Maybe it's impossible to compare All-Star experiences. Or maybe Real Salt Lake's Eddie Pope was simply avoiding the question. After all, how could the MLS original realistically be expected to even remember all of the All-Star Games he's played in? This year's will be his eighth, in the 11th time he's been selected for the league's midsummer showcase.
"I certainly don't try to compare them but they're all very special and a lot of fun and a huge challenge and all those things that you would consider along with the All-Star Game," said the 34-year-old.
Pope will take part in his last MLS All-Star Game on Thursday when the best in Major League Soccer will face Scotland's Celtic FC. After announcing at the start of this season that 2007 would be his last as a player, Pope got the nod to head to Denver as one of two selections made by MLS Commissioner Don Garber. The other is Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Cobi Jones, another MLS original who will call it quits at season's end.
It will be a strange sight in one year's time when the MLS All-Star team is announced and Pope's name is not on the list. The North Carolina native has been picked for the midsummer showcase in all but one of his seasons in the league, his rookie campaign in 1996. In his seven All-Star appearances, all as a starter, Pope has racked up 332 minutes played.
Pope will likely be coming off of coach Steve Nicol's bench in the 2007 edition, as Kansas City's Jimmy Conrad, New England's Michael Parkhurst and Chivas USA's Jonathan Bornstein are expected to make up the starting back three against Celtic.
Regardless, Pope will try to take all he can from his last All-Star experience since he knows in one year's time he'll have a difficult void to fill.
"Just the camaraderie, the competition," Pope said when asked what he'll miss most about being an All-Star. "I think that's the biggest thing that the players miss is just the competition so I'll just have to find something else to fuel that fire."
But even though Pope will have to turn to a new hobby to release that competitive energy, he will leave the game knowing that the league is in a good place, thanks in no small part to his 12-year contribution.
"Obviously the biggest change is just that now players are starting to fly over this way instead of everyone trying to go that way," Pope said of the differences in the league now from its earliest days. "Whether it's (Juan Pablo) Angel or (Guillermo Barros) Schelotto or Christian Gomez or (David) Beckham, now you're starting to see that interest and people asking about it and that's a good thing."
Jonathan Nierman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
