certainly there are times where

1507
01:16:12,080 --> 01:16:15,439
Speaker 1: people go over the line and I think, you know,

1508
01:16:15,280 --> 01:16:17,840
Speaker 1: you are a huge, you know, college football fan, that

1509
01:16:17,920 --> 01:16:20,759
Speaker 1: type of passion. I'll put that up against the soccer

1510
01:16:20,800 --> 01:16:25,080
Speaker 1: fans around the world. And I love though, being able

1511
01:16:25,120 --> 01:16:28,200
Speaker 1: to see a country, a culture, a city, an area

1512
01:16:28,320 --> 01:16:30,639
Speaker 1: relative to their sports. And sometimes you can find out

1513
01:16:30,640 --> 01:16:32,439
Speaker 1: a lot about a place and find out a lot

1514
01:16:32,439 --> 01:16:35,439
Speaker 1: about a people relative to their sports. All Right, last

1515
01:16:35,520 --> 01:16:37,519
Speaker 1: question for you, and we appreciate all the time. It's

1516
01:16:37,520 --> 01:16:41,040
Speaker 1: been wins and losses. Alexei Lallis. I'm Clay Travis. A

1517
01:16:41,080 --> 01:16:43,440
Speaker 1: lot of people out there who listen to these interviews

1518
01:16:43,840 --> 01:16:47,599
Speaker 1: are young, right, and or their dads or granddads. Give

1519
01:16:47,640 --> 01:16:49,519
Speaker 1: it to young people and say, hey, here's how you

1520
01:16:49,600 --> 01:16:53,000
Speaker 1: can learn and continue to evolve. If you were talking

1521
01:16:53,000 --> 01:16:56,719
Speaker 1: to a young soccer player today, fourteen year old Alexei

1522
01:16:56,840 --> 01:17:00,400
Speaker 1: Lallis playing somewhere in the country today and not only

1523
01:17:00,439 --> 01:17:03,360
Speaker 1: wants to play for his national team, but he also

1524
01:17:03,479 --> 01:17:07,519
Speaker 1: is interested potentially in a career in media sports media

1525
01:17:07,560 --> 01:17:10,519
Speaker 1: in general. What would you tell that young person could

1526
01:17:10,560 --> 01:17:12,920
Speaker 1: be a boy or girl out there that they should

1527
01:17:12,920 --> 01:17:16,240
Speaker 1: be working on at fourteen fifteen years old, as they

1528
01:17:16,280 --> 01:17:18,639
Speaker 1: age and as they grow, and hey, maybe there's twenty

1529
01:17:18,640 --> 01:17:20,840
Speaker 1: two year old college version of you out there who's

1530
01:17:20,880 --> 01:17:23,240
Speaker 1: listening right now too, what do you wish you had

1531
01:17:23,320 --> 01:17:27,519
Speaker 1: known in terms of your career path? Okay, so when

1532
01:17:27,520 --> 01:17:29,920
Speaker 1: it comes to broadcasting, and I get a lot of

1533
01:17:29,960 --> 01:17:32,640
Speaker 1: young you know, men and women that come up and

1534
01:17:32,680 --> 01:17:35,360
Speaker 1: want to talk about it. First off, and you know,

1535
01:17:35,439 --> 01:17:38,479
Speaker 1: this phenomenon son a phenomena. It's just the reality of

1536
01:17:38,520 --> 01:17:41,880
Speaker 1: the opportunities that we get as ex players. Okay, the

1537
01:17:42,120 --> 01:17:45,960
Speaker 1: door will open to you more so than others because

1538
01:17:46,000 --> 01:17:48,320
Speaker 1: you played, all right, It will not stay open forever,

1539
01:17:48,800 --> 01:17:51,760
Speaker 1: and you better be ready when it does open. And so,

1540
01:17:52,040 --> 01:17:54,439
Speaker 1: first off, if you are already playing, if you're a

1541
01:17:54,560 --> 01:17:57,000
Speaker 1: you know, a professional, and you're thinking about a career

1542
01:17:57,000 --> 01:18:00,800
Speaker 1: in broadcast, if you can recognize a went to jump off.

