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Nos Audietis, Episode 328: Shooting 2020 into the sun
65 Plays4 years ago
Jeremiah and Aaron get together for one final episode of 2020, providing some closing thoughts on MLS Cup and looking ahead to the offseason while sharing some thoughts on good albums to get us through the (hopefully) tail end of this pandemic.
This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
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
Introduction and Sponsor Highlight
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Full Pool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. The ethos of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now, should be familiar to full pool readers. But there's loads of fresh content, and since it's not trying to sell any wine through the book, there's a bit more of a sass factor.
00:00:21
Speaker
And there's food. Lots of it. Fulpul's unique writing style is applied to recipes like leftover Thanksgiving turkey, schmaltz-a-ball soup, and pregnancy nachos. This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books.
Seattle Sounders Introduction
00:00:32
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. What? Hey, Ocean! Let's go! Jordan Morris getting in behind Florian Youngford. Jordan Morris! Scores!
00:00:50
Speaker
And how's this for a save from Steph and Fry? Here comes Roy Deers from the middle to crowd it to Seattle. What do the Tigers dream of? They take a little Tigers in. It's the Sounders and an S-Com. I feel a lot better than Bob.
00:01:18
Speaker
The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle And the hills the greenest green in Seattle
MLS Cup Reflections
00:01:34
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of NOS Adietes. This is episode 328 and we're recording on Tuesday, December 29th, 2020. I am your host, Jeremiah Shan. Joining me as usual is my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our engineer, Lickett.
00:01:52
Speaker
And I should say this episode, as always, is sponsored by Football Wines, which I totally left out. We are here. It's almost three weeks since, it's about three weeks since MLS Cup. We have not recorded since then, as the date implies. But we may as well talk a little bit about MLS Cup. I don't have a lot of grand, even sitting on it for three weeks. I don't know that I have any like real big,
00:02:19
Speaker
takeaways from that game. Uh, mostly I think we're going to look forward to the off season, but I don't know, Aaron, do you have any, any lasting impressions from MLS cup that you, you feel like sharing? Yeah. I mean, I,
00:02:35
Speaker
I think that MLS Cup was a great example of a game where it doesn't say a whole lot about the quality of the team. It doesn't say a whole lot about Brian Schmetzer or the rest of the coaching staff in any real tangible way. It was just a monumental collective screw up at the worst possible time. I don't think the Sounders looked very well prepared for what Columbus was going to do. I think that took them off guard and they didn't really adjust at all.
00:03:03
Speaker
So I think there's some blame for the coaching stuff there. The Sounders key players were completely absent. You can't just disappear in a cup final the way that they did.
00:03:16
Speaker
Uh, it doesn't really change my opinion of how good the team was. I think they're very good. It definitely changes my opinion of how good Columbus was. Um, yeah. Yeah. I mean, they, they were full credit for, for, for that win. Um, and, and frankly, probably could have won by another couple more goals and it wouldn't have been unfair. So.
00:03:34
Speaker
Um, you know, a huge bummer of a way to end the
Sounders' Performance Analysis
00:03:37
Speaker
season. Um, I feel like if that had happened last year, uh, in a normal season, it would have been significantly worse and more deflating. Um, everything in the season just sort of felt like gravy. Um, you know, I, so, you know, it sucked, uh, not great. I don't want anybody to be fired over it. I mean, it's, you know, it's just bad game at a bad time in a bad year.
00:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think I would largely agree with all that. I was not...
00:04:13
Speaker
Like there was nothing that changed my mind in terms of the Sounders talent level. I still think they're the more talented team than Columbus. I think that maybe we underestimated the value of home field. You know, if you look back at the history of, of MLS cup and home field, I think it's eight of 10 teams that have hosted MLS cup have gone on to win MLS cup. One of them, you know, two of the exceptions were the Sounders winning in Toronto, which obviously went to penalties.
00:04:43
Speaker
and then Portland winning in Columbus which required a colossal mistake by the referee committee and a goal that was gifted essentially to the Timbers in that game. Which is to say that like road teams don't fare well in Emma's Cup. It's just it doesn't happen very often and I think it was easy enough to talk ourselves into thinking that this would maybe be different in that there wasn't going to be a big crowd there but I think
00:05:12
Speaker
We probably underestimated the toll that a short turnaround takes, like Sanders only had five days between the come down off of a huge win against Minnesota and then getting ready for Columbus. So I think that was, we probably underestimated the, like they lost some training time between having to fly there and then all the press things that come with it.
00:05:39
Speaker
And so I think that that's part of it. And I think it may have led to the sounders being less well prepared. I think they clearly got it wrong in assuming what Caleb Porter was going to do. Instead of sitting back, they really pressed a lot higher than I think the sounders were anticipating. And it should be said,
00:06:00
Speaker
The sounders have handled the press really well this year. I think that was a criticism of the sounders in the past that they weren't able to really
00:06:09
Speaker
break teams that pressed them this year that was not an issue. But Columbus just I think caught them off guard. And I think that when the Sounders go into a game expecting a press, they handle it well. I don't think that's what they came into this game expecting. Caleb Porter deserves I think full credit for devising a game plan that really
00:06:35
Speaker
I'm a little less, I'm a little more sanguine I guess about the decision to start Svensson or to start Jones and rolled on over Svensson and Lierdam.
00:06:50
Speaker
I think Svensson may have helped a little bit. I'm still a little frustrated that they gave Jovan Jones another shot because he hadn't been really good in any of the playoff games. And I don't quite understand the thinking behind starting him aside from the the possibility that Svensson wasn't 90 minutes fit. I think that holds a little bit more weight for me when you're talking about like Leerdom
00:07:18
Speaker
Even if, like if he wasn't 90 minutes fit, I'm a little more inclined to say like maybe Roll Dawn is the better option there.
Impact of Season Fatigue
00:07:24
Speaker
But I don't think, I don't think Roll Dawn cost them this game as much as maybe Svensson could have changed it. Like I'm just less convinced that Leerdom for Roll Dawn would have made as much difference as Svensson for Jones. And even then, I'm not sure either one of them was enough to overcome
00:07:43
Speaker
I mean, the Sounders best players had their worst game maybe of the year. And I think that's going to be hard to overcome no matter what. And I think it suggests something about.
00:07:54
Speaker
what the odds were of the Sounders going, like, even if every, if every personal decision was right, if every, um, tactical decision was right, every coaching decision was right, how flat they came out and how overmatched they look from the start suggests something just about the condition of the team that I don't think, you know, is, would have been, um,
00:08:19
Speaker
super beneficial to their success, I guess. I think that this was a, you know, there were just, like you alluded to, they lost training time. They were exhausted, most likely. I mean, they've been playing, you know, twice a week for four months now. They didn't have to travel, or they had to travel, Columbus did, et cetera. Their longest trip, and it should be said, longest flight that they've had to take since the start of the pandemic, or I shouldn't say that, since coming back from Orlando.
