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Nos Audietis, episode 311: YachtCon V: Homecoming
65 Plays5 years ago
For the fifth time, we've hosted something we lovingly dubbed YachtCon. Frankly, this one is going to be tough to top (which won't stop us from trying).
Not only did we have an absolutely stellar panel of guests -- Brian Schmetzer, Jess Fishlock, Bethany Balcer, Bill Predmore, Brad Evans, Will Bruin and Garth Lagerwey -- but we finally had a venue that was all ours. Hale's Palladium felt just about perfect and we have some amazing ideas that we think at least have the potential to smooth out any rough edges.
Among the highlights were Schmetzer talking about the "hazy" days of the CISL's Seattle SeaDogs, the players all facing off in an epic game of "Line 'em Up" and Lagerwey explaining some of the intricacies of the new CBA.
In addition to having wonderful guests, we also raised a significant amount of money. We're still going through the full accounting of everything, but it's looking very likely that when it's all said and done that we'll exceed our $10,000 fundraising goal. All of that money will go to the Seattle Children's Autism Center, which they use on buying Big Red Safety Boxes for their families. If you'd like to contribute more to the cause, you can give a tax-deductible donation here. If you act quickly, you can still contribute by placing an order for one of our jerseys by filling out this order form: men's, women's.
On a more personal note, it should be said that for all the talk of MLS's potential growth, events like this should be treasured. There might not be any teams in the world of the quality of the Seattle Sounders and Reign FC who are participating in a grassroots, fan-centric event like this. We also owe a big thank you to SB Nation, who agreed to cover most of our expenses this year and played a huge role in helping us reach our fundraising goal.
But enough talk, If you weren't able to attend and would prefer to watch the highlights, check out our YouTube page. Otherwise, you can listen to the podcast version of the show here.
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
Sponsorship and Event Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Fullpool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. To eat those of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now, should be familiar to Fullpool 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. Fulpel's unique writing style is applied to recipes like Leftover Thanksgiving, Turkey, Smaltz of All Soup, and pregnancy nachos. This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books. 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 Stefan Fry? Here comes Roy Deans through the middle to crowd it for Seattle. What do the Tigers dream of? They take a little Tigers in. It's the Sounders and it has come. 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. Is this working? Great. Hey, welcome to Yacht-Con 5 Homecoming. I'm loving this crowd very, very promptly arriving closer.
Charitable Focus and Auction Details
00:01:46
Speaker
Is this better?
00:01:47
Speaker
All right, well, as you can see, this is the fifth version of this event that we're doing. I am Jeremiah O'Shan. Joining me on the stage right now is Likit and...
00:02:03
Speaker
And Aaron is here somewhere as well. And this is a Nos arietes, sounder at heart production, Ride of the Valkyries. We are going to be putting on hopefully a pretty good show for you guys. We have a great lineup of guests here. And before I get started though, I wanted to go through a few things.
00:02:21
Speaker
As the name applies, this is the fifth year of us doing this event. In the past four, we've raised somewhere around $20,000 for various Seattle childrens.
00:02:37
Speaker
various Seattle Children's Departments. As we have in the last couple years, we're raising money for the Autism Center this year. I really recommend that you go check out the whole kind of operation that they have over here. The money that we've been able to raise goes directly to these big red boxes that go to families with children with autism, and it helps them out. So it has a direct impact on that stuff.
00:03:04
Speaker
This year, which is new, Sounder at Heart and SB Nation are actually covering our expenses this year, so this is a huge debt of gratitude to them. It's going to hopefully help us reach a $10,000 goal, which is obviously something that you guys are playing a big part in.
00:03:22
Speaker
And the way we're doing that, as usual, is we are going to have the silent auction. You can see all the items up there. If you see something you like, just put your name down in the bid. And at 9 o'clock, basically before the Garth Lagaway segment starts, we're going to announce the winners and give you about an hour to get settled up and pay your stuff and walk away with your items.
00:03:51
Speaker
So one of the things that I think is pretty amazing about this event is that it's all volunteer hours. Everyone that's putting, like I'm volunteering, Likit's volunteering, there's probably 20 or 30 different volunteers that are helping us do this whole thing. Pretty amazing. And so if you get a chance to thank one of them, say thank you.
00:04:14
Speaker
So one of the things I wanted to talk also about was this particular charity. The way it got started was I was, my wife works at Seattle Children's. We started out doing it for the PBMU there. And over time, we kind of just realized that the autism center was a way that we could have a direct impact on stuff going on at Seattle Children's. And so it's kind of blossomed into this.
00:04:44
Speaker
And one of the things that we're offering this year is you can basically buy a big red box for $25 that you can make the donation directly to Seattle Children's. There's a link that they have there that will take you directly there.
00:05:01
Speaker
So anyway, that's one of the ways that we're raising money.
Brian Schmetzer on MLS Cup and Coaching Challenges
00:05:05
Speaker
Hopefully you also saw the photo booth that we've set up. It's in the back, all over to the left when you walk in, or I guess it would be to the right when you walk in, but it's over here.
00:05:18
Speaker
Two MLS cups are there, the Cascadia Cup, and I'm told Sami, the sounder, is maybe not here right now, but he's eventually going to be here, so lots of photo opportunities to get out there to take photos.
00:05:36
Speaker
So finally, the last thing that I'm asking of you guys is we are doing several different panels and there's going to be opportunities for you to submit questions. One of the probably the most fun one is Will and Brett, Will Bruin and Brad Evans are going to be doing a special live edition of Dear Will Bruin in which they
00:05:57
Speaker
give you advice on various life dilemmas but we're also taking questions for the rain panel and I think we're going to be taking questions for Garth as well. So yeah and so with all that said I wanted to bring Brian Schmetzer the
00:06:33
Speaker
Oh okay. Oh okay.
00:06:46
Speaker
So I had a whole intro that I just totally botched, but two-time MLS Cup winner, two-time U.S.L. winner, and a CISL winner as well as an assistant. I think you won a few more indoor titles, is that right, with the San Diego Tigers? And of course, a Lake City Hawk legend. Wow, now you're going back. Yeah, we'll do it.
00:07:16
Speaker
So Brian, thank you for doing this. You're welcome. I know you are not feeling particularly well. And so the fact that you are here is yet another testament to your commitment to this fan base. And it's really amazing. What did you say? I was fighting something? I said you were fighting something.
00:07:32
Speaker
Are you not fighting something? Well, I mean, look, I know some of you readers and commenters on your Sounder at Heart blog might think that I fight with Harry sometimes about putting him on the lineup sheet.
00:07:47
Speaker
But what I am fighting is Harry Shipps. He had like, he was like sick down in Mexico and Honduras. I mean, he had the flu influenza and then it got into his lungs. He's questionable for tomorrow or Thursday.
00:08:02
Speaker
He's questionable. He was at training today and he goes, Coach, I feel pretty good, but I feel like I just smoked a pack of cigarettes. So he's trying to get over that. But he's a tough kid, so I think he'll come around. But I'm blaming Harry for my little sickness, but I'm always happy to be here, happy to be part of the gang. I do have my ECS shirt on.
00:08:32
Speaker
So I guess we'll just start, since you bring it up. How was Mexico? How was Honduras? Great. Mexico was great. Look, I have a really talented staff, but having Gonzo on the staff and having him open doors for us down there at the Mexican national team training facility was fantastic. It's obviously a big deal because it's a Mexican national team.
00:09:02
Speaker
laid out the red carpet for us. Maybe laid out the red carpet for Gonzo. I mean, we got to train on beautiful fields. We got fed well. There was dormitories with foosball tables, ping pong tables, stuff for the guys to do. It was secluded. It was out there away. So some of the guys got a little stir crazy, but it was good. It was concentration. It was perfect for what we needed.
00:09:23
Speaker
So were you able to get into town and like? You did on a couple occasions. We went out to a couple dinners. Gonzo took us to a good steakhouse and then another restaurant in a mall, in a fancy mall. Our highlight was one of the trips to the pyramids. I mean, that was pretty cool. I mean, you guys probably all saw the guys posting things. It's quite a hike. It's quite steep. There are no safety OSHA rules, like, you know, there.
00:09:47
Speaker
The handrail is just a piece of plastic. So if you go tumbling down those stairs, you're going down a long ways. And we saw Javier and Jaymar helping a random person up or down the stairs, I suppose. It was down the stairs. But again, it's one of those great moments that all of you that have kids, I mean, you want your children to be nice citizens and nice people and all that. And Jaymar and Javi fit that bill to a tee.
00:10:15
Speaker
Well, let's go back to another good memory of yours, I'm sure. MLS Cup 2019.
00:10:27
Speaker
I mean, we may as well start with a build up to it. I think you, and I feel like you've articulated this before, but there was a dilemma, I think, that you faced in leaning into the pressure of hosting MLS Cup in front of 70,000 fans, you know, really the first time that a Seattle team had hosted a big championship like that in forever. It was new.
00:10:56
Speaker
And, and like trying to wall it off as if it was just kind of another game. And it seemed like you leaned into that. Do you feel like you ended up balancing that challenge? Well, well, you know, I think I've said this before publicly, if I didn't, I apologize, but I don't think we did the best job mentioning our players because they played tight for the first 60 minutes. So whatever I tried to do, and here's the, here's the big if and when and learning curve for a coach.
00:11:25
Speaker
I mean, we could totally play the underdog against LAFC. I mean, we went in there and said, oh, what do we got to lose? We're going to play with them. We're as good as them. We can do this, this, this, this. It was very simple, very easy messaging for the group. Then when we knew we were going to host, then that was a little more challenging. And there was a divided coaches room. Some of them said, no, you shouldn't even address it. Some said, yeah, you can do this. And other people over here, I decided to take kind of a middle ground. I wanted to address
00:11:55
Speaker
you know, something just about how they might feel when the game kicks off. It's it's normal to have butterflies. If you're not, you're dead, you know, simple stuff like that. But but I think the players were tight. I think they were very tight. And it was just that moment when, you know, Kelvin pulls that shot or, you know, Raul the pass, whatever it was, you guys not stopping to believe. I mean, you guys kept us going.
00:12:25
Speaker
Once that goal came, it took everything away and then makes us coaches look pretty good. And so when you walk out onto the field and you see, you've probably imagined it in your mind's eye a million times, how did it compare to, or were you even taking it in at that point? Well, Tommy Deutscher and I have our little routine. So we're big on routines. We're not superstitious. We just have routines.
00:12:54
Speaker
So Tommy and I like to go out and he likes to walk out with me. We have our cup of coffee in our hand and we like to turn around and sometimes on a Sunday afternoon game at noon, we say, God, there's a lot of people out on the water today or what's going on or late arriving crowd on a Thursday night or Wednesday night. And we just talk. And when Tommy and I walked out onto the field, we didn't have to say anything. We were just like going, oh my God, this is like the greatest thing that we've ever seen.
00:13:21
Speaker
So it was a pretty cool moment, pretty special moment to share between a good friend of mine and it was really a super, super cool moment. So there's this picture and it's actually, one of the auction items actually is captured at this moment of you standing away from the, you're off the stage and you're watching the players celebrate. Was that something that you, and I don't feel like that's an image that we see a lot of times of coaches like not wanting to be on the, or
00:13:49
Speaker
removing themselves from the stage and kind of taking it in and almost being a fan in that way. I mean, I guess what was your thought process behind that? Was it conscious to do that? It's conscious. Here's the way I always say it. I say, look, when the team does well, the players get the accolades. They're the ones that do the hard work. When the team doesn't do well, we as coaches have to take responsibility to give them the tools to be successful. That's just the way I am. That was their moment. It wasn't my moment.
00:14:17
Speaker
It was their moment. They're the ones that put all the effort, all the work in all season long through adversity. You know, Victor, what a great storyline that was. Ramon coming back. It was, it was their moment. And I like, I like them to celebrate on their own. I mean, sure. I get, you know, I'll get, I'll, I was part of the celebration in the locker room and we had some good times and there was some funny stories back there and.
00:14:41
Speaker
Obviously, our coaches, we were very excited. But I just think for me personally, that is a moment for the players who have done the hard work, all of them. I enjoyed that everybody on the roster was up on that stage. And for me, that's just the way it should be.
00:14:57
Speaker
You know, I think there's this challenge in sports especially of not resting on your laurels, not really allowing yourself to fully celebrate a moment like that because you immediately turn the, almost immediately you turn the page and look at 2020, but did you make a conscious effort to
00:15:17
Speaker
Like give yourself some time to actually feel like you got to the mountaintop. It wasn't as bad as 2016-17 when the very next morning after we were celebrating in Toronto, we had to, you know, get rid of a bunch of guys. That was a really stupid fucked up MLS rule. I mean, it was stupid. Stupid.
00:15:40
Speaker
I mean, that kind of pissed us off because we had to sit there and, of course, guys are going to be grumpy if you say, well, you're protected and you're not your option. That was bad. So this year, Jeremiah, and to everybody out there, I think I reflected on the moment. I certainly enjoyed the moment when we were there. But I don't know if we'll ever, maybe 10 years from now, I don't know, when I'm retired and sitting here co-hosting with you or something. I like that idea.
00:16:11
Speaker
You know, then maybe I can give you more depth to my thoughts at that moment. But look, it was a special event. I didn't go into training mode or coaching mode or whatever. I actually kind of let myself go for a couple of days. I wanted to enjoy the parade. I wanted to enjoy my family. My two grandbabies were up. You know, I had a baby daughter. My daughter had a grand, my granddaughter.
00:16:39
Speaker
And my wife's son had a grandson. And so both of my grand babies were there at the game. And so that was a big deal to me, having my family around and witnessing that spectacle. It was tremendous for me. So I wonder.
00:16:58
Speaker
OK, but you know, so after we went to the aftergame party down at the hotel there and everything, look, I was mentally trashed. I was like exhausted. I was just like, oh, my God, I'm tired. But we had to make the speech and we had the trophies and the office staff and some of you fans were in the room. And then I told my wife, Christine, I said, I got to go.
00:17:15
Speaker
I got to go. I had my buddies that were there from junior high and they were all, yeah, Brian, let's party, you know, like this. I was like, I was like, I was like, I am so tired. I just have to go home.
