July 4, 2023 • 47 mins
On today’s episode, Brian speaks with the greatest US soccer player of all time, Landon Donovan. He talks about moving to Europe at 17, seeing the sport gain popularity in the US, and the influx of soccer teams coming to San Diego.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What I saw over and over and over in my
career is we would go into a stadium against play
against Mexico. It's called it Soldier Field in Chicago, and
by the beginning of the game, it would there'd be
you would say, like seventy five percent of fans were Mexican.
And then as we would the end of the game
we were winning to zero, you'd look around and somehow
(00:21):
and we figured out later what it was, but all
of a sudden, it was flipped. There were seventy five
percent American fans. And what you realize is that they
would walk in with a Mexican jersey over a USA jersey.
Once the US started winning, they'd pull off the Mexican
jersey be American fans the epitome of fairweather fans. Right there. Hi,
(00:45):
I'm Landon Donovan and I consistently kicked Brian's ass and golf.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Hi everybody, and welcome to a patriotic episode of Off
the Beat. This is your host, Brian Baumgartner, and that's right.
Today is the fourth of July.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You s A, you s A.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Now you know I'm a big sports guy. Have I
mentioned that I like golf or football?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Maybe once? Or twice.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
But today I have not just a sports icon, but
a true American icon. That's right, the actual greatest US
soccer player of all time, Landon Donovan is with me
today and I'm not even exaggerating about that. The Major
League Soccer Organization itself has called him that, not to
(01:40):
mention ESPN, The Guardian, his millions of fans, and most
importantly me, He has won six MLS Cups and holds
so many records in the sport of soccer, like all
time assists, tied for all time and scoring, highest scoring
player in World Cup history for the US, and the
(02:01):
list goes on and on. Let me put it this way,
Landon is such an MVP they literally named the award
after him. Seriously, MLS players now don't just get the
MVP Award, they receive the Landon Donovan MVP Award, which
I mean that is insane. Lucky for me, Landon is
(02:23):
as awesome of a guy off the pitch as he
is on it, and so he was willing to come
chat with little old me about his career, growing the
audience for soccer in the US and his more recent
roles in broadcasting, coaching, and even owning his own team
here in San Diego. Also, lucky for me, his golf
(02:46):
game isn't quite as good as his soccer game, so
I can still give him a run for his money
there as long as there's no actual running. Let's get
to it here. He is the living legend Donovan.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Bubble and Squeak.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I love it, Bubble and Squeakna.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Bubble and squeak.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I cook get every mole lift over from the nine before.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
What's up, buddy?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Hey man? Thanks for your patience. Oh please, oh please?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
How's it going?
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I'm in La man, You're in La Co Dodgers, just
like my hat says, go Dodger exactly.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Are you working up there?
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah? Broadcasting?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Are you broadcasting this weekend?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
All weekend?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
All right? Well that is very exciting. Are you? Are
you now?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Are you live in person? Are you going from studio there?
Speaker 1 (03:59):
No studio right, one of the important people.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
You want to travel? Do these live shots. I'm so
excited to talk to you. Spoiler alert. Just was at
a very very prestigious dinner hosted here in our hometown
honoring Landon and his Hall of Fame induction. We'll talk
(04:26):
about that. But I wanted to start back with you
a little bit. I will tell you I just caught
up on the documentary Good Rivals that you were involved
with about the rivalry between Mexico and the United States.
But I understand you early on Mexico and the Mexican
(04:49):
players really influenced your game. Talk to me a little
bit about starting out and your interest in soccer.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, so growing up in southern California, you know, there
are many ethnicities, but lots and lots of Latinos, Mexicans,
Central Americans, et cetera. So where I grew up in Ontario,
probably eighty miles east of la it was predominantly Mexican.
My neighborhood. So when I started playing, my older brother
(05:18):
got me into playing when I was really young. But
when I started playing competitively or even rex soccer, ninety
percent of the kids were Mexican. And at that time,
even less people cared about soccer played soccer, so it
was all the Latin kids who played. So my influence
came heavily, heavily from Mexican players, and most of my
(05:39):
friends and it were Mexican because of that, because I
was around them all the time.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Why do you think that the United States has struggled.
Now it's definitely changing. Now, why do you think that
they struggled so much by finding soccer as sort of
a national sporting to do? I mean I played soccer
as a kid myself, but for a very brief period
of time, and it never felt like it sort of
(06:08):
established itself in the culture like it did in many
other countries, including Mexico.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I think the biggest reason, Brian is just time. Other
countries have had, at a minimum a half century of
this being the number one sport, and in a lot
of cases over a century, and this sport is still
relatively new for US. I mean, I remember growing up.
I'm forty one, so I remember growing up five, eight, ten,
(06:36):
twelve years old. There was no soccer on TV zero.
You could not watch soccer. And now every day you
can turn on you know, fifteen games a day at
a minimum from around the world, and people watch and care.
So it does just take time. It's like, you know,
why isn't the NFL bigger in Europe? Well, the NFL
has had a huge head start here, right, Why isn't
(06:58):
baseball bigger in Europe? It's had a big head start here,
so I think over time people are starting to appreciate
the game more. Obviously, we have lots of options in
this country sporting wise, and I'm glad. I'm a huge
sports fan, but for soccer, it has taken time and
it will continue to take time, but we're getting there.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
You have said that your dad, who played hockey ice hockey,
influenced you as well the way that he moved specifically
yes on the ice or yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
So my dad grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada. Hockey
was his first love. And when he moved to La
and met my mom and had my sister and I,
we would go to hockey games and Van Eyes. He
would go to this little rink and play with all
his old, sweaty, smelly friends, and we would end up
(07:50):
sitting there in the stands watching. My sister would inevitably
have a book with her and just read because she
was bored out of her mind. But I would sit
and watch him. And I see this now, Brian, with
my kids we have you know, there is a genetic
component where you can you learn visually. And I would
watch him and watch him and watch him, and there
were a lot of parallels to soccer with just how
(08:11):
he moved and how he played and how he saw
the ice, and I tried to whether it was conscious
or not, I tried to emulate that, and it very
much looked like how I play now, how I played
soccer as a pro. And I see that with my
kids a little bit too. So there's a cool genetic
component there that's fun to watch get passed down.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, Like we all as kids participate in various activities
and you know, you have dreams of accomplishing greatness in
sports or in entertainment, music, whatever, or you want to
be a fireman.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
One way or the other.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
But there's there becomes a moment where it changes between
sort of a hobby that you're doing, this sort of
dream that you have to this sort of decision of
this is what I want to do, Like this is
you know for you, how early did that did that come?
(09:09):
And like when did you decide that you were going
to pursue this, because I know how much work that
takes that the club, soccer leagues and stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, so it happens a lot earlier now because there's
more attention and you know, human nature than is to
accelerate everything and want to start sooner, and you know,
the parents of the five year old think he's going
to be the next Christiana Ronaldo. Right, So everything's accelerated now.
But for me, I was always a good player with
(09:38):
the ball. Technically, I was pretty far advanced compared to
most kids because I started at two years old with
my brother kicking a ball around. Now a lot of
kids do that now, but at that time that was
very unique, and so in that way I was. I was,
you know, pretty far ahead of my peers. But physically
I was really skinny. I hadn't developed. And then when
(10:00):
I went through puberty about fourteen, my body within like
three months completely changed. My body became like a man's body.
And then I and not only did it did I
catch up to everybody physically, but then I have very
good athletic genes too, so then I became an elite athlete.
And so that time, when that those two married and
(10:22):
tied together, then I became a real soccer player. And
then I started thinking, oh, wow, this is maybe something
I can really do.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
You attended Redlands East Valley. Redlands East Valley what a school,
very specific in there in California, and at the age
of seventeen, one of the youngest American players ever to
(10:50):
sign with a European professional team. You signed with a
German club. I mean you're gonna I mean, I'm German,
I guess, but you're gonna tell me Buyer Levinkusen Leverkusen.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
That guy was gonna say, you're German, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I know, how was that?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, you're a high school kid and now you're going
to Germany. Did your parents go like what? Like, how
does this happen?
Speaker 1 (11:17):
So? I was playing with the under seventeen national team,
so the full national team that you watch in the
World Cups, they're a youth version. So there's an under
twenty and an under seventeen. I remember, I'll never forget
this day. I was playing in Europe with the team
and the tournament and we had just played a game
and I was walking off the field and this would
never happen. Now, there's so many like elaborate scouting networks
(11:38):
and they know every player by the time they're twelve
and all this. But I was walking off the field
and this guy walked up to me and he said, hello, Landon.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
I said yeah, and he said I am Michael Rishka.