00:08:45
Speaker
Yeah, I think all of that contributed. I just think, to me, the playoffs this year felt a whole lot more like a US Open Cup situation than the MLS Cup playoffs typically do. The season felt like the CCL more than it did a regular season. I think it's always tempting to want to, you know, people are always going to want to have a lot of takes and takeaways and
00:09:10
Speaker
significant lessons that they've learned. And I think the playoffs taught us some things, right? Like I think they definitely changed my opinion of Alex Roldan and probably Jovan Jones and then where I think they could fit into this team in the future. But aside from that, I mean. Well, let me you bring it up. Where do you think Alex Roldan fits on this team at this point?
00:09:35
Speaker
I am a lot less comfortable with him going into the season as the starter. I think that you can still make a case that the flexibility that it gives you makes sense, especially if Garth is being fully forthright about the salary cap. I will say straight out that I don't think that he is, but I think that he has strategic reasons for maybe wanting to make the situation sound a little more dire than it is. I have no proof of that. It's just kind of- Well, I mean, I think we can safely say that he routinely
00:10:05
Speaker
tries to underplay his hand, that he is a big believer in the idea of underpromise and overdeliver. And I think, you know, so he's managing
Strategic Player and Team Discussions
00:10:20
Speaker
expectations, another way of putting that. And I think he's gone out of his way for the most part to manage those expectations. Like even when they were looking to sign Rui Diaz,
00:10:33
Speaker
They alluded to that possibility, but they also added all sorts of caveats. And they were very careful not to guarantee that there was going to be a 10-figure summer signing. And that was the most obvious they've ever been about bringing in someone. And so I think there's reason to believe that
00:10:55
Speaker
And I think if you actually parse his words a little bit more, like what he said was we're not going to, we're probably not going to bring in a impact player from outside the league this winter.
00:11:08
Speaker
Right. Like there's a lot of qualifiers in there. And it certainly allows for the possibility that they could bring a impact player in from within the league that maybe is not as expensive. And I think impact player itself is a loaded term and it's like what one impact player is to one person is could be another, you know, like,
00:11:28
Speaker
Will Bruin and Harry Ship impact signings back in the offseason before 2017? I don't know how they would have classified those players, but I would think that those types of signings are not outside the realm of possibility. And I'll say I'm comfortable with Roldan going into next season as
00:11:54
Speaker
in an open competition. Like if they bring in someone of his, like of that level, like maybe not a league minimum player, but someone who isn't a guaranteed starter over him, I'm comfortable with the idea of rolled on potentially being allowed to win the job. I don't really like the idea of going in with the idea that he is, it's his job to lose. Because I don't think that the Sounders are a team that should
00:12:20
Speaker
be relying on any league minimum players to be starting, but like New Who maybe fits that category, but he's going to have open competition with Brad Smith. I guarantee it. Like if he's, if New Who's back next off season, he's going to be competing with Brad Smith for that starting job. I think that's a healthy competition. Um, and I don't know how I would feel if New Who was the unquestioned starter. So I, I'm, you know, I don't know if you necessarily need a TAM level player to be competing with them, but
00:12:49
Speaker
I'm okay with there being competition there. And I think Roldan had some, I think he showed enough to justify belief that he can get better and that he can be a starting caliber right back for a team with championship aspirations.
00:13:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think that in every MLS team starting 11, there are probably going to be one or two positions that you feel like you can do better at. And that's, you know, from the top to the bottom, right? Like, I think last year's team, there were probably one or two positions that I would have loved to have been able to improve. And they were, you know, I think
00:13:25
Speaker
fair to say probably the best team in sounders history. Um, they had a good regular season and won the MLS cup. And, um, I think that this year's team might've been more talented, but you know, they didn't, they didn't have the results and it's impossible to say just cause it's apples and oranges. So I think a lot of people will see a position that they feel like can be upgraded and say, well, if there's this obvious hole in the lineup, there's no way this team can have a championship calendar season. And I don't think that's true, but I think you have to leave yourself
00:13:55
Speaker
flexibility to upgrade there. No matter what. So yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, going into the playoffs.
00:14:04
Speaker
I probably had the same position, but in a more, uh, in a, in a, in a sense where I was a lot more comfortable with Alex rolled on where I think I probably would have been okay with him going in to the off season with the job assist to lose. Um, maybe I think, I think now you have to go. Whoever you bring in, you know, to have that competition for right back, you probably want it to be somebody that's, um, established.
00:14:27
Speaker
Uh, as you know, like a dependable MLS player, whereas like a Nick Lima type. Yeah. And I think prior to the playoffs, it would have been okay with it being a riskier, you know, high risk, high reward kind of player to try out there a younger, more unproven player, player, or somebody from outside the league. Um, I don't think you have that luxury anymore. Um,
00:14:50
Speaker
which, you know, practically maybe that's not a huge change, I don't know, but I definitely felt my comfort level with more or less every round of the playoffs kind of slipping a little bit. And then in terms of- Yeah, that's fair. I think that's fair. And in terms of Jovan, I mean, I think that any chance that, you know, he was coming back next year was out the window pretty quickly after the playoffs. Just a really disappointing performance from somebody that,
00:15:18
Speaker
I think you have to be able to count on to be better than that. Yeah, I would say he had the most disappointing performance. It was a horrible performance. He has gone in and out of being a very good player to a really bad player. And I think that itself is frustrating, but was really a little even more frustrating. And I think what's really frustrating about him is that we've seen how good he can be
00:15:49
Speaker
but he seemingly is that player more and more rarely. And like maybe nothing illustrates that better than he had, I think he had two goals and three assists this year and two goals and two assists in the San Jose game.
00:16:05
Speaker
Yeah. Like he was so good in that game and it wasn't just that San Jose was so bad. I mean, San Jose was so bad, but he was so good in that game and he really didn't do a lot outside of that. And he got a lot of playing time. Uh, I feel like chasing the dragon a little bit of that performance.
00:16:23
Speaker
And I mean, he's good in possession and I don't think all of his contributions can be summed up by his goals and assists, but man. I would say that his attacking contribution is kind of what you would expect from a left back that's been moved up a line. Right. And the trade off there is that you expect an above average defensive contribution. And I think it's very fair to say that we did not get that from Jovan, especially in the playoffs.
00:16:53
Speaker
Um, yeah, not a, just, uh, I think that every coach is going to do at least two or three things over the course of a season that, um, make you want to rip your hair out. And I think Brian Schmetzer's continued reliance on Jovan was one of those for me last year, for sure.
00:17:13
Speaker
Yeah. Um, and you know, there's, this is a hotline, a debate, uh, after the game and, and we don't have to dwell on it too much, but you know, I feel like it became.
