Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Bear With Us, Episode 4: A smorgasbord of guests to preview MLS Cup
49 Plays5 years ago
Just about the entire American soccer world is in town for MLS Cup and boy did we take advantage. Among the guests on our triple cast of the Will Bruin Podcast: Bear With Us, Nos Audietis and the Sounder at Heart podcasts were Brad Evans, Taylor Twellman, Jimmy Conrad, Bobby Warshaw, Mike Chabala and Erik Friberg.
We hung out at Hellbent Brewing, drank some beers, talked soccer, Impossible burgers, mattresses and Brian Schmetzer’s genius. Enjoy!
Recommended
Transcript
Will Bruin's Career and Branding
00:00:00
Speaker
Will Bruin runs again! And can this be the start of such a brand? Will Bruin does his score goals! Will Bruin gets the level up!
Recording at Hellbent Brewing with Special Guests
00:00:16
Speaker
Okay, welcome back to the, what we're trying, we're going to the triple cast, the Will Brew, no, no, bear with us, the Will Brewin' podcast, the Senator Hart podcast, and Nos Adietes. Shall we restart? Go ahead, now we are. All right, just keep going.
00:00:32
Speaker
And this is a very high level production at Hellbent Brewing in Lake City. We are currently joined by Will Bruin, Brad Evans, Mark Kastner. This is quite a production, Will and Lickit. Yeah, sorry. Lickit is producing the show. The one who does the most work, we just say whatever. All the work is Lickit, of course. And it's exceptionally loud in here and this was exceptionally well planned by me.
00:01:01
Speaker
So anyway, thanks, Brad and Will and everyone else. I'm just happy that Brad decided to do our podcast. You know, I know he's been a man these last very busy, busy guys. He made sure I need to get a job in foremost. Yeah. Yeah. Well, OK. Well, there's I was
Brad Evans' Sounders Job Interview Experience
00:01:16
Speaker
in there for an interview. I mean, in for an interview, an interview job interview.
00:01:20
Speaker
Yeah, at the Sounders trying to like put my foot in the door so And then they were like hey, no, okay, never let Taylor interview me No, but we had spoken for the past year and and then Steve was like well if you're gonna be there Let's just shoot it real fast. It's like okay, so Yeah
00:01:44
Speaker
So what how does an interview when when Brad Evans interviews with the Sounders? How does that go? You know, I actually it was I met with Peter I obviously I spoke with Adrian a ton and with with Taylor and the next step was kind of sit down with Peter and you know figure out where he sees me and he's the new president of the business operations.
00:02:05
Speaker
OK, a really nice guy. Yeah, he's a super nice guy. Yeah. And so we talked for over two hours. And I had laid some stuff out of where I think I can be in a help of a help to the club. And obviously, that was almost three weeks ago. And everything's kind of been tabled, obviously, due to certain circumstances. And yeah, I don't know. There you go. There
Post-Retirement Reflections and Challenges
00:02:25
Speaker
you go. And so it was, you know, I should know in the next week or two, I'd hope, kind of where I kind of stand and if it works for me and if it works for the team, too.
00:02:34
Speaker
So did you have to update your LinkedIn like the rest of us? No, I have no resume. There's literally one sentence. I've been thinking about this more and more, especially coming off ACL and getting older. I'm like, what am I going to do? Exactly. And no matter how much MLS prepares us and the union meetings, because when you're playing, you're so focused on getting healthy right now and you just want to play. The more you get distracted outside of that,
00:03:00
Speaker
I was always scared to not perform. And so I kind of was just like so hyper focused and kind of hedge my bets against connections and you know, being at the phone for a long time. So it's kind of where I stand. So we'll see. Yeah, I guess I've definitely been thinking about that more since I've had more time to kill with rehabbing. But it's just like all of a sudden it hits you and you're just like, all right, it's daunting. I mean, it's time for real life. Imagine Chad, Chad retired and the snap of a finger. At least I knew months in advance that I was going to stop playing. Chad kind of.
00:03:29
Speaker
moved out of his place here drove all the way to indy had a baby and like now it's like oh okay all right what to do now january 1st yeah what do i do so it's uh it's it's you know it can be scary at times but try to use your connections the best you can why do you think i'm doing this podcast i'm getting ready for this yeah i just read today 100 million listeners
Community Engagement and Public Events
00:03:49
Speaker
or podcasts
00:03:50
Speaker
Yeah. On our blog, yes. Yeah. Yeah. You guys are like 10 percent of that is what they said. Right. Right. Every month. I'm wondering where my royalty checks are. Right. And that's not possible. Johnny football is the most followers known to man.
00:04:04
Speaker
So you've been you're doing can you even tell you're you're everywhere right now? Yeah, you are you're doing the pregame with to 13, right? Is that happening? Yeah before that I'm gonna do the Occidental Park, yeah probably like 20 25 minutes I'll be there and you're gonna open for Mac special guests. Yeah, I'm gonna do a dance routine. Oh
00:04:23
Speaker
Yeah. Juggling side dancer, some sort of interpretive dance. Yeah. Hang out there and then shoot over straight for pregame TV. Anything else that you're are you on? You must be on other stuff, though. Yeah. I mean, this week has been insane every morning, afternoon and evening. I've been doing something. But I told Taylor that I was like, use me as a resource and I'll do whatever I can. So whether I was XM radio, local radio TV today with Ellen and, you know, just.
00:04:51
Speaker
I mean, why not? This is a once in a lifetime thing, possibly, to be involved in this. So I wanted to be... I can't play. You know, I'm far removed from playing, so might as well enjoy it the best I can, right? Not that far. Longer than you.
Will Bruin's Injury and Team Connection
00:05:06
Speaker
You laced the asterisk. So off the air I asked Will if it was better to...
00:05:11
Speaker
be watching it like from the distance knowing that you can't do anything about it or it's worse knowing you can't do anything about it i'll let you answer for yourself so much worse like not being able to do anything about it like i told you like i'm the only person on the injury report and it's just like sucks like
00:05:29
Speaker
I never thought I'd never have ACL. I never do anything like that. I'll be good. No big deal Then it happens. You're like, all right happens in two seconds and you're like, all right next nine months You're rehabbing like I'm already looking into next year. Like when am I gonna be back on the calendar? Yeah Well, that was when you had your injury already looking at next year. Yeah, right and I had some I mean you had a terrible injury but in saying that I
00:05:52
Speaker
you'll still be able to continue your career, which is an amazing thing. But having this here, like the championship, I mean, you've been part of it before. It's like, yeah, it's amazing. It's such a cool, like, I think like on a selfish note, I think it makes it a little tougher for me. But like being part of being around the guys and seeing like the excitement and how
00:06:10
Speaker
happy they are and then like wishing I could put myself in the shoes like in the short term and being like, hey, I wish I could be celebrating this with you. It's like it sucks. But like at the end of the day, it's like, look, I still played this year. I scored two goals this year. Whoopi. But they're both against Toronto right now. Yeah, we've been watching.
00:06:27
Speaker
I remember in 2017 when I did my herniated my disc I knew I was out for the season from August and I got to warm up with the team and do a little bit on the side in Toronto the day before the game and that was like an amazing feeling so instead of just standing there you like actually feel like you're progressing and you get a little taste of that
00:06:47
Speaker
kind of atmosphere. So Schmetzer pulled me aside today and said, Hey, I'm going to let you warm up with the team tomorrow. So I get to warm up with the guys tomorrow. And maybe it's a little head of schedule. The trainers were all like, no, no, you can't do that. I'm like, screw you guys. I'm going to walk the team. If the boss said I can. So I'm looking forward to that. But it just like being around the guys and that camaraderie is like something that, you know, you kind of miss when, when it's taken away from you.
00:07:11
Speaker
When you're injured, you spend all your time in the gym by yourself. You're kind of just like ostracized. Yes, exactly. Like the guys love you, but ultimately you're removed, right? You know, you're not like on this like the best feeling ever as a player. So for you, though, you're a little more removed. You have some space.
00:07:28
Speaker
Is this fun? Is this neat to be able to, like, as a, like, you feel like a fan right now? Yeah, totally. Totally feel like a fan. I mean, I still feel so connected to the team. Everyone has remained the same over 10 years. Not players, but, you know, all the fans and staff and, you know, just everyone surrounding the team. So I still feel welcomed when I come back, which is exactly why we came back, because it was such an awesome community. So in saying that, it's been awesome. Yeah, the biggest fan right now.
00:07:58
Speaker
Well, I just want to say Eric Freeberg just walked in, which is another sign. He's back there. But it's just another I'm amazed at how how many players from this 2016 team I'm imagining from other teams as well are showing up this week.
00:08:16
Speaker
And it's, I mean, it's a little fan boyish, I realize what I mean to say, but it's just neat to see all you guys here.
2016 Championship Team Reunion Excitement
00:08:23
Speaker
It's cool. I think the club sent out a message just like, and it was the core of that 2016 team, you know, the guys that really were impact players. And they said, hey, do you want to come back? And I think everyone was just like, absolutely. Yeah. Put me on the next flight. So I think some of them were here for like almost a week. And it says a lot like these guys love the city.
00:08:43
Speaker
Anytime you win a championship, it just adds something special to that group. It's a connection that you'll have forever, right? You share that with those guys. Eric still says, ultimately, he's the best number 10 in MLS in 2016. I mean, the only other number 10 in the final was Gia Vinko, so. I know. I mean, there only one came out on top. That's right. Exactly. One of them went the whole game, right? Yeah. One of them did not go to the whole game. One of them was not solved.
00:09:09
Speaker
Yeah, but he's stoked to be back. How many MMO scuffs have you been to? I'm sorry, I don't know. I've been to three. And you've won two. That's a pretty good race. Yeah, if you want, it's up to you. Yeah. How about you, Will? Oh, for three. Oh, for three. Yeah. Oh, for three. Oh, yeah. Two with Houston. The old Houston. Yeah. The old Houston Dominos. Yeah. So that's a pretty good race. You came
Hosting MLS Cup: Dynamics and Expectations
00:09:33
Speaker
after the shootout here.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yes, yeah, well 2011 I think that was oh nine maybe that's right. Yeah No, but yeah, that was ten ten. Yeah, cuz nine was here. Okay. Yeah So yeah, I was over to that home for Houston to winning at home. My next question was gonna be Hey, how many did you have any at home?
00:09:53
Speaker
No, no, it's like no because Columbus at that time it was it was a centralized location in LA It was snowing the day before and when we went to LA and played like a 1230 game The grass was super long. It was terrible, but New York was awful that year So it was like one of the easier games we've ever played it turn around in 2016 was like the hardest game I think the team has ever played in though. Okay, like hung on for I remember watching that before I got traded here I was like, oh my gosh
00:10:20
Speaker
So Will, you've at least experienced what the build-up is like when the game, or both of you experienced what it was like, the build-up to the game when it's on the road. How dramatically different is it when you're hosting the team and obviously you have a little bit more time to take all this in, but how different is it when you're the host?
00:10:40
Speaker
I mean, yeah, it's like even for me, somebody who's not playing and has been removed for the last four months, it's like you can feel the excitement and like the vibe around the team. And it's just really cool because it's like we're going through everyday things that are normal to you. You're going to the same locker room. You're going to the going back home after you're doing everyday things that you do all year that are no big deal as whereas when you're on the road, you're at a hotel, it's just it's just different.
00:11:04
Speaker
Um, this is the first one I've been a part of that's, that's been at home and it's just, it feels comfortable and it feels fun, but at the same time, you can't fall into that trap of having it be comfortable. You got to make sure, cause you know, Toronto is going to come out flying and that's just something you gotta gotta be ready for.
