Ride Home Rants
Ride Home Rants
From Soccer Fields to Engineering Feats: Lucas Hegeman's Journey of Resilience and Equality in Sports
Lucas Hegeman joins us for a fascinating conversation about her dual pursuits in soccer and engineering, and her journey from her sports-centric upbringing in Maryland to becoming a semi-pro soccer player and research engineer. Her story is a testament to resilience and perseverance, as she navigated the competitive landscape of youth soccer, overcame an ACL injury, and ultimately became a key player in the semi-pro leagues in Michigan. Lucas's experiences offer unique insights into the interconnectedness of life, with unexpected reunions and shared histories that underscore the smallness of our world.
Our chat takes a heartfelt turn as Lucas shares anecdotes from her lively family and we explore the broader themes of equality and injustice in sports, shedding light on the financial and structural challenges faced by women's teams. Lucas offers a candid look at the disparities in treatment and recognition, drawing parallels with the comedy world where exposure often comes with little financial support. Her reflections spur a call for change and recognition of talent across fields.
In the final segment, we shift gears to the thrill of fast-paced sports formats like indoor soccer and mini football, drawing parallels with the excitement of hockey. Traveling adventures and international competitions highlight the camaraderie and spirit that define these experiences, despite the logistical challenges they sometimes entail. Lucas's perspectives enrich our appreciation for the sports world, and leave listeners with plenty of thought-provoking ideas and engaging stories to mull over.
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Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast. This is, as always, your host, mike Bono. I have a great guest for us today, but first and foremost, the Ride Home Rants podcast is brought to you by Buddy's Beard Care. Buddy's Beard Care provides premium men's grooming products at an affordable price. Products are made in Ohio and Buddy's Beard Care supports local. The majority of their supplies are from other Ohio-based companies and you can find them on social media at Buddy's Beard Care or online at buddiesbeardcarecom. If you use the promo code Bono15, he will save you 15% off of your purchases. I've been using these products for coming up almost on, I think, eight, nine months now. These products are phenomenal. My beard has never felt healthier, it has never grown faster and, according to my wife, it has never felt softer. So again, buddiesbeardcarecom promo code Bono15. Also, it is brought to you by former guest of the show and Matt Lando Landowski and Sweet Hand Sports.
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Speaker 1:And, lastly, it is brought to you by Deemed Fit. Deemed Fit is a clothing company from first responders for first responders. This is to help first responders with their mental and physical health. All of the proceeds are going to that great cause. This especially, is for those first responders who worked during COVID and all those trying times, so we are trying to help them out. I am anything supporting those people. Deemedfitco. Use the promo code Mike Bono and you will save 20%. That being said, my guest today. She comes to us from I believe she's in Youngstown, ohio now. She's going to correct me if I'm wrong, but Lucas Hegeman joins the show and she's brought to us. She brought to us by a former guest of the show, andrea, and we love when other guests can bring us guests. So, lucas, thank you for joining.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, and I'm actually living in Akron Ohio. I just play soccer in Youngstown you play soccer.
Speaker 1:I knew I had, we were close, we were right there.
Speaker 2:Close enough, it's only an hour.
Speaker 1:It's only an hour and drive time. You know I'm a comedian, I drive a lot, so that an hour for me is like a home game for me.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I work an hour away. So I work in Cleveland and then I play in Youngstown, but I live in Akron, so an hour everywhere.
Speaker 1:You pick right in between those two cities, not even on purpose. Not even. Well, hey, sometimes things just work right.
Speaker 2:They do, yes, they do.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So yeah, akron is where she is from. And you know, lucas, tell everyone a little bit about yourself. So where are you from? And you know, like, where did you go to school and all that other stuff?
Speaker 2:So I am originally from Maryland. I think it's a cult of the state, but it is my favorite state and I stand by that with every ounce of my being. So from Maryland, Western part, like right next to West Virginia played soccer since I could probably walk. My parents both coached college sports. Dad did soccer, men's side, mom did hockey, but like nobody does hockey, so that wasn't going to happen. So played soccer since we could walk. I have two sisters, um. And then we all played at the same high school mountain rich high school, um.
Speaker 2:And then I went on and played at slippy rock in pennsylvania for two years and then my coach came to akron and offered me a full scholarship. So I followed her to Akron. So I finished out my two years, or my four years, of playing at Akron and my little sister played at Maryland for all four years and my older sister played at the university that my parents worked at, FSU Frostbrook State. So after playing in college I went on to play semi-pro up in Michigan for a year. Then I went back to school, got my engineering degree and now I am a research engineer. I work for the University of Akron as a contractor at NASA up in Cleveland.
Speaker 1:You have quite the extensive background. That is amazing.
Speaker 2:Oh, and I forgot, I also used to teach. I was a teacher. I was a math teacher for a year.
Speaker 1:Why not? What else do we have here, Lucas?