00:17:26
Speaker
the it became the uh kind of standard thinking that Brian Schmetzer is loyal to a fault and he just doesn't change a hot lineup and I think it's important to recognize that you know he's been to four MLS cups and in three of them he changed the lineup from the
00:17:45
Speaker
previous game from the conference champion from the previous game and and some of them they were significant changes and so the fact that he stuck with his lineup was not like a foregone conclusion and is not just like that's how brian does it he sticks with a hot hand he like he's capable of making these changes even last even last year in 2019
00:18:06
Speaker
He changed the lineup. He swapped out Ariaga for Roman Torres. And you can maybe argue that, you know, Roman Torres was the veteran who had earned it, but that was the, like, that was the supposed argument for playing Svensson in this one. And Leerdom, too, yeah. And Leerdom, for that matter. And Svensson even, I mean, Svensson, like, whatever, like, whatever challenges there were with Leerdom, I mean, Svensson is a classic, like,
00:18:34
Speaker
Schmetzer kind of player like in some ways that would have been the more conservative choice. I think that when the changes were not made for the final after what had happened in the in the Western Conference final.
00:18:48
Speaker
It became a lot more plausible to me that Schmetzer's talk about tough decisions and not wanting to change a winning lineup. Because to be fair, a lot of the talk about him not wanting to change a winning lineup can work with him. Yes, absolutely. But I think that he says and does a lot of things that are, for lack of a better way of putting it, it's providing cover for his players. Words out of my mouth.
00:19:11
Speaker
I think it's pretty obvious that Calvin Lierdom and Gustav Svensson probably were not 90 minutes fit going into the final. Yeah. Which is, I mean, you know, Gustav Svensson just had COVID. Yeah. Calvin Lierdom was hurt for two months almost. Yeah, I mean, he had a hamstring issue. I mean, ask yourself this, what's the easier decision to defend?
00:19:34
Speaker
taking a chance on Kelvin Lirdham and Gustav Svensson or taking a chance on Alex Roldan and Jovan Jones, I think we can pretty safely say the easier gamble is to go with the two proven veterans who were like your biggest, two of your best performers in the last MLS Cup you were in.
00:19:52
Speaker
Right? I think it's not, it does not take a big stretch of the imagination that there was some mitigating factors going in there that doesn't excuse the decision. You know, you can still argue he should have done it, but I think we've made it a little like I feel like
00:20:10
Speaker
the discussion has become a little too easy that it was like, well, of course he was going to go with the, he was always going to go with the hot hand. That's what he does. And like, I don't know. I don't buy that. I think that he does it no more or no less than the vast majority of coaches do it. Right.
00:20:25
Speaker
And I would say, and I guess to circle back, I think the bigger issue, the bigger thing that he deserves to be criticized for is not his lineup decision, it's the way the team was prepared for this game. And I don't even know if it's him, it's his fault as much as
00:20:42
Speaker
It's, he got out, he got, he got out coached like that. It doesn't mean he's a bad coach. It just means that he got out coached on this one and Caleb Porter devised to get a better game plan than he did. And clearly the Sounders had hoped that they could weather a storm through the first, you know, half or 60 minutes and then kind of bring in the big guns and, and get,
00:21:04
Speaker
you know, essentially get a 90-minute performance out of Svensson and Lierdom in 30 minutes or whatever. And it just didn't work out that way. They weren't in a position to change the game as much as they had hoped they would be. And to the center's credit, you know, the second half was better. I think it showed that the talent gap was not, it was not a talent gap issue. It was really a preparation issue because I think they came out in the second half showing that they were the more talented team.
00:21:28
Speaker
And they just couldn't do anything with it. And Rui Diaz was invisible, Morris was invisible, Ladera was ineffective, Jau Paulo was ineffective. You know, when your four best players are bad,
00:21:43
Speaker
It's gonna be a, it's gonna be tough, gonna be tough. But I also think the idea that they're now looking at a at a rebuild is is probably unfair I mean they they bring back 10 starters from MLS Cup.
Sounders' Future Prospects
00:21:57
Speaker
They bring back 13 of their 16 most used players from the season.
00:22:04
Speaker
know, I think you can, I'm actually pretty confident that a full season of Ariaga, I mean, to the degree that we're going to get a full season, I don't know, they're going to be called away into international duty. But I mean, I really am convinced that Ariaga and Jaymar can be one of the best pairings in MLS. And, you know, they really only have
00:22:25
Speaker
I don't know, one and a half real holes. And that's right back as a legitimate question. And which position will Dawn play? Depending on where Christian plays, either as a right mid or as a defensive midfielder, is also a question mark. What's your preference of those two? If the Sounders had to go out and sign an MLS veteran,
00:22:51
Speaker
to fill one of those two positions, what would you feel better about them filling? I think that I think Christian Roldan is better in the center. And I think that when you
00:23:05
Speaker
when you're kind of in flight and you've got to figure out where to put the players you have to best take advantage of the talent you have on the team and conditions, blah, blah, blah, that sometimes you can move players out of their best positions. I think that Christian and Svensson being on the field at the same time was more important than Roland being in his best position. I think when you have the opportunity to make decisions on how you want to structure your team,
00:23:33
Speaker
Yeah, because when the sounders signed Gustav Svensson, Christian Roldan was not Christian Roldan yet. I mean, he was a much different player, or just hadn't made it apparent yet how good of a player he was. I think that he has clearly shown that he's somebody that you make decisions around, rather than making decisions and kind of plugging him in where you can fit him.
00:23:55
Speaker
But, I mean, I don't know that Reince Metzer agrees that that's his best position. I think that typically he tends to prefer to have more of a box to box type midfielder on the opposite side of Jordan Morris. And I think that that's probably not the way I would do it, but I think it's certainly defensible based on the way the Sounders play. I think it also depends on what you're doing at right back too, right? I mean, if Kelvin Lierdom is coming back, you're probably going to be expecting more attacking play out of that right back position versus Alex Roldan.
00:24:25
Speaker
But if it's me making the decision, I would much rather sign a winger or an attacking player or even a player that is more in that box to box mold that is comfortable playing on the right hand side to get your best players in the position that they're most well suited to playing. And then if you have the flexibility to make a bigger signing from outside the league in the summer,
00:24:52
Speaker
hey, you've got another guy with positional flexibility shifting to the bench and a winger coming in. And I think it obviously depends on what's in the pipeline too. Like if the Sounders have targets for a big signing, a TAM signing, or potentially even a DP signing, and they feel more comfortable with who they have in the center, then maybe they make the decision to shift Christian out to the wing. But I think all other things being equal, I think you're much better suited going and getting a wide player.
00:25:20
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think you can argue that as this team is assembled today, Christian Roldan's best use is on the right because you could potentially plug Jordy Dellum or even Danny Leyva into the center midfield spot next to Jau Paulo, assuming Jau Paulo is back, which I think is the working assumption right now, but is not guaranteed.
00:25:43
Speaker
Then, like, and I don't know who otherwise you're looking at playing like Shannon Hopio or Ethan Dobleri on the right, which, you know, maybe is a viable, maybe is viable. I don't, wouldn't feel very comfortable opening the season with them as my starters.