Schmetzer's Soccer Journey and Indoor Soccer's Role
00:17:29
Speaker
So Christina and I drive home and there are all our adult children, all six of them, plus their friends all drinking beer in my kitchen. I mean, just like the old days. Yeah, it was great. I mean, hey.
00:17:45
Speaker
So one of the things I think that makes your story so interesting is not just the local boy makes good, but it's also a story of a person who played and coached at virtually every level of American soccer. And that's indoor, that's outdoor, that's leagues that have gone defunct, that's leagues that are still going.
00:18:09
Speaker
But what kind of perspective do you think that that gives you of this whole thing that we're going through right now that maybe a lot of players who maybe either come from Europe or came up through MLS when MLS was always a thing? Perspective or life lessons. I mean, I'd probably be pretty good on Survivor or some show like that.
00:18:32
Speaker
I mean, the perspective I would say is that I'm old enough to have seen the good times and the bad times of both the NASL and MLS. I think I'm blessed in that sense. There was a lot of people that take credit for keeping soccer alive and stuff like that. You guys are going to hear from the Rain People Bill and what he's doing down in Tacoma and all that. I mean, they got to just go through some of those growing pains as well.
00:19:01
Speaker
I think soccer is obviously here to stay. There were so many of my dad coming over and he was into soccer, playing soccer. We all watched soccer. Soccer made in Germany way back when on PBS. I mean, I've seen pretty much everything and I just knock on wood. I feel blessed and I think that this area, this community is always going to support soccer.
00:19:25
Speaker
And, you know, there's, there's just a lot of, you know, growth in our sport now. I mean, it's really taken off. And I would tell all the people in Europe and guys in Argentina that come up here and say, you're lucky. I was talking to Jorge, our new video guy. He came from Spain and he was working in England at Leeds United. And he was like, oh man, the weather's really nice. He's not a Leeds fan.
00:19:55
Speaker
I think Alex Caulfield is the leads fan. He is, a little bit of one, yeah. Anyway, so Jorge was amazed by the weather for the last two days. And I'm going to just wait till May, June, July, August, September, October, global warming. I mean, we're going to have seven months of summer in Seattle. I mean, it's going to be great.
00:20:16
Speaker
So one of the, one of the areas of, one of the things I think that in generally makes Seattle, the Seattle soccer scene so vibrant is that there was never really a dark period from the, the, the seventies up until now, there was always something going on here. And a big part of that, or maybe not a big part of it, no, I would say a big part of it was the whole indoor scene, whether it was in Tacoma or it was like, in the CS, CIS, I mean, what,
00:20:42
Speaker
How important do you think the indoor game was to kind of developing soccer as a spectator sport in the Pacific Northwest? Yeah, I think it kept it alive. I mean, I remember going to Tacoma Dome when I was living in San Diego and there was like, you know, 20,000 people in Tacoma Dome watching indoor soccer. It was pretty crazy.
00:21:00
Speaker
Um, so I think it was just a, just another storyline of, of just keeping pro soccer here and they're still doing it. I mean, Darren Sawatsky had the team down in, in Kent and I know there's other satellite leagues, even one step lower and, you know, the stars do a good job and, you know, Bellingham United. There you go. Right on brother.
00:21:25
Speaker
So indoor soccer has been popular. Obviously, my father and Pepe Fernandez had an indoor soccer rink up in Everett. So it's been good to keep people playing soccer and then keep people watching soccer. So you won a title with Seattle in the CISL, right? In 1997? Is that correct? You got a better memory than I do. OK. Well, I just looked it up.
00:21:56
Speaker
Those days were hazy. I mean, what was that? I mean, I would imagine- Marijuana was illegal then. I mean, what was that league like? I mean, it was a short-lived league. A bunch of pot smokers. Was it really? Yeah. John Purdeman would kill me if I said his name.
00:22:28
Speaker
None of you guys know John Purdeman, do you? God, I hope not. Anyway, now, look, indoor soccer was great. The seadogs were great. You know, I love talking about, you know, people, friends, Fernando Clovio, who recently passed, who we miss him very dearly. You know, he made a statement, a pretty bold statement, when he got the job for the seadogs. He says, I'm going to win a championship within three years. And the first year we sucked.
00:22:53
Speaker
The second year we sucked a little less. And then that third year, everything came together and we just like were lights out. We were like super, super good. And we kind of rolled through the regular season and then, you know, we went in the playoffs and in.
00:23:09
Speaker
Look, the C.I. sale was pretty bare bones, right? I mean, we were paying, we actually had guys on the roster that got paid $75 a game only if they played. Like, if they didn't step on the field, then they wouldn't get paid. So they were basically, you know, playing for fun, really. And we tried to get them odd jobs. I got a couple of sea dog stories if you guys can. We got time. Okay.
00:23:35
Speaker
So in my construction days, me and Dick McCormick, who was also on the Sea Dogs, we had our little construction business going at the time. And so the guys who were making $75 a game, they needed extra work. And so we were in the construction business. We'd get them odd jobs and stuff like that.
00:23:51
Speaker
and we were doing some roofing and we had this really this pretty cool idea we had a Chevy Suburban and it had passenger plates so when you went to the dump down here on 45th you only got paid you had charged eight dollars and fifty cents to take all the roofing material in for the dump instead of like 60 or 75 bucks at the time to dump all the roofing material
00:24:15
Speaker
And so this suburban was like our lifeblood. And so we had a couple players that were driving the suburban one day, and it broke down underneath the convention center. And so I was QC. I was quality control. So they called me up and they go, hey, Schmutz, I mean, the truck's broken. And I go, OK, will you guys sit tight? Just relax. I'll come and get you guys.
00:24:40
Speaker
And so they said, okay, we'll meet you on the corner of whatever, 7th and Pine. And one of them had a dog. I'm not going to name any names, but I rolled up in my truck and there they were sitting covered in just dirt and soot and everything. And they had their dog with them and I picked them off the street. And when they entered the car, these professional soccer players told me, they said, God, thank God you're here because people were walking by trying to give us money.
00:25:13
Speaker
And I was ashamed that we made these pro soccer players actually work for a living. Better story, better story. Are you saying that we're all Rui Diaz and Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey? No, I was talking about Danny Laver and Walla or Sam Rogers. Can you imagine Big Sam Rogers up on a roof somewhere trying to take off roofing material? No, I can't. I can't.
00:25:40
Speaker
But it was bare bones. So here's a good story on a positive note. So the sea dogs were owned by the Sonics people and it was full house sports entertainment. And so they let us use their jet, the Sonics jet on the way down to Houston. So it was a home and home series. So we played in Seattle on a Saturday night at like seven o'clock.
00:26:08
Speaker
And then we were playing at six o'clock in Houston the very next night. And so sure enough, we won the first game, but it was tight. It was tight as like six, five or something like that. And we go right after the game and we take off on the jet and we fly into Houston and we get into our hotel room at about three or four o'clock in the morning. We had to sleep all afternoon and we,
00:26:34
Speaker
have to play at six o'clock. They had to fly commercial, and so they had to get like a red-eye flight that landed at six or seven in the morning, and then they had to get their bags and their back. And so they were trashed the next day, and we beat them six to one. It wasn't even like... So charter flights, here you go. What's that, Brad or Carrie out there or someone?
00:27:02
Speaker
So anyway, so we were on our way back from the championship game in Houston and we were driving through and we weren't at Houston Intercontinental, we were at Houston Hobby, which is down in kind of a not so nice part of Houston.
00:27:21
Speaker
John Dracell, who was the president of Full House Sports and Entertainment, and Bill, and Ted and Chris, the Ackerleys, they were all on the plane. And so we're driving to this airport and all of a sudden there's like an AMPM mini mart. And we're like going, hey, can we stop and get some beer? Can we get some beer from the plane back? And they're like going, hey, sure. Yeah, no problem. Let's go. John was all really on top of it. So we pull over.
00:27:50
Speaker
Again, the Accorlys and John Dracell are in the AMP and buying us indoor soccer players beer.
00:27:58
Speaker
So all of a sudden we're kind of talking, we're celebrating, whatever, but it's kind of taken a long time, you know, and we're looking through the bus and, you know, we're kind of looking through the window and going, Hey, what's going on? What's going on? And there's Bill Ackerly, who's multi multi-millionaire. He's like going like this. And he started, he's arguing with the guy like this and like this. And there's some commotion in the store. John Dracell comes back on the bus and goes, Hey guys,
00:28:23
Speaker
Anybody got any cash? Because Bill's credit card didn't work in the card reader. And so he couldn't buy us beer because his card was broke. But it wasn't his card, it was the card reader. We picked up some cash and we got beer and we flew home and it was a great story.
Panel on OL Group's Impact and Player Development
00:28:43
Speaker
Just another one of the many, many things that'll be in the book. Well, I feel like I had a whole
00:28:52
Speaker
that I wanted to get into with, but that seems like such a good story to end on. Yeah. And I really appreciate you coming out here. I wish you the best of luck on Thursday and even in... Thank you. Thank you.
00:29:18
Speaker
So hopefully we have a few more Champions League games to talk about after that one. And then of course, Sunday. I'll be pissed. All right. Of course you will. Of course you will. Thank you so much. Thank you.
00:29:55
Speaker
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00:30:14
Speaker
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00:30:36
Speaker
Thank you again to Brian for doing that. Coming up in a couple minutes, we're going to do the rain panel, which if you may or may not know is made up of Bill Predmore, Jess Fishlock, and Bethany Balser, the reigning NWSL Rookie of the Year.
00:30:55
Speaker
And then later on, and then after that, we're gonna hopefully have a little, we're gonna revive the game that we played last year, if you remember that. I think we have talked Jess and Bethany into facing off with Brad Evans and Will Bruin, assuming we can all get them into the same place at the same time. So, fingers crossed on that one. And then of course we're gonna have Brad and Will come up here and do a,
00:31:21
Speaker
an advice panel for you all. But before we do that, I want to remind everyone that we have the silent auction going on over here to the left. Kelly is selling 50-50 raffle tickets and we're raising money for the Seattle Children's Autism Center if you want to
00:31:40
Speaker
hear from them, they are right over there, and we can leave with that. So with all that said, I wanted to welcome onto the stage Jacob Christable, who is going to be from Right at the Valkyries, who is going to be moderating this panel, Bill Predmore, Jess Bischlach, and Bethany Balser.
00:32:16
Speaker
It never really mattered too much to me But you were just too damn low for me All that really mattered was you were my girlfriend And baby, that's all that mattered to me
00:33:03
Speaker
There's like a lot of questions too. There are now.
00:33:06
Speaker
Hi, everybody. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Susie Rance, a writer for Ride of the Valkyries, which is a sub-blog of Sonder at Heart, and I will let Jacob introduce himself. Hi, everyone. I'm Jacob. I also write for Ride of the Valkyries.
00:33:33
Speaker
Before we get started on the panel with Bethany Balzer, Justin Fishlock, and Bill Predmore, I do think we need to make one special toast. So everybody in the room, raise up your glass, and we just say cheers and thank you to the retirement of Beverly Yanez. She just announced her retirement from Rain FC.
00:33:57
Speaker
So hopefully that'll get back to Beverly Annes and just say thank you for all the memories on and off the field for us being a Rain FC original. I think we'll kick it off, but first, maybe you don't know these folks, but I'm sure you do. But we have NWSL Rookie of the Year, Bethany Balzer.
00:34:26
Speaker
Jess Fischlach, a Rain FC original and member of the Most British Empire. And Bill Pradmore, who is owner and now CEO of Rain FC.
00:34:50
Speaker
And I guess Bill, maybe we'll start there. Folks probably know in the room, OL Group is now majority owner of Rain FC. And I'm curious, there's a lot of stuff happening behind the scenes, obviously, but what do you think fans might notice right away that may be a little bit different?
00:35:07
Speaker
Hmm, good question. Well, there could be a name change and a branding change and offing. So that would be one thing that would be pretty obvious for folks out there, which hopefully we'll have out here in the next couple of weeks. I think a lot of the work has been more behind the scenes than stuff that's going to be in front of the camera.
00:35:30
Speaker
You know the integration of what we're doing with what I was doing is a complicated process But has been going well. I think it will manifest itself probably for these guys From a training perspective I think the facilities were gonna be able to put together Better than yeah what we've had in the past so I think that's that's good news and that's a real commitment from OL to step up and do that so it's fantastic and
00:35:58
Speaker
For the players, Bethany and Jess, what does it mean for you to have the financial support of a group like OL Group, knowing what they've done for not only the men's team in France, but also their women's team who pretty much have run roughshod through the French competition, but also UEFA's Champions League competitions?
00:36:19
Speaker
I think it's really exciting. I think that's exactly what this league needs is. It's just more investment into the women's game. And so, yeah, we're just excited to see how that's going to play out in all facets in our game and the treatment we're getting. So it's exciting. I think it's what we need. Yeah, look, I've been lucky enough to work with both sides of it, obviously going on loan with OL last year and being a part of the reign now for going into the eight seasons.
00:36:49
Speaker
I kind of know both sides of the group individually. So I know exactly what's going to happen or I have this vision in my head of what's going to happen when they come together and make it because one of the things that is very similar with them both is that they want to be the best and they want to strive to be the best. And in order to do that, they know what they have to do to make that. So whether it be investment in the facilities or things for the team, the girls, the things in the back room, et cetera.
00:37:19
Speaker
You know, Bill and Lorraine have been doing that up until this point, you know, and oh well, probably the biggest women's team in the world and have been for a very long time.
00:37:32
Speaker
they're just gonna bring that experience of how they got there into what we already have. And yeah, I think there's gonna be changes that you'll see right away. It is gonna be a process, you know, and we're gonna have to trust that process and have a little bit of patience as well. But I believe it's gonna be probably one of the best things to happen, not only for our organization, but for football here in Washington and for the NWSL as well.
00:38:07
Speaker
We'll keep it on you for a second, Jess. For folks who maybe aren't as active on social media, you tore your ACL in July, but have been training, doing some running. Just how is your recovery going overall?
00:38:26
Speaker
No, yeah, my recovery actually is going perfectly as I'd hoped it'd be. Perfectly to plan, as they say. I'm in a great space right now. If anything, we're just...
00:38:41
Speaker
trusting the process and respecting the injury and just using the timeline that we have. And it's, you know, I saw my surgeon, I'll just tell you all the truth. I saw my surgeon yesterday. He's very happy and, you know, what I feel like I'm ready to do.
