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Cooler Conversations - Mariah Lee - Ep. 9
5 Plays3 months ago
In this special bonus episode, Van and Coop sit down for a chat with DC Power player Mariah Lee. Mariah fills us in on her experience so far with the new USL Super League and the importance of having more opportunities for women to play soccer professionally in the US.
We also talk about Mariah’s blog “Soccer She Wrote” and what inspired her to start writing about her experiences. Coop also dives into the important questions regarding Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album and they talk about growing up in Covington, WA.
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- This podcast was made possible through the support of The Doctor's Office
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CoolerGuildPod
Coop
Van
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Show produced by Coop
Theme song by Alex Juarez
Show artwork by Coop
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The Cooler Guild Est. 2024
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Transcript
Introduction & Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
The Cooler Guild is brought to you by The Doctor's Office, a great little 12 seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner is a big fan of the rain and is proud to be our first sponsor. The Doctor's Office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. I really love their white assortment of whiskeys, but especially the Welsh whiskey steined by the tiny dragon herself, Jess Fishlock. Check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers. Cheers.
Special Episode & Guest Introduction
00:00:46
Speaker
Hello and welcome to a very special episode of The Cooler Guild. I am Coop and joined with me as always is Van. What's up? In today's episode, we'll be doing our first ever interview with special guest Mariah Lee. But first we want to remind people, The Cooler Guild is part of the Sander Heart Podcast Network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're Sander Heart subscriber on the private unified feed with the other podcasts on the network.
00:01:07
Speaker
If you'd like to become a subscriber, just visit our page at sanderatheart.com forward slash the cooler guild. New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything that we're doing. Should we give our, we had our second paid subscriber. We did have our second paid subscriber shout out to, um, one of our very first mega listeners, a very good friend of mine, big part of FC Olympia, Ryan Perkins. So cheers Ryan. Cheers Ryan. I don't know if I've shouted about yet on the podcast. I don't think we have. So.
00:01:37
Speaker
He's a big part of my soccer life. Excellent guy. Really supportive of women's soccer in general. And he's growing the game here in Olympia. So cheers, Ryan. We appreciate you. Thank you.
Mariah Lee's Career & Blogging
00:01:47
Speaker
And now on to our guest introduction. Today's guest is a Covington, Washington native, a Stanford and Wake Forest alumni whose professional soccer career has spanned over six countries in its many years.
00:01:58
Speaker
She's also made an impact off the field with her blog, Soccer She Wrote, which recounts her experiences playing at home and abroad as a black woman, giving an inside perspective of an athlete navigating her way through the current landscape of women's professional soccer and the world at large. Currently playing for DC Power, please enjoy our conversation with Mariah Lee. Hi, Mariah.
00:02:22
Speaker
Hey. So how, we know each other because you played for FC Olympia, formerly Holy Town FC last year. Yes. Um, which I am still currently the general manager of, and that was fun. This past year or last, last year?
00:02:40
Speaker
last year. Well, you played one game this last year and then I had to sign your rights away, release you really. So yeah, you've been over at DC for a couple of weeks now playing for DC power. How has that been so
USL Super League Discussion
00:02:56
Speaker
far? Like what's your overall thoughts on the super league so far?
00:02:59
Speaker
It's a really cool project. It's still a work in progress. We have a lot of moving parts, just figuring out our personnel, organizational things. Yeah, there's a lot going on. I don't, I don't envy, you know, getting all of the, you know, things together but
00:03:22
Speaker
Like, um, Amanda was here, the head of the USL super league. Yes. And she's making her rounds. And so I got to sit down with her, uh, for a few hours that we went to the U S game versus Costa Rica.
00:03:39
Speaker
And she has a really big vision for the league. Um, she's been involved with soccer. She's involved, been involved with creating leagues. So it's a very like thought out, um, process. I know a lot of people in the interview to sell are like, we don't know if it's going to be stable. We don't know if it's going to last, like it's going to be stable. It's going to last, especially with, um, the men's side already, um, existing functioning, making money. Um, they have a.
00:04:09
Speaker
plan to just keep expanding and growing the game here. And the goal is not to take the NWSL down. It's to just give boroughs in America more opportunity in the game here, because we have the talent to do so. And compared to Europe, where every country has a league, maybe a league underneath with a fraction of the population,
00:04:37
Speaker
We've just had one league for, you know, the past what is it 12 years of the NW cell coming up.
