S1 Ep10 | Michael Parkhurst: Atlanta Re-United

You’ve asked, we’ve answered. The man, the myth, the legend, Michael Parkhurst finally arrives on the pod, fresh off of a stellar golfing performance against our favorite goalkeeper. The former Atlanta United Captains talk all things football, retirement, World Cup, and of course, golf, with loads of post match analysis from their duel (video coming soon). The nostalgia for all of us OG United fans is hitting hard on this one, hope y'all enjoy our longest episode so far!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Did you guys get back? The good thing is I think it was so bad it didn't go in the water on the if you're living on a golf course, you have to expect it, right? That's what I've talked about with a lot of people I golf with because there's a fair share number of people that are not very kind, that live on a golf course about balls being hit into their yard. And I completely agree. Why buy a house on a golf course if you're gonna be like that? It's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Welcome back to another episode of the Goozan Show. We have a very special guest with us today, straight off the golf course, straight off the airplane, straight to the golf course, straight to the podcast room. The one and only Mr. Michael Parkhurst. Parky, welcome in, dude. What a pleasure. What a pleasure. It's a fantastic to not only have you on the podcast, of course, uh, but it is an honor to uh to just have you back in the building, man. It's um, you know, I know we we we're gonna get to the golf in a little bit, uh, but to have you back in the building, what's it uh what's it like when you come come back to the training ground?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Uh it's it's coming home. It feels like home a little bit. It was the second home for uh a few years, you know, and uh I missed that uh part of my life. It's it was fun. It brings back some really, really good memories, and still a lot of people that uh you know were here when I was playing, the kitchen staff, and now the coaching staff as well is back. So uh a lot of good memories.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

Yeah, love that. I mean, to see the coaching staff, you know, to to see their um, you know, one, how they adore you, but also, you know, as you mentioned, the kitchen staff and you know, Manny and just the the people that have been here since day one. Um, I I think you know, we were talking about it a little bit this morning, you know, on the on the golf course. You know, the the success that we were able to have as a group and as a as a team and and as a club early on, um, you know, I I think we're forever connected through that success. And and the the one common factor is the club itself, right? And so to be able to come back and have that connection, I I think is is pretty sweet.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Oh, for sure. And I think that's the one of the best parts about going on a championship run, is you're bonded together for forever. You always remember that. You know, we could have had some tough times during that season. I don't even remember. Well, we just won a lot of playoff games and we won the trophy. All right, that's what everybody remembers. And so, yeah, for sure, we're all bonded through that. And it's not just the players, it's the staff, it's you know, everybody. Um, it's it's really good to see everybody.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

No, I love that. And as we mentioned, we we just came in off the off the golf course. Um, I mean, we just rolled out the red carpet for you. As you should. Um, we we had a little bit of fun this morning. We got out onto the golf course, had a had a couple hacks with the with the golf club. Um how'd it go? Don't lie.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Uh it went great. Don't lie. It went great. For who I went great. We're the best player in our group of our group of two. And uh yeah, I think I've performed very well. I was very happy.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

Uh there were certainly a few laughs, um, a couple miss hits, probably a few cuss words.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Um very thankful that I hit the roof of a house and not the window of said house.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

After it hit the golf, uh, the cart path. You know, so it's I mean, sometimes you can control it, some sometimes not so much. Yeah. The golf gods, yeah. They were with us out there. You leave you leave it up to them to determine what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

If you're living on a golf course, you have to expect that, right? That's what I've talked about with a lot of people I golf with, because there's a fair share number of people that are not very kind, that live on a golf course about balls being hit into their yard. And I completely agree. Why buy a house on a golf course if you're gonna be like that? It's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_03 4:05

Sure, surely they knew going into that, right? It's not just like, oh, there's a golf course now in my backyard. Like you, you know, you're buying a house on a course. You've got to expect that a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

I'd assume the course came before the house.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

Maybe I'm wrong. You you would think so. Um, you talked on, you know, you just mentioned it. You've been playing a lot of golf, huh? What else have you been up to? You've been you've been playing a lot of golf.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Way more than I did playing soccer. Yeah, which was no golf. I mean, listen, because of my bad shoulder.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

Check, check into this, this, this piece that we're gonna put out because his his swing is nice, straight as an arrow, uh, more times than not. Definitely more times than me. Um, and yeah, I mean, I was impressed with your golf game, dude.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Thanks. You know, it's fun. It it's my getaway, it's my oasis, honestly. How many times a week? Uh when the weather is good. So I'm living up in Ohio, so we've only got about seven, eight months of golf season. But from now on through September, I'll try and play once every 10 days, once every two weeks.

SPEAKER_03 5:10

Hey, living that retired life, huh? I'm only recently retired, so that's that's I'm blaming that, you know, my golf game on the city. You're keeping yourself way too busy. I mean, yeah, I I feel like I I need to keep myself busy. What else you've been up to? Tell tell us what you've been up to. I know you've got a few things. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

So I stayed in the game. Um, Greg and I, Greg Gars that is, uh, and I've started a mentoring business where we help out younger athletes off the field, which has been amazing. Um, honestly started it because of my work here. When I first retired before COVID hit, which was only a couple months. I was hanging out around the academy a little bit and just seeing what everybody was going through and you know the challenges and the pressures that these young players are in. So that was honestly why I started the mentoring business. And it's been really satisfying and really uh amazing to work with a lot of athletes. So um that keeps me busy. And then uh I helped out Rhode Island FC in the USL championship, uh brand new team two years ago. So we're just starting our third season, um, home state of Rhode Island up there. So uh yeah, between those two things keeps me busy enough, but not too busy where I can't go play some golf. Once every 10 days.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

I mean, geez, definitely not too busy. Um how important is that to you to be able to give back to the game? You know, I I know you're a guy that's super thankful and appreciative of of all the experiences that you had throughout your career. Um, but being able to give back to the game, the academy to young kids, being able to mentor them, and then even on the the professional level and and being able to stay connected with with the USL team in Rhode Island, you know, how how how has that part been?

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Yeah, it's been fun. And uh yeah, yeah, I think you're right. It's part part of it is to give back some of the knowledge that we've gained throughout our careers, right? You always want to try and pass on that knowledge so they're they're better than we were. Um, you know, but also part of it is to just give back because you're right, the game was good to me. Um, you know, my my kids were born in Europe, got to experience that and have some really cool experiences, including playing in the Olympics with you and you know, traveling all over the world and meeting cool people and winning trophies and having fun. So yeah, it was a great time. And I wouldn't trade it for the world. And so uh, you know, I want to to give back to the game that you know was was really good to me. And uh, you know, I felt like we we put in a lot of work to, you know, help the league get to where it is and soccer where it is, right? We're not the only ones, but we're a small piece of it. And um, you know, just making sure this next group of kids that are growing up, they help bring the game to the next level. We're gonna keep growing it.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

Kids, this this guy is is understating his career. I mean, phenomenal career with the national team in Europe, Champions League, you know, national like I said, it's unbelievable. The Olympics, um, you know, so make sure you understand how how important Michael Parker was to the game of soccer here in the United States because um he he was the man, still is the man, just on a different level. Uh, but yeah, uh amazing, dude. Do you remember? We were talking about this before on one of our episodes, um, the opening ceremonies. We were talking about it with Dax.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_03 8:20

Talk me through what you remember of those Olympics.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

I remember the opening. First of all, we didn't almost didn't go to the opening ceremonies, remember? Peter Novak, the coach, didn't want us to go because our first game was the next day. Yep. And he didn't want us on our feet all night, and we said, no, we have to go to the opening ceremonies. So we went. I don't know why Polo in the summer games had us outfitted in pants, a long sh a long sleeve button down, and a coat. And I just and it was like about 95 degrees. And the humidity was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Humidity was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

All I know is by the time I got down into the lobby from my hotel room down the elevator. Didn't even go outside yet. Soaked. Soaked. I remember being on the bus, and guys are just getting naked. They're taking off all their clothes so that they're not trying to sweat through their stuff by the time we even get over to the ceremonies. Yeah. And then I remember we had to walk forever just to even get to like a uh the indoor place where we met the basketball team.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

The holding the holding place. It was it was like a two-mile walk.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Yeah. I was like, oh my gosh. I just remember we were all drenched, completely drenched with sweat. Um, and I can understand why Peter didn't want us to go. So thank goodness we won the first game of the group the next day.

