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Bear With Us: Did Will just get asked to come out of retirement?
85 Plays1 year ago
We're back with our good friend Will Bruin, who we found out is busy updating his resume. We also found out that he was recruited to play on Sacha Kljestan's Des Moines Menace, although he's not quite ready to lace up the boots again. We're going to try to make this a monthly feature for as long as Will is otherwise unoccupied.
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Transcript
Introduction by Christian Roldan and Jordan Morris
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan and Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club and you're listening to
00:00:18
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of bear with us on the sounder heart podcast network. I am Jeremiah Shan join today by, of course, my co-host will Bruin. Hey, how's it going? I'm good. How you doing? Yeah. You know, I'm, I'm doing okay. I'm getting ready to head out to Hawaii. I'm going to.
Jeremiah Shan's Spring Break Plans
00:00:38
Speaker
not be covering the Sounders Montreal game in person which is a little surreal I don't miss a lot of games but you know yeah well I mean you get you go to Hawaii that I'll let that one slide right exactly yeah and you know spring break is you know the kids were
00:00:54
Speaker
very adamant about wanting to do something for spring break. And what kind of dad would I be if I just said, nope, I got to cover the Sounders Montreal game guys. Yeah. So it's spring break in Seattle is right now. Yeah. They're in school today. This is the last day of school down here in Austin. Our kids just, my kids just had theirs about two weeks ago. I was like beginning mid beginning of March.
00:01:16
Speaker
Yeah, even some of our, like I was talking to one of my kids friends who was this, was this week. So it's, you know, it's staggered all over the place. Yeah. It's something as long as it's in spring. Right. Exactly. So before we get into it, how is, how is retired, how is stay at being a stay at home dad for you? Just twiddling my thumbs and, and getting bored. It sits hard. It's honestly hard with three kids. Um,
00:01:42
Speaker
The big thing is now we're trying to find kindergarten for the oldest. Liam will be going to kindergarten in the fall and gone through like three or four different schools, trying to figure out where we want him to go because we want Cohen, who's the middle, he's going to be on like pre-K. So we want them both at the same school and not every elementary school has pre-K as well. So it's been, that's
Will Bruin on Family and Retirement
00:02:00
Speaker
been the big, big pressing issue I've been dealing with without having to go to practice or anything.
00:02:05
Speaker
So it's not, it's not been scouting best soccer programs. It's, uh, UK program. Yeah, exactly. It's about finding where we can get them both together, but they're still doing their soccer. They love, they love doing their soccer. They're having fun. Um, so we have soccer game Saturday, soccer practice, Wednesday nights.
00:02:23
Speaker
All right, so do you get recognized when you go out to practice or games or whatever? Are people like, oh shit, you're Will Bruin? No, so I'm sure it would have been different in Seattle, but only being an officer for one year. It's not as prevalent, but like I was talking to.
00:02:37
Speaker
Because the coaches are like volunteer coaches, their kids are on the team, like Liam is five, they play three to three to small goals. So it's like, they have maybe six people on their team. And I stuck into their two coaches. And they finally got around to me like, so like, what do you do? Are you in tech? Because I told them I moved from Seattle last year. Are you in tech and stuff? I was like, No, I actually just retired from soccer. And then they both were like, Oh, God, you guys, you probably what do you think about our training? So it's like,
00:03:03
Speaker
I was like, don't worry about us. It's three, three five-year-old kids. It's fun. They're not doing rondos yet. Don't worry. No, not yet. They did a little knockout, shoot the ball into the mini goal. And if everybody makes it, you keep scooting back for soccer last night. So that was pretty fun to watch. Liam hit the post at the very end. He wouldn't want if he made it, but post it now. All right. So you see,
Coaching Philosophy and Experience
00:03:25
Speaker
you know, Sasha, a question.
00:03:28
Speaker
got a bunch of his buddies together to play. He texted me. He texted you? He texted me and asked to play on the game last night. And you didn't do it? He texted me Sunday night. This was Sunday night at like 9 p.m. And he's like, sorry for the late text. You want to come play for Des Moines and Omaha? And I was like, oh, Jesus.
00:03:49
Speaker
this is I told them though if they would have won that I would have played the next round but they didn't they didn't want to know so you so you were open to it you weren't you didn't know it was just too quick for me like a Sunday night games Wednesday like and even the same thing with the 77 the soccer tournament that's going on I've had a lot of guys asking me to play on their teams but I'm just like I'm still too fresh out of retirement to like really want to jump back into it now it's like next year I probably will but like
00:04:21
Speaker
I don't know. I can, I mean, I can, I can definitely appreciate that. I, you know, I was actually listening to an interview with Sasha about his decision to play in this game. And he was saying how he wants no, he has no interest. He had no real interest in playing at least outdoor, like full-sided soccer once he was done playing, because it was like, that's not, like, that's not a whole lot of fun to just be running 110 yard fields.
00:04:44
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Like, well, that's what I told him to I was like, look, I haven't really been doing anything. I've been going to slow jogs, maybe doing a peloton, like, no way I can get you 90 minutes at any kind of like, good availability. He was like, Oh, don't worry about it. He was like, kind of pushing forward, but at the same time, not really. So that's when we met in the middle. And I was like, look, if you win, I'll play the next round. So then that gives me another week or so to really start like, making sure my knees don't crack.
00:05:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean he was, you know, he was funny. He mentioned that he had some hip issues after play because he played 120 minutes in the first time. Yeah, that was wasn't that on turf too. Yes, it was on. Yeah, exactly. It was on turf was at like a rant like a high school football field. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
00:05:27
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, it's I, so do you think, do you imagine that you'll be playing like an adult league soccer at some point? Like not necessarily soon, but probably not.
00:05:39
Speaker
probably not adult league soccer, but like, like I kept saying it, like you've seen the, the, the TST tournament, right? Like, all my friends from Indiana have a team and they were trying so hard to get me on that team. And I'm just like, nah, I don't want to. So even like that mindset, I'm like, I probably won't be an events league. Um, I would rather take this time to join like a softball league or like pickleball league or like something I haven't done. That would be like more fun for me. You know?
00:06:04
Speaker
All right. That makes sense. That makes total sense. I think, I mean, you spent, you know, the last 30 years of your life playing soccer, you know, a lot. Yeah, exactly. So like, I mean, I love the game, but I don't, I don't think I love it that much where I'm going to be 40 still wanting to go play in indoor leagues. Who knows? Maybe I will. Maybe after a year or two away from it, I'll be like, man, I miss playing like not as competitive indoor games or something. Maybe I will. So it's hard to say right now.
00:06:34
Speaker
Right. You could scratch that itch playing, you know, softball probably. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And so, like... Without buying. Yeah, exactly. And, like, if I get on a staff somewhere in MLS and, like, being around the game, since being around the game still, I think that would be enough for me. Yeah, that makes sense.
Sounders' Season Analysis
00:06:51
Speaker
Just, like, being around it, not necessarily having to play it, but maybe doing, like, crossbar challenge and such.
00:06:56
Speaker
Right, of course, of course. So you mentioned in when we were talking before that you finished, you're finishing up a coaching license, is that right? Yeah, the US soccer B license officially concludes at the end of April, even though I'm done with all the assignments and stuff. So I've got to wait a few more weeks to like, actually tweet and Instagram the license, but get it out in the world. So people don't think I fell into a dark hole somewhere and disappeared. But that's just a waiting game now.
00:07:25
Speaker
Yeah. So it was almost like, it was like six months. Well, yeah, it started in end of August last year. So it's been a long one.
00:07:35
Speaker
And so what's the, how is that work? Do you, do you literally need a license to get a, a coaching gig in like an MLS? I don't necessarily think you like need it. I think it's one of those things like highly preferred, like, and the thing was like, since I had, you can jump straight to the B if you're a current professional athlete, which I was in August of last year and you have at least five years minimum in the professional.
00:07:59
Speaker
Otherwise you have to go like the whole route which is like grassroots start with how Liam's doing 3v3 like sets like the beginning ages you work on like your E or D your C and then you can jump into your B but like I can only do B and then A and then after B is obviously to A but you have to have access to a pro team whether that be like a second team, USL team, first team to be able to do pretty much all the same stuff.
00:08:24
Speaker
just in the environment. So did you find that experience of going through the the classes to be useful or do you think it's more checking a box? It gave me a different perspective that's for sure of like all the prepping and planning and everything that goes into a training now granted I was with the U15 Academy team so you could be prepping a training session and then you get three kids who parents can't bring them to the session that changes numbers and stuff and you have to like
00:08:53
Speaker
like reorganize and regroup for that, but I do think it was good. I think it was a little long. I don't think it needs to be, you know, half a year. But there's a lot of information to touch on, but like once you really get the grasp of all the handbooks and the resource books and everything they have, and then you get out and do your stuff, it's like,
00:09:14
Speaker
Okay. Now I see like the inner workings of like even, even just cutting your own film, planning sessions, getting the sessions ready, organizing the sessions, like everything that goes into it, as opposed to when you're a pro, you just walk out there and everything's ready. Right. I bet you my first, like my first session I lined, made the lines for, I don't know, it was like possession drill and I looked after I put all the cones and I looked back and I was like, man, I swear I'm not drunk. Like why are these lines all crooked?
00:09:41
Speaker
And then somebody was like, Hey, word of advice, walk backwards when you make your lines. Okay. So that's, that says it's that kind of, are you learning like, uh, theory and you definitely learn, like you learn, you have soccer's philosophy of like breaking down the game, like the four phases of attacking, defending, transition to attack, transition to defend. Um, but it's not like.
00:10:03
Speaker
We play this way. It said it gives you like principles, sub principles, main principles. Like when you're attacking in possession, you're trying to break lines to progress the ball and like just things like that. Like theoretical ways of attacking like start on one side, finish on the other. Like just a bunch of good. Like a outline bullet points that you can build off of, and then you make your own philosophy from essentially all those choices that you have, which is breaking down the game into a. Broad perspective, and then you can make it as detailed as you want.
00:10:33
Speaker
Do you think you have a philosophy or even like a perspective that would be different than, like, are you at the stage now where you're developing a real coaching personality? I don't think so yet. I think I'm at a stage where I definitely have an idea of how I would like the team, my team to play.
00:10:55
Speaker
but everything is so fluid and so different that you have to be able to adapt to the team you have. So like you can, you can come into one, you can come into a job and be like, I want to play at four, three, three. I want to one six. I want to eight to 10 high up the field. I want two fast wingers wide. So I'm going to play. And then you get there and you don't have the personnel to play it. How do you adapt and change your tactics and things like that? Um, so I think I definitely think I'm building a base on like how I would like my teams to play and how I would like to
00:11:22
Speaker
see teams play, but like being able, I think coaching is 90% how you can interact with the players, how you relate with the players, how you get along with the players and then, um, giving them the platform to succeed. And
Injuries and Training Adjustments
00:11:37
Speaker
so are, when you watch coaches or you watch players, is there anyone that, that you've learned to appreciate or any team that you've learned to appreciate differently as opposed to when you were just looking at them as an opponent?
00:11:54
Speaker
Um, not necessarily. I mean, I really do like even Wilford Nancy when he was in Montreal and then now in Columbus, just his system and the way he plays has stayed true to himself and how he wants to play. Um, so that's something that like you see, you can see it in systems, even like in Austin, you can even see the way Josh has wanted to play since the beginning. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but he's always stayed true to how he wants to play. And I think you got to respect that. That's very respectful as a coach, but the same time you also have to be.
00:12:23
Speaker
able to adapt. Yeah, no, I think that's, that's always one of the things I think is maybe underrated about a lot of coaches is they're sort of almost like, I don't know, you have a coach like a Sigi, or maybe to a certain degree, even like Brian Schmetzer, who they don't come in with a real like, they don't, they're not dead set on playing a certain way. They just
00:12:47
Speaker
sort of
00:13:04
Speaker
Greg Vani, but he's somebody that like looking on the outside, looking in, he seems like he's a player's coach. He seems like he has a system that he likes to play, but he can tweak it here and there. And it always seems like his players like to play for him. So, and that's something you can even see with the galaxy group. Now I think they look really good. And I think they, uh, it took him a few years. I think what year is it for Vani there? I think it's three, three. Yeah. It's taken him a few years, but everything that went on, he kind of knew it was going to take that. And you can see, you can see their style, the way they play. And I think they're going to be a good team.
00:13:34
Speaker
Well, that's a good transition into talking about the Sounders game this last week. What did you what did you make of that? The conditions obviously made it. Oh, yeah, I had no idea because I watched the whole Austin Dallas game and then I because that game was on 930 here and 930 is close to my bedtime these days. So.
00:13:52
Speaker
I watched the first half. Um, I did not know it grain so much and the field was like waterlogged. Yes. It looked, it looked really bad, but at the same time the ball was rolling decent, but at sometimes it would stop. Um, the goal maybe, maybe conditions have some type of situation with that sliding off Steph's hands or something like that. Um, you know, it's just unlucky.
00:14:18
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I know that we we don't created a lot of chances they created. They played well. They created good opportunities just. You
Impact of New Training Facilities
00:14:25
Speaker
know, that's just the way the game goes. Sometimes on the road.
00:14:27
Speaker
Yeah. So, you know, the, the sounders obviously are off to an oh three and two start. Uh, it's not, you know, I wouldn't say it's, it's a disastrous start, but it does, you know, getting that first win is feels it's one thing to go five games on win lists at a random point in the season. You've obviously been through stretches like that, but is it different when it's the first five games of the season? Um, yeah, yeah, no. Cause like,
00:14:56
Speaker
it's
00:15:15
Speaker
It happens. We've been there. Sounders have obviously been there. I mean, I don't know about this much, but like gone through spells like that. And the way I look at it is every single team in the league goes through it. Why not go through at the beginning of the year as opposed to the end of the year? Right? As long as it doesn't become a trend.
00:15:31
Speaker
Right, right, right. So you're obviously, you're not in the locker room. I don't imagine that you're talking to these guys on a weekly basis, but what would you imagine the attitude is inside the sounders locker room? I mean, it sounds like you
Winning the Champions League
00:15:44
Speaker
don't suspect there's any panic.
00:15:47
Speaker
No, I looked at that group and that's a winning group. You know, like everybody's been around. It's, it's a good, it's a mix of young guys and good senior veterans that know how to win. So like you, you see the 11, they feel the starting 11 guys kind of off the bench. They know what it takes to win. They know what they need to do. It's not like they're like, Oh man, why aren't we, what's going on? What do we have to do to fix this? They don't fix anything. They just a couple of bounces here and there things can change quick. And then you can then guess what you go on a two, three game win streak. You jump six, nine points. You're right back up the table.
00:16:17
Speaker
Do you imagine that that Schmetzer is changing his messaging inside or is it more do you think it's more what he's I would think I would think it's more what he's telling you guys I would think cuz like
00:16:28
Speaker
You want to show that, okay, this is a pressing point. Like we need to get three points, but at the same time, when you're talking to that group internally, you know, the group knows that, you know, that they know that they need three points. They have, like I said, national team players, good players been around. They know what they need to do. So that's not, that's not an issue. And you just, you want to sort it out sooner than later. Yeah.
00:16:52
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, do you think there's anything to be made of, you know, they they've only gotten one goal from open play and it was a Danny Masovsky header. So Jordan doesn't have a goal. That one was that in San Jose. That was in San Jose. Yeah. Yeah. That was, I don't know if you caught this one, but they equalized and literally on the ensuing, they came back from two, zero down next kickoff. Yeah. That's.
00:17:19
Speaker
But you know what I mean? When things aren't going well, that's the kind of stuff that happens. You know what I mean? And if you are coming off two,
Broadcasting and Post-Retirement Plans
00:17:25
Speaker
three wins and something like that happens, no pun intended, you bear down and you defend it right there. You know what I mean? Yeah. So Jordan doesn't have a goal. Raul hasn't scored from open play. Do you think that's getting in a striker's head? Or are they also pretty? It's not the first slump that either one of these guys have been through.
00:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, they know they're going to score goals. They're going to end the year with goals. Probably honestly, probably double digits. So.
00:17:56
Speaker
They're both seasoned vets. They know what they need to do to score. Um, things happen like when it rains, it pours, right? So like, of course, both of them are going through something right now, but then guess what? When they both break out of it, they'll both be scoring goals and goals will come in bunches. So it's, I don't think it's something to worry about. I think it's something that they put more pressure on themselves internally than they probably should. Cause then that leads to like slightly change decision-making in the game. Um, but like I said, they'll, I wouldn't be worried. They'll, they'll score their goals.
00:18:24
Speaker
So, you know, Jordan, at least externally, he emotes. He has a lot of, he has, he has like very visible body language, right? He's not, he's not worried about putting hands on head or doing whatever. Is that, is that something that is noticed inside? And do you think it says anything or is that just the way he deals with it? And it, you know, maybe it's, maybe it's not a big deal.
00:18:51
Speaker
I'm assuming that's just the way he deals with it. I don't think it's ever a big deal. You know, Jordan is one of the nicest guys around like.
00:18:57
Speaker
sometimes you just do things and you react ways. That's just how it is. I don't think it's to read anything into it. I don't think, I'm not even sure like what kind of, or what time, what example you're talking about, but. Well, like at the end of the game, so he missed a chance at the end of the game and he was like, he went to his knees, face down in the ground and just kind of hands on his head, like. Oh, I'm sure he, yeah, I'm sure he knows like, man, that was the chance. Not at other players, more at his own. 100%. And like, I'm sure he's putting a lot of pressure on himself right now to score, you know.
00:19:28
Speaker
He's one of the leaders of the team. So when things aren't going well, I'm sure he puts extra pressure on himself to perform. And then if he doesn't perform, I'm sure he's he holds himself to the highest standard. And you know, that's just an internal thing that a lot of players don't have. So that's a good thing to have. And I'm he's probably the first one to be the most frustrated, the first one to be the most critical. And you know, and that's why he scored so many goals and has had such a successful career so far and what he will continue to keep scoring goals.
00:20:04
Speaker
So it doesn't sound like you are, if I were to put a percentage on it, I'm getting almost 0% worried that the sounders are like washed. Come back to me at like 12, 13 games in the season and tell me how many points they're at. And then we'll, we can have more of a conversation about that. But right now, no, I wouldn't be worried about it. Cause I even look
Q&A with Will Bruin
00:20:26
Speaker
at the standings. I see sounders at the bottom. I'm like, good luck. Everybody looking down because they're going to be coming up.
00:20:33
Speaker
Well, I'll take some heart in that. You know, one of the things that the Sounders have really struggled with, and maybe one of the reasons that there's reason for optimism is they've just had a hell of an injury spat going, you know, they had not been able to, you know, this potentially will be the first game where they're even able to feel the starting 11 where everyone is starting in a position that they're used to. Yeah.
00:21:00
Speaker
which I would imagine creates some problems, right? Yeah. What do you make of the, you know, you played for the Sounders for a long time. I don't know that it's probably somewhat different training staff, but do you, when there's injury stretches like this, do the players start to get frustrated with the training staff? Do they get frustrated with themselves? Like, how does that come out?
00:21:27
Speaker
Well, my experiences are when you see a lot of injuries at the beginning of the year, that means for me, at least that means the team might have been a little under loaded in preseason because you don't want to go balls to the wall all preseason because then you're going to be exhausted from the start of the season. So you got to find that fine balance of easing into preseason, but also being able to ramp up leading into the first game.
00:21:51
Speaker
To be able to play at a high level once the season starts without getting injuries and that's kind of a fine line to walk because every player is different. Every player wants different loads. Every player wants some players want to do extra after training. Some players want to get through training. That's just the nature of the team. It's just how every team is and.
00:22:08
Speaker
You know, I've been on teams where a lot of injuries have happened at the beginning of the year and it frustrates guys because they're excited to start the season. They want to get going. Maybe, maybe sometimes it was a guy that was saying, Hey, I need to be doing more in preseason. And then they get injured and they say, Hey, look, you weren't listening to me. Or maybe it's a guy that says I'm doing too much in preseason. And then they get injured and they say, Hey, you weren't listening to me. So it's, it's a tough one. Um, but the way I always come back to is like how you.
00:22:38
Speaker
How you react to it through the remainder of the year is the most important because like you're going to, every team's going to have injuries at every point of the season. So like for me, it always comes back to, all right, I'd rather knock these out of the way early in the season. Cause then you know what you have to do the rest of the year for your, your activation, your pre-haves, everything you need to do.
00:22:58
Speaker
to make sure that this doesn't become a nagging chronic injury. So now you've got your sheet of what you need to do before training for every activation, what you need to do post training to make sure you're staying up on your injuries and stuff. Obviously, you can't control injuries happen. But if you know you have a nagging hamstring, then are you doing your Nordic lowers and things like that every day after your lift or when strength staff is telling you?
00:23:27
Speaker
And it's a fine line and it's something that like injuries happen. It's just how you deal with it after. And I'm guessing you just completely right. Anything that's not soft tissue, you probably just.
00:23:39
Speaker
Like you can't, there's nothing you can do. Yeah. A hundred percent. I'm, I'm purely talking about like muscle injuries. Like, yeah. Like if you're going to do knock on wood, like ACL or something, you can't like that's that's your year, but like bones, like things you can't control like that. I'm only talking about like purely like wads, groins, muscles, things you actually can at least somewhat strengthen or strengthen the muscles around them or, you know, work on your mobility.
00:24:03
Speaker
What was your perception of the Sounders training staff? Did you feel like well taken care of or were there times? Yeah, no, I always liked the training staff. I always thought
Episode Conclusion
00:24:13
Speaker
they did a good job. I thought Ornish always did a really good job with rehab of guys that got injured. I know Adams, the main guy now, I had Shawn.
00:24:21
Speaker
I'm all doing the whole time there. I liked Adam a lot too. I've never interacted with him when he's been the main guy, but I always got a long will with him when he was the second guy, because he was somebody that like, he was always open to you doing more or less and stuff. So that's, that's, first of all, that's the type of personality you want at the top. So, um, you know, I think staff's doing well.
00:24:41
Speaker
So the, one of the big things that happened this off season is they opened up this new training center. You know, you and I had talked a few times about the state of the previous training facility, uh, specifically the, the tinted weight room, uh, always had got a lot of attention. That should have brought it with them. What do you, how much difference does it make? I mean, I would assume Austin had pretty nice facility. Like, what does the, like, where do you see those, where do you see that show up?
00:25:13
Speaker
You know, it definitely makes a difference, but it also spoils you. You know what I mean? You're like, Oh man, this is, this is nice. I'm coming in every morning. Got warm breakfast. I got nice training room, nice locker room, state of the art, weight weights, like everything I need. Like this is good. Well, now it's on you to perform. You've got no more excuses. And I think I always, I still, I'll go to the grave with this. I think like star fire kept everybody like a common
00:25:40
Speaker
It was a common complaint amongst everybody, so everybody could kind of rally together. Like, this place is awful. Like, what are we doing? Look at all these other teams have all these great facilities. But guess what? We kept winning. Right. I can see how it maybe almost builds. You know what you're saying is it almost builds like a camaraderie. Yeah, exactly. Facilities are bad.
00:26:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's like we would go out into the tent for like a lift when nobody wanted to lift. They had two racks and somebody would get on the the aux score and start playing circus music and stuff. So it was it was fun.
00:26:12
Speaker
It was fun. So, but does it, do you think it helps with recruitment to have a, like is it? Yeah. Like if you're bringing a big time, like I wonder what Raoul first thought when he came or Nico first thought when they came to sign with the Sounders, I'm sure they did not even, they tried to keep him at Starfire probably as little as possible. And they probably just showed him, Hey, look at our game day experience and everything. But now that you have this new, beautiful facility, it's like, come see everything we have. And I don't need to sell you on anything because you can see it.
00:26:40
Speaker
Right. Right. Yeah. And I mean, I would imagine on some level you could only use Starfire like it's something like the league was moving to a point where it was it was probably some like drag. Yeah, exactly. You know, it's just like I'm sure the league's not going to tell Seattle anything like, hey, this is what you got to do if it's only team to win Champions League. So it's like and we did that with Starfire. But but, you know, it was just time.
00:27:10
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, speaking of champions league, have you, have you been following what's been going on this week with, with, with the champions cup? I saw scores. I watched the second half of Miami game last night. Um, it's not looking too hot for MLS teams right now. It is not. Does it make you, does it give you some added sense of pride though, knowing that, you know, since you guys won champions league, no MLS team has even beaten a league. I make his team.
00:27:35
Speaker
No, I think we kind of made it harder for everybody now, because now I think League MX season's like, oh man, that's over with now. MLS team won. All right, let's shut the door again for the next however many years it was. But do you take some like pride? For sure, yeah. Oh, for sure. I put it like in all my bios. Like I literally just, for the first time in my life, I started making a resume. Yes. And I put it on there. I was like, Champions League winner.
00:28:07
Speaker
So it's fun. So on your resume, are you listing your playing career at the top? Yeah, I got nothing else to list. What do you want me to do? I put co-host podcasts. There you go. That's what you got to do. Color commentary, announcing games. Yeah, how did that go, by the way? Oh, no. I was talking about the one game Colorado, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but the Verde Light Show is pretty cool.
