firstrowidiots.com

Steve Jolley at Red Bull New York Media Day 2006:

firstrowidiots.com (FRI): Welcome back. What’s your outlook on the season?

Steve Jolley (SJ): I think it’s positive. Obviously everyone is very optimistic about the season, but I guess that in 10 years of this league, everybody’s optimistic, every team is optimistic.

I can tell you, there is potential, and whether that potential comes out, that’s our responsibility, that’s Mo’s responsibility. Alexi and Mo have done their job in the sense that they have brought some quality players in and they are still bring some in, which you will hear about soon. We’re going to be OK.

FRI: Youri wasn’t around last time you were here. What’s it like playing with him?

SJ: He’s a fantastic player. Obviously Youri has been around the block, so there is just so much he puts into pre-season, which I completely respect, and I know playing against him last year, at the end of the year, he was a fantastic player. I think more importantly, he’s a fantastic personality. I’ve been here in New York with some bad personalities that have effected this team and he’s not one of them.

I think I can say that about the whole team. We don’t have one personality that I can say, oh god, this is going to be a problem, yet I can say that about every team I’ve played for in the last 9 years.

FRI: What about the whole Amado Guevara flap through the Honduran media?

SJ: Those who don’t know Amado, perceive Amado a little bit differently than the people who know him, because of his actions and the way he is on the field, and everything like that, but I guess I can parallel him to Carlos Ruiz. There is such a passionate hatred for Carlos Ruiz, but he’s the greatest in the locker room. Everyone loves Carlos. He’s a great guy and I loved having him on my team. It’s the same thing with Amado. You don’t really think about [other people’s perception]. You don’t really care. When Amado needs to play, he’s going to play.

FRI: Between the old MetroStars you were on, Dallas and now this team, do you see a such a big change in coaching style with Mo? Is it that much different?

SJ: Yeah, it is. He reminds me of a little bit like my Dallas Coach [Colin Clarke]. He’s a motivator. That’s his strongest suit. He’s motivating. I think he brought the way he played the sport into his coaching, which is a very important asset.

I’m 30 years old and I don’t know how much more someone is going to teach me how to play this game. I either got it now or I’m not going to get it and the motivation helps. The biggest thing I appreciate with Mo, as an older player, is his brutal honesty. He’ll tell me when I did well and he’ll tell me just as quickly when I stunk it up.

There was a game I played in [the pre-season] where I came in the last 15-20 minutes and I struggled. I was playing left back and I was like what’s going on here? I struggled for the first five or ten minutes and the first thing said to me was you sucked. [laughter] I was like, well I can appreciate that, because I know I did and I can recognize that. It makes you want to be a little bit better and for the younger players, I think that’s pretty important too.

When I was a younger player, I learned more from the older players than I ever did from my coaches, and that’s not a slight to the coaches, because I had some great coaches, but there is something to be said that on a day-to-day basis…where you see a player that had some success, or some experience, he tells you something…you can going to pick it up a lot quicker than a coach who’s yelling at you for some reason. It’s like my mom always said: I never listened to my mom, but I was always listening to people who were close to me. My guidance councilor for some reason, something like that.

We got a healthy team. We got a lot of healthy relationships. Whether we do it or not is up to us.

FRI: How are you guys doing on the back line?

SJ: Young. Very young.

FRI: Is Tony helping out?

SJ: Tony is Tony. He’s the same as Mo. He’ll has no problems yelling at me and when I make a mistake, I expect to get yelled at. We’re very young and that’s the reason they brought me in.

The way this league is, 4 out of 5 teams will make the playoffs. So the Marvell Wynne of the world, if I’m a coach, I’m going to play him every game, because he’s got 10 games to get accustomed to it, and those 10 games, how much do they really matter because you have 4 out of 5 teams who are going to make the playoffs. So Marvell Wynne needs to play.

Younger players like Jeff Parke, who has had a pretty good pre-season, Taylor Graham has a tremendous upside in terms of his size. He’s going to hopefully read the game quicker in the next few weeks. We got a couple of new guys playing Ante [Jazic], who’s a Canadian player, who going to help us out.

I was told I was brought in a) because of my experience and b) probably because I’ve played every position in a flat back four and three back system which affords Mo a great luxury and the fact that I’m a great communicator. People are faster, stronger, more skilled than I am, but the one thing I got, my biggest asset is I’m a communicator. I’m knowledgeable about the game.  That’s going to help. I’m going to get plenty of opportunities here to play and hopefully I can do it.

FRI: Any talk of bringing back [from MetroStar Mike] Petke too?

SJ: I’d be more than happy to have him back. Unfortunately for Petke, he’s going to have to take a pay cut because that’s just the way this is…

FRI: That was a good back line.

SJ: That was a very good back line because we had a lot of passion back there. It was fun to play with Petke and I love the guy to death.

That’s the thing about this sport, fans have no concept of your salary cap number and how it effects your life. I told somebody else, when I signed one big contract, I literally walked home after signing, because I represent myself…I was in the league office, I did the contract and came home and told my wife, just to let you know, I’m going to be traded sooner, rather than later now cause you know once you make decent money, that’s just the way it is.

FRI: Big difference between living in Dallas and living here?

SJ: Very big difference. [In Dallas,] everything is new and nice and the quality of life is fantastic, but it’s not New York City… people were floored… literally the coach was like we want you on the team, but you going to have to take a pay cut and everything, and it made no sense for me to come back here. My wife had a fantastic job and it’s a testament to her that she allowed me to come back here, but there is something about this city… I feel like I’m home here. I have so many friends and family here. I love the area. I love everything about the city. I love the crowds. I love the dirtiness. It’s just fantastic. I love this area. I don’t love the expense though, but what can you do?

FRI: There have been reports that Marvell Wynne is the fastest human alive.

SJ: I don’t know if he’s the fastest alive, but he’s definitely the fastest one on our team and he’s definitely one of the faster players I’ve played with… maybe not the fastest, but he’s a tremendous athlete, and he’s going to have a very, very bright future in this league.. very bright future.

I really think his position is right back in a flat back four… I don’t know if he’s a three in the back kid. I don’t think at this age he really understands the game enough in the back to really do that, but I think if you get him in the flat back four in wide right and you release him, he’s going to cause some problems.

FRI: Alexi and Mo, they both show up in practice, who wears the pants?

SJ: [Laughs] Mo’s personality is too strong to not dictate the way this team is going to play and how it’s going to do. Everybody knows Alexi is an incredible salesman and understands the business, understands soccer, and we all respect that about him. At the same time, on a day-to-day basis, it’s Mo who dictates if I’m going to be playing or not. Alexi has been great at letting everyone know that Mo’s our head coach.

From everything I’ve seen, they have an incredible working relationship. It’s fantastic. They are both very honest people… so that helps them both. They really know where they stand. We’ll see.

FRI: Thanks!