SPEAKER_03 9:41

Then it was all downhill after that, you know?

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Uh to this day, it's one of the toughest games as far as disappointment that I've ever been involved with was the tie um that we were gonna go through, right? We were up to one, it was late in the game, purposeful red car or purposeful yellows, right? We're we've we're into the next round. Yeah, we have it. And a freaking free kick under the wall. Are you kidding me? Blame the goalie. I always do. Um but seriously, that was a crushing, crushing tie.

SPEAKER_03 10:14

Yeah, that was that was brutal. Um good times, you know. When you look back on your time, obviously you said the the kids were born in Europe. You know, what what was it about going over to Europe that one intrigued you, but then two, you know, it we went at a time when it wasn't very common for Americans to go over there and and be successful, right? And it was never gonna be easy, it's still not easy. Um, but we went at a time when Americans were going, coming back, going, coming back. What what was it that within you said, hey, I I need to not only try to continue to push and make it, but I'm determined to to not go back until I've kind of satisfied um you know all of the the goals that that I've set out for myself over here?

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah, I think it was just I wanted to push myself and try something new. Yeah. I was with New England, we had good teams, I had good success, I was from the area, could have signed another contract there, but I don't know if that would have just satisfied me as far as seeing what else was out there, uh what I could do. So that was just the goal. It was like, can I make it? Yeah, I don't know. Um so I wanted to try it. And you know, I didn't go to like the biggest league. We went to went to Denmark and um thought it would be a stepping stone, but you know, like a like everything, you kind of underestimate things until you get in it. And the Danish League was a good league for me. It was a good level, and um I had a great time living there. And I think that I was very fortunate that I went over and I was in Copenhagen. Not only that, but I had my wife come over, so and then we had kids there. And so I think that one of the biggest challenges of going over to Europe is sometimes you go into a small town, a small city in a country, you don't know the language, or even if it's English, and it's just so different than the US. And it can be tough, right? Just going to training and going home, and what do you do all day? And there's nothing to do, and if the things aren't going well, like that's a grind mentally. Um, so I was fortunate that I I had some good teammates, my wife was over there with me, um yeah, and we had kids and so a good support system. So yeah, it was it was well worth it. I'm so glad we we took that risk and did it, and yeah, got to play in Champions League, which is uh unbelievable feather in the cap Champions League, just drop that little little nugget out there, you know.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

Talk talk to me about Champions League. What are you thinking the first the first time you hear that that anthem played in the stadium? What what's going through your mind in that moment?

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Uh chills. Um chills just thinking, you know, we didn't have a lot of soccer growing up on TV, right? Uh just that's what I try to tell people.

SPEAKER_03 12:54

I'm like, you'd maybe catch five minutes of a Champions League game as you rush home from school or whatever it was, but it wasn't until like the semifinal or quarterfinals that they were starting to show games on on TV or whatever. Uh but yeah, it it wasn't like, oh, let me just put on this game or that game.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

And it was different, but one of like some of the only games we did watch were Champions League games. And so, you know, obviously every the music just sticks with you. Um that's like what you correlate with. Uh so yeah, hearing that is just like, wow, this is this is it, this is a dream. And then instantly was like, I hope we don't get our butts kicked. Or we're a small Danish team.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Okay, uh time time to get down to business here and make sure we don't get played off the pitch.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Totally. Um, but our first game was at Shakhtar Donesk, and we played really well. Uh we had a very good team and we played really well. We lost the game 2-0 away, but we showed well. So that was good.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

Love that. Um, you mentioned, right, like going over to Denmark in that league, you you underestimate a little bit. What do you say to whether it's kids that you're you're working with in your mentoring program with Greg or just people that come up to you, or you know, whoever has questions, right? When they ask the question, oh, how do I get to this level, or I want to be at this level and I'm only here, or what do you what do you tell them, right? Because I think that's fascinating that you were able to go over there, recognize that, hey, this level is is really good. We're playing Champions League. This is a big club, we're in a big city. Um, and yes, I wanted to use it as a stepping stone, but now I'm I'm realizing, hey, I'm actually this this might be okay for me. How do you one recognize that moment? But then two, what do you tell people when they ask you that question of, oh, I want to I want to play professional in the first team, but I'm only in college, or I'm in a high school and I want to go to D1, but I'm only being recruited by D2. You know, how how do you, you know, um pass that message along to these to these kids or or aspiring professionals that want to play at the next level?

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Yeah, it's a good question. And um, you know, I think one of the biggest things is we have to have respect for different levels, um, right, for everybody out there. Is it's a big respect thing where you don't understand sometimes what these athletes have gone through to get to where they are until all of a sudden you're in it. And it's tough to understand and to realize that until you're there, uh especially if you're not in that environment or around it. And so I tell kids like go watch, go watch games, right? Go to a local college soccer game, right? Go see it in person, go to a professional game, right? See it in person, because it's different. It's different than just trying to see it on TV and or judging a college game just by what you think it is, um, or judge even judging varsity soccer, right? Uh whatever it might be, it's easy to think, oh, I'm the best player on my team, so I could definitely play there. But we don't know that yet. Um, right. And so we need to make sure that we're ready for that step, right? And so understanding that it's one thing to take that step and to go. And then it's another thing to have success at that step, which is gonna take more work than you've ever put in. Right, right. Getting to that next step is one part, but it has to the work rate has to be there to be hey, this is gonna be the toughest challenge that I've faced within soccer. I need to step it up. And what I've been doing isn't been good enough yet. I need to continue to get better. Um, so that's that's a big one.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

Yeah, for sure. I I think you know, people are always asking me, they're like, oh, like what's the what's the secret recipe? What what do I have to do? Or you know, how do I make it at the next level? And I was never, you know, I've I've talked about this before. I've I was never this youth national team player or or the best at this or or the best at this age group. It's about hard work. There's no secret recipe, right? There's no, oh, I'm just gonna unlock this and all of a sudden everything's gonna be great for me and everything's gonna be fine. Um you've got to be willing to put the work in, man. Like it's it's as simple as that.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Yeah, it really is. And I think that the other aspect is sometimes players underestimate two critical things. One, can you do the simple things very, very good over and over and over again? Consistency. Correct. There's a reason why professionals do passing drills every single day. Yeah, yes, we know how to pass a soccer ball, right? But can you do it at a high level every single time?

