March 28, 2023 • 49 mins
Welcome to the Crown & Anchor, Greyhounds! In this episode Christian and Brett have a conversation about Ted Lasso with legendary former Major League Soccer and USMNT star Jimmy Conrad!
Jimmy is a former professional soccer player, who played 26 games with the US Men’s National Team and 12 seasons in Major League Soccer, where he was named to the MLS Best XI on four occasions and won the MLS Cup with the Kansas City Wizards in 2004.
Jimmy hung up his cleats in 2011, but has continued his career in sports media as a host and analyst since then. Currently, he co-hosts the CBS Sports podcast In Soccer We Trust alongside his pals (and former Men’s National Teamers) Charlie Davies and Heath Pearce.
In addition to his hosting duties, Jimmy oversees a production company called Radical Creative Group as well as the ever-growing community of do-gooders known simply as the “Warmballers.” He also currently serves as the Sporting Director for the San Francisco Glens Soccer Club.
Of course, Jimmy’s a massive fan of Ted Lasso, too. So we invited him on the show to talk about Ted, Jose Mourinho, Zlatan, MLS, the US National Team, warm balls, and lots, lots more.
More extensive show notes can be found on our website: https://www.tedlassopod.com/brendan-hunt-knows-who-i-am-with-jimmy-conrad/
Richmond Til We Die is an episode-by-episode conversation about the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso, where we explore the characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us laugh until we can hardly breathe one moment and then feel with the deepest parts of our hearts the next. When you're here, you're a Greyhound.
Jimmy is a former professional soccer player, who played 26 games with the US Men’s National Team and 12 seasons in Major League Soccer, where he was named to the MLS Best XI on four occasions and won the MLS Cup with the Kansas City Wizards in 2004.
Jimmy hung up his cleats in 2011, but has continued his career in sports media as a host and analyst since then. Currently, he co-hosts the CBS Sports podcast In Soccer We Trust alongside his pals (and former Men’s National Teamers) Charlie Davies and Heath Pearce.
In addition to his hosting duties, Jimmy oversees a production company called Radical Creative Group as well as the ever-growing community of do-gooders known simply as the “Warmballers.” He also currently serves as the Sporting Director for the San Francisco Glens Soccer Club.
Of course, Jimmy’s a massive fan of Ted Lasso, too. So we invited him on the show to talk about Ted, Jose Mourinho, Zlatan, MLS, the US National Team, warm balls, and lots, lots more.
More extensive show notes can be found on our website: https://www.tedlassopod.com/brendan-hunt-knows-who-i-am-with-jimmy-conrad/
Richmond Til We Die is an episode-by-episode conversation about the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso, where we explore the characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us laugh until we can hardly breathe one moment and then feel with the deepest parts of our hearts the next. When you're here, you're a Greyhound.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
Welcome to the Crown and Anchor Greyhounds. This is Richmond Till We Die,
a conversation about the Apple TV Plusshow ted Lasso, where we explore the
characters, their relationships to each other, how they can make us laugh until
we can hardly breathe one moment andfeel with the deepest parts of our hearts.
The next I'm Christian and my favoriteBeatles album is the Gray album mash
(00:37):
Up by Danger Mouse featuring Jay Z. I'm Brett and before we recorded this
episode, I thought warmballs was somethingthat you had to get treatment for.
But our guest today is Jimmy Conrad. Jimmy is a former professional soccer player
who played twenty six games with theUS men's national team and twelve seasons in
Major League Soccer, where he wasnamed to the MLS Best eleven on four
(00:58):
occasions, and won the mL Cupwith the San Jose Clash in two thousand
and one and the US Open Cupwith the Kansas City Wizards in two thousand
and four. Jimmy hung up hiscleats in two eleven, but has continued
his career in sports media as ahost and analysts since then. Currently,
he co hosts the CBS Sports podcastsin Soccer Wee Trust alongside his pals and
(01:18):
former men's national teamers Charlie Davies andHeath Pierce. In addition to his CBS
duties, Jimmy oversees a production companycalled Radical Creative Group, as well as
the online community of do gooders knownsimply as the Warmballers. More on that
later. He also serves as thesporting director for the San Francisco Glen Soccer
Club, whose men's and women's teamsboth play in the fourth tier of the
(01:41):
American Soccer Piramid. Of course,Jimmy's a massive fan of Ted Lasso as
well, so we invited him ontothe show to talk about Ted, Jose
Mourinho, Latan MLS, and theUS national team. Warmballs and lots lots
more so Greyhounds please join us aswe give a warm welcome to Jimmy Conrad.
Thanks for being with us, Jimmy, I love in the energy boys.
(02:04):
Yes, I'm excited to be onthe podcast. Thank you so much
for the invitation. We are excitedto get a chance to shout with you.
And the most important question that wehave for everybody is how did you
get into Ted lasso, and especiallyfor people who are professional soccer players,
like what kept you with the show? Well, it wasn't the soccer plane.
That's a shout out to all theguys that I know on the cast
(02:28):
who picked up who picked up thegame considerably by season three, which is
pretty cool to see. They takea lot more pride and what they're doing
in the background and all that typeof stuff. For me, I came
into it not too late. Youknow, you still hear about people just
watching it for the first time leadingup to season three, and I was
(02:50):
maybe five or six months late enoughto hear that there was some buzz like
you gotta watch this show. Iheard enough of that you gotta watch this
show. So I sat down andwatched it, and the human side of
it was very endearing for me,that side of the locker room that maybe
doesn't get talked about a lot,where you are working through things together.
You are dealing with adversity either byyourself but also within a group, and
(03:15):
when you lose, you're not justlosing collectively, but you're also probably losing
a starting spot. You could belosing playing time, you could be losing
a whole bunch of different things,all while trying to balance what's going on
in your personal life and that compartmentalizationthat that exists. So to shine a
light on that I thought was waspretty cool. I'd say the the big
tie in for me, which reallygot me in was was Roy Kent.
(03:38):
You know, I mean, there'sthere's always there's always a jerk in the
locker room, you know, whowas a bit of a softie, but
he had to put on that frontbecause he'd put on that front for so
many years or that's how he gotled when he was a younger player.
So I really resonated. He reallyresonated with me. And so when he
comes in and you know, saysI gotta be coached by Ronald fucking McDonald
(03:59):
or whatever, and then you know, Ted and Coach Beard look at each
other. I wait till we winthem over. That for me was the
biggest hook that I was going toreally enjoy this show because I knew that
at that point, at that moment, that the sport side of it was
just going to be the backdrop andit was just going to be a vehicle
(04:19):
for them to really get across thesereally incredible messages of being a human did
you ever lobby to audition for theshow for season two or season three?
Like, you're good on camera,You're a funny guy. You could have
helped out with some of those soccerscenes. Christian, you should be my
publicist. I no. I mean, obviously we knew that they shot over
(04:42):
in the UK, and we knewthat coach Beard Brendan Hunt was a big
US men's national team fan, butthere was never I didn't know how I
was going to get over there.I didn't know what my link was going
to be. And then at onepoint Brendan followed me on Twitter and I
remember setting him. I was soexcited to send him a DM and like,
hey, I'm such and such yourfavorite former US men's national team player.
(05:03):
I used to play blah blah blah, and he's like, I know
exactly who you are. I wasat the World Cup in two thousand and
six sitting in the stands and Iwas like, sweets, Brenda, I
know. So I'm like yelling atmy way. Brenda knows who I am,
you know. So it was prettycool feeling. So when I had
the opportunity to be over in Londonback in August and reached out to Brendan.
(05:24):
I got invited to the set,so that was cool to go do
a tour of the set and tomeet everybody at that level and then get
to go to the arsenal game withthem the next day, and I got
to hang with Joe, Kelly andJason and Chip and all these really important
people to the show, and youget to understand why the show is the
(05:44):
way that it is, and it'sreally these incredible human beings that are bringing
all these other people along for theride and building the sense of community and
purpose and it's incredible. And sowhat was really interesting for me and you
guys have just like I'm like oneof those wind up dolls. You just
you don't even have to ask likehalf the question. I'm gonna go.
But but I usually when you're onany any any kind of team environment,
right you're trying to build something asa group, you always wonder how the
(06:09):
how the people with the smallest roleor maybe aren't as important, how are
they being treated by the people thatquote unquote are more important? Right?
And there was a real sense ofwe're all in this together when I visited
the set, and I wasn't surprisedso so what you're seeing, that energy
that you're seeing on camera definitely permeatesto what's happening off camera, which I
thought was was exciting. Yeah,so you just mentioned that you've hung out
(06:30):
with Brendan Hunt and Chip Hamilton anda bunch of the cast get to do
go into my flex of the day. How many flexes am I allowed?
I was gonna say, we're justit's gonna be a flex fest and that's
okay, We're just gonna roll withit. But our question is, is
Brendon Hunt more or less on edgeand those type of high stress situations than
coach Beard or what's the I wasactually because I was there, I'm a
(06:53):
social butterfly. I think everybody's pickedup on that by this point, and
so so I'm work in the room, you know, saying hi to everybody,
and dam watching the game. It'sArsenal Fulham as a couple of Americans
out there with Anthony Robinson and MattTurner. I got to see him warm
up as he watched Aaron Ramsdale playand Tim Reeve's out there doing a thing,
and this is pre World Cup,so I was excited to see how
he was performing in Fulham overall andArsenal ended up winning two one. But
(07:16):
I wasn't really paying attention to thegame. I did a little bit,
but I was mingling. Coach Beardwas like on it, he's watching.
He is like focused. So Brendanis definitely focused on what's happening. And
if there was any questions about whatwas going on, because we had some
new bees, some relative newbies sportwith us, Jason would say, hey,
(07:38):
you gotta ask Brendan, and I'mlike, dude, I'm sitting right
here. I feel like I mightknow just maybe just as much as maybe
I had. Well, I sawBrendan on Jeopardy, so he probably knows
more about the sport and the gamethan I do. But at that moment,
I was like, I could Icould also answer some questions about what
offside is. You got to absorbthat pressure. He doesn't want to be
answering questions while watching too, andthat's true. So I was a good
(07:59):
plan B. I was a goodplan B for that. That was like
a recurring theme on his and RebeccaLowe's World Cup podcast. He like the
watch party etiquette is like, don'tcome in and start asking questions. Everyone's
watching the mat What's funny about thatis that I would call those guys before
the US game. So I wasin I was in Doha and Qatar with
Fox Sports see all their digital coverage, and right when we went off air,
(08:20):
because we did all the pre andpost game for every single game,
which was a lot of work,and I'm still trying to relax from all
that stress. Intention but no,I had I had a blast. But
I would call. I would callChip or Brendan and I would face time
with those guys and they're all blearyeyed at seven am, ready for the
US game, and I've got myboobas HeLa and I've got my megaphone.
(08:41):
I'm like, come on, god, watch go just ramp and right when
they're about to start talking, I'dhang up every kind So that was kind
of think, Yeah, I justcome in with some super hot energy for
thirty seconds, and then I'd hangup before they could even say anything.
And they're probably this guy is anabsolute maniac. But yeah, I loved
it. And I could tell rightthen or even when I got to spend
(09:03):
that time with Brendan at the Arsenalgame, that he doesn't want to answer
too many questions. He is focusedon what's happening, and he's a student
of the game, and that's probablythe highest compliment, highest praise I can
give him. As the show continuesto go on, they keep folding in
tidbits that people who follow soccer willrecognize. In season two, it was
(09:24):
Nate's metamorphosis into Jose Mourinho. Inthe season three, now we get this
character that's referred to as Zava,and for those of us who follow the
game, and even people maybe whodon't, will recognize that that character is
based at least in part on ZlatanIbrahimovic, who's just an iconic character and
an iconic personality and someone that youhave had the privilege of interviewing before.