From bio Levokuzen and we're interested in signing you. I
was like, what are you talking about, Bride. I didn't
know anything.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
About soccer outside of my little world. I didn't watch
I didn't know anything about it. I was like, what is
going on here? So I went home told my parents
and that kind of started the process of like, oh,
maybe this is a profession. Maybe this is more than
just a hobby. Maybe it's a profession. So in the end,
there were other potential suitors. But my agent, who I
(12:19):
met at fifteen, who's still my agent today, said to
me early on something that stuck with me forever. He said, Lennon,
you always want to go where you're wanted. And they
were the first people to show interest and make an
effort to come after me. So it took a lot
of convincing. My mom's a teacher. My dad obviously was
more excited about it because he played semi professional hockey
(12:40):
and he understands the sporting landscape. But my mom was
a school teacher and all she was hoping at this
point was that I'd get a scholarship to go to
school so we didn't have to grow up very poor,
so that we didn't have to pay for it, so
it took a lot of convincing. And the only way
my mom would sign off on it is if the
contract was enough money so that if I decided to
go to college, it would cover what a scholarship was.
(13:03):
And at that time the agreement was fifty grand a
year for four years, so that if it all went haywire,
I would save every penny and I can still go
to school. And so she allowed me to do that.
But moving to Germany, I went by myself. I was
a very independent seventeen year old, and I was excited
about that. But that is a different world. That's not
(13:23):
like moving across the state. That is that is a
whole different.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
World, right, And so at seventeen you're playing professional soccer.
I mean the other thing about your story that is
insane to me because there's you know, obviously clubs in
Europe and in England then independently in Germany and Italy
and everything that there can't be a draft, but just
the idea that you could be you know, that I
(13:47):
could get a phone call tomorrow on a will you
want to come play soccer for us.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Or whatever like that. I don't know it's crazy to me.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, it's just the way. That's the way the soccer
world works. So the system is not set up where
you go to college and then you move on. It's
just not so. What happens now is kids at you know,
fourteen fifteen in some cases sign professional contracts just based
on their talent and their ability. Now, as you can imagine,
(14:15):
a lot of those kids don't pan out. But that is,
you know, that's the world that that's the soccer world
that we live in.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Eighteen years of age in two thousand, you had been
participating in the under seventeen US team. You get called
up to the national team's camp and then end up
playing a pivotal role, scoring a goal, having an assist
in the US defeating Mexico there in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
(14:48):
Talk to me a little bit about first getting called
up on the national team, like is this it for you?
Like is this as big or bigger than signing this
professional contract before? Or oh, where does this rank for you?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yeah? Way bigger.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I mean playing for your national team is the ultimate
goal for any player. So this was the value of
having a really good agent at that time. My agent
also represented the national team coach, which was maybe a
conflict of interest, but you know, but you I would
just have to earn it. No national team coach is
(15:25):
just going to bring in a player because he likes
the agent. So I was playing pretty well in Germany
and I had become a professional. I'd played well for
the under seventeen team, and my agent pushed hard to
convince Bruce Arena, the coach at the time, to bring
me into camp and just you know, just see me,
see me for the first time in person. So I
went into camp in LA. I was not starting the game.
(15:48):
We go into the Colisseum and I think, you're a
smart guy. You can guess that the Colisseum in downtown
LA was not filled with many Americans. Quite a few
Mexicans there. I think it was a sixty five thousand
was the crowd, and at least sixty four thousand were Mexican.
So we go into this game. I imagine I'm an
(16:09):
eighteen year old sitting on the bench. So in the
thirtieth minute, Chris Henderson, a player on our team, gets injured.
And at this time, this was my first camp with
the national team, so I wasn't expecting to play at all.
I had no ie. I mean, I was just a
naive kid. So I had my shoes weren't tied, shint
guards weren't on, and Bruce came down the bench quickly
(16:31):
and he said, land and get ready, you're going in.
And I was like, oh shit. So I had to
get ready quickly, warm up quickly, and it was it
was a blessing because I didn't have any time to
think about it. I didn't know the night before that
I was starting and have to think about it. I
just had to get my stuff on and go play.
And in the end it worked out well. We won
the game. I had a goal and assist and that
(16:53):
was really the start of my that propelled me pretty quickly.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
Into the national team.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Talk to me a little bit about what you just
talked about about the fans. I mean, we are obviously
in close proximity to Mexico. But this documentary Good Rivals
Now it is if you haven't checked it out, came
out last year or earlier this year on Netflix. It
is about the rivalry between Mexico and the United States,
(17:39):
greatest soccer rivalry in the world, which is incredible because
of how new or young soccer is in the United
States compared to so much of the world. A lot
is made about two thousand, two thousand and two and
beginning to change the pendulum, beginning to switch from Mexico
(18:03):
to the US. But how difficult was it at the
time to find fans and support here that cared about
what you guys were doing.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, incredibly it was. It's it's hard to compare the
fandom of the Mexican people with the fandom of the
American people at that time. Now it's it's pretty level now,
but at that time it just it was non existent.
And so I think the analogy, I mean, obviously you're
a baseball fan, is if not all of a sudden,
(18:34):
but relatively quickly, in the next five years or so,
Mexican Mexican baseball was way better than Major League Baseball
and way better than our players, American players. It's our
national pastime, right, So that would flip things on its head,
and that would cause some problems. So what happened in
the early two thousands is a rivalry that was completely
(18:54):
one sided for a long time, with Mexico always winning
and them just dominating us, started to change and we
beat them in that game. That two thousand game. We
beat them a number of times over the next decade,
and that started to change the mentality of everybody involved.
Everybody looked at the rivalry differently. And then what's happened
in the last we'll call it seven years, is there
(19:17):
are a lot of great rivalries around the world. What
makes this one unique? And why good rivals? Is I
think so important that that film to watch and I'm
glad you watched it. We didn't even talk about that,
but I'm glad you watched it. Is there's also the
political component, right that's been exacerbated over the last seven years.
And there are so many Mexicans in our country, and
(19:40):
especially in southern California and where we live in San Diego.
There's a lot of Mexican Americans, a lot of American Mexicans,
and we coexist in a really harmonious way. But in
a lot of places in our country it doesn't happen.
And so it's this rivalry is just it's heated up
over the last seven years. And on the soccer field,
(20:00):
that's been a good thing because it makes it that
much more interesting for everyone involved.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Do you feel like there are fans of the American
team in Mexico or is that one sided.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
That's a good question. I wouldn't say in Mexico. But
what I saw over and over and over in my
career is we would go into a stadium against play
against Mexico. It's called it Soldier Field in Chicago, right,
And by the beginning of the game, it would there
be you would say, like seventy five percent of fans
were Mexican. And then as we would the end of
(20:34):
the game we were winning two zero, you'd look around
and somehow and we figured out later what it was,
but all of a sudden it was flipped. There were
seventy five percent American fans. And what you realize is
they would walk in with a Mexican jersey over a
USA jersey. Once the US started winning, they'd pull off
the Mexican jersey be American fans. So's the epitome of
fairweather fans right there.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, you do something that takes balls.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
But you know, you'd talk about England and Europe, obviously
Central America, where soccer is so big. You're playing in
Germany already, you get offered a contract at seventeen, but
in two thousand and one, Shortly after you begin playing
for the US national team, you return to the United States,
(21:20):
and essentially, with some brief exceptions, you play out your
entire career at in the MLS in the United States.
Talk to me a little bit about that decision for you.
Was that difficult for you to make?
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
No, No, So what happens is in our sport, what
happens a lot is Europe is the holy Grail of
places to play. It's for the longest time, the most money,
most prestige, best competition, most eyeballs watching, et cetera. And
so for almost every player, that's where they want to play.
(21:58):
Whether you come from Argentina or Africa or California, everybody
wants to be in Europe, somewhere France, England and Spain whatever.
I never subscribe to that theory. I agree with all that,
but the most important thing to me was playing was
actually playing games. It'd be like, they're like Brian, for
(22:19):
the next decade, you're gonna you know, you're going to
go to acting class and you're going to practice, but
you're never going to be on a show. You'd say, well,
that's not right, that's not why I do it. I
don't want to do that, right, And so I always
wanted to play. And what the mistake a lot of
players make is they'll go to Europe and I'm using quotes,
they go to Europe. So you go to a team
in Europe and then you sit on the bench and
you never play a game, and then you get three
(22:40):
years into your career and you go, shoot, what am
I really doing here? Like the paycheck's great, but this
is my this is my life. So I always say
to people, you're not a soccer practicer. You're a soccer player, right.
Do you want to play or do you want to practice?