00:11:20
Speaker
So Brad, you never have hosted an MLS Cup, but do you think there are challenges inherent in hosting that maybe you... Yeah, for sure. Expectations. Expectations are through the roof now. Right. Hyper focused here on TV, on radio, on Instagram now, you know, Twitter. It's just everyone sees it all day long. You really have to figure out a way to disconnect yourself, whether that's, you know, you got a kid or you got a dog or
00:11:46
Speaker
You have to find a way to shut it off. Otherwise, it could eat you alive. And that's almost an advantage for the away team because your city is like, OK, good luck, right? Yeah. They might fly a flag or have some lights on their stadium or whatever. But at the end of the day, it's like, OK, here, take a chartered flight. And you go almost, I think they got here yesterday. So you're really there for three days before also. And then you're kind of just in a hotel and you're hanging out. And like Will said,
00:12:13
Speaker
The expectations aren't as high, especially for this game. I think it's through the roof. I think a bit like 2017 for Toronto. I think the expectations for that team to win that game were... They couldn't lose the second time. Right. We're just like this, which is insane that it's now a third time in four years that these two teams match up. It's actually kind of mind blowing. So it's tough. It's tough for the guys.
00:12:38
Speaker
One of the things I was kind of surprised about in 2017 and at the time gave me some confidence as an observer was it looked like Toronto was kind of tight like they seem like they were a little bit prickly about things even though they came in huge favorites they were having this amazing season of course they played very they ended up playing very well yeah
00:12:57
Speaker
But is that I mean, is that manufactured? Yeah, that's a product of the club and how they design it. Yeah, I think, you know, Greg Vandy's been around long enough that he knows what distractions are and he knows the the chess side of things. And I think that he does it as well as anybody tactically, especially. And so that is a design by the club to take away distractions from the team. And I think that that club has no problem saying no to media.
00:13:24
Speaker
I think that they'll just be like, no. And those players, too. And the players, too. I think that those guys have been around enough with the national team. And I've seen them with the national team. Guys will, you know, ask for autographs, and there'll be, you know, 100 people. And here at the Sounders, we're like, yeah, we got to hit everyone, right? Right. Or sometimes it's just like, no, I'm good. Like, no, I'm not doing that today. You know? So it's just it's different for every team and the culture and the fans that surround it, I think, to add to that.
00:13:53
Speaker
So this is probably more of a question for Will, but feel free to chime in. With that expectation being more heavily on the sounder shows, is that something that you think the players and the staff are aware of and that they're trying to
00:14:08
Speaker
I mean, I think everybody internally knows it's not something that gets spoken about because you don't want to. I mean, I mean, it's a bigger game, obviously, but you don't want to treat it like it's a bigger game. You want to prepare like like it's any other game. But there's obviously going to be a little more preparation, a little more attention to detail. It's the end of the year. Maybe guys are getting on each other's nerves. It's just.
00:14:30
Speaker
turning into fall um so it's just one of those things where it doesn't get talked about like nobody's gonna hype it up more there's more media training people know it but you know it's it's another day to go play 90 minutes and show what you can do i think consistency is key there yeah right sure and the sounders have done it before so they know how to manage
00:14:52
Speaker
a locker room better than 95% of the teams in MLS. And I think that's a product. It's culturally at this point. They've been so good in knockout games, and they've faced so many one-off opponents, whether that's Open Cup's supporters' shields here in 2014.
00:15:09
Speaker
There's no pan 2016 exactly. It's like it's it's kind of business as usual and Schmetz had it what two championships before with the USL team So it's not like he's never seen it before right even coming into 2016. He knew how to get a team to a championship So I think yeah, we'll kind of hit the head there. Well, so Brian has
00:15:28
Speaker
It's maybe an undeniable, there's no way to escape it. There is an expectation. Once it became clear that the Sounders were hosting this game, it was undeniable that the expectation was, you're gonna get it across the finish line. Whether or not that happens, who knows? But that is immediately, the Sounders have immediately become the favorites. Brian, the organization in general, seems to be leaning into that and saying, yeah, if we don't win this, it's a huge disappointment. Is that helpful, or do you feel like that's,
00:15:58
Speaker
I don't know, as an outside observer, as an inside observer, is that good or bad? I always like to play the card of the other team is so much better than us. I've always been a fan of that. Anytime I've ever done an interview, I've always given so much credit to the other team, even though internally I knew that I would probably take 10 of 11 starters over the other team. I always loved being the underdog. I think maybe that was just my whole career, your whole career too, right?
00:16:27
Speaker
could have ever predicted where we ended up in our careers and that's that's just the way i kind of roll um but expectations are such that he's rolling with it and it's it's a gamble cotton it's like it's it's intense i think it's
00:16:45
Speaker
two completely different games going to LA FC and having to take care of business there with the underdog role like Brad was saying like oh nobody expects us to win like media's written us off like that was the whole build up and now it's like we're hosting a final in front of 70 72 000 people so are the roles reversed um so it's one of those things where yeah you build it up and as a player I don't think
00:17:10
Speaker
I don't think the message should be like, this is a huge game. You need to win it because that just puts added pressure on that shouldn't be put on. I think it should be more of a, yeah, it's going to be a full stadium, big game, but something you guys have done before. So just take care of business.
00:17:25
Speaker
And I don't know how, I mean, I don't know how honest she could be with this, but I'll ask anyway. I mean, do you know me? I'm always pretty honest. What do you like the, I mean, do you, what do you think of the, of the way the messaging it? Do you like it? I think the messaging has been very good. Um, you know, at the beginning of the week, it was a little bit like, this is a very big game guys. Like.
00:17:45
Speaker
Like, thanks, make sure make sure you're ready. But then it's it's kind of eased in this week and I think it's kind of settled into, you know, this is business as usual. We're going to go over our film. We're going to do what we do that leads us up to a game and then, you know, just take care of business on the field. And I think guys are feeling good and trainings have been from what I've seen outside on the side. Trainings have been have been well.
00:18:07
Speaker
Brad, have you noticed a difference between, you left the city for a little bit, just kind of the difference between 2016 and 2017, and then finally hosting a final in the city? Have you kind of noticed? Of course. How big of a difference has it been? Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. 2016, they're all totally different stories, right? 2016 was pretty much last place. And then we bring in Nico, lose Clint, and somehow make a final. It was just every game was like, all right,
00:18:36
Speaker
And Schmetz was so good at this, he was just like, all right, let's go out there and show people, and that we care, right? Most importantly. And the whole attitude kind of shifted, and we rolled with it.
Seattle's Unexpected MLS Cup Journey
00:18:48
Speaker
And then the city was obviously stoked. I remember all the fans in the hotel pregame.
00:18:55
Speaker
going out to the to the bus and then afterwards, you know, celebrating in the hotel was incredible. And that was kind of like, oh, my God, we just did this. Right. And it was bizarre. Then the next year was pretty consistent for the most part. And then, you know, you find yourself in another final and it felt a little bit different. It felt like Toronto
00:19:15
Speaker
just kind of knew what they were doing and we looked lost from minute one in that game so i kind of started that game and i felt like i just defended the whole time right right so crazy and i don't even remember the tactics going into that game i was on the sideline and uh
00:19:31
Speaker
They were just firing on all cylinders that day. And that's something that now we can look back on and say, hey, we can do that at home now, right? This year has been much of the same, although more consistent, I think, than 2017 even. And if Nico and Raul are on, it will absolutely cause havoc for Toronto.
00:19:50
Speaker
So you bring it up, so I'm gonna bring it up, 2017 I think was a disappointing final from a lot of angles, right? Do you feel like Brian's tactics have evolved since 2017? Do you think anything, like there was something that you learned from that game? 100% I think that game was like
00:20:15
Speaker
Very difficult for us on the road coming back into an environment. I wasn't part of the 2016 team, so I wasn't able to celebrate on their field. But being able to come back in and be like, all right, same matchup, rematch. We knew they were going to get after us. So I like to joke around and say I'm a defensive forward. So that's how I felt that game. They were just on top of us, on top of us, on top of us. And it was tough.
00:20:44
Speaker
They weren't going to let us beat them a second time on the road. All right. Well, and so, but you feel it in, we're going to go to a break after this. Taylor Twoman just got here. We're going to bring him in a second.
Taylor Twalman's Nostalgic Stories and Insights
00:20:56
Speaker
Fellow Saint Lucian.
00:21:00
Speaker
This is where it goes downhill you want to grab the mic though Taylor Usually when it goes down. Yes, this is usually when it goes downhill Well theoretically we'll have gone to a break and we'll bring in Taylor twalman of ESPN
00:21:15
Speaker
Come in to slum it with us at Hellbent Brewing in Lake City. In Wilburn's Idol, by the way. Yes, in Wilburn's Idol. No, no, no, no. I didn't think he was going to make it here. He's like, oh, I'm not going to make it today. Yeah, he was. That's what got you to come, right? When I said that Will's a little excited. Absolutely. I didn't even see him at training today. Absolutely. OK. Absolutely. Oh, all right. We're going to go to break. We're going to go to break real quick. Brad Evans, thank you so much for coming on. And we're going to come back and have Taylor Twelman. OK.
00:21:50
Speaker
To the the sounder at heart triple cast the we got three podcasts that we're putting this out on Taylor Taylor twalman is with us We've got the will brewing podcast, which is actually called bear with us. Yeah, we've got no study at this which is my podcast We got center heart, which is the also your podcast my podcast, but whatever So Taylor ESPN Here we are
00:22:14
Speaker
So you did a show with us six years ago. That's how long ago that was. It was six years ago. I have pictures of you with my oldest daughter as basically a baby. And I showed it to her the other day. It was a dirty move by you by the way. It was a dirty move. Dirty move by you, right? You look very happy.
00:22:33
Speaker
Yeah, my favorite six years ago was six years ago. It was for the U.S. qualifier against Panama during the Mariners game, remember? And they couldn't sell out the stadium because the Mariners were like, no, you can't take all of our fans. Right. That was amazing. We had two games at the same time. Yes. That's right. They were going on at the same time, same time. So it was the, you know, everyone's excited. You're in Seattle. It's like, oh, it's going to be sold out. Then we show up three days before the game and like, well, there's a Mariners game city rules. I'm like, what are we doing right now?
00:23:03
Speaker
still everybody in Seattle showed up okay so this is one of my favorite I tell this story a lot yeah I hope you don't mind but Taylor showed up at that show
00:23:18
Speaker
He had a car waiting for him. Right? Oh, that's right. Yes. That's right. Is that the story? OK. And I just thought it was a very big time move. It was very good. It's very similar to what's happening right now. Alexei was with me, correct? Yes. Alexei was also there. But he didn't come with you. No, but to tell the truth of this story. There we go. Now that's what we're getting at. Alexei went in doubt and rightfully so. Yes. Blame me. It works. Just works.
00:23:49
Speaker
But I'm not going to say that that car waiting was just for my big head.
00:23:55
Speaker
I think Redhead Five has been in that car. Okay. But it fit me. It was fun. We actually were doing our podcast at the Nike store that night. Remember? Yes. We did Big Head Redhead. Yes. We hosted it at the Nike store. So we had a lot going on. I can't believe that was six years ago. That was fun. Yeah. So third final in four years. Are we really doing this? Yeah, we're really doing this. Will is third time in four years. Will, uh,
00:24:24
Speaker
Will Bruin just got back here. And I'm guessing Will has, Will said, at the beginning of the show, he said, my main idol as a St. Louis soccer player was Taylor Twalman. And he looked up to you his whole life and was very disappointed that you might not be able to make it because of traffic. So Will Bruin growing up, so I come back to St. Louis more often than not. I got my mom, dad there. My brother and sister moved back over the last couple of years. But long story short,
00:24:54
Speaker
There was this, quote unquote, athlete that everybody was talking about. Now, Will will not say it to anyone. But hence athlete. Hence athlete. Right. Because you were a very good basketball player. Sometimes. And very few people knew that. Obviously, they've now seen your arms and what positions in there and what position were you shooting guard? Does he look like he wasn't a center? I was going to say power forward, but I don't know anything. My team, we had two seven footers.
00:25:23
Speaker
His team is legit. I'm not mistaken, you guys went to State. We lost to Michonne. Yes, Michonne, which for everyone listening has no clue what we're talking about right now. But truth of the matter is I heard about this athlete. So there was a high school basketball game. My brother and I were like, let's go watch it. We went watch. And at the game, everyone's talking to me. You know, he's actually a pretty good soccer player.