(09:50):
How would you describe Ibrahimovic to someonewho has not heard of him before and
thinks that this character that they havein the show is just made like fully
out of cloth and can't at allbe real. I had the opportunity my
extra flex of the day, Iwent to the premier, so I got
to see the first two episodes.Hey, and what's funny is that I
(10:11):
went out the night before with themand I got introduced to the guy that
plays Zava. Yeah, Maxis sayyeah, And Chip introduced me to him,
and I was like, I don'tknow who this guy is. I've
never I didn't see him when Iwas on set, Like who is this
guy? And then I slowly startedto piece it together and Chip started to
fill me in, and obviously whenI saw the episode, it all starts
(10:31):
to tie in and yeah, he'slarger than life. To answer your question
directly, Christian, and I'm verygood at deflecting and not really answering.
So I should probably run for politicaloffice in some capacity. But maybe maybe
I can run from mayor of KansasCity one day. Christian knows I got
some got some name recognition there.Well, I will say, well,
Jason would definitely win in a lightlandslide if he every goes back to Casey.
And but I's lots On is largerthan life. So to give you
(10:56):
an example, he took out afull page ad when he went to go
sign with the Galaxy the Los AngelesTimes, a full page ad that said
You're welcome. That's about a joke. Slaton said, dear people of Los
Angeles, You're welcome. Slats On. That was it. The full page
ad, big it's nice to meetme. Energy, It's unbelievable. Here's
(11:20):
what this is what makes lats Onspecial. Slats On can back it up
on the field. Yeah right,we had We've We've seen a lot of
people that they can talk a biggame, but they can't necessarily follow it
through. And multiple sports doesn't haveto be related to this one, but
slats On is one of those guys. And he is an incredible character.
He's got so much belief in himselfand he can back it up, and
that's what makes him special. Andand he's so when I asked him a
(11:43):
question, I said, hey,do you think slats On can do this?
Because lots On slats I just saidslots On as many times as I
possibly could in this question, andhe answered in the third person for me,
oh well, yes, Latson doesthink that he could. It was
amazing. I set him up perfectand he answered it perfect and he it's
fantastic. I will say I hada chance to mingle with him because PSG
(12:05):
when he was playing in Paris,they came to New York for some couple
of tours or a game and doingtheir thing or whatever. So we got
to go hang out with them atthe top of this building in New York
right by Rockefeller Center. Really nice, but like any of these types of
team functions where these kind of randompeople show up to hang out with the
(12:26):
team, the team just kind ofhangs out by themselves, and the random
people are like, how do weactually go say hi to these people when
they're not actually out and about.You can't be seen. So so finally
the team kind of get there's likea light introduction, informal introduction, and
so you know, I want aphoto as lats On. I don't want
it. So I take a photois lats On and the dude doesn't smile.
He's just like, this is themost obligatory. I don't give a
(12:50):
shot, Like okay, you wantto get fined exactly kind of thing.
And as I take a photo withhim, my buddy's taking the photo.
I said, I'm like, god, this guy smells amazing. He smells
fantastic. So I take the photoand I turned to him like, dude,
you honestly you smell awesome. Andhe started busting up like he because
(13:11):
he did he knew he smelled great, and he started laughing, and so
my buddy's like, oh, Iwant a photo, alats On, and
I was like, all right,and slots On's got the biggest smile for
this guy, like he's the bestphoto he's ever taken. I'm like,
this bullshit. I got the onewhere he's unhappy, and you get the
one where he's looking like he's havingthe best time. Anyway, that's my
slats On story. He was veryvery kind one on one, and I
think he knows, you know,everything's done with a wink. He knows
(13:31):
that he's playing a character. Heknows that he's being a villain or a
cartoon character. He knows all thatand that's what I think makes him endearing
in some ways. And I hopeand I hope that Zava is going to
be the same in this season.So I guess we'll have to wait and
see. It's been ten years sinceyou did interview him for a kick TV
and you undersold yourself as a journalistas you explain that interaction, and amazingly
(13:56):
enough undersold lots On. So Ijust want to read for people the back
and forth, just yes, justso that they understand this is the question
that you asked. You asked whetheror not Zlatan would kick Christiano Ronaldo extra
hard for taking aways Latan's opportunity togo to the World Cup. And you
asked him that before Real Madrid wasgetting ready to face psg and in a
(14:18):
friendly, and this is his replyverbatim. No, I think Zlatan will
be very cool with Ronaldo. Zlatanwill do a good preparation and Zlatan will
play the game, and then Slatonwill focus on the rest of the season
for twenty fourteen. Laton is veryhappy for Ronaldo that he's going to the
World Cup, and Slaton will seewhat will happen under the World Cup.
(14:39):
It's classic, classic lat It isclassic, what a legend he is.
So I have another question about personalitiesthat show up in the show, and
that is going back to Nate's metamorphosisinto Jose Mourinho, because I saw that
in one of your videos you madethe case for Jose Mourinho to be the
(15:00):
US men's national team coach, andI have been lobbying for there to be
parallel universes occurring at once where there'sa spinoff where Nate becomes the US men's
national team manager as Jose is becomingin real life the US men's national team
manager. What parallels do you seebetween Jose and Nate as someone who follows
(15:26):
the game and Ted Lasso. Wohwow, that's a great question. First
of all, I really love JoseRino as a manager. He's another one
Baries lots On esque who completely believesin himself one hundred percent. And that's
where I think there might be abit of a difference between him and Nate
because Nate, well we're seeing obviously, we didn't see Jose in his dark
(15:48):
moments right where he's trying to potentiallyput on a mask of confidence when he
doesn't necessarily have that confidence himself.And then it eventually evolved into that confidence
because he had the trophies and thesuccess to back it up. So I'm
sure there were times where he verysimilar to Nate, where he's kind of
working into this this character that hewants to become. And we even saw
it an episode one of season threewhere he has to go down and spit
(16:11):
to kind of like embody that whohe thinks he has to be to be
this manager. And I do thinkthere is a lot of that. I
think every manager, when you haveto go out there and face the music
a little bit you have to putye. Remember when Clint Dempsey wore sunglasses
to do some coverage for the USmen's national team, like in his first
foray into TV, And I thinkhe needed to put those on to kind
of be this other version of himself. And I think Nate is very similar
(16:34):
to that, and I think Josewas probably there. And I wonder how
Nate does with west Ham, ofcourse, in terms of his success and
whether he can continue to drink hisown kool aid, which which I think
is is still that sounds negative,but I still think it's a necessary component
to be successful at anything, Likeyou have to believe in yourself. You
have to buy into what you're goodat and what you're not. But I
(16:55):
think it's it's you don't have totreat people like shit along the way to
get to where you want to go. And I think that's what Nate's gonna
learn the hard way, if hehasn't learned it already. Well, I
don't think he has, guys orstill on episode one, but I would
say that there's a very clear waythat Jose Marinho wants to play the game.
And when I see what Nate's tryingto do or what he was doing
(17:15):
as an assistant, and as he'snow when we see in the early shots
of him with West Hamley, there'sa clear way of how he wants to
play the game. And if you'rea player that can't buy into that or
not going to live up to thatstandard, then you're gonna stand in that
one area and be made fun ofand ridiculed in some ways until you can
figure it out. And so there'sa lot of different ways to lead.
This is one way. This isa choice by Nate to make that happen.
(17:37):
But I do believe that Marinho wasprobably in that same spot. This
is the way we're going to playand if you don't like it, you
can get the hell out. AndI think that Marinho softened a little bit
in his age since he's had tremendoussuccess, and I think that it might
be the right time now to turnit into real life for him to take
over a national team because he's onlydone the club scene for a long time.
But we'll have to wait and seehis contracts up with Romo, or
(18:00):
at least they can talk about itin the summer. It'd be an interesting
higher for sure, and I don'tknow if he'd be busy enough because the
national team there's a lot of waitingaround until you get to see the guys,
and I don't know if Marino wouldbe up for that. But that
said, I think there are somecomparisons to Nate for sure, and I'm
curious to see how his character evolvesthroughout the season. Speaking of Apple stuff,
this season, soccer fans in theUS can watch every MLS game on
(18:22):
Apple TV Plus with the MLS SeasonPass, which is huge. And you're
a former MLS player. He playedtwelve seasons, so you know that's huge
for the league. So I'm wonderingif you could just briefly talk about your
experience in MLS and just kind ofthe progress of the league at since you've
been a player, and kind ofthe hopes for the future everybody listening.
Bretta said briefly, I don't knowwhere you get me and giving you brief
(18:44):
answers, but I'll do my verybeast, Brett, I'll do my very
best. It's all relative, man, that's true, and I need to
find brief I did my coaching KansasCity Bob Gainzler, who Christian knows quite
well, he told me that brevityis an art form that I have not
mastered, which is pretty much.And this was me like during a game,
trying to put people in good spotsto make place. So he always
(19:07):
used to poke fun of me.But yes, with regard to MLS Season
Pass and Apple TV, it's sucha huge move for the league in general
to be able to be number onein somebody's book instead of being a second
class citizen for other outlets that wereout there. I think at times ESPN
did give it the red carpet treatmentbut didn't stick with it, and at
(19:29):
times Fox gave it the red carpettreatment but didn't stick with it. And
now you feel like there's a realcommitment from Apple TV to put it on
the red carpet for quite some timeand to see where it could go and
how it could grow. And soit's incredible to be able to go to
one place where you feel like you'regetting all the information that you need and
it's being treated in the right waywith respect instead of it's like knowing,
(19:55):
you know it's going to be goodstuff as opposed to hoping. And I
feel like for so many years wewere just hoping that somebody would treat it
with respect. And now we're atApple TV and we know that it's going
to be treated with respect, andthat is the biggest difference, and I
think it makes all the difference.Yeah, and guys like you deserve a
lot of credit because MLS like youreally had to grind back in the day.
You know, you guys played,you were Were you in the Arrowhead
(20:18):
Stadium era? Is that where youwas? I was? Yeah? So
you know you could get a greatMLS crowd of twenty thousand people, but
the place would feel empty because Iheld eighty thousand. And you know,
you played at Chivas USA for awhile and like they had their issues.
And so when you now look atsoccer culture overall, in then MLS culture,
(20:41):
how do you reflect on the journeyfrom what was going on when you
played to what now we experience asfans of MLS. Ooh, night and
day, Christian night and Day.I would say that when I came through
and I started in ninety nine withthe San Jose clash, Okay, they
walked into the earthquakes. The followingyear we won MLS Cup. In two
(21:03):
thousand and one, we came backto downtown San Jose to have a victory
party. And I don't even knowif I want to say this number out
loud, but if there was athousand people there to celebrate with us,
that would be that that might evenbe a reach. But it was people
that cared and they loved the team, and they were way in and it
felt very it felt very niche.It felt very cult's esque to a team,
(21:27):
and you could see it grow slowly, right and as it as each
team, that felt like there wassome permanence to it, like this team
wasn't going anywhere. San Jose isan interesting example because they ended up moving
to the Houston to become the HoustonDynamo, and then the earthquake started up
again a couple of years later.But I'll use Kansas City, where I
(21:48):
played the bulk of my career foreight years. We were at Arrowhead,
then we went to Community America Ballpark, which is the minor league baseball stadium,
and then moved into Sporting Park now, and it's it's incredible, but
I think that journey was really importantto not only understand where we came from
and how hard we had to workto get to that point, but also
to lay of the foundation of howimportant the sport can be in a community
(22:08):
and how it grew. And eventhough we did You're right, we drew
twenty to twenty five at Arrowhead,which is a healthy number, it just
didn't feel like it was as bigof a deal as it is now.
