Episode 233 Snippets: Cody Sharrett of US Soccer

Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 233: Cody Sharrett
@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
On episode 233 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil
chatted with Cody Sharrett, Social Media Manager for US Soccer.
What follows is a collection of snippets from the podcast. To hear the
full interview and more, check out the podcast on all podcast
platforms and at www.dsmsports.net.

Cody’s Career Path
“I've been at this professionally for ten years, which is crazy. I graduated from
Indiana University in 2012 and actually accepted my first job before I graduated. I
moved from Bloomington to Columbus, Ohio to work with the Columbus Crew of
[Major League Soccer]. I started out as their digital content producer as my role
there.
“And, you know, it was just as teams started to really take social media seriously.
Now, looking back on it, like why were we tweeting literal play-by-play of every
MLS game? Looking back at the Instagrams, it's phone photos that are super blurry
and filter caked on. So I worked a lot on the infancy of their social media accounts
and also served as kind of a team insider eat writer role for TheCrew.com and did
that for about three years.

“My boss TJ left and we continued to flirt long distance when he left
for the Portland Trail Blazers. And then, eventually, he created a role
and brought me over there. I started out as this secondary digital
content person for the Blazers, but the primary content creator for the
Moda Center and Rose Quarter Properties. So I tell everybody I got to
go to like millions of concerts for free and just take videos with my
phone. At that point, what could be better? If you're gonna see Paul
McCartney, Springsteen, The Who? Now I sound old. Foo Fighters
was one of the best shows I ever saw…I got to work a lot of concerts,
but also every NBA game as the secondary content person and
secondary web writer for the Blazers.

“That first year — I got there in May and then July 1st comes and, like,
they lose Robin Lopez, they lose Wes Matthews, they lose LaMarcus
Aldridge, they lose Nick Batum, and I think the preseason prediction
over/under was 26 wins for that team. But that's the year I think Damian
Lillard became a fortified star and CJ McCollum was the Most Improved
Player. Just a really fun young and hungry team to work with Dame, CJ,
Noah Vonleh, Allen Crabbe really broke out that season, Mason Plumlee
— I loved Mason Plumlee as that starting center that could pass…Gerald
Henderson was my favorite player on that team, just because he would
start stuff with every team and that was back in the day where you would
clickbait people on social every scuffle that happened in an NBA game
would be your biggest click driver back in 2015-2016

“So yeah, they went to the playoffs, exceeded expectations, things broke their way,
and in the playoffs, Chris Paul got hurt, Blake Griffin got hurt and they advanced to
the second round against the Warriors. And that series was just fun; experiencing
Roaracle [Oracle Arena] — there is no better atmosphere in the NBA than Oakland
during the playoffs during the Splash Brothers heyday. It was heartbreaking
working for the Blazers at that point, but so much fun.
“Eventually I became the social media and digital content lead there. A few years
later I moved closer back to Minnesota and did similar roles for the Timberwolves
and Lynx. I got there when Jimmy Butler was there and things were hunky dory and
then you lose and you learn how to post through it with a few losing seasons. Then
[my] last season there was Anthony Edwards’s rookie season and, honestly, other
than Ja Morant, there is no more entertaining, exciting player in the league than
Anthony Edwards. That was kind of fun to witness the beginning stages of that.

“Then last November, I came here to Chicago and started working for US soccer. I
always said, even while working in the NBA, which is the most social-friendly
league, that a lifelong goal of mine is to work in a World Cup. And, you know, we're
20ish days away from that. Every day it's more stress on me, like freaking out, but
I'm so excited to go to Qatar…and Australia, New Zealand next summer with the
US Women's National Team.
“Starting here last year it was crazy. I went to soccer house the first day — that's our
old office; like, we used to work in an old mansion down in the Prairie District —
and the second day I flew to Cincinnati because it was the USA-Mexico game. So I
was really thrown into the fire at US Soccer. It's been a fun year, [it’s] coming up on
a year that I actually moved to Chicago on November 1st, so I gotta celebrate and
pop some champagne this week. It's been so fun; like I said, [it’s a] lifelong dream
to get to go to a World Cup.”

