Why is Tim Howard playing minor league soccer in Memphis during the middle of a pandemic? | Giannotto

The most accomplished athlete currently playing for a Memphis sports team stood next to one of the goals set up in the left field grass at AutoZone Park Tuesday morning, watching as his Memphis 901 FC teammates went through a final training session. Soon they would all get onto a bus headed for Birmingham, Alabama, and the unknown of professional sports in a pandemic.

“I got my pillow and my facemask,” Tim Howard said, “so I should be all right.”

That Howard was there at all, getting ready to man the net Wednesday night when Memphis 901 FC becomes the city’s first professional sports team to resume its regular season, can’t be emphasized enough. 

Because really, what the heck is he doing out there?

During the middle of a global health crisis, on a converted baseball field with a bunch of mostly 20-somethings, the greatest American goalkeeper of all-time is risking his health to suit up for a minor league soccer team based in Memphis.

It’s one of the city’s more remarkable sports stories ever. 

Howard’s willingness to play, when he has very little to gain from playing, is perhaps the best proof that the relaunch being orchestrated by the USL and Memphis 901 FC is worth attempting. 

“I wouldn’t risk it if I didn’t feel safe, and I feel safe,” Howard said. “I’m also a glutton for punishment, so I like to play. Even though it hurts.”

This was already an unlikely and unprecedented situation even before COVID-19 wiped out the sports calendar. 

Howard, 41, has made Memphis his offseason home for years because his ex-wife and kids live here. When Memphis 901 FC came to town, he was recruited to be a minority owner. Upon retiring from Major League Soccer after last season, he intended to serve as Memphis 901 FC’s general manager this year. 

Instead, when the USL campaign began back in March, there was Howard in between the pipes at AutoZone Park playing in Memphis 901 FC’s season opener. 

It was the Memphis soccer version of Michael Jordan playing for the Washington Wizards after trying to stay away from the basketball court as the Wizards’ general manager. It’s not the same Howard as the one who powered the USA national team in the World Cup, but it’s still Tim freaking Howard. He’s still a better option, and a better draw, than anybody else in the USL.

The habits formed for so long as an athlete, the itch to be part of a team and to play every match and to compete and win, “I don’t think that ever leaves you,” Howard said Tuesday.

But that explanation made a lot more sense before COVID-19 changed the world. 

What the USL is about to embark on, what Memphis 901 FC is about to embark on, there’s no guarantee it will work seamlessly. In fact, everyone assumes it won’t go seamlessly. Just like every other professional league attempting to re-start right now.

Memphis 901 FC players and staff, as well as players and staff from around the USL, are being given weekly coronavirus tests, according to 901 FC President Craig Unger. But there is no bubble like the NBA or MLS. Players and staff members are only supposed to leave their homes for training and for essential services like grocery shopping. Games are being played at home fields, and some USL teams held games last weekend with limited fans in attendance.

Memphis 901 FC wants to do the same starting next week when it hosts a game at AutoZone Park. Unger said the franchise submitted a plan to the Shelby County Health Department that was “well received,” but the plan has not been approved yet.

“Our lives are going to be turned upside down for three months,” Unger said, “but this is the price to play soccer.”

At first glance, given the current COVID-19 data locally, playing any sporting event in front of fans seems premature. But can you blame Memphis 901 FC for trying? 

For minor league teams like 901 FC and the Memphis Redbirds — owned and operated by the same group led by Peter Freund and Unger — fans attending games are the financial lifeblood of the franchise. There is no lucrative television deal to offset those losses. Getting even a limited number of people into AutoZone Park will have a positive effect on the bottom line, particularly because the Redbirds' season was canceled and the organization must pay player and coaching salaries during this USL relaunch. 

So they’re going through the protocols deemed necessary and hoping for the best.  

But it’s nonetheless amazing that Howard is willing to go through all this with nothing left to prove on the field. He could be doing any number of things with his life. His life is so interesting Amazon announced recently it had optioned the rights to Howard’s story for an upcoming film.

“That’s just how he is. When he signs his name to something, he’s all in,” said 901 FC coach  Tim Mulqueen, who has known Howard for nearly 30 years. 

“Look, he’s the greatest American goalkeeper that’s ever played and you don’t get that way by just checking boxes. You put in extra work and you take care of yourself on and off the field. He’s a great example for everybody, including our staff, as to what commitment truly means.” 

So there he stood in left field Tuesday, an American soccer legend, joking and training with a bunch of soccer players almost half his age, getting ready to bring professional sports back to Memphis. 

For now, why Howard was there in the midst of a pandemic felt less important than the fact that he was there at all.

You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto