MetroFanatic: Dax, here's a quiz for you: who is the third longest tenured player on this team?
Dax McCarty: Dax McCarty.

MF: That's right!
DM: Which is crazy.

MF: It's beyond crazy. In this league, teams are not very successful with this high of a turnover.
DM: Look, I've been in this league for a long time. This is going into my third year now, I've been on the team for the whole year and a half, so it's pretty surprisng that there is that much turnover, but that's MLS. The salary cap...

MF: Not all teams are like this...
DM: Not all teams are like that, but the salary cap forces teams to adjust on the fly. So for me, while there has been a lot fo turnover this year, I think the turnover has been the right turnover. We got the right players in, as opposed to previous years.

MF: So last year they weren't the right players?
DM: No, no, no, not saying last year they weren't the right guys...

MF: Right, before last year then...
DM: I'm saying sometimes, foreign players come in and they think it's gonna be an easy league to adjust to, but I think MLS is one of the toughest leagues in the world.

MF: You want to name names? An ex-teammate perhaps?
DM: No. Absolutely not! I just think we're bringing in the right guys with MLS experience. I'm gonna use guys like Fabian Espindola, Jamison Olave as examples. Those are guys who have come from a winning team, who know what it takes to win an MLS Cup. So that's the right type of turnover that you want. You want winners, you want guys who have been successful. From my standpoint, it's been a good thing.

MF: Let's move on to something as important: facial hair.
DM: Absolutely!

MF: What are we gonna see this year?
DM: I don't know. I hadn't shaved in three weeks. In Arizona, I had a real nice mountain man look about me, I had the full beard look going on. While I was shaving it off, I was looking in the mirror and playing around with some ideas and I actually shaved the mustache first. And I usually shave that last, because I love having a mustache.

MF: Who doesn't!
DM: So I was messing around, with a soul patch, maybe a little bit of chin hair, the motorcycle look... There are a couple of looks that I'm messing with. I'm not gonna say that all of them look great, because they don't...

MF: Self-criticism is important.
DM: Absolutely. They look pretty ridiculous, but I think I'll have something this year.

MF: On our website, we have a Survivor competition, where every week readers vote out a player. Do you want to guess who won last year?
DM: I'm gonna go with... Dax McCarty!

MF: Yes!
DM: I love it. I love it! Do I get an award or what?

MF: Ummmm...
DM: Maybe just a gift certificate?

MF: When Clint broke the goal-scoring record, we got him an award, that was the only time. So you have three goals so far...
DM: Yep.

MF: Oh, but Angel has 62.
DM: You know, I think it's a realistic target for me this year.

MF: Just this year?
DM: Yeah, absolutely!

MF: If you break it, we'll get you an award.
DM: I'm gonna do 30 headers, 15 with my right leg, 15 with my left. I think that's a realistic target.

MF: Speaking of headers, you were pretty good on corner kicks last year...
DM: It's funny, I'm a smaller guy, but I take a lot of pride in my ability in the air. After I scored that goal against Columbus, I ran over to our assistant coach, Jan Halvorsen, who had worked on all the set pieces...

MF: And who has the biggest nose in history.
DM: And I said, Jan, let me go into the box, and he said, OK, great. And I said, listen, I will repay your faith. In the air on corner kicks, I'm dangerous, because teams underestimate me. I had two goals off corner kicks last year, and I had a couple saved off the line, so this year my goal is three or four.

MF: 30.
DM: 30, okay.

MF: Did you get snubbed last year in consideration for MVP?
DM: Honestly, from my point of view, I always said that the individual accolades, they don't mean too much to me. I'm a guy that always puts the team first. But yeah, certainly when that stuff comes out, and you feel like you're having a good season...

MF: Or for the national team this offseason...
DM: Yeah, you think about what could have been, or you think if you're playing better than other people...

MF: You are.
DM: So who knows what goes into that stuff, I don't really look into it too much, but for me, as long as the team is winning, as long as I'm contributing in a positive way, that's good enough for me.

MF: We were talking to Heath about your conversation before the trade, and joked how you might be pulling the strings...
DM: I would like to take credit for that trade, because it's been a good trade, but Heath is the type of player in this league that is absolutely essential to have. He's very versatile, he's good experience, he played with the national team, so I like to think I had a little to do with it, but unfortunately, I didn't put anything in Soler's ear.

MF: Have you been told that you look like Marty McFly?
DM: HA HA HA! I have, I have. And you know, he's a stud in Back to the Future, so I'm OK with it.