00:25:45
Speaker
Pretty good's like being nice. But I'm sitting there going, wait a minute, he's good at basketball. What's sad to me is that the story hasn't been told because you went to Indiana and that was a bad decision. Neither here nor there. But the truth of the matter is no one talked about he was a real good athlete growing up. So I knew of Will Bruin way before anyone else in this world knew of him, mainly because he was a pretty damn good basketball player.
00:26:09
Speaker
And absolutely nothing to do with soccer. True story. It's all baseball on this side. I know. And you were a baseball player, right, Taylor? You were showing off your baseball catching skills at Pike Place. So just so for the listeners at home, what is it? Pike Place Market, Rick? I don't want to screw up the verbiage. Lord knows. Everyone listening to this will make sure. There's no possessive.
00:26:33
Speaker
I got three death threats on me already in Seattle. I don't just wait. Just wait three. That's it three It's actually gone down because you guys see Seattle beat LA FC. There we go. Cuz I had the microphone. Everybody said I had a good call. Yeah Yeah, you're dead
00:26:50
Speaker
But we show up at Pike Place Market and I brought John Champion. He's never done this before in his life. He's dressed to the T. And he goes, do I need anything on it? I go, dude, you're totally fine. Complete ass move for me to do that, right?
00:27:06
Speaker
The first one comes in the English. They don't know how to catch animal football. They throw it on their hands. They're like, no, it's rugby. I'm like, no, it's not. It's American football. Here's how I catch it. He catches the first fish in his chest. The short of the story is we get back to the hotel. The lady at the hotel goes, whoa, what's that smell?
00:27:32
Speaker
John his coat his sweater so the reason why I'm late to this is ready to go meet Greg Vinnie He had to take a shower because he smelled like God. Oh, he didn't want to come join law No, I lost him on that one to be fair. They are pretty slippery fish But it shouldn't get all over sure no no have you seen the video of him catching this thing I have not now hold on yeah
00:27:56
Speaker
Let's make some great radio. Yeah. Hold on. When I go through my video, guys, when I go through my videos. So that was gold 200 for me. Yes. Well, there you go. There you go. You'll appreciate this being a St. Louis guy. So he's probably narrating as he catches it one handed. Yep. And then the champion's look in the background is amazing. He's like, that is the best part. So we're playing for dinner.
00:28:29
Speaker
Because it's MLS Cup weekend, right? It is? Yeah. I don't know if you guys knew that. There's a couple tickets available. This is what we do every Friday night. There's about 6,000 people on the wait. Anyways, MLS Cup weekend, we had a contest and guess what? I've finished second, so it kind of fits the entire year. That's perfect.
00:28:49
Speaker
So last time the Last time the sounders were an MLS cup you were on the call. Yes didn't go very well. No Was it your fault? Okay. Absolutely. How do you see this one going? Oh Man, this is interesting.
Historic Match Against LAFC and Tactical Praise
00:29:10
Speaker
So I
00:29:12
Speaker
It's a weird one that Toronto wins, because if Seattle's playing in Atlanta, they're playing with house money because they, first off, let me say this, the game against LAFC, I'll argue with anyone, it's the best game in Seattle Sounders history, in Major League Soccer. I think the way they performed, the game plan, the way they executed everything, I'm not gonna bore the listeners with all that X's and O's, but that game against LAFC is the best performance in franchise history, in my opinion. So now if you go on the road in Atlanta,
00:29:42
Speaker
There's no pressure on you. I hate to say it. All the pressure's on Seattle. Now, Will's not going to want to hear this. No one in Seattle has played two finals. No goals in 210 minutes. Why would you bring that up? I didn't even know that one. From experience of not scoring in your first two MLS Cups, and you go into your third, the weight of the world's on your shoulders. In saying that,
00:30:06
Speaker
I like the way Seattle lines up for this. One, because Jordan Morris is extremely comfortable in his new role playing wide. Rui Diaz, if I'm in a bar fight, I'm taking the 5'7", 150 pound guy anywhere I'm going, because that dude is legit. That and Ladera looks like he's more of a leader than he was in 17.
00:30:29
Speaker
But if they've got to chase the game, the guy next to me has got to bum me, how do you chase the game if you're Seattle? You can get into it. So what's Toronto got to do to make Seattle chase the game? Honestly, get to half time zero zero. Make the 70,000 in the building anxious.
00:30:52
Speaker
Make feel that anxiety. You're on the road. It doesn't matter. The longer you go zero zero, even if they score an early goal, it helps them. I get that. But if Josie doesn't start, Toronto's not the same dynamic team that they are. When Josie plays, you get to zero zero 60. Admit it. I'm sure one thing that 70,000. Everybody's going to want to throw up because now you're at 270 minutes, 280 minutes. You still haven't scored a goal against Toronto.
00:31:18
Speaker
So if Toronto scores an early goal, do you think it awakes Sleeping Beast? Or do you think, yeah, because we go to LA, LAFC, they score on us, and it's a big party for LAFC. But me being inside a locker room, I know these guys. These guys don't care. There's so much camaraderie in this group that it's like, we know what we can do. And I think also on the counterpoint,
00:31:40
Speaker
If it's going to be back and forth, I'll take our team against any team in the league, anything I can think of in the past 10 years, like I'll even go up against that Atlanta team last year just in transition games, because we have that much quality going forward. No, there's a lot there. I do agree with you. If Toronto scores in early gold, they still have got their work cut out. The longer they go 0-0, though, that does not help Seattle. And I think there's going to be an interesting recall
00:32:06
Speaker
in the 11s that I think is gonna be an interesting one. When people see the lineup, they're gonna say, wait a minute. So Taylor knows something, we don't. But anyways, do you think Toronto sits in and tries to hope to get it to 0-0 in the 60th inning? To find sit-in. Sit-in the way they did against Atlanta or sit-in by heaven position? No, I won't say sit-in. I'll say meaningless position.
00:32:33
Speaker
I think they're going to try to keep the ball as long as they can. Yeah. Because we're not really a team that's going to keep the ball. We like to go. So this could be a boring game. And I'm watching this game. And you are, right? You are a Sounders fan.
00:33:01
Speaker
I'm only Cardinals and Blues through you know that yes no I know I mean I was so the Bruins waited boss well I mean I was accused Rams and they left and they got good I'm like fuck the rest pardon my French
00:33:12
Speaker
It's your podcast. Who cares? It's okay. I would love to see Seattle from the opening whistle on the front foot get after it and absolutely punch Toronto in the face. Do I think they do it? I don't know. I want them to because I would love to absolutely see that, see how Toronto reacts as a neutral, but also see
MLS Cup Speculations and Team Readiness
00:33:34
Speaker
Schmetzer and the Sounders look at everyone like myself saying, 210 minutes, you haven't scored a goal. Oh, yeah? Well, how's this three banger and MLS Cup in 2019? That's what we would like to see if you're a Sounders fan.
00:33:47
Speaker
I just think Toronto's they when you go through the numbers, they've played in more big games than any team over the last four years. So Champions League and they've been in that is. Yeah. And so in Canadian Championship, which everyone in MLS says it doesn't mean anything. But the truth of the matter is, that's their only concucave Champions League. No, would you? By the way, completely ridiculous that if Toronto wins every cup, they don't get concucave Champions League. That's the easiest way to get in.
00:34:16
Speaker
in my opinion, for winning the Canadian championship. It's debatable. It has been, but now with the Canadian Premier League, it's just at least a little bit more of an actual tournament. And it helps that Vancouver hasn't done it. Not when Vancouver was kind of competitive, and Montreal was competitive.
00:34:35
Speaker
They're different, but it is interesting how you just look at big games. Toronto's, you know, I know they finished ninth in the regular season. They're a better team at big games that people want to give them credit for. You know, it doesn't matter how you get in, get in, get to the game. I know. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I know, too. So we had, we know you got to get out of here, but Will had a very pressing question that he wanted to make sure to ask me about this. So these guys introduced me to a burger.
00:35:03
Speaker
It's called the impossible burger. Yeah, never had one before ever like the one at Burger King I had it I Want to know if you've had it before I have what do you think about it?
00:35:21
Speaker
I think I'm going to disappoint you with my answer. I don't think we're going to be on the same page here. I'm OK with it. Oh, you really disappoint me with your answer. I'm OK with it. I didn't like it. If I'm going to have a burger, it needs to be a nice burger and it needs to be a good burger. I've put my foot in my mouth probably two million times in the last 10 years. Yeah.
00:35:40
Speaker
One of those two million times was me having that one and then I had the impossible burger and I ordered it a week later Will and I was like, oh my god I just admitted that I like this now, but and everyone in my group was like, oh, it was meatless. You don't like it You want I actually enjoyed it. But here's the thing like this is the first right half of it. Oh
00:35:59
Speaker
And I was like, that's not a burger. You actually, your street cred goes up in my book because of this, but I'm wearing a sweater vest and a blazer vest. The Impossible Burger kind of fits me. Have you seen this? It doesn't happen overnight.
00:36:19
Speaker
Meanwhile, I'm just recovering from ACL doesn't matter can't really run I was I was proud of will for ordering it in the first place He did not we didn't make him I was just I was very proud to give it a try to be honest It was also free for well, but he ordered it you can order anything on it on the menu. Yeah, but I'm proud of you, too I should say I have the opportunity to order it too, and I didn't order it for free so
00:36:50
Speaker
Jimmy Conrad just joined us. Jimmy Conrad just joined us. Jimmy, have you tried an impossible burger? That's what we're talking about now. Yeah, I have, actually. And I'm willing to bet a million dollars on it right now that you loved it. I was just going to say it. I actually didn't really care for it too much. Mom, you are so full of it. You're a liar. I'm a vegetarian now. I know you are. That's why I said this. No, I can't. By the way, they're all rolling their eyes out. No more guests allowed.
00:37:15
Speaker
So listen, when you're a vegetarian, you don't want products that taste like meat. I'm not looking for a thing that tastes like meat. Then don't eat a burger. This is kind of when the pot... I didn't know we called in nutritionist Jimmy Conrad over here. No, I... So that was actually... I was my contention also is that it's a burger for people probably like Taylor and myself who are looking to eat less meat but not be vegetarians.
00:37:40
Speaker
yeah sure sure but not like i i can understand why would you eat an impossible burger you just well not eat meat so like if you're if you're vegan you're craving beef you can't hear me you guys we'll talk about this later no it's a good one i just i was curious because you you i
00:38:01
Speaker
You're well-cultured. You're very well-traveled. I'm gonna put that on a business card. Hashtag. No, no, no. Don't tag my name. Jimmy, we're in Seattle. You don't tag my name on anything, right? Everything's Taylor's fault. Well, Taylor just said he was a soundest man, so... Massive soundest man.
00:38:22
Speaker
Well, he also said the next party he's going to is a Toronto fan. I'm going to be a Toronto fan in about 45 minutes. So do you need to get out of here, Taylor, or are you good? I kind of need to get out of here, but just don't tell anyone if I was late. OK, what I was doing. Kind of neat. Well, this doesn't come out till tomorrow morning, so it won't come out until... I will find 7 p.m. I'll be there in 7.30. This is fun. Well, thank you for coming, Taylor. I got to try to stay relevant somehow.
00:38:48
Speaker
Score goals we get the score guys like me Yeah, but you're the dancing bear score goals dude. Thanks guys. This is fun. Thank you for doing this Taylor It was very nice of you to drive himself all the way out to the driver driver All right, we're gonna go to a break and we'll come back and talk to Jimmy Maybe I don't know maybe who won't I don't know how this is gonna go all right We're gonna come back though
00:39:22
Speaker
Welcome back to the Sounder Heart triple cast, Will Bruin, Mark Kastner, Jeremiah O'Shan, Lickett, and Jimmy Conrad. Hey, what's up? What's up? Jimmy, how is it? How is it? That's great. You just got in. Literally just got in, right? I got in and rented a car and tried to break as many laws as possible. Nice. And now I'm here. What kind of car did you get? So I'm here as an ambassador for AT&T. Yeah. Oh, good. They got me a Jaguar SUV.
00:39:51
Speaker
I'm a little uncomfortable driving it, so it's like the nicest rental car I've ever been in. No, they gave that up as a rental car. Also, we don't really like SUVs here. Like, you know, the environment and stuff. No, I get it. Yeah. So I'm surprised he even offered up. Yeah. Yeah. Back to that point. Must be nice to be an influencer online. Whatever. You get jaguars. I'm an influencer, whatever that is. I have them all fooled, smoking mirrors.
00:40:13
Speaker
What are you, what are you driving at home? Like that's, they have your nights. So I have a 2011 Highlander. It's a soccer mom. Okay. I got two little girls. I'm coaching both of them. Volunteer dad, coach. Loving it. Loving every single minute. Let's go. I got 2011 Jeep Liberty. First, first car I ever bought. First, only car I ever bought. I mean, we're, we're American born MLS players. Exactly. You can only afford so much everybody. I can't even get another car. I made $24,000 my rookie year.
00:40:42
Speaker
We're talking cars I got a 2012 CRV Wow Now this is the where the big money comes all right here we go got a 99 Forrester with the flat tire
00:40:57
Speaker
Breaking in that blogger money That car has a story to tell Aaron Campbell though does have a nice car I want to hear what tell us about your car Aaron. I have a 2019 Audi s5
00:41:09
Speaker
Wow. Nice. It's pretty nice. It was my I didn't die of cancer. So I said I should buy myself a nice car. I respect that. And I'm glad you're still here. Yeah, me too. Yeah. So you can drive around your Audi S5. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So there's no there's the one profiting from the podcast to make Aaron a little uncomfortable. I know he doesn't like this stuff, but he did have his last chemo treatment today. So I just want to say congratulations to Aaron. Yeah. Yeah. Clean bill of health. Everything's good.
00:41:39
Speaker
As much as these things go. All right. Cool. But I don't have to do that. Onwards and upwards. He's saying yes. Outside of the mic. That probably is not getting picked up. That's okay. Yeah, it is. Because that's the kind of podcast this is. It's the kind of podcast where we don't know what you can actually show up.
00:41:58
Speaker
So Jimmy, what has been your very quick impression of the way Seattle has embraced, have you gotten any sense at all of what the scene is in Seattle right now, like from a distance or up close? I mean, I know there's a big throng of people that are looking to find where Brian Schmetzer lives, you know, so they can put up signs on his lawn, you know, feeling better than Bob.
Seattle's Anticipation for the MLS Cup
00:42:23
Speaker
No, I think that there's a nice vibe. I feel like the energy is good. And from the amount of tickets that you guys have sold to go to this game, I think it's going to be a pretty incredible atmosphere. So I'm guessing you've been around a few MLS cups. I was here in 2009.
00:42:39
Speaker
I was a halftime show with Freddie Montero. We did a guitar hero against each other. Who wants serious? I let my they told me I had to let Montero in they told you right because he was the Sanders hero Right there. Yeah. Have you ever played the game before I assume you have no
00:42:57
Speaker
You hadn't? Why do you assume that? Yeah, that's... I don't know, you can't erase it. But, uh, no, he hadn't played before, but we had a little rehearsal before and he got up to whatever. He made it as easy as possible for him. But yeah, I had to stand back. It's a Freddie Monteiro can win. You shouldn't have done that. You should have just beat him. What song was it? Uh, I can't even remember, to be honest. Okay.
00:43:18
Speaker
I mean, I realize you can't, you probably, this is an unfair question at this point, but does this feel any different than the other MLS cups you've been to? I mean, being inside it, it feels different than the ones I've been to in Toronto.
00:43:34
Speaker
I would say that this is going to feel a little more epic, let's say. I think that there's no disrespect to any other clubs. I didn't get to go to Atlanta last year, so I didn't get this. It was probably bad, is my guess. That's a good guess. Well, I mean, Portland lost, so it couldn't be too bad. That's true. That's true. Lester, both evils.
00:43:52
Speaker
There's no soccer market. I very much was the hell final, though. I was there when you guys won it in Toronto in penalties. Yeah, I remember. You were sitting in a corner, blogging on the floor. It was cold as shit, too, that game. Yeah. So I was just happy when it was over. And it was happy to see you guys do it, too. And obviously, Stephen Fry's save is etched in everybody's memory.
00:44:11
Speaker
Yeah, Will wasn't there. Two weeks later, I was traded there and then lost the next year. That's great. Yeah. I was going to bring it up, Will, but, you know, we're in the MLS Cup this year. Yeah, that's great. And I'm part of it, but I tore my seal. So, you know, we're putting it all together. Let's get a little awkward. I didn't want to say anything out loud. So, you know, I could tell I just like it. We already decided that the Sounders lost the last final because it was Taylor's fault. So you're up there. Okay. Perfect. Yeah.
00:44:35
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, I think the energy is going to be great. I love that the playoff format did change so that the team with the better record hosts it. I just think it makes the environment better and makes for a better game. So did you play in any neutral site, MLS cups? Yeah, Columbus. I was with earthquakes. We beat the Galaxy in overtime. So it was kind of weird because a lot of fans didn't travel to go to
Playing at Neutral Sites vs. Home Advantage
00:44:58
Speaker
that.
00:44:58
Speaker
And then in 2004, it was Kansas City versus DC United in L.A. That was the Freddy you do Peter Novak championship. Ryan Nelson had a good team, but we gave that one away. It's a long story. What a throwback. He likes to paddle asses, I heard.
00:45:15
Speaker
Who's this? Well, that's a real word on the street. He's like the paddle. Who's this Freddie? I do. I've never heard of it. Yeah, you know, 15 teams in 14 years or something. Yeah. I mean, he's he's kind of well-traveled player. Yeah. Journeyman journeyman. He must be like 39 or something, right? Commercial paylay when he was 14. You should go check it out.
00:45:33
Speaker
so one of the things we've been talking about is how the sounders seem to be embracing their role as as Favorites they seem to be leaning they I don't think there's any way for them to escape that their favorites going into this game But they seem to kind of be leaning into it and and saying yeah We know the expectation is this first they know it's a tough game But what's like do you think that's the right mentality going into a game? Oh?
00:45:58
Speaker
What's interesting is I think Toronto and Seattle both come into this game pretty much doing the same thing to get to this point. Being the underdogs in a lot of games, fighting and scrapping, being together as a unit.
00:46:10
Speaker
In that way, maybe it feels a little different because they haven't had to have that mentality. Maybe at home against Dallas, they were favored, and they survived that all-in slot from Dallas there for a little bit and proved they were the better team when it mattered. I will say, though, I think it helps that they have a familiar opponent in the final. They've played Toronto a few times. So they get it. They get that. This is an opponent we know very well. This is the rubber match. We both won one. Now it's at our home. And I like that they have that confidence.
00:46:37
Speaker
And I don't know that Toronto, it's not like Toronto is a bunch of kids. They have internationals, they have highly paid players, they have the big, I think they still have the highest payroll in the league. So it's not like they're gonna be able to come in and convince anyone that we're just happy to be here. But I think that's a good role for them to play. I feel like they've been adopting that the whole time. Obviously, Josie Altidore,
00:47:02
Speaker
I think he'll be on the bench, just that kind of gamesmanship. I don't know if he'll actually play. But also another similarity is
Underrated Coaches: Schmetzer and Vanney
00:47:10
Speaker
the coaches. Schmetzer and Vanney, I don't feel like get the respect that they deserve for all the success that they've had. So there's a lot of similarities between the team, maybe not necessarily in budgets and who's spending for what.
00:47:20
Speaker
But the fact that they've gotten here three out of four years speaks a lot about what these franchises are doing. Yeah, that literally speaks volumes. It's three or four years. Schmetzer took over halfway through 2016 and this could possibly be a second MLS Cup in three and a half years. Like when you sit back and think about that, that's pretty crazy. It is crazy.
00:47:38
Speaker
I've known Schmetzer for a long time. I used to play in the A League against the Sounders. He's always been around. He's like the dad I never had that I always wanted to have. He is like the dad everybody wants to have. One of my favorite Schmetzer stories was when I had retired from Chivas, I stayed with the club.
00:47:57
Speaker
just to finish out that season. And they let me, it was Vanny and Robin Frazier, who were the coaches, the Chivas at the time. They're like, all right, you can coach the development team or whatever, the second team, whatever, the development league that was there. And it was me versus Spencer. I think I heard the story. Me versus Spencer. Yeah.
00:48:12
Speaker
And it was, they went up 2-0. So I just went up 2-0 after five minutes. I'm like, all right, this is my debut. I went in an auspicious debut. So we're down to 3-1.5. We come back and it's 3-3. But there's some play in the game in the second half. This is a reserve league, right? Reserve league. I remember the reserve leagues. That was like my first few years. So Specialty tears my head off, you know? And he came up. We couldn't apologize to me fast enough after the game.
00:48:36
Speaker
And I said to him, if you didn't act like that, in that moment in particular, the situation, nothing called for it, it's just upset with the referee or whatever. I would worry about you. What did you tear your head off for? Just because I had, it was something about the referee now, the coach has got to get into it on a certain call.
00:48:53
Speaker
I said to him, you threw in a late tackle or something. No, I didn't play. I was coaching you. I was a player. I was coaching. Peter just smetched, smetched. So I taught him everything I know. That's pretty much my whole story. So you're going to get a ring. Yeah, exactly. And he better give me a ring. But I told him, if you didn't act like that, if you weren't passionate about your team and cared about what was happening on the field, I have a bigger concern for you than if you didn't say anything. And from that point on, I feel like we really connected on what it means to care and be passionate.
00:49:21
Speaker
And and I'm really happy for him in his success He definitely cares like he has a deep carry like a coach that I haven't seen like before Like you see the peripherals you see from the outside with coaches yell and stuff and you're like, okay They care but like internally this guy actually cares what every player from the top of the roster He cares about you as a person like
00:49:40
Speaker
He's letting me warm up with the team tomorrow, even though I probably shouldn't be. The trainers are throwing a fit. He's like, Will, you're coming. You're part of the team. You're going to warm up with them. So I'm like, that's just little things like that mean a lot to me. And I'm sure they mean a lot to guys. I'll tell them you're not drinking a beer tonight. No, I've never had a beer in my life. I don't know what you're talking about. I've never even seen a beer.
00:49:58
Speaker
That's a little cry, right? Yeah, this is a sort of one. I was hoping it was a rainier year. Were you actually pretending not to drink at Yacht-Con, or was that open? So we do this event every year, Yacht-Con. Will was one of our guests. Brian was also one of our guests.
00:50:15
Speaker
I don't remember if you were, there was some talk about him drinking out of a red solo cup, which was more obvious. But that's when I was playing, so it was more of a bigger deal. Like now, I'm not going to be in until March, so it's like I really don't care, plus I just turned 30 and have a baby. Now it's like I'm going to do what I need to do. This Friday night.
00:50:36
Speaker
Exactly. Friday night, bedtime at 10 o'clock. It's great. So why do you guys think that Brian is so underrated throughout the week? This is his third final in four years. He's made the playoffs every year. I think it's he's unassuming. You know, I don't think he makes it about him. Hey, I'm doing a live podcast. Look at this guy. Wow. Look at this. So, yeah, I think it's more about
00:51:05
Speaker
his nature, you know, and it's always team first. And I think that's what makes his success so cool. But on the same time, I mean, you'd like to think, I hope that he's fighting for himself behind the scenes, you know, because we can argue he's one of the top five coaches in the league. You know, I feel like he's the most like, disrespected coach in the league, you know, he doesn't get as much respect as some of the other, I guess you quote, air quote, sexy signing coaches.
00:51:29
Speaker
Yeah, you know it's because he knows what an MLS club needs inside the locker room And he knows how to get them to perform he knows how to bring a team together I think in this league like with all the quality it's coming in and you know any team can be anybody on any given day The way that the margins are so thin that if you have a team fighting for each other It's huge you can speak to it better than me, but I feel like he has a
00:51:54
Speaker
a really good ability, and I can't say this for a lot of coaches, and I don't even know if I became a coach, if I could do it as well as him, of just not getting in the way. Like, he's really good at just not getting in the way, letting the players be themselves. And I think it shows. Yeah, maybe sometimes I don't feel like undercoaching, but I'd almost rather see that, and you trust the players in a different way than telling them what to do on every single thing. I've seen coaches, and I'll talk about Peter Burmese in Kansas City. We had a younger player playing right back one time. We were in a game in New York.
00:52:24
Speaker
And Peter's basically joystick in here the whole time. Tell him to do this. The passes aren't on anymore once you tell him to do it. And this kid was just all over the place. He couldn't play anymore. I had the same thing with I love Dom Keneer to death. Love to death in Houston. But there were some players like I'll name what Alex Dixon was.
00:52:40
Speaker
a player who I thought would be great. And he kind of just got beat down. And it's just like, I think those times have changed. And I think Schmetzer is like the new era coach like that, because he can kind of coach these young guys instead of like he knows how to motivate them, but without being too hard on them. And I know we're probably the same, like from the old school era, like we're playing for Dom Kanera. I'm like, well, they need to be, young guys got too easy these days. But I think he's good at bouncing.
00:53:09
Speaker
Yeah, there's something there's something that quality I think it's subtle and I think it's nuanced and I think he's very good at it So a lot of people on our side of the table and I should say Jeremiah and I are sitting on the side of the table that doesn't have the two former MLS or current MLS player, former MLS player Two former on that side. Yeah. I was also tailing probably but that's what was going through my head. Anyways
00:53:33
Speaker
We're never going to forgive you for that. No, no, he's giving me that. Yeah. Yeah. I can't walk to my car. This wasn't run by me. So a perception of Brian Spencer in the media, I should say, is that like he just sort of rolls the ball out there, says the players to have fun, kind of gives the pep talks and whatnot. What are some underrated aspects of his? What a great place to be, though, as a coach. That's what they think.
00:54:00
Speaker
yeah that's what i mean that's kind of my thing is that i think that he knows he knows he could get more respect if he came out and was a diva if he said if he tells a reporter get out of here with that question if he does i don't know who you represent i don't know who i'm representing i think he knows that he could he could like
00:54:19
Speaker
build himself up. He can feel the mystique of Brian Spencer, but he chooses instead to kind of be unassuming and be himself and be honest. And the cost is that he doesn't get the respect, but the benefit is that he has more success.
00:54:38
Speaker
MOS player answered that question for me. No, no, your size MOS players. But I'll probably get a lot of shit for this. But I think the way that our team is set up, I think Garth and Hendo and those guys do such a good job of making a roster, putting a roster together that's just
Sounders' Team Dynamics and Leadership
00:54:54
Speaker
like,
00:54:54
Speaker
such high quality like with the way that this league is set with like roster boundaries and ins and outs of that like we have such a good talent talented roster but we also have guys that are team first and i think that's very important as well because you can look at you can look at other teams and they say oh we spent 20 million on this guy but he's a dick
00:55:15
Speaker
So it doesn't matter. I don't know who you're talking to. No, I'm just saying, you know, just be able to mesh a team together and then have somebody like Spencer that can actually manage all the players. It's like the way it's run from top to bottom is just pretty good. I would say experience matters as well. So because when he first took over the Sounders won an MLS Cup, he always has that feather in his cap. And I think that's
00:55:39
Speaker
when you're a player that comes in, you can't refute that evidence. He always has it. Everybody has a few things that they have as a player that you can say, well, they can never take this away from me. And they can't take it away from Schmetzer. And I think that gives them confidence. And maybe gives players a chance to give them some trust right away, or they might not do that to a coach that hasn't won anything.
00:55:59
Speaker
So I know you're a huge Bob Bradley fan. Massive. Do you have any Bob Bradley stories you want to share? I don't know. Every time I do a Bob Bradley story, one of the Bradley family members wants to fight me. Well, I hear that you have Andy Rose on your side this time, right? It's OK. We think it's OK. Seems about right. Yeah. Well, I'm very hostile, as you can tell. You came in here like a bullish kind of shop. No, I mean, 10 minutes, that's it.
00:56:25
Speaker
Great. No, I mean, the one that's gotten the most traction was the one that I did. I did a podcast over in the UK, and he was coaching Swansea at the time. And I knew they were going to ask for a story. So I'm like, let me tell one that's the most harmless story that I have about Bob Bradley. So if you guys haven't heard it, I'll regurgitate it here for you guys. But we're in a game. It's a trip. We went to Slovakia and then Denmark for the national team.
00:56:48
Speaker
So as we flew from Slovakia, where we drew 1-1, we go to Denmark, our plane was late, the bags were, it was just a nightmare. We get on the bus, we have to drive two hours to get to Arhusu, wherever. The bathroom in the back of the bus doesn't work, so we're all dying to get to the bathroom. So Bob says, oh, okay, look, we all have to go, just leave your bags, we'll get some dinner, and then we can come back and figure it out. I'm like, all right, cool. So Bob,
00:57:11
Speaker
As a coach you sit in the front of the bus. That was Bob. Bob just said that. He just said that. We gotta tilt the bar a little bit to the left. Okay, so Bob goes... All the coaches sit in the front. So he goes to the bathroom, and when we go in the bathroom...
00:57:26
Speaker
Bob's at the urinal with Tidy Whitey's on, but the whole way down to his ankles. So he's like, I swear to you, he's peeing like he's three years old, like a kindergarten, he really had a pee. That's the most harmless story ever. That's the most harmless story ever. And the thing was, I turned to somebody, I think it was Heath Pierce at the time, and I said,
00:58:11
Speaker
Wasn't like a trough. I still can't, to this day I still don't know if he was messing with us or not. I just don't know. No, it wasn't a trough. See, that's the thing. You'll never know with Bob. You'll never know. So that's a little bit of traction on gold.com. While he's still coaching Swansie, you know, former US men's basketball team, former coach, coaches Swansie now pisses like a kindergarten.
00:58:20
Speaker
I think he's happy with us, dude. There's no way the National Team coach is like a kindergartner trying to learn how to pee. There's no way I can't grab my head around it. So anyway, I told the story.
00:58:30
Speaker
So I'm like, all right, well, it's in the UK. Yeah, exactly. So fast forward to, like, four months later, I run into Michael Bradley in the January camp. He wants to fight me because of the story. I said, I'll fight you with that. Real nice guy. Michael. I said, OK, listen. I tried to break him out of his anger. And I said, are you? I still don't know. Can you tell me? Because he really does that.
00:58:52
Speaker
So he was already at a hundred, and it took him like a thousand, you know? And I still have the black eye. He couldn't even laugh about it with his dad. I've never met the guy. Have you seen the Bradley's? They don't laugh, dude. Yeah, I know. They're not programmed to laugh. I hear his brother and the Skeletor can't laugh. It just feels like somebody I wouldn't have known. I have 100% get along with Jeff. Jeff's fine. OK. But I does 100% have a burner account on Twitter, and they come at me hard any time I take shots at the Bradley thing. It's fine. I get it.
00:59:20
Speaker
You kind of got me thinking, like, should I start taking shots and see if that burner counts? At some point, I cared what he thought about me because he was my national team coach and I wanted him to like me. I don't care anymore. That's amazing. It's so freeing, I'll be honest. So when he got lost his mind on TV, I'm like, there we go. There's the real guys coming out. I was actually like, finally.
00:59:40
Speaker
What do you think the truth will set you free? Listen, I think he's a great coach. He gave me a chance, so I want to throw my prefaces in there. I should have put a big yeah. He made me captain a number of times. He gave me a chance to make the 2010 World Cup team. I didn't take him. And that is what it is. Now we have some other personal beef that I can't share and I won't share. What am I going to ask you to? But that's where all of my anger and resentment stems from. And if he listens to this, and I'm sure one of his family members will, they'll know exactly why I'm upset.
01:00:06
Speaker
And it's because they didn't treat me like a human being. Like, I asked to be treated like a human being. But we go everywhere. All right. But I digress. Why do I think? Where's the beer? Mic drop. Exactly. I'm ready for a drink now. Mic drop. Just for a light interview. A light interview. Yeah, it's harmless. It's harmless story. Speaking of that incident at the end of the game, Will, do you have any idea what that exchange was? No, I was up in the suite just hanging out. Do you have a theory? Does anyone have a theory? Do you think he was mad that he was... I think he was pissed that he lost.
01:00:33
Speaker
Because he's wanted to amount not nobody can beat me in soccer. So it's like 20 minutes after the game No, that's that's Bob. Here's the thing. I had a five minute. I've had a five minute Bob once saw me because we wanted to work through that that personal issue and
01:00:50
Speaker
He came, he's coaching Egypt. He's in the MLS offices. He's like, let's talk for five minutes. It turns into 45 minutes, you know? So that's normal for Bob. Like, he's got something to say. Maybe Schmetz did something during the game that maybe rubbed him the wrong way. But like, wipe the floor with him? Like, what's the proper protocol to be a coach in MLS or whatever? There is no protocol. Well, I know that. But like, Bob will have his own set of rules. But like, that's what I'm saying. Like, he thinks it's his rules, yeah. It's his rules.
01:01:14
Speaker
Oh, I can definitely see on the field. It's written. It's going to be Bradley versus Bradley. You're getting me. It's bugging me. What with it? So we're going to be Bradley Bradley and they're going to go soul to Thanksgiving and it's going to be great. We'll see. And in the other tie to the Sounders, Andy Rose obviously married a Bradley as well, right? Oh, wow.
01:01:33
Speaker
Do you know Andy? I never play with him, I know him. That is a full step. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, I'm varying from soccer. I'm in the market for a new mattress. OK. This is like a new what? Oh, mattress. Oh, good, good. Is this, wait, is this like a? Do you have a? Is this a hashtag ad? Are we getting into a hashtag ad? No, no, no, I'm not on your level. This is real? I'm not. It's a real thing. This is a real organic thing. Do you have like a mattress recommendation? I don't actually.
01:02:03
Speaker
We can like turn this into a hashtag we can I have never gone the the mattress route. What is your mattress? I have like a pillow It's a pillow like it's called the pillow top mattress. You got it like Costco No, no, but I my long
01:02:19
Speaker
A mattress that my wife didn't want me to have anymore because I was with other girls. Before, I had to get rid of that mattress. I got it from Costco. Excellent mattress. And you guys have had that mattress since? No. I had to get rid of it once we got married. But the new mattress? New mattress. No, this is our second mattress. What's the new mattress? It's a pillow top. Oh, it's just called pillow top. No, there's a certain... It's like a Sealy... A Sealy... Yeah, it's like a style of mattress. I know what you're talking about. Just go for like seven or eight years. Just go for like the pillow top mattress. Just like another layer on top of it, very comfortable.
01:02:48
Speaker
I mean, there's just been looking for a new match. This is pillow talk. Bear with us. Nice segue, by the way. I wonder what Bob has. Probably just like a whitey. That's on concrete. Well, I mean, a bed of nails. It's got to be like it's got to be something. Yes. Yeah. I mean, you can't get red marks on his on his legs. So, Will, you had your what was your question, though? We just want to know what kind of matches. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Oh, because you're in the market for a mattress. Yes. We were a pillow top.
01:03:18
Speaker
Yeah, we see the thing is that would be fun to go away from soccer for two seconds I think it was a smart and I the thing was he is really into these I won't name the mattress because we aren't doing an ad we aren't doing a bit But he is he works. It'd be awesome. It's like the Like mail order mattresses that have like the
01:03:36
Speaker
They aren't that like phone and hipster. Yeah, I'm not I don't have that. No, I don't have it either Trying to think about getting a free mattress from one of them purple mattress. I get better be listening, right? There's got to be some matches like Mattress King or something of Seattle mattress Kings like still exist. I don't know like places you go into
01:03:59
Speaker
I want to be, I want to be the matches king. Yeah. So you got any, any, Aaron, do you have anything else that's not soccer that we need to get into? I think I thought the Bob Bradley stuff was great. That was a great ending, I think. Yeah. So Jimmy, thanks for hanging out with us. Bobby Warshaw is now here. Bobby Warshaw.
01:04:19
Speaker
And we're done. And cut. I didn't realize it was this kind of podcast. Cut. We're done. I'm out. All right. So we're going to go to a break, and we'll come back, and maybe we'll get Bobby or somewhere else, and we'll do a pick. Go Sadder. Sounds good. Yep.
01:04:37
Speaker
All right, so we are back with the Sanderheart triplecast.
Bobby Warshaw's Sports Background and Insights
01:04:42
Speaker
Bear with us, and no sadietes. Bobby Warshaw is here. I think this is going to be our final segment. We've had a murderer's row, and of course, Bobby, the biggest star of them all, is joining us. Thanks for coming up last, bat and cleanup. Yeah, cleanup, or whatever. I have no idea how many we've had on this board. Is cleanup fourth?
01:05:00
Speaker
Yes, because that's the best batter usually that's yeah Yeah, yeah, I guess he's forced. Yeah, do you think of yourself as a poor hitter? Definitely not. Yeah, I'm a two guy. That's how I okay and like when I played I was a two guy too Just get on base either. Yeah do something. Were you an awesome little league player?
01:05:18
Speaker
I wouldn't say awesome, but like pretty good. Yeah, but I always went for the high cheese. High cheese. So I was home run or strikeout. Although Taylor just told us that you were a better basketball player. Well, I mean, I did it all. Yeah. Did you do any other sports? Cricket. Cricket. No, I didn't. Oh. So Bobby, you've been in town for a day.
01:05:41
Speaker
What have you thought of the scene for MLS Cup? Have you been to other MLS Cups? I've been to the last five. Okay, so what would you compare the scene to? Is it better? Is it more involved? Is it nothing? It's good. I've seen a lot of sound purchases around. It's not quite Atlanta, right? Atlanta last year.
01:06:03
Speaker
I think what the Sounders do is amazing Atlanta last year or something. I mean, you hear the thing, you get an Uber ride, you buy a coffee, everyone's talking about it, but this is up there. I mean, you see the jerseys around, the buzz, it's been cool. Yeah, I have no point of reference from that other than Toronto, which I feel like Toronto was surprisingly understated. Like we went out after the game both years and, oh, was that the soccer match? Yes. That got played? Yep. Who won?
01:06:33
Speaker
You guys don't have that here that's not gonna happen everyone knows what's going on I was waiting were you like segueing into a question with that or there was no I think it was just a chat That was just like Jeremiah sharing his experience story. I could tell yeah, I could tell so have you been able to hash it out with Brian yet? No, I mean what is there to hash out right? He's made three finals in four years if he gets the last word I'm not gonna hash out right I have
01:07:01
Speaker
He would love to, though. He probably would love to. Would you? Listen, I would very much enjoy sitting down with Brian and talking soccer and hearing what his secret sauce is and the parts of the game that he believes in. And maybe at some point we'll do that. And I'll love it. But no, right now he wins. Nothing else to say.
01:07:19
Speaker
I don't think it's a wins thing. I just I mean, I don't know you did well I don't see why everybody gets so butthurt about it. That's my That's fine. Yeah. Well, I know it's it's Seattle and everybody if you don't agree with them everybody gets butthurt and I'll say that that's our job will that's our Stop pulling behind the curtain. We've got a job to do I say goddamn it if your ACL isn't injured But it's just it's just how it is
01:07:44
Speaker
You would have no idea how many coaches or general managers will one second say they don't read the content. Brian does not pretend to not read the content. I'll tell you Brian is like every week he reads it. He didn't even tell me about it every week. But I would rather have that than like a coach that does it that tries to act like he doesn't know. They all pretend like they don't know. They all read it. That's the thing. They all read it. So I think you're probably the person to answer this question given
01:08:13
Speaker
your situation. So I asked Jimmy Conrad before and I asked Will also, what makes Brian Spencer such an underrated coach and why, why does that exist in our hot take culture?
Brian Schmetzer's Coaching Style and Team Impact
01:08:28
Speaker
We're gonna talk about the hot take culture after this that feels like the better question the better point you can take this wherever you want You got the microphone make some underrated coach because we're in the age of details right you look around the world and Almost every winning manager is heavy on details right the age of the man manager has faded away And this isn't to say that
01:08:50
Speaker
that Brian doesn't have tactics or doesn't have a philosophy, but I think it's fair to say he's a little lighter on the overall details, right? The positional play, the police, how he talks about us. Yeah. Well, I would also say, so you watch the team, right? If you ask the forward to press a lot, I'm a defensive forward when I play.
01:09:07
Speaker
Right. But like how often does he talk about which way you shape your body and which way you push them and how the attacking mid steps and the distance between the legs and honestly quite a bit about like what center back we want the ball to be on and how we're going to do it like that. But which is like a 2010 tactic. Right. That's got Gonzalo Pinedo is like our big tactic guy. And he's really good at giving the details to the players.
01:09:32
Speaker
I can't speak about what goes on in the coach's meetings before that, before it gets presented to the players, where Gonzo runs our film and obviously gets overseen by Schmatz. Which is the way the balance should be. You have the man manager on top and then you've got the guy actually running the tactics in the drill. So I would just say he does a different way, right? He is still a guy who cares more about relationships and stars a little bit more than the details.
01:10:07
Speaker
Like I don't think I'm a journalist or anything I asked him for his opinion like I asked him why he thought I'm just right No, I know let's talk especially after the last segment. I deserve it Explain the hot take culture. Yeah theorem. Oh Bobby you want me to explain or you want to I want you to explain it when you say hot take culture What does that mean?
01:10:21
Speaker
Is that a fair answer? No, yeah, totally. I mean, anything you would have said would have been fair. Because that's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion. That's not really your opinion.
01:10:27
Speaker
So I think, and this is probably not very interesting for a lot of people. No, I'm sure it is interesting. Two hours into a podcast would be very interesting. I don't want to hear this. So I think people in our positions, and we come at kind of the same job in two very different ways. Used to be a player. I'm just a guy on the internet. I will always just be a guy on the internet. Don't tell Jason Rance. Yeah, to Jason Rance, I'm an Antifa terrorist. So that's one thing.
01:10:57
Speaker
like we all like we want to have our things read and we want to have something out there that gets shared so I don't think it's necessarily like I think there are people that believe you sit there think about the craziest thing that you could say and say that I don't think that but does Doyle does
01:11:17
Speaker
That's exactly what I'll say. I do think that MLS headquarters central thinks about controversial things they can say and then throw it. There is a bit of a hive mind. I know that I'm wrong there because, you know, everybody wants to watch the controversial videos, the controversial articles. That's just how the league is run. That's how the league is.
01:11:40
Speaker
That's interesting. That's interesting. And you got a job to protect here, so if you don't want to talk about anything like this. No. See, my contract's guaranteed next year.
01:11:48
Speaker
So I want to talk about what Will said first. I think that we have a general thought that there aren't enough personalities, and there isn't enough legitimate drama and entertainment within the league. I mean, if you compare what happens in the NBA and the NFL, but no, we don't search for the controversy and the idea of- Well, I wasn't saying you searched for it. But- But you throw the ideas out there that make people uncomfortable, that make people pissed, that make people call in to say, don't say this about my team.
01:12:18
Speaker
so it's not it's not that explicit right it's not like we truly go for heat and go for frustration so do we do we pull out the interesting things a little bit more than players would like for sure 100 but like that is the way the entertainment product works i think that's how it should be yeah
01:12:38
Speaker
Every team, every GM, every head coach, every player wants to think that what they're doing is right. And at the end of the day, if you don't win every game and you don't win MLS Cup, it's not right. So when a spade gets called a spade, some people take it personal. Some people go with it and learn from it. And it's just like, I think it's good for the league. I think it's good for the players. I think it's good for the front office. I think it's good for everything. Just my two cents.
01:13:05
Speaker
My last thought is we don't do anything that we don't think doesn't actually help the player and the team in the long run. I know sometimes players are pissed, but our job is to make you into stars. Right. So we take the Bill Hamid thing when he talked about how he was the best goalkeeper. We played the shit out of that. And ultimately it helped Bill in the end. He made the comment. It was out there. But he was right.
01:13:28
Speaker
But he almost bit, but he backed it up, right? So our goal ultimately is to make players and teams as interesting as possible. For sure. No, I think that's I mean, and I would hope that like you roll with that, like you know, you're going to get criticized when you say the Sounders need to play a fear, right? You know, I don't want to get mad. Honest to God truth is I don't. You don't. It doesn't occur to me. Really? Even when you I think it's blatantly obvious.
01:13:58
Speaker
Do you think that people are scared? Not what the article said, but that's another conversation. OK. No, do you think like, yeah, people legitimately, I get a lot of messages where people think I'm being intentionally incendiary and not not once have I ever done that. And I should say that I don't it's not that I think you're you're trying to be incendiary. It's that you when you write something controversial,
01:14:27
Speaker
Like I've written, I haven't written very many controversial things, but I have been lit up a few times about something like saying Atlanta would not be successful as a major league soccer franchise. You weren't wrong to write it. But did you do your research?
01:14:44
Speaker
There's no research. Exactly. It failed. They tried. I don't even think it was a controversial thing at the time. I, but that said, I having an opinion, a strong opinion, you know, people are going to be upset.
01:14:58
Speaker
Yes, and I just happen to have strong opinions and ways that people don't necessarily agree with. I also think the way we think about this sport is in the rock ages, right? If you think about the way people think about baseball and basketball and football, it's light years ahead of what we do in soccer. And it's also sports and nobody has any clue. How so? You just took the question out of my mouth.
01:15:20
Speaker
How is it light years ahead? How is what? So who are you saying like when you're talking about the people who are light years ahead of talking about baseball and football? Yeah, what are they light years ahead of say what we're doing?
01:15:33
Speaker
I don't know if you're very familiar with what we're doing. Okay, so I guess you're right. I wasn't thinking about the media consumption. I don't pay attention to the media consumption as much as I think just the way teams, clubs, players think about the game. How many set pieces do you guys have? We actually go over a shit load of set pieces. I would argue we go over set pieces too much and then we don't do tactics enough.
01:15:57
Speaker
So how many pressing schemes do you have? Pressing schemes? Ah, one. You have one. Like, how many build out patterns do you have? Quite a bit, actually. Gonzo does that. We probably have. So if our first option doesn't work out, we probably have two or three different options to look for. From the center back, including center. No, from goalkeeper. Start a goalkeeper. Including center mid rotations? Yes. OK. That's farther ahead than most teams are. I know. I spent six years in Houston. So you're talking about in this country.
01:16:26
Speaker
yeah the world right and this is like this isn't if you think about if you read most people who talk about or analyze the game in europe 2 in south america it's a general consensus just like the way baseball thinks about spin rates and on base for all these things well i think sport science and soccer is kind of like becoming more and more relevant and
Evolving Sports Thinking and Analysis
01:16:49
Speaker
like i get what you're saying with
01:16:52
Speaker
So yeah, I just think that we also just don't think about the sport in a car and We stick to the things that we know all same nowadays. Yes. Yeah, I get I get where you're coming from so then somebody comes out and says something that's a little different the conventional wisdom and that person's naturally gonna get bashed and
01:17:13
Speaker
Yeah. Do you think you're that person? I think I'm more. I've always been that person when I was playing. I was that when I was when I was on a team, I'd be like, what the hell are we doing right now? We do the same. The train system doesn't make any sense. So I've been that player since high school, that person. I think I think it's somebody that's been critical of you online. I've I respect you again. Who is this guy? Bobby follows me on Twitter at least. So
01:17:43
Speaker
And to be fair to Bobby, I did call him a loser and my winners and losers call him. So nice because that was your fault, but, uh, I'm sure that was, I think it's good for people to hear from people like you, your explanations for things or like, at least your perspective, where you're coming from. And I like, thanks. Yeah. Sorry.
01:18:08
Speaker
Well, that was, I actually appreciate you taking us behind the curtain on all that. Yeah, no, I thought it was great to hear the voice crack right there. I thought it was great. I think it's good to have guys like you and maybe we can get Doyle or Weeby on here to talk about what their thoughts behind the actual video they send out are. It's fun to get challenged, don't you think?
01:18:35
Speaker
Yeah, I would love to hear what they say about it too. Alright, does Matt set you up to fail?
01:18:44
Speaker
Do you think Matt puts you? No. No? Okay. Matt, very good friend of the show, by the way. So don't worry about it. Sorry, don't, yeah. You'll never hear any of this. Does Matt set me up to fail? Do you feel like Matt leaves you hanging inside? This is just us sitting around a bar. No. I think Matt and I see things differently. Which is good. And no. Do you ever finish an argument with Matt Doyle saying, at least I play.
01:19:11
Speaker
Never would I ever do that. I couldn't tell you how many times just like this year we're doing film that people just like get into arguments so like don't think this is just like a good somebody saying something and oh my god you know what happens in locker room is like
01:19:26
Speaker
People stick up for what they think right and like what state what happens in there stays in there like I'm not even gonna Even so shred make a shred about that So like the fact that guys like like Bobby and stuff are saying stuff and bring it out. It's good. It's good I do too, and I hope and that's what I guess my the point goes on behind the scenes about but I hope Bobby I guess what my point was I hope that Bobby sees that as like it's good for us to be criticizing each other and calling each other out like
01:19:54
Speaker
Whatever, because I think that that is actually like, I think there's usefulness in that. All right. Well, I'm going to start with Wells. We're going to get back to that point. Yeah. Wells Point. What's interesting about being a player to the non player is once you leave the locker room, there is so much less confrontation. I'm saying in the real world, when you enter an office or wherever, like where I am now, or confrontation doesn't happen. So problems linger. Yeah.
01:20:17
Speaker
Right. So and there's just no way to win. So Matt and I can talk about something. And the problem is neither of us can win and we both want to win. And then like maybe some weird and especially in soccer and unless stuff is so random and then something happens and like maybe you put it in your own win column, but it doesn't really count. Yeah. So it's just really weird how you leave a locker room and it's impossible for you. You say your piece either works in the field or it doesn't. You tackle the person you don't go back to what you said, Jeremiah.
01:20:45
Speaker
There's a difference between true confrontation and like Twitter comment section. I don't even get into that. Fair enough. I don't blame you guys.
01:20:58
Speaker
Internet like that's just not real, right? What happens on Twitter Twitter and this isn't at you guys is that everyone what happens on Twitter is brand developing trolling? Yeah, right. It's of course a quote tweet is literally the worst thing that has ever happened on the internet It's why you just reply. I mean, I don't know that's my like I
01:21:20
Speaker
You're right, maybe not literally. That was too far, sorry. Yeah, Twitter is a horrible place. And there's a space to say we can talk about it here, which is not the same thing as calling somebody out on Twitter in a 280 character way. But I'll go back to the film part. It's like, say we're watching film and
01:21:40
Speaker
A midfielder says, I should have moved here. A defender says, no, I can't get you the ball there. You got to move this way. And they're arguing about it. That's when, like, a schmitzer steps in and says, here's, it's black and white. Here's where you need to go. This guy should move this way. That guy needs to move that way. Done. We're done with it. Move on. So there's no, like, lingering people being like, well, you should have done this and, like, baby shit. God, I miss that man. I know. It's like, it's just black and white. And that's what I love. And there's no character limit to the sound or heart comment section. So if you want to make one.
01:22:08
Speaker
Oh, we have one. That's for sure. Maybe we should get rid of it. So if you want to come be a member of our community and weigh out your hashtag ad. No, I'm just trying to decide what you guys do is awesome, though. Well, you guys that's what we're looking for. Yeah. Yeah. I've been fishing for that for 20 minutes. I read it all the time. Yeah. Being on the podcast is enough. It is. Yeah. Yeah. It is, Will. It is. So never enough. Never. That's a perfect transition into.
01:22:39
Speaker
Ask dear will brewing we're gonna do this you want to do this bit. Let me get a beer for this Okay, so we're gonna take a break. We'll come back and we'll do will dear will brewing and that's gonna be the rest of the show All right. Bye Welcome back to the
01:23:03
Speaker
Sounder, our triple cast, and we got Mike Chibola, special guest, Will Bruin. I requested him, you know, I wanted to be my guest on. What a guy. Now he's recording me right now, but I'm trying to have some questions. Yeah. Chewie, what's going on? How are we doing, everybody?
01:23:21
Speaker
How you doing? Let's go. I can say that, right? Yeah, you do again in Seattle. What's going on with you? Long time. No, see, I'm happy to be back in the Northwest. You know, I mean, former UW guy. I mean, it's nice to be back in Seattle. You want to finish the former? Anything else? Former Houston Dynamo two time Major League Soccer champion. I mean, Portland Timber. Not by choice. Not by choice.
01:23:49
Speaker
DC United, but yeah, 10 years in the league and happy to be done to get to enjoy retirement. This will be my 10th year next year. Yeah, that's congratulations. I'll see if I make it. You know, I always say, man, it's looking back at the career, you know, it's easy to get to the top,
Sphere Fitness Concept and Community Building
01:24:05
Speaker
man. It's hard to stay there. So to all the guys that have been putting in work and still able to be part of the game, I my hats off to everyone for sure.
01:24:13
Speaker
Tell me about this spear spear fit you got going on here. Yeah So I finished playing four years ago. Yeah that contract like most players you don't get that Very telling I wonder what you're gonna do players. Yeah, and it was a very
01:24:29
Speaker
Arduous transition for me and I think as everybody knows, you know major league soccer is growing and contracts are growing Popularities growing but we're still not the NFL. We're still at the NBA. We're still on MLB So when I finished I was still looking for a contract I was still trying to train the same shape and I started going to spin classes I was going to you know, these like hybrid like boot camp classes like berries boot camp crossfits yogas and I realized it was like
01:24:58
Speaker
Man, all these concepts are great, but it doesn't come close to what soccer fitness is. And then at the same time, I was also looking for connection. I was looking for a relationship. I was looking for the teammates that I missed in the locker room. And all I noticed was everybody connected on their phone, not actually each other. I think as a professional soccer player, former one,
01:25:19
Speaker
One of the greatest things about playing professionally is not on the field. It's off the field. It's the community. It's a locker room. And what I feel like most people are missing today is human connection. So I created Sphere about four years ago to actually reconnect the locker room for not only players on the field, but players off.
01:25:37
Speaker
and to create a soccer-inspired fitness concept for the world to enjoy and to actually stay connected off our devices and on the field. So some unique workouts, and more importantly, just an awesome way to keep our world connected. Now, I don't know if I'm getting older or whatever, but I hear you. I think we got a 16-year-old in our locker room and he's just always on his phone. Yeah. So everybody's always on their phone. You can't even implement the
01:26:04
Speaker
Fine if you're on your phone rule these days, I don't think that's a thing I mean when I mean I remember Dominic and Houston You couldn't even be on your phone. He walked in the locker room. Yeah, Brian Ching that was like, you know Kicking you if you yeah, it was now it's like people are on there at least in my experience now people are
01:26:21
Speaker
on their phones, on the treatment table, in the tubs, it's like you can't get it off of them. But I'm not born for it because I think that's the growth of where we are as a civilization, as a club, as an entity, a growth of the sport.
01:26:37
Speaker
But I would also say on the other side of that, when you really look at what's most important, and that's the relationships amongst the players in the locker rooms, I built my business off of the 2006 and 2007 Houston Dynamo team.
01:26:55
Speaker
And I have no MBA. I mean I graduated from the University of Washington with an economics degree and I'm not successful yet, but I will say that I'm still in business after five years and thriving. You're doing something right. Only because of the dynamic of what I learned of working amongst other players that actually
01:27:14
Speaker
not only like saw each other, but like respected each other and actually built relationships with each other. You can't do that on your device. You can't do that on mobile webs and you can't find. I mean, yeah, like people go to Tinder and Bumble for business or relationships. They go to LinkedIn to connect. There's nothing like shaking somebody's hand and looking in the eye and having a beer or taking a girl out on a date and like looking her in the eye. I mean, you can't skip that pass. Like that's something that is so important. And so even as our as our
01:27:46
Speaker
Our business evolves like as a sport evolves of soccer Yeah, the one thing that needs to say super important is the integrity of the locker room and making sure that every club Continues to maintain their relationships that are so important intrinsic to actually create a successful team and I will say that for the Sounders I'm on that locker room But you are and probably can attest to the dynamic of that group and for what smetchers created. Yeah, I
01:28:09
Speaker
I think that's important of any successful team. You'll go back to the locker room before you talk about the field. Since I've been here, it's going to be my second MLS Cup in three years. And Schmitzer has been head coach. It's going to be his third MLS Cup in three and a half years, I'll give him. But it's just like it's crazy. You were with Ziggy, right? I was not. I came 17 after Schmitzer took over.
01:28:32
Speaker
But my thing is, you know, he took over that team and like things change, but I would be curious as to like that dynamic of what changed, right? Like what was the difference between that group and another group between one coach to another and what's the dynamic of that organization?
01:28:50
Speaker
Because it's not like there's much a new players that change. There's a mentality or there's something that shifted. And sometimes change provokes growth too, right? So even having a new coach come in, sometimes it brings people closer together. Some players that didn't have a voice, action opportunity to actually play, right? Everybody's starting from scratch. Like, I mean, look at the guy, man. He's a fricking dynamite. But I'm saying you need to answer since Papa. So exactly.
01:29:15
Speaker
So anyways, let's do it, though. But sphere soccer is part of fitness. But my main mission as a player was always to create a cyst for players like you to score. Never wanted to score myself. Lucky I found you wanted to score. Yeah, but I wasn't good enough to do that. But I knew my position. Yeah. And I know your role. The best thing that I've been able to find and I and any any player listening, I hope and wish that they find what they're truly good at. Yeah. And then just focus on that.
01:29:45
Speaker
And that's truly, for me, is creating assists for other people and connection. And that's what I truly enjoy as a human being. And what I was able to do as a player on the field has helped me to create a future off. And being able to find that part of what I enjoyed and what created so many opportunities, a scholarship, playing professionally, and now actually to be able to keep the ball rolling and help other players, players' people that have never been able to do what you get to do for a living will.
01:30:14
Speaker
Let's be able to feel the connection and to be able to bring people together I think that's that's truly my My journey here on this earth and what I'm supposed to be doing and to help other people to be able to feel that experience Awesome. Thank you. Thanks for coming home. I go I'm excited for this game. It was there once what's your scoreline? Well, I mean, I know you're biased. I'm gonna say 2-0
01:30:35
Speaker
Why unders why because I think we're gonna get on them and it's gonna be late It's gonna be about 70 80th minute.
Strategic Concerns for Upcoming MLS Cup
01:30:41
Speaker
It's me one nothing We're gonna get our second cuz they're gonna be pushing and get tell me the one thing that you're most worried about though in this game Honestly worried about yeah, um, there's a concern like if there's an area that you're saying to your team Like hey, we got to worry about this one thing. I think what is it?
01:30:54
Speaker
us getting mold to sleep going forward, that they might be able to get on the back, but not even like on a counter attack. Just like if we give the ball away in possession cheaply in the middle third, that they might be able to get us quick. I like it. Cool. Proud of you. Chewy. Love you. Love you, brother. Good to see you. Thanks for coming on. And then. All right. Welcome back to the center of our triplecast.
01:31:20
Speaker
Bear with us. No sardietes. Center our broadcast. We're gonna close this out with our favorite segment. Actually I got two segments. The first segment is we pitch a segment to Will Bruin. Oh yeah. Oh god. So here's the segment idea.
01:31:37
Speaker
it's
01:31:56
Speaker
kick rocks or take penalties. I thought this was like a facial expression thing. And wait, you're going to tell us, the way you're going to tell us is by making a face. And I'm going to describe the facial thing that you're making. That's the whole bit. You don't tell us stuff. Wait, I know humor, Jeremy. So what do you think? Is this a good segment or a bad segment? Are we going to do the segment? Well, do the segment. I'm not necessarily going to say it's a good segment, but we'll do it.