00:38:58
Speaker
He believes I'm ready to do as well, but he's like, look, he still has ACL injuries. So we're going to respect the timeline a little bit. You've got a while till the season starts. So just make sure you're just very, very good. So if everything goes the last six weeks as well as the last seven months, then the season's going to be good.
00:39:24
Speaker
I have a quick follow up on that. You sort of joked, but maybe there was a little truth in it. You fractured your leg a few years ago and you were playing four weeks later that bourbon and the beach was the recovery method. Do you have any similar tips this time around? Actually,
00:39:51
Speaker
Now I had a couple more years, I turned to gin. Apparently that's just as good. And I was in Australia, so there was a lot of training, a lot of gin, and a lot of beach.
00:40:13
Speaker
Bethany said the word investment earlier when you were talking about what does it mean for OL group to buy into the rain. And it just reminded us to say about how the club is investing in you. Oh, crazy feedback. For those that did not catch the news today, the club announced that Bethany has just signed a new contract extension for three years with the option for a fourth year. So congratulations to Bethany.
00:40:44
Speaker
What does it mean for you to get that sort of commitment from the club? Yeah, it's incredible. And just a dream come true, honestly, to have.
00:40:53
Speaker
An owner like Bill and O.L. and just an organization want me for that long or even be interested is incredible and I just absolutely love what we're doing here and what we're building and I'm so excited to be a part of it for the next four years and I grew a ton in my first year here and I don't expect anything less in the coming years and so I can't think of a better place to develop my game as I still have a long way to go.
00:41:24
Speaker
So obviously, your next objective is to win the individual championship. But for you on a personal branding front, what about getting that Crocs collaboration going? I'm trying hard. I'm reaching out. Hopefully, within the next year, we'll get something rolling here. Is there something that the fans can do? Maybe you should create a hashtag to get a movement going? Maybe. That's what I need. I don't know any other player who wants Crocs to sponsor them except me.
00:41:53
Speaker
There's a reason for that. So for everyone here in attendance and also those watching online, you have a mission. Get Crocs people to just pay attention and get something going on with Bethany Balzer here. They're a reliable shoe, OK?
00:42:15
Speaker
Speaking of sponsors though Budweiser invested at a really enormous level after the World Cup this last year. We've seen it play out in a couple of different ways advertising money behind the league but I'm curious from your players perspective if you've noticed like if Budweiser is making impact on you and Bill what you're seeing at the club level from their investment.
00:42:42
Speaker
Firstly, I just think it's really good for us that we have such a big brand that has started to invest in women's sport and women's football. Sorry, I can't say soccer, football.
00:42:55
Speaker
I think it's kind of a message too with some of the campaigns that they've done that they're just kind of like, where's everybody else? Like, come on, like sort your shit out. But I also think that they are doing stuff behind the scenes with the girls as well. Like they did an internship, right? So they ask people if they want to do an internship so they can learn other skills. And they did that in the off season. So I think that is also huge. So they are really helping from a kind of
00:43:24
Speaker
advertising, marketing, visibility perspective, but they're also doing really good things behind the scenes for us to try and get into other aspects of life, really, which I think is a really good thing for them to do, and I have a lot of respect for it.
00:43:43
Speaker
Yeah. Um, no, I mean, look, I think the way they stepped up was, uh, I mean, it was really unique in the history of the league. We never had a sponsor that, uh, not just put up money, but I think they put some thought into what they wanted to do with us. And I think Jess brought up a good point with the.
00:44:00
Speaker
Um, uh, the internship program. So they had, I think half a dozen players went back to New York. It was this program in conjunction, I think with Columbia university. So it was, you know, it was a actual meaningful educational experience. Um, you know, where they're collaborating with, uh, I think in a marketing department, marketing folks inside of Budweiser. Um, that I just don't think you've seen a brand step up that way in the past where it was, it was just more than the money. Um,
00:44:26
Speaker
I think they've been a real catalyst for starting conversations about this at the the amount of money that's spent from a sponsorship perspective on.
00:44:35
Speaker
women's athletic soccer or basketball or whatever. It's just, you know, it is a drop in the bucket compared to what the men get. And I think it takes a really a brave brand like Budweiser to step up and, you know, kind of call people out in a, you know, maybe a gentle way, but in a, you know, real way to say, Hey, we can do better. And that's the kind of thing that I think we can start a movement and can actually make some change. So, you know, again, very hopeful that it will see more impact this season and, um,
00:45:05
Speaker
And the league is in a sort of huge transition period right now, so I think we'll be better equipped to take advantage of those opportunities moving forward. I can't believe I'm saying this, but by Budweiser. Yeah. Please. Lots of it. Please. They have good seltzers. Or the hashtag NWSL.
00:45:27
Speaker
Well, obviously we also need to get a gin sponsorship for either the club or for NWSL just to appease Jess. I'm whiskey. That's still there. Okay. This question is for both Jess and Bethany. Bethany, what do you think is the biggest thing you've learned under your first year, learning from somebody like Jess on and off the field?
00:45:58
Speaker
It was only a month that I was there. I don't know. It was still an impactful month because you played with the month honors. I still remember the first day that Jess was at training. It was good. She just brought this energy to training that wasn't there when she wasn't there. I remember
00:46:25
Speaker
that the game after that training I was playing for, and she was playing mid. And she told me, she was like, you just do you, and I'll work around you. And I was like, wow, she's giving me that freedom and giving me that responsibility. And she trusts me enough to know what to do with the ball, know what runs to make. And so just learning from her giving me that freedom and ability has allowed me to expand as a player, I think, far more than her being like, do this, do this, do this.
00:46:53
Speaker
And she just makes our team so much better. She brings up the level of training, like I said. And I'm super excited that she's back and healthy and ready to kick ass this year. So. Jess, same question to you. What has been the most impressive thing you've seen out of Bethany in last year?
00:47:19
Speaker
The best thing I saw was when we played Portland right at home and you sent Mengues for a hot dog and then slipped it into the side net in with your left foot. I saw that and I was like,
00:47:34
Speaker
There's nothing better than watching a kid, sorry, I'm old, it's because I'm old. It's just because I'm old, have raw talent, right? Like nowadays they kind of get coached so much that that kind of rawness about them that makes them special kind of gets coached out of them a little bit. So it was really refreshing to come back from Leon and obviously
00:48:01
Speaker
I'd heard about Beth, but hadn't been able to see anything. And then, you know, straight away, that's obviously why I said that to her, like, you just do you and I'll work around it, because I have the experience to do that. And you kind of want to keep the rawness as much as you can. Of course, you have to tweak it and define it and all that kind of stuff, but you don't want to get rid of that. And that was one thing that, you know, I
00:48:26
Speaker
thought of at the time was how are we going to link up without taking away what she's very good at which is just her rawness as far as I'm concerned but also then fitting that within our team setup. So for me just kind of seeing that
00:48:44
Speaker
that just, you know, she knows what she wants to do, she'll do it, and doesn't really think too much about it. That was just really nice for me to see because, like I said, I think sometimes nowadays you just get coached out of that stuff, you know? And that was great for me. And the best thing I saw was when we played Portland and we, yeah, won, we beat them, right? Yeah. So, yeah.
00:49:10
Speaker
Three times. Three times. And then, yeah, she went to shoot on her right, faked it, cut it, mangas went this way, boar went this way. It was special.
00:49:22
Speaker
Well, that was a beautiful tribute to each other. Now we're gonna ask a more divisive question that has, you may or may not know, has divided both of you last season. We asked both of you on our podcast one of the most controversial questions, which was, does pineapple belong on pizza? I don't know if you have changed your answer.
00:49:51
Speaker
Bethany, you are pro pineapple, I believe. I think pineapple makes everything taste better. I can't do it. I don't get people that order Hawaiian.
00:50:19
Speaker
No, those people, if they're in my house, I have to ask them to leave. Sorry. You're the tie breaker. I think we have to trade Jess. Sorry. I love it. Only on pizza.
00:50:52
Speaker
Jesse mentioned Bethany's goal against Portland last season as one of your favorite moments. And I think one of the highlights for the team last season was sweeping Portland thorns in the regular season, all three matches last season. What does that achievement just mean for everybody? Obviously, Jesse, you're probably going to have a lot to say about it since you're most familiar with the rivalry. But yeah, what does that achievement last season mean for everybody?
00:51:25
Speaker
Well, yeah, my first year, obviously, I knew it was a rivalry, but you don't know how much of a rivalry it is until you're playing at Portland in front of 20,000 fans. And everyone's like, you don't know what to expect until you're in that moment. And it's the most physical game of the season. It's just the most intense. People will literally lay their bodies on the line just to win a ball. And yeah, winning all three was
00:51:51
Speaker
like the highlight of the season, honestly, because we knew how much a rivalry it is and everyone loves winning rivalries. So.
00:52:02
Speaker
Now, I think that it was good for us. Two of the games actually came at really important times in our season. The one that we won down there where Celia's goal, I think, was a really crucial time in our season because we kind of started off a little bit slow and then kind of, you know, rose up a little bit. And then we had a couple of injuries and it was like, where are we going to go from here?
00:52:29
Speaker
And so we kind of went into that game and I think they were kind of really confident because of our injury situation at that moment in time. And the girls just went out there and just like, just like brought it home. And sometimes they're bigger wins than what they actually are, if that makes sense. And then towards the end of the season, it was playoff time, playoff push. They were in a rough spot. We were pushing as well. And it was like a playoff situation game, you know?
00:52:58
Speaker
We thrashed them. So, I mean, that was great as well. So I think that's what made the games last season even like better were because they were like quite important times in our season. And those games always mean a little bit more. It always like is a bit emotional and everything like that. So yeah, it was definitely great for us to push through those games at that time. And obviously be important as always.
00:53:28
Speaker
Great, because they're Poland. I'm going to adlib because I can see Likit. We can let people ask questions here, right? If you have any questions, we'll keep asking them. But you can come up to this microphone right here, and we will let you ask them. So if anyone has any questions, feel free to walk on up. But we'll keep asking a couple because we have a few more minutes.
00:53:53
Speaker
One thing that I'm sure is on some fans' minds, we got the schedule today, which is exciting, but maybe some news about a TV deal. Bill, I'm wondering if you can tease anything without saying. Please tell everything.
00:54:25
Speaker
All right. Yeah. Now I cannot say a lot. I will say this that the, I think the prediction or the estimate I gave at the beginning of the season with commissioner and TV deal would be sometime before the season started, which.
00:54:42
Speaker
let's say April 18th as a deadline, I think we will comfortably make that deadline. And I think in both cases, I think they will be good decisions for the league. I think TBD will previewing it slightly. I'm really happy about it. I think fans will like it. I think it's going to be great for the league. So I'm super happy, but I don't want to spoil the surprise here.
00:55:10
Speaker
I'm trying to get me in trouble here. Does the network start with the letter C? Maybe.
00:55:34
Speaker
Well, for folks who don't follow these two on Instagram, you should be. But if you're not, Bethany, you've been doing some polls of followers. Have you learned anything interesting from the polls you've done? Yeah, I always do hot topics. So I should do pineapple and pizza for my next one.
00:56:03
Speaker
Not even interesting. I literally forgot the ones I've done already. You've done a poll on how do people want their waffles either drenched in syrup? Oh yeah, if people dip there because I make my waffles and I rip or pancakes and I rip off a piece and then dip it in the syrup. Whereas some which like people like that's weird. But some of some of you are out here drenching your pancakes and syrup.
00:56:31
Speaker
Okay, I lost on that one. I think that is disgusting and that does not go down my throat well. You also had a post about struggling to flip the omelet, which is hard to be fair. And you randomly got an omelet maker sent to you. Did you ever find out who shared that?
00:56:57
Speaker
Yeah, my college coach actually sent me it. Because I was like, who has my address that can send me this omelet maker? But yeah, I usually just make them scrambled now, and that's how they end up. So still working on the flip. His name's Jason Christ, and he's great.
00:57:18
Speaker
It's a great transition for folks, maybe everyone in this room knows Bethany's story to the NWSL. Maybe they don't. First, okay, thank you. I'll let you tell your journey instead of me, but the first NAIA player to receive a professional contract with NWSL, is that right? Yes. Undrafted and then invited to camp here and then went on to be NWSL Rookie of the Year.
00:57:50
Speaker
I don't want to tell your own story. What was it? What was the journey like to come to this team and kind of be an unknown that's now quite known? Yeah, it's been a crazy last year and a half of my life. But yeah, I went to a small NAIA college in Michigan called Spring Arbor University. Oh my gosh, does someone actually know about it? Oh my word, I'm from Grand Rapids. Hi.
00:58:19
Speaker
Yeah and so obviously like nobody had heard of me and so I did a couple summer gigs playing in like the second women's league to try to get my name out there but entered the draft like fully aware that I probably wasn't gonna get drafted just cuz I didn't have exposure and obviously you're taking a risk when you're drafting someone who's not you know from those bigger division one schools and yeah about
00:58:42
Speaker
Three weeks after the draft, I had gotten a phone call from, at the time, head coach Flacco and wanted me to come in and just be on trial with the team. And I kind of just came in and didn't know.
00:58:53
Speaker
If I'd make the team, if I'd be there for two weeks, two days, two months, the whole season, and slowly over time, I just tried to accurate myself as quickly as possible. And yeah, right before the first game, I signed a contract within like five hours of knowing that I was getting it offered and then flew down to Houston for our first game. And yeah, just a whirlwind of a few months, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
00:59:27
Speaker
Bethany, you got a call up to the US National Team Camp in December. What was that like?
00:59:35
Speaker
It was incredible. I was super excited and honored to be chosen for that process. And yeah, just kind of a discovery camp just to get people who aren't really flowing in and out of the team yet. And yeah, just get to see Vlaco and Milan again, hanging out with them. We had just another step to where I want to be, continuing to hopefully get those call-ups in the future. But yeah, just excited to start getting that national team ball rolling, hopefully.
01:00:04
Speaker
What goes on at a Discovery Camp? Is it just a bunch of training sessions? Are you guys doing some scrimmages? Anything you can share on that? Yeah, thank goodness. No fitness, really. Yeah, it's a lot of playing.
01:00:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's pretty standard, you know, just passing drills, pattern work, a lot of playing though, a lot of 11v11 full field stuff, so they can really get a grasp of how you play in the big game, but pretty standard, yeah. Yeah, I had a question. Is that on? Apparently not. You can use this one if you'd like. Can repeat. Is that on? Oh, there we go. Good job.
01:01:02
Speaker
And you retired from the national squad playing for Wales. I was just wondering, oh, you haven't? Oh, we were trying. Where did you hear that from? That's interesting. Fake news. Fake news. So what changes have you seen over the years playing in Wales with the women's game in Europe and just the international game for teams other than the US?
01:01:15
Speaker
I actually had a question for you.
01:01:26
Speaker
And the other thing is, was wearing flannel always a fashion choice before you moved to the Northwest? Okay, for the second one, yeah, because gays also wear a lot of flannel and I've been gay my whole life. You don't get to take the flannel, okay? I've been wearing it since I was like 12.
01:01:56
Speaker
For your first question, look, I think football back home in Europe right now is just...
01:02:05
Speaker
so far ahead of what it was when I was growing up, which is great. It really is. They've probably actually had leagues going a lot longer than the NWSO. I know the English WSO has been going for longer. The French league has been there for a while. Spanish league is fairly new. The German league has been there for a very long time.
01:02:30
Speaker
So from that perspective, they actually probably have more experience of leagues, but they've never been at the proest level. I think most of the French league is probably still semi-pro. Spain have only just gone and did a CBA to only now have minimum wages and a fully kind of professional setup.
01:02:53
Speaker
and that was a couple weeks ago. So although they've been there, they've kind of been at a relatively low investment level. But I think what we're seeing now is the teams realize that if their national team is going to be successful, they have to have successful leagues. You have to have them. That's just the way that it is. You can't expect to have a truly
01:03:18
Speaker
ongoing successful national team without a league and not a professional league. So now a lot of the teams back home are really investing in their leagues. You see the English are investing, the Spanish are investing, the Germans are still investing. And ultimately, I think that's what's gonna happen at those three leagues are probably gonna be the big leagues in Europe in the next three to five years.
01:03:44
Speaker
which will mean the national teams will just get better and better and better. And that's what we saw in the World Cup. Um, obviously we saw USA just go, okay, great, whatever. Like you can keep doing all this great stuff, but we're still going to beat you up. But, um, but it is just really good to see now that everybody wants to be
01:04:10
Speaker
America. And so they now know that if that's going to happen from a national team perspective, then I have to invest at league level. And that's what's happening. And it's great because it's just going to make this league
01:04:22
Speaker
keep getting better because this league's going to have to get better to stay ahead of the Europeans. So it's a knock on knock effect, you know, and I'm excited for it all because the Europeans get better. This place has to get better. Canada has to get better. Australia has to get better. Japan has to get better, which means the whole women's football in general gets better, which means companies will give us money, blah, blah, blah, blah.
01:04:52
Speaker
Oh, you have one more? Yeah. And then we will be close to say goodbye. Yeah. I've got the last question, maybe. So you've got a room full of amazing Seattle soccer fans. What is the best way that we can support Rain FC going forward? Please go. Hello, everybody.
01:05:21
Speaker
I would say that there's probably a majority of you who have supported us along the way. So if that's the case, then I just want to say personally, thank you very much. I really appreciate that. And we really appreciate that. To kind of obviously newbies and those who have supported us, I would say, although we're not here, like,
01:05:40
Speaker
We're down the road. It's okay. It's not going to hurt you. It'll be fine. You know, just come down, watch a game, watch two games, five games, 10 games, buy some season tickets now. I just think like still support us. I know we're not here. I know we're not in your backyard and I understand that. But we're still going to need your support. We are really, you know, the pro women's team of Washington and what we want to do is grow
01:06:10
Speaker
that, you know, we don't just want to be a team from Tacoma. We obviously are from Tacoma, but we represent more than that. And each of our individuals represent so much more than just football. And so, you know, the sounders have been amazing and, you know, hopefully they win again and it's just a dream. But there's a lot of support there. And I think that we still need to see that support for the women because the way I see it is
01:06:38
Speaker
You're football fans, right? And you're really good football fans. I've been to CenturyLink and I love it. I love watching the sounders. I love the support. So I don't get why it's not completely with the women. Because we're still football. It's still football. And so we're still pretty good at it as well, just to let you know.
01:07:03
Speaker
We are. Ideally, what we want is, you know, the sounders to win and the rain to win and it to just be football in Washington is like the hub is the place to be. But we're going to need support for that. You know, we're going to need thumbs on seats and yeah, fans and tweets and social. And we're just going to want everybody in Washington to know that this is the women's side. This is the men's side. We love them.
01:07:31
Speaker
End of, we love him. So come help us. He's perfect. Mic drop. Thank you Bill, Jess, and Bethany. Thank you everyone for
Advice Segment with Will Bruin and Brad Evans
01:07:50
Speaker
participating and being a part and hopefully we'll see you at Chaney Stadium.
01:08:11
Speaker
Brad, it is my great pleasure that with the power vested in me by the Universal Life Church of Modesto, California, I name you the winner of this year's Line them up tournament.
01:08:39
Speaker
I don't know what it entitles you to, but I'm sure it's something. Are we sitting here now? Yeah, we're sitting here now. Then you can rematch it after. It always will kill me if I allow you guys.
01:09:25
Speaker
Well, I mean I don't want you guys to fight
01:09:32
Speaker
I don't even know who that is. I need to keep you separated. I should get off to the side probably, but. Should do something. I know, I should do something. Well. I'm actually kinda mad about that. I know. You're gonna be on, we got you on Tilt now. What's Tilt? Tilt is like when you start messing up, I guess. It's a poker term. It's a poker term. You're on Tilt. Exactly, you're on Tilt. So.
01:10:02
Speaker
Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. That is, I'm sure, one of the big, big achievements of your post-playing career. I didn't expect this tonight, so I'm actually pretty good. This is awesome. It's weird imagining performers, because you look up, and I can't see anything right now. I can see these three guys. Right. But people actually performing, they act like they're into the crowd. Right, and they can't. They have no idea. No.
01:10:30
Speaker
It's bizarre. Comedians? Yeah. And this is like probably a toned down version of that, if you're... Yeah. I would think. It's blinding. It's gotta be blinding. Like you're talking to nobody. Right. It's weird. It's just us. It's just us guys. I know.
01:10:46
Speaker
Just four dudes, huh? So, we are going to do a version of Dear Will Bruin, because Dear Will Bruin is gotta be the great discovery of the off-season, right? If there's one thing you got out of being injured, it was probably- I had a lot of time on my hands. Right. It's really helped with the recovery.
01:11:14
Speaker
I mean, right, you didn't go crazy. The mental side is way more important. Way more, way more. So when you score your first goal, I'm expecting a shout out to the press box. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, absolutely.
01:11:30
Speaker
Say thank you, Jeremiah. And lick it. And lick it. So one of the other great segments, I think, of the Will Bruin podcast, bear with us. If you haven't heard, bear with us. I highly recommend checking out Will's podcast. It's wonderful. It's Jeremiah's podcast. It's very realistic.
01:11:53
Speaker
It's really Lickit's podcast. Yeah, that's true. Whose brainchild is it? It's Will's. Will came up with this. Will approached me about doing a podcast. So then it's Will's. It's Will's. It's 100% Will's podcast. It's Jeremiah's for saying yes. Fair enough. Fair enough. If you ever sell it, it's yours. Right, exactly. So speaking of, I did want to ask you, you are now doing a podcast. What would
01:12:20
Speaker
possess you to do such a thing, Brad? I don't know. I mean, I got really nothing else to do. See? You know? I mean, I'm a brand ambassador. It's a pretty loose term. Yeah. I left the office at 12.30 today. Honestly, it was a solid three hours. And I was exhausted. Like, way, way more tired than I have ever been as a player. You had to call, like, every season ticket holder, right? Yeah, I did, right?
01:12:52
Speaker
So I think it's going to be a regular thing with Steve and I. So it'll be hopefully every Friday, every Wednesday, something like that once the season gets started. But it'll be just super fun. We'll have guests on as well. And we'll figure it out as we go. So it should be a good time overall. Good. Good. Well, Will, do you have any advice? I need some advice. Let's start with this first advice. What's your advice for someone starting a podcast? You know? Don't mess it up. That's my advice. Don't mess it up.
01:13:23
Speaker
It goes by really fast, to be honest. It was like 50 minutes. And there was a little Schmetz tidbit in there for a couple of minutes. But otherwise, it goes by really. And you don't want to drag it on for an hour and a half. You want to give people a good 40, 45 minutes. So it's tough to cover everything and kind of have a laugh and be serious at the same time. So Brad, you are everywhere right now. You also did a Reddit AMA. Yeah. And your name on Reddit is Pine. No.
01:13:52
Speaker
What's the, is it Pete DePine? Huh? Wasn't that your name on Reddit? Pitch to Pine. Pitch to Pine.
01:13:58
Speaker
And that was like our concepts when we decided by the Airstream. So we had like, instead of doing a blog, we named it that, I guess. So it was like an Instagram. It was, it was an Instagram thing. Yeah. And, um, my sister, I guess thought of it and it was, uh, it was actually pretty cool. And while we were traveling, I was doing a lot of stuff on, on Reddit, just in the air, cause they helped me out a lot when I was buying my Airstream and doing the renovating too. So I wanted to post progress pics and of our journey and things like that. So it was actually.
01:14:27
Speaker
Really beneficial to us. So my big takeaway from that is you don't use shampoo. That's what I got out of this. No more shampoo. No more shampoo, just conditioner. And no body soap. No body soap, just conditioner everywhere. No, no conditioner. So just conditioner in the hair, but no body soap. Water. Just water. Wow. Read about it, guys. To eat. Smell me, dude. Smell me.
01:14:56
Speaker
Just a liter of cologne. So will I? You smell me. I'm sweating from the...
01:15:14
Speaker
I know, you just lost your, I did not mean that to happen. I'm still fuming. I'm done, I'm late. That was a drag race. That last round was an absolute drag race. So I didn't really have a question about this, Will, but I was listening to last year's episode of Yacht Ones, which ended up being the only episode of Yacht Ones that we ever did.
01:15:39
Speaker
You mentioned that you got a gold cup trophy, a gold cup medal, without playing at all in the gold cup tournament. And what are you thinking about that when you won MLS Cup this time? Sick burn, sick burn. Whose podcast is it really? See what I mean? I'm sorry. I can't even get back fully into training before you come at me, huh?
01:16:09
Speaker
This is the last time. I'm never gonna be able to do this again. This is like my one and only shot. All right, so we do have some questions though. We got a few from Twitter. I wanted to, this one was from King Freeman. It goes by Freeman Mester. He says, is there any way to donkey calf on Thursday without losing my voice in waves of elation and frustration? Do you have any good warmup techniques for my voice?
01:16:36
Speaker
The thing is, Donkey Calf is going to Donkey Calf. You can't get away from it. It's like being staggered. There's going to be one call that you're just like, that's Donkey Calf. You have been Donkey Calf. Standard stuff. You just got to expect it. Somebody's going on a stretcher. Exactly. Whether it's minute one or minute 91. Exactly. Somebody's on a stretcher. There's no way around it. It is what it is. And you deal with it. You deal with it.
01:17:00
Speaker
It is the worst, though, isn't it? It won't be as bad in Seattle, but... I don't know. Last time we played this team, it was really bad. That's true. You remember that pretty well? It was pretty bad.
01:17:13
Speaker
Yeah, we'll see. But it would get worse. Do you remember when you guys played San Francisco? No. It was like... I don't remember things. Steve Zakawani remembers... That's one thing I've learned. Zakawani remembers everything. From himself and from other players. I remember nothing. I have to see video to see... I don't know what it is.
01:17:31
Speaker
Will, are you the same one? No, I'm the same as you. I have trouble remembering things I did three days ago. Yeah. But that's what being a dad is. Yeah. Yeah. I've been up probably since, I think, 4 AM this morning because Lincoln went to sleep. I remember championships, big moments. But you're asking me to remember San Francisco. I didn't even know we played that team. I thought you asked if you went to San Francisco. No, this is like a team. I didn't know San Francisco had a team. It was like a qualifier that you guys played. I think in like 2011, I want to say.
01:18:01
Speaker
Nate and Jake scored in like the 130th minute. Something like that. No idea. I probably wasn't even there to be honest. It's possible. It's quite possible. You were probably hurt to be honest. It's true. It's true.
01:18:22
Speaker
All right, so. Jeremiah's feeling himself today. He's feeling the suit. The suit gives you confidence. Let him have it. Are you in the media game on Friday? I think I might be getting 45 in that game. I'm going to go for that.
01:18:52
Speaker
All right, so this one's from Sounderfan74, 1974, which I'm, based on this question, I'm wondering if it's a- Yeah, I'm wondering this too. What do you think about Brian Schmetzer's style? I mean, dad times a hundred. Are we talking about, we're talking about style. Style. Clothing style. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Just dad. Yeah. That's what it's just, I mean, like if there was a store called dad,
01:19:18
Speaker
He'd have like the little swiping card where you get the discount. He would be like the model on the storefront. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
01:19:29
Speaker
Yeah, that seems fair. What do you think? Are you going to answer the question? Me? Yeah. Oh, do I think? Yeah, this is on you now. I mean, that's a very fair depiction of it. I think the dad style. Yeah, but it's like clean. Clean, man. Yeah, he tucks in his shirt. Yeah. And then games, he really dresses up though, right? Which is- I will say this. He absolutely, I could tell when he went from being the interim- When he got the pay raise.
01:19:53
Speaker
Exactly. When he went from being the interim coach to being the full-time coach, all of a sudden his stuff was tailored. Yeah, he went from Chelsea Bank to like Hugo Boss real quick. Yes, exactly. It was slick. It was slick. So this is from someone named Dave Clark.
01:20:12
Speaker
And so he's curious, he's got a barbecue coming up and he's gonna be throwing some steaks on the grill. And should the host decide how well done the steaks are gonna be? Or if someone requests well done, are you gonna actually? Excuse me, excuse me.
01:20:36
Speaker
My wife only eats it well done. I have been furious at times when I'm cooking a steak and she's like, I'll put it on a little longer. I'm like.
01:20:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So I think by process of elimination, I have to say that you take requests, even though I'm not for it. But if you're putting out completely bloody stakes, I think it's realistic to take requests. I take requests. Yeah. Keep the people happy. OK. Fair enough. Keep the people happy. Unless it's like super well done, then just don't get a mistake. Well, that's true. I don't know anybody that likes it well done, to be honest. Well, it's medium now. Medium. OK. All right, so this one.
01:21:18
Speaker
This one's from manwitch13, which is a good name. Should I stay in my job that I should move on from for more money because I get to play pickup soccer on my lunch break? I feel like lunch break soccer is the ultimate perk. I don't know if I can beat it. I can beat it. I need your help. Oh, manwitch. Typical manwitch question. He probably likes the stakes well done, huh?
01:21:44
Speaker
Now, it depends on the money. It depends on the money. If it's like a significant raise you leave, right? Sure. You got to leave. Otherwise, I don't know. I mean, soccer at lunch is pretty cool. It is. It's got to be Microsoft though, right? Because they've got that little pitch. Yeah. I think we can figure this out. We can probably figure this out. An Amazon versus a Microsoft situation. Yeah, probably. Something where it's got a cool little field. Right. Yeah. I'd say take another job. Okay.
01:22:10
Speaker
You can always go back. And you can kind of play on the weekends. Yeah, play at night. Yeah, play at night. That's it. Take the job. Yeah, fair enough. All right, this one's from Keep On Keeping On. They say, Dear Will Bruin, of all the alcohols to be had, which one should I avoid at all costs? Please illustrate your choice with a funny real life experience. Obviously, this is for both of you, so we need this.
01:22:36
Speaker
I would say avoid Everclear. I don't have a real-life story on that. But I would say to avoid it. Heard stories.
01:22:45
Speaker
And the first thing that comes to mind for me is probably spring breaks way back in the college days and tequila. You know, it used to get the best of me. I was cheating that. Yeah, that was like the cheapest tequila I'd know. Shotgunning beers is always a bad choice. I had a blackout situation in high school. Unless you have to do it after you lose a golf hole or something. I stumbled in really late in high school.
01:23:10
Speaker
My mom was like, are you drunk? And I said, no. And laid on my bed, got the spins immediately, and was comatose for a good 36 hours after that. So shotgunning beers is out. It's out. Question is, how many? Too many. There you go. Although in high school, it was probably like four grades. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Four, like, natty lights. Oh my god.
01:23:39
Speaker
So this one's from Pencilbot Chad. That's a good name. Pencilbot Chad. Yeah. So how do you stay positive while recovering from an ACL surgery, or really any surgery, in my case, surgery number two next week, six months after the first one? I really recommend being a guest on Jeremiah's podcast. It's probably. No, just try to.
01:24:10
Speaker
Yeah, he's paying me back later, but now easy everybody not like that.
01:24:19
Speaker
But yeah, just find things to take your mind off. That would be my advice there. You have some experience. Yeah, a lot. Yeah. I don't know. I always found comfort in my dog because we don't have kids. And Becky was working all the time. So just being able to go home and hang out and take your mind off things was number one. And just knowing that you're going to get healthy eventually. It's just a matter of time. Doesn't mean that you're not going to get injured right away. But the shit all comes to an end at some point. So enjoy it while you can.
01:24:52
Speaker
So this one was from Mick Luck, who I believe is here. He wants to know, what's the best way to elevate my taco game? I'm assuming he's entertaining. Do you have any taco advice? Man, I really like tacos chukis as a place. I'm not really good at making tacos, so I don't have any, huh?
01:25:23
Speaker
So I don't really have good advice on that, but the more meat, the better, I think. Load it up. I always like small corn tortilla cheese, corn tortilla on top of that, and then add your meat. Oh, wow. Salana. Wow. Everyone learns something and I... Just describe Taco Bell. Gordita. Gordita Supreme. Cheesy gordita crunch. Yeah. Maybe it's an Arizona thing. I don't know.
01:25:54
Speaker
So this one's from Tim Boss, who was just hosting the game. He says, my wife and I are planning on moving so that we can get a dog. What's the best way to go about choosing a dog?
01:26:07
Speaker
Um, yeah, I don't know. I think the dog chooses you ultimately. If you've got a, I mean, some people have to have, you know, obviously if they've got some hypo allergenic, some allergen issues, they've got to go that doodle route. I don't know if that was your situation or that was literally exactly at my situation. So white people problems. Yeah.
01:26:29
Speaker
And we went miniature, too. My wife grew up with a lab, I grew up with a lab, so we kind of wanted, we liked that attitude of a demeanor, but we didn't want to get what we had growing up. We didn't want to favor one or the other, so we ended up getting a golden. But he cost us your salary, probably, by the end of it, so won't be doing that again. I would recommend a rescue dog, I'm sure.
01:26:58
Speaker
That'll be the next step and it'll choose you unless you have to have a miniature gold and doodle. So I've been told to remind everyone that we're doing a last call on the 50-50 raffle. So if you want to get in on the 50-50 raffle, this is your last chance to do so. So one more, well we got a couple more advice questions here.
01:27:22
Speaker
This one is from, is an anonymous person that's going by crossing right. I'm a central midfielder by trade, but recently got moved to a wide position. What's the best way to handle that? If they're playing, they're playing, it doesn't matter. Deal with it. All this shit comes to an end. That's gonna be a theme. Otherwise you gotta be in the office. Just enjoy what you can.
01:27:50
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a center back at heart, but I'm playing center forward, so you know. You do what you gotta do, right? Exactly, you just gotta bite your tongue and deal with it. You're gonna get donkey-capped anyway, so it doesn't matter. Were you telling Garth when he was doing his off-season planning where you're like, don't worry Garth, if you really get down to it, I'm happy to play center back.
01:28:14
Speaker
I was like, well, you know, center back. Anyways, hoping I get back from this injury well. I might, you know, center back, might have to ease back into it that way. No, I'm just kidding. Didn't say any of that. Will never, you would never play any other position. No. There's no way. No. Some players can, some players can't. It's not a bad thing. It's just, it is what it is. Yeah. I got to get to a hundred goals first. He's made a career. Yeah. He's made a career out of only playing striker. Not many players can do that.
01:28:45
Speaker
He's not done a bad job. No, that's what I'm saying. I know. I know. All right. So one of the other elements of this show that I think you've kind of come to like is I pitch you a story or a bit idea and you let me know whether or not you think it's actually a good idea or not.
01:29:06
Speaker
So what's the segment called? It's called sign them or cut them in this case. Okay. This is the first I'm hearing about it. This is the first you're hearing about it. So basically the idea here is I pose to you some, uh, you know, potentially weird character traits and you let me know if it is a deal killer or not for going on in a relationship. Does that seem like a potentially? Sure. Just ask the question. Okay.
01:29:34
Speaker
Okay, so here's the first scenario. The date offers to order an Uber, but when they do, it shows up as an Uber pool. Sign them. She's paying for it? Whatever, yeah. Uber pool, why not? You get a story, there's always a story in an Uber pool.
01:29:57
Speaker
I got no problems with it. Okay, fair enough. All right, they call their parents mommy and or daddy. Oh, see ya. No. That's... Cut him. Right? We're all in the cut him. Do you call your mommy mommy? Is that why you're... No, I don't. That's... I'm trying to figure out like how old we're talking here. Like, like now!
01:30:21
Speaker
Oh, no. No. Yeah, no. Like, sorry. 30-year-old people. Cut them. Cut them. Okay. See ya. Okay, what if they put juice in their cereal? What? What kind of monster are you? Send them to a mental hospital. Yeah. What is wrong with you? A serial killer. Why would you even ask me that question?
01:30:39
Speaker
You'll get murdered in that matter. I know, okay, okay. Clearly that's fair. So they don't have a texting plan and instead they insist on sending you emails with like little details that don't need to be in an email. So they're basically just texting like an email? Yes. They're emailing you what should be texts. Yeah, I'm not gonna read it. Yeah, no.
01:31:05
Speaker
If you ever saw Chad's phone, his email, little button said like 4,922, drove me nuts. Cut him too. Cut him. That stuff, cut him. Just delete his phone, cut him. All right, see, what about if they clap whenever the plane lands? Oh my god. No. No.
01:31:28
Speaker
No. That's like the people that stand up and try to like scoot by you before. You're just like, it's that person. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, come on. No, you're really gonna. Like the captain's never going to hear it. Yeah. Right. It's like one of those like ultimate empty gesture things. All right. So this is one they, whenever they have something warm, whenever they sip it, they go, hmm.
01:31:54
Speaker
Like every time? Every time. Every time. Every time. Oh my god. I get like maybe the first time if you're cold. Right. But every time? Yeah, it's not. I mean, I don't know if it's a huge deal breaker. The sipping doesn't bother me. Yeah. Yeah. Becky would say cut him. My wife would be like, you're out of here. I can't do that. Oh, yeah. Like I have to go in the other room if I'm going to do that. Anything. Like if I'm eating normal, it's like you're eating too loud. Like stop. I'm like, how do you want me to eat?
01:32:28
Speaker
I have to chew my food. I'm chewing very slowly. Mouth closed and so annoying. I'm staring at you. And then you feel like self-conscious and not enjoy your food. I'm going to go eat. I'm not going to say that I have this problem as well. These are all yours. These are all me. These are all things that you were questioning. Right, exactly. You put orange juice in your cereal.
01:32:51
Speaker
I can hear you chewing.
01:32:55
Speaker
Don't you, Will? Yeah. Yeah, you can do that, right? All right, how about they say library? Library, not library. Library.
01:33:07
Speaker
I haven't even heard of that until now, yeah. Not since like third grade. I think you're just making stuff up now. Okay. That's a reach. All right, here's one. Cut them. They jokingly asked the server for the recipe at a restaurant after enjoying a meal, or maybe they asked for recommendations from the server before the meal.
01:33:29
Speaker
Um, I, I'm okay with the recommendations. Okay. Um, if I'll usually have something picked out and if they, you know, if it's in their top three, I'll go with it. Right. So that's kind of my like strategy going into it. What are you, but I don't mind asking for that stuff. Okay. How do servers feel about that? I've never served anybody.
01:33:49
Speaker
I always ask for recommendations. But then sometimes I go the complete opposite way. Like I know what I'm going to get. Right. She's like the sea bass is delicious. I'll have the steak. My dad's the worst of us. Can I get a super well done steak please? With orange juice on the side. Orange juice and frosted flakes. All right. Uber pool on the way home.
01:34:12
Speaker
Just, what if your date wears that suit and you show up and he's wearing that suit? Yes. Psychopath? 100%. Cut him. You married him. You married him. It's over. I mean, that's... So this is
Sounders' MLS Cup Impact and Soccer Growth in Seattle
01:34:28
Speaker
the last one. What if they're a fan of the Portland Timbers? Kill them. They're not using it.
01:34:42
Speaker
The white caps are just so nice though. We always say, same with the white caps. I know you don't care, but you go up there and they're like the nicest people ever. They try so hard to be mean and you'll like walk off and they're like, great game today. You're like, just be meaner. Be meaner, please. Sorry. So sorry. Sorry.
01:35:06
Speaker
Well, that's the segment. That's what we got for you. So, Will, I know you got a early bedtime. You got to get ready for training. I know, back in training. Back training. It's been a while, so I didn't want to be out too late. Six months ago, it was like, how do I get out of the house for a while? Now it's like, I got 15 minutes to do this. It's been full circle now.
01:35:36
Speaker
It might be. It might be. So that's the segment. We are going to come back. We have a little fashion show for you. We're going to close out the show with an interview with Garth. And just a reminder, the auctions, I guess we've pushed it back to 905.
01:35:59
Speaker
So if you want to get in on this at an auction, you probably have a little bit of time to do it. But one of the other things that we did for this event was we, like, Likit actually made a kind of joking jersey, and people were really into it. And so we...
01:36:19
Speaker
So we actually reached out to Admiral who designs jerseys and we got some made. We actually have them here to sample. We're going to put on a little fashion show for you in a bit. Why don't you have a men's... You need to have like a men's league team or a women's league. Or a men or any, yeah. And then you could have a team that wear these jerseys. Yeah. Dude. I like that. You want to play? Nope.
01:36:42
Speaker
Dude, we need to get the guy not to take the promotion, and he can start the team. Oh, there you go. Lunch break team. All right, well, so yeah, thanks for doing this, guys. Thank you. Just soaking it up.
01:37:05
Speaker
All Paul wines are based in Seattle, owned and operated by Sanders fans, and have been sponsoring Nota Adieira since 2011. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers.
01:37:24
Speaker
Two, you request bottles that sound appealing, and three, your wine arrives at their soda warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their soda tasting room is also open to the public. If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpaulwines.com. With all that said, I'd like to introduce the president and GM of the Seattle Sounders of the two-time MLS Cup winner, Seattle Sounders, yes.
01:37:54
Speaker
Oh, okay. You're gonna donate this to... Oh, so Sarah has decided to donate her winnings to Seattle Children's. Okay, so Garth needs a couple of minutes. All right, so we're not... Garth is apparently busy, so we're gonna give him a couple more minutes and we'll be right back. No, he's right here! You can be right there.
01:38:26
Speaker
I don't know if I'm going to be his hands for a second. That's a tough bar. All right. Well, Garth, thank you for doing this. Is this year four, year three? I have been here since day one, Jeremiah. Yacht-Con style. Yeah, you've been. I have broken eggs. I have eggs. That's right, you broke eggs. From a planning perspective, that's accurate. I'm more of a freeloader on Yacht-Con, but yes, I have appeared.
01:38:56
Speaker
It's been, well, I really appreciate you doing this again. It's fun, man. We have a good time every time. I hope so. Your outfit gets better every year, too. Right? I mean, this is extraordinary. Good. I mean, he looks skinny, too, doesn't he? Like, you got to dye it, and then he put it dressed up. I mean, it's a big night. Hey, hey, look at that. We had smoke. That was smoke. The smoke? That was smoke. You can't use it in the stadium, right? So you got to, you may as well spend your volunteer. Pale sale? Hey, exactly.
01:39:27
Speaker
Sometimes it's good to be the man. So I just don't get to drink like you guys do, so I gotta fake it up here a little bit.
