It seemed like it would never happen, but DaMarcus Beasley announced he is retiring at the end of this season. https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/05/20/damarcus-beasley-retiring-usmnt-houston-dynamo-mls What can be said about him that could possibly sum up his career?
Here’s a rare photo of DaMarcus Beasley after he helped the USA upset England in the 1950 World Cup. pic.twitter.com/DfgSwIUAnA— Dan McQuade (@dhm) June 12, 2017
I miss that early 2000s era of baggy pants hoodies and jnco jeans but it's better to seal that era in a vault for another 20 yrs down the road.
A lot of players give blah, cliche-o-rama type quotes, but I had a memorable exchange with DaMarcus Beasley in the late summer of 2002. The Revs had just beaten the Fire, 5-1. Steve Nicol had taken over New England in May, but they had still been struggling. They would play generally pretty well, but a couple of key mistakes would kill them. At the time, they were in last place. I was speaking to Zach Thornton after the game and he said something along the lines of "They played well, but we didn't." Given the score, you could probably guess that. Since that conversation had wound down, I noticed Beasley sitting nearby, listening, and shaking his head. "So you don't agree with what Zach just said?" I asked. He obviously was not happy with the loss, but went on to say that even though they had been dominated, they were the better team. I mentioned that the Revs had been playing a lot better lately, and even though they hadn't pulled it all together yet, they were probably a better team than their record at the time. (Note: They would soon go 8-1-1 to finish the season and win the division, and cruise through the playoffs, all the way to MLS Cup) "Bad luck ain't got nuttin to do with it, they are not a good team. They're a last place team for a reason. " At this point Thornton warned him, "Careful, he's taping you..." Beasley said, "I don't care, he can tape me all he wants..." And he went on to rant a bit more. I realized he was pissed off about losing, but hey, you don't get quotes like that very often! Not that they needed any bulletin board material when they met again in the playoffs, but I emailed the quotes to the Revs. After they bounced the Fire out of the playoffs, I asked Bradley about trash-talking your opponent. He went on a tirade about the refs and how New England were a bunch of hacks, etc. Again, he was pissed off that they lost, but hey, that's life...
I don't know if it was that, or because a young DMB was just so skinny that they couldn't find a jersey small enough to fit him. More seriously, as I recall, that was when they did the double layer jersey thing due to the World Cup being held during monsoon season. this there was a moisture wicking inner layer and the outer layer wasn't much of anything. In fact, I think it was those jerseys that led to the automatic yellow for taking them off since nobody could get them back on fast enough. I remember in the 2002 Gold Cup DMB scored a stoppage time goal to beat South Korea, and he was still struggling with the jersey when the final whistle sounded. I found the whole thing hilarious.
Oh, I own one of those. Size L to fit with the times. I still break it out when we play Mexico (or Portugal). I'm not 100% sure the one I have is authentic because the Thai sellers back then were making near perfect knockoffs unless the crap that gets sold on AliExpress nowadays. But it wasn't just DMB. Ridiculously big was the look back around the year 2000. I'm kinda disappointed I got rid of most of the jerseys I owned from that era, but I'd almost never wear them since most of them were size XL. (I wear a M today despite being 20 lbs heavier).