About the increasing visibility of faces with team accounts and Cody’s thoughts on the
brand vs. also having a human behind the brand speaking with fans
“I think it's a mixture of both. You still have to be that brand ambassador, I guess, but I
obviously don't want my face on any US Soccer [posts]. I don't want anybody to see what I
look like because it's not good. Bu,t you know, that behind-the-scenes look of it, like the
tiny mic content right now is huge. We were in London last month and getting players’
reactions as soon as they walk onto the field at Wimbley Stadium for training — that's
something that only a person in my role can provide. It was cool to see Lindsay Horan —
you can almost see the chills she has as she's talking about just being inside Wimbley
Stadium.
“So yeah, as the brand voice I look at it as it's like, ‘Oh yeah, my best friend is there with
the team, and look at what they're sending me.’ Or like, ‘Look what my friend posted on, on
their story.’”

On the value of his writing skills in developing his career
“I was a writer first, so that helps. Like, I don't wanna say I'm lazy, but I'm
always economical with my words. Keep it short and sweet. Get to the point.
People don't want to read a novel on social media, but when you say thinking
about a caption — like when I used to work in the NBA, I would shoot almost
every game from the floor with the Sony A9 high-quality camera. I really picked
up photography both like as a skill and a passion. I loved it and I would just
think of things to take pictures of just for the caption. Whether it's a pun with a
player's name or just stalking out a photo of Karl-Anthony Towns and Steph
Curry, knowing I have to get that shot just because I know that's gonna be the
biggest driver post-game [engagement] if we lose this game against the
Warriors.

“So I used to think about that stuff all the time and I still do. But yeah, I would say I
started as a writer but some of [the other skills] just comes so quick. I guess that's
why I feel like I've done a good job in my roles is because I think of things like that
[fast]. Not everything has to be planned out months in advance. Sometimes like
social media, as much as you want to put out proactive content, social media is very
reactive still. You're reacting to memes or you're reacting to trends. Like, right now
it's the Spirit Halloween costume meme. We've pitched it back and forth; I don't
know if there's a tie to do it with US soccer. I saw somebody that did it with a
(USMNT head coach) Gregg Berhalter costume and it was very clever and funny.
“But yeah, it's still a very reactive thing…You're reacting to moments and games
too. Like, you can't just sit on your hands and, think too much about a caption in a
game.

On learning NBA Twitter and the Blazers voice
“It’s funny because in those three years I worked for the Crew, I really didn't watch the
NBA. Like, I was a Pacers fan and I occasionally would watch them, like when they
played the Heat in the playoffs, but not pay attention to the 82-game schedule. The
best way I can describe [picking up NBA Twitter and the NBA in general] is it was
through osmosis. I probably didn't show the appreciation at the time, and we still talk
occasionally, but Kris Koivisto, he’s like the OG; him, Nick Monroe, Jason [Wise] out
in Sacramento — those are the OGs. But working every day with Kris, you just pick it
up. It's not like, ‘Well, today’s lesson, I'm gonna take notes.’ [Kris and I] were like
older brother, younger brother — we drove each other nuts. But I think talking to each
other now; I think we do appreciate each other. He's obviously out of sports now [at T-
Mobile] but I learned so much from him, and I probably haven't expressed how much
I learned from him as far as creating a voice. So, Kris, if you're listening, thank you…”

“So I don't wanna say that I just think this is ‘the voice’, it's not
determined by me. It's determined by the fan base. Like, when I was
first in Portland, the self-deprecating stuff worked so well. The fans
would commiserate with you and laugh at it. Then Reddit would react
and be like, ‘Well, they get it.’ But then the team gets good and while
the fan base still can sympathize with the self-deprecating stuff,
maybe ownership or basketball operations, they're like, ‘No, we're
supposed to be good. We don't need this self-deprecating poking fun
at a loss BS.’ So that's kind of where things changed in Portland.

“But in Minnesota you get there and it's a fan base that hadn't won in
so long. So you can't do the self-deprecating stuff because they're just
so tired of it. They're like, ‘just win a game.’ But then, like, you can
joke around about certain things. I think one of my favorite things we
ever did — and we had to pull it down in the end— it was me,
Shahbaz, Eric, we were all on board with it when the Bryan Colangelo
burner stuff came out and we just like did a screen recording of us, we
created a Timberwolves burner account, and it was just like us logging
on and off on it. And we were told to take it down within 10 minutes;
but within 10 minutes, I think it had already had like 400,000 views
or something like that. I think that's one of the funniest things we did.