SPEAKER_06 17:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

So can you do that? Uh and then number two, can you be a good teammate and a good human being? Yeah. Because I've seen a lot of players not get to where they want to be because they weren't that, right? It wasn't the soccer holding them back.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

How crazy is that? I mean, how crazy is that, right? That like they've got all the talent in the world, they've got the ability to to perform magic out on the pitch, but personality, character, yeah, you know, all these things that they get to choose who they are as an individual, that's what's holding them back. That's what's letting them down. Totally. You know, like these, you know, the kids these days, I think they understand, they see the videos on Instagram, on on social media of tricks and flicks and all the things, and and these kids can all do it. Technically, they're all unbelievably so far ahead of where certainly where I was. But, you know, I think as us as a as a generation where we were at their age, but it's how are you as a teammate? How coachable are you? How are you able to relate training exercises into a game and and uh essentially put that into a game model and be effective?

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Totally. And it's one of the reasons why, you know, I I got called up to the national team a decent amount, right? When I especially when I wasn't even a starter, right? It was because I think I was a good team guy.

SPEAKER_06 18:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Right. I was gonna have a good level of training, I was gonna push the guys in front of me, and I was gonna be a good pro, but I was also gonna be good for the locker room. Yeah, and so that's a big part of it. Uh even at the highest of levels with the national team. It's so it's it's completely underestimated by a lot of the youth players how important it is to be a good teammate and and be coachable.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

Yeah, it's it's massive. You see, you just mentioned it there, right? Like being in the national team and understanding, not understanding your role, but knowing, hey, maybe I'm not gonna play today, but how do I make the guy in front of me better? How do I make the team better? And more importantly, how am I going to make sure that I'm not a distraction in a negative way going into a World Cup qualifier, going into, you know, uh Azteca, going into where wherever you're playing and you're representing your country at the highest level, knowing, hey, we're in this together, and and being able to understand, hey, my role today is to be a supportive teammate. You know, that that's massive.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Totally, totally. And I think knowing your role is different than accepting your role. Yes. Right? You can you can not be thrilled with your current role, but you can do that to the best of your ability right now while you try and change that role for the future. Right. The right back that was starting over me for the national team, it wasn't his fault. Yeah. Right? It was the coaches that's picking him. So why am I going to be a jerk to the to him? Right. Right. I don't want him to do poorly. I just want to earn it over him. Uh, so yeah, uh a lot of players get that wrong as well. And that's tough. I I get it. You you want to compete. You everybody gets to the highest level because they're competitors, and so you want to play and you want to compete. But uh, yeah, understanding that role and and doing it to the best of your ability can get you a long way. It can get you all the way to the freaking national team.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

For sure, for sure. Um, speaking of the national team, exciting summer ahead. How are we feeling? I hope it's exciting. It's gonna be exciting one way or the other. Yeah, that's true. It's gonna be exciting one way or the other. That's very true.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

I'm excited. How how how are we feeling? Uh optimistic. Yeah. I'm feeling good. You know, I think that we play really good teams in friendlies.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

And, you know, it's what's what's your what's your thought on that? Going going into uh an exciting summer, right? The teams that we just played in the last window, as well as the teams coming up in terms of the preparation games, Senegal and Germany, two tough teams. Now, obviously, we didn't have to go through a qualification process. You see and hear the arguments of, oh, we should be playing lesser, you know, quality teams, if you will. And listen, at the highest level, there are there are no easy games. Totally. So you can you can say, well, this team's ranked 300. Well, it's not going to be an easy game, right? It may not be as difficult as Portugal or uh potentially Germany or or Senegal, but right? But it's there's no easy games. What are your thoughts on? Do you like the fact that we're playing these definitely you know top 20 teams that uh that are preparing us for the tournament? Or do you wish I wish our guys had more confidence in terms of beating said team 3-0 going into the into the summer?

SPEAKER_00 21:32

I personally would have switched it up a little bit. I I understand playing these tough games because it does show you a lot of character, who you are, right? Are we good enough? And and you can sort out a lot of things. Right. And I understand playing Senegal because you haven't played an African team, maybe, and and they're unique sometimes in the way they play and the challenges. I wouldn't play Germany personally. Um you just played some European teams. I would have played a team that is gonna sit back and you're gonna dominate the ball. And can you break them down? Right. Right, because that's probably what Australia is going to be. Right. I don't think we're going to get a game like that before the World Cup. Right. So maybe Senegal, I don't I don't know. I don't know how Senegal play. I'm not going to say that I do, but they're going to be way more athletic than Australia is going to be. So I don't know. There's definitely something to Argentina plays a bunch of cakewalks. Is that the right way? I don't know. Right. I guess they don't have to prove anything. They know that they can beat anybody. But there is definitely something to be said. I get that you try and schedule a lesser opponent and you lose. Does that kill morale even worse than losing a Germany?

SPEAKER_03 22:39

Yeah. But you run the risk, right? You run the risk of all of a sudden, for whatever reason, the result doesn't go your way against a lesser quality opponent per se. And now all of a sudden it's the end of the world.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

And for me, I think it's more getting used to different styles of play that you're going to see in the World Cup, right? Where you're going to be sitting back versus are you going to be dictating the game and how do you break a set defense down versus how do you play on the counterattack? That's for me would be more important than actually who the opponent is. It's more the style of play and getting used to what different things you're going to see at a tournament like that.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

Yeah, definitely. How excited are you as a fan to be one of the the the three host nations? I mean do you remember 94? Only a little bit. Exactly, right? So it's like we're the same age, we both look the same, 21, um, a little bit older now, but you know, it's you you know the league was built off the back of 94. We understand that. But as a fan of the game, as a fan of soccer in this country, trying to grow it, you talked on that, right? Like we we were a small part of of that growth in the league. Um, how excited are you to be one of the host countries?

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Yeah, it's awesome. It's it's so cool that these opportunities are here in front of us to see the games. Uh you're gonna get to some games? Uh I'm gonna get to a game for sure here in Atlanta. Love it. Goal is a uh a knockout round game. Okay. Uh, but if you've got tickets to other games, you let me know. Right. You'll be the first person I call. I bet I will be. You going with the kids? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bring the whole family. Yeah. Uh so gotta experience it because I didn't get to a game in '94. Uh, so this will be uh uh not my first World Cup game because I did go to France in '98, actually, with my team. So this will be the first one, though, in home soil. So that I'm excited about it. And then we've, you know, I was already looking at Olympics tickets for a couple of years away from now, and then the Women's World Cup, you know. So it's an exciting time, and you know, this is gonna kick us off.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

Plan planning ahead, dude. Yeah, I mean, that's what retired life does for you. It gives you this free time to just not only plan for the week ahead and when you can play golf every 10 days, but for two, three, four years down the road.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Uh, I mean You've earned it. You've earned it. That's that's how tickets are going these days. I'm like true. Golly, I gotta get it two years in advance here.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

And and and you hope that uh you get them at a decent cost, yeah. Um listen, we know obviously coming back, we talked about you know being in this building, in the training facility, seeing friendly faces. Um, you know, when you when you look at Atlanta United when you first joined the club, right? Going way, way back, what what were those conversations like when you know you were brought in? I remember there's a picture of of you wearing the hard hat, right? Down at the stadium, um, you know, checking things out. Like what were what was going through your mind before the club was Atlanta United?

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Yeah, it's uh unknown. Yeah, right. I was like 31, 32, I don't know, some somewhere around there. But I wasn't young. Long time ago.

