Sigi Schmid was formally inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame on Saturday, along with Kasey Keller and Glenn Myernick. Schmid gave a wonderful speech, thanking a who's who of people who laid the groundwork for today's soccer landscape. At one point, when talking about his late mother, Schmid even fought back tears.
It was a really great speech (the whole thing is linked above).
But chances are the thing that most people will be talking about today is a jab Schmid took at Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter.
Here's the full context of what Schmid said: "When I was a very young coach and had what I thought was a very good team -- it was an under-19 team -- I was maybe 23 years old at the time and I thought I was pretty hot crap, maybe like a coach a little bit south of here, who we refuse to mention at this time (It's only a little joke, Caleb, take it that way).
"My team played this team from San Diego that was coached by Harry Tweedie Sr. and I thought I was a pretty hot coach with a pretty hot team. The score at the end of that game was 5-1 for San Diego. I tucked my tail between my legs and humbly walked off the field and realized I had been taught a great lesson and I always had a great deal of respect for him.
"So years later when I was considering staying at UCLA or go to the Galaxy, he told me in his distinctively Northern Irish accent -- that I'll try to imitate -- Sigi if one doesn't accept the challenges that life brings with it, then life isn't worth living. Based on that, as well as the advice of others, I decided to leave UCLA."