Speaker 2:I never played any other sport because I can't do any other sport. I got you Golfing I swing it like a other sport. I got you Golfing I swing it like a baseball bat. It's not, it's not possible. I don't know how people do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I took a golf class when I was in college at Bethany, mainly because it counted as my PE credit. I didn't think I'd have to have a fricking PE credit in college, but I did at Bethany. So I was like I'm gonna take a golf class, I get to get up at 8 am and go to the driving range for class. Horrible, I mean, I wasn't happy about that.
Speaker 2:But yeah, when I was at slippery rock I had a. I was working on a minor in coaching so I got to take, like, a fitness class. I took a dancing dancing class. I took a gymnastics class, like is this what college is about? Yeah, it's fun. And I finished with math. That wasn't as fun.
Speaker 1:I mean I enjoy math. I mean me and math don't get along. I use math every day for my day job, but you know it just, we don't get along at all.
Speaker 1:Me and English don't get along we don't get along at all, like, even if you don't get along, yep, I wish I'm a comedian and me in english don't get along. My wife is like the grammar police, like if I, if I say anything wrong, like she'll just go excuse me and she'll keep saying excuse me until I say it correctly, like if I don't even realize I'm saying. Like she has growing up in west virginia. I don't know why, but ain't is a word that we use a lot, probably a word. It's not a word. I know it's not a word. Everybody knows it's not a word. I know. But you know I don't. I didn't even realize I used it as much as I did until I met my wife and she's beaten that word out of me almost literally, like it's just because every time I would say it, excuse me, excuse me. And it's just like, okay, I don't realize I'm saying it. And yeah, you don't realize how much you say something until it's constantly brought to your attention.
Speaker 2:Yes, I like the word like, like yeah. As a teacher. My professor said stop saying it. I still use it.
Speaker 1:I have a tendency, and it's just a filler, and I've probably done it already a bunch of times during this show.
Speaker 2:Here is um um, um is a big one.
Speaker 1:And it wasn't until I got into comedy and I started watching clips of myself and hearing and starting saying me going um, uh, um it was like you know what I get it?
Speaker 1:That makes me sound so dumb and I get I'm a comedian going um, um, um. And I was like you know what I get it? That makes me sound so dumb and I get I'm a comedian, but you know it's just a filler Like, and I don't realize I'm doing it. So that has helped a lot. I think. Um there, it is right there, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's one of those fillers that right as my teaching professors, just take a breath. But um no, take a breath.
Speaker 1:I don't want to breathe right now. I don't want to breathe, I want to talk I, you would think I. I have a communications communications degree in broadcast and journalism and I had to take a lot of public speaking classes, would you believe. Like they never really brought that to our attention in class. It's a public speaking class.
Speaker 1:If they did, I don't remember it. I don't know if I missed that class or something, just tuned it out, or yeah, I don't remember it. I don't know if I was, I missed that class or something, but but or yeah, we're just. You know, I don't do that. Yeah, yeah, we're fine, but yeah, it's. I don't remember being taught in class. It probably was, uh, but I mean, I'm almost. I graduated from college in 2012, so yeah, you know, showing my age a little bit more and more as this show goes along, uh, I was just about to graduate high school okay, yeah, it's fun yeah, no, you know my, my 15 year.
Speaker 1:he does that enough to make me feel old, but you have quite the soccer background. I want to talk about that a little bit. You said a little bit you played it for, basically since you could walk. But take us through a little bit more of your soccer background. I know you said you played some semi-pro, but take us through a little bit more of your soccer background.
Speaker 2:I know you said you played some semi pro, but take us through a little bit of that, yeah. So, like I said, since I could walk, uh, my dad with him being a college coach on the men's side, he knew fricking everybody in there, um, in the soccer community. So where I'm from, like I said, it's close to West Virginia there was no like club teams, uh, there wasn't much soccer at all. So, um, growing up, starting probably sixth, seventh grade, we started traveling. My sisters and I, we started traveling downstate Um, so I was also a goalkeeper, so I was gone.
Speaker 2:I had practiced five nights a week and I played in Frederick, uh, which is about two, two and a half hours away from our house. Um, one way, um, but I wouldn't get to stay home one night a week because my mom said you need a day off to do your homework. Okay, I got it. So I was the closest, believe it or not, playing of my sisters. My older sister played in baltimore, which from our house is about three hours, and then my younger sister played in bethesda, which is about four hours. Yeah. So we said mom, dad, did you want to be home tonight? Because that's not going to happen.
Speaker 2:Oh, you also wanted money. This is one like gas was almost five dollars, I think. Like okay, yeah, so that's the thing. And then I really took to it. So I want to say eighth, maybe seventh grade. I wasn't just playing club, I was playing on the odp, uh, which is the olympic development program for younger kids. Uh, it was a very eye-opening experience on kind of how political us soccer is. So I was on odp for three years. Uh, they have a camp at the middle beginning of summer where all of region, one which is like the upper east, upper west, and you have all the regions in the U S so all of those states would go together.
Speaker 2:And my first year I was on the national pool and I got hurt and then I never made the pool after that Gotcha. But I was not to be that person. But I was definitely better than the other girl that went with us from Maryland and she got picked. So I was a little annoyed at that so I kind of dipped out of ODP but nonetheless I still played soccer, played through college, Like I said, went to Slippery Rock, Frase B love that school. We'll go down saying that that's my favorite school ever. And then went to Akron, Just going to leave it at that.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:After Akron I went and played semi-pro in Michigan. So in between those two times I tore my ACL so I had about a year of recovery. In between that I was trying to go professionally overseas and play.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And I got recruited. However, I was needed to be there for preseason in April, but I wasn't there till May, so I missed the window in which I could have joined the team and being a goalkeeper. It's very specific when you can kind of make those teams, because there's only two or three on that team.
Speaker 1:I was just saying, is there like certain times, like I know, like with the NF or the major league baseball, like pitchers and catchers report to spring training times? Like I know, like with the or the Major League Baseball, like pitchers and catchers report to spring training like a month before everybody else?
Speaker 2:so is that the? Same thing, like with okay, no, it's just like positionally. It's much harder for a goalkeeper. If you miss this window for a team, you're not going to make it, because that's just the way the soccer world is with positions and goalkeepers. They're so selective because there's so few on a team where, like defenders, there's four that play on the field, so you really need like eight or ten players on the bench so we can swap those out.
Speaker 2:So right and that makes one goalkeeper stays the entire game, so defenders can come in and out.
Speaker 2:Goalkeepers you're, you're there right so I missed my window, unfortunately, uh. But then my best friend, sam, was like hey, I'm joining the team in michigan, you should come up and play, thinking I was just going to be bottom string, a practice player, no big deal. Got to Michigan and tried out and they're like you didn't tell us that she was good, like, good, good. So I went from having this expectation of just being like this bench player playing with a whole bunch of college girls. I'll be a practice player, get me active, and then I end up playing every single game that works for me, that works in my favor.
Speaker 1:I think you can handle that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was like fine. We lost I think every game, but it was. I had some great saves man.
Speaker 1:I could relate, but it was, I had some. I had some great saves man I I can relate a little bit uh to your story there. I swam from the time I I could swim like my mom taught me how to swim by literally just pushing me into the pool, throwing you in and he's going to sink or he's going to swim. And I earned a scholarship to college to swim.
Speaker 2:That's impressive.
Speaker 1:Went to Bethany College. But rewind a little bit, my senior year of high school. I also played football because I thought that was you know what I wanted to do. All my friends played football. Because I thought that was you know what I wanted to do. All my friends played football. I was like you were saying you thought you were going to be in Michigan, that practice player, that just kind of I got in sparingly on like some special teams but ended up separating my shoulder. My senior year of high school, here's. Here's. The problem is I didn't realize I had did it. It was the first day we had put pads on to hit sleds and start to get used to our pads. And I remember hitting a sled and I remember a burning sensation going down my arm and into my pinky and I said, oh, it's just a stinger, that's fine, that happens the first time you put pads on. I could still move my shoulder a little bit and it hurt, but I could still move it and turned out I played the entire season on a separated shoulder the
Speaker 1:whole season, all 10 games. Um, I in practice and I was, like I said, I was a special teamer so I was in on every scout team. I was getting just abused by our starters, like just trying to earn a spot on the team and played the whole season. Went to swim practice yeah, went to swim practice. After the season we made it to the first round of the playoffs and then got absolutely destroyed in the first round of the playoffs, but it was the first time we'd made the playoffs in like seven years. So that was yeah, it was a step in the right direction for the football program. Went to swim practice, did my stroke and my shoulder and my arm kind of got stuck while I was swimming.
Speaker 2:There's that drowning yeah.
Speaker 1:Trainer looked at it afterwards and he was like you should probably go get an x-ray on that. He goes. Something doesn't feel right to me. He goes, but I can't diagnose this. Okay, so drove home, told my parents I was like we got to go to the ER. The trainer seems to think there's something wrong with my shoulder and get the x-ray separate his shoulder. And he was like how much pain have you been in? I was like I mean, I mean my shoulder hurt. But I know I was just got off a football season. I just thought it was aches and pains from being abused by the starters for 11 weeks straight.
Speaker 2:And he was like no, no, you had some serious damage done to your shoulder.
Speaker 1:At this time, I had had five D1 offers, one of which was my dream school in West Virginia University, where I wanted to go. I'm a huge WVU fan. Another one was Akron, believe it or not?
Speaker 2:Oh really. Well, I know they have a very good swimming program, I know that, and so everybody.
Speaker 1:Once they found out that I had to forego my senior swim season because of a separated shoulder, all of those scholarships went away, except for one, and that was Bethany College Division three. But I still got to swim.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and competitively. I don't care about division, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:It does. Yeah, divisions don't mean anything. People in my situation, I had five D1 offers from major colleges, yeah, and just because of an unfortunate injury, because I was an idiot and was like well, I put up with this coach's crap for three years, what's one more year? Football I could be a tackling dummy for one more year, did you? Have to get surgery on that believe it or not, physical therapy was was able to wow fix it.
Speaker 2:I figured after so long of an injury, you would need surgery.
Speaker 1:It kind of started to heal itself.
Speaker 2:Even if you're getting constantly bashed. That's incredible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my wife says I'm like Wolverine if you follow comic books. I don't know why or how, but I heal like nobody, like nobody's. Yeah, nobody can Like. Yeah, I'll get like a scratch on myself, but it, you know, a deep scratch or something like that from one of my cats or something like that, my wife will have that same scratch on her and it'll be there for like a month Mine is like two days and then it disappears.
Speaker 2:What? Yeah, you have to be. You have to have some mutant gene in you what?
Speaker 1:yeah, you have to be, you have to have some mutant gene in you. Yeah, I don't know what it is, but like I, I heal like nobody's business. Right really is. And yeah, my shoulder, basically it started to heal itself, albeit incorrectly because it was out of place, oh yeah, but they were like, well, we'd either have to re-break it to get surgery to realign it, or we can go to physical therapy.
Speaker 1:Try that route. Build up the muscles around it so that this is now your new shoulder. I was like I like that one where I don't have to get cut into and re-break my shoulder that I didn't know was broken to begin with. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:So yeah.
Speaker 1:I was an animal in my teen years.
Speaker 2:Listen, teen boys, they were something else, Something else.
Speaker 1:But so back to college, and I actually had it was my sophomore year of bethany swimming I had had a recruiter from nike and speedo that were there to watch me swim for the 2012 Olympic trials. Wow, oddly enough that same meet.
Speaker 2:During the 100 backstroke I re-blew out the same shoulder. I knew you were going to say something horrible like that. I knew it.
Speaker 1:I can relate when you were saying you had that Olympic hope and then something happened and it was taken away from you and, oddly enough, like I, I still. You know, that day is still ingrained permanently a little bit. Yeah.
Speaker 2:To where I am right now is. I would have taken that pass.
Speaker 1:Right, absolutely. I probably wouldn't be podcasting right now.
Speaker 2:I would still be climbing. I mean swimming.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:There's a fire station close to our house and it's just going off.
Speaker 1:Oh no, you're fine. I literally live diagonally from a fire station.
Speaker 2:I might look off the lake.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the siren goes off constantly. But I remember my coach coming up to me right after that race and was like, do you want to know what your splits were? Because he saw me hit the wall when it happened and just slowed out. And I was like, quite frankly, I don't want to talk to anybody right now, If you don't mind, he goes well. Had you not slowed down at that one point, you would have broken the school's backstroke record by a full second. You think now's the best time to tell me this coach? We really think this is the best time. And, oh, it took everything at me Not to just blast him. They're like, it's like.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh yeah.
Speaker 1:So went over to the recruiters Cause I knew they were there to see me, shook their hands and they could kind of see that I was favoring my shoulder and they saw what happened. Obviously they go. So what happened? They go. Don't sugarcoat it. What happened? I went. Well, I blew out my shoulder. I can tell you that I know what that feels like. It happened before. I thought I had it. It fixed. Apparently I did not. They go well. Unfortunately we cannot take a risk on somebody swimming with a bad shoulder. I was like thanks for driving to the middle of nowhere, west Virginia.
Speaker 2:Literally, literally.
Speaker 1:To go and watch me swim and yeah, it would have literally taken surgery in like a two-year recovery time that's what I was wondering if surgery would happen, that one it would have been surgery at that point and then a two-year recovery time. Uh, so missed the rest of my sophomore year and basically told the coach like you know, swimming's just not the cards for me anymore so schooling it is, I guess.
Speaker 1:I guess I'm here to be a student and not just a student. I understand the frustration with that, so, like that was. I know that was a very long drawn out, uh it's okay way to get there.
Speaker 1:But I definitely, definitely understand that and I know we talked about this earlier, but you know, you know, uh andrea, uh, former guests of the show. I never said her last name because I always butcher it and I hate it. Uh, because she's a fellow paison like me and I hate butchering those. But, um, how did, how did you and andrea meet and take us through a little bit about uh, youtube?
Speaker 2:um, so andrea and I met just playing rec league soccer. Um so kind of just quick backtrack. Uh, right after I played in michigan, I came back to school in akron, um, and while I was here one of my friends was like, hey, we play soccer rec league uh, wednesday nights, come play. I said, great, I'll be there, played there for who knows how long Andrea was playing there as well, and so her and I I mean I wouldn't say we really talked much, we play against each other a lot, but talent recognizes talent, talent recognizes talent. And so, uh, we just kind of started chatting and uh became acquaintances on the field.
Speaker 2:And then one thing led to another, with her starting, uh, this youngstown nighthawks semi-pro league, and she kind of reached out to me, and so did my friend erica, who's also on the rec league teams and the night house, and like, hey, come try out, like we could really use it. You know more players with talent, so you should come out. And so that's, that was last year. So I guess I've known andrew for about three years plus or minus, you know half a year season. But just through soccer the world is smaller than I think it is every time.
