Sunday, March 18, 2007

Cobi and me

On the eve of Cobi Jones' Monday press conference, I've been conjuring up some memories of my own personal experiences with Cobi. I guess first I should say that I respect him greatly for what he's done in his career with both the national team and the L.A. Galaxy. He's played in a lot of important games throughout his career and represented his club and country well over the years.

One of the first people I ever interviewed was Cobi Jones. I think the first one I ever interviewed (at least famous one) was Carlos Hermosillo but Cobi's was actually in person. I talked to Hermosillo over the phone. My boss at the San Bernardino Sun at the time assigned me a Cobi Jones feature and I complied.

I went to the Rose Bowl and talked to Cobi after practice. They used to practice a lot on the fields outside the Rose Bowl. I waited for him and the Galaxy PR guy at the time (can't remember who that was, Luis Gonzalez perhaps) grabbed Cobi for me. I walked with Cobi from the field all the way locker room. We talked about the Galaxy, the 98 World Cup, the 99 Confederations Cup, where in Europe he'd like to play (France, he replied) and his then-budding MTV work. It was a pretty good interview. I remember being happy with the story. I don't know if I have a copy of it. I think somewhere I do but can't be sure. I'm sure if I read it now I'd cringe.

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