The Columbus Crew’s 3-0 win over the Seattle Sounders in the MLS Cup final Saturday came with two goals from Lucas Zelarayán and one from Derrick Etienne Jr. A couple of days later, Etienne Jr. (seen at center above) spoke to The Cooligans (Alexis Guerreros and Christian Polanco) for an episode of their fubo Sports Network show (which airs at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday), and said his father (also a notable soccer player) gave him a great message after the match, one based on their shared history of watching Fear Factor. Here’s that clip:
That clip sees Etienne Jr. asked about his dad’s reaction after the game, and he responds “He was super excited. When I was little, we watched Fear Factor, and they had the parents, it was like the mom and the son, or the dad and the son, and they’re doing something, and they got it done and the dad looked at the kid and said ‘Who’s the wild man now?!’ So after the game, I went up and I went to hug my mom and hug my dad, and he’s recording me hug my mom, and he put his phone away, and was like ‘Who’s the wild man now?!’ It was so funny.”
“But he actually joked on me because in the warmup, I was missing all my shots in the warmup, so I was like ‘Yo, come on man, you’ve got to step your game up,’ and he was like ‘Yeah, I’m glad you scored, because if you had missed that, you’d have looked like an idiot because you were missing all the ones in the beginning.'”
Etienne Jr. also talks in that clip about how he got “not an inch” from his dad, but how his dad has a softer side, saying “I think he cried, but he didn’t cry in front of me.” And elsewhere on the show, he talked about further comments from his dad, including thoughts on how his dad poked at him for scoring in the USL but not winning MVP (which Derrick Ettiene Sr. won in 2002) and how the MLS Supporters’ Shield (for best regular-season record) isn’t really a trophy to get motivated about:
It’s cool to see The Cooligans get a guest like Etienne Jr. right after his crucial performance in Columbus’ MLS Cup win, and it’s also interesting to see Etienne Jr. talk about his relationship with his father and how that’s helped motivate him.
The Cooligans airs every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on fubosportsnetwork.com.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.