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Unspirited Away Part 3 - Ep. 67
194 Plays5 days ago
Reign sit below the playoff line heading into a month-long league break. The Reign suffered another wildly expected loss to the Washington Spirit last weekend. We dissect what all went wrong in a match that was hard on the eyes in more ways than one. With the Men's World Cup break upon us, we also talk about the new “Kids Free” program for the Reign, the upcoming USWNT matches, as well as other NWSL results and news.
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Show produced by Coop
Music by Eddie Buchanan - www.eddiebuchananmusic.com
Show artwork by Coop
The Cooler Guild Est. 2024
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Transcript
Introduction and Pride Month Celebration
00:00:19
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 67 of the Cooler Guild. I am Coop Cooper and joined with me as always is my co-host Van Crisp. Hello. We're recording on Thursday, June 4th, 2026. Happy Pride Month. Yeah! Our month. That's right. It's here. Time to give us money. oh my god, I almost wore a shirt today for the podcast because it just came in. that I bought it from NPR.
00:00:42
Speaker
Oh, cool. Because they put out their Pride merch. It says National Public Gay-Dio. That's fun. Yeah. Anyway, happy Pride Month. Yeah. um I went to the Bernie Carlisle show and she had on the screen, it was her birthday weekend, and it was like, happy birthday.
00:01:00
Speaker
It was so dumb, but it was kind of hilarious. ah Anyways, on today's episode, we're going to go over the reins. It's another L-Pod. So we're going go over the reins game that they had against the spirit. We've got some other bits of news to kind go over with the reign. And we'll go over some NWCell stuff and maybe also kind of go over what the U.S. Women's National Team picture is looking like.
00:01:22
Speaker
But before we get into all that, we've got some housekeeping to take care
Network Affiliation and Listener Support
00:01:25
Speaker
of. As always, The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a Sounder 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 sounderheart.com forward slash The Cooler Guild. New so new subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you help support everything we're doing.
00:01:45
Speaker
I don't know if people know this, but we read this live. All of our ad reads other than the main one is live. Yeah. The show's not live, so we could redo it, but we're we don't most of the time.
00:01:58
Speaker
Yeah. But, you know, we're not also professional speakers. so we're just Well, kind of technically we are. i think now we are, yeah. ah But are we good at it?
00:02:12
Speaker
Some say. say. What did you do over the weekend besides watch
Personal Stories: Golf and Concert Highlights
00:02:17
Speaker
the rain? ah What did I do? went golfing. Oh, still at it, huh?
00:02:24
Speaker
Yeah. Well, this is the first time this year. wow. Yeah, my friend Kelsey texted me on Sunday and said, hey, going to be at the range. Got to codes for some buckets. Because you have to pay per bucket at the driving range. Oh, I see. Yeah. And ah she convinced our friend Victor to come.
00:02:43
Speaker
And so I met up with some people. ah They were all going to the FC Olympia against Ballard game after. um But we just sat there for a couple hours and hit some golf balls.
00:02:54
Speaker
It was fun. Sweet. You? Anything? I was at the Brandy Carlisle at the Gorge weekend. did all three nights. Did you camp? I did camp at the amphitheater. It's just like a field. um As much as I like sometimes make fun of Brandy Carlisle, she is really fucking cool. Like... And like her batch of friends that are musicians that she brings to these shows is like kind of insane. um i think what i mostly got out of this weekend is Sheryl Crow is the so much fun.
00:03:27
Speaker
Sheryl Crow is like, the it was such a highlight watching Sheryl Crow. But the bigger highlight for me was Bonnie Raitt. Oh, Bonnie Raitt's fantastic. I like... I mean, I obviously realized I knew a fuck ton of Bonnie Raitt songs
Reign vs. Washington Spirit Game Analysis
00:03:40
Speaker
while I'm watching Bonnie Raitt, who's, I think, 76 years old or something crazy. Oh, my God, really? Yeah, let me double check. i don't want to, like, overshoot it, but...
00:03:50
Speaker
i went i mean that makes sense yeah uh yeah she's 76 years old she'll be 77 this year so she's she's just fun i mean and knew a bunch of songs i was just like this woman is so fucking cool though like on stage she is the coolest person i have ever seen in my life Like she's 76, she's rocking out, she's playing guitar like it's nothing. Like it looks so easy and it's really good. It's like yeah some of the best guitar I've ever heard. She's like playing with like a slide. It was super cold at night for one of the nights she was playing tunes. So she was like, yeah got bundled up in like a, like a, you know, down vest. so she like popped that on and then she tried to put on another jacket and then she's like i couldn't move because i i feel like the mit michelin man i can't really move around in this so she had take that off um i had the same like realization when i saw a heart oh yeah that would be and i was like oh yeah okay yeah I feel like I am going to be doing a super deep dive on Bonnie Raitt. I listened to like our first two albums today and I was just like, holy moly. Like where, like, I feel like my childhood has been, like I've been robbed a part of my childhood for not really understanding how amazing Bonnie Raitt is.
