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The Cooler Guild: Unspirited away, again - Ep. 46
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Trinity Rodman is really good at soccer. It wasn’t a great day for the Seattle Reign at Audi Field as they lost 2-0 to the Washington Spirit. We get into the loss and how things are shaping up for the team as they continue to push for the playoffs. Following our game discussion, we get into some moves around the NWSL, other results from the weekend, as well as a quick look at the Reign’s next match.
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Transcript
Introduction & Episode Overview
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 46 of the Cooler Guild. I am Coop Cooper, and joined with me, as always, is my co-host, Faye Ann Crisp. Hello! We're recording on Wednesday, September 10th, 2025. On today's episode, we'll be going over the Reigns' loss to Spirit, ah quickly checking in with the other results from league, and recapping some notable moves, and then also ah finishing things up by looking ahead at the Reigns' next match.
00:00:47
Speaker
But first, some
Podcast Network & Subscription Details
00:00:48
Speaker
housekeeping. The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a Sounder at Heart subscriber on the private unified feed with the other podcasts on the network. If you'd like to become a subscriber, just visit our page at sounderatheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild.
00:01:02
Speaker
New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing.
Faye's Wallet Saga & Personal Experience
00:01:07
Speaker
Did you do anything fun before the loss? Lost my wallet. Double loss. Yeah,
00:01:16
Speaker
that sucks. I think I dropped it as I was going to my car on Thursday after chess league. I switched i switch to a different fanny pack. And I think when I flipped it around to like pull my keys on my fanny pack, I think I dropped it Anyway, i didn't realize until Thursday or Friday when I was leaving work.
00:01:34
Speaker
And then I checked on my accounts and they had drained my checking account by buying lottery tickets. I mean, hey, if you're going to steal someone's card, that's an investment.
00:01:45
Speaker
Yeah. I like if you win big, like, I don't know. I mean, I feel like they track it to your... Well, because they a police report. Yeah, yeah. And so the police know.
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, if they try to claim... i mean, if they want anything on those and try to claim them, that's going to be an easy way to... think if it was, like, 20 bucks or something, they could claim at, like, the yeah gas station or whatever, it'd be fine. But yeah, I don't know. Did you get reimbursed? Your bank give you your money? Not yet because they didn't post till over the weekend. Yeah.
00:02:13
Speaker
So I had to wait until yesterday to file the claim with my bank. Bummer. Yeah, they spent like almost $600 on lottery tickets. And I think the only way they were were able to do it was through the new machines.
00:02:26
Speaker
Oh, okay. Because otherwise you'd need a pin. Yeah, yeah. but It's just been a nightmare. I did go to the DOL yesterday and get a new driver's license. Do have a good picture? I don't know. I didn't ask to see it oh well...
00:02:39
Speaker
I'm like looking for We'll find out. TBD on the driver's license. i was like, you know how bad mine is and it looks nothing like me. Yeah. I'm like counting down the days next year mine do. I guess ah you're probably you're probably due for a new one soon anyways, right? I was due in November of this year. so i like I would have had to go and do it. Yeah, I would have had to go and do it anyway. So. Okay. Okay. Could have been worse. Yeah. Wow.
00:03:02
Speaker
How about you? Not a whole, I mean, I guess I've been busy with just, I've been, I've made friends and it's kind of annoying because now I'm always busy.
Local Event & Musical Encounter
00:03:12
Speaker
uh but yeah i went to ah some people on social media might have seen this if they care about seattle music scene but um i went to the beer pier in town where i live uh which is like put on by fort george and they're wrapping up the season at the beer pier with um brunch on saturdays oh nice so i went down to there's like two weekends of brunches that aren't going to be like super meat heavy so i went down last weekend guess the other weekend just had um and the fucking guy like the lead singer and then i later also found out the bassist were like hanging out at the beer pier from minus the bear oh yeah i did see that yeah so that and that's like one of my favorite bands of all time like i have a quote of their song on like my ipod touch from back in the day
00:03:58
Speaker
Like a real throwback. um But yeah, like I saw him, like, I don't know, it's been like 20 fucking years of following this band, right? So like, I saw them and I was like, is that him? I like, I don't, I don't know. But like, last time I saw him was like 20 fucking years ago or 15 years ago, whatever the fucking time last night, last time I went to a show for them.
00:04:14
Speaker
And then I Googled it and like, and then went on Instagram and like, sure enough, they're making like a special beer for Minus the Bear for their um anniversary of their album Menos El Oso.
00:04:25
Speaker
So... They were down in there kind of tas doing the final tastings and it's getting canned and put out like later this month. But um yeah, I got a picture with the lead singer. Didn't recognize the bassist, which I felt bad about because he took a picture of himself on my phone.
00:04:42
Speaker
But he also is like has this huge like mustache now and looks nothing like how I recognized him from yeah back in the day. And also, it's a bassist. Not to be rude bassist, but like the lead singer of the band is much more recognizable, They call him front man for reason. Exactly. I did feel bad, at the same time, I looked at like the old photo of him and like now, and I was like, these are two different people, basically. Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:07
Speaker
ah Anyways, so that was cool. I was like, really, really cool because I'm like, huge fan of that band. Anyways, we have to get into i don't really want to.
Reign vs. Spirit: Game Analysis
00:05:15
Speaker
That's why we're delaying this as much as possible about talking about other things going on in the world.
00:05:19
Speaker
But the rain lost to the spirit. It was a bummer. Expected. Maybe didn't expect this level of kind of just blah.
