Grant Wahl: Dempsey eyes next challenge after historic season with Fulham

Clint Dempsey leans forward in his seat and tells a story. Back in his hometown of Nacogdoches, Texas, during his days in the second grade, an old, crusty gym teacher named Coach Long staged a kickball game one afternoon between the boys and the girls. Dempsey played hard, just like he always does, but then came an unexpected twist. "Coach Long cheated and let the girls win," Dempsey says, "and I jumped up and tried to punch him." There were consequences, of course: Dempsey said he "got pops" at both the principal's office and at home that night, and he missed an ice cream party. (Coach Long, who presumably wore those tight-fitting BIKE coaches' shorts, also retired after that school year. "Hopefully it wasn't because of me," Dempsey says.) But the point is clear: Deuce does not like to lose. Never has.