Speaker 1:Like I know you, I know you too yeah, I I get that world being smaller than you think uh moved two hours away from West Virginia in Ohio, a little town, it's a little village Actually, it's still 500 people and yeah, near Columbus, and, oddly enough, ran into somebody I knew down here recently and it blows my wife's mind. She's like how many people do you know? Like how do you know something we don't? We moved two hours away from where we're from and you found a way to find somebody you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, lately I have been making a lot of really random connections. Yeah, so the one of the girls that I played club with growing up, I, we just randomly were playing on the same outdoor team this summer and then I'm trying to get her to come play at night box, having seen her talk to her since we graduated high school yeah and then andrea played with one of the girls that I went to high school with, um, so I was like that's a weird small world, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then the trainer that's now at bethany played at west liberty, who, andrea, and my friend lexi, who andrea knows, know of her. I was like that's a weird small world. I don't know if I love it or hate it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's weird. I've traveled a lot, I've done stand-up comedy for 12 years and it's, you know, you run into people that you don't realize and you know if I get an out-of-state gig or anything like that, I'm just running into somebody and it's like, don't I know you? And it turns out I do like, and it's weird, and it it drives my wife. She's like we come from a small town one, and you find a way to know somebody no matter where we're at. Yeah, I was like yeah, it's just the the downfall of having a very large italian family that could also be it there's.
Speaker 1:There's 16 of us in my immediate family, that's mom, dad, sisters, uh, grandparents grandparents and uncles and 16 of us a lot, so holidays are fun, holidays are fun.
Speaker 2:I bet.
Speaker 1:I had to prep my wife the first time she was meeting my family. Like I come from a very full-blooded Italian family, it's going to be very loud. Just get that out the way. I come from a very full-blooded Italian family. It's going to be very loud.
Speaker 2:Just get that out, the way now.
Speaker 1:It's going to be very loud. There's going to be 17 different conversations going on all at once. You're not going to know which one you're in, but just answer. Move on Also everyone. It doesn't matter that this is the first time they're meeting you.
Speaker 2:They're going to hug and kiss you, just so you're you're getting a hug and you're getting a kiss. I'm just letting you know that now it's yes, I come from a hugger family too yeah, she's like I'm not really a huggy type of I was like well, you're gonna learn today um it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether you like it or not, you're doing it.
Speaker 1:You're going into a paison house. There's no such thing as I'm not going to hug you and kiss you on the cheek. That's not going to happen. Like so, deal with it and again we'll move on. We'll talk about it in the car on the way home, like that's, you'll be fine, I promise you won't die yeah she's learned to accept it. Now, you, you know, almost a decade later, she's learned to accept it.
Speaker 2:Now she looks forward. It's still one of those like okay, hi.
Speaker 1:At first she was still like okay, but now she just looks forward to the bear hug that my dad gives her every time he sees her.
Speaker 2:That's great. We love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but yeah. So it's just a small world. But I don't think you'll know this, but you just recently played overseas this fall in a big soccer event.
Speaker 2:Is that correct? Yes, october 7th is when we went over. We played in Croatia.
Speaker 1:How did that go?
Speaker 2:We won. We won. It was um, it was an experience, um. So it was with the U S uh mini football team. So we're just like a national team for the U S um, except we are our own federation. So there's the US Soccer Federation, which has the Alex Morgan, megan Rapinoe that team, the now younger team Trinity Rodman, sophia Smith and them. So that's in the US Soccer Federation and we're in the US Mini Football Federation. So it's, I think, indoor size, 5v 66, small sided, no walls outdoor. So it's just small sided soccer, okay small size soccer.
Speaker 1:That is our second world cup.
Speaker 2:Uh, so we won our very first one, and then we are returning champs, so we're back-to-back champions. Uh, for the world cup for the mini uh football federation. So that was, it was very exciting.
Speaker 2:Um, after the knee blowout and professional career kind of tanked uh, I mean, I haven't stopped playing and I've been training my butt off. I joined a goalkeeper Academy in Hudson and I trained two days a week Like I'm I was like I'm working my butt off do this. So I trained and we and we ended up winning. We played Mexico in the finals, we went into PKs and we won Nice. That was exciting.
Speaker 1:That's a very exciting match.
Speaker 2:It was an intense match too. It was fun. It was fun, but there was a lot of logistics that definitely need to be fixed, especially on the women's side, like prime example. So on the way home so we won the cup, we had 10 minutes to celebrate on the field and then we were shooed off. Had to get to the cup. We had 10 minutes to celebrate on the field and then we were shooed off. Had to get to the hotel we had 10,. We had 15 minutes in the hotel to gather our stuff and get back on the bus. On the bus, we shared it with Mexico, the team we just beat in the final. So they were in the front of the bus and then we're in the back of the bus. We haven't had anything to eat since like 2 pm. Our game was at four. There was no food provided on the bus, except for like a couple apples, right and again, mexico's in the front and we're in the back.
Speaker 2:We can't celebrate because, like we're not a-holes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean like we were, but like.