So my decision was I just wanted to play, and
we had this young league at home that I think
needed all of us to uplift it, and it was
(23:03):
it made sense for me. And then I also got
to play at home in front of my friends and
family in LA and to me that was a no brainer.
You know a lot of people disagree with that and thought,
I I left some stuff on the table and I
could have, you know, played at a higher level in
other places. But I wanted to play, and that that's
where I got.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
My joint right. The MJ Michael Jordan the goat of
US soccer, six time MLS Cup winner, fourteen consecutive All Star.
I mean the list goes on and on. Two time
MLS MVP, two time MLS Cup MVP, Golden Boot, blah
(23:41):
blah blah blah blah. Clearly, you had opportunities to go
other places once you had established yourself. By the way,
what you say makes so much sense, like go where
you can play. Clearly you could have played anywhere at
a certain point.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
But did you feel a loyalty?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Did you feel like you were starting something that was
important with the MLA. I mean not that you started it,
but you know what, being a part of growing something
that was important here because you you know, you essentially
decide never to leave.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I did. I felt like it was I don't know
if responsibility is the right word. But we grew up
in a time where we were all ambassadors for the game.
So it's not like in San Diego when Manny Machado
and Fernando Tatis show up to the baseball park play,
they go home and you know, they do their thing.
For us, it was like go to practice, go to
(24:33):
an appearance afterwards, go talk to the media, go meet kids,
to help sell tickets. I mean, we were constantly my
whole career trying to sell the sport, and it was
just part of it. Not complaining, it's just that's what
it was for us, and so I enjoyed that. It
was exhausting, but I enjoyed that. And when I look
at Major League Soccer today and the national team today,
(24:55):
knowing that I had a small part in that, you know,
makes me prideful because we worked hard to help build that.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Two thousand and two, you guys make a run at
the World Cup, and you know, for me, maybe I'm wrong,
Tell me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
For me, I remember that run, and for me.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
That is where we saw the first glimmours of real
sort of intense fanaticism about the US soccer team here,
And it feels like that's that's where we started from
and started growing from. Is that do you think that's
(25:36):
an accurate assessment? Twand and two.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I think that's that's when it I think really started
to hit mainstream. In ninety four, we hosted the World
Cup here, but yes, we weren't really ready. You know,
there was the majority of the people in the stadiums
were foreigners. You know, well, foreigners slash foreign Americans and
that was the majority of people. But oh two felt
(26:00):
to me, especially because we made a deep run in
the tournament, like that was the tipping point where people
were like, Oh, this is interesting, I can kind of
get into this.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Yeah, twenty twenty six, for the first time, three countries
are going to be co hosting the World Cup and
it's expanding at the same time.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Mexico, what I.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Said, what could go wrong?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Look? Look could go wrong Mexico?
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Can I know, by the way, if you read what's
going on in the airline industry in the last few days, Yeah,
what could go wrong?
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Flying for Mexico to Canada?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Canada for the first time, you asked for the second
time in Mexico for a record third time hosting the
World Cup all together? What do you think the opportunity
is there for soccer in this country and this beyond.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
This will be the biggest sporting event in the history
of the planet, right, because the World Cup already is
the biggest. You know, maybe not in America doesn't feel
that way, but around the globe, I mean, millions of
people watch the World Cup. So this is the biggest
sporting event anyway, And then having it in North America
(27:10):
is going to be insane. So my challenge personally is
I don't know. I don't know what to do and
where to go. I don't know if I just be
a fan and travel every game. I don't know if
I should, you know, hope to broadcast it and work
that way. I don't know what to do because there's
the options are endless, and it's going to be a
phenomenal party, the biggest party on the planet for thirty days.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
So it's going to be well, you're going to try
to make the team.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Right at forty one, I could barely walk. You see
me walk the golf course. I could barely walk.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
No, I mean there's got to be I mean, you
say it's all about playing, but at this point, right this,
woant don't you just take a seat on the bench,
just be just be there for the experience.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Hey, I would love to.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
You've got to have the cloud to do that, right, No.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Not quite not, it doesn't work that way.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Oh all right, well.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
You you just mentioned golf. Talk to me about what golf.
By the way, he's sambager. Let's just be really clear
about something here publicly and across the world.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
That's not true.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
What does golf give you that you don't don't get
now that you've retired from soccer.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
That's a great question. It's just the challenge of it.
It's so hard to be good at and I have
so much respect. I went to the US Open La
Country Club last week, and watching those guys live is crazy.
I have so much respect for people who do things
(28:47):
at a high level, at the highest level, and watching
that is so fun and it's brought me brought my
ego down, So it's good for my ego. It's brought
me a lot of joy just being around like minded people,
you know. When we play on Fridays, it's so much fun,
and it's a group of guys that are just really
good human beings. So I've gotten a lot of joy
(29:07):
out of it, and now I'm a lifelong fan like you.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, it's interesting when I talk to guys about golf
who excelled in other sports. I mean, to me, there
is a really distinct difference which you would think would
act against each other. I mean in soccer, and in
some ways especially soccer, right like in basketball or something
(29:33):
you're racing to try to score a thousand points right.
I mean, it's just your It's always about go, go
go and scoring. Football somewhat the same way because baseball
is so individualized at the plate, nobody's giving up theoretically,
like every at bat they're going to grind because it's
individual as well as the team. You know, Soccer is
(29:56):
interesting because it is just about beating your opponent, whatever
that takes, and the competition comes from that, like we
want to beat you and whatever that takes, to what
degree of defensive you know, play after you've scored a
couple of times or whatever. Golf is the opposite, right,
because it is only about yourself ultimately.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Yeah, it's it is.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I was.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I was talking to someone about that last week at
the at the US Open. It is so unique in
that you can play basically as well as you can
and still lose. Right in golf. In soccer, if I'm terrible,
I mean terrible on a given day, we can still
win the game, right and I and I can find
out I can find ways to help my team even
(30:45):
if I'm terrible on the given day. But in golf,
it's just not that, it's it's and you can also
you know, it's weird. You can be on the sixteenth
hole on the fourth day of a major tournament and
be playing for quote unquote not to win the tournament,
but still be playing for tons of money, endpoints and
(31:07):
prestige and the ability to stay on the tour the
next year. You know, you could have a putt on
eighteen when you're in nineteenth place. That means a lot.
And that's you know, if we're down four zero in
a soccer game, scoring for to one in the ninety
first minute doesn't matter, right, the game's over, right. But
in golf, it's just it's such a unique sport in
so many ways.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
The thing that I always talk about is, and I
guess this is true in soccer or other things, there's
no such thing as a as a perfect round, so
there's you're always working to do something better.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
But I think that for me, it's what makes it
so wholly unique is that that individual fight with yourself.
I mean, if you're playing match play, but most tournaments
aren't match play. I mean you're literally just trying to
play as well as you can individually, and where you
end up is where you wind up. I mean, there's
(32:02):
nothing you can do about what McElroy is doing, you know.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
For right exactly. It doesn't matter, and that's why it's
just such an It's so weird for me because my
whole life in sports has been completely opposite. It's about
how you help everyone else to get over the finish line,
you know. But it's just it's good.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I love it. Yeah, you spoke about our Friday golf group.
Landon was well, you were inducted into the Soccer Hall
of Fame a couple of weeks slash months ago. We
had a dinner hosting and roasting you for that. Talk
to me a little bit about what that meant for you.
(32:40):
I mean, the freaking MVP Award is now called the
Landon Donovan MLS MVP Award. But to be recognized as
being a Hall of Famer, what did that mean to you?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Well, being a Hall of Famer is obviously it's an
incredible feeling. But talking about the Friday golf I mean,
you guys all have busy lives. You took a Wednesday
night to celebrate with me. And what I've always said
to people is sports in that way are challenging because
(33:14):
it's really hard to make true, meaningful friendships. You're around
guys all the time, but inevitably someone gets traded. Guys retire,
guys go to different teams, and so you don't keep
that connection for a long time. But we all live
in an amazing community in San Diego where presumably most
of us are going to be the rest of our lives.
(33:35):
And now we have this group of guys who genuinely
care about each other, treat each other well, celebrate each
other or positive. It's really unat I haven't had that.
I've been around guys my age my whole life, but
I haven't had that sort of community. And so it's
a really special group of guys. We're lucky to be
part of it.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, I agree, and you know, if any of them
are listening, I don't want to go too far in
this for obvious reasons, but I think what's unique about
it is, you know, one having the opportunity to get
to know you a little bit, and also professional golfers
and also guys from such a wide range of experience
(34:15):
and business knowledge and life experience, and that I think
is really unique and special. So I will I will
begrudgingly back you up and say we have found a
very unique little group that offers me something I've never
had as well, and also just really fun.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Well, I want to talk about something that I was like,
(34:58):
my mind was blown when I start doing this research,
and I.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Never thought about it before.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
But because of all of your work with a national
team competing on an international basis and also MLS, you
had thirteen years in a row where you're playing January
through December with no off season and no breaks, and
none of the other major sports have do that in
(35:28):
the same way. And there's more running, I mean in
your sport. How do you keep your body healthy enough
to take on this schedule for so much time?
