“I have a big fantasy football trophy in my house of a fat guy sitting on the couch with slippers on, a beer in one hand and the remote in the other. It’s called the John. The armadillo puts it to shame. Fans want to hold it. Kids want to touch it. Maybe they should think about making the Stanley Cup, maybe the World Cup, an armadillo.” Bobby Boswell (Washington Post)
“Best. Trophy. Ever.” So trumpeted the Washington Post Monday, after their hometown D.C. United won the inaugural
ATX Pro Challenge tournament, hosted by the Austin Aztex last weekend at UT’s Mike Myers Stadium. About 25 D.C. “Screaming Eagle” fans – including the little guy pictured above, who was likely seeing his team for the very first time – cheered their team to wins over the Aztex on Friday, then FC Dallas in the final on Sunday. Then Austin native Bobby Boswell unleashed that awesome quote, above, to Post reporter Steven Goff. That got picked up as Soccer America‘s quote of the day, and so word continues to spread. I’m assured that the Armadillo is now headed back to D.C. United’s trophy case, to sit in the middle of the four MLS Cup trophies D.C. has won.
As for the Aztex, they lost to their affiliate Columbus Crew SC in the third-place game, but generally looked pretty solid, especially considering they’d only been practicing together for about 10 days.
This article appears in February 13 • 2015.