Welcome to the scuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer.

Hey, everybody, we got a really special guest today.

He is one of the earliest anchors of Sports Center on ESPN and

became a fixture on that show. He started the show outside the lines, another massive ESPN outfit

that many of you will have grown up on. He hosted the studio show for five men's world cups

and two women's world cups. A lot of you will remember him best from 2010 and 2014. He was there for a lot

of the key moments in the modern history of American soccer, and nobody with his level of credibility

and clout in American sports journalism has given as much attention and enthusiasm to the game of

soccer. Bob Lee, welcome to scuffed.

Oh my gosh. Thank you. You embarrassed me. I appreciate it. Good to be with you.

Yeah. Thank you for your time. So when... Oh, please.

When you first got involved with the Cosmos in 1979, I think.

Well, that was having just been a season ticket holder for the prior two years.

Okay. Yeah. How did you, how did you end up in that gig doing the public address system?

My seats were section 134, row two seats nine and ten, two rows off the pitch. You could reach out and touch Carlos Alberto and Vimmer Iceberg and whatnot, and Pelley would come along and slap hands.

One of my friends was a beat writer for the Herald News covering the Cosmos, and he told me they were

looking for a public address announcer for the 1979 season, and I had been doing play-by-play on the local cable system

where I was working, and my buddy Eric knew about this. And so I put a tape together and sent it in

to Kreekor, Yer Premian, the general manager of Cosmos then, Krecore, the brother, of course,

of Garo Yopremian, the place kicker for the Miami Dolphins, if you remember, who threw the single worst pass in Super Bowl history.

The ball went backwards and was returned for a touchdown by the Redskins.

But Krikor and Garrell were brothers.

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