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Well, there's clearly a genetic component right to stay out, yes,
for most of my career. But I spent you know,
I spent lots of time, energy, and money taking care
of my body. I mean, in some years, hundreds of
thousands of dollars to take care of just to take
care of my body. So I did. I did a
(36:04):
variety of things. I did pilates, I worked with someone
who was a structural alignment person who just got your
body structurally organized so that you could stay healthy. All
of the normal things you would do before and after training,
all the treatment, stretching, massage, just took care of my
body at a high level, always eating well, hydrating well,
(36:28):
and all that all allowed me to sleeping well. That
allowed me to play for a long time. Otherwise it's impossible.
I mean, you can't. We're not robots, right. At some
point your body breaks down. And so it took all
of those things to allow me to stay healthy.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Clearly that helped.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
But you talked about in twenty twelve needed to take
a break because you had for thirteen years, and you
describe yourself as being mentally exhausted as well and just
needing a break.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Do you was that help?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Was that a helpful time for you or was that
just you just had to do it?
Speaker 1 (37:04):
It was almost mandatory. I mean I was. I was like,
we have a lot of mental health in my family,
a lot of mental health issues, and I was getting
to a point where I was not enjoying it. I
was depressed. I was exhausted, I mean just physically emotionally exhausted,
(37:25):
and I needed to get away. I just needed the
opportunity to get away. And I didn't know if I
would come back in a month, three months, six months,
or just be done. But I couldn't. I couldn't keep
going or I was gonna literally just go crazy. So
I took a break. Fortunately, the Galaxy were supportive of it,
and in the end, I believe it was three or
(37:46):
four months where I got to just get away and
just let my mind and body recover and heal before
I went for another couple of years.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah, well, I'm glad that one that they were they
were supportive. I mean, you came back and by the way,
one One won the Cup another time as well in
twenty fourteen, so I'm sure they were appreciative of that.
Your decision to finally retire in twenty eighteen was that difficult?
Speaker 3 (38:19):
No, I was.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
I was ready, And of course there are things you miss, right,
I mean that mostly the game days, the energy in
the building is so fun and going to compete. But
it got to a point where, you know, when I
was the first probably eight years of my career, it
wasn't if we started playing in January. It wasn't until
(38:41):
like September October, I was like, it's getting Cal'm getting
kind of tired. By the end of my career. It
was like in May, I was like, we still have
six months to go, you know, and so I just
knew that it was it was enough. My body had
taken enough, my mind had taken enough. Now it was
time to stop.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
You've gotten to broadcasting. Is that fun for you? Is
that just another job?
Speaker 1 (39:03):
No? No, No, I wouldn't. I mean I wouldn't do it.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I don't have to do it. I take the time
to do it. So I'm I love doing it. It's
fun to stay a part of it. And I've also
I was a coach for three years here in San Diego,
so I had the ability to really see the game differently.
And most broadcasters haven't been coaches, so they don't see
the game that way. And so I feel like I'm
(39:27):
able to provide some insight that that's pretty unique.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Talking about San Diego's USL club, Loyal, which Landon is
also an owner of, in May, MLS, your your your mothership,
as it were, well, they grant San Diego an MLS team.
How was that for you already being here in San Diego?
(39:54):
Was that difficult for you or do you think that's
good for San Diego?
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Well? Both, I mean it's hard for or Loyal because
we've built something that I'm really proud of and that's special.
But having MLS in San Diego is great for the city.
And I've grown to know a lot of the people
who care most about soccer in our city. Over the
last seven years that I've been in San Diego, I've met,
(40:20):
you know, almost every diehard soccer fan, you know, thousands
and thousands of them.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
And.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
They have waited so long for this. You know, I've
been waiting a long time, but they've been waiting a
really long time. And so this is a moment that's
long overdue for San Diego. And you know, when I
go to the Padres games at Peco, it is so
good for the city. It's so uplifting for the city.
And this is going to be the same.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Good.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
So what is what is Loyal's future? What do you
see as Loyal's future?
Speaker 1 (40:53):
It's not my decision, it's our our owner is Andrew Vasiliadis. Ultimately,
it's his choice how he wants to proceed. He's, you know, understandably,
it's been hard for him because he's built this amazing thing.
And I'm maybe I'm too idealistic, but I think there's
(41:14):
a scenario where everybody joins together in some way to
move forward together. I think that would be the best
thing to bring all the soccer fans in the city together.
But ultimately it's his choice, so that's you know, that's
only a decision he can make.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Right, Well, I wish you luck with that. I agree
with you. I think having the MLS one way or
another here in San Diego is is great. I mean, yeah,
people forget San Diego is like the eighth most populous city.
I mean, we think of ourselves as being this small
(41:50):
little thing next to Los Angeles. But in point of fact,
now with everybody else leaving, you know, the Padres are
sort of the only the only game in town, no
pun intended. So I think having the MLS here is
going to be really huge for the area.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Yeah, it's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Proudest moment for you on the soccer field, on the pitch, sorry,
on the pitch.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
I think playing in my first World Cup, a kid
from a small town in Ontario, grew up, you know,
in a nine hundred square foot home with nothing to
make it there was that defied all the odds and
so being there was really proud moment for me.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Yeah, even as a young kid, I mean, I'm doing
the math quickly in my head right now, I'm putting
you at eight nineteen ish years of age. Are you
able to feel the impact that you're having on a
nation when you're like, do you feel it?
Speaker 1 (42:56):
No? But later in my career I was more aware
of that. But when you're eighteen, you're just playing. You know,
you're just in, You're just in every moment, You're at
the next trip, the next stadium, the next and you know,
and plus the world was different then. There wasn't the
social media component. There wasn't you know, people weren't as
aware of things like that. So you just you just
did your job and moved on.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
You know, Yeah, I guess so, but I feel like
I don't know, you see, And maybe this is not
even an appropriate comparison, but I remember early on when
the NBA, when the players started going to China, and
(43:37):
I'm talking about this is back in like the Jordan
days or whatever, and they went to China and suddenly
it was as though they were all realizing how big
they were over there, Like it was sort of like
not a part of the consciousness, you know, coming home
and realizing now, like I mean, you had to know, like, oh,
(44:00):
I'm now being asked for interviews or I'm seeing myself
in the newspaper or on the you know, the lead
story on the news, both national and local. You know, like, yeah,
it was being talked about like it never had been before.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Yeah, that happens twice, that happened, I see what you're saying.
In O two when we came home from the World Cup,
that was the first time I was like, oh, people
know who I am. And then in twenty ten when
we came home from South Africa after the World Cup,
it was the same. It was like, but on a
like exponentially greater level.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
So yeah, the con Celtic grow.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Yeah, you could there. It was tangible. I mean even
just like walking through the airport when you got home,
people staring and recognizing you, and then it was tangibly different.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
You could feel it, right, dude, thank you so much
for coming to talk to me. I you know, truly,
in terms of American soccer, we we debated it after
your Hall of Fame induction. I think it was unanimously
decided the greatest American.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
Sorry of all time.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
And yeah, to have accomplished so much and to mean
so much because it's personal with the MLS, but it
is also as a country. I don't think it's overstating
at how much you have meant to the country and
the growth of this sport and in nationalism in sports.
(45:33):
I mean, it's the World Cup, it's the US national team,
and it's the Olympics, and other than that, nothing else
comes close. So congratulations on that. I appreciate you coming
on and congratulations again and on the Hall of Fame.
And now I just look forward to kicking your assing golf.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Thanks for having me on, Betty.
Speaker 4 (45:56):
I appreciate it, all right, Thanks man, all right, Landon,
thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
That was awesome.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
It was so awesome in fact that I hereby award
you the Brian Bomgartner Best Podcast Interview Award. What do
you think could that be a thing, or the Brian
Bombgartner Coolest Golf Buddy Award? Maybe you could win that anyway, Listeners,
(46:36):
if you think of a good award for my name,
then send it over to me at Off the Beat
on Instagram or who knows, maybe you'll receive the award
for best award name named after you. This could be
a thing, but for now, in the words of a
very wise.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
Pig that that's all, folks, until next time, have a
great week Off.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
The Beat is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner,
alongside our executive producer Lang Lee. Our senior producer is
Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and
Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and
our intern is Thomas Olsen. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak,
(47:28):
performed by the one and Only Creed Brandon
What I saw over and over and over in my
career is we would go into a stadium against play
against Mexico. It's called it Soldier Field in Chicago, and
by the beginning of the game, it would there'd be
you would say, like seventy five percent of fans were Mexican.
