Derek Taylor
by Fox Soccer Channel
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It was there that as a 4-year old I watched my oldest brother as one of 22 kids, doing their moths-to-a-flame impression as the ball went up and down the pitch. My only actual memory of playing soccer was getting schooled in gym class by two girls who came to our high school from England.
Like the other hosts I've always been big into playing sports … basketball, football, baseball, hockey, track & field, tennis, golf, table-tennis, marbles and all the others. Except for soccer. My dad coached baseball and my older brother and I often played on his team. For the sake of time, soccer was never really an option.
My ridiculous sports-lust led me to journalism school at Ryerson in Toronto. From there I embarked on the 2-1/2 great years working for the TSN news show 'SportsDesk'. For those years I would read the paper and a sports magazine on the bus to work (about an hour), work up to 12 hours, read another magazine on the bus home, then flip on the TV and watch Fox Sports Net's nightly highlights show (which we got in Canada for a too-brief time).
After leaving Toronto I lived and worked in four different provinces in the span of 13 months. In the end, I spent more than four years on TV in Winnipeg, finishing off as the weekday sports anchor. After doing some freelance reporting of all types (including covering the 2006 Grey Cup), and being the play-by-play voice for the University of Manitoba Bisons (tackle)football team, I was promoted to the first team in January 2007 … The Fox Soccer Report.
I've been a seasonal soccer fan for most of my life … World Cups, Euros and Champions League. I remember watching Zidane destroy Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final (I was probably watching and cutting highlight packs for two baseball games as well). Then watching him get sent off in the 2006 World Cup final (my first big sporting event in high-definition) left me slack-jawed.
In most sports I've never really had a favorite team. Instead there are players I become huge fans of, and follow them wherever they go. So wherever Dimitar Berbatov ends up after the 06-07 Premiership season, I'll be there. He's a close second to Thierry Henry, who it seems never makes a mistake with the ball … and scored more than 70 goals in my first season of FIFA 07.
Thanks for watching the Fox Soccer Report. And remember … there's always a game on somewhere. And we'll probably have the highlights.
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