00:25:59
Speaker
I think that there is also a lot more attacking talent that can play and do a job sufficiently well as a winger than there are. Yeah. I mean, enrolled on level. I mean, just looking at the free agent, the MLS free agents, like Diego Fagundes is someone who's not, he's coming off like a bad season, but he's only
00:26:20
Speaker
two years removed from being like one of the top up and coming. Like I was looking at his like, I was shocked. He had like nine goals and 10 assists in 2018, I think. Yeah. And then, and that was like his third or fourth straight year of like solid goal and assist output. So he's not like, he's someone who I would feel really comfortable with opening the season as like a flyer as like, Hey, here's a guy that we signed at like a Miguel Abara level contract. Right.
00:26:47
Speaker
who has some upside. We don't know if he's going to be like, I'm not, we're not expecting him to be an MVP, but if he can contribute five goals and five assists from that position, that would be a huge, I mean, like the centers did everything that they did last year. Well, getting virtually no real production out of their right midfield spot. I mean, that's pretty like, if you can, you don't need to reinvent the, you don't need, you don't need a DP player there to like.
00:27:12
Speaker
be competitive. But I think you can go from like if you can sign a Victor Rodriguez type player eventually. Yeah. Wow, that's like you're looking at another MLS Cup kind of run. But you don't necessarily need that right out of the gate. And I think Diego Fagunda is type of player
00:27:31
Speaker
You probably signed for somewhere in the $200,000 to $300,000 a year range and have some reasonable expectation that he could be reasonably productive. He to me is a lot like, sorry to interrupt, but he to me is a lot similar to Harry Ship or Marco Poppins. Yes, yes. These are players that
00:27:52
Speaker
feel underwhelming because they had higher expectations that maybe they have lived up to in their careers. But they're still good solid MLS players with the left side Diego from this is 25, right? Right. Yeah. He's so at worst, he's a serviceable rotational player, assuming he hasn't just completely fallen off a cliff, which I guess is always possible. But yeah, unlikely.
00:28:15
Speaker
Um, and at best, you know, he's somebody that can be a good MLS starter. So I mean, obviously the Sounders are not the only team that would be interested in him. And, and there might be things about him that they don't like or whatever. So it's certainly not nailed on, but those players are available, I guess is the point that, you know, fill that, fill that position pretty well. Yeah. I mean, and even like, I wouldn't say.
00:28:40
Speaker
Like I think the ship has probably sailed on Kellen Rowe being a player who I want starting for my MLS team, but I, like even a Kellen, like signing a Kellen Rowe type of player at least gives you some, like I had floated the idea of trying to sign a Kellen Rowe and converting him to right back, which is a position he hasn't played almost at all if he's played it at all. But I could see that as a project that makes some sense.
00:29:09
Speaker
And he's been reasonably productive, although with consistently declining minutes at now three different teams, which I think is a red flag, that maybe something's going on there. So I'm not saying sign him and then hope for
00:29:26
Speaker
him to be a star, but, um, I mean, there's players out there, I guess, to reiterate your point and just to like, kind of dig a little bit more in on, on Fagundas. Yeah, it was 2018 was his last productive season, but he had nine goals, 10 assists that year. And that was after a seven goal eight assists season, which was after a six goal six assists season, which was after a six goal four assists season, which was after a five goal four assists season, which was after a 13 goal seven assists season. So, you know, he had, um,
00:29:53
Speaker
you know, six solid seasons of production at a very young age that you can't tell me like the league has just completely passed him by when he's still just, you know, he'll be 26 when the season starts next year. To me, that's a, that's a solid signing if you can get them. But yeah, it's, it'll be interesting. This is an interesting off season for sure. I think the Sounders, I think everyone would agree that they've got two big holes. They've are two holes that they should at least attempt to address this off season.
00:30:20
Speaker
And that's, you know, but they're not so big a holes that they need to go out and break the bank on anyone. But yeah, I mean, even if you were to bring in like a, like, I don't think you want to literally sign Jordan McCreary, but a player like that, or a sawed up dual salaam, or, you know, someone like of that level to just compete with Alex Roldan.
00:30:41
Speaker
I'd be okay with that. For sure. And if you can get Nick Lima, all the better. Yeah, we're not going to get Nick Lima at this point, but yeah, if you could get a player like that, that's even better.
00:30:52
Speaker
But yeah, and it looks like Nico Moreno just actually put out a tweet saying that the sounders are finalizing their transfer to Sao Paulo. So hopefully that gets pushed over to the line. Maybe we'll be over the line by the time you listen to this podcast. But that's probably a good place to call this segment. We're going to take your questions. There are a few of those after the break. You're listening to Nos Adietes.
00:31:17
Speaker
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00:31:36
Speaker
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00:31:58
Speaker
Welcome back to NOS Adietes. All right, we've got a few questions here and I'll let you go ahead and start off, Aaron. All right. So the first one is from T Wemberly 23. What contracts lengths do we know for active players?
00:32:11
Speaker
So there was actually a story on the athletic that was an interview with Garth that just came out the other day that has, I think about as good of a picture as we're going to get. We don't have contract links for everyone. The Sounders don't normally publicize that, but essentially what we know is that the core of this team is essentially signed through 2023. The big piece of that was Ledero. He obviously signed a contract extension for three years.
00:32:40
Speaker
21, 22, 23. And then they have Roll-Rideas, I believe, under contract through 2022, yeah. And then Roldan, Andrade, and Morris are all signed through 23. And Gio Paulo is probably going to end up
00:33:01
Speaker
on a contract that keeps him for at least two more years. So 2022, at least probably maybe with an option for 23. And apparently Stephen Fry is also on a similar deal. So that's, you know, pretty good core. Rui Diaz, Morris, Roldan, Andrade, Jau Paulo, Fry. I would imagine Ariaga is probably also signed on a similar, similar like long-term deal. So that's, you know, six or seven of your,
00:33:31
Speaker
presumed starters that are here for the foreseeable future and I don't know who else honestly you would expect like Brad Smith I guess is also I think signed through at least 22
00:33:45
Speaker
So there's another one. And like, honestly, I'm not sure how many, like, and then obviously all the young players are gonna be like under deals that are essentially controlled by the team through at least that long. So yeah, I mean, there's not, like this team I think is built for at least another year or two as it's effectively assembled, which I think is good.
00:34:13
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's obviously the core, especially Ledero are a little older than maybe is ideal, but there's no reason to think that they can't be competitive all the way through that window. I don't think they make the right moves elsewhere. I would think at least through 22, this group should be fine. All right, so then this one is from, I think it's Nick Arias, 24. What one position do we need to improve the most and what do you want to do to make it happen?
00:34:42
Speaker
So I think the obvious answer there is that right in the field position. And I think, I mean, I think honestly, we kind of covered it, right? Like, I think I would, I would like to see, you know, a decent, maybe higher upside midfielder, you know, somebody like Diego Fagunda, like MLS veteran.
00:35:04
Speaker
come in before the winter because I think you absolutely have to improve it, you know, before the start of the season from what we have now. And then if that works out well, you know, maybe you don't have to do anything there. And if it's maybe not what you're hoping to get out of that position and you have the flexibility, you can make a bigger signing in the winter. I don't think that there's, I think that in terms of
00:35:27
Speaker
high level major core pieces, the sounders are set. Like, will I take more? I will always take more. I mean, if they can get like a Victor Rodriguez caliber player to put play on the right, that's great. But I don't think that they need that to be competitive. I mean, they have like that core of Ladero, Ru Diaz, Ralph Hollow, and Christian O'Donne. Jaymar is as good as anybody in the leagues. So I think it's really about putting complimentary pieces around them.
