What The Heart Wants

A Crossing of Paths

Life in the Hearts organization slowed down a little over the next week, but picked up in earnest on the 14th. While Brian was getting the oil changed in his car, he was listening to the mechanic's broadcast of "The Herd" on Fox Sports Radio. He's not a fan of the show, but it is a good place to find out what drama is churning in the sports world. His ears perked up when he heard that Greg Orlandini would be a call-in guest on tomorrow's show to discuss the witch hunt against him and to posit on some of the scuttlebutt in the soccer world. Following his stay at the mechanic, Brian went down to the courthouse seeking a cease-and-desist order against Orlandini should his appearance on "The Herd" violate the gag order pertaining to local media. He was placed on the docket of Judge Marlene Lachman for tomorrow morning, at which time the pair would parse the interview live.

Brian and Judge Lachman listened to "The Herd" in chambers on Friday morning. Luckily, the Orlandini interview was early in the show, which would make for a quick meeting for the two. Orlandini repeated several of the comments over which he was being sued plus took issue with being sued over the release of pictures involving Julie Johnston Ertz. Once the journalist tipped off his defense strategy, which was to put the athletes on trial for their holier-than-thou attitude toward the common man, and went into specifics about claims he planned to make, Judge Lachman signed the cease-and-desist order and called in her bailiff to have copies delivered to Orlandini's home, CBS Philly, and KYW. Following a commercial break, Colin Cowherd began taking phone calls, hoping that this calling-out of female athletes would spur a lot of backlash against them by male sports fans. Instead of that, the show was hearing from Hearts players from their hometowns (e.g., Stephanie from Allston, Savannah from Fayetteville) as well as other NWSL players from across the country (Danielle Colaprico and Lindsey Horan were two that got through the show's call screener). Cowherd sent the show to commercial and reamed his screener for allowing so many players to get on the air. Upon return, Cowherd took a call from a local caller who claimed to actually understand Greg's gripe about the athletic bubble and John Q. Public's slim chances of breaking it.

Colin Cowherd: Brian from Philadelphia, you're on The Herd.

Brian O'Hara: Colin, I'd like to thank you for having Greg on today's show. It is nice to see shows like yours giving local media the opportunity to give their opinions to a wider audience. Now about your premise that female athletes collude to keep the average man out of their boudoirs, I find that claim to be.....abhorrent. We in society place these women on pedestals, expect them to be both beautiful and down-to-earth, capable of going from the field to the runway in a snap, all while demanding they settle for an average partner who would do nothing more than use them to elevate their own status. Now before you jump in, Greg, I actually understand your gripe concerning slightly-above-average men in the athletic bubble who use their position to siphon off members of the opposite sex to the point where a woman's only way out of it is by bedding down with one of her own teammates. It's a problem and one that I wish could somehow be remedied, but the conditioning of these women to be everything to everyone by their parents, sponsors, coaches, teachers, and employers doesn't seem to allow for them to break out once they've been sucked in.

Greg: Brian, I'm glad to hear there is one respectable man in our fair city with the guts to stand up and fight for the little man.

Brian: By the way, Greg, there should be a marshal showing up to serve you a cease-and-desist letter any time now. I am Brian O'Hara and I represent the Philadelphia Hearts and their players in your pending harassment lawsuit. The information disseminated in this appearance violates the gag order placed on local media by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, and Judge Marlene Lachman from the Civil Division agreed with our assessment, thus signing the cease-and-desist order. I am told that any further actions by yourself in violation of the gag order or the cease-and-desist order will find you held in contempt of court and subject to fines and/or imprisonment.

Cowherd cut Brian off and sent the show to another commercial. During the break,  the cease-and-desist order was delivered to Orlandini at the KYW studios, where he was doing preparations for tomorrow's "KYW Philly Soccer Show". Once the show returned, Cowherd moved on to news from the NFL ahead of the weekend's games.

***

Stephanie Ochs was out on a run around her native San Diego neighborhood when she happened upon someone she recognized, but couldn't place. She sped up a little bit to catch up to the man and then turned to face him.

Steph Ochs (to the man): Excuse me. I recognize you from somewhere, but can't figure out where.

Tyler Wise (slightly stunned): Oh my. I didn't think I'd actually run into you while out here visiting my family. You always hope that somehow luck or serendipity comes into play and you cross paths with someone, but, wow. My name is Tyler Wise. I was at Hearts United a few weeks ago and we talked for a minute or two.

Steph: Riiiight. Now I remember. You're a sports psychologist, aren't you?

Tyler: Yes. More a research junkie than a performance enhancement shrink.

Steph: I wanted to talk to you more that night, but with the long line and the trouble our team was having with ONE of the local media in attendance, it ended up being a bit hectic. I should have gotten your number when I had a chance.

Tyler got a little nervous hearing that Steph might actually be sort of interested in him, as the feeling from him for her definitely existed. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a business card that he then handed to her.

Tyler: Consider that dilemma solved. Any reason you wanted it?

Steph: I was a psych major at USD and would be interested in hearing some of your perspective on its connection with sports.

Tyler: I'm not sure that my research would actually interest you, but maybe it will considering the mess that I am hearing around in Philly with your team and Greg Orlandini.

Steph: Oh, HIM! That's the guy who harassed us while some of us were doing a sightseeing bus tour around Philly and then made an absolute nuisance of himself at Hearts United. Then there's him outing Julie Johnston and punching Steph McCaffrey. The club has a lawsuit pending against him, with the trial starting around Valentine's Day.

Tyler: Not exactly the way you'd want to spend such a romantic time of the year. I was listening to a replay of "The Herd" on my flight out here on Saturday and he was on, ranting about his plans for the trial and how he was looking to stick it to your teammates and some of their friends for being stuck-up brats or faux lesbians in order to avoid the common men around them. Some of your teammates got through and railed on him. Your lawyer also called in and told Greg that a judge had signed a cease-and-desist order against him for violating the court's gag order on local media. Anyways, maybe I can help you guys out a little. I am currently trying to decipher the chicken/egg dilemma regarding the athletic bubble and female athletes, a topic which Brian brought up in his comments to Greg during the show.

Steph: I'd actually like to hear about that, but I need to finish off this run and get back to my parents' place for a pre-Christmas gathering they're hosting tonight.

Tyler felt a little bit brave and decided to take a chance. "Maybe we can get together for dinner sometime before I head back to Philly on the 28th."

Steph smiled. "I've got your number. Let me check what I've already got scheduled for the rest of this week and I'll call you with when I'm free. And yes, that is a yes."

The two went their separate ways, both looking back at each other and wondering if what just happened was for real.