Zero Degrees of Separation
I was walking home one early evening when my friend, John, called me. John calling me is not out of the ordinary. We talk every morning unless one of us can’t talk, then we talk in the evening. Our topics vary. The primer is usually the Milwaukee Bucks, the Green Bay Packers or the local soccer news. Then we dive into our friends, politics and anything out of the ordinary. We don’t always agree, but we never fight.
On this occasion John was bewildered by a meeting with a client that just ended. John is the President or CEO or CFO or COO or COD or CUD or the Big Honcho of Keeper Goals. They make and custom design athletic facility equipment. Because they do custom work, they get some interesting requests. The customer who visited that day was creating a hybrid soccer goal, which rises out of the ground called the Goalpher. Keeper Goals was designing the prototype. The customer was excited, I mean really excited. He called John consistently and sent numerous videos of how he envisioned his goal working. John liked the quirky and enthusiastic guy, and the idea, enough to give it a try. “He might be more excited about his idea than anyone I’ve ever worked with,” John told me.
The guy flew in from out of state to meet John for the first time. “He’s a really nice guy and smart,” John said. “And he seemed really pumped about coming to Milwaukee. When he walked into our shop, though, it was completely weird. I recognized him immediately from the videos he sent me, but he also had another guy filming him as he talked into a camera: “I landed about an hour ago and I’m just arriving at Keeper Goals now. They’re going to design my new goal.” Why would someone film that? Then I started getting all these texts from people asking why he was there.”
“What?” I didn’t quite understand.
“Yeah. They were texting stuff like, “Why didn’t you tell me he was going to be there?” and “Ask him about Jurgen Klopp” and “Next time he comes invite me over.”
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know? You don’t know his name?
“It’s Kyle.”
“That’s it, just one name? Is he Brazilian or something?”
“No, I can’t remember his last name.”
The whole exchange made no sense to me. John Moynihan not only has an incredible memory, but he knows everyone. He claims to have over 10,000 friends. He’s stood up in so many weddings, he bought his own tuxedo. Why couldn’t he remember this guy’s name? A guy he just talked to for 45 minutes.
“He must be a big deal,” I said.
“I think someone told me he was a good college player.”
“Maybe it’s Kyle Rote Jr.”
“No one knows who Kyle Rote Jr. is anymore. Or if he’s alive.”[1]
“I can’t believe you can’t remember his name. You remember everything.”
“I know, that’s what makes this so weird. I swear I got at least 30 texts about him being there.”
“Wait a second. Is it Kyle Martino?”
“Yeah, that’s the guy’s name. Who is he?”
“You’re making a goal for Kyle Martino!?!” Kyle Martino is to soccer punditry as Kenny Smith is to the NBA or Terry Bradshaw is to the NFL. If you watch the Premier League in the United States, you know Kyle Martino. “John, you watch the Premier League, it’s Kyle Martino! He’s the Premier League soccer pundit who’s on before, at halftime, and after every single game. The guy with good hair. How do you not know him!?!”
“I knew he looked familiar.”
“You didn’t recognize him?”
“I watch the games after I DVR them. I guess I fast forward through the parts with Kyle. He’s kind of a big deal, huh?”
“Yeah, he’s a big deal. How’s his goal?”
“It’s cool. We’re going to make it.
“Good idea.”
[1] I checked: Kyle Rote Jr., star American soccer player from the 70’s, is alive
