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