1543
01:18:00,800 --> 01:18:02,920
Speaker 1: You know, I was thirty two years old when I

1544
01:18:02,920 --> 01:18:06,240
Speaker 1: stopped playing, which is still relatively young, but I got

1545
01:18:06,280 --> 01:18:09,160
Speaker 1: given an opportunity and so a jumping off point came,

1546
01:18:09,240 --> 01:18:12,040
Speaker 1: and I was smart enough in that moment to recognize

1547
01:18:12,160 --> 01:18:14,600
Speaker 1: that while I could have continued playing, this was an

1548
01:18:14,640 --> 01:18:17,559
Speaker 1: opportunity to go and do something that possibly could last

1549
01:18:17,760 --> 01:18:20,960
Speaker 1: obviously well beyond my career, but could become a career.

1550
01:18:21,040 --> 01:18:23,519
Speaker 1: And you've got to have the wherewithal to recognize because

1551
01:18:23,520 --> 01:18:26,800
Speaker 1: your career, I guarantee you will never end in the

1552
01:18:26,840 --> 01:18:30,520
Speaker 1: way that you want. When it comes to specifics on broadcasting,

1553
01:18:30,520 --> 01:18:32,639
Speaker 1: I think you and I both know that your ability

1554
01:18:32,680 --> 01:18:36,400
Speaker 1: to edit, either beforehand or in real time is crucial,

1555
01:18:36,560 --> 01:18:39,000
Speaker 1: especially when you work in television and you got somebody

1556
01:18:39,000 --> 01:18:41,000
Speaker 1: in your ear telling you you've got thirteen seconds and

1557
01:18:41,040 --> 01:18:42,680
Speaker 1: we got to get off air, and you've got to

1558
01:18:42,720 --> 01:18:45,800
Speaker 1: be able to say something that is interesting, that is informative,

1559
01:18:45,920 --> 01:18:47,439
Speaker 1: to make it make sure that you say it in

1560
01:18:47,479 --> 01:18:50,960
Speaker 1: an entertaining way so that people aren't changing the channel.

1561
01:18:51,040 --> 01:18:53,840
Speaker 1: And that comes with reps, that comes with the ability

1562
01:18:54,000 --> 01:18:56,040
Speaker 1: to do something. Some of it's innate. I mean, you

1563
01:18:56,080 --> 01:18:58,120
Speaker 1: know as well as I do. There's plenty of people

1564
01:18:58,160 --> 01:18:59,600
Speaker 1: that we say, oh, that person will be great on

1565
01:18:59,640 --> 01:19:02,960
Speaker 1: tell of. And it's different when you're answering questions to

1566
01:19:03,120 --> 01:19:05,400
Speaker 1: a reporter after a game or something like that, or

1567
01:19:05,400 --> 01:19:08,799
Speaker 1: obviously if you're sitting on your couch, so that all Alexi,

1568
01:19:08,920 --> 01:19:12,840
Speaker 1: sorry to cut you off. But the green room, there

1569
01:19:12,880 --> 01:19:14,960
Speaker 1: are dudes that I have set in the green room

1570
01:19:15,000 --> 01:19:19,280
Speaker 1: with literally a hundred yards at most from the actual studio,

1571
01:19:19,400 --> 01:19:22,760
Speaker 1: and I've been like, this guy is going to kill

1572
01:19:22,800 --> 01:19:27,120
Speaker 1: it on television, and the hundred yard walk into the studio,

1573
01:19:27,800 --> 01:19:31,840
Speaker 1: they get deer in headlights. They are a fifteenth or

1574
01:19:31,880 --> 01:19:34,960
Speaker 1: twentieth as engaging as they were in the green room.

1575
01:19:35,200 --> 01:19:38,400
Speaker 1: There's a big difference. When those lights come on. It's brutal.

1576
01:19:38,520 --> 01:19:41,120
Speaker 1: It is brutal, but that red light I live for it.

1577
01:19:41,200 --> 01:19:43,240
Speaker 1: I can't wait. If people ask me to get nervous,

1578
01:19:43,479 --> 01:19:46,000
Speaker 1: hell yeah. And if I'm not nervous, I'm not ready.