“But then it's just so funny, like when the [Carolina] Panthers coach
was fired a couple of weeks ago, [it came out that] he tried to have
influence on the social media accounts and, like, that's not unique.
Anybody that's been in a social media role with a team more times
than not the coach, the GM cares — they think it influences other
teams scouting them, they think it influences players that want to sign
there, they think it influence teams that they want to trade with. For
them it was like, well, what if Philadelphia sees that and they don't
want to trade with us? Which they ended up doing for Jimmy Butler
and Robert Covington later that year, so I guess it didn't affect it too
much.

“But yeah, it's just kind of funny; like, I just wanna scream, to channel
Gen Z; I’m in my thirties, but, it's not that deep, social medial — it's not
that deep…I'm always just like no one's dying. No one's dying because of a
tweet that a basketball or a soccer team sent. Like, yes it's a very serious
job, there's a lot of responsibility with it, but it's mostly inconsequential
in the grand scheme of life and the world…
“But on the flip side of that, where I said that more times than not the
coach has things that drive them nuts that they see on your team's social
media feed. The flip side of that is being in Minnesota, working with the
Lynx and [head coach] Cheryl Reeve; she leaned into a lot of stuff we did.
She was great. She's still one of my favorite people I've ever worked with.”

On the team performance and how it does/does not affect strategy and voice
“Well, when you're winning you can post mostly anything. Like, as long as
you're not tearing down your opponent too much; if it's good fan fodder, I
always think it's great. With the Blazers we always used to make fun of the
Lakers because it was when they were bad, it was when they were a
perennial lottery team. But, I think this is the perfect transition with going
into the World Cup with the national team — I feel like you cannot joke
around right now. Fans just don't want that, at least the vocal fan base. I
always say there are 30 comments telling you to F off or that they don't
wanna see it, but there are a thousand likes — the ratio of likes to angry
comments [isn’t there], like why even pay attention to those comments?

“But yeah, I feel like especially in this role that I'm in right now. And a
perfect example of when you're winning you can have more fun, the
women's [national] team, they've won the last two World Cups, [so]
you can have more fun with that voice than you can the men's team
because, frankly, they didn't qualify in 2018 [for the World Cup] and
fans are still upset about that. We all want our nation to do the best;
[it’s] the idea, of like, win something [first]...

“So we can't necessarily have that fun right now. But you talk about things that
you have in your back pocket, like, yeah, I have things in my back pocket. Like if
we do beat England, which would be amazing — I think that's gonna be the most-
watched soccer game in American history on Black Friday. So yeah, winning does
affect everything. But when you are in the [NBA] Lottery like we were a lot with
the Timberwolves, the games aren't fun to post during, but you have more fun
with filler stuff, like doing movie posters for the Oscars featuring players, or
Halloween movies during Halloween or Christmas movies, or just like getting in
on any meme, trend is easy. I always throw it back to what you were talking about
when we were offline, like going into CrowdTangle — I think that first year the
Timberwolves were like a bottom 10 team, but you look at engagement rate and
we were like top five on both Twitter and Instagram. It's like, yeah, we don't have
the biggest following, but our fans like our voice. So that was a cool thing to see.”

About social media strategy with the Lynx WNBA team
“We were always like’ take the high road,’ we were the four-time WNBA
champs. But then you'd always get chirping from the Phoenix Mercury account
and we would always kill them [in games], and then we would just crush them
on social, like with a quote tweet or a response. It was so much fun with that
and [head coach] Cheryl [Reeve] was into that.
“But yeah, the players…that's the thing with the NBA — the players were always
willing and loved if there was a camera around; they were always interactive, so
I don't think there was a big difference there. But I think it was a difference in
strategy of just like, alright, yeah, you're the four-time champs compared to the
Wolves who hadn't been a winning team other than that Jimmy Butler year.

“It was an experience that I'll never forget or experience anything similar,
just being down at Bradenton for that [WNBA] covid season [in the
bubble]. Those players and those coaches are like family still because you
spend so much time together in such a condensed area. There are the
struggles with women's sports, especially — I think it's gotten a little bit
better, but just getting the responses of like, ‘get back in the kitchen,’ blah,
blah, blah. But again, we had Cheryl lean into that. We had her record stuff
at media day…we had one that's like, ‘Yeah, I've been in the kitchen
cooking up this W’ or, like, we had one that was like, ‘You need to delete
your account’, or ‘Are you sure about that?’ Stuff like that, so she leaned
into it. Responding to those types of trolls when the moment was right, was
a different part of the strategy with the WNBA.” My phone's going crazy…”

Cody gives an overview of US Soccer and all that it covers and he
covers
“We are a national governing body — the US Soccer federation. So
we've got the federation handles that oversees everything. We have
the two senior national teams, the men and the women, we've got a
ton of youth teams; like we just wrapped up the U-17 Women's World
Cup; unfortunately, we got bounced out in penalties by Nigeria.