SPEAKER_03 25:47

Long time ago.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

But I wasn't young, right? And I had just I had been to MLS Cup two years previous with Columbus. We had a good team in Columbus. Um, they were moving on from me, but uh, you know, at that point in your career, you either one want to go make as much money as possible, which I wasn't gonna go to uh Saudi Arabia, nobody was asking me to do that. Um, but number two, you want to go to a winning team. Yeah, right. You want to you want to finish your career trying to win trophies. And it was like going to a brand new team, uh, that was the biggest risk. It was like, what is this gonna be? Um, but you know, having the conversations with with the club and realizing, okay, hey, these are the types of players that they're going after, this is what they want to do. They'd already told me that they were talking to Jeff, and you know, I knew Jeff, so we had conversations before we both signed. And um so I think uh I realized, okay, you know, they're gonna do things the right way. Um the training ground obviously is amazing. So, you know, those things went into the the decision process of you know, do we want to be here? And and they really wanted me, which is which is big as a player. You want to go where you're wanted.

SPEAKER_03 26:55

Yeah, that that that certainly helps, right? And you know, I don't think anybody, uh including Arthur, right, in terms of the vision and and the support and and uh obviously the early success that we experienced um could predict uh how massive Atlanta United was from the start, you know, from from the supporters, the fans, the turnout at Bobby Dodd to then transitioning into Mercedes-Benz Stadium. I mean, it it was unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

It truly, truly unbelievable. When I think back and yeah, I do remember those early days going driving up to Bobby Dodd. No, not driving up to Bobby Dodd, driving up to the Atlanta Falcons Fowlery Branch. Fowry Branch to train because the training ground wasn't ready, right? And then we're in the training ground and we're we're playing games at Bobby Dodd, and this and the atmosphere at Bobby Dodd was amazing, right? I remember being nervous when Mercedes Benz opened, thinking, oh my god, is the atmosphere gonna be the same? Correct.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

Is it is it gonna carry over from Bobby Dodd? Absolutely. I was right there with you. Correct. We're like, oh my gosh, we're gonna lose it. Yeah, it was almost like uh we've got this beautiful, massive new stadium, but can we stay over here because we know what's over here? And this is this is pretty unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

This is sweet. For sure, for sure. It was already the best in the league. Yeah, and uh yeah, of course, then we go into Mercedes-Benz and we just smashed it. We do smash a couple opponents. I just remember we played about eight games in four days. Back to back to back to back.

SPEAKER_03 28:25

Well, because they had they had a little setback with with uh with the stadium in the opening, so they pushed it back, and then they said, right, we're gonna have to move some of our games and we're gonna play Saturday, Wednesday. And we're like, okay, you know, here we go. And then all of a sudden we're winning, we're scoring goals, and it's like, bring on the next game, bring on the next game.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

We didn't train for like three months.

SPEAKER_03 28:44

I know, but it was great. And as a player, right? You know, talk talk about that, right? Because if if you've got these games coming thick and fast and you're winning, you want them. You want them to just keep coming, right? You your body, you're not feeling fatigue, you're not feeling, oh, my legs are heavy. It's yeah, let's go. I want to go again.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

And it's crazy what the body can do when you're mentally prepared for it and in it, because I remember that stretch. I mean, I don't remember exactly how many games, but it was it was so much right away. And I was a little bit older, you know. Uh Marky, stop saying that, all right? But I remember thinking, like, golly, I need a rest here. Like my body's gonna break down. So I had a Wednesday game, one of the Wednesday games off. And we played again on the true pro. I'm gonna take a Wednesday off, you know. I felt worse on that weekend game than I had throughout the whole stretch. It had I think I had I just kept going. Yeah, you know. Um, so it was it's crazy, but you're right, like what you what you're capable of and winning helps, right? You're less sore, yes, you know, it's you're in a good mood, everybody's sleeping well and and happy. So yeah, winning always helps. And when you're spanking team 7-1, that's even better.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

That's that's definitely that definitely helps. Score scoring goals is is always a key component there. Um when you look back at uh at 18 and think about obviously the run we had, championship, we're lifting MLS Cup. What what what do you remember most and what brings a smile to your face?

SPEAKER_00 30:16

I remember the first game of 2018. Yeah. Away to Houston.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

Yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

We are down four zero at halftime. Four-zero at halftime.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

Didn't we have a red card as well? I think we had a red card Leandro. I think Leandro was potentially sent off.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

Sure. I didn't start that game, so that's probably why we were down four zero.

SPEAKER_04 30:37

But just to fleck that real quick.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

I wasn't a part of that. I was not a part of that. Yeah, I came in the game. I saved the day, didn't make it any better, but um I do remember that. So, you know, obviously high expectations coming into the season. Right. You know, we go out there and get spanked the first game of the season. So that was a little wake-up call. Um, so I remember that. Um, but I do remember us being consistent, right? Where I was like, we rarely, I don't, I don't know if we lost two games in a row, maybe we did, um, but it wasn't often. Uh I do remember the disappointment of how we finished the regular season, right? We the supporters shield was within our control. Yeah, Toronto away. Yeah, Toronto away. We we fumble it, and the locker room afterwards was not a happy place. Um it wasn't a good place, you know, and it was like, man, we're going into the playoffs feeling like this, you know, after a historic season. So yeah, it was it was a little rough. We didn't know, right? And then we get New York City, right, in the opening. Yeah, I think so. New York City was I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

I re I remember after that Toronto game, we came back to Atlanta and we were sat in the locker room here at the training facility at the training ground, and we had like players only meeting, and we were just saying, guys, nobody cares that we're the best footballing team in the league. We need to make sure we roll up our sleeves in and be ready to compete. Yeah, and that entire playoff stretch. I don't know if we connected more than 10 10 passes at any one sequence. It was very much a right, we're gonna we're gonna change our identity here. And and I think that that game in Toronto away, that was an eye-opener of hey, we need to make sure that this, you know, we're ready for this battle, otherwise we're gonna we're gonna get be knocked out real quick. Totally.

SPEAKER_00 32:25

Yeah. And I I remember being really nervous going into that first game away to New York City because we don't play well in New York. Yeah. Neither New York or New Jersey. Yeah. Um right? Both places we we did not do well. Yeah. Right. And uh yeah, you could easily go up to to New York City uh and get beat 3-0. Yeah. Right. And then your playoffs are essentially over. Right. Uh so I think when we went up there and we won 1-0 away, I thought, okay, we'll be all right this this postseason. But I do remember, you know, we had the Red Bulls next who had our number. And uh that home game against the Red Bulls, uh that atmosphere will stay with me forever. I know that the I know that the final was amazing. But I guess you expect that for the final. Yeah. Um but for the Red Bull game, and I knew like this is this is the toughest game we'll play in the playoffs, right? The Red Bulls. Um and it was. So that that atmosphere was I one of it might be the best I've ever played in.

