JON STEWART … On Soccer

Jon Stewart, the Emmy Award-winning host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," appeared at the NSCAA Convention last weekend in Philadelphia to accept an Honorary All-America award.

Stewart, host of this year's Academy Awards, played college soccer at William & Mary in 1981-83 after playing youth and high school ball in Central New Jersey.

Before helping present honors to 450 college, high school and youth All-Americans and attending a reunion with his William & Mary teammates, Stewart talked soccer. Here are excerpts of his press conference:

Do you still play soccer?
JON STEWART: Every morning I get up at 6:00, eat half a melon, jazzercise and head out to the practice field.

Do you keep track of international soccer?
JS: Yeah. I follow just Group C of the Mexican League.

Are you looking forward to the reunion with your William & Mary teammates and being one of the guys again?
JS: Being one of the guys again? Have you been reading my diary?

What does this all-American honor mean to you?
JS: It's interesting. I was not a particularly great student and not a particularly great athlete and I have an honorary doctorate and I'm an honorary all-American. I think it means that the best thing for kids is to not pay that close attention and let them tell lots of jokes.

As a student I was not particularly focused, but soccer was the saving grace. That's the thing I looked forward to. Soccer is what kept us together and buoyed us far as spirits were concerned.

Do you have any memories of Bruce Arena?
JS: The only memories I have of Bruce Arena is UVA kicking our ass every year in the NCAA tournament or during the season. I think it's fair to say William & Mary and UVA were two of the top programs and every year we'd get to UVA and somehow they were the fly in the ointment of our season.

What kind of coach was Al Albert during your days at William & Mary?
JS: I just remember him sitting in the back of the van crying. … He was one of those guys like Bruce Arena who brought the game from where it was when I played in the early 1980s to what is now. It's remarkable the advances they made.

Were you ever reprimanded by Coach Albert?
JS: When you say reprimanded, do you mean suspended? I guess what I'm saying is, do mean the charges stuck?

He was an excellent coach. This was back in the day when it was not as administrative and businesslike. He let us be college kids and not miniature corporations like the NCAA has it now. We were probably the last era of the Bad News Bears.