Happy holidays, BTW style! Wow, what an incredible season we had. From riding scooters in Santa Monica to drinking Heinekens in Amsterdam, I can hardly wrap my head around how much fun was had. So in that spirit, I’d like to take moment to reflect on a few favorite moments from our BTW adventures, some of which didn’t make it into the final cuts (thankfully, ha!) but are certainly worth sharing.
The LA Experience with Walker Zimmerman
Our first episode of 2018 and boy did we start with a bang. In his newly adopted home of Los Angeles, we spent the day with Walker as he gave us a taste of his life in the City of Angels. What you didn’t see was part of our car ride from training to his Santa Monica apartment, where Walker and I discovered a mutual love of country music, particularly Zac Brown Band. Our rousing rendition of “Chicken Fried” was special, but mercifully not special enough to make the episode. Watch episode 1
Top Golf with Uri Rosell and Chris Mueller
This shoot was ALL kinds of fun but my favorite part came after the cameras stopped rolling. Both Uri and Chris, who had to be up super early the next day for training, stayed for another hour and hit golf balls with me. And despite what you saw in the video, I did actually improve with practice, I swear! Watch episode 2
World Cup viewing, MLS style
I got to take in the World Cup Final with MLS legend Joe Cannon at Avaya Stadium in San Jose and this shoot required a very early start, I’m talking 7:30am call time. And Joe was so generous with his time. He literally watched the entire match with me while interacting with fans despite the fact his wife and two little boys were there as well. We always try to be respectful of these guys’ schedules because of all their commitments, but Joe was more than willing to take in the experience with me as well as a couple Heinekens. Watch episode 3
All-Star Week with Julian Gressel
One word: Freddy. Julian Gressel’s dog is just the cutest, sweetest pooch you ever did meet and, let’s be honest, we could have made the entire episode about him. Such a good dog. And Julian is the best doggy daddy around. He loves his pup and his pup loves him right back. Gives me all the feels just thinking about it. Watch episode 4
Heineken Rivalry Week with Alex Muyl and Sebastien Ibeagha
This was one our more challenging episodes to coordinate because we had to work with both Alex and Seb’s schedules, but I was blown away by these guys and how much fun they were willing to have with it, despite playing on rival teams. And Alex is such a trickster, he was really messing with Seb and I while we had our goggles on and I didn’t even realize it until I saw the final cut. And sharing a couple Heinekens with them as we looked out over the East River, putting rivalries aside and celebrating our shared city, was pretty darn cool. Watch episode 5
Game Night with Teal Bunbury
Every aspect of this shoot was an absolute joy, mostly because Teal and his siblings are quite simply wonderful human beings. But I will never, ever forget our epic game of Jenga that seemed to last FOREVER. The competitive juices were really coming out between Teal and me and I loved every second of it. Until I lost. Sigh. Watch episode 6
A day off in Amsterdam with Mo Adams and Brandt Bronico
Let’s get real here, I got to go to Munich and Amsterdam FOR WORK and I am not mad about it at all. But the best part was spending time with Mo and Brandt, who are really good buds off the field and had never been to Amsterdam. I’ll never forget our boat ride through the Amsterdam canals, drinking Heineken, laughing, taking in the beautiful sights. At one point we all looked at each other and said, “How lucky are we???” Best day off ever, hands down. Watch episode 7
I am so grateful for these experiences and I’m grateful for all of you for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed these episodes as much as we did bringing them to life. Cannot wait for more adventures in 2019!
Cheers to you and happy holidays!
