I couldn’t resist sidling up to the bar for another "Nightcap with a Whitecap" but this time I thought, "Why not make the interviewer the interviewee?"
If you’re a fan of the Whitecaps, and I know you are, you’re most likely a fan of Peter Schaad. He’s the "Voice of the Whitecaps", providing play-by-play commentary and hosting <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/TEAMRadio-WhitecapsFCDaily" target="_blank"><b>Whitecaps FC Daily</b></a>, Vancouver’s first and only daily soccer show on Team 1410. He is also one of those rare, North American born-and-raised soccer commentators who genuinely eats, sleeps, lives and breathes 'The Beautiful Game'. To see him arrive kitted up in his Aston Villa gear really came as no surprise and the fact that he is one of the nicest, most charismatic people around wasn’t much of a shock either.
To kick things off we started by getting the most important question out of the way, favourite nightcap?
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
<i>Scotch. Particularly Scapa. It’s so rare but it’s my favourite. I had to order some in, it cost a fortune, but I sent it to Point Roberts and ran it across the border… legally. I like a nice scotch, that’s something that has developed over time. I used to hate the smell, the taste, everything about scotch, but now, that’s what I like to have at the end of the night.
… OR, a jagerbomb if you want to keep the night going.
I realize those are two completely extreme things, but I’m German, so Jagermeister is like mother’s milk. If you have anything wrong with you, insomnia, stomach problems, a cold, whatever, it’s jagermeister.</i>
(And just like that, Pete Schaad became my new favourite person...)
<i>A jagerbomb, I don’t care how it makes you feel, but it tastes good. It has to be ice cold, but it’s one of the best drinks going.</i>
And now onto something that might be a bit more difficult to answer, favourite Whitecap?
<i>If I’m allowed to go back in time, I would have to say it was Peter Lorimer (1981-1983) because his name is Peter, and he was "Thunderfoot", and he scored some incredible goals. That was my "growing up time" of falling in love with the Whitecaps. It just seemed like he could do whatever he wanted. There was an arrogance to him, he was slightly overweight, I really like Peter Lorimer.
From the current team, there are a lot of players to like, but because it’s so recent, I’m going to have to say Darren Mattocks.
When I think of Darren Mattocks’ debut against Seattle, I think of Pavel Bure’s debut against Winnipeg. Every time Mattocks got the ball something happened. The fans got excited, and you cannot buy that. You cannot create that. That is a naturally born, talented, gifted, exciting player. I don’t want to build him up too much because he’s a young man and he needs to stay grounded, but the same thing happened in Portland, the minute he came off the bench you could feel anticipation that something was going to happen and wouldn’t you know it, he goes and ties the game.
There are a lot of great guys on this team, a lot of talented guys, but there’s nothing that compares to the excitement of a player who can change the game in one second.</i>
How do you feel about the team this year?
<i>I feel pretty good about where we’re at.
The change in EVERYTHING is so stark from this year to where we were last year. From this point on last year it was not fun to be around this team, and now, you always feel that there is a possibility of something good happening.
I would much rather see the Whitecaps be the first Canadian team to reach the post-season than to see them win the Amway Cup. In this city, in this country, playoffs mean something, and I will not be surprised when and if they do that.</i>
So you are clearly in favour of what Martin Rennie has brought to the organization this year?
<i>I don’t want to come out and say that I have a "man crush" on Martin Rennie, but what makes people attractive is intelligence, confidence and vision, and he has all of those things. Rennie realizes what his own limitations are and has brought people with him to fill those areas. So there’s very little ego there. He’s not an egotistical man, he’s a visionary man.</i>
What would you say are your favourite Whitecaps game-related moments?
<i>I don’t think anything tops that first game ever against Toronto. It was historic. In your wildest dreams you can’t create that. You can hope for it, but even what you best hoped for was bettered. The weather, everything, it was unbelievable.
I’m not the only one who has referred to that game as being a memorable, wonderful launching pad. Everything after that was a little dodgy… but then there have been two Eric Hassli goals that, in my lifetime, I will never see again.
I’m always embarrassed when I listen back and think, "Oh, you are an idiot. You don’t have to get that excited." But how can you not?
I’m not one of those guys who thinks about what I’m going to say before, I don’t write down little sayings, it just comes out and nine times out of ten I cringe after.</i>
Do you get home later and think, "I should have said…"?