00:35:56
Speaker
And if they can do that within MLS with a player that's not going to hit the cap at a huge number or use up TAM, especially with the unsure nature of the CBA right now and what the salary cap is going to look like, et cetera, I think that's a great outcome. So I think you have to try that first.
00:36:23
Speaker
You have anything to add there? No. No, I guess. Oh, I guess this was I asked it. Forget it. No, I mean, I.
00:36:33
Speaker
I think the position I want to spend money on is right mid. I think it's going to be hard to get a more dynamic player at defensive midfielder than Christian Roldan. I think him and Jau Paulo are a promising pairing. It's not a traditional 6-8 kind of pairing. It's really almost like having 2-8s.
00:36:58
Speaker
but I think it works and I think you can make it work and I think you can make that be a really good pairing. I also think it lends itself to the potential of this team transitioning into more of a 4-3-3, which would be an interesting, I don't know, I think it would be an interesting experiment to try with the 4-3-3 with this squad.
00:37:25
Speaker
you could maybe roll that out with the team as assembled right now, where you'd have a forward line of Rui Diaz, Bruin, and Morris in a mid-field trio of Lidero, Roldan, and Giaopalo. And it's not necessarily a classic
00:37:46
Speaker
way of building that 4-3-3, but I think the work effort of those three midfielders would allow you to do it. It's a very attacking oriented 4-3-3, but it's not necessarily as press heavy as a 4-3-3 is traditionally used now, but it would be an interesting look. I would at least like to see them explore that possibility, especially if you're gonna have Will Bruin back on the number that he seems to be back on and you
Potential Player Trades and Moves
00:38:16
Speaker
are talking about potentially having a Will Bruin on the bench while you're starting a Shannon Hopio, for instance, on the right. I mean, I think a 4-3-3 would be interesting to do. But if the question is which position, yeah, I mean, I think I'd love to see us go get a Diego Fagundas. I'll just say that. Yep. All right. So the next one is from Bill Jones TRPT. How long do we have Garth locked up for and how pivotal has he been for our success since he's been here?
00:38:44
Speaker
I have no idea how long he signed for. There has not been a lot of reporting on that. I think he signed an extension around the time when we voted on him, which would have been what year did we vote on him in 2018? I think it was, yeah, I think so. Something like that, somewhere in that, because I remember it was
00:39:08
Speaker
One of the big things was, you know, he won an MLS Cup and got back to another one. And, you know, we're on the way maybe to a third. So I think it was like- Yeah, it was 2018. 2018, yeah. So, and how often are we supposed to vote for that? Is that something that's coming up this year? Shit, I don't know, man. I think, I mean, I feel like we've only done it twice, right? So we have only done it twice. We did it once for Adrian.
00:39:38
Speaker
So I think it was supposed to be a four year, so it was originally supposed to be a four year term. So I think my, so I bet you, so if he was voted in 2018, so it would be due in 2022. Is that right? Yeah. If it's a four year term. Seems right. Because I think it restarted when Garst took over. Right. So, um, so, or maybe, I don't know.
00:40:02
Speaker
That's a good question. And maybe it might be next year. Yeah. They might've just like, uh, decided to use a pandemic as a way to make people forget about it too. Right. I know. How funny would it be if we just like, Oh, that, um, Oh yeah. We just weren't going to do that anymore. Cause now I'm wondering if it's supposed to be more frequent than that. Right. Yeah. I feel like there was some clarification on how that was supposed to work, but I don't have it all handy. Uh, but I don't know when he signed through and I don't know. Honestly, this is one of those situations where like a player.
00:40:33
Speaker
I don't know that his contract length would make a big difference because if the right job came open that job would probably figure out a way to like grease the skids, one way or the other.
00:40:48
Speaker
But I don't know. I don't know how long you signed through. That's a good one to explore. There are fire fans that still insist that he was all ready to come to Chicago and the Sounders pulled some shit to stop it from happening. I don't believe that for a second.
00:41:04
Speaker
No. Garth is not the kind of person that would let that happen, I think it's fair to say. Yeah. I mean, he talked about that last, like at the end of year press conference, he had a bunch of kind of like semi off the record statements about it. And he made it pretty clear that that was not a thing that was going to happen. Yeah. Smart man. Smart man. Yeah. Yeah.
00:41:32
Speaker
And at least at the time, I don't know, maybe that doesn't mean that it could never happen, but it was not on the verge of happening. All right. So this one's from, I have no idea how this is supposed to be pronounced. So I'm just going to go with at TRS PhD. Will there be a surprise trade in the transfer window? And if so, who?
00:41:50
Speaker
I don't think so. I know, I wouldn't expect. I think that the Sounders could make moves, and I think that there are players probably around the periphery of the starting 11 that could potentially get moved. Nuhu is always a possibility, I think, because he's an interesting player with an interesting value proposition to him, I think. Well, Bruin, I guess, is also somebody that could, I think, potentially always be moved just because he's
00:42:18
Speaker
He's a very good player that could help a lot of teams, then the Sounders also feel like they could probably replace without suffering too badly because he's not a starter or anything. But I don't think I expect either one of those players to move. I think the big question is Jordan Morris, obviously. I'm not really expecting him to go anywhere in this window.
00:42:40
Speaker
And I think the Sounders are going to be hesitant to let him go during the middle of the season. So we'll see. We'll see how that goes. Because I think if Jordan gets sold, that is sort of a domino effect thing where you're likely to see a lot more happen in this window.
00:43:00
Speaker
I don't know. My impression, and this is based on nothing. I've never met Jordan Morris or talked to him in person on or off the record. This is just based on nothing but conjecture for me. I get the sense that a lot of Jordans talking about how he'd be interested in playing in Europe with the right opportunity presented himself. I think a lot of that is just, he feels like he has to say that kind of thing. I just don't get the sense that he is
00:43:27
Speaker
you know, chomping at the bit to go play in Europe. I think that every player, you know, if the right situation comes along, it's certainly going to make that move. I mean, if he can make a lot more money or go play somewhere a lot more high profile. But if I'm Jordan Morris and I am where he's at in his career, you know, established as one of the best players in MLS, pretty comfortably in the national team rotation, like I think he's going to have to have bad national team performances to drop out of his team entirely.
00:43:55
Speaker
Playing at home, making good money. I don't know that I want to trade that for going to fight out for a spot on the bench with West Brom or something. I don't see the appeal there unless you just really have that burning desire to play in the Premier League or whatever.