00:04:47
Speaker
Yeah, I'm super excited. It's been a lot of fun. And I saw you guys got to be in a suite at Audi. Yeah, they're really trying to give us the professional experience. And this is my first kind of club where they're going all out, even though we have a men's side. Most of the time when I'm abroad and I'm with a club that already has a men's side that's established,
00:05:15
Speaker
We're just like an afterthought and we don't get a lot of the luxuries that they have. We don't get the exposure. We don't get, um, money. We don't, we're not in the same training facility. Like it goes on and on and on here at DC United. We're training at a Nova where DC United train or the spirit train we're playing at Audi where they train like it's top of the line. You have the same resources as well. You feel like you're going to have like physio and oh yeah. Yeah. It's not the damn it.
00:05:44
Speaker
But, um, they're like, give us some, give us some time to get everything together. Um, I don't really know the whole story, but they were just kind of later in the process and some of the other clubs, but like our owners there every single day. Um, and like, I've never had that. That's cool. What are you looking most forward to for the inaugural season?
00:06:06
Speaker
Just play.
Opportunities in US Soccer
00:06:08
Speaker
It's just my family can come. My friends can come. Like that's huge. Just I've been playing abroad for so long. It just had drained me and drained me not being able to have community.
00:06:23
Speaker
I think that was something too. And I was thinking about maybe the long-term benefits of having another league in the United States is I know a lot of players don't want to leave their families post-college, you know, you've been away from your family and okay. I want to go play professionally. I don't have an opportunity here in the U S right now, you know, cause it was just the NWSL until you have to go play abroad. Yeah. And so you're either going to like the Swiss league, you're going over to,
00:06:50
Speaker
Portugal, wherever, and then you're just leaving your family again. And that's just, you're not offered a whole ton of like support there. And so I think that that makes it a really cool thing too, is like you can play professionally in the United States and have another opportunity to like keep your career going. Cause I think that's important. And I know so many people who went to preseason at the end of your cell after they got drafted and didn't make it, went abroad one season, didn't like it, and then stopped playing. Yeah, that's tough.
00:07:18
Speaker
Yeah, where now people are having other opportunities right outside of college and you can, I wish I had this when I was there. Yeah. I feel, I feel like it's the developing, it's an opportunity for developing players that otherwise, you know, if they don't want to go to Europe, they don't want to have to deal with that. They're going to get that here now. Yeah. And there's been a couple like loans already from NWSL clubs. And I think that if they can continue that relationship, it would be even cooler.
00:07:46
Speaker
Yeah. Cause it's mutually beneficial. Yeah. Um, yeah. So I'm just really excited about that. Also, um, playing with like Jorian is signed to our team, Jorian Baucom. We played together growing up with region four at national team camps. Like we were already friends. So I'm excited on that front. Like there's a lot of familiar faces. Um, I think it'll be good soccer. Like I'm just ready to go. You guys are getting pretty stacked.
00:08:15
Speaker
Well, the thing is some guy wrote a Twitter post about how we're going to be bad. He was like, I don't know what girls you have. Come on. That's so rude. Yeah. I was like, I saw Bako meet on your team and I was just like, oh, they're for real then. They're for real. We are. We are.
00:08:36
Speaker
Well, and it's also like people haven't had a lot of opportunities to like see a lot of you guys play. And so, you know, unless you were following the A League or watching the W League, which is pretty niche, but, you know, like they haven't really been able to see the quality of players just because the media hasn't really been out there for people to like highlight these players.
00:09:01
Speaker
Yeah. And overseas, you know, if you want to watch the crazy time zones, you really have to be locked in. You find the feeds. It's just hard. So I can't keep it up. I don't know. People do that abroad with like the NWSL even. Cause it's just like, what time are you up to like watch these matches?
00:09:19
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, you got to be on the dark web getting all the links. Yeah. Oddly gotten good at that.
Blogging Journey & Social Commentary
00:09:27
Speaker
So you started a blog. When did you start the blog? It's called Talker She Wrote. Yes. I started that blog when I went to FC Northland. So 2021.
00:09:41
Speaker
Um, and I just got into freelance writing that summer. I, or was it the summer before? I don't know. It was the, it was the Olympics before the Olympics. And I was a history major in college. I got one of my past professors had me on this panel. And one of the other panelists was Jesse Washington, who's a writer for.
