Frankie Says Retire

SoCalJoe · Apr 19, 2012

Could of put this on the MLS thread, but the man deserves his own. Never the most talented, but always brought his lunch pail to work, and never backed down to anyone (not matter the opposition). I can remember the story of him going out to meet the fans tailgating before a match. A big salute to Frankie Hejduk for great career :clap:

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/mls/st ... ont-office

nevzter · Apr 19, 2012

Relax, don't do it...

Love, Hey-dude (one last time). Congrats to him on a brilliant career. I was always happy to see his name on the USMNT team sheet.

:banana-dance:

Clevelandmo · Apr 19, 2012

What Joe and Nevzter said was perfect. I have nothing to add other than :bow-yellow: :bow-yellow: :bow-yellow: :bow-yellow: :bow-yellow: :bow-yellow: :bow-yellow: to Frankie.

Clevelandmo · Apr 20, 2012

I thought this entire article was worth posting and reading. Frankie may turn me into a Crew fan yet. I'll be at their game against Vancouver next Saturday; I hope he's there.

By Bob Hunter
The Columbus Dispatch Friday April 20, 2012 5:06 AM

Comments: 2

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Little Cali, not quite 2, screamed, “That’s my Daddy!” at least a half-dozen times during Frankie Hejduk’s news conference, a remarkably prescient observation for one of her tender age.

Like any infant, Cali knows nobody like her dad. What she couldn’t know is that the rest of us see her father the same way. The former Crew star is a special guy, one unlike any prominent athlete who has ever strutted his stuff on this city’s stage.

The 37-year-old Californian who first announced his retirement as a player (he played for the Los Angeles Galaxy last season but is injured and wasn’t playing for anyone this season) and then announced his acceptance of a job in the Crew front office has a relationship with the team’s fans that is hard even for him to explain.

“I can’t because to be honest, I think I’m just a normal person,” he said. “I’m just a normal guy who ended up having a gift being able to play soccer.”

But then maybe that explains it all perfectly. Hejduk is a normal guy, one who treats fans like his friends.

He was one of them, he was always one of them, and he wanted to make sure they knew it.

“I’m a normal guy and I like to have beer and I’m not going to shy away,” he said. “I think they respected that. I think they got the sense that, ‘Hey, this is a down-to-earth guy we can relate to.’ I wanted them to know ‘what you guys do helps these guys out on the field.’ And it did.”

A memorable YouTube video shows Hejduk standing on the bed of a pickup truck in the parking lot outside of Crew Stadium in 2008, winning a beer-chugging contest with a face-painted Crew fan while hundreds of fans cheered and chanted their love for Columbus.

But before we go too far down that road, it’s important to remember that Hejduk is probably a future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer, a terrific player who scored the most important goal in Crew history in the MLS Cup final in 2008. The Crew was clinging to a 2-1 lead when Guillermo Barros Schelotto made an incredible pass to Hejduk, who headed it home in the 82nd minute to secure the victory.

The soccer part of the Hejduk story is also why his hiring as the team’s “brand ambassador” makes so much sense. He’s not just some beer-swilling clown in a soccer uniform. He is one of the best players in team history, a six-time Major League Soccer All-Star who represented the United States in two World Cups and two Olympics.

He is also one of the city’s most recognizable faces, so his “job” working in community relations, with the team’s youth program (where he will develop camps and clinics) and broadcast teams, as well as interacting with the fans, seems like a perfect fit for a guy who does all of that so naturally.

“I cruise around town all the time,” he said. “I’m always in Barley’s or another restaurant having a brew with people throughout the city and I think I just got to know everyone. It’s not a big city. It really isn’t.”

Big or small, Hejduk has always made it just a little better.

“His relationship with the fans is incredible and unique in some respects,” Crew general manager Mark McCullers said. “There’s only one Frankie Hejduk.”

He showed that again and again yesterday. He had his wife, Elissa, sons Nesta and Coasten and daughter, Cali, join him at the podium for his announcement while he pulled a pint of Guinness from beneath the lectern and took a deep gulp to celebrate.

He said he plans to circulate the stands during home soccer games, doing just about anything he can to make the fan experience better. He said that “in his heart” he thinks Crew Stadium will be sold out for every game at some point, and “I’m definitely taking some of it on my shoulders” to make that happen.

Think about that for a second.

“I think I can make a huge difference in the community,” he said.

Only a fool would disagree with him.
Click to expand...

nevzter · Apr 20, 2012

Thanks for sharing, 'Mo. Nice article. "There's only one Frankie Hejduk" - sums it up nicely. I'd like to hear 'fog's thoughts on all of this (I think it was 'fog that posted the beer-chugging video on the old site?).

MisterF · Apr 21, 2012

Frankie is a Crew legend. What a career! :clap:

pettyfog · Apr 21, 2012

Bob Hunter isnt the most eloquent of Dispatch's sport writers.. though he does support the Crew... doesnt write about the Crew that often except about the exceptional stuff.

And anyone can post a video to Youtube.. it's where it goes after that, that counts. {Right, Rebecca Black?}

To me.. this is the penultimate result of Frankie's doing his stuff: when they publish an article in the Telegraph about it.

Home» Sport» Football» International

Columbus Crew's Frankie Hejduk shows how to captain your side, MLS-style

Consider this: John Terry is caught, standing in a puddle of lager on a pub table on the Fulham Road, beer in hand, singing "We love you Chelsea, we do, we love Chelsea, we do," before downing his pint in a single swallow.
..
It might not sound too outlandish, bearing in mind Terry's colourful history. But the repercussions would without doubt be far-reaching. The England captaincy would go for starters, maybe even the Chelsea armband.

Not in America. As Frankie Hejduk has shown, you don't need to be squeaky clean to be a captain. In fact, the opposite helps.

You probably won't have heard of him, but in American soccer circles, Frankie Hejduk is no small beer. He has been on the US World Cup team, played in the Olympics, and he even had a sojourn in Europe with Bayer Leverkusen.
Click to expand...

I never get tired of reading that.. it sure aint just fluff piece from a press release, somewhere.

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Frankie Says Retire

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