Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to No Pyro, No Podcast, Armada Fancast, where we talk all things Jacksonville Armada.
Speaker: I'm your host, Daniel Dad Johnson, and today I have with me Derek.
Speaker: Hey, how are you?
Speaker: Doing great, doing great.
Speaker: And this week we have the veteran Nathan Walter, Armada president joining us, going to talk about, what are we talking about?
Speaker: So they've actually broken some news recently.
Speaker: We have a women's team, a U23 team, that is kicking off this year.
Speaker: We have a new women's coach this year.
Speaker: So it's kind of exciting times.
Speaker: We got more football coming.
Speaker: We got David Gough, who just came from Oklahoma.
Speaker: But it was actually in the area for a hot minute.
Speaker: So he's familiar with Jacksonville and what we're trying to do here.
Speaker: So it's kind of exciting to hear what's going on.
Speaker: And we'll talk a little Armada anniversary, 10th anniversary coming up and also a little bit on the Section 904 anniversary.
Speaker: So sit back and have a listen.
Speaker: And joining us now is Armada President Nathan Walter.
Speaker: Nathan, how are you today?
Speaker: What's up, gents?
Speaker: What's up?
Speaker: What's going on?
Speaker: You tell us, man.
Speaker: You guys have broken some news lately.
Speaker: First, you guys said you guys were going to go into the start of women's team, and then a few weeks later, you guys ended up purchasing a women's team floor to soul and rebranding as the Armada U23.
Speaker: How did all this come about?
Speaker: Yeah, I think we're bigger than CNN now at this point with all our announcements, but...
Speaker: You know, it's great.
Speaker: It's been great.
Speaker: It's something obviously we've been looking at for a while and been keeping quiet as we go on the radar.
Speaker: But yeah, the opportunity came around.
Speaker: Everybody was pointing in the right direction, which is always a good thing when you get into these conversations.
Speaker: And it was the right thing to do.
Speaker: And we're super excited about it.
Speaker: So, I'll be honest, I don't know too much, didn't know too much about this league before the announcement.
Speaker: You guys are joining the Women's Premier Soccer League, the WPSL.
Speaker: From what I've read, it's just celebrated 25 years last year.
Speaker: And they have quite a few teams, and the conference that it looks like will be in is the Sunshine Conference.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: with teams all up and down both sides of Florida.
Speaker: How excited are you for having a whole bunch of Florida teams to play?
Speaker: Yeah, it helps, right?
Speaker: It helps create the relationships and the derbies as such, and the fans can travel and et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker: But, you know, this league is – we're really fortunate with this league.
Speaker: I mean, it's been the spearhead and the point of –
Speaker: development of some of the most elite women athletes that we have had in this country that have gone on to represent and win World Cups, etc.
Speaker: Particularly the soul, the history over in Clay County of the players that have come through there, Morgan Bryan being one of them, Carlson Smith being another one.
Speaker: We're talking about
Speaker: world-class players who have been a part of the soul, Clay County, and part of the WPSL.
Speaker: And the WPSL is very similar in status to the NPSL.
Speaker: And we know how successful the NPSL has been over the past few years for us, especially it's really been a lifeblood for us.
Speaker: Um, so we're excited to really dive in, uh, play some of these local teams, um, give the opportunity to the community and go out there and compete.
Speaker: And just like what we want to do on, on, on the boys side, on the men's side is win.
Speaker: And, uh, we want to bring a championship back to Jacksonville.
Speaker: So you mentioned this, that the team was in clay counting.
Speaker: Uh, they played in Fleming Island.
Speaker: Um, is that still the plan going forward?
Speaker: No, no.
Speaker: We'll bring it back under the Armada, complete look and feel of the Armada.
Speaker: The stadium is still yet to be determined.
Speaker: It's a complex situation, to say the least.
Speaker: And the reason why we're building a stadium.
Speaker: And hopefully we'll never have these issues after this year.
Speaker: So no, there will be a different location from where it's previously played.
Speaker: Okay, good, because I know Duval, so it'd be hard to say that if we're in a different county.
Speaker: So I just want to make sure I get the chance right.
Speaker: Yeah, we're still in the 904.
Speaker: We ain't leaving the 904.
Speaker: What's the new one?
Speaker: The 324.
Speaker: The 324, yeah.
Speaker: Is that what it is?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Make sure you put that 904 in.
Speaker: What's the 325 one?
Speaker: It's 3-2-4, I believe.
Speaker: 3-2-4.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: Get rid of 3-2-4.
Speaker: We don't want it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: 3-2-5 would be El Paso, so it was probably reaching out to old Mark Lowry when he was there.
Speaker: Gotcha.
Speaker: I think he's still got a 4-7 number.
Speaker: Oh, boy.
Speaker: So this WPSL league,
Speaker: It's a summer league like the NPSL too, right?
Speaker: So it's going to have a similar timeline as the men's?
Speaker: Pretty much parallel.
Speaker: Pretty much parallel to the NPSL.
Speaker: The schedule has us potentially kicking off a little later than the men's.
Speaker: So the men's hopefully will kick off first and then the women's will come in a couple of weeks later.
Speaker: But exact pretty much parallel period due to the majority of it being college-based.
Speaker: And is your plan with the players to primarily fill with the local as well and then bring in some of the – try to recruit some of the better nationally players?
Speaker: Yeah, we're so, so fortunate in Northeast Florida of the quality of women's soccer.
Speaker: And we have so many talented players that have been born and raised here and are playing at very high-level, you know,
Speaker: um, college programs.
Speaker: And we'll be back here for the summer to, uh, to play.
Speaker: Um, you know, we, we've left it a little late.
Speaker: If I'm honest, it would have been nice to get this all sewn up, um, uh,
Speaker: you know, later in last year, you know, but we obviously had other announcements going on towards the end of last year.
Speaker: I couldn't imagine what that was.
Speaker: That wouldn't be the Armada way.
Speaker: You know, anything too early.
Speaker: No, never.
Speaker: So poor coach...
Speaker: For coach David Goff, he's worked cut out in really getting after it.
Speaker: But I've seen the depth chart and super exciting.
Speaker: There's lots of talent.
Speaker: Again, we're fortunate in the area.
Speaker: There will be some of those talented players coming in from across the nation.
Speaker: But we're very fortunate where we are located in North East Florida with a quality of play already here.
Speaker: So you mentioned David Goff as the head coach.
Speaker: It sounds like he just came as the assistant coach from Oklahoma.
Speaker: How did that all come about?
Speaker: Yeah, it's tough to call him David because all I've called him for the past four years is Goffy.
Speaker: So I'm going to call him Goffy.
Speaker: I'm going to get this started officially today.
Speaker: So this is someone that you've known for a while.
Speaker: Yeah, of course.
Speaker: Yeah, he's been on the radar for a while.
Speaker: He was here –
Speaker: working down in St.
Speaker: John's County a few years ago.
Speaker: He's been in and around Jacksonville.
Speaker: He left to obviously go to Oklahoma and thankfully has come back to Jacksonville and enabled us to kind of make this opportunity real and realistic.
Speaker: And, you know, when you look at Goffey's experience and background, I mean, there is nobody in Northeast Florida that has the experience, the background, the energy, the hunger.
Speaker: I mean, you can see it in his eyes.
Speaker: He's ready for this opportunity.
Speaker: And, you know, we've been very, very good at selecting coaches who have been hungry, specifically the last three hirings with Mark Lowry, Tommy Krizanovic, and now Goffey.
Speaker: And it's something that we, you know, we spur on as such.
Speaker: And I'm very excited to watch him get to work and do his job.
Speaker: Yeah, I've heard through the neighborhood grapevine.
Speaker: He actually lived here in my neighborhood out here in Narnia.
Speaker: I got word of that yesterday.
Speaker: And he was living out way out here in deep St.
Speaker: John's County.
Speaker: Yeah, you're in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker: Yeah, they got woodpeckers out there and a bridge that goes across the river.
Speaker: That's about it, right?
Speaker: There's some Sasquatches out there, too.
Speaker: That's for another day.
Speaker: So, obviously, with another team, another coach, support staff, is that going to be able to, with the seasons going on at the same time, will the support staff be able to balance two teams at once, or will you have to have more separated support staff for the teams?
Speaker: Yeah, we're going to separate it slightly.
Speaker: But, you know, as we do at Armada, we like to wear multiple hats and we'll be certainly working away and, you know, getting the job done as such.
Speaker: But we do want the women's programme to feel like it's professional and it's up to the level that the men's programme has been for the last few years.
Speaker: So we have made some strategic moves to make sure that they feel they're getting the best.
Speaker: And being in the right environment to focus and develop and become the players that we want them to be for hopefully potential future opportunities, right?
Speaker: I was going to say, so you have somebody in a lab somewhere trying to clone Rich Santos.
Speaker: Yeah, we've been fortunate because there's been people around.
Speaker: Yeah, that's impossible.
Speaker: But we've been fortunate that we've had people around him, around the organization now for the last few years.
Speaker: You kind of get a feel for it, understand it.
Speaker: We'll have an army of interns helping out as well.
Speaker: And, you know, we'll be in a good place.
Speaker: The staff are not worried about it.
Speaker: They just want to get on with it and get going.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And at the end of the day, everybody knows that when all the hard work's done and you're picking up a trophy, that is the most important bit.
Speaker: So yeah, now we're ready to go.
Speaker: Everybody's ready to get on with it.
Speaker: So not too long ago, we were all at Wicked Barley for an event that you guys were hosting.
Speaker: And you told a story about when the women's team comes along and
Speaker: Your daughter wants to be president of the team.
Speaker: Can you tell the world on this show if she's running the team?
Speaker: Oh, she's been running my life for years and will be for the next 10 years.
Speaker: So, you know, yeah, that's already happening.
Speaker: But yes, it was a very sweet moment when we left the MLS Next Pro announcement.
Speaker: And she asked us, Daddy, why don't we have a women's team?
Speaker: And I said, Oh, I said, well, that's funny.
Speaker: You say that because we've been talking about that.
Speaker: And she goes, one day I want to be the president of the women's team.
Speaker: And, uh, it was just a very, very sweet and a very emotional night as myself and Derek know, sharing a, a soft moment during that night.
Speaker: But, um, yeah, it was just a very sweet moment.
Speaker: So it was kind of cool to bring this to fruition.
Speaker: And, um,
Speaker: We've got to thank Robert Palmer for putting it out there and making it happen financially for us to be able to do this.
Speaker: So yeah, no, we're very happy.
Speaker: Very happy.
Speaker: Was it hard to get all the people come together to make this happen?
Speaker: I wouldn't say it's hard, but when people are all pointing in the right direction, have the same mindset about it and want it to be successful, there's so many great conversations I'm having at the moment.
Speaker: I feel like I'm in a coffee meeting or lunch literally every day and meeting with people who are just so pumped, so excited.
Speaker: They want to be a part of it.
Speaker: They want to help it grow.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: across the whole assets right across the mls next pro team across the mpsl u23 men's team across the women's team it's just there's just so much great collaboration going on and um many many late nights at the moment um but um we're gonna get through on the other side of this and um it'll all be worth it when it's all said and done so
Speaker: So one thing in the press release that you guys had was it seemed for years the Armada has been very tied with JFC, but it seems like the reach is kind of coming together with more organizations around Jacksonville doing soccer with United Soccer Alliance and JFC.
Speaker: Is the plan to be more involved with the youth groups around the city?
Speaker: Yeah, I think we have a responsibility, right, that we need to make this attainable for everybody and inclusive for everybody.
Speaker: And in the past, that hasn't happened.
Speaker: And for many different reasons and many different reasons of, you know, some of it was not deliberate.
Speaker: It just happened, right?
Speaker: You know, we had certain things fall into place where coaches at a certain level were at a certain youth club and
Speaker: We pulled them in to help us on the pro side of things and so on and so on.
Speaker: So the location of a facility is crucial.
Speaker: It's the quality of that facility as well.
Speaker: Within Duval County, we don't have many great facilities and Patton Park sticks out across the northeast region.
Speaker: So it's always difficult for
Speaker: it's always difficult to differentiate yourself from one particular group because of the quality of that group as well and the people that run it and et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker: But,
Speaker: you know, there are some great other programs out there and, uh, prime ancient city down in St.
Speaker: Augustine, uh, United soccer Alliance, uh, Clay County, um, run a great program.
Speaker: You know, we need to, we need to be more inclusive to those groups.
Speaker: And, um, and that's been a game plan.
Speaker: Um, you know, ever since the Armada, we knew the Armada was going to come under the MLS soccer umbrella.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: to say, Hey, how do we bring everybody in and feel like this is, this is their team.
Speaker: We are Jacksonville's team, right?
Speaker: We're, we're, we're here.
Speaker: We're in Northeast Florida.
Speaker: And, um, you know, how, how do we make everybody feel like it's, it's their team.
Speaker: And I, that is, that is exactly what we're playing out right now.
Speaker: You hit the nail on the head.
Speaker: We are Jacksonville's team.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: So is, what about ownership?
Speaker: Is there any chance that there could be any supporter type ownership in the future?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean... Or investment, I should say, maybe.
Speaker: Yeah, you can never scrub it out, right?
Speaker: You can never scrub it out.
Speaker: But we've not had that discussion.
Speaker: You know, that has not been a discussion for a while.
Speaker: And the reality is that we've just got far more other things to focus on.
Speaker: One being the stadium development, two being the MLS Next Pro stuff, the NWSL bid, and then...
Speaker: the infrastructure that comes under all of that.
Speaker: So potential youth alignments and that programming.
Speaker: And yeah, so it's not something that's on the forefront.
Speaker: It's something that we've thought about in the past.
Speaker: If it comes to fruition, then it comes, but it may not.
Speaker: So yeah, it's there, right?
Speaker: I think it's always in the back of everybody's mind.
Speaker: And we'll see.
Speaker: We'll see if it ever plays out.
Speaker: Good stuff.
Speaker: So with the WPSO, we'll hit on that just a little bit more.
Speaker: What are your goals in year one, goals and expectations?
Speaker: I know what you're going to say.
Speaker: Yeah, well, you know, there's what I say publicly and then there's what we say internally, right?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: We're very data-driven.
Speaker: And when we look at it at the end of the day, the Armada is known for a certain style of football and a certain style of soccer.
Speaker: And just because we bring in a women's team, it doesn't mean that style or specific way of playing changes, right?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: They need to conform and play the same way.
Speaker: We have a club feel about the way we play.
Speaker: It's not about bringing in the coach and the coach plays his way and it's his way or the highway.
Speaker: No, you're a part of the Jacksonville Armada.
Speaker: This is the philosophy that we've put in place and that really started...
Speaker: Back when we brought Mark Lowry through and into the head coach position and we made a strategic decision to say, hey, we're going to be club driven more than coach driven.
Speaker: And the coach has got to understand the principles of how we play.
Speaker: And that was a big reason why Goffey stood out as well.
Speaker: very much kind of understood the way that, that, um, Tommy played and Tommy was part of the committee that helped, um, that helped select Goffy.
Speaker: Um, because again, this is, this is something that we've been working on now since 2000, kind of, uh, 15, 16 ish, you know, going into 2016 and laying the foundations of, um,
Speaker: of the long-term success that we've had on the field and the specifics, you know, not philosophy, but principles of play that the Armada want to be played for.
Speaker: The worst thing I could see is a team out there that doesn't reflect what we've been asking and the principles we've been asking for from a Jacksonville Armada team.
Speaker: And I feel that Goffey has a great understanding of what we want to achieve and the type of player we want to achieve.
Speaker: And, you know, that's really what it's going to come down to this year.
Speaker: It's about are we making good improvements?
Speaker: Does the data look good?
Speaker: Does our certain key performance indexes look good?
Speaker: You know,
Speaker: We hope that he can win from day one, but we also know that we want to see growth.
Speaker: And if the season doesn't start off the way we want it to, we want to make sure by the end of it, it's definitely moving in the direction that we want it to.
Speaker: All right, good stuff.
Speaker: All right, so I think we're going to switch gears a little bit.
Speaker: So as everybody who listens to this podcast probably knows, we have a big anniversary coming up.
Speaker: Let's talk a little bit about what's going on and what everybody can expect in the anniversary party coming up.
Speaker: Yeah, I can't.
Speaker: There's a few releases coming out over the next, you know, from here to the... You know you can break it here, right?
Speaker: You know, look, we just cracked over 250 registrations on the registration, and we're still a week and a bit out, so...
Speaker: It's going to be busy.
Speaker: It's going to be packed.
Speaker: We have great beer.
Speaker: We have some great entertainment.
Speaker: What's the location?
Speaker: Excuse me, I got the hiccups.
Speaker: Ruby Beach Brewing in downtown Jacksonville, right next to the Florida Theater.
Speaker: And the date?
Speaker: This is Sunday, February the 18th.
Speaker: okay sunday february the 18th it's kind of funny you just mentioned beer and then all of a sudden you hiccup yes i'm certainly not drinking i assure you on that one okay that's the problem that could be but um yeah no we got we got some cool little releases coming out over the next week or so um which will amp up the excitement um
Speaker: the 10 year anniversary apparel is out.
Speaker: We have a little spin on that, which I believe is coming out tomorrow.
Speaker: Um, and then, um, yeah.
Speaker: And then we've got some cool stuff.
Speaker: So, uh, I think the, uh, the scarf will be available for pickup for those that have got season ticket reservations.
Speaker: There's a, a mini two foot, I think it's two foot long.
Speaker: Um, um,
Speaker: scarf that you get from being on the ticket reservation uh list um so that would be cool and then there's a couple of little cool pieces that will be fun to purchase on the night and drink out of so
Speaker: Look forward to it.
Speaker: Yeah, we're looking forward to that for sure.
Speaker: We also have the Section 904 10-year anniversary party coming.
Speaker: I saw that today.
Speaker: I'm excited about it.
Speaker: There's a pickup in the morning, right?
Speaker: Pickups.
Speaker: It's going to be all day.
Speaker: Pickup and then EPL games in the afternoon.
Speaker: I think that's MLS opening day that same day as well.
Speaker: Fantastic.
Speaker: Yeah, so that's going to be the 24th.
Speaker: 24th, yeah.
Speaker: Where's that going to be at, Dan?
Speaker: The pickup game is going to be at Memorial Park.
Speaker: Oh, so with the Riverside United crew.
Speaker: Yeah, right, along with Riverside, in partnership with our friends at Riverside United.
Speaker: And then we will have EPL games at Birdies.
Speaker: And then also that will carry on into the evening where we're going to have some music, DJ, and some other things lined up.
Speaker: So you're telling me there will be a little oomph, oomph action?
Speaker: I think there's going to be all kinds.
Speaker: I think we're going to have a wide variety.
Speaker: That's still being hammered out as we speak.
Speaker: So I can bust out the cowboy boots.
Speaker: There will be accommodations for me.
Speaker: Ooh, I don't know about that.
Speaker: You know our crowd, just as well as anybody else.
Speaker: I wouldn't count on that.
Speaker: I'll keep those for the Tim McGraw concert in March.
Speaker: Yeah, just keep an eye.
Speaker: Yeah, just keep an eye on Section 904 on the social medias, Riverside United.
Speaker: I think there was a teaser video that came out yesterday or the day before.
Speaker: Yeah, I think it was yesterday.
Speaker: Yeah, and we'll have more information as we come along.
Speaker: So it's going to be a big two weekends.
Speaker: Yeah, it's going to be exciting.
Speaker: So I'm going to have to get rested up for that for sure.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So talking, talking about 10 years, Nathan, you're the one who's been here since pretty much day one, as we've talked about in the past.
Speaker: What's your, what's your most, I want to say most fond memory, your, your greatest memory, your happy, your, your happiest time, happiest moment.
Speaker: Happiest moment.
Speaker: In your 10 years.
Speaker: I got a couple.
Speaker: And the away win in Ottawa was really, really emotional.
Speaker: And I remember calling Mark Frisch up on FaceTime after.
Speaker: And the relief of Mark Frisch and his voice, who was the founding owner of the organization, that was pretty cool and unique in the...
Speaker: in the locker room after, uh, there were tears shredded just because of the emotional ride again.
Speaker: Um, and it was just, it was just a wonderful time.
Speaker: That group of players were just such great people as well, you know, and then you got catering JJ and, um,
Speaker: those people within that group.
Speaker: And, um, it was just such an emotional day, but it was such a, um, fulfilling moment to finally get that away win.
Speaker: And, uh, Marco's florist could shave his beard finally.
Speaker: Right, right, right.
Speaker: It was just, it was a very, it was a very humbling moment.
Speaker: And, um, we glad that we could just get over the line.
Speaker: And I can hear the, I can hear the emotion in your voice right now.
Speaker: Yeah, no, it really was.
Speaker: And then, honestly, the second time was when we lifted that trophy in the MPSL 23 at Episcopal.
Speaker: And, you know, it was kind of cool handing the trophy to Ava and then walking over to Tommy and then handing it to Tommy.
Speaker: You know, that journey right there was just...
Speaker: I had COVID that day.
Speaker: Thanks for bringing up that moment that I had to share over FaceTime.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, it was such a, it was just a lot of moments that all came into one of like this whole journey that we've been on.
Speaker: And the way those guys played that year, it really represented what the Armada is on the field.
Speaker: What I personally want to see the team look like on the field as well.
Speaker: And, you know, the way Tommy handled that season as well was just great to watch.
Speaker: It was fun.
Speaker: It was a really fun part of a very stressful year, but a very fun experience during that summer.
Speaker: And, you know, I had family here from England as well, which was very cool.
Speaker: And, you know, it was just great.
Speaker: Yeah, I can agree with you.
Speaker: There were a lot of emotions.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I'll back this up real quick because you brought up Mark Frisch.
Speaker: I love that guy.
Speaker: We had a group that would meet up at breakfast usually at Metro Diner pretty much every Friday.
Speaker: Mark would occasionally come, buy us breakfast.
Speaker: He was just a good guy to hang around with.
Speaker: He would bring food to the tailgates and even traveled to watch the team play.
Speaker: Not really more as the owner, but he wanted to be a fan too.
Speaker: Like he would hang out in the supporter section and do the cheers with us.
Speaker: I remember a few times down in Fort Lauderdale.
Speaker: I remember Carolina.
Speaker: He flew into there after we drove up.
Speaker: It was a rainy day.
Speaker: He brought like 100 Chick-fil-A nuggets, and we had Chick-fil-A nuggets and champagne for the tailgate because of Mark Frisch.
Speaker: Like, he was just such a good guy.
Speaker: Like, one of those guys he just wanted to root that everything would kind of work out with him as the owner, and unfortunately it didn't, but now we have RP and we have a stadium plan and everything, but I did like how you guys in the video...
Speaker: showcase the past and the present.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, we wouldn't be here without the Frisch family, right?
Speaker: And Mark's passion and love for the city and everything that came with it.
Speaker: I mean, we were all here in 2014 and 15 and really saw the expansion within the marketplace and it was pretty incredible to watch, right?
Speaker: and be a part of and to feel it every single day.
Speaker: So, you know, it's unfortunate how everything played out.
Speaker: But it was also fortunate that it did play out because we're now in this position, right?
Speaker: And so it's...
Speaker: It's one of those moments where I'm happy.
Speaker: Let's be real.
Speaker: That 2022 season doesn't hit the same without the ups and downs that we went through.
Speaker: Yeah, it certainly does.
Speaker: For me personally, that was 10 years of ups and downs.
Speaker: It was such a...
Speaker: such a rollercoaster of a ride and then knowing what was just around potentially around the corner that we were getting close to making you know the announcement and you know we've been talking to MLS for a few years and
Speaker: And it all fell into place.
Speaker: There's been, what, about five, six players from that team that have gone and received at least one professional contract?
Speaker: Yeah, there's four of them currently playing pro.
Speaker: And then there'll be another two that are on trial.
Speaker: I actually just got off the phone with one today that is on trial with pro teams.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, it was a talented group.
Speaker: It really was.
Speaker: And I'm going to leave this and just tease you a little bit on this one.
Speaker: But we did have a sporting staff meeting this afternoon.
Speaker: And this roster, you make it a comeback.
Speaker: I'm definitely not.
Speaker: Even though I scored, I did score five goals in a little small-sided pickup.
Speaker: It was a small table?
Speaker: I didn't run more than 15, 20 yards, but I knew where the net was.
Speaker: Was that where you were playing table soccer?
Speaker: Wait a minute.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: It was FIFA.
Speaker: It was FIFA.
Speaker: But no, we're very excited about this new group coming in this summer.
Speaker: And, you know, we hope that we can fulfill because it hurt last year.
Speaker: Last year hurt.
Speaker: Can you give us a returnees?
Speaker: We have a few of those.
Speaker: Yeah, we have a couple.
Speaker: We have a couple.
Speaker: I don't mind giving you some of them.
Speaker: Obviously, Micah Thomas is coming back.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: Gavin Penzone is going to be coming back.
Speaker: Good stuff.
Speaker: Keep them coming.
Speaker: And I'll give you this one because those two should be coming back, right?
Speaker: The Jacksonville boys.
Speaker: Oh, they're the future.
Speaker: You could tell they're the future.
Speaker: They sure are.
Speaker: And I can give you this one as well.
Speaker: And Gianni Vaccaro is coming.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: I can't wait to see how much more he's grown because every year he has come back and stepped up his game.
Speaker: His first year that he was here, it was all about speed.
Speaker: He didn't trust his teammates with a passing.
Speaker: Then that second year, he figured out, my speed is killing everyone, and I can pass the ball and completely affect the game.
Speaker: And that has opened up everything for everybody.
Speaker: I think he's going to have a big year this year.
Speaker: Yeah, I hope so too because he's so talented and his heart's in the right place.
Speaker: Physically, last year he came in as a specimen.
Speaker: Body fat percentage was down, he was lean, he was looking sharp.
Speaker: It just didn't because there was a couple of injuries this year that kind of knocked him.
Speaker: Obviously the broken nose didn't help either.
Speaker: But I think he's going to be very special.
Speaker: I think this year could be a really breakthrough year for him.
Speaker: Good stuff.
Speaker: Good stuff.
Speaker: Man, I'm excited.
Speaker: I can't wait until we have the schedule release and the player roster episode.
Speaker: It's going to be great.
Speaker: Can it be... When's everything going to get announced?
Speaker: March?
Speaker: April?
Speaker: Yeah, we hope it's sooner than that.
Speaker: We hope it's sooner than that.
Speaker: I think the league are just finalizing schedules now, both across the WPSL and the MPSL.
Speaker: Yeah, I was going to say that MS Next Pro is announcing their schedule on Thursday of this week.
Speaker: One question about schedules.
Speaker: What's that alignment going to look like between the WPSL and the NPSL team?
Speaker: Is there going to be any thought put into that to try to stagger those or maybe double headers?
Speaker: Two games, one day.
Speaker: Yeah, so this is interesting that you're saying that because what we don't want to do is devalue the women's brand or the men's brand when it's all said and done.
Speaker: So one of the things that we're looking at right now is the WPSL actually kick off earlier in general.
Speaker: So a lot of the scheduled times that we're looking at right now are kind of that late afternoon.
Speaker: So what we're kind of thinking about is, um, is if the women are at home, then there could be a watch party in the evening with the men's, right?
Speaker: If the men's are away and then vice versa.
Speaker: If, um, if the, uh, the women are away, we can do a watch party pregame and then into, you know, the Armada U23 men's game.
Speaker: So, so let me throw you a curve ball real quick.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Dan, myself, and a few other people that we know, we like to go to away days.
Speaker: Will there be setups to help us watch those games while we're traveling away so we can keep up with these teams?
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: So you actually have to stream it on the WPSL.
Speaker: So I don't want to... Here we go.
Speaker: Here we go.
Speaker: This is when you need the beer.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We have a very exciting opportunity on the streaming side, which we're, um, which we're, um, we're talking through right now, uh, with a potential local partner.
Speaker: And, um,
Speaker: if that comes off, it could be really, really exciting.
Speaker: So I'll leave it there.
Speaker: Local, local, local.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Very local.
Speaker: Very, very, very local.
Speaker: I was hoping, uh, I was thinking maybe, uh, Derek's friends over at marketable sports.
Speaker: Oh, Jesus Christ.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We could have a little pie talk.
Speaker: In fact, they might be muted.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm boycotting all things Pensacola right now.
Speaker: I'm still butthurt.
Speaker: Yeah, we're all a little butthurt over Pensacola, that's for sure.
Speaker: All right, so going back to – we were talking about memories, and we kind of wandered off this way.
Speaker: What's the funniest memory that you have that you can share?
Speaker: Yeah, I know there are some that you can't share.
Speaker: I think you've shared a couple with us that –
Speaker: that are probably not shareable to the general public, but you have anything?
Speaker: We just had, so that 2017 team, we used to do this.
Speaker: I mean, you look at that 2017 team.
Speaker: You had Drew Becky, Zach Steinberger,
Speaker: Caleb some of the biggest funniest personalities you could possibly ever be around and we had so many good characters Kieran killed us in that group and we used to do this
Speaker: order of the court.
Speaker: So basically, you take your fines, right?
Speaker: So you would, across the week, you would accumulate fines for people leaving either equipment, you know, being late to meetings, etc, etc, etc.
Speaker: And, you know, it was small fines, $1, $2 type thing.
Speaker: And the staff were involved as well.
Speaker: So if the staff forgot stuff, they got fined.
Speaker: So every week we used to do this court.
Speaker: And basically you have a panel of jurors.
Speaker: And I think Pitch was always the judge.
Speaker: I believe Pitch was always the judge because he was captain and the oldest in the room.
Speaker: And to be fair, he was the oldest and smartest in the room.
Speaker: And, you know, and basically they, if you're, if you wanted to appeal your fine, you could come up, you could state your case and then the jurors would vote against it.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And Drew Becky used to do this cowboy accent and hat and he used to wear a cowboy hat and do it.
Speaker: And when I tell you it was the funniest, funniest, funniest thing you have ever seen.
Speaker: Hilarious.
Speaker: The banter that was flying around.
Speaker: You know, people would throw people under the bus.
Speaker: I mean, you could clearly see that they were innocent.
Speaker: And some of the jurors were, you know, were, what do you call a rogue juror?
Speaker: But, you know, they would just throw them under the bus anyway.
Speaker: And then the fines would obviously get doubled because you try to appeal it, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker: But just that whole culture, me and Mark Lowry used to be in the back of the room just crying.
Speaker: It was just, it was incredible.
Speaker: They were very enjoyable moments, you know, those pieces off the field when you're with the group.
Speaker: In 2015, the initiation dances were incredible.
Speaker: Wait, what?
Speaker: These were pretty special.
Speaker: So, um, so that's, of course, of course.
Speaker: I mean, everybody, I mean, it was everybody.
Speaker: And, um, you know, the, uh, we had such a Latin American kind of influence and, um,
Speaker: I remember Lucas Scaglia pretty much stripping down to his boxer shorts, basically doing the full Monty dance, swinging his clothes above his head, stinging away.
Speaker: And, you know, it was just, it was incredible.
Speaker: That's my move at weddings.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know, you put a bunch of men in a room and they can very easily quickly become children and, um,
Speaker: It was just really good times.
Speaker: I mean, there were fond memories and good times.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So when you brought up 2017 and threw out those names, I seriously thought you were going to throw out when you got ejected in Boca.
Speaker: Well, no, that was 2018.
Speaker: Oh, that was 2018.
Speaker: That was 2018.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That was crazy.
Speaker: I don't know what there is.
Speaker: Is that the only...
Speaker: game you've been ejected from come on come on derek chill out come on i'm trying to come back man's probably trying to throw me under the bus right yeah there you go no is that that was that famous one at uh new york cosmos oh i missed that one yeah that one was um and my whole family or my wife's family were here
Speaker: in Jacksonville watching it on TV.
Speaker: And for some reason, and I am a nobody, but for some reason that camera panned on me all the way around.
Speaker: I remember that.
Speaker: I don't remember this at all.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So what's crazy is Mark, we then went back to New York later on in the season and Mark got ejected.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: And I think we drew my ejection, but we won his ejection.
Speaker: Or maybe we won both of them.
Speaker: Did you have to go in front with a cowboy hat to appeal it?
Speaker: No, no, no.
Speaker: That referee is actually in MLS now.
Speaker: He's the bold gentleman in the MLS.
Speaker: I totally forgot his name.
Speaker: But that was so silly.
Speaker: That was such a silly... He's a bald guy.
Speaker: He must be a good guy.
Speaker: Oh, my.
Speaker: Yeah, he must be a great guy.
Speaker: He must be an asshole.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I didn't even say anything.
Speaker: I just said, do your job.
Speaker: And next thing you know, I'm gone.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Obviously his definition of job is different than yours.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So we've got two personal questions.
Speaker: The question of the season this year has been so far in all of our episodes.
Speaker: And I believe we may have discussed this before with you.
Speaker: Maybe not.
Speaker: Pineapple on pizza.
Speaker: Every day of the week.
Speaker: I'm a pineapple pizza guy.
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: Let's go.
Speaker: Team pineapple.
Speaker: I'm team pineapple.
Speaker: Pineapple and ham.
Speaker: The Hawaiian pizza.
Speaker: You can't beat it.
Speaker: I don't know if you've listened to the latest episode that we released with Dustin from Mobile.
Speaker: Who dressed up as a pineapple at the AFC Mobile Games.
Speaker: Apparently kids would come up to him, have him sign the cans of pineapple, and he had him promise that he would not put it on pizza.
Speaker: Terrible.
Speaker: I love the guy, but man, that's just criminal to get kids to agree to that.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know if he should be locked up for that or wearing the pineapple suit.
Speaker: I have no room to comment.
Speaker: You see me here as one and two.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: All right, one final personal question.
Speaker: I know you and I have talked about Formula One in the past.
Speaker: What are your feelings about Lewis Hamilton's departure from Mercedes?
Speaker: Shocking, eh?
Speaker: Shocking.
Speaker: But, you know, the car hasn't been right for a while with Mercedes.
Speaker: He fills the seat.
Speaker: You know, I think he still wants to win, clearly.
Speaker: And Ferrari, he fills Ferrari's the car.
Speaker: Ferrari's, I think, on the rise.
Speaker: It's just their strategy sinks.
Speaker: He took Sainz's seat, right?
Speaker: Yes, Carlos Sainz.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Well, who do you think takes Hamilton's seat?
Speaker: Do you think it's going to be Sainz or Alonzo?
Speaker: No, they've got a young lad, right?
Speaker: Haven't they brought in a young kid?
Speaker: They've talked there.
Speaker: There's rumors of that.
Speaker: Yeah, I can't remember the guy's name.
Speaker: They've talked about that.
Speaker: Yeah, but we'll see how that happens.
Speaker: All right, Nathan, we thank you for your time.
Speaker: Thank you for throwing some crumbs at us.
Speaker: Hey, he broke some news.
Speaker: We got three players that we know are coming back.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: Let's go.
Speaker: I count how many games we got.
Speaker: 10, 12, 14.
Speaker: I count 14 wins.
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: We're going all the way.
Speaker: So what is it?
Speaker: It'd be more than that.
Speaker: Let's go.
Speaker: Another six.
Speaker: 20.
Speaker: 18.
Speaker: I think it's 18, right?
Speaker: 18.
Speaker: So we got 12 season games.
Speaker: You already hear first, guys.
Speaker: 12 with playoffs, potentially, I think.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So, all right, Nathan, thank you for your time as always.
Speaker: Like I said, you're the first person to appear on this podcast as a guest three times.
Speaker: Plus all the interviews that we've had with you.
Speaker: So I guess the, I guess the next big thing we'll talk about is when we get some, some stadium news.
Speaker: So today, like you said, let's get past the anniversary and we'll go from there.
Speaker: Ladies and gentlemen, the veteran, Nathan Walter.
Speaker: how old am i but you're you've been with it you're the you're the veteran of you've been here since day one you're the only one left sole survivor he started this gangster shit though yeah so there you go nathan thank you very much so derek that was nathan a lot of uh a lot of topics discussed there um also how about that uh a little bit of uh a few uh crumbs of information about the upcoming roster he threw us
Speaker: Oh, which roster?
Speaker: Kind of excited there.
Speaker: The fact that he seems excited with our new coach on the women's side and some players that came in.
Speaker: And I didn't realize that we've had so many great U.S. women's national team players that have come through this area before.
Speaker: So I'm really excited about that.
Speaker: But you're right on the men's side.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You knew who the future was going into last year, and I like the fact that he said that they're coming back.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: It's always good to see the young guys that have kind of worked their way up with us.
Speaker: And that's what we've always been about, is trying to get that path to pro, right?
Speaker: And MLS Next Pro is going to be part of that, what we're doing within PSL.
Speaker: and even what we're doing with the women's side of things.
Speaker: So it's exciting to see for sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I kind of figured Mike Thomas would be back.
Speaker: I definitely was hoping Gavin Pinzone is going to be.
Speaker: Those two guys, how many times did we say here in the last year?
Speaker: We thought they were the best player, best two or three players on the pitch.
Speaker: And they were high schoolers.
Speaker: Yeah, I bet if we could go back and go back through the old episodes where we would talk about your man of the match or kind of what you thought, they did feature in those choices for sure.
Speaker: And then Geo.
Speaker: Love the kid, man.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: He's definitely been my... Him and Ido have been my favorite two players the last three or four years.
Speaker: So I'm excited to see him come back.
Speaker: I still think he's the fastest kid in the NPSL until he leaves.
Speaker: His wheels is just...
Speaker: a different level and just changes everything in the game for sure all right well that's going to do it for this episode so we'll close it as we always do with a go armada vamos armada see you later bye
