NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The rainfall is biblical, a discordant symphony against car hoods and pavement. Beyond the trembling Geodis Park overhangs, lightning spiderwebs an onyx sky. Shirtless teenagers puddle-jump down Bransford Avenue, their soaked tees helicoptering above their heads in improvisational defiance.
Huddling in the Nashville SC locker room, 2020 and 2021 MLS Defender of the Year Walker Zimmerman, 29, waits like a bottled firefly. He's 6-foot-3 and ropy, with the shaggy facial hair and hazel-flecked blues of a lost Hemsworth. A three-hour weather delay -- against rival Atlanta United and for a sellout crowd of 31,109, no less -- belies his unrelenting motion.