<i>I don’t even get that far. I get in the car and I think, "oh man, I fucked that up." It’s agonizing sometimes. That’s the toughest thing about this job, is that there are going to be lots of great moments and you will never get it right, you will never get it perfect, and you will never be satisfied with it – at least I won’t.
The game has to be the star, no one cares about you. [The listener] needs to visualize what’s happening and, through you, feel what’s going on.</i>
How do you feel about twitter, social media, podcasts, etc changing the way of life for sportscasters?
<i>It’s great. It’s an unbelievable way to connect with people, and it’s an incredible source of information. It’s just a different platform for profile, and in our business, profile is important. There are some days when I feel more like being involved, and there are some days when I don’t.</i>
Do you think that’s changed things with the game itself?
<i>Definitely. If I could give advice to players on how to use twitter, I’d tell them that "You are a brand, and you have to do everything you can to protect that brand. You have to let us into the world that we generally aren’t allowed to be in." There are a lot of Whitecaps who do that well and the club goes through a process of teaching the players that.
We’re really lucky here in Vancouver. The players on the Whitecaps get twitter, they understand supporters and how important they are, and they’re generally very good communicators.
That’s what twitter should do – take us to places we normally wouldn’t be allowed to be. I try to do that whenever I can, taking pictures of the stadium, in the booth, in the locker room…</i>
I completely agree with you. Twitter is there for you to take pictures of Whitecaps in the locker room and tweet them to me… wait, did I get that wrong? Is that not what you meant?
Time to get this back on track, when did you know you wanted to be the "Voice of the Whitecaps"?
<i>It’s funny, and Bobby Lenarduzzi reminds me of this all the time, but back-in-the-day my dad was the Manager of the Sheraton Villa on Canada Way, where the players would go for pre-game meals before heading over to Empire Stadium. My dad started to get to know Bobby, and after they won Soccer Bowl in 1979 I really started to get switched on to the Whitecaps and I was really into it. This was a team that had won a North American Championship and was outdrawing the Canucks, they were the bigger deal in town at the time, so it was easy for a kid of my age to get into it.
At that time I was also in love with the work of Jim Robson, one of the greatest sports broadcasters in North American history, and I always thought to myself, "If I could do that, that would be a great job."
When I started to love soccer I thought, "I’d love to do that, but I’d love to do it for those guys." My dad said to Bobby, "My son really likes soccer, but he doesn’t want to play, he wants to be the play-by-play guy for the Whitecaps."
I went through most of my young life thinking that’s what I wanted to do, but then of course the Whitecaps were gone in 1984 and that was that. Then ironically, as it turned out, years later I got the chance to do an audition and one thing led to another. It was a very surreal thing when MLS kicked off last year – I was almost overcome. On that first day, to have that day and to have that game – that whole day, I will never forget. It was weird. It was a life-long thing to get to that stage.</i>
So you have wanted this since you were 10 years old? When I was 10 years old I wanted to be a My Little Pony. I guess it doesn’t work out for all of us… I digress.
Sadly, it’s that time, any closing thoughts for our readers?
<i>I think we’re in really good times. Not necessarily economically, but in the soccer landscape. There was a time, 20 years ago, when I used to imagine, "What would it take for the game to really thrive here?" and what I thought was, stadiums modeled after what we see overseas, supporters groups modeled after those overseas, and visionary owners who were willing to lose a little bit of money in the short-term for the long-term vision of what would be more than just a niche sport.
To have what we have here in Vancouver, and all across North America, with these owners who are thinking ten years down the road of what will make this the best possible game? We should all feel very, very lucky.
What I’m hoping is that ten years from now, you and I will sit down and look back at these humble times and think, "Wow, remember when? How meager those days were back in 2012…" and how it’s going to grow from there. I have extreme gratitude that things have worked out it terms of how the universes have converged in the game and we in North America have teams to support that are going to be around for a while, and that every year it is going to get a little bit better and a little bit better, and that for the owners it will become a better business every year.</i>
Oh, Mr. Schaad, I would consider it an honour if you and I were to sit down together in a decade and reflect on the soccer landscape. A girl can dream…
<a href="http://www.teamradio.ca/on-air/whitecaps-fc-daily/" target="_blank"><b>Whitecaps FC Daily</b></a> airs Monday to Friday from 3pm-4pm on the Team 1410. If you can't catch it live, <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/TEAMRadio-WhitecapsFCDaily" target="_blank"><b>podcasts</b></a> are available daily. You can also listen as Pete provides the play-by-play of every Whitecaps match on Team 1410.
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