Speaker 1:Not to the extent that you wanted to celebrate.
Speaker 2:Right, right, very, very limited. So we left the hotel at whatever time and we're on an island of Croatia, so from where we were we had to get to a ferry port and then ferried across and then we had to drive to the airport. We had to leave early for a Mexico player who had a flight at six.
Speaker 1:So all this was because of one player.
Speaker 2:On the other team. Yeah, so we left early to get to the ferry port. They said we had to be there by 9 30. We got there at 8 25. We just missed the 8 30 ferry. There was no 9 30 here, so we were there for two hours from 8 30 to 10 30. We haven't eaten. Some of us still had champagne in our hair, like the ferry port had. Like a cafe. It wasn't open ah, even better like.
Speaker 2:So none of us have eaten. We're starting to go stir crazy. We're playing like ninja and learning self-defense techniques by one of our players who that's what she does. So that's what we were learning for two hours. Then we get on the ferry and very limited snacks. So we still haven't eaten and then we get eaten.
Speaker 2:And then we get back on the bus. We can't stop anywhere because we have to get to the airport. We get to the airport it's like 2.30 am, still haven't eaten, some of us still haven't showered fully, so we get to the airport. We can't even get into our hotel until 8 30 the next morning, so we end up sleeping in the in the airport lobby like four to five hours. This sucks. We haven't stretched like, we're all like crammed up, we just played a game. It was raining. This is not well planned, so that was, that was an adventure. But luckily the like airport cafe breakfast place open at six 30. So those of us that didn't sleep and were starving got some food.
Speaker 1:As soon as it opened.
Speaker 2:As soon as they opened, like there was like four or five of us, they just kind of meandered over there would have been no meandering for me.
Speaker 1:I'd have been knocking people out of my way to get some food, it was he made or not. You're getting out of my way, yeah it was a, it was an adventure.
Speaker 2:It was an adventure, it was an adventure and I got. I'm going to say I was in the lucky boat. So instead of traveling, you know, as like a team, we had two different travel groups. So one group had to fly out that later that day, so they didn't get to go back to the hotel, they didn't get to show up, they just stayed at the airport and left at noon.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And they got all the way home. The other group, which is my group we went to the hotel and we got to sleep and then we didn't leave till Sunday, okay, so you got to rest a little bit, shower yeah. Yeah, but at the same time I was like okay, but the rest of the team isn't here, so it's not like we can all celebrate together. So it's just kind of like a a weird situation but I mean, I was lucky that I got to shower and pick it up in an actual bed.
Speaker 2:so I don't know who was the lucky bit people that got to go home or people I got to stay?
Speaker 1:That's a coin flip, you know. It's like I'll just be home, it's fine, whatever, they'll throw some peanuts at me on the plane, I'll eat something, and then we'll call it a night, and then I'll be home and I can eat whatever I want. And then, on the other hand, it's like I am just disgusting from playing a game and not getting to fully shower being covered in champagne and not eating.
Speaker 2:Uh, yes, so yeah, I'm gonna do that right. Like it was such a coin flip, it was such a weird, weird time, but in terms of logistics as in, it was an adventure that's the best way to describe it that's.
Speaker 1:It was an adventure. I mean, I've had some bad travel experiences, like I've traveled all over the mid east and the east coast doing comedy for 12 years and I've stayed at some places where it's just like just gonna go and check out. Now I know I just checked in, I'll risk the drive home and stop at a rest stop if I have to and curl up in the back of my truck. Done that before. Yep, and I mean the one that pops the mind for me is I was driving from West Virginia, where I was at the time, to Illinois to do a show.
Speaker 1:Well, the booker, uh, screwed everything up. I was told hotel is going to be logic is going to be part of your package. You'll get there. You're getting x amount in pay. It was garbage pay because I was very early into my career and, yeah, you know I still work a day job so. But you know I had a day job but it was like all right, I at least have some time, I can grab a couple hours of sleep head home and I'll still be able to. Wasn't enough for me to get a hotel and come out to the positives yep so it was like all right, we're driving home.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, yeah, and I I grabbed a couple uh monsters and just chugged it all the way home and to this day, like it was one of those shows where, like again you know, food was supposed to be provided, it wasn't uh. Lodging was supposed to be provided it wasn't uh. So on the way home I found a place that was open at like 2 am and it was just at a little like truck stop. I didn't.
Speaker 1:I needed to get some gas, so I was like let's see, let's see what the hell they have in here to eat anything yeah to this day, I have no idea what I ate.
Speaker 2:It was just one of those things that was on one of those rollers where they have the hot dogs.
Speaker 1:I don't like them. It's at like 2 am. I was starving.
Speaker 2:You were risking it.
Speaker 1:I was starving and I was just like I just need to eat something I just need food in me to make it the rest of this drive home. The monster is just making my skin crawl. I need to eat something to get her and to this day, I still have no idea what I ate. Yeah, that's the, that's the bad side of comedy that nobody sees. Like they're like oh, you get to work like an hour a day. Isn't that great?
