US-England

The US-England game kicks off shortly and I'm quite pumped. However, I was, just a minute ago, surprised to read that Brian McBride is leaving Fulham. Fulhamerica is down to three Yanks. Still worth following. I hope BMB comes to the Fire!!!!

In anticipation of the match-up, I thought it would be fun to share my John Terry story, as he was named captain for today's game. During the summer of 2006 I interned at the Chicago Fire in the Media Relations office. That summer was amazing for the Fire finally opened Toyota Park, hosted the All-Star game versus Chelsea, and won the US Open Cup. The real highlight, of course, was the All-Star game. It was about six weeks after the World Cup had ended and Chelsea just signed Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko to their already amazing roster that included Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and John Terry. So the entire All-Star weekend was insane with practices, press conferences, etc. The day before the game both teams held open practices at Toyota Park. As sad as it is, the MLS All-Star practice was not that big of a deal. The Chelsea practice, on the other hand, was. Armed with my walkie-talkie and cell phone, I was running around the stadium tending to whatever needed to be done. As the Chelsea players began to take the field, I was down at midfield talking with my boss about what needed to be done with the photographers. Then I got a call on my radio that someone on the Chelsea staff wanted a piece of gum (no joke), so I was to run up to the office and retrieve a piece of Orbit.

As everything was moving at a frenetic pace that day, I ran up the pavement and pushed open, with a great deal of force, the doors that led from the field to the area under the stands where the locker rooms are. The door, for some reason, stopped opening and I stopped in my tracks. Holding the door inches from his face was none other than Chelsea (and soon-to-be England) Captain John Terry. I may be 5'8", but John Terry looked much taller than his listed 6'1" as I stared up at him in complete embarrassment at having almost assaulted him with a big metal door. To make matters worse, I glanced to my right and saw he had been walking out with Frank Lampard, who was now barely containing a smile at my appalled face. I don't really remember what happened next, but I think I mumbled some form of apology and ran off to the office to take a breather, compose myself, and extract the desired stick of Orbit.

I shared my close encounter with my fellow intern and he laughed in my face. It was exactly the reaction I needed. Telling my aunt and uncle, who are English (they live just outside Cambridge in Newmarket), was also great because my uncle is a HUGE English fan (he was at the 1966 World Cup Semi-final, England-Portugal, at Wembley. I've seen and touched his game program from the day. Be jealous!). He was ticked that I didn't get an autograph or a picture. Ah, putting things in perspective.

So that's my John Terry story and just in time: the game is about to start!!