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Episode 253: A discussion with Washington’s teach of the year
60 Plays8 years ago
It wasn't the dominant victory our emotions so desired, but those were some very important three points the Seattle Sounders just claimed. There’s an even bigger match with significantly bigger stakes on Saturday, but for now we can at least breathe a little bit easier.
In addition to discussing the game and doing a short preview of the Timbers match, Jeremiah sat down with Washington state teach of the year, ECS member and all-around interesting guy Nate Bowling.
Of course, we also answer some of your questions.
This week's music: "Star Blazers Theme", Perry Como - "Seattle", Hounds of the Wild Hunt - “Ragged All Week”, Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia"
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you're looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
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Transcript
Sponsorship and Show Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Adietes is sponsored by Designers Marble. Designers Marble is the premier custom cultured marble manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest. Their synthetic marble products, made with patented true stone technology, offer the beautiful look of natural stone at a fraction of the cost, while maintaining exceptional durability and ease of maintenance.
00:00:22
Speaker
Their products have been used in beautiful furniture, custom countertops and stunning shower enclosures. Designers' Marble is also a licensed general contractor that has over 30 years of experience in bathroom design and remodels. Give them a call, visit their website at designersmarble.com or stop by their showroom in Woodinville. They would love to give you a free estimate for your project, large or small.
00:00:48
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this.
00:01:13
Speaker
the bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle and the hills the greenest green in Seattle like a beautiful child growing up
Episode Details
00:01:33
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of NOS Arietes, sponsored by Focal Wines, Consolation & Company, Queen Anne, Acupuncture, Verdi Credit Union, Designers Marple, and our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. This is episode 253, and we're recording on Tuesday, May 23rd, 2017. I am your host, Jeremiah O'Shan, and I'm joined by my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our producer, Lickit. Later in the show, we'll be joined by Nate Bowling, a massive Sounders fan, and the 2016 Washington State Teacher of the Year.
Sounders vs Real Salt Lake
00:02:00
Speaker
It wasn't exactly the dominant performance we may have wanted, but they were three very needed points that the Sounders picked up with Saturday's 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake. The goal was a bit fluky, coming off a deflected Harry Shipp shot. In all fairness though, I think they did enough to deserve at least one goal, and their expected goal was actually over 3.0 for the game, which I believe is the Sounders highest figure of the season.
00:02:23
Speaker
Still a bit deflating of a second half, especially after Clint Dempsey's penalty was stopped by Nick Raimondo. All in all though, does this change how you feel about the season at all, Aaron? I think that it calms me down, I guess would be the best way to put it. It would have been pretty panicky around here if they had failed to pick up three points.
00:02:46
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, coming off a two game stretch when you give up seven goals, score one goal, you know, it's nice to be able to come home, get a pretty comfortable win.
00:02:57
Speaker
RSL is not a great team this year and that was a much worse RSL than usual so you know it's not a super encouraging thing but it is the kind of thing where it feels like if the wheels had really come off that's not a game they get three points from and you know in the end they did create a kind of chances they did have a
00:03:17
Speaker
a lot of really good looks. I think we've talked about some of my skepticism around expected goals before, but I think you'd be lying if you said that the Sounders didn't have a lot of really good looks in this game. It is kind of funny, and Schmetzer said this twice during the broadcast, that
00:03:37
Speaker
You know, of course the goal we score is one that comes off a deflection, but, you know, I mean, they've had enough bad luck in the finishing department this year that I'm perfectly fine with getting a little bit of a gift. So, yeah, I mean, I would love to have won that game 3-0, and I think we talked about this at halftime, you know, that I was going to be pretty disappointed if they didn't score a couple more.
00:04:01
Speaker
And so I was a little bit disappointed, but ultimately I got three points and they really needed those three points and it kind of stopped the bleeding a little bit. It puts them into a position where, you know, if they're three points behind the red line, they're not playing great.
00:04:20
Speaker
I don't think all the problems are fixed at all, but not getting three points in that game is a pretty big disaster. And from here on out, if they can start getting results a little more often, the results that I think at times they've earned this year and haven't gotten, I think everything should be pretty decent heading into the secondary transfer window.
Sounders' Season and Playoff Prospects
00:04:42
Speaker
You look at the standings, and for all the struggles the Sounders have had, if they win on Saturday against Portland Timbers, they'll be just two points behind the Timbers, and there's a good chance they'll be in a playoff spot.
00:04:59
Speaker
And all of a sudden the table starts to look very different if they can win this game on Saturday. And I think really any sense of panic that you might be having about this season, I think you can at least put aside. And the good news is that the West is not looking like it's going to be
00:05:15
Speaker
hyper-competitive the way that it has been in the past. The pace for making the playoffs is not so different than it was last year, but no one's really running away with this at all. And, you know, Sporting Kansas City's leading the conference at 22 points, the Sounders are on 13, so really there's only 9 points separating 1st from 8th, which is
00:05:36
Speaker
which is not anything to be really worried about at this point in the season. The Sounders still very much control essentially what's going on, you know, what happens with their season and I think they have the talent to be competitive and it should be said, you know, I think a lot was made over how short-handed RSL was on Saturday and they were definitely missing some players. Players that had mostly called into the U20 World Cup, most notably Brooks Lennon, Justin Glad,
00:06:06
Speaker
a couple
00:06:22
Speaker
like rsl was totally garbage uh that said rsl is definitely having a rough season much rougher than the sounders are right now even though there are only two points behind the sounders uh that's with a game in hand and they've got a negative 13 goal difference which is actually the worst in the league yes worst in minnesota united who has quietly
00:06:44
Speaker
at least climb back to respectability. I don't think anyone still sees Minnesota United as a playoff team, but it kind of speaks to, like, there's a standard of, like, the West is not horrible all the way around, but there's just no, I don't know, I don't think that there's any teams in the West that the Sounders shouldn't feel like they can compete with. I have to admit I'm a little surprised that Dallas, well, I guess Dallas, it's a little deceiving, I guess, right?
Jordan Morris' Performance
00:07:09
Speaker
Dallas, I'm just realizing this, I've only played 10 games,
00:07:12
Speaker
And they have a 1.9 points per game figure, which is significantly better than anyone else outside of Toronto FC. But anyway, it's been... I thought that there was some encouraging signs in this game. I thought the most encouraging sign probably was the way that the sounders were using Jordan Morris. And I guess part of that is probably that RSL was playing a reasonably high line.
00:07:35
Speaker
But credit to the Sounders for looking for him and even more credit to Jordan Morris for making those runs repeatedly. Now a lot of those runs were taking him out into that kind of soft spot on the wing, but that at least forces the defense to react and it just makes the Sounders offense so much more dynamic when they're getting Jordan Morris running at defenders, running in behind the defense and kind of forcing the defense to react that way.
00:08:02
Speaker
Yeah, and Jordan said that the Sporting KC game was the first time he's really felt...
00:08:07
Speaker
healthy or maybe that wasn't the way you put it but you know he said it was really a first line. Yeah, Brian Schmetzer said that that was the first time that Jordan said he finished a game and wasn't complaining about being in pain. Right and that's I mean I think that you know he I thought it had a pretty decent game against Sporting KC. Especially the first half. That game that game was so weird because it just fell apart so quickly. It wasn't like the Chicago game where it was kind of a slow build to to annihilation.
00:08:33
Speaker
Right, it went from, you know, an honestly, like, perfectly played, I guess we haven't talked about this game, like, I think, like, almost literally a perfectly played first half, you know, the Senators only had 30 odd percent of possession, but they had four, like, really good chances, one of which was a wonderful pass from from Jordan Morris to Alvaro Fernandez that came right before the half.
00:08:54
Speaker
If the centers go into the half 1-0, you have to think that plays out very differently, but more encouraging than their offense, I thought, was in the first half. They didn't allow a single shot. The first shot that Kansas City gets is like the 52nd or 53rd minute, and then five minutes later they're leading 2-0.
00:09:12
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, it's that's the kind of thing where it makes it really hard for, you know, for the offense to continue playing really well because everything gets so frantic. But, you know, I thought that Jordan did look really good, especially in the first half. And then I thought he was great against RSL. He was doing a lot of the things that we saw him do last year.
00:09:31
Speaker
And interestingly enough, he's doing a lot of the things that he started doing around the time that he really started to catch fire, where he's starting to make better decisions with the ball, and a lot of the time that ends up with him, you know, holding up the ball a little bit and making a good pass rather than shooting. And obviously, I think we all want Jordan Morris shooting, but if he's setting guys up, then
00:09:52
Speaker
that's great as well. And he had two really great passes to Nico Ledero that I think both of which should have been goals, frankly. At least, the second one especially, the first one was at least contested. The second one, I mean, you set Ledero up from about 10 yards up, 10 yards out.
00:10:10
Speaker
right in front of goal and he just absolutely scuffed that shot. Right. And that's going to happen, you know, and especially because as great as Nico is, I mean, I don't know if anyone would say he's a clinical finisher, but you know, from Jordan Morris' perspective, he's creating chances.
00:10:26
Speaker
Um, you know, he had a couple of those runs where he's just fighting off defenders. Um, there was the one chance that a lot of people were all over him for, and it was really seemed really odd to me where, um, you know, he beat the defender and he's being, uh, he's got the guy who probably has like three inches on him. And I don't remember who it was, but.
00:10:47
Speaker
much bigger. Yeah. Yeah. Much bigger dude draped all over him. Um, I don't think it was a penalty necessarily, but I mean, he's really, you're being dragged down from behind on a breakaway. I feel like that's a fair shout for a penalty. Right. Uh, if he goes down there, it probably is a penalty. Right. Right. Maybe not as it played out. You're not going to get that call very often, but if he goes down there, I think that's a penalty. Anyway, go ahead.
00:11:13
Speaker
But, I mean, ultimately he did actually get past the defender and he was in a position to try to finish. And it's a really difficult shot to try to make, but, you know, that's encouraging. It's not like it wasn't like it was right at Raimondo. I mean, Raimondo made a kick save essentially. Right. And it's just, it's the kind of thing that we haven't seen that much of him from the, from him this year, you know, where he's, he's making those intelligent runs where he gets to step on his defender and he's able to fight off the challenge.
00:11:41
Speaker
And that's the thing that's been missing. And so, you know, I was really encouraged by that.
Clint Dempsey's Contributions
00:11:46
Speaker
The thing that's strange is that Clint Dempsey had one of the, I think, one of the worst games we've seen from him as a sounder. And the fact that we were able to, you know, I think control the game pretty effectively and create so many good chances with that being the case is pretty encouraging as well.
00:12:03
Speaker
Well you know and I would agree that Clint Dempsey had a tough game and I think a big part of that is his missed penalty which if you're Clint Dempsey you need to you know you need to you need to finish penalties especially in situations like that where it's kind of boot on the neck kind of time
00:12:23
Speaker
If he scores that, I could very easily see that game finishing 3-4-0, which I guess we're going to find out how big of a deal it was, but I suppose you could spin a 1-0 win in a positive way because it's kind of proof to the team that you've still got improvement to do. Maybe if they win 3-0, they start to feel internally like, oh, well, everything's okay now and we're fine.
00:12:46
Speaker
and and so maybe a 3-0 win wasn't exactly what we needed and you know, you could go back to the 5-0 win over FC Dallas last year and that may have given them that false sense of confidence saying like oh well we we got this all figured out now and of course they they lost I think their next two and Ziggy Schmidt ended up getting fired but Back to Dempsey, you know for all of his struggles, you know, he had he had to
00:13:11
Speaker
key passes, both of which were absolutely gorgeous passes. The one that, you know, the chance you were just talking about, the Jordan Morris chance, was about as perfect of a over-the-top pass as you're ever gonna see. Just perfectly weighted, a low trajectory that sits up wonderfully, allows Jordan Morris to run under it, allows Jordan Morris to control it, and put in a really dangerous
00:13:49
Speaker
but he also drew that penalty, but he had three key passes and all three of those passes came from very similar plays where he basically pulled, he got in behind the defense, he didn't have a shot, and I think, and I will say, all three times, I think he did not have a shot on when he pulled that back.
00:13:57
Speaker
a really dangerous chance.
00:14:08
Speaker
And he set up even better chances than he was going to get. And that's the kind of stuff that the Sounders need from Jordan Morris. They don't need him to be a hold up forward. They don't need him to chest balls down. They don't need him to win headers. What they need for him to do is stretch defenses.
00:14:23
Speaker
and kind of do stuff more like what we saw from Oba Femi Martins, although Oba's hold-up play, I think, was generally underrated. But there was a lot of encouraging stuff in that game. And like you said, the fact that the Saunders were able to be very dangerous without Clint Dempsey being at his best.
00:14:45
Speaker
harken to your story that ran today is I don't think he was in the way. I don't think he was causing problems. I mean, he wasn't great, but he also was, you know, he was fine for what he was doing. It just was he didn't have nearly the impact on the game. I think we would have wanted. Right. Yeah. And I think that that's the best way to look at it. And I think the really encouraging thing is so much of the talk this season has been
00:15:07
Speaker
has been about that. Is there a clash between Ledero and Dempsey? Are there too many people in central areas? I'm with you. I don't think that was really an issue at all. I think that Ledero and Dempsey did a pretty good job of occupying the same spaces. Dempsey was just off and that's going to happen even to Clint Dempsey.
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I was really encouraged with the attack because it looked much more fluid than it has this year. There have been a lot of games where the Sounders were creating a fair number of chances, but
00:15:38
Speaker
Thanks, Sadie. But that was either because things were frantic and they were pushing a lot of guys forward or that they were almost being created. Would you shut the fuck? Jesus. I think she's hot. It's been a long day. It has been a long day. It has been a long day. Yeah, but I think that you saw a lot more chances created out of possession play, out of patient play.
00:16:04
Speaker
Rather than you know some of the more We're just gonna put balls in the box and put them on target kind of things And so I thought that was really encouraging yeah, and you know that you look at the the shot chart the sounders ended up with two four
Match Analysis: Sounders vs Portland
00:16:21
Speaker
eight nine ten shots i think in the in the penalty area which you get ten shots in the penalty area you're gonna score some goals uh... they forced they forced uh... necromondo into five saves you know they played well uh... and i and like i said i think if if they go on and win this game against portland i think there's a very good case to be made that probably one zero victory was better than
00:16:46
Speaker
a 3-0 victory and even Stefan Frey talked about this in the post game as far as shutouts go is that there's something a little there's a little added pride that you take in a shutout when you win 1-0 as opposed to a shutout in a 3 or 4-0 game where the other team is kind of beaten down and maybe isn't really even trying to get a goal there for the last few minutes. So you know I think that's that's you know there's positives to take away from this I guess is what I'm trying to say.
00:17:14
Speaker
Yeah, there definitely are. I mean, I think that every time you see your team play, you want them to blow out the opposition. And I think that's natural. I mean, we want to be entertained. That's why we watch sports in the first place.
Portland's Challenges and Impact on Sounders
00:17:27
Speaker
But I mean, I do think that maybe I don't love framing it in terms of mental toughness. But, you know, down the stretch last year, the Sounders were so, so good at grinding out results.
00:17:41
Speaker
And, you know, to show that they can do that I think is good no matter what the circumstances are. But now that they've shown they can do that, it would be nice if they could just go out and destroy Portland. Yeah, and I think we owe Portland a good win. The last time the Sounders and Timbers played, I believe that was the 4-2 game, right?
00:18:01
Speaker
uh well it was in the like it was when they played like twice in a week or something right and admittedly that 4-2 game was on the heels of a 3-1 Senders win so right i don't know but still but it's Senders turn yeah for sure
00:18:18
Speaker
But turning the page a little bit, looking at Portland, is this a Portland team that I think if people haven't been paying close attention, I think they could be excused for thinking that the Sounders are in a lot of trouble going into this game. They probably remember Portland
00:18:38
Speaker
starting out the season absolutely gangbusters they looked like they were going to be supporters shield contenders and they won their first three games but since then they've come back to earth pretty hard since those first three games they've gone two three and three and they've now gone four without a win
00:18:59
Speaker
And I don't know that they've had a big person, like unless there's something I'm missing, I don't think they've had a big personnel change. It just seems like they kind of came down to earth a little bit. That's not to say that this is going to be an easy game, but it's just not the, it's not like the sounders are running into a juggernaut right now.
00:19:17
Speaker
No, not at all. And I mean, I think the fact that the Sounders just got done giving up seven goals in three days and still have a goal differential that's better than Portland's kind of tells you all you need to know about where Portland's struggles have been this year. They can score goals. They have a ton of attacking talent. It's kind of the same story with him as it's really been since 2013, I guess, when their defense was really good and they were boring as hell.
00:19:45
Speaker
It just that you know, they're they're gonna score they're gonna play well offensively It's really about What you can do to to exploit their defense and there's a lot to exploit there. They have some serious problems along the back
00:20:00
Speaker
You know and these games though are always just it's always so hard to tell They're they're always so tight. So I don't know. It's I think the Sounders should be favored to win this game Yeah, it's at home I think that Portland was getting pretty lucky earlier in the season I think they were definitely lucky to get Minnesota before Minnesota was a functional soccer team that probably helped things along so
00:20:26
Speaker
Um, but you know, who knows? I mean, this, I, I'm still not fully convinced that the sounders are fixed. Um, so it's, you know, I think it's, it's anybody's guess. Uh, and it's, it's a little bit more fun going into the games like that, I suppose.
00:20:41
Speaker
Yeah, so to put it in perspective, in the last four games, their four-game winless streak, Portland has been outscored 10-4, and they're coming off a 4-1 loss.
00:20:58
Speaker
And then two games before that, they lost 3-0 to San Jose. And the two teams, these two losses that are, their two most recent losses are 3-0 against San Jose and 4-1 against Montreal, neither of whom are exactly world beaters. Although I guess San Jose is playing better than maybe I'm giving them credit for. There are some, I'm just looking at the table, like the results table right now. There are some really, really strange streaks out there.
