Marley T-Shirt a Real Winner
Three times Ezra Hendrickson has worn a T-shirt featuring legendary reggae crooner Bob Marley beneath his Galaxy jersey. And each time the Galaxy defender has scored a game-winning goal. Coincidence?
“Every time I’ve used it, it’s been for a good purpose and it’s turned out positive,” said Hendrickson, 29, a native of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. “I listen to a lot of Marley on game day. Someone got the shirt for me, actually, because they know I like Bob and I have a lot of Bob posters and stuff up in my apartment.
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“It’s a shirt I can wear under my uniform and then when I score, I can show it off,” said Hendrickson, who came to live in Kokomo, Ind., with his father as a teenager and has dual citizenship. “I did it in January and just kept doing it.”
As the song says, “Every little thing’s gonna be all right.”
Hendrickson, though, is not sure if he’ll wear the shirt tonight in the Galaxy’s match against Colorado at the Rose Bowl. He never plans to sport it. It just sort of happens.
The last time Hendrickson wore the shirt, at Kansas City on Aug. 15, he didn’t put it on until halftime. After scoring the game winner in overtime, he raced to the sideline, lifted his jersey and showed the Arrowhead Stadium crowd his tribute to Marley. Before that, he wore it while scoring the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over D.C. United at RFK Stadium on July 7.
But he first wore it while scoring two goals in the Galaxy’s 3-2 victory over Olimpia in the Champions’ Cup title match at the Coliseum in January.
The Galaxy has watched documentaries on Marley on the team bus during long trips.
“Eddie Hidalgo, our team administrator, doubles as the team deejay and makes sure that certain things are there in the locker room, music-wise, or on the bus ride for an away game,” Galaxy assistant coach Ralph Perez said. “And no question, we even thought the whole team should wear and warm up in Bob Marley T-shirts, though I don’t know how the league would look at that.”
All five of Hendrickson’s goals this year have been game winners and with 12 total points, he is six away from equaling the career-high 18 he scored in 1998, his first full season with Galaxy. Not bad for a 6-foot-3, 185-pound defender whose main job is to stay on the other side of the field and mark the opposing team’s offensive weapons.
“First of all, you’re making long runs--50-60 yards--and just the reward of getting that ball, you want to do something positive with it,” Hendrickson said.
“It’s fun for me to go forward and, like I said, as long as it’s positive and it’s productive and it’s not just some guy running up front for the sake of running up front, as long as it helps the team, then it’s something I’m going to continue to do because it works well with our club.”
Perez agreed, saying, “Part of that whole process is knowing when to come forward at the right time. There’s a lot of players who get forward just as much as Ezra, but it’s the productivity of it--the quality of the cross, the quality of getting in the box, the timing of the run.”
Hendrickson, who was a forward early in his career, has those instincts and models his game after Kafu from Brazil.
“In the Brazilian style of football, everyone has to be good on the ball and you know that their wingbacks go [forward] a lot,” Hendrickson said. “You have to be able to make the long run, cross the ball and all that stuff.”
Said Perez: “He’s clever enough with his dribbling skills and I don’t say that he’s a guy who’s going to burn you with his speed, but he’s a lot quicker than people probably give him credit for.”
Just don’t credit only the shirt.
TONIGHT
VS. COLORADO, 7
Site--Rose Bowl.
TV--Fox Sports Net, 8 (delayed).
Records--Galaxy 12-7-5, Rapids 5-11-8.
Record vs. Rapids--2-0.
Update--Former Galaxy defender Robin Fraser will make his first appearance against his old club since being traded to Colorado for three draft picks on April 2. Fraser missed the first two matches recovering from off-season surgery.... Galaxy midfielder Sasha Victorine is out because of a sprained ligament in his right knee.
Tickets--(877) 342-5299.