00:05:30
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't expect that. I don't know. i kind of did. It's a long trip over there. Right. And I do feel like spirit have been on a tear. So, yeah. General note, there was a sickness going through the team, although in the post-match presser, the players that either downplayed it or said it didn't affect them.
00:05:51
Speaker
I was trying to find a reason, okay? I know. I know. ah Well, I was like, oh man. what me To be fair, James Turner was out, and I know she hasn't been really getting tons of minutes since coming back from the Euros, but that was somebody I was i said would probably be a big key to playing this spirit team, and she wasn't available. so Yeah, absolutely. Maybe didn't affect the players in the field, but like, did it affect our ability to have our best starting lineup?
00:06:17
Speaker
I would say so. Yeah, I would. i've It affected some things, but it was just a notable, notable thing going in that they found about ah in the pregame presser. Yeah, they pulled this up on the broadcast, a notable stat.
00:06:31
Speaker
uh it was funny because i one that who was on the commentary crew i i watched the q13 one so i can't remember but somebody was like jp del camera and jill loyden it might have been she was i think it was her i think it was jp del camera and jill loyden because but she i had that feed up first yeah and then it was like the quality was so terrible yeah i switched over to the q13 feed and it was way better yeah she was saying that like this rain team isn't built for coming back from behind and i was like hey now and then they pulled up this this stat but And the Reign are winless when trailing at half the season. um Yeah. So we go down and I guess maybe I'm certain and just going to not have any hope for a win at least.
00:07:15
Speaker
Yeah. Only two draws out of that. Not a good stat to have. No, not at all. Do we have any positives? We didn't get blown out. It was only loss. Ugh.
00:07:27
Speaker
And I feel like the goals that were scored, there was an obvious breakdown. Obvious breakdown and obvious quality with the player who scored as well. Yeah.
00:07:38
Speaker
Yeah. And even the lead up to the goals. Yeah. Yeah. Elusiveness of Trini Rodman really got us. But it could have gotten us more, I guess, is what you're saying. Yeah. Other positive?
00:07:49
Speaker
I had Jordan Bug and Sam Meza. Jordan Bug looked great. Jordan Bug looked great. Sam Meza literally was just running around trying to do her best. so That's about it.
00:08:01
Speaker
End of list. Yeah, I agree. I thought Dahlien, I mean, she had a quality chance and and looked decent up front. So I could add her in as well. um But i think there's not enough quality around her in the midfield. Uh-huh. there wasn't enough quality play i think we have quality players i just think that in this match there wasn't enough quality play yeah did you have any positives no that's uh the positive is i didn't watch the second half live i watched the first half live because i went camping so the positive was is that i left and had a better time um doing something else and but then i had to go watch the second half later and that was a bummer The other positive is that um I was right about Trini Rodman probably causing issues. And I do like being right.
00:08:49
Speaker
That's fair. I would rather be wrong though in this case. Yeah. or I mean, sometimes when we predict things about the other team, we're just doing it to hope that we're wrong. Yeah,
Team Dynamics & Scoring Challenges
00:09:00
Speaker
absolutely. um Yeah. I think negatives is we got a bigger list for that. We haven't won for five matches. Our last one was that first game back um from the break. And that was the Insaniel City FC who are not very great, um I would say.
00:09:16
Speaker
This is not how I wanted things to go. we had momentum like going into the break and it's like all gone. Yeah, it really screwed it up for us. I and my big thing is like we have the team has these issues, right? Their inability to score.
00:09:33
Speaker
Well, in the recent days, i was like, sometimes that's not the issue. Sometimes it is. It's like you see the pieces in each game, right? But they can't seem to put them together.
00:09:46
Speaker
And, you know, we're always saying, well, what if we had this, you know, a player that could do this? What if we have a player that could do this? And to me, it seems that we have players that can do that. We just can't mesh them all.
00:09:57
Speaker
Because we're always looking for something. Oh, it's missing something. It's missing something. I don't think they're missing anything. I think the thing that they're missing is one quality performance as a team to really let them know that like it is possible to win games and win games against really good opponents.
00:10:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's rough. it's yeah like it I feel like this is the first game that's kind of just been like a real reality check for me. As a as a as like a I don't know, just like the team. I had higher expectations of more. We saw this team playing the beginning of the season and what they have done against some very good teams. But Spirit are just so much better. You can just see it. And they are the number two team in the league. Yeah, but you could... Yeah, and they should... I would say, like, they should be better than us, given, like, how much they invest in getting players and bringing them in from overseas and kind of all of the things they do to try and stack this team. It is a stacked team. um These are proven players at, you know, pretty high levels around the world.
00:10:59
Speaker
um So it's not surprising, you know, when we're getting... I would say out outplayed in quality, at least. um That, like, final quality and everything. And they also, Trineen Rodman's just, like... She's back with vengeance. Yeah.
00:11:13
Speaker
Like, because so because we did well with shutting down Cantore, right? Like, Bug did a great job there. But, like, you've still got, like... four to five other attacking players to be worried about.
00:11:25
Speaker
And I just like if we had like three bugs on the field, maybe that would be enough. Not that McClarnon didn't do good job. But again, it doesn't seem like we always get consistent games with Barnes these days.
00:11:36
Speaker
That was my other. i didn't know if I wanted to bring this up, but it was as a fan watching the game, it was very obvious to me on both goals that she just absolutely got cooked.
00:11:49
Speaker
Yeah. and Yeah. I was hesitant to bring it up as well, but I just feel like it's hard not to point it out when we see the youth and the quality um of the youth that I mean, they're not that like the players that the spirit are relying on are still very pretty young. And yeah, Barnes is ah is is a vet, but this was not a good game for her. No, and no we've we've seen that issue a couple of times this season.
00:12:15
Speaker
Yeah. um And that's not the kind of consistency you want to see. No. But then you ask yourself the question, like, when we talk about Lou Barnes and her strength, one of them is like being the commanding leader, which I
Leadership & Team Performance Issues
00:12:27
Speaker
talked about last episode, of the back line.
00:12:30
Speaker
And when you lose that, you lose everybody. Yeah. Yeah. So do you want to lose all three on the back line or just one? Yeah. it's So it's almost like a mitigation strategy.
00:12:41
Speaker
And that's why I'm saying like, they got to find another leader. Yeah. They got to find somebody that can really just drill them into place when they're on the field. And I think that needs to be Claudia Dickey.
00:12:52
Speaker
Yeah. And maybe she's getting there. Yeah. But it seems to me that like, that's the main reason that we've still got Lou Barnes on the field. Yeah. Yeah, which like she has good games, but she also has games where it just feels like she can't keep up sometimes.
00:13:09
Speaker
It almost seems to me and and I could be extremely wrong in this sense, but it seems to me to be very similar to the national team players not stepping down.
00:13:23
Speaker
Yeah. When they should have. Okay. And instead of maybe ushering in the new leadership, really holding on to what you're still good at. Which I think is like an interesting way to look at it. But I also don't think, I mean, aside from Claudia Dickey, there has been so much change in this team and like the players that we put on the field that it's just, it's not obvious who that would be at this moment. Right. And don't get me wrong. Like,
00:13:49
Speaker
Lou Barnes is essential to this team. Yeah. In that leadership role. Yeah. But we saw it, you know, like, especially with, um, Megan Rapinoe when she realized her role changed.
00:14:01
Speaker
And i hope that that's what she's doing, who but I just don't know. That's just an observation and a guess and a wild take. I think and mean, I hope, I mean, maybe she'll prove us wrong. And we just, this was just a one off. That's always what I hope for. say say I don't want this.
00:14:20
Speaker
Yeah. What other negatives did you want to bring up? Oh, God. They kept showing Trinity Robbins' boyfriend and Magic Johnson. Which is funny because I didn't put this in the notes, but the show notes, I didn't put it in. But on my match notes from watching, i was like, my general comments was like, I don't need to see the same celebrities every game, particularly the owners.
00:14:43
Speaker
yeah i get it magic johnson's an owner but like i just feel like it's like a it's like reaching for um like what's the word they're trying to taylor swift the nwsl yeah that wouldn't maybe normally like yeah yeah what's the why can't i think of the word bothering me yeah i don't i don't get it straight bait it's i wouldn't say straight bait i just feel like they're trying to like attract the like average per like so maybe some of these like random sports fans and i'm just like what at what point was somebody like oh my god magic johnson is watching the game for the sideline i guess i'll watch more like i get it when it's like a special event like what they did in in san francisco for bay fc right
00:15:30
Speaker
Yeah. And they've got Giants players there at the game. Yeah. Because they're playing at their home field. Yeah. And they've got Giants players there supporting the team. That's great. But when it comes, it's like the same shit with the blue man from KC. Yeah.
00:15:43
Speaker
Yeah. I just don't care. And always men. Yeah, that's the thing. It's like, I don't i don't care. ah do not care. And I get that, like, Trinity Rodman came into his presser and asked a question. That's fine. They never showed her face.
00:15:57
Speaker
They never showed her face once in that clip. And it was funny. And it was a question and gone. For them to have him on screen... Doing the post game report, it just felt juvenile. I was like, it's all tacky.
00:16:12
Speaker
It felt juvenile and tacky. And that's not professional sports to me. Yeah. Had he gone in for the post game presser and asked a question in that, that would have been equivalent. But no, now they're just like engagement and like ah clip farming.
00:16:26
Speaker
Yeah, i'm not i'm I'm not a fan of it. and it works for them, I guess, whatever. But, like, I don't care for it. And this is our podcast, so we can bitch about it. Yeah. God, that sucked. I just really, really hated that game.
00:16:42
Speaker
I was just hoping for more. Like, even with a loss, I was hoping for more. It was just kind of meh. It wasn't inspiring for the postseason at all.
00:16:52
Speaker
No. If we make it Yeah. And dropping points right now is like lethal. I mean, we haven't gotten any fucking, we've barely gotten points since the break.
00:17:03
Speaker
Yeah. Just skimming by. It's not good. and we've had opportunities to jump teams too, because teams above us and around us haven't been doing well. So like we had opportunities to really solidify.
00:17:15
Speaker
Like they had ah opportunities to solidify themselves as like real contenders. And I just, I am not, i I don't want to say this, but I'm not seeing it. If they make the post season, I don't, so like, I just don't see it on right now of them going, like making a run.
00:17:31
Speaker
I'm not convinced, but I'm willing to be convinced. Sure, sure, sure, sure. And that's what I'm hoping happens.
Missed Substitution & Strategic Concerns
00:17:37
Speaker
I would say the the mat like the rest of the schedule is, is I would say, ah it's a but it's a pretty favorable schedule for us.
00:17:44
Speaker
um There's definitely some more tests to come. and obviously But some of the teams that we're playing are on runs are playing really, really well. Mm-hmm. So if they don't fucking thats sometimes head they don't fucking show up for those, then like it's on them.
00:17:59
Speaker
Yeah, it's on them. They set themselves up to to get it into the postseason and everything like that. And they're there. They haven't squandered it yet. But it's yeah, they're certainly not grabbing it and trying to take it.
00:18:11
Speaker
So add this to the negatives and it ties into the post-match presser note that we have. They tried to make a sub at about the 71st minute. They saw that players were coming up yeah and then the spirit just held possession. Yeah.
00:18:27
Speaker
Basically a rondo game. Right. And they couldn't win the ball back. Couldn't kick it out of bounds. Just sitting back and like taking the pressure. I don't. Anyway, so Mia Fischel, who we've been excited to like maybe see more minutes out of than the two minutes of extra time when she gets subbed in in the 90th minute, ah only got 10 minutes.
00:18:47
Speaker
And in the post-match presser, Harvey said did she tried to get her in 10 minutes before actually she came on, but the spirit's possession totally ruined that idea. you not see the fact that they have...
00:19:00
Speaker
What was it like 63% of the possession or like, I can't remember what it was 68 and not think, okay, I want to put this player up to be subbed in. also couldn't, but here's my thing. You see your, you see your coach getting players ready for like, it went on for 10 minutes, right? Like, couldn't the players in the field at least try to force the ball to go out of bounds?
00:19:21
Speaker
ah something because like whatever they were doing was not working so like i think they should have been ready for a sub and somehow they just kind of let them hold the ball and i don't know it was very weird so what i think they should do next game is i think they should try to get her 30 minutes so she gets 20 minutes Yeah, I mean, that's like a bit a pretty rare thing to be happening.
00:19:42
Speaker
Yeah, maybe start her and then take her off at half. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know, man. It's frustrating. I feel very frustrated about the way things have been going. And it feels reminiscent. not as much frustrated as I am, like, just kind of mystified.
00:19:56
Speaker
I'm frustrated. done with that. All right.
Player of the Match: Sam Meza
00:19:59
Speaker
I think we can move on um Not a fun game to talk about and dive into, but we do have to go over Cooler Player of the Match.
00:20:08
Speaker
Cooler Player the Match is brought to you by the Doctor's Office, a great little 12-seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner is big fan of the rain and is proud to be our very first sponsor. so there was the choices that we had we had two two options um van asked you know like who's who's the player of the match and i said the spider who went across the camera because at least someone wanted to steal the show hey ah but you know i think it's you have to give credit given how crazy good the players are on the spirit i wish maybe we had two of those many that they have but i i think we have to give it to um old faithful
00:20:55
Speaker
Anyways, ah congrats to Meza. ah Back, back, back again. yeah i thought I thought she had a great game. And i think it would have I think it would have been the embarrassment that you said, like, we didn't get blown out We might have gotten blown out if Sam Meza wasn't on the field.
00:21:09
Speaker
oh If Meza and Bug were on the field, it would have been and utter disaster. Meza, and Heidema. Yeah, but, you know, we got to choose one. And again, ah this is a very biased podcast.
00:21:21
Speaker
Yeah. ah We don't claim to be anything else. Yeah, exactly.
Community & Sponsor Highlight
00:21:25
Speaker
ah Thanks again to our sponsor, of The Doctor's Office. The Doctor's Office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. Try their limited edition Black Cherry Manhattan.
00:21:33
Speaker
The Black Manhattan is a contemporary classic, and they've messed with it a bit, infusing Okanagan cherries into rye whiskey, then blending that with rhubarb, amaro, and bitters. The result is a dark, fruity, and moody cocktail.
00:21:45
Speaker
Just like this team. Oh. Oops. dark fruity and moody i'm gonna start describing myself as that uh check out their instagram at tdo seattle or better yet go drink there in person cheers cheers still i have a beer that i bought for when they win and they haven't won since i bought a fucking beer and i can't get it anyways uh it's time for trivia so last week's question who did the rain beat for their first playoff win do we have any answers girl i don't know i'm so bad at social media i was like social media sucks and it's super annoying and the last thing i want to do in the summertime is like i don't think let me look i'm already my phone way too much
00:22:25
Speaker
I put my phone on ah do not disturb when I'm at work. but We got one comment from on the Instagram from Pelo Quinn Dean that said Chicago question mark.
00:22:39
Speaker
Incorrect. But thank you. Thank you for the response on Blue Sky. Shameless. Oh, yeah, it was Matt. Oh, shameless rain stand. Yeah. yeah Oh, God, we have 15, 15 notifications.
00:22:51
Speaker
ah He said Sky Blue FC, which is also incorrect. You know, ah people are catching on to some of the themes of stuff going on here, they might but might have been able to guess this. um but Thank you for your responses. um The answer to the question was actually the team we played this last weekend, Washington Spirit.
00:23:09
Speaker
And that was a 3-0 win with goals from Bev Yanez, Megan Rapinoe, and Mariah Bullock. Back when the Spirit were bad. And fun fact, Mariah Bullock is now the team's psychologist.
00:23:19
Speaker
Fun fact. um All right. What do we got for next week's question or answer trivia? What do you got? This week's trivia question. What in what year did Megan Rapinoe score the rain's first hat trick?
00:23:32
Speaker
Find out next week or find out from the internet.
00:23:38
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the sounder at heart podcast network, which now includes no sony at this lobbing scorchers and the cooler guild. We've been independent since August of 2023 and but need your support to make sure it continues.
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00:23:51
Speaker
Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce.
00:24:04
Speaker
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00:24:20
Speaker
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00:24:30
Speaker
We got some other rain news to go over just so like a little couple things. This first one like surprised me, but didn't shock me. Yeah. Yeah. So g Ji So-yeon got loaned to birmingham Birmingham City for the
Ji So-yeon's Loan & Contract Discussion
00:24:45
Speaker
Rainier of the Season. her contract for the rain was going to be up at the end of this year anyways. They haven't been playing her.