00:10:05
Speaker
and escape formerly the undefeated. She started chatting after and she was like, you have a great story. Like, right. You should write something for us. I was like, what are you talking about? And essentially I ended up pitching a piece on Crystal Dunn and her experience as a black woman. And that kind of just
00:10:27
Speaker
exploded my little interest for writing. I wrote another piece on Brown of Scurry and her being Black and queer. And when 80 France was the next goalkeeper up and like her role, her role in France's life and like just both of them as Black queer women goalkeepers. And
00:10:49
Speaker
then I kind of just got into writing my blog with this black soccer digital platform called Two Cents FC and now it's rebranded into 41 mag and it's just kind of chronicled my time being abroad and it's less about the soccer and more just about social commentary and like life and I've enjoyed it. So I think going forward we're gonna
00:11:19
Speaker
It's gonna look a little different, but I'm hoping to give people kind of a look on like the USL and being a part of something that's brand new and creating a new team and culture and building something cool, so.
00:11:35
Speaker
And I think you come into it with a lot of experience. Yeah. And so there's a lot of like comparisons that can be made. Yeah. But I've thought it was really cool. I mean, reading it because it's a perspective that I don't have and just things that I would never think of. And so I think it's a very important thing that you're doing. And I think it's really cool. Have you gotten a lot of good feedback about it?
Challenges in Sports & Italy Experience
00:11:56
Speaker
I got a lot of feedback. Yeah. So it's been, it's been interesting because a lot of people think sports are this glamorous, you know, sexy business. I'm like, Oh, that's the men's side. Yeah.
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah. So I read the article when you were out in Italy on the board of Italy and that was a, that was really eye-opening. Yeah. My Italian Swiss team. Yeah. Yeah. Didn't treat us right at all. Didn't respect us and then tried to cuddle every corner and all the foreigners had to go because they didn't do any of the visa paperwork.
00:12:34
Speaker
And a lot of people from there didn't get another team. Like that was it. Really? Yeah. Um, but a cool part of that story is some of the girls I connected with at TST, I played with the former teammate played against a couple teammates and one just got picked up to at least go to preseason with Brooklyn. I don't know if she's signed, but she's, she hasn't played since Switzerland on a pro team and she might not get her chance at the USO super league. That's sweet.
00:13:04
Speaker
Yeah. That's exactly, I think the point of it. So you played TST with Angel City. Yeah, I did. Which is a seven-a-side tournament and you scored an incredible goal. That was really cool. See, that was like, I'm back in the States. I got to, you know, do something. Yeah. Yeah. My mom was like, this is going to, because I.
00:13:26
Speaker
had already been in talks with DC, but I haven't, I hadn't crossed the line yet. And my mom was like, I'm just feeling so good for you for like being in the States. Like it was so cute. She was so proud of me that you think that helped your decision. Well, I knew I was going to go there, but we just had some like we're back and forth and some stuff. But, um,
00:13:50
Speaker
It was funny because I was like, if this doesn't work out, I was telling them, now I got all this exposure. Like you're like, I'll be good. You're going to have to pay me more. How does that work with salaries in the U S L super league? Um, they have a minimum salary. How's that kind of workout? Have you had good experience with that? There's a similar to the interview sale. I think it's like 35.
00:14:19
Speaker
And they have tiered salaries because they have different types of player contracts. So the standard player contract has that minimum. Then there are player development contracts, which the point is to give girls who haven't played pro experience. So they are like on a lower tier. So I think theirs is like maybe 32 or something.
00:14:49
Speaker
Then they have Academy contracts, which is interesting because the girls who are not in high school and, or sorry, who aren't in college, who are in high school are able to train and playing games as much as they want, but they're not paid so that if they decide, actually want to go to college, they still have their eligibility. Okay. Yeah, that was thought through.
00:15:16
Speaker
Yeah, so they have those different tiers and then there's international players, but
00:15:25
Speaker
the league from the club's perspective, they can spend less money on some of these players who are fresh out. But for them, I think they feel like it's a little tougher because they're a little strapped for the players. So we'll see if that goes up. Probably everything will just start increasing as the years go on.
00:15:51
Speaker
Yeah, I've been impressed with the caliber of a lot of the ownership groups. I mean, you guys, Angel Reese. Oh yeah. I was like, damn, is she going to come to some game? She better. Yeah. She, they already linked up when she played the mystics.
00:16:08
Speaker
Jordan, but after the season's over, I think she'll pull up. Yeah. I mean, they're playing so well. I feel like they're probably going to be in the playoffs. They're fun to watch. They're really fun to watch. I became like a Shik Sky fan because of Courtney Manner's loop.