1579
01:19:46,080 --> 01:19:47,880
Speaker 1: I love that feeling. And now I have learned to

1580
01:19:47,920 --> 01:19:51,840
Speaker 1: harness that nervous energy and direct it into you down

1581
01:19:51,840 --> 01:19:53,720
Speaker 1: the barrel. If I'm talking down the barrel, if I'm

1582
01:19:53,840 --> 01:19:56,639
Speaker 1: looking over at Rob Stone, I love that. It jacks

1583
01:19:56,680 --> 01:19:59,200
Speaker 1: me up. I will never be able to replicate playing.

1584
01:19:59,320 --> 01:20:02,000
Speaker 1: I've come to that realization over the years, and you

1585
01:20:02,080 --> 01:20:04,519
Speaker 1: better figure that out quickly. But I've found something that

1586
01:20:04,680 --> 01:20:07,360
Speaker 1: jacks me up as much and in many ways it

1587
01:20:07,439 --> 01:20:10,799
Speaker 1: rewards me and fulfills me even more so than anything

1588
01:20:10,800 --> 01:20:13,759
Speaker 1: I did on the field. The US wins the World

1589
01:20:13,760 --> 01:20:16,400
Speaker 1: Cup in twenty twenty six, you get to do talk

1590
01:20:16,439 --> 01:20:20,280
Speaker 1: about it on television. You finish television. First thing you

1591
01:20:20,320 --> 01:20:22,600
Speaker 1: want to do when you leave the television set to

1592
01:20:22,720 --> 01:20:27,720
Speaker 1: celebrate is what, Oh my goodness, well, I will be

1593
01:20:27,760 --> 01:20:31,200
Speaker 1: in tears. I will be an older gentleman who will

1594
01:20:31,240 --> 01:20:34,120
Speaker 1: be thinking about all of the history and everything that

1595
01:20:34,160 --> 01:20:37,599
Speaker 1: has come before. I think, you know, honestly, I will

1596
01:20:37,640 --> 01:20:40,880
Speaker 1: be wanting to celebrate it with people that have been

1597
01:20:40,920 --> 01:20:44,160
Speaker 1: around and this is you know, this is a labor

1598
01:20:44,200 --> 01:20:46,720
Speaker 1: of love. It's still a labor. It's gotten easier over

1599
01:20:46,760 --> 01:20:49,080
Speaker 1: the years, but it's still pushing that boulder up, and

1600
01:20:49,120 --> 01:20:51,080
Speaker 1: there are so many men and women on and off

1601
01:20:51,080 --> 01:20:53,679
Speaker 1: the field that have worked so long to be able

1602
01:20:53,720 --> 01:20:56,400
Speaker 1: to get to that point. So I would look around

1603
01:20:56,600 --> 01:20:59,280
Speaker 1: and give big hugs to the people that will never

1604
01:20:59,360 --> 01:21:01,519
Speaker 1: ever get the at it. You will never know their name,

1605
01:21:01,720 --> 01:21:04,160
Speaker 1: that have worked to enable us to be in that moment. Now.

1606
01:21:04,200 --> 01:21:07,479
Speaker 1: It's not it doesn't change everything overnight, but it's a

1607
01:21:07,520 --> 01:21:11,200
Speaker 1: hell of an injection to have. He is Alexei Lawless,

1608
01:21:11,200 --> 01:21:13,519
Speaker 1: How can people find you? What would people would you tell?

1609
01:21:13,560 --> 01:21:17,320
Speaker 1: People who enjoyed this conversation, who want more listen. You

1610
01:21:17,320 --> 01:21:19,639
Speaker 1: can come yell at me on Twitter at Alexey Lawless

1611
01:21:20,200 --> 01:21:22,519
Speaker 1: or Instagram or anything out there. I have my State

1612
01:21:22,520 --> 01:21:24,880
Speaker 1: of the Union podcast on Fox. And then if look,

1613
01:21:24,880 --> 01:21:27,559
Speaker 1: if somebody's kicking a ball out there, men's, women's, co

1614
01:21:27,760 --> 01:21:30,400
Speaker 1: ed naked, I am there talking about it on Fox.

1615
01:21:32,040 --> 01:21:35,200
Speaker 1: That is outstanding. I am Clay Travis. He is Alexey Lawless.

1616
01:21:35,320 --> 01:21:37,400
Speaker 1: This has been wins and losses.