Legendary Soccer America columnist Paul Gardner (The Simplest Game: The Intelligent Fan's Guide to the World of Soccer; Soccer Talk: Paul Gardner on Soccer) joins Tim Hanlon to wax nostalgic on his unlikely journey from fledgling British pharmacist to America’s most persistently influential soccer commentator. Gardner recounts the chaotic formation of the modern professional game in the US during the 1960s; recalls how ambitious sports entrepreneurs like the International Soccer League’s Bill Cox, and greedy corporate owners like the United Soccer Association’s Madison Square Garden were quickly chagrined by the machinations of soccer’s international governing body; describes how a complex Welsh-born, player-turned-NASL-commissioner curiously nudged him into national TV game commentating; remembers when he first recognized pro soccer had finally “arrived” in America (ironically, while out of the country); and suggests that a revised US corporate tax code may have helped hasten the demise of an already-wobbly NASL as the 1980s beckoned.

The Simplest Game: The Intelligent Fan's Guide to the World of Soccer - buy book here

Soccer Talk: Paul Gardner on Soccer - buy book here

Pelé: The Master & His Method - buy or rent digital video here

Pelé: The Master & His Method - buy DVD video here