And that's actually without kind of aTV contract, as we were alluding to
before with Apple TV, that waswasn't really giving it everything that they had
(22:29):
now. There was local broadcasts andall that, but it didn't take that
big step and now it feels likeit is. I will say, I
think what makes the sport unique andwhat separates it from all the other American
sports is that it feels like you'repart of something bigger than yourself, and
that when you go to the game, you're still a part of the game.
You're still a part of the fabricof what's happening on the field.
(22:51):
You can have influence and impact ina way that I don't think you can
in other sports. When I goit went to a baseball game with my
dad, it felt like it wasjust a moment between me and my dad.
If I went to an NFL game, all that all the fun stuff
was happening outside the stadium and thetailgate right inside. The games are slow
for me, there's not a lotgoing on, and I was just drawn
(23:14):
to the sense of community you goin. And I think Atlanta is probably
the best example of it. Theydidn't think it was going to work in
Atlanta, and then all of asudden they get into an NFL stadium.
But everybody wanted to be part ofthis and they created something special and they
thankfully had some early success. Itkind of got everybody that's shot in the
arm of adrenal and like, wow, this is amazing. Look how good
we are. And now they're goingthrough some tough times. They're working through
it. Now the season's been prettygood. But but I think that's a
(23:37):
really good example where if you andpeople would go to those games and say
that it's better than going to aFalcons game. It's better than going to
a Hawks game where a Braid's game, because you're just you're part of it
in a way where you get thetailgate, that the party continues within the
game and you're still talking about howmuch fun you had afterwards, and it's
and it's always two hours, right. That doesn't go any longer, and
there's just a lot of special thingsabout it, but I think that sense
(23:59):
of community is number one, andthis is where we're obliged to uh to
say that if folks want to hearmore of your thoughts about MLS, you
have a podcast that you you talkabout MLS and all sorts of other soccer
things three times a week with yourpals Charlie Davies and Heath Pierce called in
Soccer We Trust and that. Sothat's on the CBS Sports Network and so
(24:22):
you know you can get you canget all of the Jimmy you want there.
You're gonna get a lot. WelcomeWelcome to the party if you come
hang out with us. Yeah.But besides having an amazing podcast, being
our favorite former mlser and usmntier,you are also known in the Internet for
warm Balls. So can you tellour audience a little bit about the warm
(24:45):
Balls conspiracy, the community in theorganization that grew out of that. Yes,
yes, I almost want to reverseengineer it. So when I for
the TV, we were part ofthe kind of the emerging YouTube worlds.
Yes, and YouTube was just startingto like, hey, can you get
to a million subscribers? And wewere friends with a guy that's got fifteen
(25:06):
to twenty months subscribers now KSI who'sbased in London and doing boxing now.
And we knew him when he wasa couple hundred thousand and really sweet kid.
He's still super sweet even though he'slike the Michael Jordan of YouTube.
But he had a thing called KSIArmy, and so we're like, oh
man, we gotta have we gottacall our community something. As we started
to get into the hundreds of thousandsof subscribers and and so I put it
(25:29):
out there for the audience and theycame up with warm Ballers and we were
like, that's perfect, warm Ballers, Like that's our community now. As
we learned as we try to sellmerch parents weren't buying their kids shirts and
said warm ballers on them because theythought there was some sexual connotations there.
So talk about a failed thing thatmaybe that wasn't the best name of all
time that said it was perfect forthe community because because and everybody loved it,
(25:52):
and I still have people come upto me even though the channel hasn't
been around in a while that wasstill shout out warm Ballers to me from
across the street. It's pretty sweet. But it all started that the name
comes from. The origin story isthat back in two thousand and twelve,
twenty eleven, I tweeted out thatI think that the balls in the Champions
League draw when they did the ChampionsLeague draw, Yeah, they're ping pong
(26:17):
balls. One of the I thinkthey're warm. I think that whoever's doing
it around, even though it's likea former player that's you know, they
make it seem like it's that oneof them. It has a different temperature.
So I thought there was my warmballs theory. And that's where the
guy and we talk about it everywhere. A happy warm Baller's Day everybody,
or warm balls Day, because thisis the moment where they're gonna get Bayern
muting versus Arsenal. It was likethat in the round of sixteen of the
(26:37):
Champions League, like six consecutive years, something crazy, and it was just
too much, too much of acoincidence, and they kept getting these high
profile matchups that they wanted and Idon't know, man. And so it's
funny is that at the time FIFApresident was set bladder and he is uh
now a disgrace, grace for PresidentBladder, and he came out out maybe
(27:00):
three or four years ago, sowe're talking seven or eight years after I
stated the SERI saying that those ballswere either warm or cold. Isn't that
insane? That is absolutely insane.So yeah, so I was ahead of
it. So the Warmball's theory istrue. It's real, and disgrace fee
for President sept Ladder and I finallyagree on something that fostered and he validated
(27:22):
my theory from a long time ago, my conspiracy theory, and it's true.
But yes, that's where it started, the warmballers thing, And so
there there are quite a few peopleout there rocking the Warmballer stickers and Warmballers
t shirts and anytime I travel,I try to do pickup games and hand
out as much gear as I canbecause nobody's buying it, unfortunately, even
though all the money goes to charity. But yeah, warmballararmbars dot com exists,
(27:45):
even though don't think anybody's bought ashirt in two years because I don't
talk about it much anymore. ButI appreciate you bring it up because I
think it really was a community thatwas trying to be a positive force for
good, just like you guys aredoing with this podcast. Well, and
just the fact that you sort ofcalled that as like amazing to me,
like I had somehow missed that andall of that, Like I had heard
eventually about the temperature being different,and that I had no idea that there
(28:07):
was this prophet in the wilderness likeshouting. So that was amazing. Yeah,
I was ahead of it. Iwas ahead of it. Now,
I've probably put out a whole bunchof theories out there and that's the only
one that's stuck. But you knowwhat, I'm gonna stick with it.
I'm gonna run with it. It'sthe law of averages, man. It's
my badge, my badge of honor. In your career, we've mentioned that
you were a US men's national teamplayer. What was it like to represent
(28:32):
your country at a World Cup?That's that's a big question. I would
say it's the biggest honor that youcan have in your career, whether you're
representing the US or any other country. Because at that moment, that first
game we played in two thousand andsix against Czech Republic, I didn't I
didn't play that particular game. Igot to play in the next two against
Italy and against Ghana. But inthat first game when you hear the national
(28:55):
anthem, Now, I'd heard thenational anthem plenty of times through my college
career, through my professional career,but it hits different. It hits different
when you're out a World Cup becauseat that moment, you know that everybody
back home has your back. Youknow, at that moment, casual fans
want to see you do well.It's the most incredibly powerful feeling to know
(29:15):
that we're all in this together forthose ninety minutes and that everybody back home
is wanting you to succeed. AndI've never been able to chase that feeling,
or I've tried to, but couldn'tmake another World Cup team after that.
But I had a couple opportunities tofeel that, and it is.
It is really special. And Iwould say that for me too, for
(29:37):
everybody that doesn't know my story,and I don't expect you to know my
story at all. But I wasa walk on in college and I won
the national championship with UCLA my senioryear, and I thought, oh man,
I'm going to get drafted in MLSfor sure, because I'm on the
best college team in the country,and I was only I was the only
senior out of US five that didn'tget drafted, so so I was the
(29:57):
little engine that could. I hadto go down to lower leagues, had
to fight my way into it.Than I eventually signed with San Jose and
played four years there and eight yearswith Kansas City and a cup of coffee
with Chiefs USA before I had toretire due to concussions. But I would
say that to be in that moment, knowing my career and how hard I
had to work to get to thatpoint, to not only make the national
(30:19):
team, but to play in aWorld Cup and to represent my country at
the highest level, and then togo out and kind all. So that's
one, right, You're very proudof that, and you can always nobody
can ever take that away from you. But then there's that's personal satisfaction of
I went out and hung with thebest players in the world and the biggest
competition in the world with millions ofpeople watching, and I handled that pressure.
That's just for me, right,I mean, yeah, people can
(30:41):
they can judge you and whatever,but I know that I know what I
did and I know what I had, and that is incredibly satisfying, and
it makes all those sweat and tearsand work and all the sacrifice worth it
times a million. It was.It's an incredible I can't even believe I'm
I did it At this point,it feels like I'm talking about somebody else.
But it was an incredible ride.You've been a part of a lot
(31:03):
of different soccer organizations, and nowyou've been able to see a lot of
different soccer organizations as a media personalityand a journalist. What is one aspect
of the AFC Richmond organization that youwish you could experience at a real life
soccer club. That is a greatquestion. I would say having a relationship
(31:26):
with the owner, you know likethat. I guess that Rebecca isn't really
hands on per se, and whenshe comes in it's more to kind of
tell her story or to be apart of somebody else's in a meaningful way.
And I guess I did have ita little bit in early days of
Kansas City with Lamar Hunt, rescuepiece who was kind of in the trenches
because he was trying to help.He was cold calling people to buy season
(31:48):
tickets to come watch his Kansas CityWizards play an airhead, and he gave
me a big hug after we wonthe US Open Cup back in two thousand
and four. So there's some reallycool moments that I have with Lamar and
I maybe those early days as itkind of feels Rebecca esque, I guess,
in the most positive Rebecca vibe,not the one where she's trying to
undermine everything. But there's something aboutthat collective we're all in this together,
(32:09):
that you maybe didn't always feel everysingle season. And that's not a disrespect
too to any of the clubs thatI played for. A lot of it
was just because you had maybe oneperson wearing fifteen hats. They had to
do so many jobs. You neverreally got to know them because they were
so busy just trying to do somany different things. And and I feel
(32:30):
like that's changed a lot too asa pertained suit to the game in America
and MLS in particular, they havethey've hired enough people now to manage all
that type of stuff. So that'sa really good question. I always felt
like I was pretty close with mymy the kitman, and nice the team
managers. You know. I stillstill talk to Matt ben Ben in particular,
(32:52):
his dad, Rick coached Casey Commentsand UMKC for a long time,
and I still talk with Matt andhe was our equipment manager by first couple
of years. I'll see my oldtrainer back San Jose every once in a
while that I'm back here in theBay Area. So those connections, right,
those are these really meaningful, powerfulrelationships that continue to be maintained outside
of the results of the wins andlosses. And I think I can relate
(33:13):
to that a lot to what TedLasso tries to focus on as a show.
But yeah, I don't think Ianswered your question directly. I might
have to come back to it orjust be have to skip it all together.
Boys, these days, you doget to travel the world, and
you get to interview and interact withteams and supporters and various players. As
(33:34):
you've done that, is there ateam or a league or a supporters group
that you feel like you've had themost fun or a particularly enjoyable time getting
to know As a media personality,I would say because I'm welcome some warmly.
This is me being a bit ofa homer. But I love hanging
out with the Cauldron. I lovehanging out with my peeps in Kansas City.
(33:55):
They supported me for so many yearsso that when I go back that
love, I can feel it andI want to give them back my energy
and love as well. So anytimeI get to hang out with the Cauldron,
it's great. Now when I thinkglobally that the times that I've gotten
to spend in Rome with the Romasupporters was really neat. I got to
see a couple of games there atthe Stadio Olimpico, and they are a
(34:17):
passionate bunch. That's probably the bestway I can say it. But I've
had the benefit of going to seesome big Derby's. I got to see
Super Classico between Book of Juniors andRiver Plate, so being amongst the Book
of Fans in particular, it wasa law. Bambanera is a bucket list
side and I highly encourage everybody togo check out that game if they ever
get a chance to get down toBuenos Aires. That was awesome. I'm
(34:39):
a Book of Fans, so youknow I'm still GREENO. Of course you
know there's there, but they knowthat I care and want to be a
part of it. Yeah, Imean, I'm just drawn to supporter of
groups in general. Because it meansso much to them, the wins and
losses. But it's always it's notjust that that feels so basic to say,
(35:00):
it's also about how is the teamplaying, Like are they representing me
out there on the field. Ilike that they don't suffer any fools that
if anybody's dogging it out there andnot giving their all, because anybody in
the supporters section would kill to beon that field playing for those colors,
and if you're not working your hardestto represent them in the best possible way,
(35:23):
they're going to hold you accountable.And I love that, and so
I really tap into that side ofit because I tried to lead the same
way when I was on the field, because I was grateful for that opportunity.