SPEAKER_03 33:26

Yeah. Uh massive shout. Yeah, it was you've played in big atmosphere, so to to say that, I mean, it doesn't surprise me, but that's a that's a huge shout.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

Yeah, it was unbelievable. I mean, I'm sure the the final was just as big, but maybe I just recognize it because it was, you know, the first Red Bulls.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

Yeah, it was I think it was probably a lot of things that went into it, but I remember it was electric. It was electric and we we came out of there thinking, yeah, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Yeah, 3-1, great. Yeah, yeah. No, it was what a run.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

And then MLS Cup night, talk to me. Go going in because they because we get we get a bad rap, you know, the the celebrations, the trophy going on tour to random places around the city. Don't think we were a part of those celebrations. Um, but what what was your favorite part about, you know, just I mean, I remember the parade. I remember the parade, being on the bus, and you're seeing, I remember seeing people hanging out of windows, looking down on the bus, and I'm like, is this real life? Is this is this really happening? Like that was for me, that was that was surreal.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

And it was so cold. Yeah. Yeah, that was that was crazy. I had the I had my kids on the bus with me. They were throwing those little mini soccer balls out to people. I was signing them, we were throwing them. So we had a really good time, and that was the night. It actually wasn't right after the game. Yeah, I think the night of the win for me was very lackluster. Really? We went to a place. Well, first of all, the team was like split, right? It was. I'll back it up. We made no plans beforehand, right? Because it was like, hey, don't make any plans because we made plans in Columbus and we're focused on the game.

SPEAKER_03 35:06

We're putting all of our attention, we're not, we're not getting ahead of ourselves. So there was no plans.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

So we win, and now all of a sudden it's like, what are we doing? Yeah. And I was like, oh, well, there's a team party here, but then all these other guys are going over here, and we're like, you know, hey, should we be together and do and so I went to this one place and it was packed. Jam.

SPEAKER_03 35:23

We were all there. We're I think we were all there, and you couldn't move. It was shoulder to shoulder, and it was like, what is going on here?

SPEAKER_00 35:29

Yeah. So it was a very anticlimatic evening, actually, I thought. It wasn't a great celebration. Fast forward, we had the parade that night. Yeah. That was a great night. Uh we really enjoyed ourselves that night.

SPEAKER_03 35:41

No, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

That was the night we took the trophy out.

SPEAKER_03 35:44

So are you saying you were part of that trophy tour?

SPEAKER_00 35:47

Early on in the evening. Right. A responsible one. I went to the show.

SPEAKER_03 35:50

I went home at some point. The trophy carried on. I was TMZ might have reported me being there. I was definitely not there. Uh I was I was certainly at home. Um, Parky, you listen, man, you are adored and loved by Land United fans. Um, obviously for your play on the field, but who you are as an individual. Any message you want to send to to our fans and supporters, um, here's your chance, dude.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

Yeah, I mean, man, it was good years and uh forever thankful for the opportunity that I had here because I mean, when we started an MLS, I mean, you were playing in Chivas, I was wrestling in New England, right? We saw early days MLS. Yeah. And for us to finish here in Atlanta and experience that, yeah, that's night and day. And to so see that growth and what we what the possible is in this league, uh, man, kudos to everybody who just shows up and parties and puts on that atmosphere. And I know that it's not quite the same right now, and it's a little bit tougher times, but um, you know, sticking with the team through these periods so that, you know, those sunny days are ahead again where we can party and celebrate another championship, you know, it'll happen. And so, yeah, just forever grateful. And I'll always be forever shocked and surprised that I get noticed out inside, right? Because I just look like an average Joe, right? I'm not tall, I'm not big, I don't stick out in a crowd. Yeah, of course, I'm handsome, but um I'm kidding. But people would recognize me, and and everybody was so nice.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

Uh, you know, it can be if they only knew the real you, they wouldn't be so nice to you, you know? They wouldn't be so nice to you.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Uh that's what we always used to say about our friend Darlington Nagville.

SPEAKER_03 37:37

Uh we need we should we should we should have zoomed in, D.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

Oh, we should have zoomed in. We had a great corner of the locker room, which I'll always remember. It was Brad and Greg and me and D, you know, Mix and Kevin every now and then over there. Um everybody wanted to be in our corner. They did. Al Alec Ken was over there. We had a good corner locker room over there. It was so much fun.

SPEAKER_03 38:00

The the guys you just mentioned, right? You talked about it earlier of just being a good guy, working hard, being a good teammate. All those guys you just mentioned are are really good people. Good people, good guys, and and great. They they make great teammates. Yep, you know, and so like to have that camaraderie, to have that banter in the locker room. I mean, that's I I think that's you mentioned it, right? That's that's what you miss most. You know, you miss that that connection with your teammates. You don't miss the feeling sore, you don't miss the the daily struggle of getting ready to go to training and the preparation that goes into it, to to be at your best every single day. It's the relationships, it's the camaraderie, the banter, the laughing, joking.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

It is um the banter is the best part. Yeah. Just playing jokes and having a good time in the locker room. Chris McCann with the best. I mean, the amount of times this guy would put a liquid in my carry-on without me knowing it, and then I show up at the airport and I'm always getting stopped.

SPEAKER_03 38:54

Hey, this is pre-chartered days, all right? This is pre-chartered days, pre-charter days, flying flying, you know, commercial, going through going through TSA. Sure, you can't take this water. Well, what?

SPEAKER_00 39:03

Yeah, and I'd be looking around. Where's Chris? That son of a he's already through security.

SPEAKER_03 39:07

Look at Max. He's having a good laugh somewhere. Unlucky, unlucky. Um, well, listen, man. Listen, it was a fantastic morning being able to get on the golf course, to then jump straight into the podcast. I know we're missing Joe today. Um, you know, he he always comes up with some very insightful questions, and so I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna pass one on to you. In the the history of your career, what's one thing you regret purchasing?

SPEAKER_00 39:35

Regret purchasing.

SPEAKER_03 39:38

What was one purchase you made and you thought, ooh, that I shouldn't have done that. Wow. Whether it was super luxurious, was super expensive, not so expensive.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

That's a really good question. Because that's why we miss you, Joe. People that know me will know that I'm always a saver. I don't spend money. I'm very uh diligent. Ah, diligent, cheap. You know what? Not cheap.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

I kid, I kid.

SPEAKER_03 40:11

Uh there's probably times where I've The amount of times I've seen you in the morning, we'd we'd go down in the hotels and I'd see you down there with with the New York Times or whatever said newspaper, reading reading the Financial Times, and I'm like, look at look at this guy, you know, finishing a crossword in the ice bath or the or the sauna or the jacuzzi. I mean, you know, it just always had a newspaper in your hand.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Um think of the ex the expense of it would definitely be something where I went cheap and what about golf? Like why why well golf.

SPEAKER_06 40:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

Golf is an expense for sure. Expensive sport. Uh it is. But it's for the mental health, Brad. Hey. You know.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

After we after we put this content out, my mental health needs needs a should we go back to the courts or rethink because I'll tell you what, I left more frustrated than thanks to the. We should go finish the 18th. Exactly. I mean, uh the amount of balls we put into the water, and I say we, meaning me. Uh yeah, just on hole number one. You get back to the PJ Superstore. I need another dozen balls, please. There we go. With your mug on them. Oh God. Hey, that's a special episode.

SPEAKER_00 41:23

That's good marketing. That's good. You're just leaving them out there on the golf course for other people to f find. Correct.

SPEAKER_03 41:28

You know, they tune in, just contributing to the to the golf population, just helping them. That's it. You got anything? Nothing, no?

SPEAKER_00 41:35

No regrets.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

Purchase. No, I don't. I don't think so. Smart guy. Smart saver. What's yours? You have one? I did. I said a we had a puppy for a day. Now we we have a puppy now who's been with us for two months, three months. Uh, but when we were in England, pre-kids bought a puppy, lasted a night. Next morning, this is not for us. We were in an apartment, it was a shambles, it was an impulse buy. Went back to went back to where we got it, said, keep the money. I don't want the money back, just want you to re-home this puppy, send it to a loving home. Puppy was not for us at that time. And then, luckily, down the road, kids. So wow, it's a good thing you made that decision quick before you got attached. Correct, correct. Um pre we had a previous guest, say a car, bought a very expensive car for his for his wife, and same. They weren't a uh you know, a luxury car type of uh couple. And she said, What is this? I don't want it, take it back. And he's like, What?