00:44:16
Speaker
And I don't know, I just maybe that's wishful thinking on my part. I just think it's going to take a lot to get Jordan to move and I don't know that that kind of move is out there right now for him. Yeah, I would agree with you across the board on Morris especially. I don't think
00:44:37
Speaker
that the talk I think the talk is more signaling and it's like man I'll tell if the right the right position the right things out there I'd totally do it and I think he's I think it's true but he's not going to just go to Europe for the sake of going to Europe he's like someone's got to come to him with an idea that makes sense and it's not to compete for a time on a mid-table team like like I just don't see that like if
00:45:02
Speaker
You know, if a big German team comes or reasonably, you know, like a mid table German team says, Hey, you are starting left midfielder. We want you to come here. Hey, probably makes sense to go. But if it's like.
00:45:14
Speaker
we'd like to bring you in as one of like five players that's competing for time at midfield and we're a you know like i don't know like i don't know i don't i don't see that i think you're right that the equation that it needs to work to make sense is a very specific equation and i don't see that happening right now because it's like
00:45:36
Speaker
teams aren't just out there spending money to do that. And I don't think Morris is going to walk out on his, is going to be asked to be released from his contract just so he can do that. And I think the Sounders would be not inclined to do that anyway.
00:45:55
Speaker
But yeah, if you're looking for players to leave that to be transferred with, or to be traded within MLS, I think Will Bruin and New Who are probably the two top candidates. I don't know how likely that is, but it could happen for sure. I wouldn't be shocked if there's a team out there willing, like my understanding is Will came pretty close to moving last off season and
00:46:19
Speaker
And he didn't want it to happen, and it didn't happen. I don't know if that would be the case this year of a similar opportunity presented itself. So who knows? I wouldn't count it out. But I would say that right now, my expectation is that the team looks a lot like how it does right now at the beginning of next season.
Sounders Teams in Hypothetical Competitions
00:46:45
Speaker
All right, next one is from Jim C. Kim. If you could take every MLS Sounders team and place them in a World Cup-esque competition, which underdog is the scariest, which for advanced, and who ultimately wins? Well, I'll tell you, I think 2013 ends up with a lower seed than their rating, or than their talent level would suggest. So I think that there would probably be like maybe like a
00:47:15
Speaker
10 seed or something like that. And I think they're more talented than a 10 seed. So I could see them springing some upsets. I'm trying to think who all, like I would think the 09 and 10 teams are probably the other low seeds just because the talent level is not as high. I don't know that either of those teams I would expect to do much.
00:47:43
Speaker
It's a hard one. It is a really hard one because I think that there is a clear delineation in MLS quality from like 2015 onwards.
00:47:53
Speaker
Um, I think the 2014 team could be competitive. Yeah. But, but I think, like, I think it's the 2009 team is going to be more competitive with the 2014 team than the 2013 team would be with 2019. If that makes sense. Yeah. Sure. Like I think when the big national team players started coming back into the league, when Toronto was going out and signing players like your main Defoe that.
00:48:17
Speaker
obviously didn't work out great, but like there was this clear movement that started in that era of MLS that I think sets it apart in a pretty big way. So I think yeah, I think that's spot on. I mean, I think that the most talented sounder team ever is probably this one. I think the 2019 team may have been holistically better.
00:48:41
Speaker
I'm not sure. I think it's impossible to say. And I also think it's like, how much different really is the 2019 team from the 2018 team from the 2020 team, blah, blah, blah. So I don't know. It's a tough question that I'm probably not going to give a satisfying answer to or the answer that was thought out. It's a tough one. But I definitely think, you know, if you, let's say you put, you know, they're in four groups and you put like,
00:49:12
Speaker
One, three teams in each group, 2009 and 2017 and 2010 and 2018 and 2011 and two that, you know, do it that way. Um, but however you want to do it, I don't know. I think that the teams from, um,
00:49:30
Speaker
I think that the teams from post 2015 are going to be pretty, like, I think that the second round of that, the knockout round is basically 2020 versus 2016, 2019 versus 2017. You know, maybe the 2014 team sneaks in there. I guess the 2014 team is probably an underdog in that sense. And they, you know, they might've actually been better than the 2014 team, even though I don't think that that would hold true across the league.
00:50:01
Speaker
But yeah, I think this year's team or last year's team wins. Yeah, I would agree that those are the favorites for sure. All right, this is from Dave W. Montgomery. He says, will someone finally settle the exact pronunciation of Jaymar? I've heard Jaymar, Ymar, and Yaymar this year multiple times.
00:50:23
Speaker
I can't do it, but I would love for you to be able to because I have trouble with it. I think it's like jao is how I've been pronouncing it, but I don't know that that's 100% true. But you're right, it's been pronounced many different ways.
Holiday Traditions and Music Recommendations
00:50:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's true. I and I feel that I'm so bad with just name pronunciations in general and I feel like I kind of have a past because nobody says my name right and I you know it's like whatever I get it. It's a weird name, but
00:50:57
Speaker
I feel bad that I, I mispronounce people's names. It's not nice to do, but you know, he should just, you know, maybe I guess we should ask him. Yeah. I mean, that would be good at some point we should. Yeah. Cause like, I feel like usually that would have been sorted out, but like there's no, there's been so little press access this season. Yes. You know, especially for players like him who are not native English speakers. Right. Yep. So.
00:51:23
Speaker
Next one's from BT Weber. What was the most hashtag Schmetzer time thing you did over the holidays? Put up my Christmas tree. That's a pretty Schmetzer time thing, right? Like went went to the local went to the local Christmas tree farm.
00:51:45
Speaker
or actually the local Christmas tree seller on the corner on Stone Avenue, picked up a Christmas tree, decorated it, put up lights, all did that. I think that we got it all done on the day after Thanksgiving, which felt very Schmetzer time to me. That's pretty good. I would say that it was talking to my nephews about Santa Claus because both Santa Claus and Schmetzer time are things that don't exist that we made up to entertain children.
00:52:13
Speaker
Fair, fair, fair, fair. All right, this one's, we got a second one from Twimberly23. He says, since it seems the younger players are gonna get more of a run out next year, who are you most excited to watch? I think Leyva is the obvious answer just because this felt like such a lost year for him. Really through, I mean, I can't imagine any faults of his own. I mean, he got hurt and that's...
00:52:39
Speaker
kind of the way it goes. But, you know, he's still young enough that that shouldn't be a huge roadblock or anything. I mean, honestly, I haven't seen enough from any of the other youngsters that I'm necessarily excited to watch them. And I hate to say that. And I don't think that that's necessarily a criticism. I just think it's
00:53:02
Speaker
It takes a while to be able to make an assessment of a young player. I feel like we got enough of that of Leyva to know that there's something there to be very excited about. And I don't know that I at least have gotten enough of that from any of the other players. I think somebody that watched a ton of Defiance games that just pays a little more close attention to the Academy probably has a better sense than I do. But in terms of just first team performances, it's, you know,
00:53:32
Speaker
I don't have a lot of insight. I'll agree. I think that Leyva is the obvious one on the first team, but I'll throw in the two players I'm actually really interested to see next year are Ray Serrano and Alec Diaz, not because I think they're going to do anything with the first team, but because they both had quietly
00:53:51
Speaker
progressive years this year in terms of advancing. And I really like Ray Serrano's potential. I think he's a player who could be, you know, he's grown a lot since signing, I think as a 15 year old, maybe he was 16, but he signed when he was really young and he's made solid improvements. I think he's a player who is in line to maybe make a real step forward next year. Alec Diaz is a little bit older, maybe a year older.