00:05:02
Speaker
um i think my favorite part about her too was she had like one of those like coffee cups, like the tall coffee cups and you'd get like a truck stop. So it's like the silver one with the black handle pops off and she's just s sipping off of that.
00:05:13
Speaker
on the stage. It was like super old school. She was so cool. But like, it was so great to see like so many female female musicians just like rocking out. It was awesome. That's rad. Yeah. And then I checked on the rain score.
00:05:27
Speaker
And you had to rewatch the game today. Yeah. Luckily, I was like on a high from like my weekend that it didn't really put me in a bummer like mood. And that's that's also why we're recording late. Yeah. Also, like I knew it was the spirit away. So I just didn't have super. We didn't have high hopes. No, I didn't have super high hopes. Didn't have big expectations. So it was kind of like, well, this is kind of what I expected was that I upset to see that they conceded a goal late again. Definitely.
00:05:55
Speaker
What a bummer. That part was a bummer. And then and then the fact that we we didn't really score a goal, like our players didn't. So it's just like, well, right. So we're back to some of the problems we used to have. um But I guess we can, let's just, I guess, get into things.
Critique of Team Strategy and Player Performance
00:06:13
Speaker
Yeah. Going into the game, it was the first time ah this season that Laura Harvey has repeated a lineup, a starting lineup. And... i listen So I watched both pressers today because after the match, I was disgruntled. So I went to Costco. Okay. Did you get sampled we were there? No, I just picked up my sunglasses, but um I just like couldn't bring myself to watch the presser. Sure.
00:06:39
Speaker
But Laura Harvey said in the presser that like, oh, well, you know, I thought the group performed really well last week. And I'm like, you were playing Boston. Yeah. Don't know if that's a great place to start, but I guess if they get a win, though, and, like, we hadn't really been winning anyways, then, like, just go with it, I guess. Yeah. But I also feel like we matched up pretty well to the Spirit last time, so, like, maybe try to repeat that.
00:07:04
Speaker
Yeah, and honestly, like, they didn't get blown out, so I get it. um Yeah. couple things I would have changed, but... Have they really, Coop has in the notable stats here, the Reign haven't won at the Washington Spirit since 2017. That's what I heard in the broadcast. After that, you wrote consistency. Yeah.
00:07:24
Speaker
it's a notable stat. Yeah. You know, anytime we play the spirit away or spirit at all, I just kind of know they have our number and it's really not fun. um Yeah.
00:07:37
Speaker
I don't know when that's going to change. I don't think this is the current roster to do that. So guess I'm not surprised what happened. And the lineup for me, like anytime, and I know this is a biased hater take, and I will keep repeating it until it's proven me wrong, which as we know from last season, I'm very willing to accept.
00:08:01
Speaker
But anytime I see Sally Menti on a starting lineup, we're not serious. I feel like I just had like a little bit of a hyper focus on her because I knew you'd be critical of her. Which is like fair. like I think that's good. like It wasn't necessarily her worst game, but there were ah yeah her defensive positioning is like absolutely non-existent.
00:08:22
Speaker
There were a couple moments on the offense where she made a really good pass. Great. Yeah.
00:08:29
Speaker
She got into a couple of really good positions. She had that really weak shot in the first half. Yeah. That Holly Ward, if she had let it go through, probably would have done better with.
00:08:41
Speaker
yeah i remember when we were told that her nickname was like de bruyner i'm waiting to see that i'm just waiting okay if i could get any hint i feel like this is like a toxic boyfriend where like you've given him enough chances m yeah i don't know it's like the position that we're clearly hurting at the most so it's just like it's very apparent that she's not it Yeah, I think the weakness of like what we're missing is just like highlighted. and like we said before, like these young players need to have like older players who are more experienced to like help them through these times that we're having. And it's just we don't have that. So, I mean, you throw Sally in, but like she at this point, it doesn't feel like ready to keep up with, you know, big opponents. Yeah.
00:09:33
Speaker
Yeah. But I mean, that's the reality. It is. And I'm going to criticize the people that are on the field. If the results aren't there. Yeah. Even if the results are there. Anyway, ah moving on from the lineup. um The what worked section for this match is very short and very meh.
00:09:51
Speaker
Sure. Mercado did make the run, right? Curry played a ball. Mercado made the run. And she was double teamed making that run that resulted in the own goal.