And then we have, it's continuing to grow by the year, but we have a ton of
extended national teams, so that would be the [cerebral palsy] men's and
women's teams. We have the deaf national teams, both men and women.
We have power soccer, we have beach, futsal, so it's so much happening.
And obviously the men's and women's national teams, they are the drivers
of attention. They get all the attention, almost, and part of our job is to
give those extended youth national teams more of a spotlight, more love.
“Right now the social team is just me and a coordinator. And I'm so
thankful [the coordinator] is around because she has done a great job
highlighting those extended national teams and the youth teams while I
put more of a focus on the senior national teams.”

On the goals for Cody and his team and the US Soccer Federation
“You'll see it in every job posting that we have — our goal and our role is to grow the sport
and to make soccer the most preeminent sport in America. And I think, obviously since
1994, we've made great strides, but I think this upcoming World Cup and 2026 on home
soil [soccer] will definitely be in the argument for one of the most preeminent sports in
America at least, if not the most, because, you know, we're the only sport in this country
with potential for growth.
“Football is at its peak, it'll probably stay at its peak. NBA — I still listen to a ton of NBA
podcasts and they're like is the NBA hurting right now, whether it's viewership or
whatever? People are always like — I know, [with] this new TV deal, players are gonna like
make $80 million a year, it's gonna be nuts — but the NBA does a good job of thriving on
drama, but there's always that discussion [of] is the play diminishing? Is it exciting? How
do you keep that excitement through 82 games?

“And then baseball it's the same discussion. Yeah, like I know the Phillies and the
Astros are getting ready to start the World Series, but do I care? No. Did I go to 10
Cubs games? Yes, because I was born and raised a Cubs fan, and I love living in
Chicago, I love Wrigley Field, but baseball is struggling in some sense. [With]s
hockey [with growth potential]. I know you're wearing an [Anaheim] Ducks hat,
but I've never been interested in hockey. So [with] soccer there's the potential that
just other sports do not have.
“So our main goal is to make soccer the most preeminent sport in America…The
pro leagues, the grassroots, youth levels — I think that's where it all starts is those
youth levels and keeping kids interested in soccer as they grow up so they're
choosing soccer over playing football or basketball. Um, yeah. That's a huge part of
the federation; — we are a nonprofit and that factors in growing those youth
programs

“It's not necessarily about what's happening here, but the interest
[level]. I think about being in high school, the access to professional
soccer was so limited. I remember getting up at 7:00 AM and
watching Fox Soccer Channel, and then they would go from Premier
League to Serie A, and that was it. That was all you got. And then
Tuesdays and Wednesdays, you could get Champions League on
ESPN. But that was all the soccer that was available to you. Now you
can watch [it all] for not that much money. You can watch any league
in the world pretty much…The access to watching soccer has changed
so much just in the last 10 to 15 years.”

On what it looks like to maximize the World Cup window for US Soccer and its
objectives
“We break [fans] down into avids, casuals, and emerging fan bases. The avids
are gonna care no matter what. Our goal for this upcoming World Cup is to
make the casuals and the emerging fan base know who Matt Turner is, know
who Weston McKennie is; even Christian Pulisic playing at one of the biggest
clubs in the world and you see him on TV all the time right now in the VW
commercial — making his face just as recognizable as a LeBron James or a
Patrick Mahomes or a Serena Williams — I think that that plays into our goal of
making soccer the most preeminent sport in America. It's like, yeah, Messi and
Ronaldo are popular here, but we want an American player to be just as
recognizable in our own country as those two…

“On the women's side, you have [Megan Rapinoe] and Alex [Morgan], and you
she's been retired a year now, but Carli Lloyd, like those are recognizable
figures. Abby Wambach is another example. We want to definitely have that on
the men's side, but continue to have more of those faces on the women's side.
Like, after next summer I don't think there's any reason why a Sophia Smith or
a Mallory Pugh can't be on that level, or Catarina Macario. They're so skilled.
They have just amazing personalities, they're engaging. So I would hope that we
do our job and the team performs well next summer and in Australia, New
Zealand and those are the next wave of household names is the Mal Pughs, the
Sophia Smiths, the Catarina Macarios. Obviously Rose Lavelle is out there too,
scoring a match winner in last World Cup final. So I think the sky's the limit
with this youth movement that the women's national team is having.

