Hi, Total Soccer Show, friends. This is Taylor. It's Friday, October 22nd, which means it is a good day, because Friday, but it's also a strange one because it was a year ago today that we lost our friend Daryl Grove.

It's somehow been both a long and short 12 months since that night. There has not been a day that I haven't thought about him and who he was and what he wanted

this world to be. And to be totally honest, I wasn't sure what to do today. It felt really odd

to try to celebrate Daryl's life on the day he passed, and it felt like it would sort of always

be this cycle of sad mixed with trying to be happy. And I don't think that would have been ideal. So I was talking

with Shannon, Daryl's wife, and she suggested the idea of celebrating Daryl's life on his birthday,

Monday, November 29th, as opposed to today. And that felt right, because it seems to me that Daryl

would much prefer everyone have a good time celebrating him rather than a sad time being sad about him.

He would probably actually be embarrassed that we were all even considering making a fuss and he would apologize for putting us out.

But somehow also still be grateful. The dude was deep. The dude was deep.

And he was kind and he was generous. And he was thoughtful.

And he was a man and a husband and a son, and a sibling and a friend, and so many other things.

And he always brought positivity and calm, and a belief that it was always better to try to see the good in life.

So instead of mourning his passing today, I encourage you all to go out and do something to enjoy your life.

If you need some Daryl-centric ideas, I've got a few.

You could make and enjoy a cup of tea.

Even if it is, so often as Ted Lassett would say, brown garbage water, you could also substitute coffee or Coke Zero.

Any of those options would be acceptable.

You could go watch highlights of players

and teams you love, especially Tyler Adams and Weston McKinney, and that John Brooks goal against Ghana

in 2014. That goal was awesome. You can abstain from eating cucumbers or pickles if you want to do

as Darrell would have done, or you could eat cucumbers and pickles if you want to annoy him a little bit.

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