Transcript of column I read on XM Ch. 148 today on "World Cup This Morning". - yours sincerely and respectfully, Garth The Lager Way My Generation In Nurnberg , the cauldron of justice which marked America's formal emergence as a global power when we conducted war crimes trials in the aftermath of World War II, a different kind of verdict was rendered yesterday. The match official gave a penalty against the US that was simply incorrect. Nothing more need describe it and no amount of histrionics will reverse it. It came at as destructive a time as could be imagined, directly in the wake of the US equalizer and shortly before halftime, as devastating an emotional volley as finding out your high school girlfriend is dating your brother after coming back from college thinking you were getting back together with her. All of which is irrelevant. If the game ended 1-1 the US were still out and they finished last in shots on goal for the tournament. We simply weren't good enough. Our most talented player was unable to make an impact and collectively we looked as scared as a high school freshman asking a senior to prom. What matters is what we learn from this World Cup. I am 33 years old. Before the Ghana game I was asked to predict the outcome. I responded that "On this day, in this match, which will define nothing less than whether my generation has left the US soccer world a better place than we found it, on a day when a kid I grew up playing with in Brian McBride would compete as a warrior, I can offer only my heart." With every beat in my chest I hoped the US would win and I left no star unturned in wishing them to win. There is an unspoken taboo among professional players that you are never a fan. Fans don't change outcomes and players do. Players have responsibility and once you have that you can't go back to cheering. But on this day, for the first time since I retired 5 years ago, I was a fan. I wore my US jersey and went to a bar and cheered and cursed my joy, my wrath and ultimately, my frustration at an inanimate television, pouring out my feelings across thousands of miles hoping they would migrate back metamorphosed into US goals. But it did not come to pass. We are the last soccer generation to go to college. Greg Berhalter (UNC), Marcus Hahneman (Seattle Pacific), Kasey Keller (Portland), Eddie Lewis (UCLA), Brian McBride (St. Louis), Eddie Pope (UNC) and our captain, Claudio Reyna (UVA) will all almost certainly have taken their curtain calls on the grandest stage before the next World Cup in 2010. We grew up not having a league to play in, competing in a sport most people in the Midwest thought was the exclusive province of homosexuals, receiving the adulation of girls who couldn't make the cheerleading squad and guys who played Dungeons and Dragons. These players made the Quarterfinals of a World Cup. Think about that. They tied Italy playing a man down for a half in a stunning display that heaped courage upon bravery in great lumps that burst and poured forth chills down the spine. They have won Gold Cups and league titles. They have matured as men reaching their goals and dreaming bigger dreams. My generation of players was more talented than the pioneers of 1990 and 1994 but, history may judge, not yet good enough to seize the world by the throat, throttle it until it turned blue and force it to acknowledge we Americans are here for good. We are not wanted here and soccer is perceived as the last forum in which to thumb one's nose at the American Colossus without fear of retribution. Rectifying that now falls to Landon, DeMarcus, Gooch, Bobby, Tim and company. But my generation walked a long, long way down the road to victory. In the 16 years since qualifying in 1990 we went from fielding overawed college kids to seasoned pros. We started MLS, a pro league in which 18 of 23 players on the national team have played. We got so much better so quickly we believed we could advance out of a difficult group in this tournament. This was a clearly better team than 2002 and it had higher expectations. The very fact that the mainstream media cared enough to criticize this team, to analyze its flaws, is progress. We can't miss the dark eddy of hope swirling in the shadow of our defeat. If there is such a thing as faith, now is that time. For three weeks from now when the American media have little noted, nor long remembered what was said about this team here, we, the American soccer community, must remember what they did here. We must see our progress and perceive that we are getting better. We must believe in ourselves and what we have contributed because there is much left to be achieved. MLS has been in place for a decade and my generation was the first to play in front of kids who had their posters on the wall. We have given those kids heroes. These kids, who will be thrust into the spotlight and won't be able to come of age in the sleepy obscurity of a university, will need coaches and leaders. In guiding them to win a world Cup in the next 20 years, we can forget about 2006 and ensure the future of soccer in our country. Words for the Good I want to thank my Dad for starting the first soccer team in Elmhurst, Illinois, when I was 10 years old. I also want to use this space to thank all the other parents of the players my age for breaking soccer through in this country and laying the foundations for the ascent of American soccer.