00:16:23
Speaker
Oh yeah, I see you even know her. She, oh my gosh, she's such a legend. She went to my high school. I graduated with her. What? Yeah, yeah. She was voted, I mean, my high school experience is much different and I don't want to like go see those photos of me in high school, but she was voted most athletic the year I was voted most artistic, so. Did you go to Kentwood? Yeah, I went to Kentwood.
00:16:46
Speaker
Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. I went to like, uh, Madsen. I went to Crestwood. That's why we have questions about in this. Yeah. That's so funny. Yeah. Yeah. I would, I like grew up and I went to the, I lived in Foxwood. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I know who lived in Foxwood. Yeah. Yeah. One second. I gotta, I gotta talk about Covington, I guess. And Sven's not, van's not really in the Covington. Do you visit their stuff?
00:17:15
Speaker
Yeah, I every, like I have a few friends who still live in Covington.
Community Connections & Advice for Young Athletes
00:17:22
Speaker
And so one of my close friends, he has been in the soccer scene. He played like a USL two overseas. Okay. And he's home. We'll meet up and train at Wilson. That's so funny. Did you know any of the other people that like, have you, have you met up with Courtney at all or anything? I was like, it's to be in BAs, like this crazy, crazy world.
00:17:45
Speaker
Yeah, I, I can make that connection now. Yeah. I mean, you're not far from her now too. Yeah. That's so funny.
00:17:57
Speaker
really did a good job of highlighting former people outside of Rodney Stuckey. Like he was just the main one who went to the NBA, made it. And that's all we really knew about. You didn't tell me about Courtney? No, I'm like, show the women some love. Are you serious? Crazy record. She has like the all time assists. What does she have? Assist record?
00:18:18
Speaker
So I think it's a single season of like assists record. And then she's the first ever male or female and then seeable history at 2000 points and a thousand assists. That's a crazy stat. Yeah.
00:18:30
Speaker
They didn't, that's so funny. I mean, I, I graduated with her. So everyone was always talking about her. I like had a huge crush on her in high school, but like, um, I mean, everyone knew she was like, just so good. And everyone in my class was like stoked for her and still definitely like, I would say a lot of people were into sports, follow her journey and stuff. So that's been fun to see, especially since of how, uh, her team won the championship, came to sparker and all that. That's pretty sweet.
00:18:59
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Soundwork Heart podcast network, which now includes No Sonietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023, but need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce.
00:19:25
Speaker
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00:19:52
Speaker
Uh, we're going up to the women's sports bar after this to watch the game. Yeah. We're heading up to Seattle to the rough and tumble. Yeah. You see that they, uh, they are part owners of the game. That's really cool. And it'll be interesting. We'll see. I mean, that has to be like the biggest rival though.
00:20:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah. I mean, it's always been a big game for the men's team. Um, so having, I know we're in talks to do like, um, some sort of Derby event for it, but yeah, it'll be really cool. I mean, I'm happy to have another team in Washington. I mean, mainly just because the travel is insane to go to Oregon all the time, but then nothing, nothing compared to the super like travel house it's going to go.
00:20:41
Speaker
Yeah, this first year, I feel bad for Spokane. But the following year, Oakland's joining, Tucson's joining. So there's going to be more of a West Coast presence in the league. Oakland has a good following. Yeah, they do. It was really cool to go play down there and play this year because that's the Olympic team. That was our first game down in California. And we played at the men's stadium where the men normally play. The championship team plays and their training facility is old Raiders training facility.
00:21:10
Speaker
Yeah. They had us practice there the day before and we were like, Oh, this is fancy, but they have a good following. So that'll be, that'll, I think that'll be a really good ad for the super league. I know that a lot of people that listen to our podcast, our parents or art players themselves and have kids that think about wanting to maybe go professional one day. Like, do you think that that's becoming more of a viable option and something that, what would you say or what, what it's like a piece of advice you'd give somebody?
00:21:37
Speaker
Oh, I would say for parents, let their kid let your kids drive it. My parents are super hands off and I love the game. I went out by myself. I wanted to get better. It all came from me. And I think if you're a parent and you're constantly having to push the kid in, it's just not going to work out in the long end. Like they have to love the game and want to be there. And then as a kid, like
00:22:06
Speaker
just practice, be open-minded, like have a growth mindset. That's just like calling in like a sponge and trying to soak up as much information as you can and not thinking like, oh, I know everything. And for me, growing up, I played my little kind of rec select team and I didn't even make the jump to like premiere soccer until going into seventh grade. And that was kind of
00:22:35
Speaker
That's kind of late. So you don't have to like fork out all this money for since the kids like five to like make it like you do not have to. And you also played basketball for a long time. Do you think that was helpful? Oh yeah. I played basketball. I ran track like I did every single sport. I talked about this in depth, but I think being in other sports for me was basketball. Like there's other
00:23:01
Speaker
skills that you get that are transferable directly to soccer and elevated my game so much. And even things like posting up. They teach you how to post up in basketball as a forward. I played nine like right there. I just knew how to roll off defenders. I knew how to feel them and go one way. Shuffling like getting low. They hammer that in in basketball. It applies to defending in soccer.
00:23:26
Speaker
And then outside of that, just mentally, I felt like basketball was never the best person. And kids are ruthless. And I just had to have thicker skin. I felt like it was more demanding. You shoot, you airball, people on the side. Airball. You don't have that. Some of black people got it, no one cares. You get black from basketball, and you're like, yeah.
00:23:56
Speaker
So you just had to have another level of toughness and then soccer wasn't as popular. So at recess, no one's playing soccer. I was hooping with the boys at recess. So all those things just help you wherever you go. So I would definitely say play other sports and like you just have to be a competitor to make it.
00:24:17
Speaker
So whenever you're doing compete, um, you have to like at Stanford, we had crazy success. We went into double A championship. Everybody there did not like losing everything we did. We were competing at, and our coach here, Fred, he has that same mentality. He day one, he was like, I don't like to lose. My life gets mad. We'll play the kids. We'll play some game, like whatever. And he's like, I'm not letting them win. Yeah.
00:24:45
Speaker
So, um, I already feel like we're going to have that mentality and it's going to take us so far. Um, and Fred's like this French guy. He's funny. Um, because the only other French coach I had was for read that. No, I do. I do have to mention that Coop and I were the beginning of Ben's TD out camp. It was like almost day one though.
00:25:12
Speaker
Yeah, Farid, he didn't even know his soccer outside of all the other stuff. I felt like being at Leon, like coaching these really like high performing teams, he would bring some more insight and like be a tactician and he wasn't. So.
00:25:31
Speaker
That's it. Seems like he just used ruthlessness. Well, it's crazy. My favorite coach was my Danish coach at FC Norchelin. I mean, she's Canadian, but Carmelina. Oh, Scott, I read that. And I feel like to be a woman, to get to that level, you have to have this crazy playing background. You have to have, you know, she did every single license and coaching opportunity
00:26:00
Speaker
She knew her stuff. Whereas you get these men who played Academy and they aren't good enough to coach on the men's side. So they just go to the women's side and they just skate by cause no one really looks at their resume hard enough. And I'm like, what is going on? I've had so many coaches was just, I'm like, uh, you gotta do a little better. Yeah.
00:26:22
Speaker
Especially if you're going to bring somebody into like a, you know, a program that's supposed to be, you know, a high end program and then you put somebody in charge of it. That's just straight up not qualified. And then that's why we got into all of those situations with the interview yourself, because these coaches have come from like high school and then they think, Oh, the team's not doing bad and not doing well. Let me just control the girls. And then that starts all of the manipulation, the grooming control, everything. I'm like, that's not how you get the best out of your players.
00:26:52
Speaker
Yeah, I was excited for Moscato down in the League of MX. And then she's now at Racing Louisville with Bev. Yeah, because they're homies. But honestly, I was surprised because I she's good enough to be a head coach in the new cell. So I was surprised that she at least didn't want to get a U.S.L. super head coaching job. But she'll be I think she'll be at Louisville this season and then go someplace else and be a head coach somewhere.
00:27:21
Speaker
either super league, nvsl, you know, the expansion teams. Like she, she is so good. Um, as, as long as they don't trap her in the us soccer system somehow. It's Canadian. So I'm sure we'll avoid that. Right. I mean, they might be looking for a new, yeah, Canada might be here. Oh yeah. Oh my gosh. The Canada podcast coming out.
Women's Soccer Coaching & Team Changes
00:27:43
Speaker
Uh, I don't know. Every couple of days. Okay. Cause that Canadian drama with the drama flying over. He's getting jail time now.
00:27:51
Speaker
Well, they deferred it, but I'm really tempted to text Murphy because she's over there as an alternate and be like, did you see the drone?
00:28:02
Speaker
You're going to waste that on New Zealand. That's what, that's exactly what we were saying. It was just like, they've also never lost to New Zealand. Like how desperate are you? But I think that's another, I think that's another, I mean, it's, it's a, they have a female head coach, but I think that she's never really been successful. And so the fact that she came into the Canadian women's program and got a little bit of success, and then they've kind of just let her slide ever since. And I think that it's just like, sometimes you got to do what you got to do because you don't know how to do any better.
