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Dan from 'The Loony Bin' Shares His MNUFC Thoughts, and How His Podcast Came to Be
63 Plays4 days ago
We have a very special episode for you all this week on this international break! Dan from 'The Loony Bin' podcast is on to share his experience starting a podcast with his friend Matt, and how they built it from nothing to regularly interviewing players and coaches just two years in!
Please go and subscribe to The Loony Bin! They've been great stewards to our show, and if you haven't listened already, their show is the perfect mix of informational and fun. Are you a Loon or a Loonlet?
You can follow our show on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/looncalling.bsky.social
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Transcript
Introduction to Dan and Podcasting Niche
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to Loony Calling, podcast dedicated to Minnesota United Football Club. My name is Ari, and I'm here with a very special guest today. We have Dan from the Loony Bin. How are you doing this evening? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, Ari. Excited to have a conversation with another Minnesota United podcaster.
00:00:42
Speaker
Yeah, this should be a very interesting conversation because I don't think I've ever listened to a podcast that is another podcaster interviewing another podcaster, especially within the same space as something as niche as Minnesota United. So ah this isn't on the rundown, but have you ever been interviewed before? Is this your first experience with that?
00:01:07
Speaker
i mean, I've joined a few other podcasts. We've done the Austin Away podcast. We did one with the Houston Dynamo podcast i hadn't heard for a while. And then When we were able to be on the SoccerWise podcast, like for 20 minutes with David. That was very cool.
00:01:25
Speaker
It's like, well, David Goss is talking to me. But that's basically it never truly interviewed. Those are just little conversations about MLS and all this weird stuff we spend way too much time thinking about.
00:01:39
Speaker
Way too much time indeed. So much time, in fact, that I decided to to make my ramblings an actual show. And yeah, I'm sure you can relate to that. But before we get to how you got into podcasting, how you decided to make a show about a team that presumably you love so much, I want to start from the beginning of your soccer story, where and like how you actually got into
Dan's Soccer Journey and Minnesota United Fandom
00:02:07
Speaker
the sports. So can you Give me a little bit of an idea of how you actually got into soccer in the first place.
00:02:14
Speaker
Yeah, I was the kid playing soccer, playing baseball until you had to pick the sport. I chose soccer, played high school soccer relatively competitively in the Twin Cities area, you know, three years. And then that was like my peak of my like career, played some co-ed stuff in in college. And then I ended up like starting a co-ed team in Minneapolis Park and Rec and had that for 10 years as like the manager of a team constantly trying to find subs when people were were not able to make it.
00:02:49
Speaker
And I was a fan of soccer through and through. I didn't have a team other than whatever Minnesota professional team existed at any given time. And um just ended up sort of, you know, falling for Minnesota United as it continued to grow. But like, yeah, for me, it was it was playing and then just being around the game a bunch as a kid.
00:03:17
Speaker
That really sort of connected me to the sport. So what got you into Minnesota United specifically? You said you were following whatever, like, I presume men's team was at the highest level in Minnesota. Were you following the highest, you know, level of men's professional soccer before Minnesota United became Minnesota United? Or was your entry point when they joined um MLS? Yeah.
00:03:45
Speaker
I would say, you know, as just a Minnesota soccer fan, I would go to games in Blaine from time to time, but I didn't follow the team. I didn't know the players. i wasn't entrenched in the fan culture from a very, very early age.
00:04:01
Speaker
But i just, I do have memories of being on the field halftime. I don't even remember how old I was just like letting, they were letting kids just come on the field and juggle at halftime of the game. So I have Blaine memories When Minnesota United was announced as an upcoming MLS club, I got much more focused on the team, sort of that coming together of like a general soccer fandom that I had. i was a Minnesota sports fan, right? I followed all of Minnesota sports. And now I was able to put a lot of that focus into one team. I've sort of said goodbye to Minnesota twins fandom in any sort of detailed way. Timberwolves, Vikings, I'm a casual Minnesota sports fan now, but i I've taken a lot of that youthful sports fandom that I had and I put it all into the one team now as Minnesota United has sort of become obviously a team that I spend a lot of time following and and enjoying watching.
Impact of Allianz Field on Minnesota United
00:05:02
Speaker
So as you have that sort of youthful energy about the team, as you started dedicating more and more time to, you know, putting a bunch of energy into going to matches to actually, i do want to, I do want to ask you,
00:05:22
Speaker
how What was your reaction when you saw how nice of a stadium they were planning to build? like i So I didn't get into the team until 2023, think it was. I think it was, believe it or not, my first match was a League's Cup match.
00:05:41
Speaker
That was my My entry point into the Loons was the League's Cup, which is the tournament that is the most memed on, ah you know, yeah ah across a fans of MLS. But so I don't know if the stadium was a part of the pitch to fans when they first came into MLS. Do you remember that sort of process of like how the stadium was introduced and when it was like unveiled like what was your reaction to a stadium like Allianz like coming to a market that had not previously seen high level professional soccer since the kicks
00:06:21
Speaker
Yeah, it felt like the team was doing that part of it correctly as they built their MLS team. They didn't do lots of other parts of club building correctly in the early years. But I think the stadium was a bit of a carrot, I think, to fans who were getting into the team in the early years and being told that there's a three-year plan and you're, you know, the the third year of that three-year plan is the first year in Allianz, right? So they, they were doing that part, right? You know, when Allianz was announced as a sponsor, it sort of put us in a context with Bayern and Juventus and other big Allianz stadiums that made the team feel connected and grounded and durable, right? It felt like this stadium is going to be here providing professional soccer for this community for a long time. Um,
00:07:19
Speaker
I don't think it papered over well enough those early few years and the lack of planning that went into the early years, but it was not hard to get excited about Allianz Field being under construction.
00:07:35
Speaker
And I think that's what drew a lot of fans to TCF is you just knew they were going to do so do the fan experience, the game day experience at what is, I think, still a pretty high level.
Birth of the Loony Bin Podcast
00:07:46
Speaker
So as that excitement grows to get into Minnesota United and as that, as you mentioned before, that sort of youthful energy about the club and participation in the club, as that grows, how does the idea of doing a podcast about the team come about?
00:08:03
Speaker
Like, especially the concept of of the podcast being centered around you explaining soccer to Matt as Matt is... you know, very new to soccer. I think I remember I, i started listening from the first episode and it seemed like Matt was starting from pretty much ground level in terms of his knowledge. So how did you talk him into that concept as well? And is Matt slowly becoming a fan himself or is he just kind of along the along for the ride in the podcast? Yeah.
00:08:39
Speaker
I think the first thing is Matt would like to send his regards. He wishes he could be here. I think his his first work day at his new job has wiped him out.
00:08:52
Speaker
Congrats on the new job to Matt. There were a few. seeds that were planted along the way that led to the loony bin becoming an actual loons podcast. I think the first one was actually just having a neighbor producer, Jim, who literally had high quality audio equipment and time and a willingness to have Matt and I come in once a week and just sit in his office and talk about Minnesota United that like that was the first seed that was planted.
00:09:24
Speaker
And then I started to get to know Matt, you know, a new friend. i went out, you know, met him when I 39 or 40 or something, you know, with Minnesotans, we struggle with making new friends, but I had moved to a new community and he was yeah we clicked and so i find myself like i was tonight you know watching louisville city in the usl championship or in the open cup because baba carney ang plays on their team and i want to see how he's developing as a player like i got like i've got a sickness i'm constantly
00:10:01
Speaker
in the off season, like Tyler on Reddit, just finding all of the the highlights of the, even the possible Minnesota United
Podcast Dynamics and Evolution
00:10:11
Speaker
players that were coming in. I didn't have an outlet for this sort of the the disease that is picking a soccer team and wanting to know everything about them and everything about all of their players.
00:10:25
Speaker
And I almost brought it up to Matt as a joke. His dad was in the background wondering why we wanted to start an ornithology podcast and he figured it out that it was about soccer and not about that and he was just as confused because matt didn't know anything about birds and he also doesn't know anything about soccer we we did it matt's funny i i bring
00:10:57
Speaker
a lot of soccer stuff to him and it just seemed to work and we have a good time doing it so it never stopped um matt is a loons fan he is a soccer He's a sports fan. He's a soccer fan. But he when we go to games, he's just on the edge of his seat when the game is tight, as I am through and through at this point for him.
00:11:21
Speaker
Amazing. I mean, I think that energy certainly comes through on the podcast, that you guys have a very good time making it. and That was apparent even from the beginning, and I think that was a part of the appeal for the podcast, is that...