00:21:27
Speaker
I'm just thinking out loud right now, but I assume people know this, and I guess I knew this as well. I didn't know this. That Philadelphia opened the season with an eight game winless run, and then has now gone four straight with a win. So that's apparently their longest winless run in franchise history, followed up by their longest winning streak in franchise history. Just a kind of a weird, weird season in a lot of ways.
00:21:53
Speaker
Yeah, so Portland has been struggling. They're going to be without Diego Shara, who got one of the dumbest red cards I've seen in a while. If you missed it, he didn't do anything egregious other than basically essentially tried to slap Ignacio Piotti. Is that right? I mean, he did something like... Yeah, he just straight up back ended him.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yeah. Like, what a dumb, and he did it right in front of the referee, too, right? But like you said, it's like he barely tapped him, but it was so obvious. And it was like, he's two feet away from the assistant referee and directly in the line of sight of the center ref and does like this big flailing slap on Piatti while they're like moving towards the center ref. And it's like, if you're going to do that, you should make it count, you know? Like, actually deck the dude instead of just like giving him a love tap.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah, so he's gonna be out for this game, which that seems like a pretty big piece to be missing Dioguchara's is clearly there You know kind of one of the it would it's kind of the equivalent of losing Osvaldo Alonso for the Sounders don't you think?
00:22:59
Speaker
Yeah, especially from a tactical perspective. I mean, obviously I think Ozzy is a much better player, but Toronto's a lot of the same kinds of things. And given that, you know, Portland's defense has been sort of a nightmare this season, that almost is sort of like a, I guess, forced amplifiers, the thing we talked about last year, but with Ladero, but in the opposite direction, you know, where an already problematic situation is going to be a little tougher.
00:23:24
Speaker
Yeah, their defense has been very bad, essentially. And for all the hype around Sebastian Blanco, who I think when he came into the league in those first three games, people were just like,
00:23:40
Speaker
How did Portland get this guy? How did this Portland attack that they put together is gonna be unstoppable? And for all the hype around him, he's got a goal in two assists. He's off to a slower start than Nico Ledero, who I think all of us think is not anywhere near playing up to his potential right now.
00:23:59
Speaker
Yeah, Blanco is an interesting player, and it's one of the things I think that was kind of discussed with him when the Sounders were still rumored to be into him, where he's one of those players that's undeniably a good player, but he's not going to produce, I think, in the way that you would really expect out of an attacking designated player. He's almost like Nagby in that way, although I guess Nagby is actually producing this season. But where it's like he does really good things, he's clearly very good, but
00:24:28
Speaker
You know you would just kind of hope for a little bit more. I guess he's also a dick man. That guy is Really unpleasant to watch play and I think that you know once we get a couple of these a couple of these games importantly games under our belt with him and the team we're gonna really take to hating him pretty quickly and
00:24:46
Speaker
You mentioned Darlington Negbe, and I was close to buying some of the hype about him at the beginning of the year where everyone was talking about how, well, this is finally the Darlington Negbe that we've all, as I guess US soccer fans maybe, were hoping to see. But he's sitting on two goals in three assists right now.
00:25:07
Speaker
uh... he's got he's taken fifteen shots uh... he's basically on pace to have a season very similar to the one that he had two years ago which wasn't a bad year five goals five assists
00:25:21
Speaker
I mean, the idea of him being kind of a double, double guy, you know, 10 goals, 10 assists, because his skill set seems to be one that suggests that's going to happen. You know, it's just not it doesn't look like it's it's it's just maybe not going to happen. Yeah. The weirdest thing about Portland is that I think that Fernando Adi is clearly their best player. Valeri is I mean, Valeri is really good, too. But but Adi is so good.
00:25:48
Speaker
Oddy is probably the best target forward in MLS history. Yeah, I mean, Altidore is pretty good too. But yeah, but I mean, I agree. I mean, I would probably rather have Oddy. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Oddy is a great player. And he seemingly gets no credit from anyone. No, it's amazing. I don't get it at all.
00:26:10
Speaker
And, you know, the Sounders have done a pretty good job against Fernando Adi, but, and he, his numbers look okay against the Sounders, but a lot, he's actually scored quite a few goals kind of in garbage time when games have already been lost, including the game, the most recent game when they scored, I guess they scored towards the end, right, in that 31 game? Yeah, I think so.
00:26:34
Speaker
But anyway, yeah, I mean, Audie is a very good player. You know, if there was one player on Portland that I could pluck out and put on the sounders, I think it would almost certainly be Audie. Yeah, without question. I mean, even over Valeri, who I think is great, and also a seemingly really awesome dude, which
00:26:53
Speaker
This kind of a bummer. Just the worst. It's the worst, man. I really wish he was just a huge, huge prick, but... But yeah, he seems like a genuinely cool guy. But alright, well, we're gonna... Yeah, well, I can't have it all. We're gonna take a break, we're gonna come back, and we... I just kinda had a conversation with Nate Bowling. He was someone who really interested in me, who I'd been wanting to have on the show for a long time, and...
00:27:18
Speaker
It's we talk mostly sports, but we get into some other stuff as well. I think you're going to enjoy it. I hope you enjoy it. I hope you've learned something about a guy who has been a huge supporter of the show. He actually I'll tell just a little quick story, which I kind of tell a little in the interview, but I'll tell it to you now is that.
00:27:39
Speaker
At MLS Cup, I ran into him the night before the game and the election had just happened and I was talking about how, you know, maybe this whole yachting thing is a little too on the nose now. Like, maybe this is not the right political climate to be pretending that we're these pretentious assholes. And he said, you better not take this away from me. And I really thought we talked about that once too.
00:28:04
Speaker
Yeah, you and I had kind of talked about that and kind of hearing him say that and really being encouraging of us of doing a Yacht-Con was really one of the big reasons that we ended up doing it. So anyway, that's the little story and hopefully you enjoy the interview. We'll come back, we'll take your questions. You're listening to No Scaredness.
00:28:28
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:29:18
Speaker
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00:29:53
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Arietes. We are here with a special interview, I guess. We're at the Schilling Cider House in Fremont with Nate Bowling, who you probably know as the 2016 Washington State Teacher of the Year. He's an ECS member. He is a high school teacher at Lincoln High School in Tacoma.
00:30:15
Speaker
all-around great guy and you may have heard that let's start here you you made some waves when you essentially announced that you're gonna start kneeling during the national anthem yeah at Sounders games yeah how are you still doing that and how has that experience been
00:30:32
Speaker
So it was kind of awesome. I'm a man of many opinions and this is a sports show, not a politics show, so I won't get into all of them. But I have some pretty strong feelings about what happens with law enforcement and people of color. And so I saw what Kaepernick was doing and realized that was something that I wanted to elevate and promote. I have a platform, right?
00:30:53
Speaker
What's the point of having a social media following like I have if I'm not going to use it for justice? And so I decided to join in, basically, and I wrote about it. David kind of approached me, and so it was published on the site. And the first game I did it, like 15 people came into the section of ECS where I stood, and they joined me and went back to their seats.
00:31:10
Speaker
Throughout the rest of that season, some people would join me every time. And so this year, my wife and I moved to 124. And so the first time, we were a little nervous about it. But it was great. And I looked over across the island at 123, I guess. Yeah, 123. And there was a couple guys I know. And they were kneeling. And we looked back and forth. And so I feel supported in it. I'm also a Husky Season ticket holder. It's a little dodgier there, right? I can imagine. Different crowds, you realize. Yeah. But that's just my style of act of protest.
00:31:37
Speaker
When I wrote the piece for Sounder at Heart, I kind of said what it would take to make me stop. And if people want me to stop, then let's make some work for progress. My understanding is you've done this at not just Huskies games, not just Sounders games, but whenever you go to a sporting event, is that right? The only time I don't do it is at school sports events, because I want kids to make their own decisions. But in January, I was at the College Fall title game, and that was Clemson versus Alabama.
00:32:02
Speaker
And it was funny because like I didn't have a rooting interest in the game because I can't root for a Confederate team. Like I just neither one of them work. Right. Fair enough. And so like I chose to know during the anthem and like when I stood up there were some looks and I'm like I
00:32:15
Speaker
I'm a veteran, like what'd you do? I don't care. And so that's one of my acts of protest. And so have you come out of that feeling differently in any way? Do you think you've learned anything in this process? Do you think that you've succeeded in elevating the discussion? So just one of the things that I've kind of come around to realizing is that people like protests in the past, and they like civil rights leaders kind of dead in the past too, right?
00:32:43
Speaker
Yes, and so there's like the like people's belief that like be classy like John Carlos and Tommy Smith, right? Who let's remember they were basically Derided from the moment they got off that stage exactly until today essentially where they both have struggled to find Like to achieve their the level of success that they're they're standing in society at one point would have suggested Yeah
00:33:07
Speaker
And so the idea that that they what they did was somehow embraced is just a complete Fabrication there's the whole like, you know engage in nonviolent protest engage in but like but not like that right and so like that's my chosen way of protest and like I like I said in the piece like I'm not a
00:33:25
Speaker
I love my country. People who look like me do better here than anywhere else. But the flip side of that is that law enforcement kills 11 to 1300 people a year, and that's not acceptable to me, and it shouldn't be other people as well. And so there are changes to police policies, and until I feel like there's changes happening nationwide, but in the way that law enforcement engages with people, I'll continue to do my silent protest. But that doesn't change the way I feel about the game.
00:33:51
Speaker
I'm a freaking Sounders fan, right? And so I kneel during the anthem, and the second it goes off, I stand up and I scream for my team. Because that's what I'm there for. I'm there for the soccer game. And so do you think that the people around you who maybe don't know you personally, have they ever engaged with you either positively or negatively? Yeah. A couple people have. And I kind of explain really briefly what's going on.
00:34:13
Speaker
I have a friend named Steve, who I've known for 14 years. He's at Podfish on Twitter. And he kind of took it one step further. He wore a Kaepernick jersey to a Sounders game. Which might be oddly relevant soon. And so yeah, he caught a lot of stick for that in 120. But no, here's the thing.
00:34:31
Speaker
I'm totally willing to engage with someone in competition about it because that's my choice to make a statement. And I don't know, I like my sports and my politics separate. But that doesn't mean I'm not willing to let them mix at all. And I like what Sound Hard has done. They've approached things thoughtfully. Clearly Washington State and the Puget Sound is a progressive region. And yeah, there's some people who may not agree with all the politics.
00:34:59
Speaker
If we can't have these conversations among people who have this bond of sounderdom or ECSdom, then we're doing a society. I've been a part of ECS since 2008. I still have my original membership card. I'm a member of 138, I think. And so if the people who I travel with and share with and how we score goals, and I can't have disagreements and can't have conversations, then we're doing a society. And so, I don't know, somebody once said that I'm a catalyst for honest conversation. And so I just try to use that moment to have conversations with people.
00:35:29
Speaker
And so have you been able to use this as a way to start conversations with your students, who I would imagine agree with your principal, but this is probably also a chance? I mean, most high school students don't. Just think about this stuff, I would think. But not as much as you think. So it's funny. I have two online personalities. So at Nate Bowling, he's constantly talking about politics, and he's talking about his beliefs about justice. And then my classroom Twitter feed is much more kind of straight down the middle.
00:35:57
Speaker
I don't know. I think half my class, it's a roll, right? And they're going to hear this. It's probably going to ruin it. But most of my students think I'm a frustrated Nixon Republican, right? And so I crap on Trump, but from the right instead. Right. And I find that a very effective way to crap on Trump, though. Right. Yeah. On the way here, I'll just do a Pat Buchanan interview. And I'm like, huh? But like, no, that's another time conversation. But like, just listen to it, record her down.
00:36:27
Speaker
I think we're good. Okay, so you're listening to Pat Buchanan, like Lum Mintz. The current political moment's really fascinating, but again, another time, another place. So I brought up your students, and this is gonna be my segue into your students, and getting it into a little bit more soccer. Do Tacoma high school students at Lincoln High School, do they think about the Sounders, and what is their
00:36:50
Speaker
of the sounders and soccer in general, you think? So for those who aren't aware, Lincoln High School is basically Rainier Beach or Franklin, if you prefer Seattle reference, or Foster if you're in the South Sound. I have a lot of soccer fans, but most of my soccer fans are either African immigrant students. Well, there's kind of three groups. There's the African immigrant students, there's the Hispanic and Latin immigrant students, and there's the white kids that play club soccer.
00:37:16
Speaker
Right. And it's funny because like those are different brands of soccer fandom. So like all the African immigrant kids love PSG and Arsenal. Right. All the Hispanic kids who are mostly Mexican love Chivas for some god awful reason. By the way, Chivas is a garbage garbage team. Club America forever.
00:37:32
Speaker
And then Hot Liga MX takes here. Hugo and I go back and forth about this. The first game I went to in Mexico was a Call of America game and I fell in love. And then the suburban kids, not suburban but the club soccer kids, love the sounders. But I purposely have soccer stuff up in my room as a competition starter.
00:37:51
Speaker
And they're definitely aware of the team. Occasionally, if I can't make a game, I'll give my tickets to a kid who's been killing in class. And they're always thankful for that. Who's really aware of the Sounders, though, are the female soccer players. So that's the thing is, if you're a young male from East Africa, you have kind of a tie to a European league. If you're a Mexican kid or second generation, you have a tie. But most of the female students I have who are soccer fans are huge Sounders fans. And it's fun.
00:38:21
Speaker
I'll wear sounder stuff to games sometimes. There's a scarf up in my room. And they're definitely more... This generation is obviously way more into soccer than our generation was, right? I grew up a baseball fan. I basically fell in love with soccer because the Mariners suck and the Sonics left.
00:38:39
Speaker
And so do you think that, you mentioned that most of the male soccer fans are probably white kids that come from a decent middle class or upper middle class background. Do you think that the sounders are doing enough to reach out to
00:39:00
Speaker
kids that, you know, aren't already kind of indoctrinated? So I don't know, like, developmental soccer super well, but it would make a lot of sense for them to expand their footprint. Most of the kids who I have would play club, play for Washington Premier, right? And I talk to coaches sometimes. I know there's like the Washington Premier versus Sounders versus Crossfire like kind of turf war, but like the Sounders could expand their brand to the south. For a while, the Sounders U23s were playing in Tacoma, and that was awesome.
00:39:27
Speaker
But those games moved to Sumner and I'm not going to Sumner for nothing. Under no circumstances. And so that's one of the reasons why the S2 thing excites me. That's a great way for the Sounders to kind of submit their hold on Tacoma and also like the Olympia area.
00:39:44
Speaker
There's a ton of kids playing soccer from like Black Hills down in Olympia up the I-5 corridor and like a lot of them have grown up more attached to a European team than the Sounders. If the Sounders do this right like we can have kids in 10 years who have been lifelong Sounders fans coming through the academy and doing the work and like not discounting the past like I know born in 74 and A League and whatever but like it ain't
00:40:05
Speaker
That ain't what it could be. No, and I think that for people, I think for me at least, that the history of the sounders ends up meaning a lot more once you've kind of already been indoctrinated into the present. Like you care that, you know, I moved here in 2009 and so I clearly am not a born in 74 guy, right?
00:40:26
Speaker
I really get into that stuff. I love the history. I love that we can look back on the A League, that we can look back on the U.S.L., that we can look back on, on N.A.S.L. and all the, you know, the Seattle Storm and all these kind of in-between times and celebrate it without necessarily like, no, I wasn't hooked then, but it's important that we have it. Well, the analog is teaching, right?
00:40:48
Speaker
teaching is most impactful when it's relevant and you have connections, right? There's that really hilarious thing floating around that is World War I, it was a bar fight that talks about like, what is it, the Germans stared France in the eye and then punched Belgium. If you understand the history of World War II, that crap's funny, but if you don't, it's like, what is this, right? In the same way, like,
00:41:09
Speaker
This music's amazing, by the way. I really do hope that we're getting a fair amount of this background noise. This is special. This is pretty special. And in case you didn't figure it out, there is a quiz night going on here. Turns out that there's not a lot of places in the Fremont area on a seven o'clock on a Monday that you can get quiet. And this is like some Goonies stuff.
00:41:32
Speaker
No, so if you know the history, then, like, Chris Anderson matters. And knowing that Hercules Gomez was a sounder and took a photo in a parking lot matters. And, like, knowing Tom Duster, that matters. But if you don't know the history, these kids don't know that stuff, right? Like, they know Freddie Monteiro onward. But if you expand the footprint of the team, and I think Garth gets that. Like, there's a lot of Garth hate right now, but I think he gets that.
00:41:55
Speaker
Speaking of Garth, what's the sense that you get in the stands about Garth? People want to win soccer games, right? So when we win, they love Garth. So sports fans are pretty simple. If we're doing good, then the people in charge are doing good. And if we're not, we're not. I went to the LA away match where we smoked them and made Ashley Cole look like he was 75 years old.
00:42:21
Speaker
And, like, if you were to walk through the crowd at that point, you know, guard for president, right? But the result since then, ugh! And so, fans are fickle. Like, if you win, we'll shut up. You went to, uh, you were in Toronto for MLS Cup, and this is a horrible transition that I'm dropping now. But one of the things that you said to me there, it was right after the election, and I was wondering if
00:42:50
Speaker
the whole you never yacht alone thing was too on the nose now. Like if we had passed the Rubicon and it was no longer funny, and you told me something along the lines of, you better not take this away from me.