“And also the men's team is not old. They're gonna be one of the
youngest teams at the World Cup, like Christian Pulisic just turned
24. So I wouldn't even say he is in his prime yet. He's got his prime
ahead of him. So does Weston McKennie and Brendan Aaronson and
Matt Turner is just getting his feet wet at Arsenal and hopefully he
becomes a star over there and becomes the pride of North London.”

On the stars being an entry point for the team vs. the patriotism
“I think if you can entice somebody to become a Weston McKennie fan, then
they're gonna end up supporting Juventus, and then they're gonna support the
national team as well. I think they go hand in hand, but as you talked about, we
are a national team. I was talking with somebody about this the other day, and I
kind of miss the locality of it all. Like being in Portland, being in Minnesota,
you could rely on some regional flavors, regional nuances, and we don't
necessarily have that on the national team level because we are a huge country
and just the cultural diversity of the regions of the country and backgrounds of
the country — not to be cliche, but it is a melting pot. There's just so much
happening in this country. Like even politically, you've gotta be careful a little
bit too…

“Like I referenced earlier, we would always pick on the Lakers when I
worked for the Blazers. You can't do that at a national team level
because it comes off as xenophobic sometimes, or it could come off as
xenophobic and that's not great. So I generally just avoid even just
mentioning our opponents other than like a good game in England or
a good game against Spain, from the games that we just had, or just
referencing ‘what a crowd here for us and the Lionesses.’ I think that's
another thing to think about on the national team level is you can't
have necessarily that banter back and forth like you can in the club
setting.

“And I kind of skipped over this, but you asked a good question earlier, is the
differences between working for your normal sports team and the national teams is
you don't get to work with these players every day. You get to work with them for
10 days every six weeks, I think is what it averages out to, so it's kind of hard to
build those relationships in such a short time. I feel like I've spent double the time
just because of the way the FIFA windows have worked. I feel like I've spent double
the time with the women's national teams of the men. So I'm going into the World
Cup right now and I'm like these players recognize my face, they know what I do,
but I only have genuine connection moments with only probably a handful of them.
“But [with] the women's national team, I hadn’t felt that way until we were in
Mexico for a month and then these players get to know you, and you see them every
day for a month straight, six weeks straight, and you build that connection and it
makes creating content with them that much easier.”

On scaling up and meeting the massive World Cup challenge for social
“I've never been overwhelmed with the publishing side of it, but I
think we've got a good brand team — they're always willing to work
with us and here are our ideas and vice versa I hear their ideas and
I'm like let's run with that. Our video team's great. Each team has its
dedicated videographer, then we'll have a second videographer for
each camp. But for World Cup qualifying, we would bring in six to
eight freelance video people, and we'd probably have three or four
photoshooters just dedicated to us per game.

“World Cup qualifying was so much fun because it really feels like a
team there. So we've got two like video team managers and, like I
said, each team has its own videographer and then we'll have a second
videographer in each camp. But during World Cup qualifying, it was
kind of a cool atmosphere to see such a big team working to create
good content. At the World Cup, it will be similar, but obviously with
some of the FIFA restrictions and the expenses of getting to Qatar and
staying in Qatar — it will be as huge as we had for some of our World
Cup qualifiers at home.”

What US Soccer social hopes to provide fans and followers following them in
Qatar
“We're gonna have access to the team that none of those other outlets have, so
that's a huge responsibility is showing that behind the scenes. Like, one of our
themes is brotherhood on the team and that's always showing that it's a young
group of hungry players that are near the same age group and they all just kind of
vibe together. It's showing that it's a family. You know, you have so many people
that are from different backgrounds, whether it's Yunus Moussa and Christian
Pulisic, and Wes McKennie, Tyler Adams, Brendan Aaronson, all very different
backgrounds, but together working as one — that's the story we wanna tell. It's
that they are a brotherhood and it's a diverse team too, so many different unique
stories. So that's our role is to show what those other outlets can't.