00:54:18
Speaker
He's a forward, he's got some time with the Puerto Rico national team, but he quietly had a really good season this year and that was a bounce back year from last year where he kind of fell off a bit and he struggled for playing time, but he had six goals I think and an assist.
00:54:34
Speaker
while being the primary starter at the Defiance and you know he's someone who I don't think he projects quite as aggressively but I think we're going to learn a lot about him next year and I also I'm kind of excited to see Alfonso Ocampo Chavez kind of get back on the
00:54:53
Speaker
get back on it. He, this was really a lot, even more so than Leyva, who at least was dealing with injuries. I think this was really a lost year for Ocampo Chavez because he was someone who kinda got lost between the two teams and didn't get a ton of playing time with Defiance.
MLS Season Amid COVID-19
00:55:13
Speaker
As much, I mean, no one got a ton of Defiance playing time, but he, I think he got stuck where he,
00:55:20
Speaker
You know, he couldn't even get on the bench with the first team when he was with them. And that was, and I'm not exactly sure what was going on there, but it'll be an interesting year for him, for sure. All right. This one is from West Coast Brian. He says, why'd we have a season with COVID that did not prevent the spread among the players?
00:55:42
Speaker
I mean, the same reason people that work in bars are still having to go to work, the same reason that people that work in restaurants are still having to go to work because, bluntly, because we decided that we just didn't give a shit and that money was important. I mean, we could have, you know, I think MLS did about as good a job as you could have expected them to do. I think that ultimately they didn't really have a lot of choice. They pretty much had to play once the other leagues decided to start back up.
00:56:12
Speaker
I mean, I think you can definitely make a case that they shouldn't have played and they should be criticized for playing, but you have to criticize everyone else for having non-essential work. We just, as a society, as a country, we decided, yeah, we're not going to do what we have to do to prevent the spread of this and, uh, you know, good luck and Godspeed. And that's why, I mean, it's because the country's broken. Like, I don't, I don't have a better answer for you than that one. Yeah, I got nothing. I got nothing to add there.
00:56:40
Speaker
All right, next one is from PaulTastic1977. We need to invent MLS teams winning the CCL. Is it weird that I am bummed not to be in this tournament? It's not weird. I mean, I always miss feel like a sense of loss when the Sounders don't get to play in CCL. It's a fun competition. And it was a real bummer this year that the Sounders went out so early. It would have been fun to make another run at it. Although, if there's a year not to be in it,
00:57:09
Speaker
probably next year. And equally, if there was a year to go out early, it was probably this year. So. Yeah, I feel like it would have been a little bit hollow for this to be like the year that an MLS team won it. Yes. And, and I feel like I have some credibility there because I never root for MLS teams if they're not the sounder store in it, except the impact. Cause that would have been very funny. Um, but I just like, I think this year would have been especially sort of like, well, who gives a shit? Like that wasn't a real thing. It was like, that wasn't a real.
00:57:38
Speaker
competition this year. Yeah, for sure. I don't think it would have changed the narrative as much as people wanted it to if LAFC had actually beaten Club America. Yeah. I think it's your turn, right? Oh, yeah, probably. This one's from AdamP360. He says, did you get anything good for Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus? While we were just talking about this, I got three pairs of the same shoes and two pairs of the same pants.
00:58:05
Speaker
It's like such a perfect analogy of adult Christmas. Very, very much so. But they're good shoes. They're very good shoes. They're Solomon, Gore-Tex, hiking shoes. So I'm looking forward to putting those to work. I haven't been yet. I mean, I wanted to wait until the, you know, I didn't want to go like the day after Christmas.
00:58:24
Speaker
get COVID or whatever. Yeah, I got some shoes. Yeah, my wife got me a very cool shirt. It's an Audi Audi rally car shirt. That's very cool. Got a lot of socks, which is actually a good present in my mind. So yeah, yeah, pretty good haul, pretty good. We were kind of talking about how Christmas does this weird thing, where it goes from being a really fun
00:58:48
Speaker
goes from being really fun when you're young to being really useful oftentimes when you're like pre enough money to buy whatever you want for yourself part of your life and then it becomes like annoying actually because it's only an avenue for disappointment I find as a once you become a certain age it feels like it's almost exists just to disappoint you because it's like no matter what
00:59:14
Speaker
It doesn't go right. And then when you have kids, it starts to be kind of fun again. But I really didn't get anything of note. My mom gave me a sweater from Costco that was two sizes too big. She gave the family a globe that was effectively a furniture piece that is a very nice globe, but has really no place in our house, no realistic place in our house.
00:59:44
Speaker
I will say that a big shout out to our friend, Emily Cummings, who helped me or who framed some artwork.
Entertainment Recommendations
00:59:53
Speaker
I wanted to get some, my wife had talked to me about wanting to frame some concert posters that we had from our young days. And so she actually commissioned Emily to help me frame some artwork and it looked really nice. And so that was a gift that I gave to Giovanna, my wife. And so that was kind of fun.
01:00:13
Speaker
Yeah, it was, I mean, Christmas was a huge bummer this year, I think, for everyone. Yeah. But you still gotta, you know, you gotta try to do it, right? You gotta try. You gotta try. We were going to open presents over Zoom and like about 30 seconds ended the call with my nephews popping into the frame every second. We decided that probably wasn't gonna, wasn't gonna fly. Oh yeah, we talked, we thought about trying to do some sort of Christmas Zoom, but like we have a fractured,
01:00:42
Speaker
celebration of it anyway. And it felt like there wasn't really a sensible way to do it. So we didn't, but I'm going to, I'm going to jump ahead of you. I'm going to ask you this one because I think you're going to have much better answer for this. I don't really have a great answer, but this is from Nikita Banana. They want to know if you have any favorite albums that you got through favorite albums to get you through the year. Yeah.
01:01:07
Speaker
So the first one's an album that came out last year, but I listened to a ton of it this year, especially in the first couple months of the pandemic. It's been a pop from Toronto that I love. They did an album last year called Morbid Stuff that is incredible. And then they did an EP this year called Displace Sucks Ass, which is
01:01:27
Speaker
maybe even better and very um has a it was written and recorded during the pandemic so I think the mood of it sort of fits um and then there's this band from Calgary I guess it was just like the year of uh Canadian Canadian fans but
01:01:43
Speaker
There's a band from Calgary called Mortality Rate that is not going to be for everybody. They're definitely a hardcore band, but then they had a name like Mortality Rate. Yeah, you'd be shocked. Yeah, but very screamy, but cool because like most hardcore is very male. It's a relatively male genre, I would say, male dominated genre, but their vocalist is a woman. So it's a different
01:02:09
Speaker
sort of a different feel, but very, very good. And they had an album called You Were the Gasoline that came out in 2019. It's a full-length album that's like, I think 14 minutes long, which I think is a good indicator of a good quality hardcore album. So I listened to those a ton this year, in addition to all the old standbys and stuff. And neither one of them came out this year, because I don't...