01:39:37
Speaker
This is ever clear. This is the latest I've been up in like three months. I'm hoping I stay awake. I have a cup of coffee in my car. Did you put the kids to bed before you got here? I put them in their beds. As you know, as a fellow father, that didn't mean that they went to bed. I was at least able to check the box for my wife to say, see, honey, I was here to help. And I very respectfully scheduled a Yacht-Con appearance after bedtime. Yes.
01:40:05
Speaker
But I suspect she might interpret my actions differently tomorrow morning, depending on how well everyone sleeps and gets through the night. But that's fatherhood. Yes, I know quite well.
01:40:20
Speaker
Yes. So I wanted to start with a little of a personal anecdote. Before MLS Cup, we were doing a media scrum. And I asked you if that had the potential to be transformative. And you gave me a long winding answer about transformers. Do I give any other kind? Yeah. But it was about, I think you actually said Optimus Prime in your answer. That was dumb.
01:40:48
Speaker
It's not my finest work. But I liked where you were going. I appreciate it. Well, you're going to try to save me. This is, I'm going to appreciate you. But that said, I can understand where you were coming from. I think you were trying to not put the cart before the horse.
01:41:03
Speaker
All that said, now that you sit here a couple months after winning MLS Cup at home, does it feel like that was a, like how big of a deal was that really? Like when you sit here now and you look at the way that it affected everything? Look, it was the best sporting moment of my life. It was, I guess I'm not, I'm just cautious about saying transformative, but I'll give you some data points. That's fair.
01:41:33
Speaker
We sold more season tickets the week after MLS Cup than we had in the previous year. The week after that, we sold more than we had the previous year. So that is amazing. No, and thank you all.
01:41:47
Speaker
You know, and when you speak to things being transformative, it's if you carry that momentum into a full season and with the commensurate uptick in team performance and fan participation and, you know, all the stuff that we've all been pretty good at here in Seattle for a while, then that might be, you know, but I'm just cautious that
01:42:06
Speaker
What makes me nervous, I guess, is still what I don't want is everybody to show up on Thursday or Sunday or both and be like, oh, there's not 70,000 people here. So then it wasn't transformative. Because that's not how this stuff works. Everybody gets a little bit more enthusiastic, and everybody brings a friend, and everybody says, I'm going to go to two games in February, even though it's maybe cold and a little bit rainy. And we're all going to show up. And with respect to Thursday, for example, when you talk about these Champions League games in the season ticket package,
01:42:34
Speaker
Everybody knows we're playing Thursday, but some people show up and some people don't. And this is a real game. I mean, this is a knockout game. There's seven figures at stake in terms of revenue and moving on. And we got a draw that allows us to potentially become the first team ever to win Champions League as an American club. I mean, it's a big deal.
01:42:57
Speaker
You know, and most of the folks here have families and then it's, you know, it's a pain in the neck to go out Thursday night and stay up late on a school night and get your kids out and then come back on Sunday and do it again. So, uh, but we would really, it's one of the biggest weeks of the season. We feel like for us, we have to win our league games in addition to our champions league games. Cause the schedule, the easiest section of the schedule, uh, is in this first third of the season. We open with six and nine at home. So there's a ton of pressure on us right now. Um, and I mean that in a good way.
01:43:26
Speaker
I mean, because I think we want to go back to your original question. We want to make good on this opportunity. We had this, you know, hopefully not once in a lifetime moment. But that said, 10,000 people on the March to the Match and a Macklemore concert and the call and response on your way into the building, followed by the pandemonium there. And I was just talking about this on Jackson's show on KJR.
01:43:50
Speaker
The thing that I have, I saved the game, right? Now, I obviously didn't get to watch the TV broadcast or in your stadium. But the part that I do is I fast forward to the goals. And then they show the crowd reaction. And like, just the pandemonium, like people literally swimming over each other. I mean, it looks like a mocha pit in a rock show. And like, that's amazing. Like if you can capture like, I was there for that. We were that we all were there for that, right? That was.
01:44:15
Speaker
And that's amazing. And that part can be transformative because that's the shared experience that is really hard to replicate. And look, we're going to try to do it again.
01:44:27
Speaker
So I want to say we had another conversation that was right after the draw for Champions League. And the offseason got off to a little bit of a slow start, I would say. And one of the things you mentioned to me is that we might have to wait until it's uncomfortable to make some signings. I think all of us probably got to that point. Did you actually get to that point?
01:44:54
Speaker
My wife says this to me about once a week, you know, like, do you think that was the time for the diet? You know, I think it's not comfortable enough yet.
01:45:06
Speaker
I don't know, man. I've been doing this a long time. You got to get the right deal. And so when the stress comes and you're second guessing yourself, when the fear of failure starts to bubble up, sometimes you just got to tell it to back off and come back to, we're the defending champs. We've been at three of the last four MLS cups. And you don't say that arrogantly, but take all of you again.
01:45:30
Speaker
Not, you know, we don't say this enough, but I mean, this is not possible without the support here. Seattle is not the size city that would support a payroll normally to be able to compete with the players that we're able to acquire. And I look a heck of a lot smarter with 40,000 people in the building and Ledero and Rui Diaz on the field than I do when there's 15,000 in the building. So trust me, I don't succeed without you guys.
01:45:56
Speaker
Now that the roster is pretty close to set, I think that's probably fair to say, right? Do you feel like- We're out of money, so in that sense, it's- There you go. Yeah, it's kind of sad. We don't get an allowance of this either. We got to kind of wait for the next CBA or something like that to save up. I mean, do you feel like, are you comfortable with it? Do you feel like exercising patience was really the right way to go about this, especially maybe after the CBA didn't turn out how a lot of people might have predicted it would?
01:46:27
Speaker
At some level, you just have to make a piece of it because it is what it is. We spent the money and the CBA came back and everyone asked me how I feel about the CBA and I'm like, it's how I feel about the DMV. They make the rules and turns out I have to follow them. I could try to bump up against the guard rails here and there and try to test the boundaries sometimes, but if you go too far, you're going to get in trouble and we don't want to do that.
01:46:53
Speaker
I think our operating thing just in this offseason, it's been a really tumultuous offseason off the field for us because when you don't have a CBA coming in and you don't know the rules, you got to have two or three different plans because you have to have two or three different budgets and then it lands two weeks before the season starts and then you have to execute everything in two weeks. So, you know, and literally how we structure these deals
01:47:17
Speaker
has to be tweaked depending on how much money we have and how much we don't without getting the weeds too much you can move money from one year to the next but you have to have this three year plan always as to how you're going to use your money overall so it was tighter than maybe we had hoped but we feel like we have a good team I think we've replaced
01:47:35
Speaker
the capabilities at least of the folks that left. And I think that we have a very, very good team. I think like any team, we got to get fit. We got to play some games together. We got to, you know, create that chemistry. It's a new center back pairing. It's a new defensive midfielder pairing. We're without good stuff.
01:47:53
Speaker
And that's all okay. Like, like I hope, hopefully that's enough to get by Thursday by Olympia. Still going to be a good team. It's going to be very tough game. Um, but if we can get off to a good start, honestly, as we've talked about kind of ad nauseam at this point, this is also an opportunity for some of our young players to come in and step up. And, and you know, we saw some good performances from young players already on the road of Olympia. I mean, if you think, think of what you were doing at 16 years old and then think about Danny Leyva playing in Honduras.
MLS Early Days and Player Development Strategies
01:48:23
Speaker
It doesn't suck. No. And I think he acquitted himself well. I thought he was real good. Yeah. So as a former player who played during a very different economic time, I think it's fair to say in terms of the way that the league was structured, do you look at the CBA now and kind of marvel at the advancements that really ended up getting, that have been made at this point?
01:48:50
Speaker
So I frame this as I do most things in the context of my relationship. I think my wife believes that I was a professional athlete, but she maintains that there's certainly no visual proof that that was ever the case. So when I talk to her about my career, and she's like, OK, show me. And I'm like, well, I have this VHS tape. And she's like, well, but we don't have a VCR, let alone what are you doing with me?
01:49:14
Speaker
And I'm like, well, Google me. You can do it on the internet. She's like, oh, you mean those horrible braids you had. That doesn't no one like the one picture. No one would play with those. Like you couldn't you would be very impractical like it wouldn't. Anyway, the it was a different time. You know, journalists have gotten on to this idea. This 25th anniversary of unless they're collecting some of the stories from the from the first year and
01:49:38
Speaker
It was my second year in Dallas. Well, just a fun little story real quick is we were in a double wide trailer and I'm not exaggerating. It wasn't an RV. It was a double wide trailer. It was parked in the parking lot of a private middle school called Greenhill.
01:49:54
Speaker
And we had to train every day before recess because the kids didn't want to get up there with the men. There was liability issues. We had to do that. So at one point that season, it was over 100 degrees for 42 days in a row. And needless to say, they didn't have irrigation systems or sprinkler systems for the private school. And to top everything off, the mascot was a peacock. And it was a rich private school in Dallas. So they had an actual peacock.
01:50:24
Speaker
like with big blue feathers. And as you left the double wide, most of the kids weren't coming out of trailers onto the school grounds. And so it always freaked the peacock out. So we would be coming into practice and like literally we had a laundry room in there. We had the training room in there. Like we had the showers that you have like in a camping site. Um, and if we really got in trouble, we,
01:50:46
Speaker
The panels in the wall were all fake, so you could pop them out, throw the equipment manager over the wall and get in the coach's office, just figure out who was going to start the next day, and then the other guys would go out partying. It's kind of mostly true. I never did it, of course. Anyway, that's where we started. And we kind of got paid commensurate with Duck and Peacocks in predicting coach lineups. And I didn't have a goalkeeper coach. I played five years in a league. I never had a goalkeeper coach.
01:51:14
Speaker
We didn't have any sports, we didn't have any strength and conditioning. We didn't have any trigger plates, I assume. No.
01:51:24
Speaker
Yeah, the charter of charter flights are a sign of growth. For those who don't know, they are incredibly expensive. And so it's something that changes the economics of the league. But look, it's a step forward overall. Obviously, we want to treat our guys as well as we can. And getting them back from Honduras, for example, via charter, real benefit to hopefully getting everybody another night in their beds and getting everybody better rested for Thursday. So.
01:51:52
Speaker
If I'm correct, Wade Webber was one of your teammates in Dallas twice. In Dallas and in Miami. Two times. Yeah. And so Dave Clark's going to be upset if I don't ask you about this. You're a, you're a. Oh wow. Look at that baby. That is, you know, you know what hurt my feelings the other day. He's that's yeah. That's me at 20. Yeah. I don't know what we're going to do.
01:52:19
Speaker
It turns out at 25 I looked younger than now. That's the point.
01:52:24
Speaker
So what hurt my feelings, my two year old came up to me at dinner the other day and he's a little blonde headed, we're Dutch ancestry so that all the kids come out blonde and their hair turns colors darker after that. And he comes up to me and he touches my head and he said, daddy has a big silver head. And that was, he's going to put it up on the screen for you. And so anyway, when I look at this, I'm like, I wasn't always, it's not that color anymore. I mean, it's a good looking fella. Thank you. That jawline is.
01:52:55
Speaker
Impressive. I guess. Yeah, you sharp chin the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but without a fitness coach. Well, so Mickey wanted to ask you about this picture. Do you have, do you actually have the quite Mickey's? This looks official by the way. Like I don't want to mess this up. Did somebody, that's got a Dallas burn logo on it. Where did this come from? Mickey's, Mickey's waving eBay. All right. All right.
01:53:21
Speaker
Oh, me made it. Okay. That's more believable. Believe it or not, we actually had playing cards for the Dallas Burn. And we would hand them out in the fields because no one was going to buy them in stores. So we would actually hand them out.
01:53:36
Speaker
Anyway, this we're going down some dark. Yeah, that's okay I was the reason I brought up Wade Webber though is my understanding is you guys weren't a Dungeons and Dragons game We were done Wade was a dungeon master and and Probably more nefarious than that as I used to babysit Wade's children because we made $24,000 a year and you know if we could pick up a couple bucks to take him to the carnival or whatever we were doing that
01:53:59
Speaker
you know, every weekend. So no, we did it. We had fun. And the other guy in the group, well, there's two other guys, a gentleman named Brett, who's a very smart guy who was kind of a ninja and had a safe full of weapons that I kind of didn't really want to. Like in real life? Yeah. I didn't really want to tackle. But he could fix any car. And I was driving a 19, gosh, 1990 Toyota Corolla that I'd bought before
01:54:28
Speaker
I think it's my first car. So anyway, it had 200,000 miles on it. And so Brett was important in my life, because he kept that thing on the road. And then Rich Farrer was the other guy in the group. And you guys don't know who any of these people are, but Rich Farrer was the captain at Dallas Burn at the time. And it's now a federal judge in Austin. So technically, it's San Antonio. But there's literally, I think, three of us that went on and became lawyers. And it's me and Rich. And there's one other guy.
01:54:57
Speaker
Not Hesmer. It's another goalkeeper. Anyway, our D&D group had a lot of people who thought they were smart, I guess. Yeah. That's usually, I think that's how D&D, I don't know a lot about D&D. Is that how it works? I think it's how it works. Yeah. So I guess I'll go, I'll take this path here. Not a soccer question, but I'm guessing that you were into some nerdy stuff. As my wife says again, I was a loser.
01:55:27
Speaker
Do you ever marvel at how, for lack of a like, pardon the pun, marvel at how these things have now become like the biggest franchises in the world? I mean, look, I've moved to Seattle and Wizards of the Coast is based here, like, like, you know, never.
01:55:45
Speaker
No, I mean, yeah, it's amazing. Look, I think the world's become a more inclusive place and a more accepting place. And so these things that you had to find literally three people in the state of Texas who you could do who wouldn't laugh at you, like that's different now than I think how kids grow up. And that's a great thing.
01:56:04
Speaker
Oh, a little cheer. Yeah. So we'll turn it back to soccer. I just I was curious about that. It's it is. You know what? I've been trying to weigh whether or not to my oldest one is eight. My oldest boy is eight in like when to introduce him. And there's a crowd of any suggestions. Eight years old. All right. All right. Because we've done Star Wars and that was kind of was too scary for the five year old, but it OK with the eight year old. But anyway, he's not as into the fantasy stuff. I've been trying to introduce him a little like a Dragon Lance book here or
01:56:35
Speaker
Well, I mean, that's not the hard part, though, right? I mean, it's getting the... I can read the books and roll the dice for them, right? I mean, that's...