00:28:36
Speaker
Austin's TV show where they recap the previous week and look forward to the next week. So technically I'm one for one. Austin got the first win on my first preview. There you go. My three points to the game or where the big ones, you know.
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah. Well, maybe what we'll start doing is if we, if we get into a regular habit of this, I'll give you some homework assignment. You can watch the opposing team and you can do some like film breakdown and you can, you can practice like this is coaching practice. One thing I've noticed about this and some people might think it's lazy of me, but like, I just think I'm good at processing things in the moment. So like, I'll watch the game. I,
00:29:17
Speaker
Unless I'm looking for a very specific moment, I really don't need to go back and watch because I can just remember like, okay, this seemed like to like to do this. Like the first half of the Seattle galaxy game, all they were doing was trying to get the paint still in peck wide and let them go one by one and try to cross it into the box. You know what I mean? Like, it's not like, I think you get caught in the weeds when you go and rewatch too much film and try to overanalyze it.
00:29:39
Speaker
Sure. And you start maybe, I'm going to imagine there's a tendency to make more out of one moment than that wasn't necessarily like a indicative of a larger pattern. Yeah. Cause like you think about it, like just on the top of my head, I had, and this game was what last weekend, this past weekend, like I haven't one half, haven't really thought about it at all. But like, was that text first game?
00:30:03
Speaker
It was, I think it may have been his first start. Yeah. He was, he looked pretty good, but like dribbling inside, try to combine through the middle. Pain still is going to kill you with pace out wide. So like, that's a great combination to have, um, for wingers. And then you got Ricky Pweig in the middle. He's going to get on the ball and try to create Joe Lynch didn't start, but it's another poacher in the box. Like that's a good front four. Yeah, it's a very good front four. So turning, uh, to Montreal a little bit, have you had a chance to, I don't know, look at them at all?
00:30:33
Speaker
No, not too much. Honestly, that's somebody I'll have to go back and. Watch him, they'll catch me in their games. I know people are excited about. That new coach from Columbus too. Yeah, Lauren Quattro, who yeah, that's right. I imagine you played a few times. Yes, I did. He's a. Smart brain of the game, that's for sure.
00:30:52
Speaker
Did, uh, is it a little surreal to see guys that you played against that you may be considered contemporaries who are not just in coaching, but are already like coaching him on the seams? I know it's crazy. He made a good quick, good ascent. I mean, but you know, it's that you take over as second team coach and you do well. And then. Bam, there you go. You got your own team, but it also helps that he speaks French, right? He does speak French. Yeah. He's actually French. And maybe you've been played for.
00:31:18
Speaker
He played for Montreal for a while, I think he did. He did, but what I think, maybe I'm wrong, I thought he was Belgium for some reason, but... Oh, you might be right. That might be right. But Montreal needs, they've always needed a French-speaking coach, which they've always tried to do, but I think they'll do well there.
00:31:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's French. Best I can tell. Yes, he's definitely French. He's a bit older. He's older than I realized. He's 45, so he's... No, he is. Yeah. Because he was older when he came over here. You know who I was getting him confused in my head with was Simon. Me too. Yeah, me too. I was totally... When you literally said that, I was like,
00:32:01
Speaker
Pretty sure he's talking about Simone, but I could be wrong here. No, I was totally talking about Simone. And I think literally in this conversation, I realized I thought it was Laura. I thought it was Simone the entire time. I did the same thing. Cause when I like looked them up, I was, cause I saw the name, I was like, I'm pretty sure I played against this guy. And then I looked them up and I was like, no, I don't recognize him. But I did the same thing. I was like, in my mind, I was like, this is Simone. Right.
00:32:30
Speaker
So that is pretty funny. But, uh, huh? See, mine's Belgian, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And he's also the one I think that played for months. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's the guy that had the, the, uh, I think he also scored against you guys in, uh, in LA in the, yeah. Yeah. Right. But anyway, different player. So I don't know why, uh, I'm still talking about this. Interesting. All right. Moving on. Yeah. Moving on.
00:33:01
Speaker
So I did wanna close out this episode with a little bit of a quick fire. It just was a thing that got into my head and it's about sort of the, you know, maybe dovetailing a little bit with relieving your playing days. And it's about Jersey etiquette. And now that you're a retired person, sort of the way you think of this. And so I have a few questions here for you. You said you're a Peloton guy. Let's do it, yeah.