00:10:03
Speaker
So I like Mercado. i think that she... What? I'm just like annoyed because imagine if she had like a creative midfielder that could feed her balls.
00:10:15
Speaker
you know And I worry because these players aren't going to progress and are going to feel very stagnant yeah if they don't have help. she is ah I was looking up free agents for something that we're going to talk about later, but she's, I believe, on the free agents list, unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. So that would be a bummer to lose because I do think she'd be a valuable piece for another team.
00:10:38
Speaker
Yeah, she's a but valuable piece for our team. Yeah. So i thought that she was somewhat of a bright spot in this very low low-bray spot game. sure. I wanted to point out, I thought Jordan Bug actually had a really game right up until that moment at the end.
00:10:57
Speaker
I mean, those kinds of things happen, but, you know, she is coming back from the injury. She hasn't been playing a lot. um She kind of got put into a a rough situation with what the team's performances and have looked like and some of the goals they've conceded. But I think she had a really solid game right up until that last... moment on the Hirschfeld goal. think moment could be with the Hirschfeld goal.
00:11:21
Speaker
I think that there were a lot of things wrong in that situation. Just unlucky for Bug. Yeah, Sam Meza got caught up on the off ah on the offensive side, right? Uh-huh. Which... I want to see more of. Yeah. That might also, I could, might also include that in like a bright spot for me for this game. When Sam Meza gets involved in the attack, they look dangerous, but she got stuck up top and the recovery defensively in the midfield was not there. And so the task fell to Phoebe McLaren and Jordan Bug and nobody stepped to how her felt.
00:11:55
Speaker
And she scores. Yeah. So there's a lot of pins that fell before the last two. Sure. ah The first like 10 minutes of the game, Holly Ward was balling out.
00:12:06
Speaker
I think there's a lot of potential there. Mitch just got called into the Canadian national team. i said this after the game. I really want to see her and Brittany Radcliffe. At some point, like super smash bros. Like playing a team like Portland and just fucking yeah ram the crap out of people. Yeah.
00:12:26
Speaker
I think that'd be really fun to see. Yeah, she's hungry. She's getting called up for the Canadian national team. World Cup's on the horizon. so I think she's trying to make sure her stock is good going into that. I enjoy watching her. Yep.
00:12:39
Speaker
That's about it for what worked.
00:12:42
Speaker
That might have been a little generous, but what what didn't work? Do not know what's going on with Claudia Dickey. Things just have not seemed the same for most of this season.
00:12:56
Speaker
And you made a really good point to me the other day. Yesterday, I think when we were talking about this, that last year, but for a lot of the first part of the year, she had competition in Cassie Miller.
00:13:10
Speaker
This season, it's pretty much if she goes out, then we're relying on players that have no caps. Right. Yeah. So I don't know if that's the thing. I don't know what's going on, but there were multiple just mental lapses this game. And we've seen that.
00:13:27
Speaker
more this season than we ever saw last season definitely and i don't know if she's just too comfortable or what's happening but there was that play trying to play out at the back in the second half where she just plays a hospital ball and gets overtaken yeah like what do you where's the brain here yeah and she kind of was uh like hesitated on the goal the first goal to Yep. I think that was understandable. It had to pass through like five players. It was crowded. And you could see, like I was watching it and I watched it back a couple times. Her footwork is actually very, very good at this. So the ball comes through and at the point where it first could make contact, her feet stop. Yeah.
00:14:12
Speaker
And moving feet do not make a good dive. So that's what you want in your goalkeeper. Okay. Yeah. But then nobody touches it. And so just goes all the way through. Yeah, i mean, it was a really good free kick. It was a great free kick. It was terrible defense. And the free kick also probably should have not happen.
00:14:27
Speaker
There's also that. So ah let's talk about that. Let's talk about the goal. The first goal. I mean, I watched this like slow-mo today, like over and over and over again. this foul ah that Ward, quote unquote, this foul that was called on Rodman. Like Rodman was kind of Like falling to the ground on purpose and like putting her body in to Holly. Right. Yeah. There was, she was falling before contact was made and we'll see this get called in a later game this week. Uh huh.
00:15:02
Speaker
But it seems to be, and the thing that I have an issue with is that these teams with these star players. Yes. Get these calls constantly. Totally.
00:15:12
Speaker
It's like protecting your high impact players. And I don't get it. No. Well, and it's not like just that, but it's like she faked it. Yeah. Like she, she baited both. She baited the ref. I was saying like, did she bait our defender or whoever was def defending her? No, she baited the ref. Yeah.
