1. My daily ritual is …
“In the mornings, my alarm clock now is our son. So my wife gets him up, we come downstairs. I make coffee every morning in the French press, that’s my ritual. And he just is running around trying to see what I’m doing. So, it’s nothing crazy, but the French press in the morning is the thing to do.”
2. My guilty pleasure is …
“I think it’s also changing. But, as of now, we watch so much HGTV and home improvement shows. I don’t even know if it’s a guilty pleasure or if it’s just what we do. But I would say I’m in on it now. To the point of where I’m having dreams about home improvement.”
3. The best piece of life advice I have ever received is …
“That’s tough. I think show up. It’s so important. If we all just showed up, showed up on time, listened to what’s going on, worked hard, then a lot of the things take care of themselves.”
4. A song that always gets me on the dance floor is …
“The ‘Cupid Shuffle Remix.’ I don’t know why. It stimulates the dancing juice for sure.”
5. My favorite family tradition is …
“The night before Thanksgiving, my wife and I started making this pork tenderloin. Which is funny, because it comes from a recipe book about the Twin Cities. We make it every year the night before Thanksgiving and it’s this awesome, spice rubbed pork tenderloin. It’s amazing. And now that’s our thing.”
6. My go-to music I listen to while I’m driving is …
“Day before the game or day of the game, when I’m driving, I have – it started for me in college – there’s an album called Conditions by The Temper Trap. There are a couple songs that people might recognize. “Sweet Disposition” is a famous song of theirs and “Fader” is another one. It’s usually only the first six songs because that’s how long it takes me usually to get to the stadium. But I listen to that. As soon as I leave the house, I put on the first song, and when it ends, it ends. I don’t know why, but it’s just a tradition I have of that album.”
7. The personality trait I’m most proud of is …
“I think the one I’m most proud of is probably my ability to try to make people feel welcome. I try to make people feel valued and welcome.”
8. On if I’m more extroverted or introverted …
“I’d say I’m more extroverted. But it depends. At home, I definitely take the back seat, you could say. Whereas at the facility or with the team, it may be different.”
9. The significance to my number is …
“Growing up in Columbus, watching Columbus Crew, number 20 was Brian McBride. Brian McBride was the ideal soccer player. He played for the national team, he played for Columbus. So when I signed, I got number 20, which was super special to me at the time. And that was my number for the first five years in the league. It was like some cool history behind what that number meant for the club, but also for me, being a young kid, in Columbus, watching Brian McBride.”
10. I’m proud of myself because …
“I try not to dwell on this stuff too much. But I think as you reflect back on it, I’ve been fortunate enough to play for the men’s national team. And then the fact that I got to captain the team, I think nine times, was pretty special.”