00:43:03
Speaker
And A, I really appreciate it. Honestly, that's one of the things that got me going to do Yacht-Con. I'll be totally honest with you. Without that, I don't know I would have done Yacht-Con this year. And by the way, Yacht-Con was awesome. Queen Anne Beer Hall is a great, great spot for it. It's a good spot, right? Yeah. I think most of the feedback we got was positive on that end. By the way, this is Skoma Stars' anthem. Just continue, sorry. It is. You're right.
00:43:26
Speaker
Shouts to Casey. Man, Tacoma Stars, I gotta say, that has been an impressive reviving of an old brand. Yeah, for sure. But anyway, I wonder, is there a danger in owning the whole kind of joke about yachting? Is there a danger in that? Or do you think that playing into it is really the way to go?
00:43:52
Speaker
I say you embrace the jokes, so like some friends of mine down in Tacoma started a podcast called the Flounder's B Team, right? Flounder's the Portland joke? Yes. You run headlong into the jokes. That original video of that drunk girl in Portland talking about Sounders fans on yacht is gold.
00:44:09
Speaker
like Portland fans will never live that down like she was a friggin idiot and no no I I look I have two ascots damn it like I'm a I'm a 200 pound black man with a giant beard and I have two ascots I love it I embrace the kitsch good no and you know and that's actually one of the things that I fell in love with about the town about the sounders
00:44:30
Speaker
is and not the centers have nothing to do with this actually it's the fan base yeah this the willingness to laugh at ourselves the willingness to kind of own our own failings in a lot and maybe not all our own failings but a lot of our like certainly off the field failings
00:44:48
Speaker
And to kind of look at ourselves, and I think that that's one of the things that really, to me, differentiates us from the Timbers fans, who are great fans, who do a lot of really good stuff. But I get, at least from a distance, it feels like they take themselves a lot more seriously.
00:45:07
Speaker
So here's the thing about the Timbers fan thing. I actually enjoy the city of Portland more than I enjoy the city of Seattle. Oh, but I think we're gonna have to wrap this up. I cannot stand Timbers fans.
00:45:23
Speaker
The TA is just like, I can't do it man, I can't. They clearly have an inferiority complex, right? They're clearly the little brother and they're furious about it and they always know to be the little brother. And I just like, whenever I go to Portland matches away, I revel in watching them be disappointed when they eventually lose. I absolutely adore it. There's nothing more smug than a Seattle fan after a win and there's nothing more smug than a Portland fan all the time.
00:45:53
Speaker
Yeah, you know, and I was saying, pretty good, right? That's solid. What is it? Yeah, that is the traditional something. Yeah, traditional dry, OK. His handwriting, like a pediatrician. It's terrible. It's like mine.
00:46:09
Speaker
Yeah, I think that that's very accurate. And I think one of the things that was the toughest about that run of last year where it felt like the wheels were... I was actually very curious as to where it was going to go if the wheels really came off. But what was not fun about that summer was how hard it was to enjoy anything.
00:46:30
Speaker
Well, so I remember having a freak out moment. I was driving back from a meeting in Wenatchee and listening to the podcast. And you were interviewing Adrian. And I know what he meant. I know what he meant. But he was talking about being like the Mariners and creating a business model that like. I remember this interview very well. That could endure. That was like immune to wins and losses. Yeah. That was exactly what he said. Don't you dare. The reason why I love the Sounders is that the Mariners haven't been in the playoffs since Barack Obama was a state senator.
00:47:00
Speaker
I can't with that trash. I can't. The Mariners ran me away from the game of baseball.
00:47:11
Speaker
The Sounders games are an amazing experience for me because it's super compact. There's 17 games a year, plus you travel to one Cascadia and maybe one other way, and then you go and you know you're in for about two hours, and you get some rain sometimes, and when the sun shines, it's better, and you embrace it, and I love it. There's so many traditions, right? Where I've stood for years, we mock Derek the Capo, which is what we do, right?
00:47:41
Speaker
I look over at Kyle doing his thing over in 121. It is just a very ritualized tradition that I wouldn't trade for anything. And speaking of the game day experience,
00:47:56
Speaker
So there was this article in the New York Times that basically alluded to the idea that... It didn't call sounders fans racist, but it alluded to the idea that sounders fans were maybe insensitive to the perception that they were racist. That article was trash for the record. It was straight trash. So I guess my question though is... And I thought it was trash and I called it trash.
00:48:22
Speaker
But I also am trying to take a step back from it and wondering if, as a fan base, we should be doing more or if we are being appropriately welcoming, essentially. You can always do more to welcome people in. But the core argument of the article was, because there are signs that say, report racism and discrimination and whatever, that means we have a problem with it. And that's- Ignoring the fact that those signs are most likely there for another fan base. Right.
00:48:52
Speaker
Is there outreach to be done to communities of color around soccer? Obviously. I've gone online plenty of times about pay to play and travel teams and how essentially our most interested kids in the game don't have access to the best coaching.
00:49:09
Speaker
When I go to games, I see lots of people of color. Okay, so I'm not gonna lie. Back in 2009, there was a couple moments where I looked and I was like, I know every black person that's out there in the stadium. But it's not that way anymore.
00:49:24
Speaker
I think that one, every part of American society has worked around racial matters, but the flip side of that is if you're looking at the Seattle Sounders and particularly the ECS as the worst example, then you could find much, much worse examples. Yeah, and I think that was part of what
00:49:43
Speaker
What bugged me about it was that here's an organization that seems to be taking honest, real, and verifiable steps towards being inclusive and not just getting stuck in a way of saying, well, sure, you might perceive it that way, but that's just the way we do it.
00:50:04
Speaker
actively like they've gotten rid of chance over the years they've done a lot of things that I think the reflect like reflexively they said well, no, that's we don't see the problem. Yeah, but then actually gone back and removed I we played RSO last week and I wasn't there for that match But I didn't I haven't heard the Brigham Young chant, right? there used to be a chant about Brigham Young and polygamy and that's gone right and like There's
00:50:33
Speaker
Sounders fandom is weird. Let's just start with the fact that like Seattle is a really white city, right? Yeah. Like Seattle has the demographics of Stockholm, basically. And so like, OK, Seattle is a really white city and soccer tickets aren't as cheap as they used to be. Right. And so clearly there's going to be some some some differences like in the demographics of the crowd. But all the research tells me that what is it? Is it 40 percent of MLS fans self identify as Hispanic Latino? Yes. And so that's not the stadium experience, right? Right. And it may not be the Seattle fan experience, but
00:51:04
Speaker
The racial issues in Sounders fandom are nothing compared to what's happening with the national team level, right? You wouldn't have a conversation, let's talk about the cargo shorts crew in the Outlaws. Sure, do I see some racialized language, or did I see a lot in criticisms of Eddie Johnson back in the day? Yeah, but again, is ECS the example you want to point to? No.
00:51:31
Speaker
Speaking of which, I watched American Football the other night. Yeah. And I don't know how you can watch that movie and not like kind of fall in love with Eddie Johnson. I, I love my eyes. I love Eddie Johnson. Eddie Johnson's a very imperfect man. Yes. What did he want to do? He wanted to score goals and win soccer games. And he was totally honest about his motivations and he was totally honest. Yeah. Yeah.
00:51:55
Speaker
Get paid sure, but I do think that he was honest about why he wanted to get paid I don't like this is not a guy who is wearing like flashy jewelry or driving a fancy car I mean, I think he was really honest in the idea that he wanted to like support his kids Well, and also he believed that the best way for that team to win whether you're in the ball get him damn ball Yeah, and so if you believe that
00:52:19
Speaker
then why wouldn't you demand the ball? Eddie played for us for a few seasons and bled rave green. And it's funny because the once a sounder privilege gets extended to some folks and not other. But Eddie's my dude. Eddie's my dude.
00:52:35
Speaker
And I covered Eddie during that whole time. I was a beat writer for MLS. I interviewed Eddie when he was at his best. And Eddie at his best is as good of an interview as anyone out there.
00:52:51
Speaker
And at his worst, he's as bad as anyone out there. I mean, I've never had an athlete look like he wanted to eat you alive just for being there and not for like offending him, just like having the audacity to like.
00:53:08
Speaker
have his time well so one of my favorite like soccer things ever to happen is that video of Eddie and Clint eating barbecue yeah like have you seen this no okay you gotta go look at this there's a video of Eddie and Clint and they go for barbecue it's back before Clint was with the Sounders and they're just sitting down talking ish about over barbecue and it is just like you want to fall in love with two people who are already in love with each other it's that
00:53:31
Speaker
It's bad. Yeah, you know and and I think that that like he to me is the star of that movie Yeah, and it's not a shock that he's on the cover of the of the of the DVD and No good odd All right, we're a little break here Hmm What is that? It's like watered Green Goblin
00:54:01
Speaker
That's your green goblin. I don't know if I'm feeling that one. They can't all be tens. They can't all be tens. But yeah, and I thought that it kind of brushes along the surface of some serious issues, I think. But I thought it did a good job of actually dealing with humanizing Eddie and showing Eddie in this nuanced light.