SPEAKER_00 42:40

You know, um, but yeah, I was never a car person until you know one year I had the luxury of being you know sponsored by Mercedes-Benz here. Big shout out, Mercedes Benz. Yeah, amazing. And they put me in a car for a year. I became a car person a little bit. I didn't know the luxuriousness I was missing out on. Hey, and then all of a sudden, and everything.

SPEAKER_03 43:05

And then then you're in it, you're like, is there no going back?

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Yeah, no going back.

SPEAKER_03 43:08

I did go back, but you're a saver, you're a saver. Yeah, I went back to my parky. Listen, we can sit here and talk for hours, tell stories. Uh, it's fantastic to catch up, man. Appreciate you jumping on the podcast uh with with myself. And I know Joe's bummed you couldn't be here. Uh, but listen, when we have someone like Mr. Michael Parker walk through the doors, we we we got to be able to get you out. And so uh always uh thankful for your time. Um you know you're a fantastic teammate, uh, but an even better individual. So uh thanks, man. You got that 20 I gave you, huh?

SPEAKER_00 43:42

Yeah, well done.

SPEAKER_03 43:44

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

Nah, thanks for having me. It's always good, always good to catch up, good to ban there, and uh good to be back in Atlanta. Love it.

SPEAKER_03 43:52

Joe, it's always good to be able to catch up with Parky, man. Uh, such a good guy, great teammate, leader, uh Um he's doing amazing work off the field, clearly doing amazing work on the golf course as well these days. Um much much more than myself. Um a little bit more on that in in a bit. Um but uh but yeah, it just just fantastic to have him on the podcast and share his story.

SPEAKER_05 44:18

That's what I was gonna ask you. So you guys played a three-hole challenge that what turned into a seven-hole challenge? Explain.

SPEAKER_03 44:24

I mean, it's apparently we're just that good, and we just we kept pushing on to the next hole, and and we certainly couldn't stop there. So we we had to have a few playoff holes. Um but you're gonna have to tune in uh next week. That content will drop uh on on YouTube. So uh check it out. It's certainly a laugh. Uh be very gracious when um critiquing my swing, please. Uh there's room for improvement. We'll leave it at that. What do you got going on with a swing? A little slice, a little I mean a little everything. A little everything. Um you know, I just just not enough time to get out out of the golf course to work on the swing.

SPEAKER_04 45:05

Uh my my thought, we I was with you at the golf. You know, I I love golf and I'm terrible at it, just like you. What do you mean? Um you can't put that out there. Listen, here's what I would say. Uh you in everything you do, you you try to kill the ball. And this is a good preview. I think if you slow this thing down 20%, you could be like a single-digit handicap because it's a nice swing. And you're a big guy, you can crush the ball no matter what. But and this is all preview. You guys can see for yourself next week. I think it's gonna be an amazing episode. I've seen some of the edits, and I could not, I had tears rolling down my face. Um, but yeah, you gotta slow it down, Brad.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

Well, I appreciate I appreciate the the feedback. Um, yeah, I mean, you know, I I think I get out there and and I get a little excited, a little nervous. Um, and you know, the old saying of grip it and rip it uh is certainly my approach. The problem is the ball just goes every other which way then.

SPEAKER_04 46:07

Was that ever a thing with you in goalkeeping? Did you ever try to just punt it as far as you could or goal kicks as as hard as you could? And did did a coach ever kind of say, like, hey, we don't need you to kick it to the other 18. We're trying to get it to somebody? Because I think that would kind of like I'm trying to put it in goalkeeper terms for you.

SPEAKER_03 46:25

Yeah, I mean, I I don't necessarily think I ever had that problem. I I don't think my goal kicks were ever overly long. Uh, and so I don't think that was ever an issue for me. It was more so, hey, come on, put some more power behind it and and and get it there.

SPEAKER_05 46:41

How did the show balls play, by the way? The official BG show balls? Yeah, I mean couple were lost, it seems like we we donated a few.

SPEAKER_03 46:49

We donated a few to the course. So um if you if you find them out there, you're welcome. Uh you're gonna need some scuba gear to go after one or two as well. Um But listen, only only the best for the goose and show.

SPEAKER_05 47:04

Are you a guy that when you play, do you believe in like picking up balls? Like if you're in the woods and you just find one on the leaves. Oh, here it is, guys. Here it is, and you just play that.

SPEAKER_03 47:12

I don't I say that again, Robbie. Say that again for the show, Robbie. Don't just say it's take it on the real Mike, not the producer, Mike. Don't just say it into our ear. My goodness, just coming in from right from the. Look at the hiding. I know. And unless there's photographic or video evidence of this. He said, he said, guys, uh, for those that obviously can't hear, he he said in in our ear, uh, that is exactly what happened. Uh that I was just claiming every other golf ball that was found in the in the rough and or leaves or the woods. Yeah, it's like you got a hole in your pocket, too. You're like, oh, exactly. Oh, there it is. Uh you know, listen, uh the problem is there are too many cameras. There are too many cameras out there. Yeah. Uh my caddy wasn't great. My caddy, you know. Matt, I'm looking at you. Um, I'm looking at you.

SPEAKER_04 48:06

Um we've found balls. They just weren't always didn't have the Goose An logo on them.

SPEAKER_03 48:11

Um I'm I'm I don't clean that those are my balls, right? Um, but I certainly oh may need that later on in the in the round.

SPEAKER_05 48:20

You felt pressure at every level in football too. How do you compare that to the stadium pulse of playing golf in front of four cameras with part like you know what I mean? It's I get so nervous in the T box. It's up there.

SPEAKER_03 48:32

Yeah, I mean, listen, the the first T, I I certainly showed some nerves and went for a swim. Um, you know, it was it was the golf is this game that when you're out there, it only takes one shot to just bring you back in. Yeah, and then you can have 15 terrible shots and you're like, oh my goodness, what is what is happening? And then one good shot brings you back in. You're like, I'm back on course. I'm I'm I'm I'm back on course and I'm able to to fix this, and and I'm on, I'm I'm I'm getting better, I'm I'm improving, and it's only a matter of time before that handicap drops to single digits, as as Matt was alluding to.

SPEAKER_05 49:10

What's the best part of Parky's golf game, you think? Uh short game?

SPEAKER_03 49:15

No, I would say, I would say off the T-box. Seriously? I mean straight, long, right down the middle of the fairway. Shoot, he's like a Henrik Stenson type, just all torque, like slow, controlled backswing. Um you know, it was it it was actually quite impressive. And I was like, all right, this is this is this is how it's meant to look. This is go from the T-box to the fairway, from the fairway to the green, putting. Me, um, T-box to the rough, to the water, to the sand, maybe the green. Hey Joe.

SPEAKER_04 49:53

The the great thing was, you know, Parky was coming from Ohio, I believe, and uh he didn't travel with clubs, so he used my clubs. No excuse for me anymore. I I thought they might have been, you know, some some bad, you know, some some duds, some lemons, but uh he hits them very well. Yeah, I might try to sell them to him.