00:28:32
Speaker
A couple drones, but I was like, Ali Riley's not even going to be playing. She's their star player. Like you're going to do that. It needs to be against a powerhouse. Yeah. Well, and New Zealand's also had like coaching struggles in the last six months. And so with a whole, you know, issue going on down there. So I just don't, it doesn't make any sense to me and it's like very disrespectful to the players. Yeah.
00:28:55
Speaker
Because they're going to suffer because of something that they had no control over. And they're going to feel like their coach and their staff is confident in them. But I think so much with the Canadian Association, they're just probably just like another thing. Yeah. I don't know how much you wanted to talk about the rain. Oh, talk about the current, like along by going to KC.
00:29:17
Speaker
Uh, yeah. Yeah. So the rain are having to make moves because they're not doing well. So, you know, transfer windows coming up. Um, a lot of cook just got sent to Casey to play for Vlocco who didn't even play her in the world cup. I don't get this. I, my feeling is I don't have any insight information. I'm just thinking that must be kind of nice for you at some point. Oh, when the rain does for me.
00:29:42
Speaker
No, no, not that. No, did not have any inside information. No, I love having inside information, but you love when the rain suck. Well, I mean, they waved me. Yeah, no, that's fair. And all I'm saying is if you had me, you wouldn't be in this dire situation. I'm just going to put it on.
00:30:00
Speaker
Yeah, their forward situation especially is not looking good. I think I mentioned that on like the first or second episode after you scored that TST goal and I was like, somebody better pick her up. I was like, maybe I don't know what the reener did. Yeah, so I mean, yeah, I think if they cut players, they got to know that players aren't gun help out there.
00:30:19
Speaker
Well, yeah, that's just, that sounded to me like it was a mutual agreement. I think it was definitely mutual. She hadn't been doing that well. And I think it was a mental thing. I don't think it was a lot as a great player. I don't think I think that there was mental stuff going on.
00:30:40
Speaker
team culture, and she needs a fresh environment. And Vladco probably said, hey, I know what you can do, and I'm going to get you back to that. It might take some time, but I'm going to get you back to performing, to being the national team caliber. So it's probably a tough situation for her, because I don't know if she's been on teams that haven't been performing. And when she has to be that leader, like they probably put a lot of pressure on her.
00:31:08
Speaker
of like be a leader on the team. You got to step up and then it didn't materialize and then just started becoming like this sinking ship. Yeah. Yeah. That can be kind of just a, I don't know. I felt to me that she, when she would come on and she would have like bright moments at times, you know, cause she's quick. That's something the rain don't have on the back line, but it just, I think disinterested is the wrong word, but maybe just like disconnected.
00:31:36
Speaker
And so you could tell that it was like a mental thing because she has it in her. We've all seen. I've been gassing her up. Even the last episode, I was just like, I hope I feel like I always held on hope, but it just never because it does seem like it's a mental block.
00:31:51
Speaker
So, and sometimes you just gotta go somewhere new, you know, go somewhere new, change it up, change your environment, you know, get a new outlook on your career. And there's something, because cinderbacks, it's like you always have to be solid, solid, solid, and you can't make a crazy bad mistake and you'll play. If you start making these crazy bad mistakes, it's going to bite you in the butt.
00:32:13
Speaker
And then the coach, it's only going to go off of your history of being good for so long before they start taking you out. And then when you're taking you out, it's the whole mental. Yeah. Whereas a forward that happens more often. So we're used to it. Like I could have the game in my life, but if somebody else plays my position and they're heating up, I'm going to get taken out. Like there's always you getting taken out. I've had to deal with center backs. They haven't really had to deal with that. It's either, I know I'm not going to play because I'm the third in the depth chart.
00:32:42
Speaker
or I'm gonna play it play the whole time. And you gotta just as a pro, you gotta be able to weather that and maintain your confidence and your belief in yourself. And that's hard to do.
00:32:54
Speaker
Yeah, I don't envy anyone in that position right now. But also like in the last game for the rain, we saw players that we haven't seen all season. Like Julia Lester played in the back line and we were like, where did she come from? Where has she been? She played great. And like, are we just like sitting on gems? But I feel like a lot of the end of it sounds like that because you just have these players, you know, third or like you're saying, you know, fourth maybe in the depth chart.
00:33:22
Speaker
And they're just not getting playing time. That's what happens. It's weird. It's so weird because there could be some really good players never get opportunity. And then other people just happen to get opportunity and they run with it and they're a mainstay. Yeah.
