While the adults flocked to Bryan Namoff and other DC United players in attendance, the kids at Thursday night’s DC SCORES Soccer Ball rushed to the stage to meet the man serving as emcee. They just knew he was a “famous soccer player.” He looked familiar and they had seen him on TV.
Ironically, Ivan Carter, a well known sports show host, played many sports, but never soccer — unless you use the European term for the sport.
“Football was really my sport,” Carter admitted. “I was a wide receiver.”
The mistake didn’t deter the young fans, all members of the nation’s largest afterschool soccer and literacy program, from adopting Carter as their crush of the evening. “It’s all for the kids,” he said, suggesting that they might persuade him to kick around a bit after his duties were done.
*A version of this post is available on Niteside.
