Tie goes to the winner! Coach sticks his neck out for Mountain Brook soccer ritual
Mountain Brook boys soccer players of the game honorees. Front row from left,, Sam Rysedorph, Ryan Gaynor, Pirmin Blattmann. Back row from left, Mason Hemstreet, Zach Shunnarah, Selim Tunagur, Patrick Neil. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr. / Alabama NewsCenter)
Patrick Neil was fit to be tied Tuesday night after his second-half goal lifted Mountain Brook to a 2-1 victory over Hoover in the first round of the Class 7A boys soccer playoffs.
Coach Joe Webb named Neil the Player of the Game. In so doing, he took off the Tigger cartoon tie that he wore and placed it on the freshman.
It was the latest installment of what is becoming a custom for the Spartans’ Webb – honoring a deserving player in big wins and paying tribute to his late father.
“I’ve done it for all the area games and a few select big game opponents outside of that,” Webb said. “It’s been fun.”
The coach said that he and his father, John “Buddy” Webb, quit wearing ‘normal’ ties about 25 years ago. They opted instead to wear fun ties with pictures of Disney, Looney Tunes and other cartoon characters.
“It’s been fun and went over better than I expected,” the coach said. “Dad passed in 2004 but it’s something I thought he would get a kick out of.”
The gesture was a way for Webb to bring his father along for the ride this season. He calls his father, who taught 20 years at Birmingham’s Phillips High School, the best friend he ever had.
“I still think about him all the time,” he recalled. “I miss the phone calls after the game to talk about what went right or what went wrong. I knew we were a pretty good team this year and I just so wanted to share that with him.”
Spartan players were perplexed the first time Webb arrived for a big game wearing a tie. After the victory, he explained the connection to his father.
“They just thought it was a tribute back to my dad,” he recalled. “But as I’m telling the story, I’m taking the tie off. I put it around the neck of the winner and said, ‘This is for the Player of the Game.’ It was something (that was) spur of the moment earlier in the season.”
The coach wasn’t sure his players would embrace the concept. “Honestly, the first time I did it I thought they’d say, ‘I don’t want this stupid old tie.’ I’m thinking that’s how a kid’s going to look at them.”
Instead, they’ve loved it. Sam Rysedorph, the first winner, dressed up for school the next day so he could wear it.
“The (tie) I wore for the Altamont game the other day, three of them came up to me before the game and said, ‘I’m gonna win that tie. That’s going to be mine.’ It’s just been funny.”
Webb actually forgot to change into his dressy attire when the Spartans played at rival Oak Mountain. Parents made fun of him because he wasn’t dressed for success.
“The parents were going nuts,” he said. “‘If we lose this game, it’s your fault.’ I didn’t think anything about it. Well, we lost 1-0 at their place.”
That night, the coach said he considered giving a tie to his youngest son, who plays for the Eagles. “But that would have lost something in translation,” he said. “We didn’t do that.”
Mountain Brook’s victory at Spain Park this season produced a tough time with the tie. That win – Webb’s 400th – earned the team the area championship.
“They doused me with water so when I was trying to take the tie off, it was sopping wet,” he laughed. “I do a very tight Windsor knot (and) I couldn’t get it untied. It took a long time to untie it.”
All of the ties have had a cartoon theme except the one earned by Selim Tunagur. His has pictures of Andy, Opie and other characters from the fictional town of Mayberry.
Webb makes the Player of the Game selection. Tuesday, he considered naming reserve goalkeeper Reid Freeman, who came on in the second half after starter Ryan Gaynor got hurt.
“Reid did very well,” the coach said. “It was close in my mind but Patrick, who scored the second goal, had played really well. He’s a freshman, stepping up in a big moment.”
Players don’t know until game day what tie is up for grabs. “That’s part of the surprise,” he said.
So far, seven players have earned themed neckties from Webb and no one has earned a second. The next chance for a Spartan player to add to his wardrobe comes at 7 p.m. Friday as Mountain Brook plays at Huntsville in the second round of the playoff.
Webb says he has already picked out the tie he’ll wear in the Rocket City. “Hopefully,” he said, “someone will win that one, too.”
Does Webb have enough ties for a championship run?
“Absolutely,” he affirmed. “That and about 70 more. I’ve got a ton of these things.”