00:15:31
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, from from the other end, it's a smart play. Yeah. Like if you know you're going to get that call. Yeah. Fall. I'll enjoy it when it's on the U.S. Women's National Team. For sure. I don't enjoy it when it's against my club team. And I don't think it's a good look.
00:15:46
Speaker
No. But if it works, it works. And it worked. Yeah. There were we started watching the game. I was in on the Discord chat, the Sounder Heart Discord chat, which you can join for, I think, $75 year.
00:15:59
Speaker
If you join Sounder Heart. hmm. Dot com forward slash the cooler guild. Join from our link. But as we're all in the discord, start the game. And Audi Field has this or not Audi Field. oh No, Audi Field. Yeah. Has this really weird like sunset thing where the light's coming in half of the field and they're both wearing the third kits.
00:16:19
Speaker
So it was like the cherry blossom one for Washington. and we were wearing the weird blue ones that we have. It was so hard to tell them apart. Harvey talked about it in the post-match presser because she could see it from the field level because we just thought it might be a TV video issue. Yeah.
00:16:35
Speaker
But it seemed like it was difficult. i don't know how much that affected it, but ah watching it was incredibly annoying. It was weird. It almost feels like someone fucked up because those kits were like the same, but then the goalkeeper kits were also basically the same.
00:16:50
Speaker
yeah that also happened in the louisville denver game yeah i don't know who's in charge of picking kit matchups but someone really fucked like fucked up on this and the thing with the like the rain and the spirit spirit kits like third kits are different colors but the fact that the back panel is both dark and with the contrast with the sun is incredibly hard to make tell them apart I mean, they put the colors like right at the top of the score for each team. And it was like dark green, dark blue. And like they look the same. They look the exact same. Like the tones, the dark tones were like in the same exact like darkness.
00:17:30
Speaker
When I was in charge of choosing colors, what we'd be playing in, um in the USLW. hmm. Like I brought both kits just in kids to every single match. Yeah.
00:17:42
Speaker
Because if the referee thought that there was going to be a contrast issue, the home team has to change. Yeah. And I don't know if that's the rules in the NWSL, but it seems that the referee didn't see an issue.
00:17:57
Speaker
So it just went on. But it was it was a really hard match to watch in the beginning just because you couldn't really tell. Yeah, I mean, it's the same referee that was wanting to give Rodman fouls, so am I surprised? I guess not.
00:18:09
Speaker
Conspiracy.
Need for Leadership and Investment in Women's Soccer
00:18:10
Speaker
Laura Harvey made some halftime subs. Montessir and Meza came on, which Meza was very much helpful until nobody could cover for her.
00:18:20
Speaker
But she did her thing in this game and was definitely a missing piece. But you put Montessir you take off McCammon and Ward. And I don't think McCammon was very impactful in this game. I don't think she was bad.
00:18:34
Speaker
don't think she was very impactful. It's a tough opponent. Mm-hmm. But you take Holly Ward out and Ward was, she's a, she's a trier. Yeah. And there's a lot of effort there.
00:18:47
Speaker
And I think that kind of dissipated when she left the field. There was also some balls from Mondes here that were driving me nuts. Oh my God.
00:18:56
Speaker
Corners are not on point to that game. i will say this kind of gives me pause. The broadcast talks about like the rain says that they love corners and set pieces.
00:19:07
Speaker
I'm like, what? Why? Do you want another opportunity not to score a goal? Yeah, it was really confusing to me. i mean, granted, we've had, i don't know, maybe ones in a different setup, but like the corners have not gone well in recent times. So I just, that was confusing to me. I think we can get to the final point, which is that this team can compete.
00:19:30
Speaker
With these big, like really ruthless stacked teams, but they can't win. h There is something missing and we will harp on this until it changes. Yeah. But there's a front office issue where they need to bring someone in or two people in to elevate the squad.
00:19:50
Speaker
Yep. Because there's very little veteran leadership, especially on the international scale. And you don't have a dead ringer.
00:20:00
Speaker
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00:20:13
Speaker
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00:20:26
Speaker
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00:20:42
Speaker
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00:20:52
Speaker
What you get from the post-match presser that you haven't brought up yet? um So it was Madison Curry and Matty Mercado. Curry said they were going into the break and they will be re-evaluating and rebuilding, which I thought was interesting language, but amazing.
Upcoming Challenges and Transfer Window Updates
00:21:05
Speaker
Yes. Mercado did mention that they had scrimmages set up.
00:21:08
Speaker
ah We don't know who they're against and they will very likely not be open to the public. And then Harvey came on and the player presser was like five minutes long. Harvey's presser was like 12 minutes. Yeah.
00:21:21
Speaker
But she also agreed the kids were clashing. And then mentioned that after the break, they have 19 games in 18 weeks. oo So she told the team there's not going to be a lot of time for reflecting.
00:21:33
Speaker
Or recovering. Yeah. She was asked about Lynn when we'll see Lynn Biendolo. She doesn't have ah any date for the return or any idea when that's going to be. But her plan is Lynn's plan is to be back at some point this season.
00:21:50
Speaker
It would be a huge to get her back. And I will say maternity leave has done some good for some of these players. It's true. And then Steve, shout out Steve Vogt, Rite of Valkyries. Incredible. um He asked about the transfer window coming up.
00:22:06
Speaker
And um Steve noted that this is more of a Leslie question. Yeah. But he'll ask her about picking up another player or, you know, signing, doing some signings. um And Laura said, if we could quote, if we could get some experience, that would be great to help some of these young players develop.
00:22:25
Speaker
You don't say Laura.
00:22:29
Speaker
Glaring issue. Yeah. Yeah. I keep kind of like, I know people want to like question Harvey and we've said before, maybe it's fair, but I don't know how, what happens in this future situation with coaching and GM and players and stuff like that. But like Harvey's not being given the tools she needs to succeed.
00:22:49
Speaker
and I'm picturing a team that's willing to actually go out and sign players and spend money. And if Harvey gets, i don't know, blamed for this stuff and something happens or she decides maybe I don't want to be here because they're not spending money. I'm going scoop her right up and imagine her being able to coach with players that the quality we've been lacking. Yeah. It's just, it's it's infuriating. And I hope it doesn't come down to that. i hope that the front office steps up or gets the right person in to actually make that happen. There has been some talk about like the Sounders and everything with wanting to reallocate some of their ownership.
00:23:32
Speaker
Yeah. And maybe that's why there haven't been any moves, but then you discredit all of the money that like came from say Hydema, right? and Even if you don't want to pull from, you know, your big ownership stake, you still on paper have money to spend.
00:23:52
Speaker
We, we literally know this. isns Yeah. the The transparency isn't great in the league, but like there are some things that we know and some of the things that we know or that there is money to be spent. Yeah.
00:24:03
Speaker
Even if you bring somebody in that doesn't work, let me know you're trying. Sure. Also, the amount like i I understand maybe the Sounders not being able to spend money because it costs a lot more to get players into the MLS, into MLS. But like, and to be so like.
00:24:20
Speaker
You could literally sign a high impact player for the same amount that they're paying for like their 23 year old. Yeah. defensive midfielder yeah so i'm just not really taking that as an excuse i'm just not yeah i think that's yeah not fair invest in your women your women it's not it doesn't take as much money to do unfortunately for the players but that's you know use it to your advantage go out and spend some dough and it does seem like parts of the front office are maybe starting to try and we'll talk about that in a minute but sure
00:24:52
Speaker
ah Are we ready to move on to Cooler Player the Match? Absolutely. The Cooler Player of the Match is brought to you by the Doctor's Office, a great little 12-seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner's a big fan of the rain and is proud to be our very first sponsor.
00:25:07
Speaker
Well... Maybe I won't cut that silence. Well, I was burping. I had to silence myself.
00:25:15
Speaker
This was hard. um i think there were some players that put in a decent shift, but there wasn't really one good enough to earn this accolade. So Coop came up with the amazing idea. Do you want to explain it?
00:25:29
Speaker
ah is i don't know how much there's explain. I really enjoyed the lens flare. It added it added some some energy to my viewing experience. It made it feel like a movie. And maybe if it's like a movie, it's not real.
00:25:45
Speaker
So in the second half of the match, with the way that the sun sets at Audi Field, um the cameras and where they're positioned pick up a lens flare in the big overarching like overhead view of the game.
00:26:00
Speaker
And it did feel a bit poetic. I don't think I would enjoy it ah in any other circumstance. I gotta be honest. i kind of It kind of reminded me sitting on the the one side of the Portland game.
00:26:13
Speaker
The Portland games when the sun sets. It's like one of my least favorite seats that I've sat in is when the sun sets on that side of the Portland seats. But again, i kind of didn't have high expectations for this game. And so i'm like, ooh, we're getting like we're getting some cinematic flair to this.
00:26:29
Speaker
I'll take it. Too bad. It was a horror film. ah shit ah So congratulations, Lens Flair.
00:26:41
Speaker
Thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. The Doctor's Office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. Make an appointment today and try their Strawberry Fields Forever cocktail, currently featured on their limited edition menu. Described as the Kingston Negroni meets the Strawberry Daiquiri.
00:26:56
Speaker
Have you had a Kingston Negroni? No, I was just thinking if it was named after the Kingston Fairy. I think it's Kingston, Jamaica because it has rum in it. Oh, yeah. That's what I discovered. Yeah, that swaps gin for Jamaican rum.
00:27:10
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Which sounds kind of nice. Well, there's my bias, my location bias. Oh, God.
00:27:19
Speaker
so good Just choked on my spit. This is off the rails. We lost out Vance Audio briefly too. ah It's the perfect drink to get you ready for the summer. ah Check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers. Cheers. There's some rain related news we are going to go over.
New Ticketing Initiative for Young Fans
00:27:38
Speaker
i don't know how in depth we'll go on it, but it's definitely interesting, I think. And I think most rain fans will find interesting. They're starting a kids 12 and under free program.
00:27:49
Speaker
which, duh. They should have done this from beginning. Yeah. There is some backlash coming from the season ticket holders. Sure. And I think that the team is trying to find a way to rectify that because people have bought tickets for their children. Yeah. Season tickets. Which, good for you. Children need their own seats.
00:28:07
Speaker
Families who purchased one adult ticket are eligible to receive up to five complimentary tickets for twelve for children 12 and under for select Reign Home matches in in this in this year. Mm-hmm.
00:28:18
Speaker
And then there's a list. um This makes sense. As we were speaking of earlier, you were like, well, yeah, that's how Portland got people there. it i mean, it is. They were giving tickets away like crazy. they got Wasn't it like if you get one gallon of gas at the gas station, they gave you a free ticket? It wasn't a lot of gas. I don't know if it was only one gallon, but like go get the thing that you need to get around Portland from most people, you know, from most people, especially families. They almost all have cars out there.
00:28:47
Speaker
Just do, go get, do the normal thing in your day and you get a free ticket. Yeah. We're not being, this is just straight up. Here's your free ticket. And that was for adults. Yeah. We got to find more adult. I mean, I get this and I think this is a great idea. we have room for everybody. There's room for everybody, but I think it's a ah bit.
00:29:06
Speaker
Here's my take. And I know this might be controversial. Women's soccer is not the family friendly version of men's soccer. Agreed. It is a professional sport that at times can be violent at times can be a little raunchy and aggressive.
00:29:22
Speaker
Just like the men's game. Yep. And when they peddle this family narrative at the women's game, it really bothers me. That being said, i think 12 and under free should be set for pretty much any sport.
00:29:38
Speaker
What are they going to do? They're not buying beer. They're not... Yeah. If anything, they're just going to make mom and mom or mom and dad or dad and dad buy more beers because they got their fucking kids there. Yeah.
00:29:50
Speaker
They did when they... And I totally agree with your point about... Like it it seems like a lot of times women's sports is marketed as like this thing for kids to have people
Diverse Marketing Strategies for Fan Engagement
00:30:02
Speaker
to admire. And it's like in a way that just like we can treat them as adult. I don't see that same kind of thing with men's sports. I just don't. They did kind of phrase this. They Yahoo Sports. ah They had a writer, Carrie Anderson, who interviewed our CBO, Mendoza Ekstrom. And they they so they seem to be framing this as kind of like giving the free tickets is going to like invest in the future of the Reign and making fans out of these young fans. And i think I think there is truth to that. I mean, I'm thinking about all the stories you have from going to games growing up.
00:30:40
Speaker
And I think that is... really valuable long term. It's just I would like to see other marketing strategies to get adults there too because there is a very good queer community in Seattle and I'm just confused on why they haven't figured out a way to tap into that more.
00:30:57
Speaker
completely agree. Yeah. I think that there are multiple demographics that should be targeted in their marketing strategy. And this is one of them.
00:31:07
Speaker
But it's not really ah addressing the root issue. it's awesome They're not moneymakers, like you said, either. These are children. Well, and they're not the people who are going to go tell their friends that have disposable income. Your seven-year-old child that comes the game is going to tell their friends.
00:31:26
Speaker
And then they'll be like, mommy, take me to a ring game. Like, why would we want to do that? Anyway, like if you get like 20 new queer people in and you do something fun for them, they're going to go after the game to the Rose, the Pony, Neighbors, wherever. Yeah. Be like, oh my God, I had such a good time. And then you're going get people the next game.
00:31:47
Speaker
Yeah. I think, I think this is good. And I don't think that, I think I just have a negative view on children in this space because it kind of infantilizes the women's game a bit.
00:31:59
Speaker
But I know that it's like it's a necessity for the growth. Yeah. and I do appreciate that. um But they're not, for me, they're not doing enough, like you said, to incorporate the known fans, right? How many people are going to Storm Games?