And then as we would the end of the game
we were winning to zero, you'd look around and somehow
(00:21):
and we figured out later what it was, but all
of a sudden, it was flipped. There were seventy five
percent American fans. And what you realize is that they
would walk in with a Mexican jersey over a USA jersey.
Once the US started winning, they'd pull off the Mexican
jersey be American fans the epitome of fairweather fans. Right there. Hi,
(00:45):
I'm Landon Donovan and I consistently kicked Brian's ass and golf.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Hi everybody, and welcome to a patriotic episode of Off
the Beat. This is your host, Brian Baumgartner, and that's right.
Today is the fourth of July.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You s A, you s A.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Now you know I'm a big sports guy. Have I
mentioned that I like golf or football?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Maybe once? Or twice.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
But today I have not just a sports icon, but
a true American icon. That's right, the actual greatest US
soccer player of all time, Landon Donovan is with me
today and I'm not even exaggerating about that. The Major
League Soccer Organization itself has called him that, not to
(01:40):
mention ESPN, The Guardian, his millions of fans, and most
importantly me, He has won six MLS Cups and holds
so many records in the sport of soccer, like all
time assists, tied for all time and scoring, highest scoring
player in World Cup history for the US, and the
(02:01):
list goes on and on. Let me put it this way,
Landon is such an MVP they literally named the award
after him. Seriously, MLS players now don't just get the
MVP Award, they receive the Landon Donovan MVP Award, which
I mean that is insane. Lucky for me, Landon is
(02:23):
as awesome of a guy off the pitch as he
is on it, and so he was willing to come
chat with little old me about his career, growing the
audience for soccer in the US and his more recent
roles in broadcasting, coaching, and even owning his own team
here in San Diego. Also, lucky for me, his golf
(02:46):
game isn't quite as good as his soccer game, so
I can still give him a run for his money
there as long as there's no actual running. Let's get
to it here. He is the living legend Donovan.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Bubble and Squeak.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I love it, Bubble and Squeakna.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Bubble and squeak.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I cook get every mole lift over from the nine before.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
What's up, buddy?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Hey man? Thanks for your patience. Oh please, oh please?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
How's it going?
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I'm in La man, You're in La Co Dodgers, just
like my hat says, go Dodger exactly.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Are you working up there?
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah? Broadcasting?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Are you broadcasting this weekend?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
All weekend?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
All right? Well that is very exciting. Are you? Are
you now?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Are you live in person? Are you going from studio there?
Speaker 1 (03:59):
No studio right, one of the important people.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
You want to travel? Do these live shots. I'm so
excited to talk to you. Spoiler alert. Just was at
a very very prestigious dinner hosted here in our hometown
honoring Landon and his Hall of Fame induction. We'll talk
(04:26):
about that. But I wanted to start back with you
a little bit. I will tell you I just caught
up on the documentary Good Rivals that you were involved
with about the rivalry between Mexico and the United States.
But I understand you early on Mexico and the Mexican
(04:49):
players really influenced your game. Talk to me a little
bit about starting out and your interest in soccer.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, so growing up in southern California, you know, there
are many ethnicities, but lots and lots of Latinos, Mexicans,
Central Americans, et cetera. So where I grew up in Ontario,
probably eighty miles east of la it was predominantly Mexican.
My neighborhood. So when I started playing, my older brother
(05:18):
got me into playing when I was really young. But
when I started playing competitively or even rex soccer, ninety
percent of the kids were Mexican. And at that time,
even less people cared about soccer played soccer, so it
was all the Latin kids who played. So my influence
came heavily, heavily from Mexican players, and most of my
(05:39):
friends and it were Mexican because of that, because I
was around them all the time.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Why do you think that the United States has struggled.
Now it's definitely changing. Now, why do you think that
they struggled so much by finding soccer as sort of
a national sporting to do? I mean I played soccer
as a kid myself, but for a very brief period
of time, and it never felt like it sort of
(06:08):
established itself in the culture like it did in many
other countries, including Mexico.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I think the biggest reason, Brian is just time. Other
countries have had, at a minimum a half century of
this being the number one sport, and in a lot
of cases over a century, and this sport is still
relatively new for US. I mean, I remember growing up.
I'm forty one, so I remember growing up five, eight, ten,
(06:36):
twelve years old. There was no soccer on TV zero.
You could not watch soccer. And now every day you
can turn on you know, fifteen games a day at
a minimum from around the world, and people watch and care.
So it does just take time. It's like, you know,
why isn't the NFL bigger in Europe? Well, the NFL
has had a huge head start here, right, Why isn't
(06:58):
baseball bigger in Europe? It's had a big head start here,
so I think over time people are starting to appreciate
the game more. Obviously, we have lots of options in
this country sporting wise, and I'm glad. I'm a huge
sports fan, but for soccer, it has taken time and
it will continue to take time, but we're getting there.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
You have said that your dad, who played hockey ice hockey,
influenced you as well the way that he moved specifically
yes on the ice or yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
So my dad grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada. Hockey
was his first love. And when he moved to La
and met my mom and had my sister and I,
we would go to hockey games and Van Eyes. He
would go to this little rink and play with all
his old, sweaty, smelly friends, and we would end up
(07:50):
sitting there in the stands watching. My sister would inevitably
have a book with her and just read because she
was bored out of her mind. But I would sit
and watch him. And I see this now, Brian, with
my kids we have you know, there is a genetic
component where you can you learn visually. And I would
watch him and watch him and watch him, and there
were a lot of parallels to soccer with just how
(08:11):
he moved and how he played and how he saw
the ice, and I tried to whether it was conscious
or not, I tried to emulate that, and it very
much looked like how I play now, how I played
soccer as a pro. And I see that with my
kids a little bit too. So there's a cool genetic
component there that's fun to watch get passed down.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, Like we all as kids participate in various activities
and you know, you have dreams of accomplishing greatness in
sports or in entertainment, music, whatever, or you want to
be a fireman.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
One way or the other.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
But there's there becomes a moment where it changes between
sort of a hobby that you're doing, this sort of
dream that you have to this sort of decision of
this is what I want to do, Like this is
you know for you, how early did that did that come?
(09:09):
And like when did you decide that you were going
to pursue this, because I know how much work that
takes that the club, soccer leagues and stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, so it happens a lot earlier now because there's
more attention and you know, human nature than is to
accelerate everything and want to start sooner, and you know,
the parents of the five year old think he's going
to be the next Christiana Ronaldo. Right, So everything's accelerated now.
But for me, I was always a good player with
(09:38):
the ball. Technically, I was pretty far advanced compared to
most kids because I started at two years old with
my brother kicking a ball around. Now a lot of
kids do that now, but at that time that was
very unique, and so in that way I was. I was,
you know, pretty far ahead of my peers. But physically
I was really skinny. I hadn't developed. And then when
(10:00):
I went through puberty about fourteen, my body within like
three months completely changed. My body became like a man's body.
And then I and not only did it did I
catch up to everybody physically, but then I have very
good athletic genes too, so then I became an elite athlete.
And so that time, when that those two married and
(10:22):
tied together, then I became a real soccer player. And
then I started thinking, oh, wow, this is maybe something
I can really do.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
You attended Redlands East Valley. Redlands East Valley what a school,
very specific in there in California, and at the age
of seventeen, one of the youngest American players ever to
(10:50):
sign with a European professional team. You signed with a
German club. I mean you're gonna I mean, I'm German,
I guess, but you're gonna tell me Buyer Levinkusen Leverkusen.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
That guy was gonna say, you're German, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I know, how was that?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, you're a high school kid and now you're going
to Germany. Did your parents go like what? Like, how
does this happen?
Speaker 1 (11:17):
So? I was playing with the under seventeen national team,
so the full national team that you watch in the
World Cups, they're a youth version. So there's an under
twenty and an under seventeen. I remember, I'll never forget
this day. I was playing in Europe with the team
and the tournament and we had just played a game
and I was walking off the field and this would
never happen. Now, there's so many like elaborate scouting networks
(11:38):
and they know every player by the time they're twelve
and all this. But I was walking off the field
and this guy walked up to me and he said, hello, Landon.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
I said yeah, and he said I am Michael Rishka.
