The party was on just a few blocks from the White House on Tuesday night, as VIPs lounged behind velvet ropes while booming hip-hop packed the dance floor and rattled the expansive picture windows at Play Lounge, one of Washington, D.C.'s most stylish clubs.
Yet the star of the evening was not a DJ or a promoter, but D.C. United defender Bobby Boswell, celebrating the debut of his new Web site, bobbyboswell.com. The reigning MLS Defender of the Year was constantly surrounded by throngs of fans, friends and fellow players as flat-screen TVs overhead played footage of the quirky, man-on-the-street interviews which have already earned Boswell's site "Video of the Day" honors from USA Today's Sports Scope.
"I don't think I've ever been somewhere where I knew so many people," said Boswell with a smile. "The Web site is intended to show what we're like behind the scenes, and when I say 'we', I mean my teammates and I. We're trying to also make it into a sports thing -- it's not just soccer. We get along with a lot of the athletes that we meet and that we come across. Overall, it's kind of like a community and I'm trying to show people what it's like in that community, because it's a lot of fun and a lot of great people."
The site has already featured tongue-in-cheek commentary and goofy locker room outtakes from Boswell and teammate Rod Dyachenko. But the tall center back also hopes to give its visitors a perspective on the daily lives of pro athletes and draw attention to a range of charitable causes.
"I wouldn't say that I've arrived," said Boswell of his success. "I think I have a long way to go. But there's a lot of things that I'm trying to do in the community and a lot of different things that I'm trying to do outside of soccer. I think this [site] is definitely one of the steps in the right direction. So for me it's working out well. It's something I want to do and I'm putting a lot of my spare time into it. Hopefully it's just a small step towards some of the bigger things I'm working on."
It's easy to forget that this promising U.S. international -- and up-and-coming media personality -- was once an undrafted, unheralded rookie whose first professional season featured an unfortunate string of own goals. But over the past two years, Boswell has vaulted the learning curve and become just as central to D.C.'s championship hopes as was once his seemingly irreplaceable predecessor, Ryan Nelsen.
"Yeah, I tell people that if you told me two or three years ago that I'd be doing some of the things that happened, I'd have given you a weird look," admitted the Florida International University graduate. "But I just try to go out to practice every day and get better at what I do, and hopefully I'll have an opportunity to show that. You prepare for those opportunities, and that's how I've always been and that's how I'll continue to be."
A strong 2006 campaign solidified Boswell's position at the heart of United's defense, while his generous community service off the field earned United's Humanitarian of the Year award. He's eager to make those efforts more effective via energetic promotion on bobbyboswell.com.
"I have a lot of ideas, and I just think that I'm in a position where I can give back so much," he said. "I always tried to do stuff in college, before I started with D.C. United, and I had a harder time getting people aboard. I feel like now, people see your name and the title 'D.C. United' and they run with it a little more. I need to use that."
But Boswell's new undertaking aims to entertain, too, and there will be no shortage of the off-the-wall antics and "dumb ideas" that circulate through the United locker room -- and his own head.
"The thing about my site is, it's one of those things where you sit around and say, 'You know what would be cool, is if this happened,'" he said, "and now I feel like I can actually go out and do it. So we have these ideas -- some of them are really dumb, some think that some of the stuff is really stupid. But at the same time, we have a blast when do it and I hope that more people will enjoy it than don't."
But despite the intensifying media attention, the defender, who turned 24 last week, shows no signs of slowing the rapid development which has elevated him into contention for a prime role with the U.S. national team this summer.
"Right now the focus is going to be soccer and to use the soccer aspect of what I do to help out off the field," said Boswell. "You ask yourself at the end of the day, 'did you get better at what you wanted to get better at?' And if you can answer that question 'yes,' then you've had a pretty successful day."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