SPEAKER_03 50:14

Yeah, he you did offer him to to buy him at one point. He was hitting him that that well. But I mean, listen, to to all things considered, the day before he came in, he was on the coin.

SPEAKER_05 50:25

He was playing. I remember you on the phone in the production room. Yes, I think he's on the green.

SPEAKER_03 50:29

I called him and he's like, What? What do you want? I'm playing around the golf, and I'm thinking, my goodness, like he's out there three, four, five, six days a week.

SPEAKER_05 50:38

What's the difference in the retirement life that he's got compared to you? What's the catch here? Four kids?

SPEAKER_03 50:43

Uh no. Listen, his his retired life, you know, you what some could argue he he went the right way, right? With with retirement. Uh, you know, I think he has a little bit more downtime than I. Um, that being said, I certainly enjoy us being together, us doing the podcast, uh, having this opportunity here at Atlanta United. So I'm not going to complain too much. Just that you know, my ball game is just gonna take a hit.

SPEAKER_05 51:10

There's always time for that. We'll go back out. We got a redemption match coming soon. It's now time for the Brad Guazan mailbag delivered by the Home Depot. Always on time. We want to say thank you so much to all of you fans out there for getting in your questions each week. So, Brad, uh, thank you so much for submitting on email as well. First one for you, Bradley. If you had a theme song, what would it be? This is Rocky from Ackworth. Oh, a theme song.

SPEAKER_03 51:38

Um good question. Um I don't know, you know, I was never I was never a music guy, right? When you when you think about music, when you think about locker room music, I I was never the guy on the aux. I was never the guy controlling what what music, you know, what playlist was was going out there. Um but I think for me, you know, something like bring them out, bring them out, let's go, let's go. Um, yeah, um, I I don't know. I I need something that's gonna give me energy, it's gonna give me life. Um something that I can sing along to in my head, of course. Nobody needs to hear these beautiful vocals. Um but yeah, something something that's gonna get me going. What what would you what would you go for?

SPEAKER_05 52:25

I don't know, man. Something by I I'm loving Bad Bunny right now. Okay. I'm in my Bad Bunny era. I feel like Ultimo Bile, that could be pretty good. Okay. Um yeah, just that last album that Debitirama Fotos was so crazy. So he's just got some anything with like a little trumpet to it, you know. Yeah, just gets him going. Some bangers. Were you not on the T Mox by choice? Like, was there were there always teammates that were just like this guy with that?

SPEAKER_03 52:49

No, I think I think it was a bit of both. I think it was okay, listen, I don't want it because you talk about pressure. That I feel like that's a that's so much that is a pressured situation. Um and so I didn't want it, and then if I did, it was what is this guy playing? You know, so uh yeah, it was never my thing. I was just more than happy to to listen, whether it was um South American music, whether it was European music, whether it, you know, different different vibes, right? You had techno, you had dance, you had country, rock, all of it. So um the only thing I am against is heavy metal where they're just screaming into the microphone. I'm like, I can't I can't wrap my head around that. That gives me a headache.

SPEAKER_05 53:39

I'm like, no, that's that's not for me. Control room, you guys got any theme songs if you had one?

SPEAKER_04 53:45

Well thanks. There is nothing better than walking into the locker room and hearing the Latin music because that means you just won the game. Yeah. Uh so I'm with you there, Brad. Let them control it. A lot of pressure there, too. Um, Bad Bunny is good, but I don't know what they're always saying, but you guys have turned Joe, you've turned me onto that a little bit. But I'll give you an old one. How about a little jukebox hero by Foreigner? Like good little start. Go listen to that after this pod. Go down a rabbit hole there. Um, that that might be the theme song for us there.

SPEAKER_06 54:18

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_05 54:19

There's another one here from a fellow Brad as well from Swanee, Georgia. BG, question for you. Would you rather be the worst player on a championship team or the best player on a team that consistently loses? Oh, worst player on a championship team.

SPEAKER_03 54:35

I was gonna say no question. Yeah, no question. I mean, listen, it's you I've said this before, you you play the game to win, right? You play the game to to win, and and especially at this level, um you certainly have some sort of competitive spirit in you to to help you get to this stage. If you don't, it's gonna be, I think, really difficult to to make it to to the highest level. Um and uh if you're the worst player on a championship team, there's room for growth individually, um, but collectively you're seeing what winning looks like. You're seeing what success looks like um up close and personal. And and you know, you then get to push yourself every single day to try and break into that team so that you're not the worst player, and and then you can you know not only feel part of it, but but you feel like you've contributed to the group. Um but in the meantime, I would much rather be the worst player on the championship team.

SPEAKER_05 55:33

Let's shift back to the music question here for a second. In footy, there's the tradition of karaoke, right? Yeah I remember vividly my first season here traveling, uh it was in Columbus, I think, away, and I had to s stand on a chair, shoes off, and look across the room, and Brad Guzan is staring at me in a hotel lobby room, conference room. Everybody in the control room, too, had to do that at some point. I know Ravi did. I was there with him as well. He was literally shaking, physically shaking, crazy. Chris, have you had to do that yet, by the way? I know Matt has, right?

SPEAKER_04 56:05

We gotta pick a good song for Chris uh to to do. We'll have to.

SPEAKER_05 56:10

Chris, you haven't done stones and gone. No. I stayed in my own place when we went to San Jose.

SPEAKER_04 56:15

Oh my goodness. I will say, you the we can go on a deep dive sometime, but you know, this club was built on karaoke. I I mean, we we were scouting all the different clubs when we were, we had not even, we were not even at Lane United yet, and there was a few of us in the building, and we went to Portland, and there was a dive karaoke bar, and our president at the time, Darren, made us all pick a song and go sing. And then he thought it was so great that the next Christmas party or holiday party, we everyone had to do a karaoke who hadn't done that yet. And then it's just kind of gone down there where when you travel to your first road trip, you have to sing. So karaoke, a big part of the club here. So we got to find a good song for Chris. I didn't know he hadn't sang. That's a big one for me, knowing that I'm gonna have to get him uh up on stage.

SPEAKER_03 57:02

Maybe maybe it's uh live on podcasts, right here on the table. Exactly, you know?

SPEAKER_05 57:08

Chris, how are you editing this?

unknown 57:10

I called him out.

SPEAKER_05 57:12

All of a sudden, this section's just out of the show. That was what I wanted to ask you. Did you did you sing when you came here? Were they just like this Brad Guzan is football? We're not asking this guy to sing.

SPEAKER_03 57:22

Everybody sings, everybody sings. Um, I remember we were in preseason, um, and you know, the I sang, I think the the summer I came, um, but then fast forward maybe a year or two later, we were down in Florida. Um, and I'm I'm gonna get there. And uh we were down in Florida, and everybody started going up and and started to sing, right? And then it was we started calling out you know random support staff members, and they were like, I'm not doing it, I'm not doing it. Like, no, we're all doing this together. And they're like, Well, if you if I'm gonna sing, then you have to sing. And I said, No problem, I'll sing. And and if I'm gonna sing, then you know, Joseph's gonna sing, and and everybody's gonna have to go up there and sing. And lo and behold, every single person in that room went up there, sang a song. Um, there were some extracurricular. Uh, there were two players that I don't even know what had happened. They, I think they were they had a disagreement at training earlier in the day. They were mad at each other. What? Uh it was quite feisty. And, you know, by the end of it, we're, you know, team morale, team chemistry. We're trying to build something here. Um again, this is year probably 18 or 19, and we're like, yeah, you guys need to sing together. So we made them sing together. Then we made them hug it out, and then the whole team ended up around them, and we're jumping up and celebrating. Uh, but my song of choice was um when I wake up, and I know I'm gonna be. I'm gonna be one who makes them you. I will walk 500 miles, and I will five hundred miles just to see. Yeah, come on, no, come on, no. Um that was that was that was my go-to. Um, and so we I apologize for the vocals. Uh that was my song. Um, yeah, and we had every single person, coaching staff, support staff, all players, new and old, every single player. We were in that room for about three and a half hours doing karaoke.