And sometimes there are some players thatthat that they're not grateful, They
just lose a little bit of focusand some of that perspective that is necessary
to make sure that you're like,hey, this is a privilege for us
to be out here. Let's makesure that we reward the people that are
(35:44):
paying their harder money to come watchyou play. So I relate in that
sense too to a lot of thesupporters groups, not the ones that are
trying to incite violence, of coursewho are taking it to the extreme,
but the ones that really just careabout being a part of something bigger than
themselves, which I've mentioned before,which is really a straight line between we're
saying and what what ted Lesso wasall about too and and but yeah,
(36:05):
the Roman supporters stand out for me, I thought, there they just when
they start singing Roma Roma, Imean, it comes from that, It's
from deep down, it's from theheart, you know. And you know,
when I was early on in theearly days, you might had one
or two people really belted it outlike that, but we didn't have the
same type of history. You know, you come and you go over to
(36:27):
these different countries and they just gotso much more of that. But that's
being developed now we're almost two yearthirty of MLS or getting closer to that.
And and now you're starting to havepeople that went to the games that
are having kids and are passing alongwhy it matters for them to support a
particular team. And that's going tobe I think a pretty big tipping point
for the growth of the sport inthis country. My wife's gonna think I
(36:49):
paid you for that. Segment becausewe're taking a trip to Italy next month,
and as I was looking at theschedule, I was like, oh
my gosh, we're not going tobe in any cities when there's going to
be any games being played. Andthen when that Europa League draw came out,
now they're going to be playing fineord Our first night in Rome,
and so I like floated the idea. I was like, so, now
(37:10):
there's a really big soccer match thatwe could you have to go see it
at nine o'clock at night. Yeah, said you tell her to call me
after this interview is over. Iwill tell her why it will change her
life in a positive way for herto go to Saudiolypico and watch that game,
because it is unlike anything you've beento. I promise. Okay,
I'm gonna ever call you. Yougotta do it for that, and you
(37:30):
gotta do it for the ted Lassoparallels. Right, Yeah, it's what
I said. So Christians got togo there, like listen, honey,
Jimmy said this, and we gottago because I gotta confirm whether he's bullshittingness
or not right right, And whenwhen this podcast starts making dollars, then
I can write that off and mytaxes as research. In your role with
(37:50):
the San Francisco Glenn's your sporting directorright now, is like Higgins the closest
like sort of like parallel to yourjob there now, like what who is
there a character on ted last question? Anything we could kind of like adjacently
kind of come at that question with. I would say Higgins is still at
(38:10):
times, even though he's demonstrated he'snot a puppet, that he's got more
puppet like tendencies, or did atleast in season one. And I'm yeah,
I'm not a puppet, per se. I I like to have my
voice be heard. It doesn't haveto be the one that you follow,
per se, but I like tochime in. And I think Higgins has
gotten there right, especially as theDiamond Dogs we've got kind of go in
(38:32):
and he got more confidence, whichhas been pretty cool to see his story
arc and I'm curious to see whereit goes this particular season. But yeah,
yeah, yeah, I mean,I guess in terms of roles,
I'm trying to help sign players tomake our team as efficient and as good
as possible, but I'm also tryingto find locations for us to to use.
(38:52):
Yeah, so there's there's some elementsof that. I think it ties
into that. And over the lastcouple of seasons i've been co head coach,
I've been a assistant coach. Kindof depends on some of the work
responsibilities that I have and how muchhow much time I can commit unfortunately,
but I do get to also inputwith like tactics and that type of stuff
too in players selection so so andI read run Training. So I've guessed
(39:15):
I'm kind of like a hybrid betweenkind of you know, early Nate roy
Kent, your coach beard reading,reading all of his uh inverted pyramid stuff,
and a little bit of the goodnature of Ted Lasso of him coming
through with I like to joke withthe team a lot, so you know,
you say something important. But there'ssomething about the show that I absolutely
(39:37):
love and I want to say itnow. The balance and even when I
watched episode one and two at thepremiere, their ability to find that balance
between serious and lightheartedness and fun butmeaningful. It's just that is that they
found the sweet spot, and itis incredible how good they are at finding
(39:59):
that and the people that right forthe show and how they directed in the
acting, it's it's fantastic. Everybodybehind it is unbelievable. Can you describe
what the vibe was like at thepremiere because you come in and it's on
a giant screen and then they showseason three episodes one and two, and
unlike you know, watching it atyour house or with your family or maybe
(40:20):
a small group of friends, you'rewatching it with all of these people and
none of you. There's all thisanticipation, but nobody has yet experienced what's
going to happen, except for theyou know, doesn't select or whatever that
have worked on the show. Sowhat was it like to be at the
premiere and receiving the show in thatway? It was incredible. To see
it in the movie theater was differentto your point, there's something intimate about
(40:42):
watching it at home, watching iton a screen that's quite close to you,
as opposed to one that you normallyassociate with these big Marvel blockbuster movies.
So that that was a little bitthat threw me off a little bit.
But what I liked about it wasthe energy in the room was awesome,
Like everybody was so excited. Yousee, you know, Rebecca shows
up or or, and it's justa big round of applause. Everybody's getting
(41:06):
rowdy, you know. So theenergy was a stage show. People were
so excited to see everybody an amplicentIt's true, It's true. And I
also think I got to hang withthe guys that are on AFC Richmond Um
and they just hadn't seen each otherin a long time because the show had
wrapped, you know, a coupleof months before, or four or five
months before. Yeah, and everyone'sbusy. Yeah, everyone's busy. Everybody's
(41:29):
got their own goal. So justso when you got to be a part
of them seeing each other for thefirst time, knowing that this journey that
they've gone through was was pretty cool, to be honest. And I actually
spent the most time with George.He plays Goodman on the show UM number
seventeen, I believe, and soit was cool to hang out with him
(41:50):
and he was kind of give methe lay of the land on you know,
who was showing up and who hasn'tseen each other for a while,
and kind of just talking about theshow overall and how impactful it was for
his life, and really cool tokind of get these little bits and pieces
from all these guys about what itmeant to them and what it means to
their careers moving forward. Frankly,so so it was it was it was
incredible to be there. I amshout out to Chip. I was his
(42:13):
plus one for this. Chip isthe nice and so it was just cool
to be there and be amongst itand to be treated like I wasn't an
outcast, right, I was justyeah, of course you're here, let's
go, you know. And sothat is That's something I've been seeking.
This is like, I don't knowhow much I owe you for this therapy
session, but since I retired,I've been seeking that my whole you know.
(42:36):
I tried to build it with KickTVwhen we had our YouTube channel and
we had ten or twelve people inthe same space, so it was easier
to do that. And now Idon't have that. I'm by myself,
and obviously the pandemic made us evenmore isolated, and now we're starting to
come out of that. But I'malways thirsty to be a part of a
team, and so when I'm aroundit and I can see it and there's
that energy, I'm definitely drawn tothat. I could feel when I went
(42:57):
on set and I got to feelit again when I was around them,
and they're so welcoming and inclusive andit's not exclusive, and I think that
makes it pretty special too. Butyeah, to be there to see it,
to experience it in that way,to hear the oos and os and
like kind of ride a roller coasterwith everybody, because it was the first
time to see these first two episodesand where it's going, and it was
great. It was great and I'llnever forget it. So shout out again
(43:20):
to Chip. Yeah. I thinkpeople maybe don't realize how real that Roy
Kent trajectory is once he retires andthen it's just like trying to figure out
his place, you know, inthe world, and he's not so much
like he's trying to figure out he'snot so much chasing like sometimes you see
athletes do. But as you're talkingabout like just trying to find community,
(43:43):
trying to find something, your identityshifts. So suddenly, Yeah, and
something that recreates not the people cheeringfor you necessarily, but the camaraderie that
you have as a team. It'sreally tough outside of sport. It is
it is. I'll jump in onthe identity thing when I got forced to
retire due to concussions. But whenthat decision was finally made, I was
(44:05):
down where the LA Galaxy play intheir stadium, that's where Chiefs was playing
at the time, and well,I was just trying to wrap my head
around Okay, this is this isit. That was it. So I
go back up to the car andI call my wife to let her know
that this is it, like withthe decision has been made and it's done,
and I could not get it out. I was just I was crying.
(44:25):
I couldn't get She thought somebody mymom, my mom had died or
somebody like somebody in my life haddied. And and and what's interesting is
somebody did die, like my identitywas dead. Like my mom knew me
as a professional athlete. I washer professional athlete's son. I mean that's
how many years I had played.All my friends knew me as a professional
athlete. Friend I identified as aprofessional athlete. Everything was wrapped around that.
(44:50):
My whole life, being an athletewas what drove me, which is
how I knew myself, which iswhere I got my confidence, which is
how I dealt with adversity and youknow, my kids still like we not
have any more sports cliches to solveany problems, so like we're done with
those things, which is pretty funny. But but when that it took me,
it took me a long time.I'd say nine to ten months to
really I'm not that guy anymore.I need to find something else. And
(45:14):
so I was depressed. I don'tI don't know, Like in the moment,
you're like, no, I'm fine, I'm working through it. But
but now looking back, I wasdefinitely depressed and I felt lost. I
didn't know where to go or whoto talk to and does anybody want to
hear my sob story? Like Ihad an incredible career, I've been the
life I've led it unreal, Likewho wants to sit and listen to me?
(45:34):
Complaint? Necessarily complain, but feellost? And so you bring a
lot of that, that kind oftough guy mentality to your problem solving because
that works in a previous life,but it doesn't work when you're outside of
that and trying to establish yourself again. And only I'll say this, only
when I got into this media stuffand we were at kick TV and we
were in studio and in New YorkCity and it felt okay, I felt
(45:57):
a little bit uncomfortable. But thenwe lobbied to take a trip to the
Euros in Poland and Ukraine in twentytwelve, and at that moment, when
I was back amongst the people andbasically getting paid to get drunk with fans,
I was like, I think Ican. I think this is I
can do this. I think thatI can and this isn't so bad.
And that is actually was such apivotal trip for me to kind of get
(46:21):
out of the studio and kind ofshowcase what we could do as a channel,
what I could do on camera,and I had a blast and that
really was the switch for me.But it took me nine or ten months
to get there. Well, Ithink we can wrap things up with a
question about music. We talk aboutmusic a lot on our show, and
this is a bit of a deepcut bringing this back to your Kick TV
days. You have a video that'skind of the story of your life in
(46:42):
quotes, and you talk about howyour name you're named after Sir Paul McCartney
because his first name is James.Yes, that's right. So I'm curious,
do you have a favorite Beatles song. Yes, it's Here, There
and Everywhere, which is not thechamp from the Stadium, but the battle
Oh No, No No, whichis kind of funny. Well, I
kind of wanted to be both nowthat you said that, But no,
I Here, There and Everywhere isan incredible song and from the best Beatles
(47:07):
album objectively, from Revolver Revolver.That's right. I think that came out
in sixty six. My dad's abig Beatles nut, so if I didn't
say that or got that right,he's gonna be really disappointed in me.
But I yeah, Here, Thereand Everywhere. What what a jam?
And there's another There's another great bitof trivia just about that song that it
is the only song that the JohnLennon complimented Paul McCartney on his songwriting.