Speaker 1:no, it's not no, I'm doing other stuff, you don't see the garbage garbage we deal with at the beginning of our careers and just, yeah the crap, pay it. Like, like I said, like well yeah have you had any of that? Well, like your your soccer career and you know playing, like you know just like.
Speaker 2:Oh well, you're new to this and it's technically an amateur, so this is what we're gonna do well, right, so I've never been played paid to play, right, everything I've done is semi-pro, so, right, I don't I'm not supposed to pay anything to play, but I have been paying to play like it's a, it's a weird dynamic right, like the semi-pro on the men's side is, you know, you still get paid a little bit. It's not nearly what they get paid, but you know they give like a little. You get a little something, right, for us we get nothing. There are certain teams, um, in Cincinnati and maybe Columbus backwards, right, they get paid $20, $30 a game. We still don't get paid anything, right, and I'm I'm hoping that we can grow the whole women's side much more to be able to accommodate that. And have you know, all teams be able to pay their players.
Speaker 2:But even going back to the U S team, we were promised $75 or whatever it was a day, and I'm not the only one. That was new. We had a lot of returning players and this was the same case previously. They were promised, you know, x amount per day and they've never paid, so right. So I'm going in thinking, hey, I'm like it's not, it's not a lot of money, but like it is compensation for saying that I'm going to be representing the U? S on a national level. You know, here's some compensation Right and we didn't get anything and it's like, uh, there's something happening that's not quite right.
Speaker 2:And I think the hardest part of that whole situation was our coaching staff. We had like six coaches there we don't need that many to start off. And then, secondly, three of them are professional indoor men's players, and the whole time they're saying, well, we wouldn't have to do this. Well, we wouldn't have to do this. Or like, well, we wouldn't have to do this. Well, we wouldn't have to do this. Or like, well, we'll make sure you get this. Or well, we get paid, we get this. You know, I don't have to do this. Okay, great, but that's not our reality. Right? We had to pay our own suitcase fee, like that's a hundred dollars to get our suitcase overseas.
Speaker 2:And so the one, the one coach, is like oh, I bring as much as I can, cause I don't have to pay anything, like we had to pay for it.
Speaker 2:So we can't bring whatever we want, cause again, I always bring like three or four pairs of boots and this and that, like we, we, we had to fit everything into that. We didn't get paid and we didn't get to celebrate, and it was, I'm hoping it was an eyeopening experience for the men's players to see that the women, we, do not get the same treatment in the in the least regard. So, yes, I understand your frustration with the limited day. I mean, right, like we won the World Cup twice and there's still no compensation for it. I'm just confused and our travel was very under. Yeah, like it was kind of an eye-opening experience. I wouldn't trade it for the world and I'm going to, if I get the opportunity, to keep playing um with the team, but I would like to see them change, especially since you know we've seen these men players that said they would never do that. Well, if you're going to be a part of our women's side, you can make that change.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're going to need to make some changes and make it right for y'all. I think we froze you here, lucas Me, there you are Okay, I was like oh, here, lucas Me, there you are Okay.
Speaker 2:I was like oh no, something happened.
Speaker 1:No, the wonderful age of technology and what we deal with here with these Zoom interviews so much fun. Yeah, I mean, I definitely understand that and you know I still get a 12-year veteran in comedy Comedy. Yeah, and I still have bookers that are. Like I said, I live in Ohio. I had one email me the other day Feature needed in Whitewood, south Dakota. Pays $150, no lodging.
Speaker 2:Excuse me, lodging is $150.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a plane ticket to frickin', south Dakota isn't $150 round trip.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I don't care if I'm available.
Speaker 1:No, oh, but the exposure that you're gonna get, dude, I've been doing this 12 years right they.
Speaker 2:I feel like that's people's trying to like look what the exposure I'm like okay, but I need to see the reflection of that exposure Right and I'm not. So it's not worth it if I'm paying in the pocket, if you have to pay majority of that trip out of pocket that trip would be a loss. The exposure is going to turn over like that, yeah.
Speaker 1:That'd be a loss for me to do that Now. If he said, okay, I have Whitewood, south Dakota, that's 150 bucks. This town that's right next to it is another. The next day, 150 bucks and you make it worth my while and string a couple of shows together for a couple of days and I'm out there and I get paid X. I'm cool with that. I'll make it work.
Speaker 1:Right, right, I'm cool with that, I'll make it work. I won't say the name of it, but I work as a day job for a rental car company. I can get a car easily when I'm there and I can get it on the cheap because I'm an employee. So just make it make sense. Make it make sense is make it make sense. Yes, and you know, it's just my, it's the running joke and the, I guess, tagline for me.
Speaker 1:And it's stupid, should hurt. And you know, I just, I don't, I, I just want somebody to like, when they do something stupid, to stub their toe and bend their little toe 90 degrees the wrong direction, like I just want you to feel something because like, oh, I did something stupid, so now I shouldn't do that. It's like the little kid uh mentality don't touch the stove, it's hot. Don't touch the stove, it's hot. You know what? Touch it, see what happens. Yep, hurt. Probably shouldn't do that. Huh, yeah, wait, let's not do that again. Okay, moving on next thing, okay, so, yeah, yeah on the same page, right like there's again.