00:24:50
Speaker
Yeah, and i someone did say um that Birmingham City only lost out to lie at ah London City Lionesses for promotion. So they seem to be really serious about being promoted. Okay.
00:25:03
Speaker
So it seems like a ah fair spot to go. Well... related to that i was when that happened and read that news and trying to speculate who might fill that position again or that spot roster on you know spot that going to open up um i said to you like maddie mercato should get called back from her loan because she and she's been sam mezzing up yeah she has been i'm like what the fuck we should bring ring her back but we didn't um for some reason ah we we the reign of signed ah midfielder michaela clough from was she like a free agent did they like mutually agree to just like terminate her contract with utah i couldn't help i couldn't find the answer for that but she's signed through the rest of the season so it's only a few more months of this um so kind of low risk um i do think it's
00:25:55
Speaker
Low risk on the field. Sure. i do think it's worth mentioning that um there's some questionable accounts, highly questionable accounts that she follows on
New Signing & Team Culture Questions
00:26:06
Speaker
social media. i don't know.
00:26:08
Speaker
Stuff that she follows accounts that are like transphobic, um anti LGBT. She follows Riley Gaines. It's not great. um And her husband also seems to be an interesting person.
00:26:22
Speaker
It's not something you want to see as a fan, I guess I would say. um doesn't really send a great message to fans who are part of the LGBTQ ah community. i don't know. um How did you take this?
00:26:37
Speaker
I took this as possibly a major oversight. Yeah. From the front office, but it was noted that she played at Utah when ah Laura was coaching there. Maybe she's a performative Mormon.
00:26:53
Speaker
And actually doesn't feel that way. Yeah. um But i would expect and hope from the RAINN organization that those questions ah regarding team culture and how you are ready to accept that this is how we do things at this organization Like we, the players wear shirts as they play, like protect trans kids and do gay shit every game.
00:27:20
Speaker
And you know that you, is she desperate enough that she doesn't care? yeah Or is it just something that was discussed and she was okay with it? Yeah. I mean, like, yeah, I think that there needs to be some clarity there.
00:27:34
Speaker
um And I think that the organization definitely should answer for that. Yeah. And that question needs to be asked. Maybe by me. They're playing in town next weekend.
00:27:46
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's a fair thing to maybe bring up. I just i just think that I have enough faith in the organization that they would have asked those questions previously and vetted her. Yeah. um But it's still concerning.
00:27:59
Speaker
Definitely. Do you not have a PR machine that tells you like... Hey, you're signing with this like really progressive team in Seattle. maybe you should Maybe you should clean that up. Yeah.
00:28:10
Speaker
Which like, I don't know. don't want to be like an apologist for anybody, obviously, because there's legitimate people's lives that are being harmed. and But, you know, she's from Utah. She's raised Mormon. and I feel like a lot of times people like that, they just never had to question anything.
00:28:27
Speaker
That being said, she was playing for Utah, who actually have one of the gayer teams in the league. So, like, i don't know. I mean, i'm willing to hope that she has grown maybe from some of the... Because she's, she's what, 26 or something like that?
00:28:45
Speaker
Yeah. And I just feel like you get put in a bubble... um And maybe she's staying in that bubble. I don't fucking know. But you're coming to a very gay place is what I'm saying. So, like, I'm hoping that if there was any reservations, they the team would have had to definitely have brought it up, I would imagine.
00:29:02
Speaker
And that I also feel like when you're around people who maybe you've thought you were against, exposure I think is sometimes the best um kind of reality check on, like, why did I have... Why did I think this was an issue?
00:29:16
Speaker
But... I don't know. I don't know. We will also probably never fucking know because we're not in those locker rooms and we're never going to be teammates with these people. so And it's not like she's outwardly said anything that I'm aware of. i Yeah, I tried to do a dive into it. I didn't see anything super crazy like Corb and Albert.
00:29:34
Speaker
Right. So... I don't know. I'm having a hard time with it. doesn' mean It doesn't feel good. And if you look at the comments on the mutual post that she shared with the team on Instagram, it's pretty gnarly.
00:29:51
Speaker
Like Seattle fans know what's up and they know... where this player previously may have stood or stands and rightfully called it out. And we also love to boo. So find anything else.
00:30:04
Speaker
ah Be finding anything else. The stadium is literally loudest when they're booing So... We're haters through and through. I don't know. I think it's a, I think it's a, we're at the see it out point.
00:30:17
Speaker
Nothing, nothing we can do as fans to change it. And unless there's some sort of outward hatred shared, i don't, I think we can ask questions of the organization, but it's a, it's kind of a TBD situation.
00:30:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Not great. um We'll see what she does again. I'm just confused. I'm also genuinely just confused on why they brought her in because she doesn't, she wasn't starting. it seemed like recently with Utah. And i do think we need to fill this, like G leaving is like in theory, kind of a big deal.
00:30:50
Speaker
yeah it's absolutely ah so like well i just i just don't understand this i don't i'm just confused i thought we would have gotten somebody a little more notable yeah so i don't know but like like you said laura has some sort of previous history with her so maybe there's something there that we just don't know about yet um but we'll see uh nwcl results um louisville played portland i went and watched the highlights of this one um did you watch this one i didn't watch it but i watched the highlights the own goal so it was a 2-1 win for portland um in louisville kind of a harsh own goal that was given up to win the game in the 90th minute louisville like bloomer was having a fucking great game
00:31:33
Speaker
Yeah. She was having a really, really great great game for Louisville. And um she was about to fucking get a toe poke save at the very end of the 90th minute. And then her defender was kind of just wrong place, wrong time, tried to get out of the way and ended up like kind of just hitting her shin and dinking in.
00:31:50
Speaker
It was unfortunate. But Bloomer did save a penalty kick against ah coffee. Love that at least. Oh, surprise. They got another penalty. Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:01
Speaker
i did have i did have Ron pull some stats on the penalties. Oh, yeah. ah I will share them with you next week because I need to talk with him and and figure out ah the best way to um kind of ah make them relevant yeah to a point that I want to make. Sure. ah But he's stats guy, so I asked him to do that. But yeah, they've they've had more penalties than any other any other team in the league.
00:32:22
Speaker
Sears almost had a really, really good goal, but it hit the post. So I think they got Portland got really lucky with this game. Yeah, they really did, especially with the shit goalkeeping. I was going to say their goalkeeping their whole defending looked pretty like disorganized and awful. And I'm like, I watched it and I was just mad that we lost the way we did in Portland.
00:32:43
Speaker
Yeah, but it also made me a bit, a bit, because we're playing Louisville next week. So it made me think, okay, they they can be broken down.
00:32:53
Speaker
So there is some light at the end of the tunnel, if the team can do it. Yeah. um But yeah, Mackenzie Arnold, just on the goal... get off your damn line that is not your home listen i'm fine with it keep her forever keep her forever i saw a tiktok video of this guy it's like let's uh critique nwsl goalkeeping and it was literally like that goal and i was like you're literally talking about the worst in my opinion the worst goalkeeper in the league we're starting goalkeeper we're starting goalkeeper league like critique all you want but it's not gonna be great either way no
00:33:29
Speaker
uh utah played north carolina ah kind of a i didn't watch the highlights of this just because i also found out later that both goals were scored after 89th minute uh jayden shaw penalty kick and page monahan scored a goal 90 plus four to get the point for utah ah way to go utah yeah it was like battled the bad teams here but yeah good job utah i think that's i mean i guess we're just rooting for mandy mcgland at this point right absolutely absolutely i love her so much uh casey played bay and we're not gonna go into it but casey 120 um the goal fest of all goal fests this game so this i i watched uh the first half of it before the rain game started mm-hmm
00:34:22
Speaker
And then I started getting like messages and stuff from the other part of the discord that was like, oh man, oh man, what? So this is, this is also Chicago's first game at their new field.
00:34:32
Speaker
Nice. And there's some sort of magic there, I guess. Yeah. They beat Orlando five to two handedly. I mean, or Orlando is in like, they're kind of just fucked.
00:34:46
Speaker
We talked about this before. they're They're just kind of fucked. But Chicago, i mean, five goals and the and only one of them was a Lujmila. Right. But with Lujmila being such a target threat player, it opens up so many opportunities.
00:35:02
Speaker
And the fact that the rest of her teammates are able to capitalize on that. Yeah. Is incredible. Yeah. And we've said this about Chicago. They shouldn't be that bad. No. We got, what's a Chicago win when they actually win?
00:35:16
Speaker
uh is it a championship do they hang a banner do they get a trophy for it i don't i don't know right we might have to if they if they get another win we're gonna have to we're gonna have to just the same yeah we're at the table the the chicago tie as a win yeah it was zero zero at first half ah then the first half and then there were three goals in five minutes right after the 50th minute and wild wild crazy uh gotham played angel city ah they got them one three to one looks like rose roosevelt got a goal in that one um things are not looking great for angel city for many reasons um yeah gotham's on the up and up i'm telling you look out they were never mean they were on fraud watch just because they couldn't utilize the players that they had which they sometimes still don't right
00:36:07
Speaker
ah yeah if this is any other podcast i would probably put us on fraud watch i mean but it's not it's ours so we're not yeah oh boy yeah houston blew out san diego and san diego was playing at home and it was their alex morgan jersey retirement and houston beat them 3-0 he's i mean he's no one talking about teams on the up and up houston's for sure they're yeah um also it didn't sound like the crowd was very big for the alex morgan jersey retirement but i mean nothing's ever as big as we think it should be as far as like crowd size for these games yeah i'm just waiting for everyone else to catch up to it and it never happens in
Houston's Win & Game Highlights
00:36:49
Speaker
like overnight Like I expected to.
00:36:53
Speaker
That's my bad. um But I mean, come on, San Diego. like how are you going to do that on Oxford? We're going I don't know. That's pretty embarrassing. They could have at least scored one. So then like it would have been 13 on the scoreline.
00:37:05
Speaker
Yeah, they're just not not doing anything. no Fight
League Transfers & Financial Challenges
00:37:10
Speaker
by me. um the other Yeah, there's other big news in the league this week. There's a lot of big news in the league. It seems like there's like a delay on when the window closes for transfers and trades for the summer.
00:37:20
Speaker
There's like a huge delay for some fucking reason. So there's been a lot of yeah a lot of moves getting finalized, going public. i don't know what you want to call it, but Alyssa Thompson did finally join Chelsea.
00:37:31
Speaker
Do we really know the number? I don't know. I know it wasn't record-breaking, which I didn't expect for a young player that's, I would say, essentially unproven.
00:37:44
Speaker
who I say proven as much as you can be a young player. I guess my question, yeah, I haven't been sure like how much playing time she's going to get at Chelsea, but again, you're going to get a fat check get to leave the country, so Yeah, and that move really like, and I know I talked about in the beginning of the season, you know, if these big moves out of out of the country were a sign of like worse things to come for the league.
00:38:08
Speaker
And initially my reaction was, nah, it'll be fine.
NWSL Salary Cap Effects
00:38:12
Speaker
I guess I didn't understand um the reality of the of the ah salary cap at $3.3 million. dollars Yeah.
00:38:22
Speaker
um which is insane and if you are able to and and i i really enjoyed i listened to tobin heath and kristen press on the recap show which i don't always listen to um but i thought it'd be interesting to listen to this episode just because they've been affected by these things and tobin heath played for arsenal for a bit you know then came back And they really put it to the point where like, sure, we we could, a team could pay a player a huge amount, could pay a player a million dollars a year, but then the rest of the roster underneath them suffers. So what does it do for that player?
00:39:00
Speaker
You don't have a good training environment. You don't have, ah you're not getting results. You're you're not improving your game. And I think they made a point at which they say, okay like ah we understand that like salary cap, and different teams have different ownerships and things like that.
00:39:17
Speaker
Just make the salary cap $50 million. dollars You don't have to erase the salary cap. Just make it $50 million or make it $30 million, something so that you can play or pay your players an amount where they're not going to leave you for for the WSL. Yeah.
00:39:31
Speaker
I think I would be... I think I would like to see them at least adopt the like designated player type thing for the... Oh, they are so against that in that podcast. Oh, really? oh yeah. You need go listen to it Okay.
00:39:44
Speaker
ah Because it it does that. it does it it creates um It creates division in the locker room. Yeah, yeah. Which, like, yeah, I think it would be a temporary fix. That's how I would see It would be a temporary fix to keep certain players, but...
00:39:59
Speaker
We also don't have transparency in the league anyways with fucking south like salaries. So like that's something I'm sure will get addressed at some point with the Players Association um as as these salary I would think that this is um this is a dire enough situation. I don't think it's quite totally dire yet, but I think feel like it is... on the verge of being a dire situation that the players association and the union need to go into the off season and figure this out.
00:40:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Because if we're expanding and your ownership isn't willing to sign on to sign big players. Yeah. Your team shouldn't exist. I think. Yeah. in this right Yeah.
00:40:41
Speaker
So there needs to be like a, just kind of a tipping point. Yeah. I think we're there. competing you're You're competing in an international market that is outspending you. And you can't do anything about it with the way it things are now.
00:40:55
Speaker
Correct. So even if they wanted to, like even if the the Sounders and the Reign organization wanted to sign, you know, a huge player, they couldn't do it. Unless they broke the rules, which some teams do.
00:41:10
Speaker
Goff! Yeah. ah Yeah. It just, it, to me, it's, it's gotten to the point where hell yeah, leave the country, get out, get your money. Um, but it's also sad for the league.
00:41:23
Speaker
Yeah. And it's definitely changed my tune on it because I was not like this beginning of the season. and It's fair. ah Other move. And this one is one where I'm like, how did Gotham do this legally ah within the rules of of the NW cell?
00:41:39
Speaker
ah Gotham got Jaden Shaw from North Carolina for $1.25 million.
Gotham's Strategic Acquisition
00:41:44
Speaker
dollars That's a transfer fee, though. Yeah. That does not affect the salary I know, but I got questions on where they have all this money sometimes.
00:41:53
Speaker
I don't know. It's a little... i don't know what North Carolina is planning to do, but the fact that they weren't able to get what they should have out of Jaden Shaw, that's on them, i guess. She's also injured a lot of... Yeah.
00:42:05
Speaker
Yeah. But I'm... Again, I remain perplexed and confused in what Raina's doing right now because it's it's like, we see all these moves going on and what do we do? We sign this... to be fair shit To be fair, and not to be a mean girl, but she's probably cheap.
00:42:20
Speaker
I want to not be cheap. I want to. We don't have the ability to not be cheap when we've signed huge players. Me official was the biggest signing in that transfer window. Things are not going how I want them to. All right. We need to increase the salary cap. Yeah.
00:42:35
Speaker
We're a team that can spend money. We should be advocating for this. Yeah. another Another move, Neely Martin was traded to Angel City from Gotham for $85,000. That was a play request, too.
00:42:50
Speaker
Yeah. Kind of interesting. She didn't feel like she was getting enough time at Gotham for playing. i think that's a good I do think that's a good move for Angel City. um Will they know how to use her? And will they... No. Probably not.
00:43:02
Speaker
I really haven't even heard her name since she played goalkeeper in that one game.
00:43:08
Speaker
Well... So hopefully she can thrive there. You just said you got to do something. would have been excited about getting Ely Martin is all I'm saying. Yeah, for sure. um The last last ah notable move I wanted to point out was Oshawa.
Oshawa's Departure & League Impact
00:43:21
Speaker
Huge loss for league. Huge loss, I think. I think that there was undiscovered potential there that BFC could never unleash. Yeah, I think that's right. um And she went to get her bag in a really questionable place. Not a questionable place, its a terrible place. so i was like, but the U.S. is also terrible.
00:43:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm not
00:43:41
Speaker
On the eve of 9-11, am not one to judge. That's just kind of the the bigger ones that we wanted to go over. a lot of lot of stuff going on in the NWCL right now. And not a lot of maybe exciting stuff for the rain, particularly this moment. um Hopefully that changes soon. Yeah. ah Next match for the rain. We've got against racing Louisville, as I maybe be mentioned ah Sunday, September 14th, 5 PM Lumen field. Get your tickets.
00:44:09
Speaker
Go. um It's going to be on Fox 13 plus NWSL plus Paramount plus um Louisville right now is in eighth place right below us. um By one point we have 27 points. They have 26 points. What do you want to see in this game?
00:44:26
Speaker
but the sigh So many things. ah I want to see more of an offensive threat. And I think that Louisville can break down enough for that to happen.