00:54:24
Speaker
And really kind of going out of it, there's a moment where he's helping the equipment guy fold laundry. And I think that you can overlook him, but you're telling me this is a bad guy. He's in the laundry room helping the equipment guy fold laundry.
00:54:42
Speaker
if you're an american soccer fan we live in this magical period it's not going to be like this in 20 years right no like we're basically like living in the aba in the 70s yeah and we have access to these players um and like
00:54:55
Speaker
I just love how vulnerable and real and raw Eddie was in that film. When Scott shot that, he brought it down to Coma and shot at the Grand Cinema. And I watched it, and I fell in love with two people there. I fell in love with Eddie and Siggy. Yeah. Siggy, it's hard to not. Your heart kind of breaks seeing Siggy.
00:55:13
Speaker
If we think back to that time period, I was on the Ziggy out train back then. And remember that when it came out, was in 2013 right ahead of the playoff, maybe even in the middle of the Portland series. And supposedly Eddie had walked off, got thrown off the field supposedly at one point, while the day the movie premiered. And then in the context of that, but anyway, finished.
00:55:39
Speaker
Well, that movie bought Siggy two more years of grace from me. And again, we're not going to have this access in the future. We were down in LA. Siggy came up to the supporters section and just shook hands and walked through. You mentioned Toronto earlier on.
00:55:56
Speaker
like knowing that he was in the stadium and watched a team that he had shepherded for half a decade win the title without him like I felt bad right well I mean like so the night before the game I go to the team hotel to meet up with
00:56:12
Speaker
with Ryan Rosenblatt, who you may or may not know from Fox Soccer. Because I think that's where he was staying or where he told us to meet him. Anyway, so Alan's there. So we end up having dinner with Alan, who is a whole other topic. Interesting to bring him up today, I guess.
00:56:30
Speaker
I can see Aaron right now, like ahh. Right, exactly. But like Siggy is sitting there in the lobby just kind of by himself and it was just like kind of this like wow, Siggy is really here. And like you know the coaches are in the like eventually the coaches come in and they're eating dinner there and it's like
00:56:47
Speaker
this is all happening like all on top of each other and no one is is like bugging the coaches and they're just kind of having their dinner in peace and I oftentimes think about this kind of glory especially being in Seattle at this time because in Seattle
00:57:04
Speaker
the day of the game you feel like you are in Milan or you're in London or Mexico City because it's this amazing atmosphere it's almost always really positive I mean maybe it's better than those places because there's no very rarely are fans booing you
00:57:23
Speaker
I don't have to check my belt in at the gate. Right, exactly. And but as a certainly as a fan you go and you're part of this amazing environment and it feels like the the biggest sports event in the world and then you walk out of the stadium and maybe you'll you'll walk you'll walk into the the star you'll walk into Clint Dempsey's getting into his car. Because even Clint Dempsey like lives in like a normal house on the east side.
00:57:48
Speaker
On the way back from LA, we ended up being on the flight with the team, right? That's another, like, you're on the flight with the team. I'm sitting behind Alfaro, and I want to be like, nice game, but I also want to sleep, so I left him alone. And you realize how large Will Bruin is in real life, by the way. That's a large man. Yeah, he's a big guy. Right? But again, none of that's going to be accessible to us in 20 years. What we have really is, is like, the Sounders are a major league team playing in a...
00:58:15
Speaker
There's MLS defenders out there, a minor soccer league. And so we get the best of both worlds. We get the minor league access, but the major league game day experience. And it's precious, honestly. Yeah. And I used to always, when I lived in San Jose,
00:58:31
Speaker
don't boo me condolences right I used to kind of say that about the sharks because like the sharks in a lot of ways they get to be I mean even to a greater degree I mean these guys are getting paid NHL wages which are great wages right and so and then they go to the game and it's packed in there
00:58:47
Speaker
Rock is atmosphere, but then they can just go to their local bar. No bugs them because like yeah people know who they are But they're not it's not like being in Detroit and being a red wing There's that joke like that every city has 12,000 hockey fans right right and they show up for games I can imagine me that way yeah, and it's it was kind of that way and so it's but Seattle is even more that way because like for instance one of our our co-workers on the site is
00:59:12
Speaker
Emily Cummings, who you might know as MLS Watercolors. She was out in Ballard at Brownlee Cross and she's like, Will Bruin is sitting across the table from me.
00:59:21
Speaker
It's like, yeah, it's his bar. Like, that's where he goes. And it's like, for the most part, I'm sure no one bugs him. Maybe he'll get, and the one or two times that he gets bugged, he's probably stoked to show off to his wife that he's sending an autograph. No, we have a really special thing. And honestly, I also just appreciate. So I'm not going to say in Pimp Free, ECS All Night. But even beyond ECS, our fan base,
00:59:46
Speaker
is super aware of the game and like soccer intelligent and like sure there's there's really crappy hot takes on social media but like I feel like for the most part that we're more knowledgeable than the typical MLS crowd and definitely more knowledgeable than like Nathalton crowds are.
01:00:03
Speaker
No, I would totally agree with that. And that's probably as good a place as any to kind of call this. I hope people enjoyed this conversation. I mainly wanted to have you on the show just to kind of pick your brain and to have you on and to kind of do this stuff that you don't get to do in print and meet interesting people and hopefully people feel like they learned something not just about you but about
01:00:27
Speaker
what fans believe about this team. And anyway, I also wanted to say thank you for doing what you do in the community. And it's really inspiring to know that a Washington State Teacher of the Year is a listener to our show.
01:00:45
Speaker
Thank you, man. Thank you. So thank you, Nate. Where can people follow you on Twitter? Yeah, I'm at Nate underscore bowling on Twitter. And then also, I have my own podcast, Plug, Plug, Plug. And it's called the Nerd Farmer podcast. And that's at Nerd Farm Pod. And what is Nerd Farmer podcast about? What I try to do is, so Ed adjacent podcast suck. Like, I haven't heard a good Ed podcast. So my show's Ed adjacent. So we talk about issues about politics and their education. The most recent episode I had is with,
01:01:15
Speaker
a lady who's an organizer for Washington Dream Coalition, and she's talking about the impact that the new administration is having on undocumented students. Awesome. Well, definitely check that out. And what we always like to say is that we do not, there is no such thing as competition among podcasts. And absolutely, I hope people go out and subscribe and listen and give you a follow on Twitter. And thanks a lot for coming on the show, man. Thank you, man. You'll never got alone. Absolutely. This is Nozadi Etis, and we'll be right back.
01:01:49
Speaker
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01:02:09
Speaker
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01:02:36
Speaker
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01:02:55
Speaker
Acupuncture also happens to be one of the best treatments for stress. Located in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, you can conveniently book an appointment online today at QueenAnneAcupuncture.com. Welcome back to NOS Adiatus. We have lots of questions. We have some questions. I don't know. I don't know how to judge lots anymore, but Lickett's going to ask them, so I'll let him do that. A decent amount of questions.
01:03:24
Speaker
First question being Vaughn asks, is a draw on Saturday an acceptable result? I don't think we have a choice if they get a draw, whether or not we accept it, but it's not great. I mean, it's not, it's not great. I would say it's highly suboptimal, which I guess is a phrase that I didn't realize I stole that phrase from, from men and blazers, but apparently that's where that came from.
01:03:50
Speaker
Really? I've been saying suboptimal for a long time and I've never listened to that show for more than like five minutes. That's the name of my yacht. That's not a good name for a yacht at all. Bill Jones, STRPTS, do we have a bigger priority than tightening up our back line? Also, should we use a back three if all options are healthy?
01:04:15
Speaker
I mean, I would say, yeah, we have a much bigger priority and that's adding a... Like, I would much... Given a choice of what I want to add to this team, I think I would much rather add a winger or a forward. I would much rather add an off... Like, I feel like the team has the bodies they need for defense. It's just a matter of getting them all to kind of mesh together.
01:04:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that from a, I guess, tactical perspective from a, you know, things to work on and training defensive shape is probably really important. But I think you're right. I mean, I think we have plenty of defensive talent, you know, Fisher had a.
01:04:56
Speaker
Not great second half against sporting Kansas City, but I feel pretty comfortable with him as the number two right back I thought Evans was great You know as the he was a little rusty But you know you could definitely see the potential for what he's gonna be able to do as a starting right back You know Jones Torres Marshall, Svensson have all been really solid this season, so
01:05:18
Speaker
I think the defense is fine. I think the key is going to be figuring out how to get this attacking group, how to score goals, and then adding another attacking piece in the secondary window.
01:05:32
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that any struggles the Sounders defensive had, and I do think they've had some struggles, don't get me wrong, but I think the struggles that the defensive had is more an issue of having the depth being tested much more than I think any MLS roster can reasonably withstand.
01:05:55
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, I think that Jordy Dilem is not a guy. He's a guy that you say, hey, he can play right back in an emergency. But there's a reason they call it an emergency. And it sucks for him because I think he's a better player than he's shown it right back this season. But it just hasn't really worked. And there have just been young player mistakes or inexperienced player mistakes or rusty player mistakes, however you want to say.
