15/30 Interview – James Riley

15/30 Interview – James Riley

James Riley has endeared himself to the Sounders fan base not only for his reliable and effective performances on the pitch, but for his willingness to work in the community and support charitable projects. Recently in an interview, he let slip another outside pursuit, that of ballroom dancing. With so many things to ask James about, we went into this interview without script and just let the tape roll.

PROST AMERIKA: I’m going to ask you about ballroom dancing. How did you develop this passion?

JAMES RILEY: Wasn’t really, I mean, just a single guy living downtown just wanting to get out and about and enjoy Seattle, just looking through a magazine maybe Seattle Weekly or something like that and just found it, it was like an introductory course for like 50 bucks only and it included tango and salsa, and foxtrot, merengue, pretty much an intro to like eight different courses. And when we went down to Argentina we got to see an actual tango performance and it was really really cool and so I just got interested and thought I’d give it a go.

PROST AMERIKA: What is the biggest similarity and the biggest difference between playing fullback and ballroom dancing?

JAMES RILEY: (laughs) That’s a tough one, I don’t know, you’re always trying to think steps ahead, you’re always trying to lead and take steps ahead and anticipate. It makes you have good posture and keep your eyes up and be passionate.

PROST AMERIKA: Which MLS opponent would make the best and worst ballroom dancer?

JAMES RILEY: Oh my gosh, umm, (laughs) my buddy Joe Cannon would probably be the worst and the best. He would be the best just because he’s bringing good spirit and be funny, but definitely I don’t know about his dancing ability. And Kai Kamara actually, he was a teammate of mine in San Jose, he has really good rhythm actually so he could be pretty good.

PROST AMERIKA: OK now back to the football. Against Chivas, you seemed to many to have had your best game as a Sounder. How do you think your form is going?

JAMES RILEY: Yeah, obviously trying to keep consistent as much as I can, and try to be a leader on the team and just know that you’re going to get a good day’s work out of me every time I step on the pitch. So pretty much I just want to be a link. Obviously we’re having a bit of trouble scoring goals so I just want to be a link when I get out—I just want to link up and get at some people that need the ball and be in support of that so definitely pleased with the performances thus far, although I think we could have scoped out a couple more wins. But we’re definitely not going to pat ourselves on the back–we’re going to keep striving, and trying to keep extending ourselves and look to get a couple more wins down the road.

PROST AMERIKA: Freddie Ljungberg is finally playing on the right side of the midfield. How has it changed your game having him in front of you?

JAMES RILEY: Yeah, obviously he’s a legend and it’s fantastic playing with him. Obviously sometimes I feel he’s a little constricted, I liked it more when he was just able to float a little bit because obviously he’s relying on guys to get him the ball, instead of actually going out and search it, so we worked on that this week. We kind of float a little bit more, I mean that’s his position, the way we write it up on the chart, but obviously we want it a bit more fluid, a bit more dynamic than just him staying on the touch line waiting for guys to get him the ball so in that regards, I think it’s getting better. Obviously with any new player that you haven’t played with long, key is getting that fluidity and trying to read his game and know what he likes; and I know he likes the ball at his feet. He gets his heads up and can play through guys very easily who run off the ball, so he’s definitely a player that brings a lot of confidence to my side, and experience, so it’s enjoyable.

PROST AMERIKA: What was more fun in Argentina, tango classes or watching Boca Juniors?

JAMES RILEY: Boca Juniors for sure. It was raining, and we get there, and people are hesitant because they know it’s going to rain and then it doesn’t rain until maybe the 75th minute and Boca are up 2-0. Everyone’s singing, and then Boca starts singing really loud, unbelievable, it starts pouring, they were taking their shirts off, and then the other team scores but Boca didn’t even break stride, kept singing and then you have the other fans singing and so it’s this huge, huge racket–the whole stadium is bouncing and then Boca scores again. It was 3-1 and it was unbelievable, so yeah it was cool.

PROST AMERIKA: A lot of people are saying from other parts of the MLS world, the rest of America, that Seattle has by far the best atmosphere. You’ve played elsewhere. Is this true?

JAMES RILEY: Hands down, and I guarantee every player in MLS that comes here will say the same thing. Just the actual venue Qwest Field is just phenomenal and with the type of crowd, that’s a lively crowd.

You can actually have a lot of people but say you go to maybe a baseball game, you can have a lot of people that aren’t lively, but there’s people that actually go that are in it, that stand and are lively and are chanting, singing, jumping and cheering and so it’s definitely different.

PROST AMERIKA: I’ve been looking at some of our worst performances and results, and they come in front of the lowest crowds, in Dallas for example. Do you think that might be more than a coincidence?

JAMES RILEY: It could be. It varies, I mean in Dallas we definitely had our chances. It could have been practically 4-0 at halftime if we had taken our chances right. And we also hit the post a couple times, and obviously. In the second half you can see guys tiring a bit. It just goes to show the parity in the league. There’s no team to be honest that’s overwhelmingly dominant right now, so pretty much any team can beat any team on any given day.

PROST AMERIKA: As we’re at a charity event, it seems relevant to mention that you’re fast acquiring a reputation of giving a lot to the community, of being out there. How important is that side of being a player to you?

JAMES RILEY: It’s very important. I definitely learned it from an early age, just to be an ambassador of the sport. I know if it wasn’t for families in Colorado Springs picking me up from practices and taking me to games, there’s no way I would be where I am today so I definitely try to give back.

Every time I go to Colorado I probably have 50 plus people, and give them calls and bring as many jerseys and t-shirts and stuff and invite them back to the hotel as I can, all those that helped me along the way, so my mom and I are very appreciative of that. At Wake Forest we were always ambassadors of the program, doing soccer camps, doing clinics and volunteering, and it continued when I was in New England, San Jose, and now here, so I think it’s just very important and I get a lot of compliments on it but I feel it comes with the territory and it should be done.