From bio Levokuzen and we're interested in signing you. I
was like, what are you talking about, Bride. I didn't
know anything.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
About soccer outside of my little world. I didn't watch
I didn't know anything about it. I was like, what is
going on here? So I went home told my parents
and that kind of started the process of like, oh,
maybe this is a profession. Maybe this is more than
just a hobby. Maybe it's a profession. So in the end,
there were other potential suitors. But my agent, who I
(12:19):
met at fifteen, who's still my agent today, said to
me early on something that stuck with me forever. He said, Lennon,
you always want to go where you're wanted. And they
were the first people to show interest and make an
effort to come after me. So it took a lot
of convincing. My mom's a teacher. My dad obviously was
more excited about it because he played semi professional hockey
(12:40):
and he understands the sporting landscape. But my mom was
a school teacher and all she was hoping at this
point was that I'd get a scholarship to go to
school so we didn't have to grow up very poor,
so that we didn't have to pay for it, so
it took a lot of convincing. And the only way
my mom would sign off on it is if the
contract was enough money so that if I decided to
go to college, it would cover what a scholarship was.
(13:03):
And at that time the agreement was fifty grand a
year for four years, so that if it all went haywire,
I would save every penny and I can still go
to school. And so she allowed me to do that.
But moving to Germany, I went by myself. I was
a very independent seventeen year old, and I was excited
about that. But that is a different world. That's not
(13:23):
like moving across the state. That is that is a
whole different.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
World, right, And so at seventeen you're playing professional soccer.
I mean the other thing about your story that is
insane to me because there's you know, obviously clubs in
Europe and in England then independently in Germany and Italy
and everything that there can't be a draft, but just
the idea that you could be you know, that I
(13:47):
could get a phone call tomorrow on a will you
want to come play soccer for us.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Or whatever like that. I don't know it's crazy to me.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, it's just the way. That's the way the soccer
world works. So the system is not set up where
you go to college and then you move on. It's
just not so. What happens now is kids at you know,
fourteen fifteen in some cases sign professional contracts just based
on their talent and their ability. Now, as you can imagine,
(14:15):
a lot of those kids don't pan out. But that is,
you know, that's the world that that's the soccer world
that we live in.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Eighteen years of age in two thousand, you had been
participating in the under seventeen US team. You get called
up to the national team's camp and then end up
playing a pivotal role, scoring a goal, having an assist
in the US defeating Mexico there in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
(14:48):
Talk to me a little bit about first getting called
up on the national team, like is this it for you?
Like is this as big or bigger than signing this
professional contract before? Or oh, where does this rank for you?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yeah? Way bigger.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I mean playing for your national team is the ultimate
goal for any player. So this was the value of
having a really good agent at that time. My agent
also represented the national team coach, which was maybe a
conflict of interest, but you know, but you I would
just have to earn it. No national team coach is
(15:25):
just going to bring in a player because he likes
the agent. So I was playing pretty well in Germany
and I had become a professional. I'd played well for
the under seventeen team, and my agent pushed hard to
convince Bruce Arena, the coach at the time, to bring
me into camp and just you know, just see me,
see me for the first time in person. So I
went into camp in LA. I was not starting the game.
(15:48):
We go into the Colisseum and I think, you're a
smart guy. You can guess that the Colisseum in downtown
LA was not filled with many Americans. Quite a few
Mexicans there. I think it was a sixty five thousand
was the crowd, and at least sixty four thousand were Mexican.
So we go into this game. I imagine I'm an
(16:09):
eighteen year old sitting on the bench. So in the
thirtieth minute, Chris Henderson, a player on our team, gets injured.
And at this time, this was my first camp with
the national team, so I wasn't expecting to play at all.
I had no ie. I mean, I was just a
naive kid. So I had my shoes weren't tied, shint
guards weren't on, and Bruce came down the bench quickly
(16:31):
and he said, land and get ready, you're going in.
And I was like, oh shit. So I had to
get ready quickly, warm up quickly, and it was it
was a blessing because I didn't have any time to
think about it. I didn't know the night before that
I was starting and have to think about it. I
just had to get my stuff on and go play.
And in the end it worked out well. We won
the game. I had a goal and assist and that
(16:53):
was really the start of my that propelled me pretty quickly.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
Into the national team.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Talk to me a little bit about what you just
talked about about the fans. I mean, we are obviously
in close proximity to Mexico. But this documentary Good Rivals
Now it is if you haven't checked it out, came
out last year or earlier this year on Netflix. It
is about the rivalry between Mexico and the United States,
(17:39):
greatest soccer rivalry in the world, which is incredible because
of how new or young soccer is in the United
States compared to so much of the world. A lot
is made about two thousand, two thousand and two and
beginning to change the pendulum, beginning to switch from Mexico
(18:03):
to the US. But how difficult was it at the
time to find fans and support here that cared about
what you guys were doing.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, incredibly it was. It's it's hard to compare the
fandom of the Mexican people with the fandom of the
American people at that time. Now it's it's pretty level now,
but at that time it just it was non existent.
And so I think the analogy, I mean, obviously you're
a baseball fan, is if not all of a sudden,
(18:34):
but relatively quickly, in the next five years or so,
Mexican Mexican baseball was way better than Major League Baseball
and way better than our players, American players. It's our
national pastime, right, So that would flip things on its head,
and that would cause some problems. So what happened in
the early two thousands is a rivalry that was completely
(18:54):
one sided for a long time, with Mexico always winning
and them just dominating us, started to change and we
beat them in that game. That two thousand game. We
beat them a number of times over the next decade,
and that started to change the mentality of everybody involved.
Everybody looked at the rivalry differently. And then what's happened
in the last we'll call it seven years, is there
(19:17):
are a lot of great rivalries around the world. What
makes this one unique? And why good rivals? Is I
think so important that that film to watch and I'm
glad you watched it. We didn't even talk about that,
but I'm glad you watched it. Is there's also the
political component, right that's been exacerbated over the last seven years.
And there are so many Mexicans in our country, and
(19:40):
especially in southern California and where we live in San Diego.
There's a lot of Mexican Americans, a lot of American Mexicans,
and we coexist in a really harmonious way. But in
a lot of places in our country it doesn't happen.
And so it's this rivalry is just it's heated up
over the last seven years. And on the soccer field,
(20:00):
that's been a good thing because it makes it that
much more interesting for everyone involved.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Do you feel like there are fans of the American
team in Mexico or is that one sided.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
That's a good question. I wouldn't say in Mexico. But
what I saw over and over and over in my
career is we would go into a stadium against play
against Mexico. It's called it Soldier Field in Chicago, right,
And by the beginning of the game, it would there
be you would say, like seventy five percent of fans
were Mexican. And then as we would the end of
(20:34):
the game we were winning two zero, you'd look around
and somehow and we figured out later what it was,
but all of a sudden it was flipped. There were
seventy five percent American fans. And what you realize is
they would walk in with a Mexican jersey over a
USA jersey. Once the US started winning, they'd pull off
the Mexican jersey be American fans. So's the epitome of
fairweather fans right there.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, you do something that takes balls.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
But you know, you'd talk about England and Europe, obviously
Central America, where soccer is so big. You're playing in
Germany already, you get offered a contract at seventeen, but
in two thousand and one, Shortly after you begin playing
for the US national team, you return to the United States,
(21:20):
and essentially, with some brief exceptions, you play out your
entire career at in the MLS in the United States.
Talk to me a little bit about that decision for you.
Was that difficult for you to make?
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
No, No, So what happens is in our sport, what
happens a lot is Europe is the holy Grail of
places to play. It's for the longest time, the most money,
most prestige, best competition, most eyeballs watching, et cetera. And
so for almost every player, that's where they want to play.
(21:58):
Whether you come from Argentina or Africa or California, everybody
wants to be in Europe, somewhere France, England and Spain whatever.
I never subscribe to that theory. I agree with all that,
but the most important thing to me was playing was
actually playing games. It'd be like, they're like Brian, for
(22:19):
the next decade, you're gonna you know, you're going to
go to acting class and you're going to practice, but
you're never going to be on a show. You'd say, well,
that's not right, that's not why I do it. I
don't want to do that, right, And so I always
wanted to play. And what the mistake a lot of
players make is they'll go to Europe and I'm using quotes,
they go to Europe. So you go to a team
in Europe and then you sit on the bench and
you never play a game, and then you get three
(22:40):
years into your career and you go, shoot, what am
I really doing here? Like the paycheck's great, but this
is my this is my life. So I always say
to people, you're not a soccer practicer. You're a soccer player, right.
Do you want to play or do you want to practice?
So my decision was I just wanted to play, and
we had this young league at home that I think
needed all of us to uplift it, and it was
(23:03):
it made sense for me. And then I also got
to play at home in front of my friends and
family in LA and to me that was a no brainer.
