MetroFanatic: Tim, so you signed a contract, terms haven't come out yet, but it looks like it's a lot of money.
Tim Parker: Yeah.

MF: Life-changing money?
TP: Yeah. Well, it's undisclosed, but we'll see.

MF: The players union reveals all the numbers...
TP: Eventually.

MF: When you were traded last year, did you think this was going to come?
TP: There were talks about it all year. When they traded for me, it was obviously the idea that they will try to keep me here. For me, it was the idea of playing back in New York, in my home town, it was something special. So obviously, the idea of staying in New York was great for me as well.

MF: Or New Jersey, we're kinda on this side of the river.
TP: Right.

MF: You gotta love New Jersey too.
TP: (smirks). Right. Absolutely.

MF: It seems that you and the guy next to you (Aaron Long) have formed a pretty good partnership, probably the best in the league.
TP: I like playing with Aaron a lot. It happened when I got here, we realized that we play very similar, and we enjoy the system that we play in. It makes it a lot of fun to play together.

MF: Were you ready to walk if the deal was not made here?
TP: It's a tough question to answer, just because of the way everything ended up going. My idea the entire year is that I wanted to stay at Red Bull. They way they things were going here, the way I was performing was one of my better career years, so I wanted to stay here and be a part of what could be better career years to come.

MF: Lots of people are putting down the draft and college...
TP: (laughs) Yeah.

MF: And yet we have some players who come from college, don't get drafted too high, and still contribute.
TP: Obviously, the draft did a lot for me. I give Carl Robinson a lot of credit...

MF: Former player here.
TP: He took a chance on me in the draft and taught me a lot my first year and obviously it ended up panning out pretty well. Some college players deserve a big chance and it takes certain people to see that.