The Los Angeles Times' Chuck Culpepper serves up a detailed look at American striker Jozy Altidore's quest to make it in the English Premier League and looks at the 21-year-old's childhood as the son of Haitian immigrants who met on a bus in Orange, N.J. Altidore, among the Hull City players from nine nations, lives temporarily in a modest hotel. His BMW recently arrived from Spain, so he drives on the left with a steering wheel on the left ("I'm always hitting the curb.").

Playing on a modest club that will struggle against relegation creates a formidale challenge for Altidore. After a promising start as a sub, he got mixed reviews after his first start. A Sky TV pundit thought he looked "lost" and The Guardian noted that any creativity from Hull's 4-4-2 formation "invariably foundered" when reaching the strikers.

Altidore is pleased that his success has enabled his parents retire: "When I call my parents, just the tone of voice, they sound relaxed, they sound rested. I can tell. I know them better than anybody else knows them. It's just a great feeling just to hear the rest in their voice. There's no stress in their voices like there used to be."

During Altidore's childhood, his father, Joseph, usually rose at 4 a.m. to work as a deliveryman, returning home by 3 p.m. His mother, Gisele, would then go to her nursing job at 7 p.m., returning home at 7 a.m., which didn't include her second jobs in home healthcare.