You know a lot of people disagree with that and thought,
I I left some stuff on the table and I
could have, you know, played at a higher level in
other places. But I wanted to play, and that that's
where I got.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
My joint right. The MJ Michael Jordan the goat of
US soccer, six time MLS Cup winner, fourteen consecutive All Star.
I mean the list goes on and on. Two time
MLS MVP, two time MLS Cup MVP, Golden Boot, blah
(23:41):
blah blah blah blah. Clearly, you had opportunities to go
other places once you had established yourself. By the way,
what you say makes so much sense, like go where
you can play. Clearly you could have played anywhere at
a certain point.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
But did you feel a loyalty?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Did you feel like you were starting something that was
important with the MLA. I mean not that you started it,
but you know what, being a part of growing something
that was important here because you you know, you essentially
decide never to leave.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I did. I felt like it was I don't know
if responsibility is the right word. But we grew up
in a time where we were all ambassadors for the game.
So it's not like in San Diego when Manny Machado
and Fernando Tatis show up to the baseball park play,
they go home and you know, they do their thing.
For us, it was like go to practice, go to
(24:33):
an appearance afterwards, go talk to the media, go meet kids,
to help sell tickets. I mean, we were constantly my
whole career trying to sell the sport, and it was
just part of it. Not complaining, it's just that's what
it was for us, and so I enjoyed that. It
was exhausting, but I enjoyed that. And when I look
at Major League Soccer today and the national team today,
(24:55):
knowing that I had a small part in that, you know,
makes me prideful because we worked hard to help build that.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Two thousand and two, you guys make a run at
the World Cup, and you know, for me, maybe I'm wrong,
Tell me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
For me, I remember that run, and for me.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
That is where we saw the first glimmours of real
sort of intense fanaticism about the US soccer team here,
And it feels like that's that's where we started from
and started growing from. Is that do you think that's
(25:36):
an accurate assessment? Twand and two.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I think that's that's when it I think really started
to hit mainstream. In ninety four, we hosted the World
Cup here, but yes, we weren't really ready. You know,
there was the majority of the people in the stadiums
were foreigners. You know, well, foreigners slash foreign Americans and
that was the majority of people. But oh two felt
(26:00):
to me, especially because we made a deep run in
the tournament, like that was the tipping point where people
were like, Oh, this is interesting, I can kind of
get into this.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Yeah, twenty twenty six, for the first time, three countries
are going to be co hosting the World Cup and
it's expanding at the same time.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Mexico, what I.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Said, what could go wrong?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Look? Look could go wrong Mexico?
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Can I know, by the way, if you read what's
going on in the airline industry in the last few days, Yeah,
what could go wrong?
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Flying for Mexico to Canada?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Canada for the first time, you asked for the second
time in Mexico for a record third time hosting the
World Cup all together? What do you think the opportunity
is there for soccer in this country and this beyond.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
This will be the biggest sporting event in the history
of the planet, right, because the World Cup already is
the biggest. You know, maybe not in America doesn't feel
that way, but around the globe, I mean, millions of
people watch the World Cup. So this is the biggest
sporting event anyway, And then having it in North America
(27:10):
is going to be insane. So my challenge personally is
I don't know. I don't know what to do and
where to go. I don't know if I just be
a fan and travel every game. I don't know if
I should, you know, hope to broadcast it and work
that way. I don't know what to do because there's
the options are endless, and it's going to be a
phenomenal party, the biggest party on the planet for thirty days.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
So it's going to be well, you're going to try
to make the team.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Right at forty one, I could barely walk. You see
me walk the golf course. I could barely walk.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
No, I mean there's got to be I mean, you
say it's all about playing, but at this point, right this,
woant don't you just take a seat on the bench,
just be just be there for the experience.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Hey, I would love to.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
You've got to have the cloud to do that, right, No.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Not quite not, it doesn't work that way.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Oh all right, well.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
You you just mentioned golf. Talk to me about what golf.
By the way, he's sambager. Let's just be really clear
about something here publicly and across the world.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
That's not true.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
What does golf give you that you don't don't get
now that you've retired from soccer.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
That's a great question. It's just the challenge of it.
It's so hard to be good at and I have
so much respect. I went to the US Open La
Country Club last week, and watching those guys live is crazy.
I have so much respect for people who do things
(28:47):
at a high level, at the highest level, and watching
that is so fun and it's brought me brought my
ego down, So it's good for my ego. It's brought
me a lot of joy just being around like minded people,
you know. When we play on Fridays, it's so much fun,
and it's a group of guys that are just really
good human beings. So I've gotten a lot of joy
(29:07):
out of it, and now I'm a lifelong fan like you.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, it's interesting when I talk to guys about golf
who excelled in other sports. I mean, to me, there
is a really distinct difference which you would think would
act against each other. I mean in soccer, and in
some ways especially soccer, right like in basketball or something
(29:33):
you're racing to try to score a thousand points right.
I mean, it's just your It's always about go, go
go and scoring. Football somewhat the same way because baseball
is so individualized at the plate, nobody's giving up theoretically,
like every at bat they're going to grind because it's
individual as well as the team. You know, Soccer is
(29:56):
interesting because it is just about beating your opponent, whatever
that takes, and the competition comes from that, like we
want to beat you and whatever that takes, to what
degree of defensive you know, play after you've scored a
couple of times or whatever. Golf is the opposite, right,
because it is only about yourself ultimately.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Yeah, it's it is.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I was.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I was talking to someone about that last week at
the at the US Open. It is so unique in
that you can play basically as well as you can
and still lose. Right in golf. In soccer, if I'm terrible,
I mean terrible on a given day, we can still
win the game, right and I and I can find
out I can find ways to help my team even
(30:45):
if I'm terrible on the given day. But in golf,
it's just not that, it's it's and you can also
you know, it's weird. You can be on the sixteenth
hole on the fourth day of a major tournament and
be playing for quote unquote not to win the tournament,
but still be playing for tons of money, endpoints and
(31:07):
prestige and the ability to stay on the tour the
next year. You know, you could have a putt on
eighteen when you're in nineteenth place. That means a lot.
And that's you know, if we're down four zero in
a soccer game, scoring for to one in the ninety
first minute doesn't matter, right, the game's over, right. But
in golf, it's just it's such a unique sport in
so many ways.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
The thing that I always talk about is, and I
guess this is true in soccer or other things, there's
no such thing as a as a perfect round, so
there's you're always working to do something better.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
But I think that for me, it's what makes it
so wholly unique is that that individual fight with yourself.
I mean, if you're playing match play, but most tournaments
aren't match play. I mean you're literally just trying to
play as well as you can individually, and where you
end up is where you wind up. I mean, there's
(32:02):
nothing you can do about what McElroy is doing, you know.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
For right exactly. It doesn't matter, and that's why it's
just such an It's so weird for me because my
whole life in sports has been completely opposite. It's about
how you help everyone else to get over the finish line,
you know. But it's just it's good.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I love it. Yeah, you spoke about our Friday golf group.
Landon was well, you were inducted into the Soccer Hall
of Fame a couple of weeks slash months ago. We
had a dinner hosting and roasting you for that. Talk
to me a little bit about what that meant for you.
(32:40):
I mean, the freaking MVP Award is now called the
Landon Donovan MLS MVP Award. But to be recognized as
being a Hall of Famer, what did that mean to you?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Well, being a Hall of Famer is obviously it's an
incredible feeling. But talking about the Friday golf I mean,
you guys all have busy lives. You took a Wednesday
night to celebrate with me. And what I've always said
to people is sports in that way are challenging because
(33:14):
it's really hard to make true, meaningful friendships. You're around
guys all the time, but inevitably someone gets traded. Guys retire,
guys go to different teams, and so you don't keep
that connection for a long time. But we all live
in an amazing community in San Diego where presumably most
of us are going to be the rest of our lives.
(33:35):
And now we have this group of guys who genuinely
care about each other, treat each other well, celebrate each
other or positive. It's really unat I haven't had that.
I've been around guys my age my whole life, but
I haven't had that sort of community. And so it's
a really special group of guys. We're lucky to be
part of it.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, I agree, and you know, if any of them
are listening, I don't want to go too far in
this for obvious reasons, but I think what's unique about
it is, you know, one having the opportunity to get
to know you a little bit, and also professional golfers
and also guys from such a wide range of experience
(34:15):
and business knowledge and life experience, and that I think
is really unique and special. So I will I will
begrudgingly back you up and say we have found a
very unique little group that offers me something I've never
had as well, and also just really fun.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Well, I want to talk about something that I was like,
(34:58):
my mind was blown when I start doing this research,
and I.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Never thought about it before.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
But because of all of your work with a national
team competing on an international basis and also MLS, you
had thirteen years in a row where you're playing January
through December with no off season and no breaks, and
none of the other major sports have do that in
(35:28):
the same way. And there's more running, I mean in
your sport. How do you keep your body healthy enough
to take on this schedule for so much time?
