Bash Brother / Massive Champion Steven Lenhart was a vocal supporter of the #SaveTheCrew movement and made two trips back to Columbus during the tumultuous ordeal. We spoke the day after the Crew had officially been saved. As always, it was a supremely fun and interesting phone call.

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On the Crew being officially saved:

Can you believe it? How psyched are you? It just feels right.

Like, you know, being in California and not being connected to it day in and day out with what’s been going on for the last 15 months, I’m not as in touch in terms of how this has morphed. I’ve only popped in twice to get a feel from it.

The first call I got from you (in February) was kind of a shock to the system. Then getting out there (in March) and seeing the numbers and the movie and the energy that people had been putting into actually saving the Crew, which kind of seemed like a little bit of a lost cause to start out, although a great cause, it seemed like David vs. Goliath a little bit. Then being back out there for the 10-year reunion with the guys and being on the field and kind of re-stoking what we had. Like, just getting that feeling back, and being on the field and going over to the Nordecke and being in front of the fans and holding the trophy and seeing Frankie, and just reliving all of that and feeling all those feelings again, and realizing that that there is fuel behind this Columbus Crew engine that was there before I got there and is still going without me there, and it just felt so good to be swept up in that river again.

There’s just, like, a deeper current of something that’s going on in Columhus and it just sort of swept Precourt out of the way. Which is so cool, man.  I’m just stoked that there’s this thick current of support in Columbus that is more fierce than whatever his agenda was. It feels really good to have played a part in that current. Not to play a part, but to just be in that current for a while, and to still be in that current to a certain extent. It’s an honor, man, to be a part of something like that. It feels so good to be a part of something that’s strong.

I’m going down to Sigi’s service next weekend, and although it’s sad, and it’s heavy, and it’s not ideal dealing with death, it’s still part of that current. Being in a text we’re in with a bunch of the guys, I know that there’s going to be support there. The current that I speak of isn’t just supporters in the Nordecke. It is so far reaching. It’s in the players, it’s in the community, it’s in the reporters, it’s in the current team, and I think we all kind of like bond over the same things. I’m full of gratitude for the fierceness that Columbus has as a city. I’m thankful to be a part of it, man. I don’t know if that answers any of your questions.

On Dr. Edwards being part of the ownership group with the Haslam family:

Pistol Pete! Dr. Pete’s got some funk, man. He’s an outside-the-box guy. My experience of him is that he’s just not your stereotypical inside-the-box, cookie-cutter doctor. He’s got some flav, he’s got some funk, and he knows how to relate to a variety of different people. I think it’s a great fit. He’s been around players and knows them from a certain angle and I think that it’s an exiting time to be a part of it. Just the fact that he’s willing to put himself out there and get in the mix with the ownership group, I think it shows that he’s willing to take a risk in a different area that probably wasn’t comfortable for him. I love that he’s putting himself out there and making this a tangible #SaveTheCrew experience for everybody.

I stand behind him and I love what he did. That’s so beautiful. That makes me happy, man. Don’t be fooled by the “Dr.” tag, is what I want to tell people. He’s got more Frankie Hejduk in him than he puts off. That’s a quote. You heard it here first.

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