01:02:32
Speaker
I never, I'm like always two years late on music. Well, I don't, I don't think I'm going to impress anyone with, I'm going to, I just did my Apple replay thing just to remind myself of what we listened to this year. And I'll tell you what we listened to a lot, especially early in the pandemic was blinding lights by the weekend.
01:02:49
Speaker
The weekend was in a lot of our big playlist. Another one was Juice by Lizzo. And then my kids really dominated our playlist this year. We had a lot of stuff from The Descendants, which is a trio of movies put out by Disney that are not great movies, but they have some fun soundtrack stuff. And then I will say this.
01:03:12
Speaker
did kind of get us through especially the early part of the pandemic was there is this show on Netflix called Julian the Phantoms and my daughter was really really into it and the plot of it basically is this young girl, teenage girl,
01:03:31
Speaker
Her mother has died like a year before when this takes place, and she ends up meeting the spirits of this band that died in 1995, which is perfect for me because that was a year of when music was most relevant to me. It was my senior year in high school, it was 1995.
01:03:52
Speaker
And I don't know why they picked 1995. But anyway, this band that died in 1995 suddenly appears to her as spirits in 2020, and they form a band. And the only time people can see the spirits is when they're playing their instruments. And so they perform where she's the front, the singer of this band. And it's like a pop punk kind of outfit. And I got to tell you,
01:04:14
Speaker
The show is good is fine. The music is legitimately like catchy and good and not like, I mean, it's...
01:04:25
Speaker
It's pop music, right? It's not like gonna, I don't think it's gonna win any Grammys or blow away the critics, but it's like, it's really good. And it's like, it was, the show was a positive influence and I liked it and my kids were singing it. And so I'm gonna say the, check out the soundtrack for Julian the Phantoms. It's like 13, like every episode was built around one song.
01:04:50
Speaker
So there's the same number of original songs as there were episodes in the show, which I found kind of impressive. And they were pretty good. I feel like once you have kids, the critical thing is like finding music that you both can tolerate. Yes. Yes. Like it was never like that with my parents, at least until I was like 17 and like appreciate like Neil Diamond or whatever.
01:05:16
Speaker
Yeah, no, I would totally agree. We didn't grow up really listening. There wasn't like, for whatever reason, like the only music that we had in our house was like on the radio, even though my parents were kind of into music before they had kids, music was not a big part of my childhood. And so like, I felt like I didn't really start discovering music until I was basically a teenager. Yeah.
01:05:39
Speaker
which was kind of weird, but I actually liked that, you know, my wife is very into music and has always been into music. And so it's not surprising that our kids have been exposed to a lot of music, but like finding stuff that we can all at least tolerate is pretty key. And it doesn't necessarily mean that we get to listen to the stuff that we love the most all the time, but like the kids can tolerate Lizzo and they can tolerate the weekend and we can tolerate
01:06:07
Speaker
a little bit like the descendants I would not say is it's my cup of tea necessarily but it's not ear grading like there's some bad kids bop out there that we don't have to listen to so I'm grateful for that but like Julian the phantoms you know
01:06:24
Speaker
did the pretty good balancing act, I think. Like, wasn't something I would have sought out on my own, but I would say if my kids are into that, I'm fine with that. But anyway. It's kind of like a Pixar, like, spearhead of the whole trend of putting jokes for the parents into the movies. Yeah.
01:06:41
Speaker
And also just making extremely good movies. Yeah. And I will say this, in the same way, maybe not the same way, but in Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse, I think is one of the rare movies that managed to find that balance. I think it works completely as an adult movie. If you go into it as an adult and see it, I think it works on every level that a superhero movie is supposed to work. I think that movie totally works. And my kids were really into it.
01:07:11
Speaker
I felt comfortable with the level of violence that they were exposed to in it as opposed to like, I don't know that are quite ready for the Avengers, but that one worked for some reason.
01:07:20
Speaker
It has some loss that is like an appropriate level of loss for kids to tolerate.
Podcast Reflection and Future Plans
01:07:26
Speaker
So there's like, there are some consequences for violence in that one. I think that's kind of an important thing. Like if kids are gonna watch violence, there should be some consequences in that. I think that's okay. But anyway, that's another episode we can talk about that.
01:07:44
Speaker
But yeah, that's the show. And I think that's, I don't know when the next time you'll hear from us, it's probably going to be a little bit, I would think closer to the start of the season there. Cause unless some big stuff happens, but you know, we kind of did a big sign off after the last episode. I won't bore you again, but a huge, huge shout out to full pool wines. Aaron, it's been an absolute pleasure getting through another year. I think this was our ninth season doing this. Yeah. 2011 was the first year or so. Yeah.
01:08:13
Speaker
We're into year nine. It is pretty crazy. Pretty crazy. And hopefully, hopefully next season. A little more fun. We'll be more fun. Yeah. We'll not be something we're doing to stave off crippling depression. Yeah. We'll just be back to more, just a hobby.
01:08:28
Speaker
Yeah I know and I want to say a shout out especially to the listeners who hung with us. I know that we didn't always bring the message that people were dying to hear from a Sounders podcast and that they just wanted it to be a pure escape and this ended up being a place where you and I I think vented our frustrations a little bit more than than we had in the past. We let
01:08:51
Speaker
I think consciously our politics come into the show a little bit more this year. And I'm not apologizing for that, but I do want to say that I appreciate people who stuck with us through that. And it wasn't like we got a ton of complaints over it either.
01:09:10
Speaker
And so I think we maybe had primed our audience for this sort of thing as it was, but hopefully this show worked for you this year. Our intention absolutely is to, we had a lot of plans for this year that we got shelved and hopefully we're able to unveil some of those plans. We're still working on coming up with a viable
01:09:33
Speaker
product for Yacht-Con. Our intention right now is to still do it. It's going to look different than it had in the past. We don't want to just do Yacht-Con, but virtual. We want it to be a different kind of event. We're working on some things that I think will be attractive to people. Hopefully, we can still raise some money for the Seattle Children's Autism Center. So do keep an eye out on for that. And I would suspect the next time we record is probably to talk about Yacht-Con expressly.
01:10:04
Speaker
Yeah, thanks to everyone who made this possible. Thanks to Likit for producing it. He hasn't been able to be as active of a part on air this year because of his work commitments, but he has been as important, if not more important than ever in terms of doing the behind the scenes work to make this show happen and to make it sound good and do all that kind of stuff. So yeah, I guess we'll catch you next time.
01:10:31
Speaker
I'm Jeremiah Shan, signing off for Aaron Campo and Lick It. This is No Study Yet This, and remember, you'll never yet alone.
01:10:55
Speaker
Roll on, Columbia, roll on. Roll on, Columbia, roll on. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll on, Columbia, roll on. We love you. Let's win another one!