Dan Rydell feels surprisingly nervous about the interview. Which is ridiculous he's done hundreds of interviews since the first one. Live interviews, interviews more serious than this one, interviews with athletes much more famous than this one. Still he can't help fighting with his tie. First it's suffocating him, then it's crooked, too loose, at an angle and all of a sudden Gabriel Ralston enters the bull pen. Through the glass doors of his and Casey's office, Danny sees Gabriel talking to Kim. He has the same tousled blond hair and bright blue eyes, but his face has filled out more. His jaw is sharp and square. Maybe six years ago he had been the boy next door, but now Kim had been right, he could be a stoic renaissance angel.
Dan adjusts his tie one final time and leaves his office. Gabriel is talking to Kim with a small smile that broadens slowly. They're talking about the U.S. Cup and even though Tampa hadn't made it, Gabriel is so animated.
"I'm Gabe Ralston, it's nice to meet you."
His voice is warm and Dan is unsure of when he had gotten close enough for Gabe to reach for a handshake. He was caught off guard enough that as he extended his own hand, he ends up saying the first thing that came to mind.
"Re-meet"
Gabe starts to shake Dan's hand, but then tilts his head to the side and squints at Dan slightly.
"What?"
"I'm Dan Rydell, It's nice to re-meet you. I interviewed you six years ago."
Gabe drops Dan's hand and a wide smile spread across his face.
"I thought you would have forgotten." His voice is warm and friendly.
"Do I seem that insensitive?" Dan replies in over exaggerated offence.
"Do you remember any of the players in the MLS?" Gabe is definitely sounding like a boy next door. Who thought he was stif?
"He doesn't even know all the teams teams in the MLS." Kim laughs after pointing out Dan's very specific lapse in sport's knowledge.
Gabe shakes his head and is clearly trying not to chuckle.
"And you wondered why I doubted you."
"Do you really need to make fun of me?" Dan had meant to direct it at both Kim and Gabe, but his eye's are completely focused on Gabe.
"Do you really need to make fun of soccer?" Gabe's eyes are locked on his.
"It's so boring." Dan's voice is deadpan and he attempt to look straight faced.
"And you're not?" Gabe's tone was light and teasing.
"My show" Dan starts- Kim elbows him. How did he forget Kim was standing there? "Our show," Dan corrects, "is quite witty and fast paced. You wouldn't be here otherwise."
"Maybe I'm here so you can toss me some soft balls." Gabe winks.
Dan's smile begins to drop. Gabe had managed to pick on his biggest insecurity about today and then keeps going.
"I'll take the time to really educate you about soccer."
Dan barely hears the second part and doesn't know how to respond, Gabe isn't taking him seriously. Dan knows he should reply with a witty comeback. The silence starts to feel heavy as Gabe's smile disappears and all Dan can manage to say is
"Let's get this interview going then." Dan tries to keep the bitterness out of his voice, he tries to smile, he tries to be a welcoming host. Gabe nods and follows Dan to the sound stage. Maybe by the time they were mic'd, maybe by the time they were through with make up, maybe by the time Dan was asking questions they could banter again.
Unfortunately, after several basic questions about Gabe's good stats and his team's awful stats, Dan decides that Gabriel Ralston is one of the worst people to interview. Not only had he insulted Dan's quality as an interviewer, his answers were all brief and stiff. Dan can't help but wonder if he was talking to some robot that had replaced the teasing Gabe Ralston.
"Just loosen up. This interview isn't making either of us look good." Dan's statement comes out more of a command than he intended.
"Then stop the warm up questions and ask the one you really want to ask." Gabe sounds as frustrated as Dan felt.
"What?"
"Dan, you're a professional, I don't expect a lot of soft balls. So ask the question you want to ask and I'll loosen up." Gabe's eyes lock onto Dan's again. His face is determined and intense.
Dan had a single moment where he considered the question he really wanted to ask 'Why aren't you parents proud of you', but that was the third rail. Instead, he focused on sports.
"Not only did your team have a losing season, but you got passed over for the World Cup again. How does that feel?" Dan knew it sounded cruel, but he wants the follow up question.
"I think as a team we really struggled because we knew going in that the MLS was going to shutter two teams and ours was definitely on the chopping block. While we may have won the first U.S. Cup, we never got such success again and our fan turnout was low and before you tell me that fan turnout is low because no one likes soccer, I would like to remind you that soccer is the favorite sport of hundreds of millions of people and our turnout was low compared to other MLS teams."
Dan smiles, the comment Gabe made was definitely rehearsed, but also seemed more like the guy in the bullpen. Gabe really did have Dan's number in terms of soccer jokes. He wonders how often Gabe watched Sports Night, but that wasn't important.
"I might have pointed out that turn out for the most popular teams like the L.A. Galaxy don't even compare to the turn out for the Dodgers, but I don't think you completely answered my question." Dan is pleased that Gabe seemed to loosen up, but he just has to push him a little further.