00:11:38
Speaker
You guys were just having fun. You did have the element of producer Jim in the beginning that kind of like, I'm a big fan in podcasts. I don't know if you listen to a lot of podcasts, but I'm a pretty big fan in podcasts when the production staff are involved in the podcast too, if they call upon a producer to sort of comment. So you also had that sort of third element as well.
00:12:02
Speaker
Um, I know Matt isn't here, but I had a follow up question that had and I, you know, obviously don't answer for him if you don't if you don't know the answer. But like, do you remember his reaction when you brought it up to him? Like when you maybe half jokingly brought up the fact that you might want to do a podcast? Like what was his like reaction to that?
00:12:25
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it was it was over the phone. He he said, Sure, I'll try anything once. I mean, I think that's basically where he was at with it. i You didn't have to convince him to hang out, right? Like, he's a social he's a social guy. So you almost could, like, invite him over and then not even tell him you hit record and just put the microphone in front of him. So I think...
00:12:53
Speaker
You know, as long as he doesn't have to do a lot of work on the podcast, he just sort of has to show up and be himself. It really works because a I spend time thinking about how it's going to flow and what segment we should do and this. And he just is like, sounds good. Let's go for it.
00:13:14
Speaker
And so i think he's just game. Yeah. And he's been really helpful in a lot of other ways too, because he's now the producer. We're not over with, with Jim anymore. Jim moved out of the neighborhood.
00:13:27
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, I couldn't do it without Matt. and And I would say about bringing in a partner in a podcast about soccer that, that doesn't know anything about soccer, it sort of lowers the bar, right? Like we're just, we're having fun. We're trying to be an entertainment show more than like,
00:13:46
Speaker
super tactical. So I think it it lowers the threshold of like what I really need to know about. We just get together and talk about Minnesota United. Yeah. I mean,
00:13:58
Speaker
It sets you apart as well from other podcasts like me at our show here at at the loon calling is just kind of a bunch of nerds coming together and like yapping about the team in a structured way. Like we have a structured rundown. Like ah we all do work ahead of time to take notes and to try to know what we're talking about. But at the end of the day,
00:14:22
Speaker
it can become a little bit hard to parse if you aren't, you know, keeping up with every Reddit post, like you said before, every Reddit post from Tyler, who's doing the work, like actual like research on players and finding highlight packages and cutting them together. And like all this stuff that, that like real soccer nerds, and fans are putting together. You also need a show that can be like the point that new fans can come in and like appreciate stuff about the team. But also for me now, like my relationship with soccer has changed over the course of your run because you started the podcast in February of 2024.
Balancing Podcasting with Life
00:15:09
Speaker
And listened to that first episode and I had way less soccer knowledge then than I do now. I don't have a ton of knowledge at this point. Like I'm not an expert, obviously, but it's also a podcast that stays just as enjoyable. If you do progress from being a loonlet to gaining feather by feather toward being
00:15:30
Speaker
a fully grown loon. So I think you have the benefit of that too. And speaking of like a change of process, has the process for making the podcast like changed since you started like two years ago? And, and in that process, how to, how do you and Matt like delineate responsibilities?
00:15:49
Speaker
The things that have changed for the podcast for the most part are ways that I've found to be more efficient in how we go about getting to a produced podcast because We both have full time jobs. We both have families.
00:16:05
Speaker
um It's really been about sort of staying organized. Like when we hit publish on one episode, i create the rundown for the next episode so that like when something comes to my mind, I can just add the note quickly and it just builds sort of throughout the week.
00:16:25
Speaker
And we get to that we get to that end of the week and whatever's there from all those little trickle down moments that I find time to work on it, we're able to do it. And so I think i think it's been more about being efficient than about changing anything. matts Matt does his chaos corner and he does bring a few like real or unreal about the city that we're traveling to or that's coming to town, all those things.
00:16:56
Speaker
Those are like his his sort of contributions. And then he is, you know, he's this the the one who brings the quips sort of to fill in the cracks. But it hasn't changed.
00:17:10
Speaker
The amount of like the split between who does the work hasn't changed throughout the podcast. I've found ways of just getting a new episode sort of organized without it sort of eating up too much of my time, which is just a necessary thing to keep it going.