00:33:37
Speaker
I was talking with cat about that because, you know, cat has been drafted, drafted thorns. And she was talking with us at one of the W league games that she came to watch. And she was saying like, yeah, I need to get playing time, but I don't have a record of having playing time. So I can't get playing time. And so it's like, it's almost impossible at some points. It's.
00:34:00
Speaker
It's really tough, but even someone like Boats, like Bethany Balser, they'd straight up were like, yeah, we were about to cut her, but we had all these injuries. And so she had to play. And then she took, made the most of her opportunity and was rookie of the year.
00:34:16
Speaker
Yeah. So that's not, yeah. Stuff like that where sometimes it's just luck, honestly. Yeah. I was going to say, that's just, I feel like super lucky. I mean, she obviously had some skills, but that's just lucky because they were also going to cut her. Yeah. And they'll straight up say that.
00:34:33
Speaker
yeah you gotta have a thick skin uh yeah the rain or not good this year it is not fun we chose the wrong season to start a podcast about the team every we've had one win episode which was not even a regular season it was the last game yeah and then we had recorded a couple practice episodes and we had a win in there but it was like that one fluky one where they like got a red card yeah and they with uh king was that against louisville oh no that's the one they tied huh they didn't even win
00:35:00
Speaker
I think that was, was it against angel city or Sandy? Was it San Diego? I don't remember. Cause it was so long. It was, it was San Diego. Cause McNabb got it was when that zero got that like really weird red card for like putting her hand up on the face. She like flicked her hand. She ran by and like did this. Um, and then that was like the only one we had. And then we've just been sitting here being losers on our podcast, but I will. We're hoping they make some moves. I mean, we need an all out goal score. Do you know one?
00:35:30
Speaker
Yeah. Do you know anybody? Well, I mean, it's interesting because with the U S L super league players are getting tied down. So there's like less talent and a pluck from out here. You have to get, they'll probably get someone who's international. The rain loves going to the international market.
00:35:53
Speaker
Yeah, we love getting 33 year olds that are from other countries and who are past their brand. Yeah, there's a rumored one right now and I'm gonna be really mad if they sign her. What's the room? What's her name? She's the the Swiss player that played for Barcelona in a in a Maria. See she turns 34 in October though. Oh yeah, we might need somebody if Ryan Browns out. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's a that's a big loss. It is.
00:36:20
Speaker
I felt so bad for her. I asked me to move on to non-soccer things. You wrote in your blog, you referenced Beyonce and Van isn't as big of a Beyonce fan
Cultural Influences & Personal Interests
00:36:31
Speaker
as I am. I wouldn't even know if she would call herself a Beyonce fan. I did go to the Renaissance tour. I'm an appreciator. Yeah, but I'm like another level. I'm pretty sure I campaigned for the Renaissance album for like two straight years of my life.
00:36:44
Speaker
to people, because not a lot of people in my circle listen to her. But do you have a favorite song off of Cowboy Garter? Oh, that's tough. That's really tough. I kind of like Jolene. Really? I mean, I'm not even like a country band like that. OK. Get me on a country song is like, you got to really be out there singing. OK. And she was getting heat. Like, there was a lot of stuff on the internet.
00:37:14
Speaker
about Beyonce not doing the song justice because she made it more of like, you can't come from my man, Jolene, instead of like Dolly's version of like, Jolene, please don't come from my man. So I like Beyonce being like, nah, I'm a bad bitch. There's no way you can get my man.
00:37:32
Speaker
So kind of just like the background of that song and Dolly like co-signing it, I think was huge. And the whole point of Renaissance cowboy Carter was like reclaiming musical genres that have black people out. So doing Jolene, I think really
00:37:53
Speaker
gave it the cred that it deserved and gave Black people the ability to be like, no, we're country. We love country music. We can sing country music. Don't say there's no space in here for us. So I really love Beyonce and what she's doing for the art. And I think her next one is going to be a rock one.
00:38:22
Speaker
And then I think she's yeah, I know I'm so ready. Yeah, she's gonna do some like Prince esque. It's gonna be it's gonna be so good. Yeah. I think that would be more my vibe. Are you listening to anything else right now? Um, what am I listening to? Well, so DC out here is known for go go.
00:38:44
Speaker
And I never knew what that was. And they're like, uh, getting your little go-go pretty much. It's like, you ever go to a bar and they're playing a track and then they'll have like a drum, a drummer on top of it. Yeah. And I think that's super cool. So go goes kind of like that. There's like a lot of drums, a lot of drum beats, um, on top of music. Um, so it's like pretty heavy. Yeah.
