Welcome back to 11 Questions presented by Piedmont Natural Gas — a weekly questionnaire series designed for you to get to know the people that make up Greenville Triumph Soccer Club. Each week, our own Marion Cole will ask someone from the organization the same ten questions, but the eleventh question will be from the previous interviewee. With players, coaches, and front office staff involved, we hope to bring you a fun look inside our club!
This week on 11 Questions, I had the chance to interview Jake Keegan as a guest on his newest venture, the Aristocrats Soccer Podcast. Jake has been with the Triumph since the 2019 season but has played all over the world throughout his professional career. The Binghamton University alum spent time playing in Germany and Ireland as well as Canada’s FC Edmonton in 2015 and 2016. Last season, he led the team in goals and is second in goals this season with five. He was named League One’s Player of the Month back in July. You can find his podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
1. If you had a podcast, what would it be about and why?
When this series started, it was maybe back in April, right? I laughed at this question thinking, “I have no idea what I’m going to say for that one.” Six months later, I actually have a podcast — Aristocrats Soccer Podcast on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcast. My cohost, Dave Harris and I love the game. Dave is my unofficial agent. He actually prefers to be called an “advocate.” But Dave and I talk soccer all the time, and we just thought it made sense to get together and do it but with some really great guests. So there’s no “ifs.” It’s a reality.
What has been your favorite part about hosting a podcast? Have there been things that have surprised you about hosting one?
It’s a lot cooler than I thought it would. I don’t know, it might wear off quickly, but hopefully not. My favorite part about it has been the guests we’ve had on so far. We’ve had Sofia Huerta who has played with both the US and Mexico’s National Teams. We’ve had Matt Hedges. We’re having Paul Bravo on and a couple of my teammates from Edmonton. And it’s great, because even if I’m talking to my teammates, I get a different look at the full story. When you’re teammates, unless you’re roommates, you just know pieces. So with this podcast I have gotten to hear the full story — things they grew up on, their thoughts while we were playing together. It’s the story of the athlete.
2. How do you decompress after a long week of work or training?
If it’s a Sunday during football season, I’ll watch some football. Maybe some Premier League. If it’s good weather, I’ll go out to the pool and maybe read a book. Hike occasionally. I don’t like doing anything crazy, just hang out really.
3. What’s the most memorable meal you’ve ever had and why?
This is not necessarily for the food. I couldn’t think of one just strictly for the food. I was with my girlfriend, Caroline, in Barcelona. We’ve known each other since we were fifteen, but it was one of the first times we had reconnected. The first night or second night, we’re at probably the nicest restaurant we went to the entire trip. We’re waiting outside — they had nice heated space heaters. So we’re outside, and she’s holding a backpack in between her legs. The whole time before going, our friends were telling us to beware of pick pocketers. We’re talking, trying to get reacquainted and there’s a guy that walks up and noticeably drops his phone. She doesn’t see him as much, but I’m looking dead at him. As I’m looking at him — she’s still got the backpack between her legs — another guy comes running up to her and snatches the backpack. He takes off. And then she bolts straightaway running after him. I finally get up, but she’s sprinting after him right away. So I’m chasing behind her, and it was an old guy, and he gets about 20 yards away and just drops it. So what I think they do is: if you don’t see it, they take it. If you do and make a scene, then they just leave it because they don’t want to fight. Eventually, we got into the restaurant. It was excellent Spanish food but it was definitely the memory of it.
4. What was the most nervous you’ve ever been?
I was best man at a wedding. It was my best friend from college. We played soccer together at Binghamton, and I have a million stories I could tell about him. Public speaking doesn’t bother me. It was more so wondering what stories I could tell in front of the people there. I wanted it to be funny, but I didn’t want to tell certain stories…so I got plenty of people to proof it to be sure.
5. If you’re up at 2AM on a Saturday night, what are you eating?
The only time I’m up at 2AM is after a game. I can rarely sleep directly after a game — the adrenaline, thoughts, just hard to settle down. So after a game, when I’m up at that time, I have to have something sweet. If it was a good game, and I’m feeling motivated for the next week, it’ll be fruit like grapes or berries. If I missed a sitter or something it will be chocolate or ice cream.
6. What’s something you learned recently that blew your mind?
I’ve been waiting for this one, and I’ve been hoping no one would use it. It’s not really recent but it has been since this series came out, does that count?
That counts. Let’s hear it.