(47:29):
It's like a way, it's it'sPaul McCartney's favorite song. He have a
row and it's one of the onlyones John Lennon said he liked. So
yeah, I picked a good one. And I just assumed the lady in
that song as lady Football. That'show he's talking about that goes about that
goes without saying that's who I've alwaysenvisioned it to be. Man. Well,
Jimmy, thank you so much forcoming on the show. It has
been a blast tucking soccer and tedLasso with you and uh Man, we're
(47:52):
so glad you came on. Thankyou bretton Christian and say hi to your
dog for me. But yeah,we'll do and that's our show. We
had a blast chatting with the legendaryJimmy Conrad. You can find links to
his podcasts, his production company,his social media accounts, the Warmballer community,
(48:13):
and everything else we mentioned in theshow notes. We'll be back soon
with more ted Lasso goodness, butyou can keep the conversation going with us
on Twitter and Instagram in the meantime. Our handle on both is at ted
Lasso Pod. This episode of RichmondTill We Die is brought to you by
Gin and Kerosene Productions. It wasproduced by Me Brett and Me Christian.
If you're enjoying the podcast, pleasetake thirty seconds to subscribe to our feed
(48:36):
and give the show a five starreview on Apple Podcasts or a five star
rating on Spotify. Heck, ifyou're feeling generous, you could even do
both. As always, we appreciateall the ways y'all share your love and
support for the pod. Okay,I'm Christian signing off for Brett and Jimmy.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, Cheers y'all, A high court
Welcome to the Crown and Anchor Greyhounds. This is Richmond Till We Die,
a conversation about the Apple TV Plusshow ted Lasso, where we explore the
characters, their relationships to each other, how they can make us laugh until
we can hardly breathe one moment andfeel with the deepest parts of our hearts.
The next I'm Christian and my favoriteBeatles album is the Gray album mash
(00:37):
Up by Danger Mouse featuring Jay Z. I'm Brett and before we recorded this
episode, I thought warmballs was somethingthat you had to get treatment for.
But our guest today is Jimmy Conrad. Jimmy is a former professional soccer player
who played twenty six games with theUS men's national team and twelve seasons in
Major League Soccer, where he wasnamed to the MLS Best eleven on four
(00:58):
occasions, and won the mL Cupwith the San Jose Clash in two thousand
and one and the US Open Cupwith the Kansas City Wizards in two thousand
and four. Jimmy hung up hiscleats in two eleven, but has continued
his career in sports media as ahost and analysts since then. Currently,
he co hosts the CBS Sports podcastsin Soccer Wee Trust alongside his pals and
(01:18):
former men's national teamers Charlie Davies andHeath Pierce. In addition to his CBS
duties, Jimmy oversees a production companycalled Radical Creative Group, as well as
the online community of do gooders knownsimply as the Warmballers. More on that
later. He also serves as thesporting director for the San Francisco Glen Soccer
Club, whose men's and women's teamsboth play in the fourth tier of the
(01:41):
American Soccer Piramid. Of course,Jimmy's a massive fan of Ted Lasso as
well, so we invited him ontothe show to talk about Ted, Jose
Mourinho, Latan MLS, and theUS national team. Warmballs and lots lots
more so Greyhounds please join us aswe give a warm welcome to Jimmy Conrad.
Thanks for being with us, Jimmy, I love in the energy boys.
(02:04):
Yes, I'm excited to be onthe podcast. Thank you so much
for the invitation. We are excitedto get a chance to shout with you.
And the most important question that wehave for everybody is how did you
get into Ted lasso, and especiallyfor people who are professional soccer players,
like what kept you with the show? Well, it wasn't the soccer plane.
That's a shout out to all theguys that I know on the cast
(02:28):
who picked up who picked up thegame considerably by season three, which is
pretty cool to see. They takea lot more pride and what they're doing
in the background and all that typeof stuff. For me, I came
into it not too late. Youknow, you still hear about people just
watching it for the first time leadingup to season three, and I was
(02:50):
maybe five or six months late enoughto hear that there was some buzz like
you gotta watch this show. Iheard enough of that you gotta watch this
show. So I sat down andwatched it, and the human side of
it was very endearing for me,that side of the locker room that maybe
doesn't get talked about a lot,where you are working through things together.
You are dealing with adversity either byyourself but also within a group, and
(03:15):
when you lose, you're not justlosing collectively, but you're also probably losing
a starting spot. You could belosing playing time, you could be losing
a whole bunch of different things,all while trying to balance what's going on
in your personal life and that compartmentalizationthat that exists. So to shine a
light on that I thought was waspretty cool. I'd say the the big
tie in for me, which reallygot me in was was Roy Kent.
(03:38):
You know, I mean, there'sthere's always there's always a jerk in the
locker room, you know, whowas a bit of a softie, but
he had to put on that frontbecause he'd put on that front for so
many years or that's how he gotled when he was a younger player.
So I really resonated. He reallyresonated with me. And so when he
comes in and you know, saysI gotta be coached by Ronald fucking McDonald
(03:59):
or whatever, and then you know, Ted and Coach Beard look at each
other. I wait till we winthem over. That for me was the
biggest hook that I was going toreally enjoy this show because I knew that
at that point, at that moment, that the sport side of it was
just going to be the backdrop andit was just going to be a vehicle
(04:19):
for them to really get across thesereally incredible messages of being a human did
you ever lobby to audition for theshow for season two or season three?
Like, you're good on camera,You're a funny guy. You could have
helped out with some of those soccerscenes. Christian, you should be my
publicist. I no. I mean, obviously we knew that they shot over
(04:42):
in the UK, and we knewthat coach Beard Brendan Hunt was a big
US men's national team fan, butthere was never I didn't know how I
was going to get over there.I didn't know what my link was going
to be. And then at onepoint Brendan followed me on Twitter and I
remember setting him. I was soexcited to send him a DM and like,
hey, I'm such and such yourfavorite former US men's national team player.
(05:03):
I used to play blah blah blah, and he's like, I know
exactly who you are. I wasat the World Cup in two thousand and
six sitting in the stands and Iwas like, sweets, Brenda, I
know. So I'm like yelling atmy way. Brenda knows who I am,
you know. So it was prettycool feeling. So when I had
the opportunity to be over in Londonback in August and reached out to Brendan.
(05:24):
I got invited to the set,so that was cool to go do
a tour of the set and tomeet everybody at that level and then get
to go to the arsenal game withthem the next day, and I got
to hang with Joe, Kelly andJason and Chip and all these really important
people to the show, and youget to understand why the show is the
(05:44):
way that it is, and it'sreally these incredible human beings that are bringing
all these other people along for theride and building the sense of community and
purpose and it's incredible. And sowhat was really interesting for me and you
guys have just like I'm like oneof those wind up dolls. You just
you don't even have to ask likehalf the question. I'm gonna go.
But but I usually when you're onany any any kind of team environment,
right you're trying to build something asa group, you always wonder how the
(06:09):
how the people with the smallest roleor maybe aren't as important, how are
they being treated by the people thatquote unquote are more important? Right?
And there was a real sense ofwe're all in this together when I visited
the set, and I wasn't surprisedso so what you're seeing, that energy
that you're seeing on camera definitely permeatesto what's happening off camera, which I
thought was was exciting. Yeah,so you just mentioned that you've hung out
(06:30):
with Brendan Hunt and Chip Hamilton anda bunch of the cast get to do
go into my flex of the day. How many flexes am I allowed?
I was gonna say, we're justit's gonna be a flex fest and that's
okay, We're just gonna roll withit. But our question is, is
Brendon Hunt more or less on edgeand those type of high stress situations than
coach Beard or what's the I wasactually because I was there, I'm a
(06:53):
social butterfly. I think everybody's pickedup on that by this point, and
so so I'm work in the room, you know, saying hi to everybody,
and dam watching the game. It'sArsenal Fulham as a couple of Americans
out there with Anthony Robinson and MattTurner. I got to see him warm
up as he watched Aaron Ramsdale playand Tim Reeve's out there doing a thing,
and this is pre World Cup,so I was excited to see how
he was performing in Fulham overall andArsenal ended up winning two one. But
(07:16):
I wasn't really paying attention to thegame. I did a little bit,
but I was mingling. Coach Beardwas like on it, he's watching.
He is like focused. So Brendanis definitely focused on what's happening. And
if there was any questions about whatwas going on, because we had some
new bees, some relative newbies sportwith us, Jason would say, hey,
(07:38):
you gotta ask Brendan, and I'mlike, dude, I'm sitting right
here. I feel like I mightknow just maybe just as much as maybe
I had. Well, I sawBrendan on Jeopardy, so he probably knows
more about the sport and the gamethan I do. But at that moment,
I was like, I could Icould also answer some questions about what
offside is. You got to absorbthat pressure. He doesn't want to be
answering questions while watching too, andthat's true. So I was a good
(07:59):
plan B. I was a goodplan B for that. That was like
a recurring theme on his and RebeccaLowe's World Cup podcast. He like the
watch party etiquette is like, don'tcome in and start asking questions. Everyone's
watching the mat What's funny about thatis that I would call those guys before
the US game. So I wasin I was in Doha and Qatar with
Fox Sports see all their digital coverage, and right when we went off air,
(08:20):
because we did all the pre andpost game for every single game,
which was a lot of work,and I'm still trying to relax from all
that stress. Intention but no,I had I had a blast. But
I would call. I would callChip or Brendan and I would face time
with those guys and they're all blearyeyed at seven am, ready for the
US game, and I've got myboobas HeLa and I've got my megaphone.
(08:41):
I'm like, come on, god, watch go just ramp and right when
they're about to start talking, I'dhang up every kind So that was kind
of think, Yeah, I justcome in with some super hot energy for
thirty seconds, and then I'd hangup before they could even say anything.
And they're probably this guy is anabsolute maniac. But yeah, I loved
it. And I could tell rightthen or even when I got to spend
(09:03):
that time with Brendan at the Arsenalgame, that he doesn't want to answer
too many questions. He is focusedon what's happening, and he's a student
of the game, and that's probablythe highest compliment, highest praise I can
give him. As the show continuesto go on, they keep folding in
tidbits that people who follow soccer willrecognize. In season two, it was
(09:24):
Nate's metamorphosis into Jose Mourinho. Inthe season three, now we get this
character that's referred to as Zava,and for those of us who follow the
game, and even people maybe whodon't, will recognize that that character is
based at least in part on ZlatanIbrahimovic, who's just an iconic character and
an iconic personality and someone that youhave had the privilege of interviewing before.
(09:50):
How would you describe Ibrahimovic to someonewho has not heard of him before and
thinks that this character that they havein the show is just made like fully
out of cloth and can't at allbe real. I had the opportunity my
extra flex of the day, Iwent to the premier, so I got
to see the first two episodes.Hey, and what's funny is that I
(10:11):
went out the night before with themand I got introduced to the guy that
plays Zava. Yeah, Maxis sayyeah, And Chip introduced me to him,
and I was like, I don'tknow who this guy is. I've
never I didn't see him when Iwas on set, Like who is this
guy? And then I slowly startedto piece it together and Chip started to
fill me in, and obviously whenI saw the episode, it all starts
(10:31):
to tie in and yeah, he'slarger than life. To answer your question
directly, Christian, and I'm verygood at deflecting and not really answering.
So I should probably run for politicaloffice in some capacity. But maybe maybe
I can run from mayor of KansasCity one day. Christian knows I got
some got some name recognition there.Well, I will say, well,
Jason would definitely win in a lightlandslide if he every goes back to Casey.