00:17:30
Speaker
And as you know, as you go about the process of making the podcast, how do you actually juggle like making the podcast with the other responsibilities that you have in your life? Do you have like a set schedule? Do you like how much are you communicating with people around you to make it happen? Because I am in we are only five episodes deep in this show, and I'm still like finding the balance of like how I communicate to other people that I have a silly little project that also may could turn into something else in the future. So how do you personally and, you know, how does Matt as well, like find that balance to make the show happen?
00:18:17
Speaker
for us For us, it's been about consistency. um And really, because our partners and our families have been like open and willing to like giving us this time that we need to to put it together, we we record on Sunday evenings. It's like the close of our weekend.
00:18:38
Speaker
it's If we have to deviate, it's pretty rare, but like our partners just give us Sunday nights. And so... The Loons games are whether we play on a Sunday and it's an instant reaction episode or we play on a Saturday and I have more time to sort of digest the game that was just changes the way the episode flows.
00:19:00
Speaker
And by keeping it consistent, and sort of set setting those expectations and having sort of the partners there to support us. Like we just keep it super regular. That's what gets it done. That's what was hard when we were producing over at Jim's house is a third schedule to coordinate and the the the Venn diagram didn't align as
00:19:27
Speaker
So That's been, i think, the big thing for us. And it's the reason that we've been able to keep keep it up throughout this whole time. How long does it take you to edit the show then? Because you it seems like you're pushing the episodes out the same evening moa it most of the time. And I usually head into work fairly early. It's usually out by the time I'm going to work Monday morning. So how long does it take you to edit?
00:19:54
Speaker
So here's the little secret, the dirty little secret. we We don't edit. Our episodes. Really? we run them. So our cold open through the intro all the way to the end is ah is one run.
00:20:10
Speaker
If we, we will pull out something if you know, Matt hits the wrong button when going into As I'm Aging or something like that. We'll go through and cut that out. But he he has a few sort of quick and easy audio cleanup tricks that he has that He uses, and then we're done that same night. It's actually out.
00:20:35
Speaker
It's usually out pretty late on a Sunday night before our heads hit the pillows. Wow. Wow. ah that So you're basically just doing a radio show. that I mean, that's a testament to...
00:20:50
Speaker
I thought the show was way more edited because our show is, i don't cut a lot of stuff out, but I tend to like, I like to make it tight and and edited and have everything flow together. And maybe I need to get over that.
00:21:06
Speaker
As an editor, because i come from a video editing background, especially like a YouTube background. And maybe that's just the YouTube in me of like, you need to cut out every second that is not spent making a point.
00:21:22
Speaker
Um, So it tends to take me about an hour to to edit our podcast, but I am going through and listening and cutting out unnecessary spaces and and making it as tight as possible. And I think it does reflect in the final product, but ah the way y'all do it, I'm very impressed that...
00:21:44
Speaker
It's basically just one. It's just one big recording. Did you have to like, did you do any practice run throughs or anything like that before you like push the first episode out officially? Or were you just really just like getting on the train and just figuring it out as you went?
00:22:03
Speaker
Yeah. Episode one the pilot. Jim did edit that one. we were all over We were all over the place during the pilot, and he played us at 1.5x speed without you having to play us at 1.5x speed because we were we were dragging that. Like our first episode, he he polished it up.
00:22:25
Speaker
Then we ah started to understand, like Jim wasn't going to be able to put in a lot of audio editing time into this thing. We kept, as we built it, figuring out how he could add the intro music to a button on his panel, how I could get the sounders on my phone. And we just kept building little bits of it that made it so we could be more, have a flow, a predictable flow throughout the whole thing. and we would sort of like quality control ourselves as we like listen to our own podcast like okay i need to ask matt more questions and then stop talking and so i start to get things over to him that lets me get prepared to get to the next topic and we've just because it's just us hanging out and we only have the two people it can just go back and forth but
00:23:20
Speaker
Yeah, we just sort of, it was a byproduct of the fact that we didn't, Matt and I didn't have editing skills. And Jim, like I wanted to get the podcast out, but I'd be texting Jim Monday, Tuesday, early on in our podcasting sort of season one.
00:23:37
Speaker
I'd be like, is it ready yet? Is it ready yet? I want to get it out. So we... My project manager tendencies just sort of was like, no, we need to get this out earlier in the week. It needs to be out by Monday.
00:23:50
Speaker
So how can we get that to happen? And Jim's like, well, if we do this and we do this, then I don't need to do any editing. And I'm like, that sounds good. so the So that's what we just created the scenario that fit our lives, which ended up, I guess, being more of a a radio show than a podcast.