01:06:26
Speaker
that you're just not gonna see with a fully healthy back line. And if players are making those mistakes when there's a fully healthy back line, there's less of a chance that it blows up. I mean, I think a lot of what we saw against Chicago and sporting Kansas City were the kind of sort of defensive systemic failures that you're not gonna see with Marshall, Torres, Evans, Jones, you know, all in the pitch together.
01:06:54
Speaker
Arbeck asks, with Bruin injured, if Morse were to go out, do we really go with Atacoya up top or do we run out some sort of strikerless formation? I would shift Dempsey up there. I think that's almost like what you have to do.
01:07:10
Speaker
I mean, it sucks, it's not a great, it's not a role he relishes playing, I don't think, but you know, it's something he can do. I mean, I guess you could play Lidero as like a false nine, maybe. I don't know, I don't think that's a good idea. My assumption is you would use Dempsey up top, hope that it's a short-term solution and kind of roll with it, but yeah, I mean, you're kind of in a,
01:07:40
Speaker
Crappy situation at this point, if Morris gets hurt, there's not really a good solution. Yeah. And I mean, obviously, you know, in that situation, Atticoy is going to get more playing time and maybe he makes the most of that. And it turns out, you know, it's not a huge deal, but I would rather not find out.
01:07:58
Speaker
Uh, just put Swenson up there. He's probably played it before. There you go. That's your solution. He can head the ball pretty well, so. Target four? Yeah, he actually had a couple really good headers in this game. Yeah, he seems like a pretty, uh, significant, uh, set piece threat. He's a guy, you know. Yeah. Hooligans underscore 29 asks, besides the players already talked about on standard heart, are there any other players on the radar for the upcoming transfer window? I sure hope so.
01:08:27
Speaker
I wish I knew, it's funny, trust us, if there was a list of players that we thought the Sounders were going after, it would be on Sounder at Heart. So I don't know, I don't have a working list of players that we haven't published yet.
01:08:46
Speaker
I think we can probably safely, we can safely say, I think, that the Keisuke Honda ship has sailed. He may end up in MLS, but I don't see him coming to the Saunders. And I think we should feel very lucky, frankly, that it didn't work out, because as much trouble as the Saunders have had trying to figure out Dempsey and Ledero and their spacing, can you imagine just throwing Keisuke Honda into that equation? Yeah, it would not be great. It would not be great.
01:09:14
Speaker
I think Darrilis Gonzalez is probably not especially likely either at this point. I feel like it's kind of the thing where, like with Lodero, there was a really, there was a long drawn out thing, but fairly quickly after the rumor first popped up, it was confirmed that more or less that the Sounders were legitimately after him.
01:09:38
Speaker
And it was, you know, a very long drawn-out thing, but always with the knowledge that yeah, this is a real rumor and there are talks going on. Same thing with Oba. Everything else has been kind of like, you know, all of a sudden, like, right.
01:09:54
Speaker
As soon as a rumor pops up, a signing's announced. So, I mean, I don't know. I think that the longer rumors set out there, the less likely they are to be real, and probably there's gonna be a signing really shortly after you hear a rumor pop up. So, I don't know. I guess I wouldn't put too much stock in anything you hear right now.
01:10:22
Speaker
So basically on Thursday there's gonna be a rumor popping up since our podcast. Yeah, entirely possible. Entirely possible. Ask Connect asks, are there direct benefits for the Champions League run next year because we waited for the summer to sign players? Part of Garth and Company's strategy? Yep, I've seen this floated that somehow they're not signing a guy now has benefits for the Champions League run and
01:10:53
Speaker
People that are pretty smart have put this out there, but I'm not quite sure I see the angle. Like, when am I missing something? Maybe you have to be registered within a certain amount of time to be eligible, but I don't think that's the case. I don't think that's the case. So yeah, I don't know. I'm just trying to think what could the benefits be of signing a guy now
01:11:21
Speaker
And I don't know, I just don't, I mean, other than the general rule, which is you can probably sign a better player in the summer than you could in the winter, which I think is the standard rule essentially of the transfer window is, for the most part, guys that you have a wider selection of players. And so, maybe they're able to add more players by timing that signing, but then those same players are gonna hit the cap at the full,
01:11:48
Speaker
at their full force next year. So it's not really a solution that helps next year in any way, I don't think. But I don't know. If it were between the secondary window and next year's primary window, it would make sense because the team has time to kind of integrate the new player and Melbourne too.
01:12:12
Speaker
But yeah, I'm with you. I don't really see the angle. But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. So if we're missing something, please let us know. Exactly. It's not something like if they were to rent a player for a year, like a veteran, it's not like something where the contract is long enough so that they're going to be around for the run. Nothing like that, is it?
01:12:35
Speaker
I don't know, maybe?
01:12:49
Speaker
to the Sounders that they're gonna base any part of their DP strategy around the wing. I certainly don't think that they're willing to risk missing the playoffs this year in order to improve their ability to win CCL next year. Although, if I was given that choice, I might take it, frankly. Like, if you told me that the Sounders were gonna miss the playoffs this year but win Champions League next year,
01:13:14
Speaker
I mean, I'd probably take that trade, although it's obviously a false choice. I might have taken it last year, but I don't think I'd take it this year, because I just hate the new format so much. I do, too. I'm probably going to need to get over that, I guess. Right. I'm sure if the Sounders are in the Champions League final, I'm sure you'll come around to not being too concerned about the threats.
01:13:41
Speaker
uh... lander mighty s what kind of which kind of player would be more helpful in scoring goals an attacking midfielder or a wide winger
01:13:48
Speaker
A wide winger. I mean, we have like five attacking midfielders on the team. We definitely don't need another one of those. Yeah. I mean, what we need to add to this team, regardless of what position he plays, is a player who can stretch the defense. I think that your best use of that resource right now is probably as a wide winger. But I'm open to the idea of bringing in like a really good forward.
01:14:16
Speaker
and moving Morris over to the wing. But I definitely think that the skill set is the more important thing than what position they're primarily going to play. Yeah, I think it's one of those things where as much as we all have, you know, really skillful technical players like Ledero, we need somebody that has really impressive physical skills. If they can have technical skills, I mean, that would be good too. But
01:14:45
Speaker
Okay. Not underscore Rossi asks, has Morse done enough to get called into the USMNT for a World Cup qualifying? Low goal production, but lots of opportunities created. Nah, I don't think so.
01:14:57
Speaker
He probably will. Maybe he will, but if I'm Bruce Arena and I'm basing this on form at all, I just don't see how I can justify bringing in Jordan Morris, who hasn't been playing great. He didn't get called into the Copa America last year.
01:15:18
Speaker
Seem like it's bird give him a give him a little boost last year. So maybe that would be good for him to not get called in but I Selfishly, I don't want him to be called in because I think he could use the time off But even practically from a US national team perspective. I just don't know that he's one of the top Whatever 25 guys that they're gonna call in His second question is any chance we sign an emergency striker Cooper the answer a
01:15:48
Speaker
uh i would i mean if morris gets hurt i feel like you almost have to um but i mean i don't i don't know who's out there and available really like i guess they could probably recall victor mansory and i and i suppose if they were in a situation where jordan morris was hurt and will bruin is still
01:16:12
Speaker
you know, like a way for, you know, he's still hurt. I guess Vic Mansray maybe is the, maybe that is the option. Maybe that is what they do. They call him Vic Mansray. But I, I don't think like Kenny Cooper is going to be a huge upgrade over. Yeah. Frankly. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't be shocked, I guess, cause they can still loan guys off from us too, right?
01:16:38
Speaker
I mean, they can probably do an emergency signing from S2, and so I would think that they'd probably be...
01:16:43
Speaker
Reasonably likely to bring in you know, they have to they Felix Chancum and and Javorn Stevens are two guys at s2 that I suppose they they could bring in and I'd kind of rather do that then Then recall Manseree I think because we talked about the I think they're really positive things about him going out on loan and and I kind of just wanted to get through the year with with Cincinnati so
01:17:11
Speaker
at that point, I mean, at that point, if you're signing an emergency guy, it's just bodies. So you might as well just bring up one of the guys and that's two. Yeah, that's fair. Okay, there's a set of questions about rings. First one is Turner. Yes, Q asks better way to get one of those rings mission impossible style raid or oceans 11 type heist.
01:17:34
Speaker
Well, I like the imagery of a Mission Impossible-style raid more than I like the imagery. Like, there's too much planning that goes into a Ocean's Eleven-style heist. There's too many people involved, too. Like, you're getting one of the rings. Like, where do you cut it in half? Right. Fair. You know how hard it is to find a good con man, too? Yeah, it's hard. It's not easy, man. I've tried.