And but I's lots On is largerthan life. So to give you
(10:56):
an example, he took out afull page ad when he went to go
sign with the Galaxy the Los AngelesTimes, a full page ad that said
You're welcome. That's about a joke. Slaton said, dear people of Los
Angeles, You're welcome. Slats On. That was it. The full page
ad, big it's nice to meetme. Energy, It's unbelievable. Here's
(11:20):
what this is what makes lats Onspecial. Slats On can back it up
on the field. Yeah right,we had We've We've seen a lot of
people that they can talk a biggame, but they can't necessarily follow it
through. And multiple sports doesn't haveto be related to this one, but
slats On is one of those guys. And he is an incredible character.
He's got so much belief in himselfand he can back it up, and
that's what makes him special. Andand he's so when I asked him a
(11:43):
question, I said, hey,do you think slats On can do this?
Because lots On slats I just saidslots On as many times as I
possibly could in this question, andhe answered in the third person for me,
oh well, yes, Latson doesthink that he could. It was
amazing. I set him up perfectand he answered it perfect and he it's
fantastic. I will say I hada chance to mingle with him because PSG
(12:05):
when he was playing in Paris,they came to New York for some couple
of tours or a game and doingtheir thing or whatever. So we got
to go hang out with them atthe top of this building in New York
right by Rockefeller Center. Really nice, but like any of these types of
team functions where these kind of randompeople show up to hang out with the
(12:26):
team, the team just kind ofhangs out by themselves, and the random
people are like, how do weactually go say hi to these people when
they're not actually out and about.You can't be seen. So so finally
the team kind of get there's likea light introduction, informal introduction, and
so you know, I want aphoto as lats On. I don't want
it. So I take a photois lats On and the dude doesn't smile.
He's just like, this is themost obligatory. I don't give a
(12:50):
shot, Like okay, you wantto get fined exactly kind of thing.
And as I take a photo withhim, my buddy's taking the photo.
I said, I'm like, god, this guy smells amazing. He smells
fantastic. So I take the photoand I turned to him like, dude,
you honestly you smell awesome. Andhe started busting up like he because
(13:11):
he did he knew he smelled great, and he started laughing, and so
my buddy's like, oh, Iwant a photo, alats On, and
I was like, all right,and slots On's got the biggest smile for
this guy, like he's the bestphoto he's ever taken. I'm like,
this bullshit. I got the onewhere he's unhappy, and you get the
one where he's looking like he's havingthe best time. Anyway, that's my
slats On story. He was veryvery kind one on one, and I
think he knows, you know,everything's done with a wink. He knows
(13:31):
that he's playing a character. Heknows that he's being a villain or a
cartoon character. He knows all thatand that's what I think makes him endearing
in some ways. And I hopeand I hope that Zava is going to
be the same in this season.So I guess we'll have to wait and
see. It's been ten years sinceyou did interview him for a kick TV
and you undersold yourself as a journalistas you explain that interaction, and amazingly
(13:56):
enough undersold lots On. So Ijust want to read for people the back
and forth, just yes, justso that they understand this is the question
that you asked. You asked whetheror not Zlatan would kick Christiano Ronaldo extra
hard for taking aways Latan's opportunity togo to the World Cup. And you
asked him that before Real Madrid wasgetting ready to face psg and in a
(14:18):
friendly, and this is his replyverbatim. No, I think Zlatan will
be very cool with Ronaldo. Zlatanwill do a good preparation and Zlatan will
play the game, and then Slatonwill focus on the rest of the season
for twenty fourteen. Laton is veryhappy for Ronaldo that he's going to the
World Cup, and Slaton will seewhat will happen under the World Cup.
(14:39):
It's classic, classic lat It isclassic, what a legend he is.
So I have another question about personalitiesthat show up in the show, and
that is going back to Nate's metamorphosisinto Jose Mourinho, because I saw that
in one of your videos you madethe case for Jose Mourinho to be the
(15:00):
US men's national team coach, andI have been lobbying for there to be
parallel universes occurring at once where there'sa spinoff where Nate becomes the US men's
national team manager as Jose is becomingin real life the US men's national team
manager. What parallels do you seebetween Jose and Nate as someone who follows
(15:26):
the game and Ted Lasso. Wohwow, that's a great question. First
of all, I really love JoseRino as a manager. He's another one
Baries lots On esque who completely believesin himself one hundred percent. And that's
where I think there might be abit of a difference between him and Nate
because Nate, well we're seeing obviously, we didn't see Jose in his dark
(15:48):
moments right where he's trying to potentiallyput on a mask of confidence when he
doesn't necessarily have that confidence himself.And then it eventually evolved into that confidence
because he had the trophies and thesuccess to back it up. So I'm
sure there were times where he verysimilar to Nate, where he's kind of
working into this this character that hewants to become. And we even saw
it an episode one of season threewhere he has to go down and spit
(16:11):
to kind of like embody that whohe thinks he has to be to be
this manager. And I do thinkthere is a lot of that. I
think every manager, when you haveto go out there and face the music
a little bit you have to putye. Remember when Clint Dempsey wore sunglasses
to do some coverage for the USmen's national team, like in his first
foray into TV, And I thinkhe needed to put those on to kind
of be this other version of himself. And I think Nate is very similar
(16:34):
to that, and I think Josewas probably there. And I wonder how
Nate does with west Ham, ofcourse, in terms of his success and
whether he can continue to drink hisown kool aid, which which I think
is is still that sounds negative,but I still think it's a necessary component
to be successful at anything, Likeyou have to believe in yourself. You
have to buy into what you're goodat and what you're not. But I
(16:55):
think it's it's you don't have totreat people like shit along the way to
get to where you want to go. And I think that's what Nate's gonna
learn the hard way, if hehasn't learned it already. Well, I
don't think he has, guys orstill on episode one, but I would
say that there's a very clear waythat Jose Marinho wants to play the game.
And when I see what Nate's tryingto do or what he was doing
(17:15):
as an assistant, and as he'snow when we see in the early shots
of him with West Hamley, there'sa clear way of how he wants to
play the game. And if you'rea player that can't buy into that or
not going to live up to thatstandard, then you're gonna stand in that
one area and be made fun ofand ridiculed in some ways until you can
figure it out. And so there'sa lot of different ways to lead.
This is one way. This isa choice by Nate to make that happen.
(17:37):
But I do believe that Marinho wasprobably in that same spot. This
is the way we're going to playand if you don't like it, you
can get the hell out. AndI think that Marinho softened a little bit
in his age since he's had tremendoussuccess, and I think that it might
be the right time now to turnit into real life for him to take
over a national team because he's onlydone the club scene for a long time.
But we'll have to wait and seehis contracts up with Romo, or
(18:00):
at least they can talk about itin the summer. It'd be an interesting
higher for sure, and I don'tknow if he'd be busy enough because the
national team there's a lot of waitingaround until you get to see the guys,
and I don't know if Marino wouldbe up for that. But that
said, I think there are somecomparisons to Nate for sure, and I'm
curious to see how his character evolvesthroughout the season. Speaking of Apple stuff,
this season, soccer fans in theUS can watch every MLS game on
(18:22):
Apple TV Plus with the MLS SeasonPass, which is huge. And you're
a former MLS player. He playedtwelve seasons, so you know that's huge
for the league. So I'm wonderingif you could just briefly talk about your
experience in MLS and just kind ofthe progress of the league at since you've
been a player, and kind ofthe hopes for the future everybody listening.
Bretta said briefly, I don't knowwhere you get me and giving you brief
(18:44):
answers, but I'll do my verybeast, Brett, I'll do my very
best. It's all relative, man, that's true, and I need to
find brief I did my coaching KansasCity Bob Gainzler, who Christian knows quite
well, he told me that brevityis an art form that I have not
mastered, which is pretty much.And this was me like during a game,
trying to put people in good spotsto make place. So he always
(19:07):
used to poke fun of me.But yes, with regard to MLS Season
Pass and Apple TV, it's sucha huge move for the league in general
to be able to be number onein somebody's book instead of being a second
class citizen for other outlets that wereout there. I think at times ESPN
did give it the red carpet treatmentbut didn't stick with it, and at
(19:29):
times Fox gave it the red carpettreatment but didn't stick with it. And
now you feel like there's a realcommitment from Apple TV to put it on
the red carpet for quite some timeand to see where it could go and
how it could grow. And soit's incredible to be able to go to
one place where you feel like you'regetting all the information that you need and
it's being treated in the right waywith respect instead of it's like knowing,
(19:55):
you know it's going to be goodstuff as opposed to hoping. And I
feel like for so many years wewere just hoping that somebody would treat it
with respect. And now we're atApple TV and we know that it's going
to be treated with respect, andthat is the biggest difference, and I
think it makes all the difference.Yeah, and guys like you deserve a
lot of credit because MLS like youreally had to grind back in the day.
You know, you guys played,you were Were you in the Arrowhead
(20:18):
Stadium era? Is that where youwas? I was? Yeah? So
you know you could get a greatMLS crowd of twenty thousand people, but
the place would feel empty because Iheld eighty thousand. And you know,
you played at Chivas USA for awhile and like they had their issues.
And so when you now look atsoccer culture overall, in then MLS culture,
(20:41):
how do you reflect on the journeyfrom what was going on when you
played to what now we experience asfans of MLS. Ooh, night and
day, Christian night and Day.I would say that when I came through
and I started in ninety nine withthe San Jose clash, Okay, they
walked into the earthquakes. The followingyear we won MLS Cup. In two
(21:03):
thousand and one, we came backto downtown San Jose to have a victory
party. And I don't even knowif I want to say this number out
loud, but if there was athousand people there to celebrate with us,
that would be that that might evenbe a reach. But it was people
that cared and they loved the team, and they were way in and it
felt very it felt very niche.It felt very cult's esque to a team,
(21:27):
and you could see it grow slowly, right and as it as each
team, that felt like there wassome permanence to it, like this team
wasn't going anywhere. San Jose isan interesting example because they ended up moving
to the Houston to become the HoustonDynamo, and then the earthquake started up
again a couple of years later.But I'll use Kansas City, where I
(21:48):
played the bulk of my career foreight years. We were at Arrowhead,
then we went to Community America Ballpark, which is the minor league baseball stadium,
and then moved into Sporting Park now, and it's it's incredible, but
I think that journey was really importantto not only understand where we came from
and how hard we had to workto get to that point, but also
to lay of the foundation of howimportant the sport can be in a community
(22:08):
and how it grew. And eventhough we did You're right, we drew
twenty to twenty five at Arrowhead,which is a healthy number, it just
didn't feel like it was as bigof a deal as it is now.
And that's actually without kind of aTV contract, as we were alluding to
before with Apple TV, that waswasn't really giving it everything that they had
(22:29):
now. There was local broadcasts andall that, but it didn't take that
big step and now it feels likeit is. I will say, I
think what makes the sport unique andwhat separates it from all the other American
sports is that it feels like you'repart of something bigger than yourself, and
that when you go to the game, you're still a part of the game.
You're still a part of the fabricof what's happening on the field.
(22:51):
You can have influence and impact ina way that I don't think you can
in other sports. When I goit went to a baseball game with my
dad, it felt like it wasjust a moment between me and my dad.
If I went to an NFL game, all that all the fun stuff
was happening outside the stadium and thetailgate right inside. The games are slow
for me, there's not a lotgoing on, and I was just drawn
(23:14):
to the sense of community you goin. And I think Atlanta is probably
the best example of it. Theydidn't think it was going to work in
Atlanta, and then all of asudden they get into an NFL stadium.
But everybody wanted to be part ofthis and they created something special and they
thankfully had some early success. Itkind of got everybody that's shot in the
arm of adrenal and like, wow, this is amazing. Look how good
we are. And now they're goingthrough some tough times. They're working through
it. Now the season's been prettygood. But but I think that's a
(23:37):
really good example where if you andpeople would go to those games and say
that it's better than going to aFalcons game. It's better than going to
a Hawks game where a Braid's game, because you're just you're part of it
in a way where you get thetailgate, that the party continues within the
game and you're still talking about howmuch fun you had afterwards, and it's
and it's always two hours, right. That doesn't go any longer, and
there's just a lot of special thingsabout it, but I think that sense
(23:59):
of community is number one, andthis is where we're obliged to uh to
say that if folks want to hearmore of your thoughts about MLS, you
have a podcast that you you talkabout MLS and all sorts of other soccer
things three times a week with yourpals Charlie Davies and Heath Pierce called in
Soccer We Trust and that. Sothat's on the CBS Sports Network and so
(24:22):
you know you can get you canget all of the Jimmy you want there.