01:32:24
Speaker
Unprecedented stuff. I'll say it's a shit segment, but we'll give it... Okay, fair enough. It might be two seconds, but... That's, okay, okay. I'll give you a couple names. I don't know. I don't think they're right. We're gonna start with the first name. Will Bruin. Kick Rocks or Pendley Kicks? I thought I was giving you facial expressions. Yeah, so what's giving you facial expressions?
01:32:45
Speaker
He's- Wow. Ah. Wow. That doesn't seem very- I'm gonna say that's a kick rocks. He's making a very funny face. He doesn't look like he's into it. Yeah, well you saw what happened last year. I know. Yeah. Alright. Did you miss last year? Did you miss last year? Alright, how about this one? Hit the damn post. Oh, okay. How about this one? Brad Evans.
01:33:08
Speaker
Yeah, it sounds like that's a penalty kick. He's not here. He's not here. You can make noises. He's given a yes. I'll take him. How about Bobby Warshaw? Oh, that is a disgusting piece. That is a disgusting piece. I'd say it's kick rocks. Last one, we're going to go Taylor Twalman. So it sounds like Taylor is in your penalty kick shootout. That's it. That's the whole segment? That's the whole segment. OK. Great. Easy enough.
01:33:37
Speaker
All right, so we're gonna do a final couple advice We love your advice. We've got a bunch of people sending them in lick it take it away What are the best pieces of advice like it making a guest appearance? Yeah. Yeah, it's cool Steve at home ass going to propose to my girlfriend this weekend when heading to Bainbridge any ideas on how to do it and
01:34:01
Speaker
So like this is heading to Bainbridge and you don't propose like are you going to propose on the ferry or are you going to propose? He's asking when you, you know, he's asking when. Oh, how? I think, you know, I think when you get to Bainbridge, I think if you do it prematurely on the ferry, it's a little much. But then I also think.
01:34:22
Speaker
you can also do on the way back because then she could think like oh but here's the double-edged sword she can also be like I'm tired like yeah it's all over but yeah because you want to celebrate it so I think you do when you get there yeah okay so I got a good story about this real quick I proposed my wife by putting the ring on top of the Christmas tree that we had and yada yada yada
01:34:45
Speaker
It was really late. And I was like, you got to look at the cops. I put a put a star. She's like, it's really late. I really don't want to look. So yeah, don't wait too late. How did you propose, Will? Me? Yeah.
01:34:58
Speaker
Can we ask this? Yeah, it was in Houston It was a rainy day and I had her parents come in town and everything and We were supposed to go to the park and she was like why the hell we going to park on a rainy day I'm like go into the damn park. Everybody shut your mouth and her mom was like, yeah, we're going to the park and
01:35:20
Speaker
And if you know her, she's very self-spoken. But we went to the park, just like took our dog around and she had her poncho on. She's like, seriously, why are we here? I was like, all right, let's just do it. So I asked her, I had a photographer there and everything. The photographer like hiding? The main reason why I'm like, we're going to the park.
01:35:39
Speaker
It's costing money. Yeah, exactly. And she was, I mean, it was, to me, it was like so much work for, we've been together for like five or six years before that. So like, I don't want to say I knew she was going to say yes, but I knew she was going to say yes. So it was like a lot of work for that, but it was good. This is the most romantic thing I've ever heard. So romantic. Yeah, so romantic.
01:36:00
Speaker
Okay, next question. My cousin Tim is from St. Louis and growing up he pronounced Nike's as bikes or hikes. Do you do this like it was a regional thing? Should I make?
01:36:14
Speaker
funded for him for life, or should I give him a pass? What's wrong with this guy? All right, next question. Nike. Adam P. asks, not really a problem. He's not from St. Louis. Anyways, go on, Nike. Next question. But as he is a son of the Midwest, I'm curious of his hot take on mayonnaise. Is it good? When is it acceptable to put on question mark? His take on milk was so profound, figure mayo will be just as good.
01:36:45
Speaker
Why is everybody making Midwesterners sound so weird? Like you just put mayonnaise on like a ham sandwich or whatever the hell you want like
01:36:54
Speaker
That's it, nothing else. I actually, when I lived in Houston, I had, I went in with somebody who put mayonnaise on their fries, and I thought that was weird as shit. That's like a French thing, right? Here we go, that's like what Jeremiah's like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, French, well, it's meager, isn't it? It's weird. I actually kind of liked it, but it's not something I do. Hasn't it on your ham sandwich or turkey sandwich? There you go, okay. Rick Sportsfeed asks, how early is it too early to begin drinking for Emerald's Cup? Probably 10 AM on a Friday?
01:37:24
Speaker
day that was this morning yeah like should have started Wednesday what are you talking yeah yeah Rick god damn it he's your shit together
01:37:35
Speaker
Okay, next question. Come here. This happens once in a lifetime at home. Justin asks, I'm at the tall end of the kitchen remodel. Should the backsplash come up six inches or 12 inches from the countertops? I think that says eight inches or 12 inches. Well, yeah, sure. Eight inches or 12 inches. I actually can relate to this question because I saw a response that I thought was very funny.
01:38:00
Speaker
Are you a monster? Why would you put eight inches, like 12 inches? It has to be at least 12 inches. Yeah. How are you crazy? Justin, come on. It's amazing to me how many black spashes are like four inches. It's crazy. Justin, three-figure question. Jeremiah's house has a bunch of four-inch splash. Yeah. Before I remodel, don't be like Jeremiah is the answer. Hashtag, don't be like Jeremiah. OK. Garrett asks, destination wedding or local?
01:38:27
Speaker
So I had a local wedding, me and my wife, and my brother had a destination wedding. I wasn't able to make the destination wedding because there was in Tofino when we lived in Houston. So obviously you can see I saw this question before. But good. My advice is local.
Personal Anecdotes and Local Weddings
01:38:51
Speaker
Unless you know what will to show if you want. Unless you like really want to make it difficult for your guests to get there. Or like less. Huh? We want to. Yeah. Alright, last question with this segment. Dominic, what's the best parenting advice you received but thought was bogus at the time?
01:39:15
Speaker
We haven't had a lot of parenting advice now. It's like, so like, whatever I thought was bogus was like, oh yeah, just make sure you're sleeping now. I'm like, you know, okay. I was going to say something about sleeping was it going to be, I'll sleep whenever I want to sleep and I'm the man. And then now we have the baby. It's like, Oh, sir, are you lying? I'll sleep whenever you want to sleep. So we got one more. That's it. All right. Well, before we close out, Eric Freeberg is here.
01:39:43
Speaker
shit hi guys hey hey it's in spanish good to be here yeah it was great to have you i miss you guys we miss you a lot i don't know about that no we do you are
01:40:07
Speaker
And then you are constantly spoken of, especially in the Sounder at Heart community. You have a special place in our heart, Eric. He's a legend. He's a legend. I appreciate that. You're saying to you guys, Eric, you are still the pin tweet on Lickit's Twitter timeline. I love that so much. And Lickit has a lot of tweets.
01:40:31
Speaker
What makes Eric like so mystical no, what is it? Yeah, we're friends I think there's like this it's like I think he came into this he came to us with like seemingly wide eyes
01:40:47
Speaker
Like very interested in taking it all in. And I think it was kind of endearing that his English, like I think we assume Swedes are going to speak like great English.
Eric Friberg's Sounders Memories and Predictions
01:41:01
Speaker
His English was not great when he first came here. He understood it all. But I think that made him, like Adam Johansson came and it was like he was... Textbook. Textbooking. Professor. Yeah.
01:41:11
Speaker
Eric, not so much, but I think he wanted to learn, and he seemed to be wanting to immerse himself in American culture. And then there was the Taco Tweet. Yeah, the Taco Tweet really took it to a different level. That's really what it was, the Taco Tweet. Wait, was that Lincoln? That's his affinity with Spanish, that's where it came from. No, no, I think I still see that. That was Radler, probably. No, you guys didn't make that Tweet. Eric, what's your favorite memory playing with the Sounders? Yeah, really well. Favorite memory playing with the Sounders?
01:41:41
Speaker
I mentioned your number 10 performance in 2016. I heard it was impeccable. That was amazing. There's only one number 10 on the field. Yeah, yeah. They had like a guy, a small guy, Toronto. Nobody knows the name of him. Yeah, he's forgotten that he was in the top 40 and he should be pretty good. Didn't live up to, couldn't handle the person. I don't remember. It's like,
01:42:05
Speaker
Say, of course, when we won that, but the U.S. Open Cup, that's 2011, but I was at home, right? Home, yep. Chicago Fire. Electric jerseys. Yeah, when Aussie scored the last second goal, yeah. That was, the stadium was really loud that game. That was pretty sick.
01:42:30
Speaker
What's crazy about that, there was 35,000 or so in the stadium, and it was as loud as I'd ever heard. What it's gonna be, like, there's every potential for it to be that same energy, but with twice as many people on Sunday. I think it's gonna be insane. Sunday's gonna be awesome. I think Jordan's gonna score one series over time. Jordan Morris. Oh, I thought you said Jordan.
01:42:55
Speaker
He said, how do you spell Jordon? Y-O-O-R-D-Y-N. Jordon. So you guys can relax. We're going to win. Yeah, I like that. I like that. Of course. I mean, when you look at this from a, you're coming from the outside, you obviously haven't been in the locker room. Does it feel like a, does it feel like to you, does it feel like an inevitability?
01:43:23
Speaker
You're going to have to define inevitability. Can you see this happening any other way? What could go wrong? What could go wrong? I mean, Toronto is a good team. So of course, it's going to be a tight match. And I say one series in overtime. So it means if they score in overtime, it's going to be an exception. No, but at home,
01:43:52
Speaker
I cannot see some lose this game. We've talked a lot about on this trip. Eric's been so impressed with Schmetzer's coaching and his tactical ability. Especially going back to Sweden, you know, the coaches that he's had there. So I just want to hear his opinion of how Schmetzer's gotten the team here. He's awesome. I mean, three, three finals in four years. It's amazing. Anybody in Sweden do that?
01:44:17
Speaker
No, we don't have any finals. We have like a normal league. Yeah, you have a normal soccer league. So Brian would have won the normal soccer league three or four years. I mean, probably. I mean, that's a supportive shield basically, right? Yeah, same thing.
01:44:35
Speaker
Redempted. When you think of Brian, what was some of the big changes? How did the team change when he started coaching? I don't really know. When he took over, it was like a new start. We were probably last in
01:45:00
Speaker
Last in the standings then and then we bring in Nikko and a couple of other guys and yeah, we start winning and then we have like a good confidence for the playoffs and then just right on that. But he is a good coach. Great, yeah.
01:45:21
Speaker
Awesome. What's your favorite thing about America? You. Excuse me? Set them up for that one. That's perfect. Well, that's all right. Well, that's that's probably a good play. You got anything else for him, Brad? No, I don't. I don't. I've been talking to him for 72 hours. Eric, thank you for doing this. Thank you, guys. Thanks to Brad Evans, Jimmy Conrad, Taylor Twelman, Bobby Warshaw, Mike Chibola,
01:45:52
Speaker
Eric Freiburg. This is quite a powerback. A panel. A panel. It was an insane panel. Quite the panel. All you have to do is go to MLS Cup at home and you get a cool panel. I know. This is like the most epic panel we've ever had. All you do is just host a... Host an MLS Cup. That's all we gotta do. We'll run it back next year. What? Apparently this is me and my podcast in a year. No, it's still your podcast. What are you talking about?
01:46:21
Speaker
Will loves it. Yeah, I guess. Yeah. That's my favorite podcast. It's gonna be Jeremiah and Mark.
01:46:35
Speaker
Don't do that to us. Well, don't do that to us. Don't be mad. Silence. Don't be mad. Don't be mad. Who's talking? All right. So anyway, thanks for listening. No Saudi at the center of our podcast. Bear with us. We'll ruin the kit. Sign us off. Will longest podcast ever. But thanks for listening. If you made it this far, then you are a saint. Yes. Goodbye. Thank you.
01:47:22
Speaker
Once again, it can't just be the start of something else.