"In terms of the World Cup, of course I'm disappointed. It's always been a dream of mine to be a part of it, but they have a really strong team this year. I'm proud those are the players that are representing their country and I think we all should be." Another well rehearsed answer, but not what Dan is fishing for.
"What about 1998?" Dan isn't smiling when he asked this question. This was the big one, it was serious. The smile dropped off of Gabe's face as well.
"What about 1998?" Gabe becomes defensive, but he must have known this was the question that was coming.
"You were originally rostered on the 1998 U.S. Men's World Cup team, but cut before the team left for France. What happened?" No one in the past four years had gotten a chance to ask Gabe about this, he hadn't been the most famous player cut so people didn't notice when it had happened. Looking at his record for the two years before and the two years after however, showed that cutting him was probably a mistake.
"I was cut at the same time as the captain for life. I think that year there were some questionable cuts, but ultimately I spent the next two seasons working to improve as both a player and a leader. I made it to the all star teams both in 1998 and 1999. Since I didn't make it to the World Cup this year, I expect a great home season." Gabe smiles, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes and his shoulders tensed up again. The smile is far from warm, but Dan wants to push further, there was definitely more to the story. Dan also knows at this point he would come across as the bully.
"Speaking of the home season you're playing for the New England Revolution this year. What's your first impression?" A soft ball Gabe would probably be happy to answer.
"While I'm sad to leave my home of the past six years, I am excited to join the Revolutions. We all know that New ENglanders are some of the most dedicated and loyal fans in sports, regardless of which sport. I can't wait to be a part of that excitement and I really want to make those fans proud." Gabe smiles and looks straight at the camera.
"I have to politely disagree. New York fans are the most dedicated fans." Dan thinks this interview could actually be fun.
"New York fans, especially Yankee's fans, love winning. In New England, of course they want to win, but the love is really for the teams and sports in general. No matter how many losses New England fans will say that next year is the year the team goes all the way." Gabe is clearly working on winning new fans and maybe even trying to rile Dan up.
"As a New York fan I'm offended that you think I would abandoned the Yankees if they started losing. Which they won't." Dan tries not to sound indignant. He wonders if he failed.
"Is that a sports reporter answer or a fan answer?" Gabe is teasing him again.
"Both." Dan tries not to smile. "You know I'm supposed to be the one asking the questions?"
"I like my questions better." Gabe shrugs and looks a little sheepish.
"So you're saying the best part of New England is the fans? I don't know how much that says about The New England Revolutions." Dan wants to keep up the teasing. Even it it's not good reporting. It's fun.
"I never said that. The team is also amazing. We have a lot of strong players and our pre-season training has been going extraordinarily well. I would say watch out for us in the playoffs." His smile is wide and warm. It's what Dan had wanted.
"Don't you think it's bad luck to be so overconfident?"
"It's not overconfidence if it's true, and I didn't say we would win. I just said you should watch. There's going to be a lot of great games this season and a lot of them are going to be Revs games. We will be in the playoffs, you can bet on it." Gabe looks so satisfied and happy. He's talking about what he loves.
"What a bold prediction. Thanks for coming onto Sport's Night." Dan holds out his hand.
"Thanks for having me." He shakes Dan's hand and Dan feels a little shock of electricity. The static in the sound stage must be insane today.
"Everyone that was Gabriel Ralston from the New England Revolution. Make sure to tune into their games this season. You heard it from him, it's going to be a good one. Or as good as soccer can be I guess." Dan smiles right into the camera.
Natalie's voice comes into their ear pieces. "Great save at the end there. I think we got the footage we need."
"Is there anyway we can redo some of the questions at the beginning and edit itf os I look less like a pod person?" Gabe looks a little regretful.
"I wish we could, Mr. Ralston, but unfortunately we have to get back on track for tonight's show. There's not enough time." Natalie is letting him down as gently as she can.
"You can call me Gabe, if I can call you Natalie" he smiles up towards the control board. "I completely understand, although you could make it up to me by letting me stay and watch the show live tonight?"
"Of course we would love to have you, Gabe." Dan and Gabe could practically hear Natalie's smile through the earpiece.
Dan and Gabe start to take out the earpieces and take off the mics.
"It really did start to be a good interview towards the end you know." Dan wants to comfort Gabe. He's smiling but that interview was rough at the beginning. "You just have not get yourself so worked up."
Gabe sighed. "I know I can handle the hard questions, I just always want to get them out of the way first."
"You did fine and probably won over the few hundred? Are there even a hundred? Soccer fans in New England."
"Thanks Dan. That large underestimation of the number of fans I have means a lot." A small grin is still lingering on his face.
"I've got to finish writing tonight's show, but I'll see you at the filming, ok?" Dan places his hand on Gabe's arm.
Gabe leans in and responds softly. "Sounds great." Then he walks away. Dan smiles to himself, for some reason it feels like he and Gabe could actually be friends. If they could find something other than soccer to talk about.