You're gonna get a lot. WelcomeWelcome to the party if you come
hang out with us. Yeah.But besides having an amazing podcast, being
our favorite former mlser and usmntier,you are also known in the Internet for
warm Balls. So can you tellour audience a little bit about the warm
(24:45):
Balls conspiracy, the community in theorganization that grew out of that. Yes,
yes, I almost want to reverseengineer it. So when I for
the TV, we were part ofthe kind of the emerging YouTube worlds.
Yes, and YouTube was just startingto like, hey, can you get
to a million subscribers? And wewere friends with a guy that's got fifteen
(25:06):
to twenty months subscribers now KSI who'sbased in London and doing boxing now.
And we knew him when he wasa couple hundred thousand and really sweet kid.
He's still super sweet even though he'slike the Michael Jordan of YouTube.
But he had a thing called KSIArmy, and so we're like, oh
man, we gotta have we gottacall our community something. As we started
to get into the hundreds of thousandsof subscribers and and so I put it
(25:29):
out there for the audience and theycame up with warm Ballers and we were
like, that's perfect, warm Ballers, Like that's our community now. As
we learned as we try to sellmerch parents weren't buying their kids shirts and
said warm ballers on them because theythought there was some sexual connotations there.
So talk about a failed thing thatmaybe that wasn't the best name of all
time that said it was perfect forthe community because because and everybody loved it,
(25:52):
and I still have people come upto me even though the channel hasn't
been around in a while that wasstill shout out warm Ballers to me from
across the street. It's pretty sweet. But it all started that the name
comes from. The origin story isthat back in two thousand and twelve,
twenty eleven, I tweeted out thatI think that the balls in the Champions
League draw when they did the ChampionsLeague draw, Yeah, they're ping pong
(26:17):
balls. One of the I thinkthey're warm. I think that whoever's doing
it around, even though it's likea former player that's you know, they
make it seem like it's that oneof them. It has a different temperature.
So I thought there was my warmballs theory. And that's where the
guy and we talk about it everywhere. A happy warm Baller's Day everybody,
or warm balls Day, because thisis the moment where they're gonna get Bayern
muting versus Arsenal. It was likethat in the round of sixteen of the
(26:37):
Champions League, like six consecutive years, something crazy, and it was just
too much, too much of acoincidence, and they kept getting these high
profile matchups that they wanted and Idon't know, man. And so it's
funny is that at the time FIFApresident was set bladder and he is uh
now a disgrace, grace for PresidentBladder, and he came out out maybe
(27:00):
three or four years ago, sowe're talking seven or eight years after I
stated the SERI saying that those ballswere either warm or cold. Isn't that
insane? That is absolutely insane.So yeah, so I was ahead of
it. So the Warmball's theory istrue. It's real, and disgrace fee
for President sept Ladder and I finallyagree on something that fostered and he validated
(27:22):
my theory from a long time ago, my conspiracy theory, and it's true.
But yes, that's where it started, the warmballers thing, And so
there there are quite a few peopleout there rocking the Warmballer stickers and Warmballers
t shirts and anytime I travel,I try to do pickup games and hand
out as much gear as I canbecause nobody's buying it, unfortunately, even
though all the money goes to charity. But yeah, warmballararmbars dot com exists,
(27:45):
even though don't think anybody's bought ashirt in two years because I don't
talk about it much anymore. ButI appreciate you bring it up because I
think it really was a community thatwas trying to be a positive force for
good, just like you guys aredoing with this podcast. Well, and
just the fact that you sort ofcalled that as like amazing to me,
like I had somehow missed that andall of that, Like I had heard
eventually about the temperature being different,and that I had no idea that there
(28:07):
was this prophet in the wilderness likeshouting. So that was amazing. Yeah,
I was ahead of it. Iwas ahead of it. Now,
I've probably put out a whole bunchof theories out there and that's the only
one that's stuck. But you knowwhat, I'm gonna stick with it.
I'm gonna run with it. It'sthe law of averages, man. It's
my badge, my badge of honor. In your career, we've mentioned that
you were a US men's national teamplayer. What was it like to represent
(28:32):
your country at a World Cup?That's that's a big question. I would
say it's the biggest honor that youcan have in your career, whether you're
representing the US or any other country. Because at that moment, that first
game we played in two thousand andsix against Czech Republic, I didn't I
didn't play that particular game. Igot to play in the next two against
Italy and against Ghana. But inthat first game when you hear the national
(28:55):
anthem, Now, I'd heard thenational anthem plenty of times through my college
career, through my professional career,but it hits different. It hits different
when you're out a World Cup becauseat that moment, you know that everybody
back home has your back. Youknow, at that moment, casual fans
want to see you do well.It's the most incredibly powerful feeling to know
(29:15):
that we're all in this together forthose ninety minutes and that everybody back home
is wanting you to succeed. AndI've never been able to chase that feeling,
or I've tried to, but couldn'tmake another World Cup team after that.
But I had a couple opportunities tofeel that, and it is.
It is really special. And Iwould say that for me too, for
(29:37):
everybody that doesn't know my story,and I don't expect you to know my
story at all. But I wasa walk on in college and I won
the national championship with UCLA my senioryear, and I thought, oh man,
I'm going to get drafted in MLSfor sure, because I'm on the
best college team in the country,and I was only I was the only
senior out of US five that didn'tget drafted, so so I was the
(29:57):
little engine that could. I hadto go down to lower leagues, had
to fight my way into it.Than I eventually signed with San Jose and
played four years there and eight yearswith Kansas City and a cup of coffee
with Chiefs USA before I had toretire due to concussions. But I would
say that to be in that moment, knowing my career and how hard I
had to work to get to thatpoint, to not only make the national
(30:19):
team, but to play in aWorld Cup and to represent my country at
the highest level, and then togo out and kind all. So that's
one, right, You're very proudof that, and you can always nobody
can ever take that away from you. But then there's that's personal satisfaction of
I went out and hung with thebest players in the world and the biggest
competition in the world with millions ofpeople watching, and I handled that pressure.
That's just for me, right,I mean, yeah, people can
(30:41):
they can judge you and whatever,but I know that I know what I
did and I know what I had, and that is incredibly satisfying, and
it makes all those sweat and tearsand work and all the sacrifice worth it
times a million. It was.It's an incredible I can't even believe I'm
I did it At this point,it feels like I'm talking about somebody else.
But it was an incredible ride.You've been a part of a lot
(31:03):
of different soccer organizations, and nowyou've been able to see a lot of
different soccer organizations as a media personalityand a journalist. What is one aspect
of the AFC Richmond organization that youwish you could experience at a real life
soccer club. That is a greatquestion. I would say having a relationship
(31:26):
with the owner, you know likethat. I guess that Rebecca isn't really
hands on per se, and whenshe comes in it's more to kind of
tell her story or to be apart of somebody else's in a meaningful way.
And I guess I did have ita little bit in early days of
Kansas City with Lamar Hunt, rescuepiece who was kind of in the trenches
because he was trying to help.He was cold calling people to buy season
(31:48):
tickets to come watch his Kansas CityWizards play an airhead, and he gave
me a big hug after we wonthe US Open Cup back in two thousand
and four. So there's some reallycool moments that I have with Lamar and
I maybe those early days as itkind of feels Rebecca esque, I guess,
in the most positive Rebecca vibe,not the one where she's trying to
undermine everything. But there's something aboutthat collective we're all in this together,
(32:09):
that you maybe didn't always feel everysingle season. And that's not a disrespect
too to any of the clubs thatI played for. A lot of it
was just because you had maybe oneperson wearing fifteen hats. They had to
do so many jobs. You neverreally got to know them because they were
so busy just trying to do somany different things. And and I feel
(32:30):
like that's changed a lot too asa pertained suit to the game in America
and MLS in particular, they havethey've hired enough people now to manage all
that type of stuff. So that'sa really good question. I always felt
like I was pretty close with mymy the kitman, and nice the team
managers. You know. I stillstill talk to Matt ben Ben in particular,
(32:52):
his dad, Rick coached Casey Commentsand UMKC for a long time,
and I still talk with Matt andhe was our equipment manager by first couple
of years. I'll see my oldtrainer back San Jose every once in a
while that I'm back here in theBay Area. So those connections, right,
those are these really meaningful, powerfulrelationships that continue to be maintained outside
of the results of the wins andlosses. And I think I can relate
(33:13):
to that a lot to what TedLasso tries to focus on as a show.
But yeah, I don't think Ianswered your question directly. I might
have to come back to it orjust be have to skip it all together.
Boys, these days, you doget to travel the world, and
you get to interview and interact withteams and supporters and various players. As
(33:34):
you've done that, is there ateam or a league or a supporters group
that you feel like you've had themost fun or a particularly enjoyable time getting
to know As a media personality,I would say because I'm welcome some warmly.
This is me being a bit ofa homer. But I love hanging
out with the Cauldron. I lovehanging out with my peeps in Kansas City.
(33:55):
They supported me for so many yearsso that when I go back that
love, I can feel it andI want to give them back my energy
and love as well. So anytimeI get to hang out with the Cauldron,
it's great. Now when I thinkglobally that the times that I've gotten
to spend in Rome with the Romasupporters was really neat. I got to
see a couple of games there atthe Stadio Olimpico, and they are a
(34:17):
passionate bunch. That's probably the bestway I can say it. But I've
had the benefit of going to seesome big Derby's. I got to see
Super Classico between Book of Juniors andRiver Plate, so being amongst the Book
of Fans in particular, it wasa law. Bambanera is a bucket list
side and I highly encourage everybody togo check out that game if they ever
get a chance to get down toBuenos Aires. That was awesome. I'm
(34:39):
a Book of Fans, so youknow I'm still GREENO. Of course you
know there's there, but they knowthat I care and want to be a
part of it. Yeah, Imean, I'm just drawn to supporter of
groups in general. Because it meansso much to them, the wins and
losses. But it's always it's notjust that that feels so basic to say,
(35:00):
it's also about how is the teamplaying, Like are they representing me
out there on the field. Ilike that they don't suffer any fools that
if anybody's dogging it out there andnot giving their all, because anybody in
the supporters section would kill to beon that field playing for those colors,
and if you're not working your hardestto represent them in the best possible way,
(35:23):
they're going to hold you accountable.And I love that, and so
I really tap into that side ofit because I tried to lead the same
way when I was on the field, because I was grateful for that opportunity.
And sometimes there are some players thatthat that they're not grateful, They
just lose a little bit of focusand some of that perspective that is necessary
to make sure that you're like,hey, this is a privilege for us
to be out here. Let's makesure that we reward the people that are
(35:44):
paying their harder money to come watchyou play. So I relate in that
sense too to a lot of thesupporters groups, not the ones that are
trying to incite violence, of coursewho are taking it to the extreme,
but the ones that really just careabout being a part of something bigger than
themselves, which I've mentioned before,which is really a straight line between we're
saying and what what ted Lesso wasall about too and and but yeah,
(36:05):
the Roman supporters stand out for me, I thought, there they just when
they start singing Roma Roma, Imean, it comes from that, It's
from deep down, it's from theheart, you know. And you know,
when I was early on in theearly days, you might had one
or two people really belted it outlike that, but we didn't have the
same type of history. You know, you come and you go over to
(36:27):
these different countries and they just gotso much more of that. But that's
being developed now we're almost two yearthirty of MLS or getting closer to that.