“And, you know, something that we haven't talked about yet, which is
something that is just totally mind-blowing coming from the NBA —
we can't just publish our own highlights. We can't have videographers
on the field at the World Cup. FIFA is very strict about video rights, so
I'm gonna have to share either FIFA highlights or Fox Soccer
highlights as the rights holder. That's just a nuance of working in
soccer is having to strategize around that and really making the most
of what you can do.”

On telling the story of every player and not just the most elite and well-known
names
“I can't give too much away, but yes, you'll hear a story from every player that is on
that World Cup roster. An in-depth story. And you mentioned platforms, obviously
Instagram is the biggest engagement driver even though that kind of dwindles
every few months as they change their algorithm, it's been kind of messed up this
year. We just launched our TikTok, it's one TikTok for the whole federation, so it's
nice to see a variety of content there, whether it's men's, women's, youth, extended
national teams. Then Facebook is still, I won't say king, but Facebook is where the
people are. You can rip on Facebook all you want, but there's an audience there.
And Twitter, it is what it is. We'll see how it changes in the Musk era but Twitter is
where your voice, I think, shines and Twitter is the place to kind of be more
creative with that voice, whereas Instagram is all about visuals...

“It seems like, especially compared to the NBA, soccer Reddit is, I
mean, it [focuses on clubs] but national team soccer, Reddit is just so
less active than NBA Reddit. And it kind of makes me sad because
that's where I got a lot of ideas working in the NBA was Reddit. It's
just like, oh yeah, we could do that on our channel, let's do it. Or like,
this is what they're talking about, let's play into it. So yeah, that's
tough. YouTube, we talked about it earlier, it's the second most
powerful search engine in the world, so people are going there to look
for something rather than you serving it to them. I go on there and I
watch old concerts on there.”

On more personality-driven platforms around national team soccer in the
US
“I think that would be great [to have more]. Like right now, a lot of the
conversation is very straightforward. It's about who's making the roster
or what lineup we're gonna play or who scored for their club this
weekend. It's not the entertaining discussion, you know? Like the NBA, it
does a good job of thriving on drama…I listen to multiple NBA podcasts a
week, but I probably only watch in total one game a week. I love the
drama part of the NBA. Part of me is glad that soccer doesn't necessarily
have that, but part of me kind of wishes there was something there to play
up. But it is what it is.”

About Cody’s time broadcasting sports while he was a student at Indiana
University
“So, I didn't explain this in the interview, but I did a season of traveling
with the IU volleyball team doing their play-by-play. It was the year after
they went to the Sweet 16, but the next year [they were] bottom of the Big
10 and we were winless in the Big 10 going into Senior Night and I
actually teared up calling the win over Iowa on Senior Night, just because
it had been such a long season. But I don't remember what I said. I'm
sure you can pull up the archive somewhere, please don't search my name
on YouTube because there are some volleyball calls on there.

“Another broadcasting thing that sticks out from IU is the last project
I worked on was IU Baseball Media day, where you actually get to go
through drills, take ground balls; I didn't get to take batting practice,
but then the last thing was like an interview with Tracy Smith, who
was the coach there…IU baseball had had a good season previously
and I was like, ‘How are you gonna replace the firepower in your
lineup with some of the guys that graduated or went pro?’ And he is
like ‘I'm not too worried about that. We got a freshman coming in that
can really smack around the baseball named Kyle Schwarber. So I
think he's gonna carry that load offensively.’ So that's a cool thing as a
Cubs fan that's awesome to look back on. It's like, yeah, he was right.”

Cody’s favorite NBA player and favorite WNBA player to work with
from a social or content perspective
“For the NBA, it's easy: Dame [Damian Lillard]. Just the person he is
and everything he does on the floor makes it so easy to build content
around him. I loved Dame and in the same fashion Anthony Edwards
is up there as well. But personally I'll always love Karl-Anthony
Towns. He's a good dude and he's a good hang is what I'll say.