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Well, there's clearly a genetic component right to stay out, yes,
for most of my career. But I spent you know,
I spent lots of time, energy, and money taking care
of my body. I mean, in some years, hundreds of
thousands of dollars to take care of just to take
care of my body. So I did. I did a
(36:04):
variety of things. I did pilates, I worked with someone
who was a structural alignment person who just got your
body structurally organized so that you could stay healthy. All
of the normal things you would do before and after training,
all the treatment, stretching, massage, just took care of my
body at a high level, always eating well, hydrating well,
(36:28):
and all that all allowed me to sleeping well. That
allowed me to play for a long time. Otherwise it's impossible.
I mean, you can't. We're not robots, right. At some
point your body breaks down. And so it took all
of those things to allow me to stay healthy.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Clearly that helped.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
But you talked about in twenty twelve needed to take
a break because you had for thirteen years, and you
describe yourself as being mentally exhausted as well and just
needing a break.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Do you was that help?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Was that a helpful time for you or was that
just you just had to do it?
Speaker 1 (37:04):
It was almost mandatory. I mean I was. I was like,
we have a lot of mental health in my family,
a lot of mental health issues, and I was getting
to a point where I was not enjoying it. I
was depressed. I was exhausted, I mean just physically emotionally exhausted,
(37:25):
and I needed to get away. I just needed the
opportunity to get away. And I didn't know if I
would come back in a month, three months, six months,
or just be done. But I couldn't. I couldn't keep
going or I was gonna literally just go crazy. So
I took a break. Fortunately, the Galaxy were supportive of it,
and in the end, I believe it was three or
(37:46):
four months where I got to just get away and
just let my mind and body recover and heal before
I went for another couple of years.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah, well, I'm glad that one that they were they
were supportive. I mean, you came back and by the way,
one One won the Cup another time as well in
twenty fourteen, so I'm sure they were appreciative of that.
Your decision to finally retire in twenty eighteen was that difficult?
Speaker 3 (38:19):
No, I was.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
I was ready, And of course there are things you miss, right,
I mean that mostly the game days, the energy in
the building is so fun and going to compete. But
it got to a point where, you know, when I
was the first probably eight years of my career, it
wasn't if we started playing in January. It wasn't until
(38:41):
like September October, I was like, it's getting Cal'm getting
kind of tired. By the end of my career. It
was like in May, I was like, we still have
six months to go, you know, and so I just
knew that it was it was enough. My body had
taken enough, my mind had taken enough. Now it was
time to stop.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
You've gotten to broadcasting. Is that fun for you? Is
that just another job?
Speaker 1 (39:03):
No? No, No, I wouldn't. I mean I wouldn't do it.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I don't have to do it. I take the time
to do it. So I'm I love doing it. It's
fun to stay a part of it. And I've also
I was a coach for three years here in San Diego,
so I had the ability to really see the game differently.
And most broadcasters haven't been coaches, so they don't see
the game that way. And so I feel like I'm
(39:27):
able to provide some insight that that's pretty unique.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Talking about San Diego's USL club, Loyal, which Landon is
also an owner of, in May, MLS, your your your mothership,
as it were, well, they grant San Diego an MLS team.
How was that for you already being here in San Diego?
(39:54):
Was that difficult for you or do you think that's
good for San Diego?
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Well? Both, I mean it's hard for or Loyal because
we've built something that I'm really proud of and that's special.
But having MLS in San Diego is great for the city.
And I've grown to know a lot of the people
who care most about soccer in our city. Over the
last seven years that I've been in San Diego, I've met,
(40:20):
you know, almost every diehard soccer fan, you know, thousands
and thousands of them.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
And.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
They have waited so long for this. You know, I've
been waiting a long time, but they've been waiting a
really long time. And so this is a moment that's
long overdue for San Diego. And you know, when I
go to the Padres games at Peco, it is so
good for the city. It's so uplifting for the city.
And this is going to be the same.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Good.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
So what is what is Loyal's future? What do you
see as Loyal's future?
Speaker 1 (40:53):
It's not my decision, it's our our owner is Andrew Vasiliadis. Ultimately,
it's his choice how he wants to proceed. He's, you know, understandably,
it's been hard for him because he's built this amazing thing.
And I'm maybe I'm too idealistic, but I think there's
(41:14):
a scenario where everybody joins together in some way to
move forward together. I think that would be the best
thing to bring all the soccer fans in the city together.
But ultimately it's his choice, so that's you know, that's
only a decision he can make.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Right, Well, I wish you luck with that. I agree
with you. I think having the MLS one way or
another here in San Diego is is great. I mean, yeah,
people forget San Diego is like the eighth most populous city.
I mean, we think of ourselves as being this small
(41:50):
little thing next to Los Angeles. But in point of fact,
now with everybody else leaving, you know, the Padres are
sort of the only the only game in town, no
pun intended. So I think having the MLS here is
going to be really huge for the area.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Yeah, it's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Proudest moment for you on the soccer field, on the pitch, sorry,
on the pitch.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
I think playing in my first World Cup, a kid
from a small town in Ontario, grew up, you know,
in a nine hundred square foot home with nothing to
make it there was that defied all the odds and
so being there was really proud moment for me.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Yeah, even as a young kid, I mean, I'm doing
the math quickly in my head right now, I'm putting
you at eight nineteen ish years of age. Are you
able to feel the impact that you're having on a
nation when you're like, do you feel it?
Speaker 1 (42:56):
No? But later in my career I was more aware
of that. But when you're eighteen, you're just playing. You know,
you're just in, You're just in every moment, You're at
the next trip, the next stadium, the next and you know,
and plus the world was different then. There wasn't the
social media component. There wasn't you know, people weren't as
aware of things like that. So you just you just
did your job and moved on.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
You know, Yeah, I guess so, but I feel like
I don't know, you see, And maybe this is not
even an appropriate comparison, but I remember early on when
the NBA, when the players started going to China, and
(43:37):
I'm talking about this is back in like the Jordan
days or whatever, and they went to China and suddenly
it was as though they were all realizing how big
they were over there, Like it was sort of like
not a part of the consciousness, you know, coming home
and realizing now, like I mean, you had to know, like, oh,
(44:00):
I'm now being asked for interviews or I'm seeing myself
in the newspaper or on the you know, the lead
story on the news, both national and local. You know, like, yeah,
it was being talked about like it never had been before.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Yeah, that happens twice, that happened, I see what you're saying.
In O two when we came home from the World Cup,
that was the first time I was like, oh, people
know who I am. And then in twenty ten when
we came home from South Africa after the World Cup,
it was the same. It was like, but on a
like exponentially greater level.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
So yeah, the con Celtic grow.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Yeah, you could there. It was tangible. I mean even
just like walking through the airport when you got home,
people staring and recognizing you, and then it was tangibly different.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
You could feel it, right, dude, thank you so much
for coming to talk to me. I you know, truly,
in terms of American soccer, we we debated it after
your Hall of Fame induction. I think it was unanimously
decided the greatest American.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
Sorry of all time.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
And yeah, to have accomplished so much and to mean
so much because it's personal with the MLS, but it
is also as a country. I don't think it's overstating
at how much you have meant to the country and
the growth of this sport and in nationalism in sports.
(45:33):
I mean, it's the World Cup, it's the US national team,
and it's the Olympics, and other than that, nothing else
comes close. So congratulations on that. I appreciate you coming
on and congratulations again and on the Hall of Fame.
And now I just look forward to kicking your assing golf.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Thanks for having me on, Betty.
Speaker 4 (45:56):
I appreciate it, all right, Thanks man, all right, Landon,
thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
That was awesome.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
It was so awesome in fact that I hereby award
you the Brian Bomgartner Best Podcast Interview Award. What do
you think could that be a thing, or the Brian
Bombgartner Coolest Golf Buddy Award? Maybe you could win that anyway, Listeners,
(46:36):
if you think of a good award for my name,
then send it over to me at Off the Beat
on Instagram or who knows, maybe you'll receive the award
for best award name named after you. This could be
a thing, but for now, in the words of a
very wise.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
Pig that that's all, folks, until next time, have a
great week Off.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
The Beat is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner,
alongside our executive producer Lang Lee. Our senior producer is
Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and
Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and
our intern is Thomas Olsen. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak,
(47:28):
performed by the one and Only Creed Brandon
Host
Brian Baumgartner
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