I was reminded of an article I read last year while reading Mike Wise’s latest column on the rift between Peter Nowak and Freddy Adu. Here’s the pertinent excerpt:

By Steven Goff, The Washington Post, April 16, 2004

Peter Nowak was 9 when his father first took him to a clearing in the woods near their home in central Poland. The choppy ground was their soccer pitch, trees stood as goal posts. The game was one on one, the aspiring son against the accomplished father. “He told me we’re not going to stop until you beat me,” Peter Nowak recalled recently. “I beat him for the first time when I was 22 years old. Every Sunday, every week, year after year, he embarrassed me in front of my friends, in front of my girlfriends, in front of my neighbors. I was upset, I was crying, but it made me stronger. It was frustrating - but that’s why I am so hungry for winning.”

You want some insight into the relationship between Freddy Adu and Peter Nowak? You want to know why Nowak is the way he is? Read that story again. I think you’ll find some of what you’re looking for.