00:33:31
Speaker
Will you wear your old jerseys as workout gear? No. No, no, just no. All right. Why? What's the thinking there? That's not what they're for. No, I've got Yeah, I've got tops. I've got old warm up tops. I got a bunch of other old things like to wear. Okay.
00:33:51
Speaker
Would you wear an old, okay, would you wear an old training, if you went to the gym, which it doesn't sound like you go to the gym, it sounds like you work out at home. Yeah, no, yeah, exactly. Would you think if you saw a player wearing one of their old either jerseys or training tops at the gym? I wouldn't think much of it, I wouldn't do it.
00:34:12
Speaker
Liam had practiced last night. He wanted to wear a brew in Austin Jersey and I was taking him. So I said no. And then Caitlin was like, well, why you can't wear it if he wants. So I thought you were going to that's just how I am. You're just like, you were not. No, you're not. You're not wearing this son. Yeah. I was like, you can wear it if mommy takes you. But if I'm taking you, you're not going to wear my jersey. Right. I don't know. I just don't like that. I can see that. Would you wear? Okay. Would you wear an old jersey if you're playing pickup?
00:34:43
Speaker
or like adult league? No, I would, again, I'd do a training top or like I've got a bunch of loo lemon, like specific workout tops that I wear and stuff. So, okay. Have you, have you, do you know of any player? Like, what would you, like, if you saw a player, if you're at an adult league game and you saw, so you saw Kellen, let's just say, he would do it. He would do it. Yeah, for sure.
00:35:08
Speaker
I'd be like, I'd be like, who's, who's Jersey wearing guy with shit. All right. And so I get, this is actually a question that you either you answered, but when you meet parents, whether it's from school or at practice or whatever, do you tell like how long do you wait until you tell them you're a former player?
00:35:34
Speaker
I try not to until they ask. Fair enough. Will you tell if you go to like, if you're out with your, I don't know, you're out with friends, mutual friends or something like that? Yeah. Do you also avoid that? Yeah, I do. Caitlin will tell people, I only tell if they ask, you know? Yeah. I don't know why I'm just not like, because I'm that way. I don't really ask people what they do. And I don't know if that's like,
00:35:56
Speaker
I don't know if that's snobby of me showing like I don't care, but I just don't ask because I don't want to want it to be reciprocated. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. If you're not ready to answer that, that's a good one not to get into.
00:36:08
Speaker
I mean, I do have no problem answering it, but I would just be like, because then people all of a sudden you say that people are like, Oh, you're like, no, it changes the conversation. It shouldn't change anything, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I hear you. All right. Well, well, it's been great doing this. Hopefully we get to do it a few more times before you go get a real job. And you feel like you're too big time for this, but we'll see how long, we'll see how long it takes me to fill out that resume. Yeah. So like so many playing, playing years I can fill out.
00:36:36
Speaker
Does each, does each team get its own entry on the resume? Yeah. Cause otherwise it just would have been like one line, like 13 year X pro. It's like, I really, I really had to break it down. You know, I did, but apparently you're supposed to do like newest to oldest when you go down. So like Austin one year, Seattle, Houston, and then.
00:36:57
Speaker
Even broke down like my ex my degree was exercise science with a minor in coaching so it was like exercise science minor coaching completion of the US software coaching like like I'm just grasping for stuff like.
00:37:12
Speaker
Well, if you ever need a pad, you need a pad, the resume, feel free to list, uh, podcast co-hosts. Oh, I've already done that. I'm happy to hear that. And I, you know, I'll be a reference if you need one. Perfect. I'll put, I'll put you on there. Cause right now it says references upon request. Yeah. Because, you know, not to my own horn, but like I've got people I could put in there for different situations. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to put, I don't want to put.
00:37:42
Speaker
somebody in that, you know, they're high up, but I don't need them to talk to this person for this job. You know what I mean? So like, you don't want to blow it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. No, I hear you. I hear you. Well, we'll thank you again for doing this. Um, it's been a pleasure. Uh, we're going to, we're going to, we're going to mind some real, uh, we'll ruin content. You're right to do it. I had nothing else to do, you know, figuring out that kindergarten.
00:38:09
Speaker
Exactly. All right. Well, uh, I'm Jeremiah Cheyenne, uh, signing off for Will Bruin on bear with us. Part of the sounder heart podcast network and we'll catch you next time. Let's do it. Take it easy.
00:39:21
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!