The next day Dan has his audition tape and curses the fact that his office tv lacks a VCR, he would have to go to the editing room to watch the old interview, but it could wait. He could wait until after the show aired. Get all his writing for tonight done. Dan tries to concentrate on the work at hand, but something about Gabriel Ralston and the up coming interview is bothering him. The more he heard from Natalie and Casey the more important he felt it had to be. He was looking up stats, this guy hadn't just been the first rookie of the year in the MLS he was also the player with the most appearances for the Mutiny as well as the most goals scored. He must be so serious in interviews because of how serious he was about soccer. He had to find that interview tape. He has to figure out why a man who hated interviews would want Dan Rydell, a man who hates soccer, to interview him.
He could only last as long as the noon run down meeting. He spent the whole time doodling on his not pad, answering all questions directed his way in yes/no statements. As soon as the meeting ended he rushes over to Natalie.
"I found the tape. Let's go watch it in the editing room."
Kim interrupts their conversation "Which tape?"
"Dan's first interview with Gabe Ralston."
"Gabe Ralston is so intense." Kim gushes a little.
"And dreamy." Natalie says lightly.
"Definitely dreamy"
"Do you remember how well he did last season."
"It's a shame they didn't make it to the cup last year. I would have loved to watch him play that."
"Those eyes."
"That ass." Kim has a wide smile on her face.
"While this conversation is so interesting, I'm going to watch the tape."
Kim and Natalie continue to discuss just how attractive Gabe Ralston is when he plays soccer, what with all that sweat and heavy breathing and the bright uniform that brought out the blue in his eyes.
Dan puts the tape into editor and fast forwards to the interview. As soon as the old footage starts running, he knew why he remembered the name. On the film he was sitting next to Gabe Ralston, whose blue eyes look deeply focused despite wandering between Dan's face and the camera. His answers to questions were brief and regardless of how charming Dan was clearly being, Gabriel's smiles were rare.
Now the the footage rolling Natalie and Kim were bickering about whether or not Gabe's features were more "stoic renaissance painting of an angel" or "boy next door". It came down to that stiff look and few smiles compared to his tousled blond hair and freckles. Dan is just trying to focus on the interview, while the women are attempting to get anyone walking by's opinion. Dan is paying attention to the cadence of Gabe's speech, how the corners of his mouth would turn up just the slightest bit at Dan's jokes but Dan couldn't get a full smile out of him until talking about his goal in the Conference Finals.
"He's a boy next door."
"Dan how could you say that? He hasn't laughed at any of your jokes."
"Wait one more minute."
Casey wanders in. "Is this your first interview?"
"Yep."
"Have you asked the question yet?"
"It's the next one."
"What question?" Kim asks with slight confusion.
The Dan on the screen then asked "Before the interview started, we talked a little bit about your personal life and growing up as a soccer fan in Texas. How proud are you not just to be rookie of the year, but to be the FIRST rookie of the year in the MLS?"
The quiet and reserved Gabe from the first 4 minutes of the interview just seemed to fade away. He was now all charm, excitement and smiles. "Growing up in Texas everything is football. The booster clubs, the pep rallies, the colleges, the excitement all revolve around football. i was rail thin and had horrible hand eye coordination. Then one hot summer day I was trying to stay out of the heat and found a different type of football. It was a game between two teams I don't remember now and I couldn't really figure out any of the rules because I didn't know any spanish, but I thought it was one of the most exciting sports I had ever seen. Now kid's don't have to learn spanish to learn the game. Now I can inspire another generation of American kids. I honestly believe that MLS is one of the best things to happen to American sports and I'm so proud to be a part of that organization. It really is a dream come true, not just to be recognized as rookie of the year, but to play in front of groups of American fans, to bring the most popular sport in the world to places where all people talk about is American Football." The smile he gave to Danny at the end of that interview was pure boy next door.
"And that is when we all knew you would be great." Casey sounds proud. Dan didn't think that anything about himself in that interview was great. It took so long for Gabe to look even a little bit friendly, even a little bit open and honest.
"He wasn't even supposed to ask that question." Casey continues. "It was supposed to end with "How proud is your family, to have a world class soccer player as a son?"
"A good interviewer would have asked that question. Instead I tossed him softball."
"No one would choose the standard 'My parents are so proud and I am so lucky they supported me all these years' over the genuine passion and excitement he showed at the end."
"It wouldn't have been a standard answer."
"There's another way to answer that question?" Natalie says, genuinely confused.
"You might not understand, but for some people no matter what you do your parents will never be proud of you. There's just something lingering in your past that they will never get over. He told me that after asking me not to ask that question. So I didn't. So we'll probably never know why his parents aren't proud of him." Dan said it softly , remembering a bitter sweet moment, that had faded over the years.
"Dan, if you hadn't ditched that question he wouldn't be asking for you to interview him." Casey places his arm on Dan's shoulder and tries to be comforting.
"He's assuming I'm just going to lob a bunch of softball questions again." Dan's a little bitter. He doesn't want this interview.
"Maybe, but the more times we get Gabriel Ralston on our show, the better ratings we'll get. What his parents are upset about probably has nothing to do with sports and you know that and so you didn't ask the question. You can still ask about his lack of World Cup appearances if you want? He won't like answering that one."
Dan tried to smile weakly. He would want to ask him harder questions, to be a better interviewer, but he also wanted to see that giant smile across Gabe's face. That smile that just radiated warmth.