00:24:08
Speaker
Almost every episode is a straight run for us.
Access to Soccer Insiders
00:24:12
Speaker
Did you ever think the podcast would lead to official press credentials and getting access to players and coaches? Like when you started the podcast two years ago, did you think that like...
00:24:25
Speaker
you were going to get access to cam Knowles and be like one of the first people to interview him like, or did you think it was just going to be more of a, of a, of a fan sort of disconnected kind of show.
00:24:41
Speaker
And with those interviews, is it the team that reaches out to get those interviews or do you organize them yourself? Like, do you have a point of contact within the team that makes that happen? To the first question we'd,
00:24:55
Speaker
We didn't know what we really wanted to do with it sort of year over year. I think year one was sort of a see if we even enjoy doing this and if we're going to do it another year and then once we decided to sort of keep going we just sort of kept at pushing the boundary a little bit further and we we'd get john martholler to come on and he would say sure and you just kept getting yeses right and then kendra d st aub and cal williams like year one just like
00:25:28
Speaker
seeing who will say yes. And I really haven't gotten a no from anyone. And I think most people sort of see other media members or other podcasters in like these smaller markets and they want to grow soccer also.
00:25:42
Speaker
And they also have their own brand that they're working on individually. And so you you start getting yeses and eventually you're like okay let's see what the team would say if i asked to interview michael boxall and you i had just had maybe jeff reuter on and jeff reuter answers my text when i say how would you get an interview with michael boxall and he says why don't you just write the communications guy eric durkey with the team with a question and i'm like
00:26:17
Speaker
okay, i probably didn't need to ask Jeff Rooter that I could have figured that out, but everyone sort of needs to understand like what the lay of the land is. And once you ask, you know, the team doesn't like respond to all of my requests, but they said yes for Michael Boxall. And I got super nervous.
00:26:38
Speaker
It was like really like good to know that I could edit out any like mistakes that I made. And sometimes I, you know, we do our episodes and, and I have just in the back of my mind, it's like, okay, I'm really nervous, but I can edit all of this, whether I do or not, I know I can. And Dane St. Clair, they said yes again. And it just sort of started to build on itself.
00:27:06
Speaker
Um, I think the team wants more coverage. I think they understand that podcasting is a real way for them to connect with fans. And so i think, you know, building it little by little, I've gained sort of the confidence, I guess, of the team that I'm not going to try to throw coach Knowles under the bus and sort of like make a big show of it. And in that way,
00:27:35
Speaker
um they'll just keep saying yes, but, you know, hopefully maintain our independence, right? and And try to, you know, find ways to become a journalist. But we, Matt and I are never going to be real, real journalists.
00:27:54
Speaker
um But that's, I mean, that's it. It's built on itself. and And I would recommend if you want to interview someone, um reach out to Eric Durkee with a ah message once you feel ready to go there. And you'll likely get a yes, a yes, too, because the team needs more fans. The team needs more coverage. There are, you know, gaggles after an open training where there's two media members. And if Minnesota United wants to be a big club, there should always be more than two media members around the head coach at an open training.
00:28:29
Speaker
So shifting gears a little bit, we touched a little bit on the balance of making a show like The Loony Bin with your duties to family, with also with work as well.
Soccer's Cultural Impact and Community
00:28:44
Speaker
Shifting gears to kind of... talking to that side of life, how has becoming a parent changed how you view sports? Like, are you making any attempt to get your kids to watch sports with you? How involved are you with your kids in the in sports fandom, specifically Minnesota United? And do you think there are also fans of the club?
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah, i mean, our our podcast really began because Matt and I were sitting watching our two boys play youth soccer together. And Matt was asking me why the team, why the coach was doing this drill or why the coach was working on this other thing. And I was trying to explain it to him. And and it was really through youth soccer that I met Matt in the first place.
00:29:40
Speaker
are Both of our boys are really big fans of the team. And I think I remember the first time I had Andy Greeter on our podcast, I asked a question about when he thought Minnesota United might really enter sort of the Twin Cities and the Minnesota sports landscape in a more ingrained way.
00:30:02
Speaker
um Like, and I used K-Fan as an example, not that they're the best example, but like that they talk about all of the major sports events in the city and talk about Minnesota United basically 0%. And he said he he thinks it's gonna take a generation.
00:30:22
Speaker
And I think what I see in sort of my son and Matt's son when we bring them to a game and they they come to four or five, six games a year with us
00:30:35
Speaker
is like them loving this team the way I loved the Minnesota Twins when I was a kid going to games and having it in my blood from the first moments I became a fan of sports to when my son becomes a parent. Right. And so it takes generations of a soccer club being in a community before to like really grow deep, deep roots amongst the community. And Minnesota United, 10 years plus, you know, a few years of Minnesota United in the and the NASL, a bunch of other professional iterations, we have a soccer culture, Minnesota United is still new.
00:31:18
Speaker
And so I think it's, it is sort of the kids you see at the game that might have that chance of feeling like Minnesota United is a big, big club. It doesn't really feel like it's,
00:31:32
Speaker
on the immediate horizon for us in our fandom, but hopefully we can still celebrate some trophies in the next handful of years. Do you feel like Minnesota United is representative of the Twin Cities culture? Like, do you feel like it's a reflection of this soccer culture that already exists here? Or is it just entertainment? Is it, you know...
00:32:00
Speaker
Is it, I guess what I'm trying to ask with this question is, do you feel like Minnesota United as a club is an actual reflection of the soccer culture and the ethos of the community, or is it an MLS franchise? Like what, what is, what is your view on just the overall, just like club culture, I guess.
00:32:28
Speaker
I think, Minnesota United is a a sizable slice of Minnesota so soccer culture, right? We have the women's game, we have Aurora fans, we have a youth soccer community that exists here that is forced into domes and into gymnasiums for five, six months a year.
00:32:51
Speaker
We have longtime fans of Minnesota United. We have a ah blue state with progressive values and a Minnesota United club that tries to mirror them, but in their sort of corporate sports culture kind of way. So they stay in the middle, but sort of try to reach out to the far sort of progressive leftist leanings of the Twin Cities area, but they don't live there like so like some other clubs around the world to do with their community.
00:33:29
Speaker
I think they're just hopefully here for a long time to sort of grow their connection in a more meaningful way with community. But it's still, I feel like just sort of a piece of the puzzle and and not the whole story.
Minnesota United's Current Season Reflections
00:33:44
Speaker
So let's shift our conversation toward the soccer because obviously we both care pretty deeply about the club and we care so much that we also care about the results on the field. So let's shift our conversation towards that. Can you give me your thoughts on how the season is going on ah so so far?
00:34:06
Speaker
It's a mixed bag of a start to the season. i mean, you can't really take a lot from it. I think we have to wait. to figure out what's going on with this team. It's the schedule to start the year. i think we all knew it was going to be rough. And if you would have sort of said they were going to get four points from six at home and one point from three on the road,
00:34:34
Speaker
I would have said that's actually what I'd expect out of this team. And so from a results perspective, I think they're sort of where I expected them to be.
00:34:46
Speaker
I think tactically, because the team is trying to create a new identity, they've got out in front of themselves a little bit to a point where they're not actually comfortable being their new selves.
00:35:02
Speaker
against these high quality teams that we knew were on the schedule. So I think everyone needs more time to figure out who this team is. And honestly, i don't think Hollad was able to do the work this winter that he would have otherwise been able to do.
00:35:23
Speaker
given different conditions in our community. And so I think we have to wait for the the summer cycle to see if there are some real soccer moves to improve the talent on this team, or if they're not going to take any big swings.
00:35:40
Speaker
And, you know, Andrew Weeby on our show the other day, I think was right. Like we have this awkward build up to a short season. Like how are people going to prepare themselves to finish off 26 and get into 27? So I really think this next year and a half, we need to see where the club plans to take sort of the talent level of the first team, because if they don't actually take any sort of decent swings at, at bringing in high quality,
00:36:18
Speaker
sort of attacking pieces, I think it's an acknowledgement that they're just probably always going to be a mid team in MLS. So I think we have to wait.
00:36:30
Speaker
But the early the early returns have just been confusing for the most part. Wildly different results and wildly different ways that the team has looked over the first games but also i think the team very much looks lost as soon as the ball gets on our feet as soon as we have to enter any phase of the game that is not ramsey ball basically like sit and counter
00:37:04
Speaker
There. It looks disjointed. It looks ah it looks like the team doesn't know what it wants to do with the ball, which is very much what you were touching on before. um What do you think those moves look like? in the transfer window? Like what are the pieces that would impact a roster that can't seem to build up in the attack, but also is having trouble passing the ball, distributing the ball around the field once we try to transition toward ah offense. So what pieces does that look like for you?
00:37:38
Speaker
mean, it's attacking talent that fits together. I, i I would say that, you know, as a fan of the team since back in 2017, sort of when the MLS began, I don't think Minnesota United has really ever known what to do with the ball at their feet.
00:38:02
Speaker
Like that, I think, is the underlying problem of Minnesota United that goes from Adrian Heath through Eric Ramsey era. Adrian Heath resolved some of those issues by trying to have the central focal point that could open up the game.
00:38:21
Speaker
He first did it with Darwin Quintero and it worked to an extent to paper over other deficiencies within the organization. And then he did it with Emmanuel Reynoso.
00:38:32
Speaker
And those were the reasons we were a tolerable soccer team for the first seven years of our MLS existence. It wasn't because we ever knew how to collectively break down a defense.
00:38:49
Speaker
That persisted into the Ramsey era and I think Khaled in aggressively going after a guy like Josh Wolf to put with Cameron Knowles understands we need like a coach in the building that understands the offensive side of the game. And we're five, we're basically five games in to that experiment against you know, Vancouver on the road and Nashville on the road. So I hope that they're able to develop an offensive identity that doesn't revolve around James Rodriguez or another just high level talent number 10 that they can create cohesiveness. But with the way that we bring in
00:39:40
Speaker
talent and recruit really more from across the world than we do with domestic talent. it's hard to imagine a time in which we're gonna have a consistent core long enough for them to develop a real rapport on the field together.
00:39:57
Speaker
And if Triantis goes and if Pereira goes, you're starting to have to rebuild the cohesiveness in the middle of the field again before it's even ever developed in the first place. So I think finding a way to get some linchpin players convince Pereira to stay instead of want off to Europe, convince Triantis to stay or a player like that. And then by the time they're together for three years with some other key pieces around them, maybe you can start to develop what a lot of these teams that have more domestic talent that have come up through their system
00:40:40
Speaker
have and that's what Seattle has right when Kosa Rienzi gets on the field for Seattle at Allianz Field he's played with all those guys around him for a hundred games but that's not true of Triantis that's not true of James Rodriguez they're all just learning each other's tendencies like for the first time before the team might be sold off again. So if they can find a way to get some of these key players to just stick around and build real chemistry and have like, you know, the Michael Boxall rob and load sort of part two, part three, maybe, maybe there's an opportunity for this team to have a cohesive offense, but,
00:41:29
Speaker
It's hard to see this roster for the next 10 games going into the World Cup giving us a ton of what you're looking for and what I'd be looking for, too. Great stuff. Great stuff. Before we go, i want to know, who are your favorite players in the history of Minnesota United?
00:41:47
Speaker
think, i mean, Christian Ramirez, i got a soft spot in my heart for his... Bicycle kick in Blaine that like then it and it wasn't it was a weird bicycle kick because most of the time a bicycle kick has to sort of be like maybe direct on frame with some speed. But he he took this bicycle kick out from the 18 and it like looped it was in the air forever before it settled into the far post. And then, you know, you keep following the guy. He scores our first ever MLS goal. He's just such a likable guy. Him and Miguel Abara, I think, were standouts.
00:42:25
Speaker
I have to, like, Boxall, I feel like sort of connected to Boxall in a way. Like, he's truly like a Minnesota New Zealander now. He's always really thoughtful with the media around, even around, like,
00:42:41
Speaker
George Floyd unrest, the COVID era, this recent ice era. Like, I feel like he's a really well-grounded person that's been with the team every single MLS season. So guys like that really stand out to me. And then i did immediately fall for Ozzie Alonzo when he joined the team. Just, it's so comforting when he was on the ball, even when he was being pressed, you just knew he was either going to take the foul or find the right player. Those sort of security blanket holding number sixes, i think are just a real comforting thing as a fan. And so Ozzie really gave me that.
00:43:24
Speaker
My anecdote about Christian maria Ramirez that made me a fan of him because When I first started going to games in 2023 and then just dove into becoming a fan, I kept hearing his name thrown around.
00:43:41
Speaker
And I think at the time 2023, don't think he was yet on the Columbus crew, but he was on the roster for the beginning of the 2024 season for sure because...