00:39:12
Speaker
We're going to have to listen to that on the drive up to Seattle today. Yeah. Check out some go-go. Okay. Okay. We'll check that out. You want to do the final question or.
00:39:21
Speaker
Sure. So we, we were trying to figure out something to, uh, like pull together the name of the podcast, which the cooler guild, which we came up with, um, because of Laura Harvey's cooler in the game. And now that we don't have the clash of the coolers, see you later, Casey Stoney, I'm sorry that that happened to you. Um, so if you're at a barbecue in summer, you open the cooler to grab a drink. What are you picking? Oh, the magic cooler. Anything could be in there.
00:39:49
Speaker
Yeah. Magic or anything. Um, it has to be something summery, vacationy, well, alcohol. Um, I'm trying to buy it. It was the summer. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. What would that be? I like a good Mai Tai.
00:40:09
Speaker
Oh, yeah. But like put a little pineapple or something. Just make it a little. Yeah. Oh, it's all about the garnish. Yeah. All right. So we're picking my tie out. Thanks for, thanks for being our first guest. Thank you for having me. If you ever want to come back to and chat about how your season's going and how, how you're liking the league too, you're welcome back. Bring me back.
00:40:30
Speaker
Anytime. Um, do you have anything you want to plug? Like, is there anything you're doing right now? Um, we've got, you've got your season coming up, which you guys are on the, like the European schedule. Um, so your first match of the season will be August 17th versus the Carolina ascent FC in Charlotte, North Carolina. Uh, your first home match, uh, for DC power FC will be Friday, September 13th at Audi field in DC. Our game against Spokane.
00:40:58
Speaker
Forgot that. I was going to, I was going to put that one in there. I forgot my bad. I know. I got to go to, I got to go out to Spokane twice. I got to go out there and watch you guys. And then I want to go watch. Yeah. Yeah. Lexington gas ready. I got to find somebody with an airplane. Is there anything else you're doing that you want to plug any like organizations you're working with? Um, anything on the side that you're, are you kind of just like super focused on the season right now?
00:41:25
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Kind of focused right now. And then we got to figure out which organization's here we want to focus on. So we'll see. But I definitely want to get out of the community out in DC. But yeah, I got to kind of get my foot in this fall in a little bit. It's been a pleasure. Always nice to see you. Our road trips this season were not as fun without you.
00:41:55
Speaker
No, thank you. Thank you guys for having me. It was great. Great meeting you. Fellow conquer. It's great to be alive. It's great to be alive. Oh my gosh. I had to throw you that one. Yeah. Our master was a conqueror. So we're conks. It's great to be a conk.
00:42:17
Speaker
It's great to be alive. Yes. Well, I guess we'll, uh, we'll, we'll try again, right? I think we will. Yeah. Uh, thanks for accommodating us and, uh, we wish you luck in your upcoming season. We will be rooting for you. Thank you. Thank you. Officially our favorite U S L super league player, Mariah Lee.
00:42:40
Speaker
So I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Mariah. I know Koop and I really enjoyed speaking with her. It's really cool, the opportunities that she's been given with this Super League and really excited to watch her this season.
00:42:58
Speaker
Yeah, and it doesn't hurt that she's a local from the Seattle area. That's always extra exciting and something to be proud of. So if you need a team to root for, even though they are literally on the other side of the country, but has local ties to watch DC Power. Definitely. We're hoping to do some more interviews. We did get an offer from a current rain player to come on here, so we're hoping to follow up on that.
00:43:28
Speaker
Very excited about that. Yeah, I think that'll be a fun one if and when we get that one planned. Do you have anything else? No. We'll come out with another episode. I know this one's late this week, but a lot of stuff going on. Koop and I did go up to the rough and tumble and watch the US game. You'll hear us again in the feed after the rain's next summer cup game.
00:43:51
Speaker
Yep. Talk about the Olympics. Talk about that. And also talk about the other news that's been surrounding a certain national team. And also, I don't know, there's been a lot of stuff going on with rain for what is supposed to be a break from the league, I would say. So yeah, we'll have some more going on. Thanks for listening to you guys. See you guys soon. We'll be in your ears. You won't see us. We'll be in your ears. That'd be weird. All right. Bye.
00:44:39
Speaker
I'm always like, I have to like start rubbing her butt. So I got distracted. I can't see the dogs. I didn't know I heard that.