And and now you're starting to havepeople that went to the games that
are having kids and are passing alongwhy it matters for them to support a
particular team. And that's going tobe I think a pretty big tipping point
for the growth of the sport inthis country. My wife's gonna think I
(36:49):
paid you for that. Segment becausewe're taking a trip to Italy next month,
and as I was looking at theschedule, I was like, oh
my gosh, we're not going tobe in any cities when there's going to
be any games being played. Andthen when that Europa League draw came out,
now they're going to be playing fineord Our first night in Rome,
and so I like floated the idea. I was like, so, now
(37:10):
there's a really big soccer match thatwe could you have to go see it
at nine o'clock at night. Yeah, said you tell her to call me
after this interview is over. Iwill tell her why it will change her
life in a positive way for herto go to Saudiolypico and watch that game,
because it is unlike anything you've beento. I promise. Okay,
I'm gonna ever call you. Yougotta do it for that, and you
(37:30):
gotta do it for the ted Lassoparallels. Right, Yeah, it's what
I said. So Christians got togo there, like listen, honey,
Jimmy said this, and we gottago because I gotta confirm whether he's bullshittingness
or not right right, And whenwhen this podcast starts making dollars, then
I can write that off and mytaxes as research. In your role with
(37:50):
the San Francisco Glenn's your sporting directorright now, is like Higgins the closest
like sort of like parallel to yourjob there now, like what who is
there a character on ted last question? Anything we could kind of like adjacently
kind of come at that question with. I would say Higgins is still at
(38:10):
times, even though he's demonstrated he'snot a puppet, that he's got more
puppet like tendencies, or did atleast in season one. And I'm yeah,
I'm not a puppet, per se. I I like to have my
voice be heard. It doesn't haveto be the one that you follow,
per se, but I like tochime in. And I think Higgins has
gotten there right, especially as theDiamond Dogs we've got kind of go in
(38:32):
and he got more confidence, whichhas been pretty cool to see his story
arc and I'm curious to see whereit goes this particular season. But yeah,
yeah, yeah, I mean,I guess in terms of roles,
I'm trying to help sign players tomake our team as efficient and as good
as possible, but I'm also tryingto find locations for us to to use.
(38:52):
Yeah, so there's there's some elementsof that. I think it ties
into that. And over the lastcouple of seasons i've been co head coach,
I've been a assistant coach. Kindof depends on some of the work
responsibilities that I have and how muchhow much time I can commit unfortunately,
but I do get to also inputwith like tactics and that type of stuff
too in players selection so so andI read run Training. So I've guessed
(39:15):
I'm kind of like a hybrid betweenkind of you know, early Nate roy
Kent, your coach beard reading,reading all of his uh inverted pyramid stuff,
and a little bit of the goodnature of Ted Lasso of him coming
through with I like to joke withthe team a lot, so you know,
you say something important. But there'ssomething about the show that I absolutely
(39:37):
love and I want to say itnow. The balance and even when I
watched episode one and two at thepremiere, their ability to find that balance
between serious and lightheartedness and fun butmeaningful. It's just that is that they
found the sweet spot, and itis incredible how good they are at finding
(39:59):
that and the people that right forthe show and how they directed in the
acting, it's it's fantastic. Everybodybehind it is unbelievable. Can you describe
what the vibe was like at thepremiere because you come in and it's on
a giant screen and then they showseason three episodes one and two, and
unlike you know, watching it atyour house or with your family or maybe
(40:20):
a small group of friends, you'rewatching it with all of these people and
none of you. There's all thisanticipation, but nobody has yet experienced what's
going to happen, except for theyou know, doesn't select or whatever that
have worked on the show. Sowhat was it like to be at the
premiere and receiving the show in thatway? It was incredible. To see
it in the movie theater was differentto your point, there's something intimate about
(40:42):
watching it at home, watching iton a screen that's quite close to you,
as opposed to one that you normallyassociate with these big Marvel blockbuster movies.
So that that was a little bitthat threw me off a little bit.
But what I liked about it wasthe energy in the room was awesome,
Like everybody was so excited. Yousee, you know, Rebecca shows
up or or, and it's justa big round of applause. Everybody's getting
(41:06):
rowdy, you know. So theenergy was a stage show. People were
so excited to see everybody an amplicentIt's true, It's true. And I
also think I got to hang withthe guys that are on AFC Richmond Um
and they just hadn't seen each otherin a long time because the show had
wrapped, you know, a coupleof months before, or four or five
months before. Yeah, and everyone'sbusy. Yeah, everyone's busy. Everybody's
(41:29):
got their own goal. So justso when you got to be a part
of them seeing each other for thefirst time, knowing that this journey that
they've gone through was was pretty cool, to be honest. And I actually
spent the most time with George.He plays Goodman on the show UM number
seventeen, I believe, and soit was cool to hang out with him
(41:50):
and he was kind of give methe lay of the land on you know,
who was showing up and who hasn'tseen each other for a while,
and kind of just talking about theshow overall and how impactful it was for
his life, and really cool tokind of get these little bits and pieces
from all these guys about what itmeant to them and what it means to
their careers moving forward. Frankly,so so it was it was it was
incredible to be there. I amshout out to Chip. I was his
(42:13):
plus one for this. Chip isthe nice and so it was just cool
to be there and be amongst itand to be treated like I wasn't an
outcast, right, I was justyeah, of course you're here, let's
go, you know. And sothat is That's something I've been seeking.
This is like, I don't knowhow much I owe you for this therapy
session, but since I retired,I've been seeking that my whole you know.
(42:36):
I tried to build it with KickTVwhen we had our YouTube channel and
we had ten or twelve people inthe same space, so it was easier
to do that. And now Idon't have that. I'm by myself,
and obviously the pandemic made us evenmore isolated, and now we're starting to
come out of that. But I'malways thirsty to be a part of a
team, and so when I'm aroundit and I can see it and there's
that energy, I'm definitely drawn tothat. I could feel when I went
(42:57):
on set and I got to feelit again when I was around them,
and they're so welcoming and inclusive andit's not exclusive, and I think that
makes it pretty special too. Butyeah, to be there to see it,
to experience it in that way,to hear the oos and os and
like kind of ride a roller coasterwith everybody, because it was the first
time to see these first two episodesand where it's going, and it was
great. It was great and I'llnever forget it. So shout out again
(43:20):
to Chip. Yeah. I thinkpeople maybe don't realize how real that Roy
Kent trajectory is once he retires andthen it's just like trying to figure out
his place, you know, inthe world, and he's not so much
like he's trying to figure out he'snot so much chasing like sometimes you see
athletes do. But as you're talkingabout like just trying to find community,
(43:43):
trying to find something, your identityshifts. So suddenly, Yeah, and
something that recreates not the people cheeringfor you necessarily, but the camaraderie that
you have as a team. It'sreally tough outside of sport. It is
it is. I'll jump in onthe identity thing when I got forced to
retire due to concussions. But whenthat decision was finally made, I was
(44:05):
down where the LA Galaxy play intheir stadium, that's where Chiefs was playing
at the time, and well,I was just trying to wrap my head
around Okay, this is this isit. That was it. So I
go back up to the car andI call my wife to let her know
that this is it, like withthe decision has been made and it's done,
and I could not get it out. I was just I was crying.
(44:25):
I couldn't get She thought somebody mymom, my mom had died or
somebody like somebody in my life haddied. And and and what's interesting is
somebody did die, like my identitywas dead. Like my mom knew me
as a professional athlete. I washer professional athlete's son. I mean that's
how many years I had played.All my friends knew me as a professional
athlete. Friend I identified as aprofessional athlete. Everything was wrapped around that.
(44:50):
My whole life, being an athletewas what drove me, which is
how I knew myself, which iswhere I got my confidence, which is
how I dealt with adversity and youknow, my kids still like we not
have any more sports cliches to solveany problems, so like we're done with
those things, which is pretty funny. But but when that it took me,
it took me a long time.I'd say nine to ten months to
really I'm not that guy anymore.I need to find something else. And
(45:14):
so I was depressed. I don'tI don't know, Like in the moment,
you're like, no, I'm fine, I'm working through it. But
but now looking back, I wasdefinitely depressed and I felt lost. I
didn't know where to go or whoto talk to and does anybody want to
hear my sob story? Like Ihad an incredible career, I've been the
life I've led it unreal, Likewho wants to sit and listen to me?
(45:34):
Complaint? Necessarily complain, but feellost? And so you bring a
lot of that, that kind oftough guy mentality to your problem solving because
that works in a previous life,but it doesn't work when you're outside of
that and trying to establish yourself again. And only I'll say this, only
when I got into this media stuffand we were at kick TV and we
were in studio and in New YorkCity and it felt okay, I felt
(45:57):
a little bit uncomfortable. But thenwe lobbied to take a trip to the
Euros in Poland and Ukraine in twentytwelve, and at that moment, when
I was back amongst the people andbasically getting paid to get drunk with fans,
I was like, I think Ican. I think this is I
can do this. I think thatI can and this isn't so bad.
And that is actually was such apivotal trip for me to kind of get
(46:21):
out of the studio and kind ofshowcase what we could do as a channel,
what I could do on camera,and I had a blast and that
really was the switch for me.But it took me nine or ten months
to get there. Well, Ithink we can wrap things up with a
question about music. We talk aboutmusic a lot on our show, and
this is a bit of a deepcut bringing this back to your Kick TV
days. You have a video that'skind of the story of your life in
(46:42):
quotes, and you talk about howyour name you're named after Sir Paul McCartney
because his first name is James.Yes, that's right. So I'm curious,
do you have a favorite Beatles song. Yes, it's Here, There
and Everywhere, which is not thechamp from the Stadium, but the battle
Oh No, No No, whichis kind of funny. Well, I
kind of wanted to be both nowthat you said that, But no,
I Here, There and Everywhere isan incredible song and from the best Beatles
(47:07):
album objectively, from Revolver Revolver.That's right. I think that came out
in sixty six. My dad's abig Beatles nut, so if I didn't
say that or got that right,he's gonna be really disappointed in me.
But I yeah, Here, Thereand Everywhere. What what a jam?
And there's another There's another great bitof trivia just about that song that it
is the only song that the JohnLennon complimented Paul McCartney on his songwriting.
(47:29):
It's like a way, it's it'sPaul McCartney's favorite song. He have a
row and it's one of the onlyones John Lennon said he liked. So
yeah, I picked a good one. And I just assumed the lady in
that song as lady Football. That'show he's talking about that goes about that
goes without saying that's who I've alwaysenvisioned it to be. Man. Well,
Jimmy, thank you so much forcoming on the show. It has
been a blast tucking soccer and tedLasso with you and uh Man, we're
(47:52):
so glad you came on. Thankyou bretton Christian and say hi to your
dog for me. But yeah,we'll do and that's our show. We
had a blast chatting with the legendaryJimmy Conrad. You can find links to
his podcasts, his production company,his social media accounts, the Warmballer community,
(48:13):
and everything else we mentioned in theshow notes. We'll be back soon
with more ted Lasso goodness, butyou can keep the conversation going with us
on Twitter and Instagram in the meantime. Our handle on both is at ted
Lasso Pod. This episode of RichmondTill We Die is brought to you by
Gin and Kerosene Productions. It wasproduced by Me Brett and Me Christian.
If you're enjoying the podcast, pleasetake thirty seconds to subscribe to our feed
(48:36):
and give the show a five starreview on Apple Podcasts or a five star
rating on Spotify. Heck, ifyou're feeling generous, you could even do
both. As always, we appreciateall the ways y'all share your love and
support for the pod. Okay,I'm Christian signing off for Brett and Jimmy.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, Cheers y'all, A high court
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