00:32:16
Speaker
Exactly. How many people are going um to the Torrent Games? Yeah. Where is your targeting to those fans that already show up, already buy merch, already buy season tickets?
00:32:27
Speaker
Where is that same energy to these people? Totally. ah I did want to add one more thing before I move on in regards to that. It seems like they were very, when coming up with this program, they were very mindful about the scheduling struggles without the rain have, which was interesting to actually hear them talk about that because they don't have a lot of control over it.
00:32:50
Speaker
And ah the CBO talked about, here I got the quote here. ah She called she called a lot of our stuff like the times that we get interesting broadcast windows, which I feel like is her way of saying we don't get the good stuff. All right. yeah We don't get Saturday nights. We don't get Saturday afternoons.
00:33:14
Speaker
Often Sunday afternoons or Friday nights, but Sundays, she said, offer a new opportunity to take advantage of days that often work well with family's typical schedules. That Sunday opportunity is one that aligns all year round in the spring and the summer and and and in the fall. And it's a unique opportunity for us to sort of own Sundays, if you will, in our market.
00:33:33
Speaker
So I can appreciate what she's trying to do with this and that, but I also like you could do other, you could target more than this. Like, let's just keep it going. Let's, you know.
00:33:44
Speaker
Why don't we call Sunday games church? That'd be fun. We're going to church. Yeah. because You want to own Sundays? Yeah. You got to steal it from the church. totally uh yeah i think yeah it's an interesting idea i'm it seems that she's aware which is refreshing to hear and she's trying new things yeah it just feels like it's been taking a while and just want more because our attendance is not doing well it's not great i mean look at the product the product is no one wants to listen our podcast because no one wants to hear how bad the team is yeah we've like i mean we're in some episodes aren't clue ah quite as low but like man well we were starting to have that scoreless streak i looked at like i don't know try to get hung up on numbers but i was like oh boy i never look at him oh i looked at them recently and i was like oh there's a clear a clear relation to the drop in the team please start winning please please do something at least have something score goals and be interesting i feel like i feel like that like meme of the stick person like poking like do something That's that's the theme of the rain this year and the last few years. I guess the other quick bit of rain-related stuff, we got some call-ups ah for the national team, for the U.S., Claudia Dickey, that's end of list.
National Team Call-Ups and Player Updates
00:35:09
Speaker
Holly Wars...
00:35:11
Speaker
Holly Ward's got called up for Canada, as I mentioned. Haz is going up for Wales. Bug got called in for the Darlene also got called in for that. And for some reason, me official. And i don't can't explain that. But Purcell was also in that. So apparently um there's like a exemption thing.
00:35:29
Speaker
So you can have older players coming in. How many older players end up at those things, though? I think it's, I don't know how common it is. Yeah. But Steve was, Stephen mentioned that they're going to be training alongside the senior team. Okay, cool. so it's kind of a development thing. It's still weird, but. My thing is though, like maybe that'll up the confidence, right? To get back into the national team system.
00:35:54
Speaker
Also be around experienced players. Yeah. So that could be really, really helpful for her. And I appreciate that, like, they're trying something no matter if it's weird and we don't understand. it Yeah.
00:36:06
Speaker
ah Last bit of call-ups for the U20. Adamas, McCammon, Osteen, and then Moddesir also got called up for Hade. uh and to be cell results what happened uh this weekend happened uh louisville played denver denver 1-1-0 pro hoska yeah starts she came in last week because of the bloomer injury yeah um made one really really good save the goal absolutely was not her fault okay um
00:36:37
Speaker
And it was pretty even. Denver definitely had the edge. But um Allie Brazier subbed in in the 61st minute, scored in the 64th minute. Nice.
00:36:48
Speaker
Game changer. And she started the play that set it up. Long ball came into her. And as Mike Watts said, epic touch. ah You weren't yelling enough, but please don't do that. I won't. I thought about it and then i just can't bring myself to be that cringe. Um...
00:37:02
Speaker
Orlando played Bay. Orlando won three to one. Barbara B. Anderson scored twice. um There was a weather delay. Surprise. Casey played Boston.
00:37:13
Speaker
Chwinga. Casey won one zero. Chwinga. ah It's her sixth goal in the last four games. Must be nice. Okay, this is the most annoying game of the weekend.
00:37:26
Speaker
I watched this live. Portland played Utah. Top of the table clash, right? Utah's up two to one in the 88th minute. Ball comes in Mandy McGlynn grabs it, plays it out, whistle.
00:37:41
Speaker
It's the first eight second violation call of the season. And the first one since this rule's been implemented in in the NWSL, which results in a corner kick for Portland. On the corner kick, the ball comes in.