SPEAKER_05 59:36

And you know what's coming too? Like, I remember when I was with Robbie, we did it for I think what was it, Robbie? Was it Austin away, right? Yeah. And you know, you everybody you get there for team dinner and you look around, there's oh, there's a couple new faces here. Yeah. They're probably gonna have to stand on a chair today and look over at Robbie, and Ravi's like, You think we're doing it today?

SPEAKER_06 59:57

That's the worst part.

SPEAKER_05 59:58

I think so, brother. You have to pretend you sit there at meeting. You have to own it, you just hear the click of the forks.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:03

You have to own it. The more, the more nervous you are, and the more Robbie just stated it's water glass, absolute shaking.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:14

It's just like if you another another one that's great, a great story of that is you know, everyone loves our head of communications, Chris Winkler. He had been like, he had been like three years like missing the you know, kind of looking the other way. No one called on him, and then finally someone was like, he's never done it. And then like kind of announced like on December 16th, he will be singing. Like emails went out. I think they made we made like a fake press release, and he does not like the stage. And he and he got up and did shots, shot, shot, shot, shot, shots. And that's great. But I don't know if you've ever looked at the rest of the lyrics of that song, and there's just all the bigwigs are you know who come to the holiday party and he had to sing the rest of the lyrics. It's one of my favorite moments in this club's history. I I loved it so much.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:06

Just looking down. You you talk about, you know, I don't want to call it initiation, right? But like it's just uh it's a it's almost a sign of like welcoming a new member to the team and saying, hey, like we're all in this together, we're all gonna get up there, announce who we are, all this stuff. I remember back in the day, man, it kids these days, you know, play players these days, they've got it easy, right? All it is is karaoke. Back in the day, man, it was you'd be up there, you'd be getting grilled by the senior players' questions about, hey, why did the coach pick you? Or hey, you play this position and you've got player X, Y, and Z in front of you. Why are you better than them? Hey, you know, what can the coach work on in terms of his ability to coach the team? I mean, questions as a young pro, you're like, I can't answer that. The coach is sitting right there, or that player that I'm, you know, trying to play in front of is is sat right there and you're just sweating. It was it was brutal, man. Did they do that to you? They did. They did. But times have changed now. Times have changed. All you have to do is get up there and sing a song. Uh, and for some, I've I've heard some really poor performances.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:20

I I've seen it that where in the NFL, my my previous life, the rookies had to do what was called a rookie show. And they would be like, you know, it'd be the undrafted guy, the guy that's just you you watch every day in training camp, he's just getting demolished by his coach. They're they're they're critiquing every single thing he does. And then on the rookie show, they're like, oh, uh, we're assigning you, you're going to do an impersonation of your coach. I've seen that come up. I mean, I've seen guys like cry, like sweating, crying, like they're like, no, I can't do that. Like, he hates me so much, I can't go. And then you and then they bring everyone in. It's like an auditorium, and you go watch the rookie show, and this guy is like trying to do an impersonation of his position coach. Classic.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:06

It's a real tactic, though, to try and duck that. Like, I remember trying to duck it once or twice. I was like, oh, thank goodness, we got you know, we gotta go out to the city to shoot content. And I can't make it the team that I'm not going. And you try, and then they started calling guys out. And I think it was Tiago Almade, he was in the very back of the room, and he just goes, Matecito! Matecito. And I was like, get up there, and Yorgos Yaakomakis was there. Like, you guys are massive figures, even to us. You still are to this day. So, like you stand up there, hit the first, I think I was saying it, Tennessee whiskey. Who picks that for a karaoke song? I like it. I like it. Yeah?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:42

Well, like I said, you just have to own it.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:44

Good or bad. Well, I try it. It's most likely going to be bad. We're good. They're like, oh, oh, yo, he can sing. And then I go, yeah. Yaku is like, get him a boo! And that's napkin's.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:55

That's when the napkin the napkins start coming, that's when you're in trouble. And it's like, oh gosh, there's no rescue in this now. And everyone knows within like the first two, the first two, you know, lines of the lyrics whether it's going to be good or bad. And and more times than not, it's going to be bad. And even if it's good, there's a chance everyone's going to call it bad. And still the napkins are coming and you're getting booed off off the chair, off the stage. Uh at the tough go.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:21

Was there anybody in your career like I think back to the videos I've seen of Roy Keane when he was at Manchester United, was there anybody that was just dogging you every day out there? No.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:31

Um no, I I I wouldn't I wouldn't say there was anyone specific in that sense. You had comedians on certain teams, right? Um and those guys, you know, you're you're you're just like, oh gosh, it's gonna come. You know, the questions are gonna come, the comments are gonna come, um I'm in trouble here. And like I said, as a young pro, you can be as confident as you you want to be in yourself. You get up there and you feel about this big dude. And it's like, oh gosh, this is brutal.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:05

This is brutal. In the prem, too, yeah. I can't imagine. Even just the the coaching staff, too, probably like who did you have as some iconic coaching staff members when you were at Villa, for example? Anybody that you're like, this guy's larger than mine.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:16

No, but I mean my first manager was Martin O'Neill. Um you know, and and towards the end, I had uh had Roy Keane as assistant. What?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:25

Yeah, you had Roy Keene as an assistant? Yeah, how do we not talk about this?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:29

Yeah, it's uh I mean you know, this is this is maybe another story for another episode here. Uh yeah, I mean fantastic assistant uh assistant manager. Um wasn't long. Um but uh but yeah, it certainly left a an impact on on you know myself and and in the group. Um there were certainly players that uh didn't agree with him and his his way of doing things. Um Voiced that to him, and I thought I was going to see a murder right there on the training pitch. Uh that was one of the the wildest stories. Um again for another day. But yeah, it's uh he yeah, fantastic. I mean, just just big managers. Uh Gerardo Julier, who, you know, rest in peace now, um, sadly has passed away. But he uh I wasn't his cup of tea, but you know, manager of the French national team and um Liverpool obviously went when they when they first won um Champions League. So um yeah, some big managers.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:36

There's something about when you have people that give you a little bit of resistance at first, you end up loving them even more. You know, it's like you learn to grow through your your differences, a couple of butting of heads of distributions and tactics or setup or something.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:47

I think at this level, though, it's like you have an understanding that you are not going to please everybody, right? And and that's okay. And the quicker you can understand that and almost respect that that ideology of I'm not going to be everyone's cup of tea, I'm not going to to make everyone happy, um that it's probably gonna work out better for you in in the long run. And in that time, that difficult time of of having that con, you know, I don't even want to say confrontation, but having that adversity. Um, if you're able to overcome that and understand that, then I think that makes you a stronger individual, both as a player on and off the field.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:29

Captain's answer, we're gonna cut it right there. That has been Brad Husan's mailbag, delivered right on time, always by the Home Diva.