Gooch wants, Gooch gets

I had a rather abbreviated interview with Benny Feilhaber today, partly because of Oguchi Onyewu. I had to wait until the team finished a lifting session, but then Jim Moorhouse, USSF communications director, helped me flag down Benny.

Since the players were leaving in vans to the hotel, it was a walk-and-talk sort of interview, where the reporter has to be sure to roll tape and watch for curbs. Going by the distance to the vans, I was trying to make sure all the important questions were asked by the time we reached the parking lot.

But then brakes squealed nearby as a driver swerved into a sharp u-turn. Gooch pulled a rental van beside Benny and me. "Benny, you're being summoned," Gooch said.

"I'm doing an interview," Benny protested.

"Benny, get in," Gooch insisted. "We need the numbers - we're short."

I assumed that each van had to pull out with a certain amount of players, to ensure that the last van wasn't stuck with 15 players needing a ride. I didn't want to be the reason for Benny getting on Gooch's bad side, so I told him to go ahead and he hopped into the van.

As it pulled away, I had the odd feeling I'd seen something similar take place before, in a movie about a kidnapping.