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10 Questions Petke rocks, rolls into third season with optimism
Posted: Thursday March 09, 2000 11:53 PM
Bottle-blonde MetroStars defender Mike Petke is entering his third season out of Southern Connecticut State University. We pulled aside the Long Island-born fan favorite at MLS Spring Training, where he was trying to watch a game. 1. How's preseason? Preseason's going great. It's a whole new attitude. With all the players, the coaching staff, and I think overall that the atmosphere has been unbelievable. The guys are really, we're enjoying ourselves, were working real hard, and we're all on the same page. Is that something you didn't have last year? I don't want harp on last year. Last year obviously wasn't great. Preseason last year we weren't bad actually, you know, it's just a different feeling. It's not even that it's better or worse, it's just a different feeling. I can't describe it. I'm looking forward in the mornings to getting up to practice. I'm looking forward to playing in the games. I'm looking forward to all the stuff we're doing. It's a different feeling. 2. How would you sum up the life of an American professional soccer player in one word? In one word? It would have to be roller coaster. I hope that's one word. Because it's up and down. 2. What's the atmosphere like around the MetroStars this year? The atmosphere is great. There's just a sense of team unity that I haven't felt since I've been here. There have been points in our season last year and in my rookie year that there was, but it's just -- I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself because it's just three weeks into preseason, and things could just be great now, but it's going to take all of us to work hard and keep things up like it has -- because it's just a sense of team unity, everybody working together, everybody working hard, no one dogging it at all. It's people enjoying what we're doing, whether it's running like crazy to get us in shape, which usually we don't really like too much, or just playing, guys seem to want to work hard, and it's great to be around something like that. 3. What do you expect out of Lothar Matthaeus? Lothar's obviously one of the best players ever. So I don't think that he's coming here with any other goal but to win. He's not going to want to come here and ruin his reputation. So I'm expecting him to work extremely hard, bring a lot of leadership here and demand -- from what I hear he's very competitive in practice and on the field -- and I think that's hopefully going to raise our game too. And do you as a defender stand to gain personally from playing with him? Absolutely, just looking back to my rookie year, playing with Alexi Lalas and Tony Meola. Alexi, just being around him on and off the field, taught me a lot. A lot of things I do nowadays -- I don't want to say revolve and mimic that -- but I think back to certain situations that Alexi was in, and I think that helps me to play better, and that's what I'm expecting from Lothar. 4. Ever played with a Lothar before? No, but I've played against a bunch of Lothars. Miles Joseph is pretty much like a Lothar. 5. What' your favorite thing about playing in the New York area? My absolute favorite thing is that I'm still home by my family and friends. There's nothing greater for me, whether there's 20,000 fans in the stands or 1,500, I know my family and friends are in there watching me, and it's just a great feeling. Is that your family that has the "Petke Rocks" banner in the stadium? That was my cousin who started that. 6. What about your least favorite thing? It was the AstroTurf, but as far as I know, it' not anymore. Nothing else. I love New York. I love the temperamental fans. If you're not playing well, they kill you, they yell at you. I love that. 7. Do you think the team will open up this year under Octavio Zambrano? It's very obvious already from the first or second practice we were with him that he's a very offensive-minded coach. Especially last year, we were pretty much more of a defensive team, even though it didn't turn out that way. We were very defensive-minded last year, and even the year before... He's the type of guys who like the back to get forward and worry about someone covering your position. 8. Where do you want to line up on the field? I'm where I want to be right now, in the middle. Since I got in the MLS, I've been playing outside back and I've never played that before the MLS. I always played center back, but I never complained because I just wanted to play. I don't think I played as well as I could have or should have at the outside position, but I'm very comfortable in the middle. It's where I've always played. Will you be able to go forward as much in the middle? No, but I'm also not concerned with that. That's one of the biggest things from last year and the year before. That's a position where I should have gotten forward a lot. But being a center defender all my life I was so defensive-minded that when I had the opportunity sometimes I wouldn't take it. 9. When you're sitting around the house with nothing to do, what do you end up doing? Either playing the guitar or hanging out with my girlfriend. I'm the type of guy -- maybe this is bad -- I don't like to watch soccer on TV when I'm not playing it. A lot of people are, and a lot of people tell me I should because you could learn the game better. But I like to get away from it when I'm not playing, so when I am playing, I'm completely into it. So I like to do things other than soccer. What do you play on the guitar? I'm not very good, to be honest with you. I can play a couple of songs. Pink Floyd, Dave Matthews. I just mess around with it. It's a good hobby of mine. 10. What would you be doing if you weren't playing soccer? I'd probably be finishing up school and going into sports psychology somewhere, or being a rock star maybe like Alexi Lalas.
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