00:43:55
Speaker
in that match, that opening, that home opener, he was in town when, you know, Tenny, this was also just a moment that that cemented me as a fan, being at that home opener and Tenny Oluwashayi tying the game up in the dying minutes of that match and just hearing the crowd erupt and being a part of that was a really, really special moment for me. But then i remember...
00:44:21
Speaker
As soon as the final whistle blew, you know, i was by myself. I was going to get out of there. It was also, it was a day game. I love day games so much. I hope they continue to give us the Sunday afternoon slot or Saturday afternoon. I don't care what day it is, but I remember I was in the concourse walking out and I looked down on the field and Christian Ramirez was the last person on the crew on the field addressing the Wonderwall, clapping, and people were cheering for him. They were giving them his his love. And I remember a player, i don't know this for sure, but seemed like...
00:44:59
Speaker
you know, they were having a conversation and he'd like he like, like brushed them away. Like, no, I need to, I need to address the fans because this like, this was my home for a while and I still have a lot of respect for this place. Like it really communicated to me, like how much of a class act he is. And it seems like everybody tends to agree. So that was how he won me over as a fan that had like zero context um for who he was as a as a player, who he is as a player. He's obviously still playing.
00:45:31
Speaker
And come to find out, ah we wanted to get him in on loan and a ancient MLS roster rule prevented us from getting him in. So, yeah, I don't know if you have anything to say about that anecdote or like it maybe share an anecdote that cemented you as a Minnesota United fan or something similar.
00:45:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, on Christian, think the fans fell for him early on because of his goal scoring. And in Blaine, the fans and the players, there was just no barrier between two. So i think there's a real strong bond there. and ah And I think with a lot of soccer players and a club that was sort of a major focal point in their career, you see them...
00:46:18
Speaker
you know, when they go back to that stadium, like really understanding that fans stay connected to their favorite players, even when they leave. And I think it's,
00:46:30
Speaker
It's one of the sort of shames of him being traded before the 2019 season is he never played as a loon in that building that, you know, he didn't help build, but you can say he helped build the culture of Minnesota United. And he never got to play in front of the Wonderwall on the side of the Wonderwall.
00:46:53
Speaker
And I think it's things like that that are
Soccer's Unique Community Bonding
00:46:57
Speaker
a shame. And I know everyone will say we got Ozzie Alonzo and Ike Oparo because of the general allocation money we got. But having him come on the field as a Minnesota United player, I think,
00:47:09
Speaker
would have been just a real moment for a lot of fans that felt connected to him. And I think that's that's sort of, I guess, what I'd say about just soccer in general and why I put all my sports fandom into soccer and forsaken the Twins and the Timberwolves for the most part is,
00:47:27
Speaker
I just, I feel like you can connect to the stories of the players that are on their own journey and Minnesota United is one stop at the beginning or at the end. a Mauricio Gonzalez signs from Columbia not because he wants to come to Minnesota, but because he sees this as a opportunity for him to take a step to become a professional footballer at the highest level that he's gonna be capable of playing. And he may fall in love with Minnesota and move here and become like a beloved player and that's a possibility for kenyal michelle and for all of these other players that we sort of adopt from all over the world and then potentially send on their way to the next step of their career and so it is those those connections and those moments that i think soccer can have and
00:48:28
Speaker
When that those were the first minutes of Christian Ramirez playing at Allianz Field in a Columbus Crew jersey that that day when we when we tied the MLS Cup champs one-to-one. And and you you feel the connection.
00:48:46
Speaker
And that's, I think, what makes that's what makes soccer maybe unique and makes us sickos love it so much.
Episode Wrap-Up and Call-to-Action
00:48:54
Speaker
Those are amazing words to end this episode on. Thank you so much, Dan from the Loony Bin, for joining me on this episode.
00:49:03
Speaker
was very nice of you. Well, and thanks for inviting me. And you guys are doing great work. And I've enjoyed listening to everything you do and keep it up. And maybe you too will be interviewing players soon.
00:49:16
Speaker
I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Well, everybody, thank you for listening. if you could leave us a rating, people have been leaving ratings. They've been listening. Thank you so much for, uh, for leaving the rating, especially on Apple podcasts, which is my preferred podcast platform. Really appreciate that. And, uh, hope to see y'all in the next one. Bye-bye.