00:44:39
Speaker
I just want to see, and it's kind of a like broad thing. i want to see more team cohesion. Like a lot of the time and like last game, I felt this, it was like literally at points, it just felt like Sam Meza was just out there trying for everyone.
00:44:53
Speaker
she like Elmer's gluing everything together. she like the person doing all of the group project. And I mean, that's not the first time this has happened this season, but when they all work for each other and then when they work together, it looks so good and it works well. So I just, i want to see a little bit of a noticeably better team chemistry.
00:45:14
Speaker
Do you think they need to go do another ah game of traders? Yes, absolutely. Okay. There are so many new faces. I think that would be very, very good. Yeah. no What about you? um I just, i i want i I want a win. i want a win so that I can see that they really, really want to be in the playoffs.
00:45:35
Speaker
um Because this is at home. You're playing Louisville, who is one point below you. i don't think there's any reason they shouldn't win this game. We've got seven matches left.
00:45:46
Speaker
Four teams on the remaining schedule are below us in the standings. Louisville being one of them. Team above us is like tied on points with us. But I mean, you' you've you've got to pick up points. Like you've got to get three points. Yeah. You got to get them at home because some of the games we have left are, mean, every game is going to be a challenge, but like we've got KC on our schedule still.
00:46:08
Speaker
Yeah. We've got Houston, I believe, again. we have Houston? No, it was, who the fuck was it? No, already played Houston twice. Yeah, I know. There another team I was thinking of. But yeah, this is where you really grind it out. Oh, we've got Gotham again. That's the team I was a little worried about.
00:46:21
Speaker
Yeah, this is just when you really need to grind it out. And a win is a win. Three points for three points. and I don't care if it's pretty. pretty but don't care if it's not the game plan or how you wanted to win the game. Just go out and figure it out.
00:46:33
Speaker
Yeah. And you need a cohesive group of players to do that. So that's what I'm looking for. I want I want, again, I will, I will say this week after week until i see it, but I want to see our bench, our deep bench of forwards get on the score sheet.
00:46:51
Speaker
Yeah. can do that They need to be on the field for a decent amount of time. i know. He's got a sub earlier. In my opinion, when you're not doing anything, when you're being unproductive, when you're not getting anything done, just like screw, like screw with it. Give some other players a chance.
00:47:10
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. As long as it's not Sally Menti. That's funny because she really enjoyed her game last week. I don't fucking see it. I just don't. I just don't. To me, she's a liability.
00:47:21
Speaker
i think it would be, I don't know. i don't It's fine if it's the beginning of the year. i don't have But we're in crunch time. We are in crunch time. That's the problem. That's not a player I want on the field for crunch time at this moment.
00:47:32
Speaker
And I'm not saying I don't like her. I think she could be a good player. But right now, she's a liability. And I'm just not seeing it for this system. Well. I might also be frustrated.
00:47:44
Speaker
As well as perplexed. okay all right uh i guess the last thing i wanted to see is just make sure that because taylor flint i think it was out the last game for louisville so like if she's back make sure you contain her um that means playing heidema yeah that means keeping jordan Yeah, because she's... she's a cannot You cannot lose track of her. Yeah. At all. Anywhere on the field, even. Because she can shoot, she can head balls, she can do a lot.
00:48:14
Speaker
um I don't think she always gets credit for like how good she is and as an NW sub-layer, but Yeah, they need to look out for her. I'm also sure Bethany Balser would love to play spoiler. So that'd be another one, I guess. Is she going to play?
00:48:28
Speaker
She played last game. she? She's been playing. Yeah, she's been playing. She didn't play the game before. I know that. She played though. She's she's played at least two games recent time. But yeah, I don't know. We'll see. ah We'll see what happens when they put out for their lineup for racing. But I can imagine I could see where Bethany Balser would be like, let me get on the field.
00:48:45
Speaker
That kind of thing. Anyways, I think that's pretty much all we got for this episode um in terms of game stuff. Do you got any shout outs? I do. I just wanted to shout out a Canadian goalkeeping queen, Erin McLeod.
00:48:58
Speaker
Legend. One of the original lesbian legends. Yeah. Great player, two-time Olympic medalist, announced her retirement. I think she got injured. I didn't see much more about that, but I think it was like a forced retirement due to injury. But ah she was playing up in the up in the Super League up there, in the Canadian Super League. So she had to retire. So that's end of an era for Canada.
00:49:20
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. For sure. about you? ah Shout out. I mean, you sent this to me, but Ann Ketchumberger.
00:49:29
Speaker
what no and country burger's haircut i guess we'll shut that out we can shut out um more representation of short-haired um lesbians in the league right yeah and i did see did i send you the edit no i think i i can imagine what it looks like no i think i said it to you i think i sent you the tiktok edit because like i liked a bunch of akb videos and then there i got like a tiktok edit uh but apparently she used to have short hair Okay. so this isn't necessarily, it's new for this era of AKB, but it's not new for her.
00:50:02
Speaker
Yeah. i always, but you know, i always got to shout out. We don't get enough short hair, lesbian represent representation here. Nope. We don't. So. Anyways, ah thanks to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. You can always follow us on ah Blue Sky and Instagram at CoolerGuildPod.
00:50:17
Speaker
ah You can also send us an email. We love an email at thecoolerguild at gmail.com. You can also visit us at our main page, sounderhard.com forward slash thecoolerguild. ah We're on YouTube, youtube.com forward slash at thecoolerguild.
00:50:30
Speaker
ah Make sure you go rate five stars wherever you're listening. Until next time, I'm Coop. and Van. Stay cool, y'all. Stay cool.
00:50:55
Speaker
have to burp. It's me. You fucking broke. Oopsies.