01:18:03
Speaker
Uh, second one is justin v sis asked do departed championship players get rings? Valdez needs a ring. Yeah, they definitely yeah, I would be surprised I mean scott got one. So yeah. Yeah, I think all the players everyone that participated in the anybody like even remotely affiliated with the team got one so he got
01:18:27
Speaker
Yeah, he got one and he obviously wasn't with the team when they won and people that people that work like in the front office and Like totally non soccer roles got one So if you know a guy that started the final they didn't get one. That would be a little Herc herc tweeted out that he's gonna see his soon. So yeah Last one is gritty city sounder s which is hotter ring takes or the weather and
01:18:54
Speaker
It's pleasant right now. It's like 60 over. Yeah. Like all of a sudden, like it went from being really hot to like all of a sudden, like. Yeah. Mild.
Weather, Social Media, and Coaching Debates
01:19:05
Speaker
Like, which is not normally how Seattle, I feel like when it's hot in Seattle, it stays hot for. Well, it's supposed to get hot again. Um, but I'm, if it's going to get cloudy, uh, I would rather it get cloudy at this time of day. So the house can cool down and like, it's not like sleeping in an oven. So I'm cool with it.
01:19:24
Speaker
So what you're saying is ring takes are hotter than the weather. Yeah. I didn't see a lot of ring takes. There was, there was a couple of good ring takes. One of them was that I retweeted from the no Saudi at discount was something along the lines of you better enjoy it because it's the only one you're going to get. Like what a horrible take. Is that a burn?
01:19:44
Speaker
Yeah. And then one of the other one was like, if you hold it a certain way, it looks like there's a zero, which is the same number of shots that Sanders had, which I was going to, I didn't bother responding, but my response was going to be, it's also the same number of shots they needed to win the MLS Cup. Yeah. Which is, you know, which is true. Yeah. I mean, Hey, if you don't got to shoot, why? Right? Why bother? Why waste the energy? Yeah.
01:20:12
Speaker
All right. M. Gamini asks, who are your top five coaches in MLS right now? Wapureha. I think it's the obvious answer. I'm going to go with Mortata.
01:20:24
Speaker
um with who oh yeah yeah okay i was i thought you said martina and i was like is that minnesota's coach or you know and i i think i like i like the creativity i don't know how effective it's always been but i i've been impressed with uh viera at new york yeah yeah i think so um zanny i think it's he's doing a good job
01:20:49
Speaker
I'm not convinced that Vanny's a great coach yet, but he deserves some credit. I don't think there are that many great coaches in MLS though. No, and I think that, you know, after Preja, who I think is clearly the best, and I think Tata Martino might be right there with him, they'd be better.
01:21:10
Speaker
Like I don't think Kay like for all of his genius supposedly I don't really I don't know that Kayla Porter has the results to back it up I think Brian Schmetzer is just not been around long enough to really be in the conversation What's Chicago's coaches name Pete pay in a bitch? He's been I mean he's shown some interesting. Yeah
01:21:32
Speaker
He's shown a lot, and I guess Martina also, you know, we're gonna dock players, guys, for not being around long enough, but he's, I think he's shown some, he's done a lot elsewhere. Yeah, I think it's fair to say that. And then, you know, I- You're out of a playoff spot right now. I know, isn't that crazy? It's crazy. But yeah, I mean, I don't know, I don't know, I think Preja for me is like probably my favorite coach in the league, and then after that it's,
01:21:59
Speaker
kind of a grab bag of a lot of your preferences. Little one A's, one B's kind of things. Yeah. Okay. Let's see. Tstige asks, how many ways will the Sounders miss the net this year? Can there be an award for the most creative? Cult of Valdez Award? They, uh, yeah.
01:22:22
Speaker
Did they, they hit the post again, didn't they? No, they, I thought they did, but it was the, I thought they, on Twitter, I said that they hit the post again, but they actually, it was, it was the, uh, Romando say if that was apparently an inch and a half from going over the line. According to offside modeling, which is.
01:22:42
Speaker
Damn, man, that account has made me second guess so much anger that I've had about off-site calls in the past. Anything, what I think it shows is how difficult it is to make those calls in real time. Yeah, for sure. For sure. DirtyDCtown asks, why do you think Deuce doesn't celebrate in Dallas or Houston? Respect for his birth state or plans on retiring with one of them?
01:23:10
Speaker
Is that, I don't know that that's true. I've never noticed that to be true. I feel like he celebrated against Dallas when he had that two goal game. Yeah. Yeah. He kind of jumped on the air or whatever. Yeah. And then he had the, I mean, I wouldn't say he's like, but he doesn't ever very rarely does like really demonstrative celebrations unless he's at home or unless it's against Portland. Yeah.
01:23:33
Speaker
There was, I can't remember if it was Dallas or Houston. I think maybe Houston, no, maybe Dallas, but they were heckling him. And then when he was coming off, he was doing the, oh, cry baby, signed with his hands. Does that count in celebrating? Yeah, I mean, I'll say this. There's nothing about the way he's played against either one of those teams that suggests that he's like taking it easy on them because he wants to play there someday. And plus his family is always watching him. Why would he take it easy? Right. Yeah, exactly.
01:24:03
Speaker
Drone637 asks, do you think anyone would notice if Yedlin showed up against Portland wearing someone else's jersey? I think so. He's distinctive. Yeah, they probably would figure it out. Yeah.
01:24:17
Speaker
A shame. A shame. It is. Because it would be nice to have him suit up. There were a lot of Newcastle fans mad about Sounders fans being excited about him training with the Sounders. Really? Why? It was because soccer fans are assholes. I would really like to see what these. Why? What were they? Dark player now. Don't you forget it. That kind of shit. It's like, no, really. We didn't know.
01:24:45
Speaker
We really thought he was coming here. We're actually going to lock the doors on him. Right, exactly. English soccer fans, not all of them, obviously, probably not even most of them, but enough of them for it to be a thing, love nothing more than reminding Americans that MLS is not as good as the Premier League. It's just they fucking love it.
01:25:12
Speaker
You know, actually, I don't remember how much of this you remember, but one of my first introductions to European soccer fans was back in 2010 when Senator Hart had the audacity, the audacity to be less than absolutely thrilled that Celtic was going to be coming to town.
01:25:31
Speaker
And we had all these Celtic fans that were like appalled at the idea that we were just kind of over, that we just weren't that interested in having a friendly with them. And they just couldn't fathom the idea that we were not head over heels to be welcoming mighty Celtic to CenturyLink Field.
01:25:52
Speaker
Which is hilarious in retrospect because MLS is clearly better than the Scottish Premier League now, so. Right. But even then I think they were arguing, well it's not the, it's that, you know, we're a Champions League team, we have so much history. Right, who gives a shit? Right, exactly.
Podcast Reflections and Future Projects
01:26:11
Speaker
And last, I think he's directing this at Aaron and I, but I'll just read it to both of you guys. Shots fired. Shots fired asked. Not a question. Just a simple thanks for covering the sounders of the class and intelligence. Really appreciate it, guys. I think he was probably directing that mostly at me. I don't know about that. Yeah. He didn't say intelligence, so. Yeah.
01:26:32
Speaker
That hurts. I guess you're, that's fair. Well, we appreciate you recognizing our intelligence in class, or at least Aaron and Lickett's intelligence in class.
01:26:48
Speaker
And I'm honored to find out that my lack of both has not dragged them down so far that it no longer is worthy of praise. So that's a thing, right? That's a thing to be proud of. I think so. Yeah. Well, that's the last question, Lickett, you said?
01:27:06
Speaker
That is. Well, that was fun. So thanks for everyone sending in your questions. Thanks to Nate Bowling. Hopefully you felt like that was an enjoyable conversation. We're probably going to try to do kind of more conversations like that with people that we just find interesting because the show is whatever we decided is, right? Yeah. I think that's what's great about it. No, it's it exists solely to entertain us.
01:27:33
Speaker
entirely true. I think it exists. I mean, it's mostly true. It's a high degree of truth. I'm super happy that people like it. Right. Well, that's a good point. I mean, I guess that's my point is that I'm just really excited that people like it. I am glad that people are willing to put up with whatever it is we deem.
01:27:50
Speaker
to be worthy of their- That's a less sociopathic way of framing that. Right. And hopefully we're going to have this fun project that we're in the middle of working on right now that is actually going to involve Soccer Made in Portland and us doing a joint effort and putting out a
01:28:11
Speaker
uh i'll just i guess i can there's no secret to this uh we're putting we're trying to do an oral history of the red card winning that ideally will be ready in time for the reprisal of that fateful day uh on
01:28:26
Speaker
mid-june or so but i don't know that we'll actually get it done by then but we hope we will and hopefully people will find that entertaining and we have some other fun ideas that we've been cooking up that hopefully we'll get around to doing but uh yeah so thanks for for everything and and sticking with us and enjoying our
01:28:44
Speaker
ridiculousness, thanks to our sponsors Fullpool Wines, Constellation & Company, Queen Anne Acupuncture, Verde Credit Union, Designers Marble, and of course our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. I am Jeremiah O'Shan, signing off on behalf of Aaron Campo and Lickett. This is No Sadiatis. Remember, never be out alone.
01:29:02
Speaker
Green Douglas spur where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and canyons you flew. Canadian northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll On, Columbia Roll On.
01:29:46
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!