In Ken Burns’ documentary “Jazz” there’s a scene in which the great saxophonist Branford Marsalis tells a story about the legendary John Coltrane. Apparently some young musicians were sitting around talking to Coltrane’s long time drummer Elvin Jones. And they wanted to know how that famous quartet made that incredible music. How they made music in which they seemed to anticipate each other’s thinking, music that changed the culture, music with a frightening intensity. Jones allegedly looked at them, waited until he was sure they were paying attention, and then said “You gotta be willing to DIE for that motherfucker.” And all the young musicians laughed. Until they realized he wasn’t joking. He was dead serious.
New York City FC would be wise to adopt a similar approach on July 3rd in the fifth Hudson River Derby.
Because they know what to expect from the Red Bulls. RBNY will answer the bell in the Bronx the way they did at the May Day Massacre. And they way always do against NYCFC. For it’s the way the young Mike Tyson used to. They’ll answer it by trying to knock out their opponent before they even know the fight has begun. By bewildering them. And disorienting them. And demoralizing them.
The Red Bulls will do this because they know that at the fifth Hudson River Derby they are not NYCFC’s real opponent. They know that NYCFC’s real opponent has rarely been the side that lined up against them on the pitch. NYCFC’s real opponent is always NYCFC. Are they a team? Are they cohesive? Do they have each other’s back? Can they rely on each other? Are they willing to kill for each other? Are they willing to die for each other?
Or are they simply a collection of disparate individuals gathered in the Bronx to chase a ball across a green field on a summer day?
When Dax McCarty puts Frank Lampard on his ass as he did last year in Red Bull Arena, will Frank look surprised and a little insulted? Or will he redouble his efforts to embarrass RBNY’s captain? When Lloyd Sam attempts to expose Ronald Matarrita or RJ Allen, will NYCFC throw up their hands in despair? Or will they break their necks to shut down the Ghanaian’s options? When Bradley Wright-Philips and Sascha Klestjan and Mike Grella begin the onslaught that will inevitably come, will the team panic? Or will they close ranks, remain patient, focused and disciplined?
This is what we are looking to see at the Fifth Hudson River Derby. And we are looking for something more.
We are looking for Larry Bird locking horns wth Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Or Jason Varitek standing up to A-Rod. Or Inigo Montoya facing down the six fingered man.
And to be clear, in spite of the fact that each of those examples included a certain amount of death and destruction, we are not looking for violence. Although undoubtedly there will be those who call for some kind of physical retribution for the embarrassment the team has suffered. No, we are looking for something different.
We are looking for Federico Bravo to rule the midfield the way Roy Keane used to. We are looking for Jack Harrison to embarrass the Red Bulls with Giggs-like runs. We are looking for Jason Hernandez and Frederic Brilliant to play like Miranda and Godin. We are looking for Andrea Pirlo to play like, well Andrea Pirlo.
We are looking for backbone. We are looking for balls. We are looking for character. We are looking for integrity. We are looking for NYCFC to leave it all on the pitch.
At the very least, we are looking for NYCFC to finally take a point off of the one team in the Eastern Conference they’ve yet to get ANY result from, and one of only two divisional rivals they’ve never defeated.
But more than that, at the Fifth Hudson River Derby we are looking for NYCFC to answer the question that Branford Marsalis concluded his anecdote with: “How many people do you know who would be willing to die with anybody?”
Hopefully we know XI.
