Monday, July 9, 2007

Open thoughts

The US Open Cup heads into the third round tonight as Atlanta visits FC Dallas. The Silverbacks are one of the hottest teams in USL-1 having won three consecutive matches entering tonight's match at Pizza Hut Park.

Chivas USA, meanwhile, won't play their third-round match until July 18 at Seattle. A couple of weeks ago, there was a brief back-and-forth in the comments with a Portland Timbers supporter disappointed that Portland lost to "Shittle" in the second round and thus lost out on a chance to host Preston Burpo. I figured I'd talk to Preston Burpo about the U.S. Open Cup because he spent quite a bit of time in the USL/A-League and his perspective would be different than someone who had only played in MLS (thanks BBSC for pointing out the Portland connection).

And it was. Preston's a cool guy with a bit of a mean streak. It seems as if every now and then Preston's ready to go to blows with a teammate. But then again, I can't tell if he's joking around because he does that as well. Last year a teammate said with a half-smile, half-puzzled look "Where'd we find this guy, at a bar?"

Anyway, here's audio of the interview with Preston "Stone" Burpo. I asked him about the USOC, about how USL teams feel when MLS teams send out reserves to play against them in a USOC game and about Portland, which got some good responses from Stone.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That is a classic interview, great stuff LB!

I like how he dropped an f-bomb so matter of factly, gotta love Burpo. Also really enjoyed his version of events and the resulting telephone pranks. Hilarious.

You can tell he is being honest when he says he enjoys playing in front of the intense Portland fans, after all it's great entertainment. How often can anyone say that about 2nd division soccer.

I really miss his intensity when the "Shittle" comes to town. Well maybe miss is not the right word but it was fun stuff to watch. Unfortunately, besides willing the entire stadium to hate him, he also willed his team to victory againt the Timbers, all too often.

Maybe next year he will visit PGE Park again.

Oh and thanks for the shout out LB!