01:56:46
Speaker
All right. All right. All right. It sounds like I need to take a little more responsibility. I guess so. Thank you, sir. All right. All right. So one of the more interesting things I think about the CBA, and I guess maybe this is nerd talk, but a different kind, is this clause that allows for a bunch of under, like 22 and under players to be signed.
01:57:09
Speaker
that have that I guess their transfer fees don't hit the cap at all. Is that my is that the correct? That is and I want to be careful here just because my I believe that this has been discussed and suggested, but I don't know if the board has formally approved this yet or not. But basically, it's the idea of if you sign younger designated players, those guys are assets there. They are guys that we're going to develop and resell. And so for the economics of nonetheless, instead of bringing in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and honestly, like
01:57:39
Speaker
I think that was a good signing and it was he was very excited for the league Wayne Rooney itself but balance that by also bring in in younger dps that kinda make their name for us and then build up mls as a place where people want to come to launch their own career because they see you can start here and make a lot of money and then overtime it's it's it's honestly it's almost like a
01:57:59
Speaker
I don't know whether it's a step forward or sideways or whatever it is, but it's a very long-term play to say, we're going to bring in these younger players and we're going to nurture them, develop them, and eventually the whole enterprise is going to be moved forward. Because you can sign Zlatan, and he can score three goals in the opener, and you're like, OK, that's exciting.
01:58:20
Speaker
Excuse me, I've just been sick for the winter. Anyway, this is more about how do you build a team, how do you do this. The good news for us is I think it's consistent with our philosophy. The thing I would say is that we are gonna be careful assuming this goes forward in some form or fashion.
01:58:36
Speaker
We're going to be careful not to stifle what we have here. We've spent a lot of time and energy and money on developing our players. And so I think we'll be somewhat cautious in terms of how we approach this and to try to make, hopefully, I would say that we would lean toward, let's say three slots come in. I think we would probably lean toward
01:58:57
Speaker
one higher impact signing than three smaller impact. And don't hold me to that because we're still working through it. But I think that's the approach we'll take. Because the other thing you've got to be really cautious about here is international spots.
01:59:10
Speaker
They're already at a premium. They're selling for $250, $300 a pop. And if you have three DPs and three young DPs, that means there's no more TAM guys. That means you've gutted the middle of your team. That's six of your eight foreign spots that are used. And you only got then two guys in that kind of what will now be between $700 and $1.7 for that TAM range. All right.
01:59:38
Speaker
All right. So on that kind of the same line of thinking, the Defiance have, you know, they're going into, this is, I think, year five of the you of the Sounders having the USL team. Is that right? You're six. Six. We started 15. Okay. So how are you feeling about where that, like, that trajectory is? Are you feeling good about Defiance and where it fits in and everything?
02:00:02
Speaker
I am overall. And again, I know we haven't made the linear progress that I think we all hope for. But our choice last year was really to go too old or too young. And what I meant by that is what I mean by that is.
02:00:14
Speaker
We knew if we went with all our prospects that we were probably going to get our tails kicked sometimes. And the beginning of the season started off not well and not competitively. And that was the worst possible, worst case scenario. And we really suffered from having a young goalkeeper and young center backs. And that's a particularly tough combination.
02:00:35
Speaker
So the good news is, is the young center batch, the young goalkeeper got a lot better as a result of that. But that meant that this team really struggled and I think lost a little bit of belief in itself after they lost games, three, nothing, four, nothing, five, nothing, lose seven of eight, lose eight of 10, that kind of thing. And so he said, we really want to stabilize the team for this year where we still want to give those kids minutes. We still want to develop them.
02:00:55
Speaker
But we invested in a 31 year old center back and some experience in defensive midfield and local Taylor who's, yeah, who's, who's come home and, you know, Allah Wade Webber returned and slightly before Wade, Wade did from Nate's perspective. But if you have somebody like Justin Dillon, if he's not playing for the first team and he's your center striker and he has experienced, he scored 10 goals. Now, all of a sudden you look down that spine and you say,
02:01:21
Speaker
good young goalkeeper, Trey Muse, but Steph Cleveland is going to be coming down and that's going to be more of a battle for, for getting experience and developing those guys, you know, experienced center back, experienced defensive midfielder, experienced, uh, you know, guy, uh, coming through Colin Fernandez is another guy we signed that was in the, in those, in the young mid twenties, as opposed to being 17.
02:01:40
Speaker
And then we're going to sprinkle the 17 and 18 year olds around those guys and hopefully have a compliment of guys. And look, let's be honest. We haven't figured out exactly how to do this yet, but it's the thing. It's the last frontier for our club. The first team is okay. Three or four MLS cups.
02:01:58
Speaker
The Academy is also pretty OK, won the national title, first team to win the GA Cup. So this is the mission for us. If you look at all the people we hired, because we had some people, what happens? You win, right? All your good people get recruited. We basically lost our performance department and our development department.
02:02:15
Speaker
The guys we brought in are almost all guys, with one exception, two exceptions, that know our culture and have worked here at one point before. So Henry Bronner has come in to replace Mark Nichols. Henry used to scout for us. And we promoted from within. And Gary Lewis became not just a coach, but our Academy director. And we hired John Hutchinson, who used to be the Defiance Coach, to be our full-time development coach. I think these are all breaking news pieces. Are they really? OK, I guess I'm not supposed to say that.
02:02:44
Speaker
There's going to be a press release tomorrow morning. So you guys can be like, how do you spell that? Was he drunk? No. Anyway, those guys are all now staffers that we're going to add. And they're all focused. You'll hear on development. And so John Hutchinson's role is really cool in particular because this is something that's all the rage right now in England and in Europe more broadly to have an idea of basically there's a guy whose job it is to take the prospects
02:03:13
Speaker
and to get them ready to be in the first team. So we got the prospects. We got the first team. We haven't yet put the prospects in the first team. And so John's job is going to be a mix of first team and defiance. And we're going to form this group called an elite training group. And we're going to bring our best prospects together. And we're going to have them interact directly with our first team staff. And so we got some really cool creative ideas about how to take this next step to really push these kids forward so we can begin taking advantage of all of the investment and all the time we put in over the five years.
02:03:43
Speaker
So, I got a couple more questions and then I'm going to open it up. If anyone has questions they want to submit, make sure they get it to Likit. But before that, I wanted to ask you about your guys' attitude towards analytics. You've talked a lot about Ravi Ramini. Is that right?
02:04:09
Speaker
And he has been, he seems to have done a lot of great work for you guys. But I am curious, like when you're weighing decisions, and I don't know if you've ever had a situation where the analytics side maybe disagreed vehemently with the scouting side or vice versa, do you, like, does that just like X, if there is that disagreement, does that X out a potential signing? How do you go about managing those kinds of disagreements?
02:04:37
Speaker
This is a great question, because people ask me what I do. And it's a fair question, because I've said this in a number of different forms. I'm a general manager. Literally, I generally manage. I know a little bit about a whole bunch of different things. And a lot of my job is honestly putting that stuff together. And the legal training I have, I think, allows me to identify what are the important parts of the information, and then to distill it down to the key elements, and then dig into those, and then hopefully make good decisions.
02:05:04
Speaker
So this is the essence of what we do. This is the essence of being a GM. Because you're analytics guys and you're scouts, we want them to have their own opinions. And we want them to be independent opinions. And we want them to have different processes, right? And then you have to take the results of those, and they're definitely going to conflict. Now, look, it happens with the Rui Diaz, where Chris literally went down to scout. They're like, this guy's pretty good. At the time, we could never afford him.
02:05:32
Speaker
He literally, he was the leading scorer in Mexico and he'd scored 15 goals six years in a row. That was like, it was, it was, you know, he didn't have to turn over any rocks. I mean, he was the sunflower blooming, you know, in the meadow and, you know, open in front of all this. And the coach is like, we should sign him. This guy's scouts, like we should sign him. And I'm like, Robbie, we, we good. And he's like, yes, this is the best, uh, best ratio over expected goals that I've ever seen. Okay. Great.
02:05:58
Speaker
And people were like, was that really hard? Because he was in Russia, and the signing came together in like three weeks. It was like, anyway. You get ones like that. Or the mystery of why you were able to get them, right? Yes. Yes, honestly. And again, it's almost always the same, which is the selling club needs some money. And hopefully, we are responsible and planning, and that never happens to us.
02:06:24
Speaker
But yes, there's more often there is disagreement about a target, and you have to weigh the relative stuff. And look, and one of the things that I have to do in my job too is to say, I mean, earlier in my career, I scouted. I mean, that's what I did. When we were at Salt Lake, we had 11 people total, and that was it. And sounders, we have 50.
02:06:43
Speaker
Um, so it's a different scope and a different scale and I'm not staying up all night watching video of guys at this point, but, um, you do have to have a sanity check in my role as to, you know, as, is this the right guy scouting wise? You do need to know enough about analytics and, you know, Ravi would stress that, um,
02:07:00
Speaker
What you really have to do is you have to know the proper questions to ask the analysts because all of the analysts truly understand the analytics and analytics can be misused very easily and data can be misused. But if you can do all that and then, you know, talk to the coaching staff and say stylistically from a player profile, does this look like somebody that you will be successful with?
02:07:20
Speaker
I think it's put together, it's all in kind of a soup and you know, and you put it together and you hope it comes out and tastes good. So, the last thing I'll ask before getting into the, it looks like we may only have one question, so. That means I really talk too much. No, it means that you just, I think it was, I asked you the right question. Or people are really bored after three hours of this. No, maybe. I don't know, are you? Are you guys bored? No. No? All right, all right. See?
02:07:52
Speaker
We could pass a mic out there. That'd be fun. There's a mic up here. You guys want to come off? We got about five more minutes. If people want to ask questions, it sounds like... I'll stay longer than five minutes. It's all good. Okay. So let me just ask you this one. And then what do you see as the next frontier for MLS signings? It looks like Brazil is maybe opening up. But what's the player look like who's signing an MLS in five years?
02:08:22
Speaker
In five years with this Young Player Initiative, if we began systemically attracting young European prospects, that would be the next kind of Rubicon de Cross. I think we've persuaded anyone in South America right now that MLS is cool. We've gotten good players from Europe, but we haven't yet gotten
02:08:44
Speaker
kids that still have a chance, that are still breaking into national teams in Europe and things like that. And I think that's maybe that final frontier. Now, I honestly wouldn't spend a lot of time and heartache worrying about are we going to get there? Is it going to happen? With the amount of investment in MLS and the end of the new CBA and stability for five years, and you look at what people are paying for franchises, if you pay $325 million for the Charlotte franchise,
02:09:11
Speaker
That's a different ball game. What you're going to see Miami spend this year, what you're going to see some of these teams coming in, that tide's going to raise all the boats. And I think MLS is going to get better and better and better. And it's been a fun place to work for the last 12 years and hopefully continue to be. All right. Well, thank you, Garth. So we are going to take a few questions. I can't promise that we're going to spend a whole bunch of time. We do have a deadline to get out of here. Oh, boy. But so introduce yourself and ask the question.
02:09:42
Speaker
Well, I don't know if it's on. So, Garth, great event, Jeremiah. Thanks, you guys, for a great event. There we go. We got to give it up for that, right? For real. Thank you. So, Garth, I'm with a big group from Issaquah. Huge sounder supporters for years and years. Unfortunately, one of our neighbors is Tom Dutra.
02:10:03
Speaker
We think he's a total asshole, but we wanted to get your thoughts on what Tom's meant to the Sounders and his contribution to the whole group. I got asked this question today in a different way. Does Tommy have a magic wand? Because literally anyone who trains with Tommy, he's Mr. Miyagi now, right? You just go out and someone's like, oh, he's the next starter. Tyler Miller, boom, LAFC. Brian Meredith, boom, expansion draft.
02:10:30
Speaker
I don't get totally surprised that often anymore. When Brian Meredith was taken in the expansion draft, I was like, I did not see that coming.
02:10:42
Speaker
That is all Tommy Dutra. I mean, that is, I mean, they're just not a lot of data on Brian Meredith. He hasn't played a lot of games. And so I thought we were the only guys that knew how good Brian Meredith was. And of course, we have Kurt Schmitz with Miami, and that's part of the explanation there. But Tommy's been absolutely amazing, and we've given him two good young goalkeepers in Steph Cleveland and Trey Muse. And his relationship with Steph Fry is special, period, full stop. Steph's a pretty special individual as a human.
02:11:12
Speaker
And we're really lucky to have him. But one of the things that we got to manage this year is if we play 45 or 50 games, we got to make sure Steph Fry does not play 45 or 50 games. We got to see if we can extend his career. And look, that means playing our young goalkeepers. And that means that we may see a mistake or two. That's what happens with young goalkeepers. And I think it's going to be really important
02:11:36
Speaker
You know, even at a fan base level that we rally around this and we see this kind of big picture and we say, hey, we understand we're getting better and for the long haul, this is the way to do it because we may get five more years of Steph Fry if we get 10 games of Steph Cleveland and Trey Muse this year. So.
02:11:55
Speaker
I know you weren't here at the beginning so you didn't get to hear the awesome music that they had playing but it really made me want to karaoke so my question for you is who are the best and worst singers in the locker room
02:12:10
Speaker
tough, tough one here. So again, just to, just to give a, to peel back to Colonel, but I am very rarely in the locker room at this, at this point. If I'm in a locker room, it's post game. And that's usually as historically has been Roman Torres and who's running that and
02:12:25
Speaker
that we have some of our younger players that use language that's a little bit more creative in its linguistics. And we have to remove the children from the, you know, because Adrian's son is young. He's three years old and, you know, mine are young. And so sometimes we go in there, we're like, whoop, and I'm right back to mama and we'll come back after the game. But no karaoke in the locker room, but it comes, it's a lot of multicultural music and you can kind of tell who's an ascendancy based on if it's salsa or if it's merengue or if it's, you know,
02:12:54
Speaker
Rap or whatever is going on. So, good question. Wade Leber, by the way, best karaoke singer on the staff. I mean that. If you guys haven't go seen him, he does karaoke regularly down in Tacoma. He's because he's a federal way boy. So, he goes down there around Defiance Games and you can usually catch him on the mic. We'll find out. We'll get this out to you. I don't remember off the top of my head.