Speaker 2:Right, we made it, we got a promise, didn't follow the promise. Right, what's gonna happen?
Speaker 1:nothing to them, unfortunately, but it's like come on now right and lucas I, I feel like I could sit here and talk to you all day. We are running down near the end of the episode here. Um, I just looked at the time. I was like, wow, we've been talking for almost an hour, uh, so I'd like to talk.
Speaker 1:It's unfortunate sometimes it's fine where you're on the show that has rant in the name, like it's. It's fine. We do have one more segment to get in here. Um, I never bring this up with any guests. Uh, you've listened to the show. I'm sure you know it, but it is the fast 55. Five random questions from the wonderful manager of the podcast, johnny fitty falconi. We haven't got to do this segment in a while because we've been doing a lot of roundtable, so I'm really excited to bring it back. These are kind of rapid fire, but you could elaborate if you need to, because some of these questions from him are phenomenal.
Speaker 2:So if you're ready, lucas, I'm ready when you are Fire away.
Speaker 1:Oh, he's starting off easy for you. When you travel, do you prefer to stay at a in a hotel or a bed and breakfast or an airbnb?
Speaker 2:depending on where I travel, but typically a hotel more comfortable gotcha.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm with you. I'll tell all day, every day. Uh is writing with a pen or pencil better.
Speaker 2:Depends on what I'm doing. If it's for math pencil, always.
Speaker 1:Other than that pen. Okay, Should you check the mail first thing in the morning or at night?
Speaker 2:At night when I get home. Yeah, who checks?
Speaker 1:it in the morning. Sociopaths.
Speaker 2:Question number four Is macaroni salad or potato salad better Macaroni. I don't like potato salad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, different about both of them, but you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 2:And last but not least, what's one word to describe fall? One word to describe fall Beautiful, okay.
Speaker 1:Beautiful. He took it so easy on you. I'm just letting you know that that was the fast 55.
Speaker 2:Oh, now I got a whole bunch of them.
Speaker 1:They're all coming to you now, yeah.
Speaker 2:I wasn't expecting harder questions. Those are pretty easy.
Speaker 1:Those are pretty easy, but normally he comes up with like these off the wall questions.
Speaker 2:That's what I was expecting.
Speaker 1:I've known Fitty since college. We both went to Bethany together and he would come out even then and this kind of where we came up with this segment like he would come up to be like all right, bought up, so you're locked in a racquetball court. It's you, con McGregor, and a gorilla you have a nunchucks, a stick of dynamite and a thumb tax. Who comes out alive Like Ooh, like. Those types of questions are what goes through this man's head, wow, every day.
Speaker 2:I think I listened to one of the podcasts and you did this with one of them and I was like, oh, I was expecting it was more off the wall questions. So that's what I was kind of expecting.
Speaker 1:We haven't done it. Like I said, we've we've had a lot of round tables and, uh, multiple guests where we can't get that segment in on their shows, sure, uh, so we do it at the beginning and we ask them all like weird questions when we start our round tables, um, like, introduce yourself.
Speaker 1:We love that segment. We talk about a couple serious things on this show and it's like what's a fun way we could just end the show, yeah. But one other thing I want to do for you here is I give every guest this opportunity when they come on the show. If there's anything you want to get out there, anything we didn't get to get in at the end of the show here that you want to promote, get out there. Or even if it's just a good message, I'm going to give you about a minute and the floor is yours.
Speaker 2:Well, first I just want to say thank you so much for having me on the show. Like I've talked about pretty much most of this podcast, but come out, support your local women's soccer facilities. We have the Youngstown Nighthawks that's who Andrea and I play for and we're always looking for fans people that just help support what we're doing and raising awareness that there are women's sports out there, and we're always looking for help. But other than that, I just really appreciate being out here and talking. I love talking.
Speaker 1:No worries, we appreciate you having you on here. I know we were supposed to do this interview like weeks ago, but life happens so I'm glad we got you on here. I'm glad we can get this in. I'm glad to sit talk with you. Uh, phenomenal to talk to. Uh, everyone. Go out, support women's soccer. If you have a local club, team or whatever it is, go out and support them. Um, I never used to be the biggest fan of soccer. I've gotten into it, uh, lately.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you that watch indoor and watch mini football. It's so much more exciting than large-sided because there's walls and people. Head of my hockey I like that.
Speaker 1:Um for sure, um, I'm a huge hockey fan.
Speaker 2:Follow the MASL and the MASLW. That's where it's more hockey like.
Speaker 1:MASL. I will definitely check that out for sure, but that is going to do it for this week's episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast. I want to thank my guest, lucas, again for coming on. This was a lot of fun to get to talk to you. As always, if you enjoyed the show, be a friend, tell a friend. If you didn't tell them anyways, they might like it just because you didn't. That's going to do it for me and I will see y'all next week.