Studies have shown that when daylight savings occurs, when you spring forward and lose that hour, the next day heart attacks increase by 24% over an average day. There was also a Swedish study that showed over the course of the next three days after daylight savings, heart attacks increase and car accidents increase. So what does that mean to me? I don’t know if that’s the sole cause, but I do think it has something to do with it. Oftentimes, we rely on doctors and medicine to help us solve our problems. That’s great, but we also have a personal responsibility to take care of each other and ourselves by eating right, getting enough sleep. So I think it probably does play a small role.
On average, how many hours of sleep do you get a night?
Between eight and nine. If we train, I’ll get a power nap in during the day. Naps are the best thing ever, but within reason. If you nap for two hours, then like c’mon get your life together. But after 30 minutes, I feel like I slept an entire night.
7. Triumph SC announces they’re bringing a celebrity to the next match and wondering if you have enough time to say, “Hello.” Who’s the celebrity you’re most excited to have at a match?
I really should’ve gone with Noah’s answer and said Margot Robbie. But here’s my thought process: if I just have time to say, “Hello,” it’s a much different answer than someone I want to go have dinner with and pick their brain. So I went with Beckham because he owns Inter Miami. Obviously we would sell out Legacy. Have a bobblehead night since we love those.
8. What’s the most memorable sports moment you’ve had as a fan?
So I’m a big Tom Brady fan. I’m not a Patriots fan or a Buccs fan, but I’m a big Brady fan. I love his healthy lifestyle, his TB12 method. I actually went to one of his clinics in Foxborough. So my favorite memory was when they were playing the Falcons in the SuperBowl and they were down 28-3. I was at some SuperBowl party, and everyone was ready to turn it off and do something else. And I was like, “No. We are finishing this game.” It gets to be 28-9, 28-12. They end up scoring and coming back. Everyone at this party wanted him to lose, and I was obviously very overjoyed.
Are you the kind of guy that loves an underdog or do you prefer a dynasty?
I respect greatness. I attach to the underdog. Like Brady, he was an underdog at first. But some people loved Brady during year one and two and can’t stand him now because he’s made it. So I love an underdog, but I’m going to stick with him. This is a spoiler for the last question but I do not like Lebron. So I started cheering for the Warriors and through that became a big Steph and Clay fan. I try and stick to New York teams for the most part, but I do have dynasties and players that I respect outside of that.
9. What sporting event have you always wanted to go to and why?
Gotta be a World Cup Final. My perfect sporting event would be US playing in the World Cup Final. They have a lot of really good, young players coming through the system right now so I hope this group can make it happen. I might have to live to be 104, but eventually I think it’ll happen.
10. If you’re part of a PK lineup, what number are you taking your penalty kick?
I don’t care… Honestly, I don’t care. Typically I’m around 2, 3, or 4. I missed one going second with Galway that I still have nightmares about. That could have been our first trophy since maybe 1991. We’re in the final. It’s at home… it was a big one and very depressing. So maybe I’ll go with three to be a little different.
11. I got to interview one of our starting center backs last week, Brandon Fricke. Brandon wanted me to ask you, “Who is the greatest of all time, Lebron James or Michael Jordan?”
Michael Jordan, does not take much thought. There’s a million different ways to put it, but I think the one thing that makes me like Jordan over Lebron is his mentally. In the 90s, no one could beat him. The one team that could was The Magic, and he was obsessed that whole summer with beating The Magic and winning an NBA Championship. He came back from retirement and swept them the following year. Lebron has had a ton of success, and he’s probably second in terms of greatest throughout the basketball world. But there have been so many times where he’s faced a challenge and hasn’t faced it head on. He’s a smart guy, so he finds a different solution like teaming up with Wade or Anthony Davis. So he finds solutions and is a very good businessman. But purely as an athlete, I want a guy that says, “I’m beating you no matter what.” I think the one point, you can ask Evan Lee and Omar this, they’re the biggest Lebron fans. But if you asked them, “If you had a game for your life and both teams have the same four players. One team has Lebron and the other has Michael Jordan. Do you honestly want Lebron?” Because he’s going to brick two free throws and you’re going to be dead. I’m going down with Jordan.
Next week, I have the pleasure of speaking with your head coach, John Harkes. What would you like me to ask Harkesy?
This is a good one, but it might be a lot of pressure. This might be my new answer to “what’s the most nervous I’ve ever been.” This is it. So my first question, will you be a guest on our podcast? The second question I want to know — John is a big Liverpool fan and we do Premier League predictions at the beginning of the year and John obviously picked Liverpool to win. I want to know with the Virgil van Dijk injury, does he want to change his prediction?
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