02:13:22
Speaker
My question is if you could stack rank the trophies that you compete for every season, how would you rank them? Stack the four trophies. So open cup supporter, shield, uh, champions league, Campioni's cup MLS cups. There's five. Yeah.
02:13:41
Speaker
Sorry. Cascadia. There you go. Six cups. Look, I've said we kind of have three seasons. So our first season is Champions League season. Then we have lose all our players season because we have Copa America and the Euros. And the only guys we could possibly lose are Lidero, Rui, Diaz, Ariaga, and Svensson right down the spine of our team. What could possibly go wrong? And then we have the stretch run season, which you guys have come to know and love.
02:14:11
Speaker
Truly, like this year, at least look me the eye now, Jeremiah. When you ask me in July, Garth, is it finally coming together? At least tell you, I told you before the season. It's kind of predictable when you lose all your good players for two months and then you get them all back, then you're better. You have said that before, I think.
02:14:30
Speaker
So, man, I think it's all right. And the honest answer to this with the six cups is it honestly changes based on where you are in the season. The answer to that has to be Champions League right now. Literally, no one else has done it. We do that. It puts us on a different page.
02:14:47
Speaker
But there's a huge difference. If we flame out on Thursday and we go out in the first round of the Champions League, then that honestly impacts how we approach the regular season and Open Cup, for example. Because those are the next two ones in that thing. It puts probably a little bit more emphasis on Campioni's Cup. Because if we want to be a big boy league, we got to beat teams in Central America.
02:15:07
Speaker
You know, hopefully, hopefully we don't get to this point, you know, that we're able to win on Thursday and then push through and push on for a couple more rounds. And if you have a really good showing in Champions League, honestly, that dictates open cup probably the other way, because if nothing else, you're just going to have to play young players because you're again, you can't play, you can't pay play fence in 40 games either. And you honestly don't want to play Lidero 40 games. You know, part of the thing that we've seen always is again, the key to that stretch run at the end of the season is we gotten healthy.
02:15:34
Speaker
You get healthy by rotating your squad. And so that means different points of emphasis for different tournaments. And it doesn't mean we don't care about the open cup. It doesn't mean that we don't think our kids can win that. Because if we do our development right, they can eventually win that tournament. But it's balancing all these things over the course of the season. And it's given good performances, I think, across all fronts. And it's ultimately looking at things like, if you don't win Champions League,
02:16:02
Speaker
Okay, but you go for MLS Cup, and with another MLS Cup, then you can start throwing a D word around, right? I mean, then you go back to back, you got four or five, you know, like, sorry, three or five, you know, that's historic then, right? And coming off being named Team of the Decade, you know, those are the mountains left to conquer. But anyway, for right now, it's Champions League. We're gonna go try to get it. It's really hard, but eventually somebody's got to do it, right? So, there's gonna be us. Look at us. Look at us.
02:16:36
Speaker
Hi. First, I'd like to just say thank you for helping bring two MLS cups to Seattle because that's been awesome. Thank you for that. Thank you. Thank yourselves. You're clapping for yourselves right now. Second, I would just like to also extend thank you for being the first MLS team to be carbon neutral in all of MLS.
02:16:58
Speaker
Thank you for your work with the Green Duwamish River. Thank you for the Duwamish people that we are being part of this land. Thank you for that. And so I would just like to ask, what does it mean for day-to-day operations? What does it mean for the club to be carbon neutral? And what kind of precedent does that set for the MLS and for other clubs moving forward?
02:17:19
Speaker
Look, I think you always want to try to be a leader, right? And you want to reflect the values of your community and in order to be a sports team anywhere in any city. And I'm really proud of this. We are really proud of being carbon neutral. We're also really proud of Pride. I mean, I don't know if we were actually the first club to do Pride, but we were definitely one of the very first. And I remember we got the very first one we did. We got some nasty phone calls saying, you know, this isn't something that I want to be part of. And we just said,
02:17:46
Speaker
We got to push on. We want to be on the right side of history here. This thing is going to grow. It's going to develop. And look, at the end of the day, we all have fun going to a kid's game, playing a kid's game. You know, I do fantasy sports for a living, right? That's what my job is.
02:18:07
Speaker
But the chance to make a difference is what's worthwhile, right? That gives life meaning and value and hopefully leaving the world a better place both from an environmental perspective and from a social one is something that is certainly something we hope we're a part of, but it also very much reflective of Seattle. And for someone like me who's moved here, has lived a lot of different places and moved here, it's a really cool part of living here and being around people that embrace it. Because again, it's a kind of thing.
02:18:33
Speaker
I don't know how much noise it makes to be carbon neutral in Chicago where I grew up, you know, I think, but I think it's a big deal here. And if it's a big deal here, then we can kind of show the rest of the world like we can be a trendsetter. We can use this to launch a World Cup bid, you know, to be a host city. And I think that'd be massive to put Seattle on the map. And I think it's something we should all aspire for. And I do think carbon neutrality, particularly in a world where our country is unfortunately pulled out of the Paris Accord, is a huge step to say we in Seattle don't believe that. To the contrary, we're working to combat that.
02:19:07
Speaker
All I have to do now is talk about religion. We'll hit all the non-sensitive topics. Do we have one more question? Go for it, man. OK.
02:19:20
Speaker
First, I'd just like to say thanks to the Sounders organization for just coming down and doing this sort of thing. It's great to have actually people from the team be able to just come out and just be able to talk to you. I mean, any other league in the world that we can actually come and talk to the general manager of soccer operations and say, what is the team doing? It's just amazing.
02:19:40
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you for having me. I mean, likewise, it's pretty cool for me to come and feel pretty comfortable and pretty accepted and, you know, to be part of something like this because, you know, it's been, you said four or five years now, right? Yeah. And this is, I really want to congratulate all you. This is a cool event. Like I was looking forward to this. Like before you called me, I was like, when's the icon? Like we got, I want to come down and do this again.
02:20:03
Speaker
So it really is. The job is the job. And the job is a lot of pressure. And there's a ton of stress. But when you folks come up and say hello, and you say, how are you doing, man? And you say, thank you. I'm like, first of all, it's ridiculous that you're thanking me for anything. But you guys are the backbone of the team. But still, it means a lot to me. It really does. If you come up and say, hey, Garth, on the street, I really appreciate that. And hopefully it's not followed by a stiff uppercut or anything like that.
02:20:33
Speaker
A stiff witty remark is always welcome, but it's the best one that I've had so far was after we won the first time. And a gentleman came up at the Zach Scott testimonial game and said, thank you for bringing joy to the city. And I thought, this is amazing, right? It's really incredible. So I call my brother.
02:20:53
Speaker
Gives you an example of the way I grew up and how maybe we stay humble in our family. And I said, can you believe this? This guy who doesn't know me just walked up to me and said, thank you for bringing joy to the city. And he's like, oh, did you shave today? And I'm like, no. He's like, he must have thought you were Santa Claus. So anyway, I didn't mean to railroad your question there, but it's great to be here. So on a lighter question, my cousin's from Portland.
02:21:22
Speaker
And yeah. So is Jeremiah. Oh. He lived there briefly. Did I at least get that part right? No. There was not a Portland face? No. My cousin lives there. Cousin lives there. So you can be your cousin's friend? No, maybe. Hey, Matt Pence writes about Portland now too. You should boo him too. Yeah. Hey.
02:21:51
Speaker
But keep in mind, everyone on the Portland staff worked for me at one time or another at this point too. So it's not literally true. Go on. You can just give me a shovel next time. I'll just keep digging and digging and all right. He's been living overseas and I told him congratulations on Portland making it to the league cup. And he had no idea what that was. And so I described it as,
02:22:18
Speaker
feedback. The cup for teams that are good enough make to the playoffs, but don't win anything. I mean, they're going to say just aren't as good as Seattle. I was wondering if we talk about the league expanding, but do you have a better description that we could use to describe what the league cup actually is?
02:22:37
Speaker
I will actually go on the Snarky here and say the League's Cup actually is pretty cool.
Future of MLS and League's Cup Potential
02:22:42
Speaker
It's something that could be, fair enough, counterpoint up front here. It's not been cool yet, but it could be. Here's what I mean.
02:22:57
Speaker
The games that are the highest rated, that people get the most fired up about for the most part, is when we play Mexican teams, right? Whether that's in Champions League, whether that's the national team. If you look at the television ratings in the United States, more people still watch big League of MX games and watch big MLS games.
02:23:16
Speaker
But clearly and obviously uniting those tribes is the way to drive soccer forward in this country, right? I mean, imagine a world in which you have an English language rights deal and a Spanish language rights deal in both Mexico and the United States and in Canada. That's a lot of money. And the significance of that is that then brings lots of really good players
02:23:36
Speaker
into that league. And so what League's Cup is the kind of first seeds of or the germination of potentially is some type of long-term. And I don't know what it looks like. I don't know what anybody knows what it's going to look like. Partnership or collaboration between League of MX and MLS.
02:23:52
Speaker
And that is really, really exciting because that's the next, that can be the next big thing, right? Some of the big ideas out there, do you combine CONCACAF and CONMABOL and take on UEFA that way and stuff? And there's a ton of, you know, in the Copa America scenario here in Seattle and all over the US was an amazingly, hugely successful event, but there's just tons of bureaucratic and political issues with that.
02:24:15
Speaker
You know, when we have a shared border and now we now have, I think literally half a dozen big Mexican players that we all that were signed by MLS this year are going to come over and play an MLS. This is happening. Like this is the world is getting smaller. These leagues are getting closer. And I think that's the promise or the hope maybe of Leeds Cup.
02:24:33
Speaker
that these can become potentially even meaningful games that count in the standings at some point in the future for both leagues in both countries. And that could be a really, really cool thing. Because Champions League, look, we're going to go for it. We're going to give it our all. At the time of year it is, it is really difficult to ramp up so quickly to get 90 minutes fit and then to try to take on Mexicans. Now, we've got a little bit better runway. We don't draw a Mexican team till April 7.
02:25:01
Speaker
Famous last words by just by uttering these words, we're going to lose to a Canadian team or a Central American team. But if you make it to the Mexican team, you've got some time. To say you've got to be top fit by April, that's at least achievable. To say you're going to be top fit by February 27 when you play Leona as LAFC got, you're hoping and wishing a little bit.
02:25:24
Speaker
know, this idea of systematically playing the mechanisms, it'll certainly make us better. And that's what I think we all want, right? We all want the league to grow and improve and put ourselves in position, hopefully to capitalize on the next television contract, which would start in 2023, but also then
02:25:40
Speaker
to hopefully host a World Cup and really use that as the boomerang or the spring to become one of truly the best leagues in the world. And that's what we're trying to do. That's what we aspire to do. And that's where you guys come in again, because when we tell people we have the 30th largest crowd in the world,
02:25:59
Speaker
people still don't believe me. They like players don't believe me. Agents are like, yeah, yeah. And we just, we sent them, we got a little two minute video. We said, just, just stick it. Here you go. Here's a little file. And they watch it and they can't, like people can't believe it. Like that's what's so cool. Like when I come to, come to see you guys and you know, we do it once a year and stuff that just, please take a moment when you're,
02:26:20
Speaker
With your friends or at the first game or whatever and just like give yourselves a high five man It is it is absolutely amazing what y'all do It is incredible the energy you bring and the amount of support that we have not just as players and staffers and all that But what the world sees for Seattle you guys are amazing.
Event Conclusion and Appreciation
02:26:38
Speaker
Thank you Well with with that that's probably a good place to to call it an event
02:26:47
Speaker
Hey! So I just wanted to make sure to remind everyone to settle up with the auction and all that kind of stuff. I feel like this was a very good event. I wanted to thank everyone for coming. I did want to also just kind of
02:27:05
Speaker
thank some people that made this possible. I wanted to, first of all, thank Garth, thank Brad, thank Will, thank Jess, Bethany, Bill, for coming out here. And this is really, I mean, and Schmetz, of course, Schmetz. And,
02:27:24
Speaker
I mean, I don't think that there's anything like this going on in the United States, probably. I don't know that there's anything going on like this in the world where big time athletes and heads of organizations are coming to a fan event and just kind of taking questions from the crowd and hanging out and doing this whole thing. Thanks to the Sounders for being good partners in this thing, I guess. I'm going to dub you guys partners in that.
02:27:55
Speaker
Thank you, Sammy, also. Thank you to ECS for bringing the Cascadia Cup. I also really want to thank Likert and Aaron for kind of sticking with us on making this happen behind the scenes. I don't think I could say clearly enough that Emily Cummings puts in a ton of work behind the scenes. She's turned this from
02:28:23
Speaker
She's literally behind the scenes, I guess, right now, but I mean, she's really taking this front to a different level. Huh? There, she's in the back there. Oh, there, she's in the back there. I want to say thank you to SB Nation and Sounder Art for actually helping fund it this year, which was awesome. Thanks to my fellow presenters, Susie Rance and Jacob Cristobal, for putting on a really great rain segment. Thanks to Tim Foss.
02:28:50
Speaker
for helping out with modeling and with hosting the game. Thanks to Beth Mantel for also being a model and helping out also behind the scenes. This is really a volunteer-run organization. It's kind of, I mean, event, and it's amazing. Dave Klarek helped out today. Kelly Stephens, Ben Harrison, Steve Vogt, Andrew Beck, Giovanna O'Shan, and Marnie O'Shan, who I really wanted to thank since it's related to me.
02:29:21
Speaker
I wanted to thank our sponsors, Fullpool Wines, everyone that donated stuff, James Willard, Johnny Campbell, Johnny Football, as you may know, Jane Gershovich, the Masonry, KEXP, Matt Pence. And finally, I wanted to say thanks to Hales Palladium for hosting us. I really think that this was a, I'd like to think it's our best event and hope to be doing this again next year.
02:29:49
Speaker
And that's it. So thank you. Give yourselves an applause too. Thank you. See you Thursday. 12,000? And Sunday. And apparently we raised $12,000.
02:30:12
Speaker
That is well done. Yes. I blew it. Yes, I blew it off. Yes. That's the sign. That's the sign. Green, Douglas, where were the waters cut through? Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue. It's roll on, Columbia roll on.
02:30:33
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!