Episode 21: Tab Ramos
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I always smile big when I get to speak to an old US National Team guy – of all the players and characters from around the world that I’ve sat with - they are my favorite lot, because they did it here and they did it first.
No player from any other country can honestly say: 'When I was a kid there really was no soccer in my country, there was no league, there was no national team, there were no heroes to look up to.
But for Tab Ramos it was like this – being a professional soccer player when you grow up? You just didn’t know what that looked like.
If you are a professional today or a national team player today – there is a clear path to follow – you can see the endgame - I need to do this, that and try out here, etc.
But for Tab Ramos and his colleagues, there was no such path – you had to be creative and it kind of evolved around them and they happened to be good enough to carry the burden and take the thing and leave it in a much better place than where they found it.
Further, if you had to list the most important 3 US soccer moments in history: I do think they would be: Qualifying for the 90 World Cup, hosting the 94 World Cup, and the formation of the MLS in 95 – and Tab Ramos is on a very short list of players who were instrumental in all these.
The players of today – and the players of tomorrow owe a huge debt to Tab and his colleagues for all they did to get the game to where it is in this country –
I love sitting with Tab Ramos, and I loved hearing him lay it all out for us. I hope you do as well.
Soccerpod #21 – Tab Ramos