Former College Soccer Star Davies Enjoying World Stage

Professional soccer tends to get overlooked in the landscape of professional sports in the United States.

(That is the understatement of the century.)

There are, of course, fans of professional soccer in America.

You may find one in every group of 25 or 30 people, but even then,
they’re hard to come by. Maybe it’s because soccer gets little to no
media coverage in comparison with the major U.S. sports (football,
baseball, basketball and hockey – although even that one is up for
debate). Maybe it’s because soccer seems to be an English/Latin
American thing, not an American thing.

However, a couple of weeks ago, something changed. For the first
time in a long time, the U.S. got excited about soccer again when the
men’s national team dropped Egypt and world No. 1 Spain in the 2009
FIFA Confederations Cup.

Everyone loves an underdog, no matter what the sport is – and right
in the middle of this particular underdog was former Boston College
futbol star Charlie Davies.

During his time in Chestnut Hill, Mass., Davies set school records
for points (36) and goals (15)  during his junior season. At the end of
that year, he was named a finalist for the Hermann Trophy — college
soccer’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. He didn’t take home the
hardware – he was named the runner-up – but he was selected as the
nation’s best forward by Soccer America, and he was named the ACC’s
Offensive Player of the Year.

After his junior season, he jumped ship for Hammarby, a club in
Sweden’s top division, and he’s been living in Stockholm ever since.
Davies has had a host of experiences that college players in any sport
can only dream of: He’s playing a prominent role on a great team in a
premier professional league, he’s played in the Olympics, and now, he
can say he was part of the awe-inspiring Team USA that beat the best
team in the world before suffering a crushing 3-2 defeat to Brazil in
the Confederations Cup finals.

“For me, it was great to finally break through with the national team, which is something I’ve always dreamed of,” Davies told bceagles.com.

Davies wasn’t merely sitting on the bench watching his team make
history, either; he was one of the lead characters in the script. In a
3-0 win over Egypt, the forward notched the USA’s first goal, and in
the finals loss, he assisted on a first-half goal by Landon Donovan.

It hasn’t been an easy transition for this 23-year-old native of
Manchester, N.H., to acquaint himself with the life of a professional
athlete in a foreign country. It’s not all fun and games, big money and
nice cars. It’s a grind, just like college.

“Everyone’s really fighting for playing time, fighting for salary,
fighting for contracts, so it’s definitely a whole new atmosphere,”
Davies said. “In the past year, I’ve learned to be very professional in
how to carry myself. I think moving to Sweden was the best thing for me
because I could adapt to how things are in Europe at a young age. I’m
very different now [than I was at BC]. I’m not so much the kid anymore.
I’m much more professional. I’m much more humble than I was. I just
look at things in a different way.”

There are more ways Davies’ life now is significantly different from
his life as an Eagle. For one thing, Boston College soccer never earned
him significant face time on ESPN.

Being a part of a team that defeats Egypt and Spain on a massive international stage is a different story.

“I was extremely excited going into the Confederations Cup knowing
that we were in arguably the toughest group in the tournament, with
Egypt, Italy and Brazil,” Davies said. “For me, it was just an honor to
be a part of the team.

“For the fans, everyone got a chance to see how fun it is to follow
the national team and how exciting it was for us to be playing with the
world powers like Spain and Brazil, and getting the result and just
playing well. I think everyone really got into it, and for the first
time, fans really thought, ‘Wow, the soccer team was a lot of fun to
watch and see how they progressed on the world stage.’”

Who’s hot?
Former BC basketball star Tyrese Rice
may not have gotten drafted, but he still has a shot at his NBA dreams.
The 6-foot guard is spending the summer with the Washington Wizards’
summer league team, and some think that may evolve into a roster spot somewhere in the league in the future.

Former coach and current analyst Steve Lavin says
Rice was “one of the most productive players in all of college
basketball over the past three seasons” and, as he draws comparisons to
Nick Van Exel, is “one to keep an eye on.”

Who’s not?
Florida State football needs to do itself a favor: Take a step back,
try to lay low, and stay out of the news, at least for a week. The
school is striking back against the NCAA’s decision to force the
program to vacate wins due to an academic cheating scandal, claiming
that it is unfair to coach Bobby Bowden. After all, he’s not the one who cheated. As a result, the school wants the penalty to be reversed because it’s just too harsh.

An argument like this might hold up if it involved a school with an
immaculate record. Unfortunately, we’re talking about the Cincinnati
Bengals of NCAA football.

Quote of the week
“Any man’s finest hour is that moment when he has worked his heart out
in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle, victorious.”

– BC linebacker Mark Herzlich, via Twitter (and Vince Lombardi), who is in the midst of a battle with Ewing’s sarcoma

Outlook
The Cape League baseball season is in full swing. If you need some
extra incentive to get over the bridge to see a game, here it is: Red
Sox 2009 draft pick Alex Hassan
is playing with the Orleans Firebirds. Go check him out and see if you
agree with Theo’s decision. This weekend, Orleans takes on the Brewster
Whitecaps (Saturday at 7 p.m.) and on Sunday, the Firebirds travel to
Falmouth to face the Commodores (5:30 p.m.).