You retired 5 years ago? Are you Garth Lagerway(sp.), the former MLS player? [Since I don't have XFM, I honestly don't know...] In any case, what was your impression of the effort by the players and coaching staff? thanks in advance...
Party on Garth! Nice article. Garth was doing Jimmy Conrad-esque columns while Jimmy was still at UCLA.
FYI, when he had a column online (I forget if it was ESPN, MLSnet, or other), it was called "The Lager Way". As Stogey notes, the content tended to the same sort of humor as Jimmy Conrad now employs.
Garth - In the wake of years of Jimmy Conrad columns (which have their own greatness), I'd forgotten what a refined writer you are. Great post and great perspective.
Well said Garth. This was a presidentialesque sort of speech and It definitely leads to a perspective most on here could never come to. Please stay involved in US Soccer- we need people like yourself to take us into the future.
Thanks for posting Garth. I liked reading your fill ins for Grant Wahl. As a Rapids fan I am continually reminded of your comment that, ~~ Jovan Kirovski must be the best try out player ever. Keep posting it's got to be more fun than the law.
Great summary. I agree, we need to take the positives and move forward. We can't necessarily push the negatives aside. We need to learn from them, but we also need to step back, analyze our roots, and realize how far we've come. I think all involved with US Soccer, even those that played professionally, are fans of our team at heart. I, personally, feel like I've contributed and all I did was play club, high school and college ball. However, I attended the Rapids inagural game. I lived, died and shed tears with the US in '94, '98, '02 and now '06. I went ballistic when Chris Henderson scored the greatest goal in Rapids history to send them to the MLS Cup Final in '97. I stood up in my living room and sang the national anthem with all of you in Gelsenkirchen, Kaiserslautern and Nurnberg...and maybe, just maybe shed a tear. I felt Clint Dempsey's family's sacrifice when he scored that goal and let all of his emotion out and then danced. My family, similarly, drove at least 4 hours round trip once a week at least to support mine and my brother's "soccer habit." It's like a drug in my life and my fiance is trying to come to grips with it (I was in a bad mood all day yesterday). That's the great thing about soccer in the US. It's still a community and, to a certain extent, uncorrupted by the cynicism and greed that plague mainstream American sports. Enjoy it, don't ever give up and support our guys no matter what. When we finally win that World Cup the sense of community will definitely diminish and we'll all harken back to the "good old days." I can't wait until our next friendly.
Well written. Though things have changed, don't discount the NCAA system entirely--there are still some good guys coming out of colleges, including some of the best offerings of the new generation.
Great piece, Garth. I sat in the car before work listening to you read it and then had to hang out for a few minutes to recover. Thanks for the transcript. And, BTW, XM148 has had THE BEST coverage of the world cup bar none. I've been on some long road trips for the past couple of weeks and have been glued to the games and the commentary. My only gripe is that it's not in the XM on line lineup. If it was, I'd be muting the TV and listening to the radio. Chris Sullivan has been the most useful in game analyst by far. I hope that XM decides to continue a footie station after the WC. They'll definitely have this listener.
You think Garth is good? You ought to have seen the trim he pulled the other night walking into the press box at RFK!! Garth rules!
Great piece and thanks, Garth! I share the sentiment, it was bitter seeing the last players of our generation go out this way, but there's a lot of pride in everything they accomplished. BTW, I enjoyed watching you play in college -- I was a graduate student then and went to a lot of the games...
TREMENDOUS article!!! Thanks Garth and continued best wishes -- one of the best reads I've seen on BigSoccer! As a 35-year old, I can relate to your stance and viewpoint on the MNT and soccer in general in our country. Keep up the good work!
If I said Bushesque it would have been an insult. There are plenty of posts around here that are "Bushesque" but not Mr. Lagerway's.