“[My] favorite WNBA player to work with? Off the court, there's no nicer
person than the GOAT Sylvia Fowles. Just one of the most lovable people
you'll find on the face of Earth. But also content-wise, I loved [Napheesa
Collier]. She's great to work with. And one of my signatures working for
the Lynx was making puns out of her name Phee, so like Double Phee-
ture, or like All Eyes On Phee with 2pac lyrics. So I always enjoyed
working with her…Semone Augustus was amazing, too…
“I think my favorite ever line from a player was [at] one of the early
media days [with the Lynx] I introduced myself to Semone Augustus and
I said ‘I work for the team.’ She's like, ‘No, you work with the team.’
That's one of the coolest things a player has ever said.”

Cody’s favorite piece of content or social media posts from his time
with the Columbus Crew
“This sounds really dumb, but like it was when the Crew had
Sebastián Miranda and the Vancouver Whitecaps had Sébastien Le
Toux and TJ Ansley…he was my boss at the Crew and then at the Trail
Blazers, and we had this dumb idea of making a poll of who's your
favorite Sebastian — Sebastián Miranda, Sébastien Le Toux,
Sebastian from The Little Mermaid, Sebastian Bach from [band] Skid
Row. It probably did no engagement, but it was just something stupid
we did in five minutes and it's one that we come back to and laugh at.”

The most important smsports lesson or insight or guiding principle
that pops in Cody’s head right now
“I'll admit I used to be a little stuck up, like judging what I'd see from
other teams or whatever. But the lesson and something that I've
learned is that there's no right way, there's no wrong way, there's just
your way. Other teams…you can find out the staffing situation on
another team or you can find out that they're really restricted by their
front office, [so] they can't do these things, they don't have access or
they don't have designers to make cool shit. So I would say that —
there's no right way, there's no wrong way, there’s just your way.”

Which social platform is the most consistently successful for US
Soccer?
“Currently Instagram…it's consistently inconsistent…but where the
bulk of people are, they’re on Facebook. Facebook is still so
surprising just like the engagement and web traffic that Facebook
drives. But obviously, the highest ceiling, we just launched our
TikTok. We've had some success on it so far, but I'm hoping it blows
up after the World Cup or during the World Cup.”

The most memorable game that Cody worked for any of the NBA or
WNBA teams he’s worked with
“[With the] Blazers, it’s gotta be Dame’s — I think it was his first 50-
point game against the Warriors. Me and TJ and Brian Matzat, we
still have the clip that we'll share occasionally; I think it was when
Dame hit his 50, the broadcaster at the time, his call is like ‘Lillard!
Heat check. Ahhhhh [groans]!’ [It’s] one of the funniest calls. And
obviously moving on to the second round against the Clippers and
then the playoff series against the Warriors were amazing.

“[With the] Lynx — I got there after they won their fourth championship,
so I gotta say the first round of the playoffs in the covid bubble, beating
Phoenix. Like I've already mentioned, I hated the Phoenix Mercury so
much working for the Lynx and [Fowles] had come back from injury and
she just wasn't ready. I've got goosebumps and I'm starting to tear up
just thinking about it — I captured a photo of Syl in tears hugging
Napheesa Collier after that. And then Damiris Dantas, that was one of
the best games she's ever had, and we weren't sure if she was gonna play
because there was a false positive covid test right before that. So we were
like, she's not gonna play, we're doomed. It came down to the wire. We
beat the Mercury, Diana Taurasi — it was great. That was a fun game.

“And then Timberwolves, I'm going to have to say Derrick Rose. We're
coming up on the four-year anniversary of it. Derrick Rose,
Halloween night, 50 points. There was nobody at that game, but it
was just amazing. I didn't have the right lens and got a shitty photo of
him crying after the game, but it’s still a sick photo of him screaming.
He blocked, I think it was Dante Exum was shooting to tie; we were
playing the Jazz and he got a piece of it, blocked it; just him hugging
the game ball, walking off the floor. And then after the game, I was
giving him photos after the game. A guy like that just saying ‘Hey
man, I appreciate everything you do. This means so much to me.’
Like, that's why you do it. I'll always love Derrick Rose.”

The US soccer player with the best social media presence and why
“That's easy, go follow Trinity Rodman on TikTok. She's great. And
Alex Morgan's TikTok is great, too. She’s funny, she shows her
personality, she's great. On the men's side, not a lot of them post. But
I think Walker Zimmerman’s good. He's not afraid to post himself,
like a guy would do, screaming [at the top] of his lungs during the
bridge of Taylor Swift's ‘All Too Well.’”

The best meal Cody has had on the road
with the US soccer so far AND the NBA or
WNBA arena with the best press box food
outside of Minnesota or Portland.
“So I'm fortunate all the US soccer ones are
fresh in my mind because I just got back
from Europe, and I just wanna say we were
in Cologne, Germany and I had pork
knuckle — amazing. Like, it's crispy on the
outside then it has a layer of creamy, like
fatty whatever, and then you get to the meat
part. It's amazing. I only ate half of, it was
huge.

“I had an amazing grilled cheese in London.
That's a weird thing to say that a grilled cheese
was life-changing, but it was. And then we went
out in Pamplona, Spain and you know,
obviously you have the Jamon Iberico, the ham
that's just carved right off the leg. But then we
had these torched roasted red peppers that
were just — I think all that was on it was salt,
olive oil and maybe a little bit of garlic, but
those were amazing. And then just everywhere
in Europe, the bread is amazing. I don't get it.
Like, we do something wrong here in America
with bread, but the bread over in Europe every
time was amazing.

“Then, I told you I was in Monterrey, Mexico for a month for
CONCACAF Championship and we had our private chef there, Chef T,
shout out. Every meal he makes is amazing. So that's not eating out
abroad, but the team meals, all of them were amazing.
“NBA press box, the best would be the Houston Rockets, Toyota Center.
They always had a good spread…It was different both times, but I
remember it was a lot of food and it was good. Oh, no, scrap that.
Detroit. Little Caesars Arena. There's so much. There's food, there's the
wings, there's cheesy bread. Then they have a Chinese food option and
then a couple other options. Like, you gain 10 pounds when you go there.

“And along the same lines, the first professional sports game I ever
worked was I was interning in Boston for a TV station and they had a
credential and nobody wanted to go — it was Sporting Lisbon and
Celtic at Fenway Park, and that was my first professional sports press
box experience. And that Fenway Park press box, the food — anything
you could ask for. It's amazing.”

The emerging technology in the fan engagement social media space that Cody is most
optimistic about
“I'm skeptical on AR and just the metaverse in general, but I don't know…This is not
technology, but I think just the broadcast aspect of it. You're already seeing it, there's
gonna be more ManningCast-type content where you don't have to listen to the play-
by-play. I'm shocked that there hasn't been an option yet for this soccer-wise, where
they bring in celebrities to talk about the World Cup. Obviously, it's a huge
prestigious event, but that's a way you bring people in. Like, Jon Hamm is in every
Fox Soccer promo for this World Cup as Santa Claus. There was another one released
today; like, who wouldn't want to hear Jon Hamm talking about the World Cup?
Like, if you're just a casual [fan]; obviously if you're a diehard avid fan, you want Ian
Darke or John Strong on the play-by-play. But I think there's gonna be a lot more of
that type of content and that's just gonna play more into social clips as well.”

What's gonna happen first — Indiana men's basketball win a national
title or Indiana football makes the college football playoff?
“I've sold all my Indiana football stock. I was optimistic during the
covid season and it's just plummeted since then. So I gotta go Indiana
Men's basketball. I know is a tough end of the season, but I've got
faith in Mike Woodson. I hope Trayce (Jackson-Davis) is good this
year, living up to the hype. I think Elite Eight is doable this year.
They're projected to be top of the Big 10, but the Big 10 has had a
rough go of it in the tournament in recent years. But I'm bullish on IU
men’s basketball in the next few years.”

Cody’s Social Media All-Star to Follow
“I've already shouted her out, follow Trinity Rodman on TikTok
(@trinity.rodman). She's hilarious. I think the sky is the limit for her.
Soccer-wise, she's still young. Obviously, [she] killed it in NWSL last
year. But every time I open TikTok and see she's posted something, I
laugh and send it to somebody.”

Where to find Cody and US Soccer on social media
Follow the teams @USMNT, @USWNT, @USYNT, @USSoccer,
@USSoccer_ent on Twitter and Instagram; @USSoccer on TikTok
Follow @CodySharrett on Instagram and Twitter

@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
Thanks again to Cody for being so generous with his time to share his
knowledge, experience, and expertise with me!
For more content and episodes, subscribe to the podcast, follow me
on LinkedIn and on Twitter @njh287, and visit www.dsmsports.net.

Episode 233 Snippets: Cody Sharrett of US Soccer

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Episode 233 Snippets: Cody Sharrett of US Soccer