00:37:53
Speaker
Nothing happens. Boom. Penalty call. On the replay, they var it. On the replay, a player goes a Utah player goes up to jump and puts her arms out.
00:38:04
Speaker
And Jaden Perry from Portland has felt contact and just like crumbled. Dive central. um Utah ended up sharing points that game when Sophia Smith converted in the ninety first minute.
00:38:19
Speaker
It felt like a setup. Mm-hmm. You get two favorable calls. Mm-hmm. I'll skip ahead because Gotham played Houston. Gotham won 1-0. But there was a point in this match where Jane Campbell held the ball for 11 seconds and was not called for a second violation.
00:38:35
Speaker
The favoritism. Yep. It's real. Gotham beat Houston 1-0 because of Jordan Dudley's goal in the 18th minute. Jordan Dudley, next time be self-star. Yeah. Yeah. Chicago, unsurprisingly, lost to San Diego. No goals either for them.
00:38:50
Speaker
It was close, though. It doesn't look like that on the score sheet, but Dudinia scored in the third minute. Haidema equalized in 90 plus eight, but she was called it was called back offside by VAR, and she was barely offside. but And then Byers scored in 90 plus 13. Jesus.
00:39:08
Speaker
There was 12 minutes total at a time, but with the Haidemovar, all of that. There are a couple of big injury stoppages in that game. ah And then the final game of the weekend, Angel City played North Carolina.
00:39:21
Speaker
North Carolina won 2-1. ah Goals by EJ, 48th minute, Monaka in 79th, and the lone Angel City goal came from Noose in the 51st minute.
00:39:32
Speaker
Both North Carolina goals, the plays were started by Ashley Sanchez. do we get her oh do i need to call her yeah i'll let her should start my gm journey yeah it's a great idea ah Yeah, so the weekend was pretty predictable, but also little infuriating.
00:39:56
Speaker
ah The NWCIL 2026 championship location got
NWSL Championship at Audi Field
00:40:00
Speaker
announced. ah Bad news for Reign fans. It's at Audi Field. Good news for Reign fans. They probably won't make it because they're not playing well enough this season unless they make some crazy signing, which, hey, I hope that happens. um Good news for the broadcast. It will be somewhat at night. Yeah, we got a Saturday night ah match on November 21st, 5 p.m. our time. Two days after my birthday. Hey, and I'll be on CBS, so it's exciting.
00:40:28
Speaker
I'm not going to it because it's on the East Coast, unless the rain are in it. But, um you know, D.C. and all the shit they're dealing with there, you know, i'm I'm happy that they get something fun like this to experience together. Well, it's ah it's a king game.
00:40:41
Speaker
Yeah, I don't need to even try to think about why they got awarded this, but... um
00:40:49
Speaker
The West Ones national team's got a couple friendlies coming up versus Brazil. Saturday, June 6th, 2.30. And Tuesday, June ninth at 5.30 p.m. Claudia Dickey is called up for that.
00:41:03
Speaker
I'm excited for those games because they're in Brazil. One's in Sao Paulo, I think. Is the other one in Rio? I didn't look, but that sounds right. It might be their Bello or Zante. I can't remember. That's really exciting to me. I'm also excited that they get to play a strong opponent. um But this is, I think this is... Away from home. Yeah. Yeah. And where the World Cup is next year. Yep.
00:41:24
Speaker
Claudia Dickey should be playing. um Maybe this game and these games in Brazil will give her the inspiration to get back to her best. and help her visualize that in order to be where she wants to be in a year in Brazil, she needs to step up. Yeah. ah Yeah.
00:41:43
Speaker
You want anything on to the national team, Steph? um so they called in claudia diggy fallon tolis joyce and mandy mcglynn um but fallon played in the world sevens tournament which i don't know if you've seen any highlights from that isn't it like super physical no no it's like a party it's like a post-season party so she got hurt for english players Okay. I don't know. She must have jammed her finger or something. I don't know the extent of the injury. She'll probably be fine. She posted online that like it was something she's going to miss the window, the call up window, but ah she's going to be back. Okay. It's a minor thing. No, it's like super fun. Okay. They do these like weird walkout videos, the Chelsea team.
00:42:28
Speaker
Went out and did a walkout thing recreating ah the Elyssa Thompson hair pole. Okay. Hilarious. Got it. One team like carried a player out like in a coffin like thing. Yeah. On their shoulders and later down it's the referees walked out and like did cartwheels. Okay. That sounds great. it's hilarious and really funny and it's like really the fun 7v7 play um and it kind of went viral online this year because men were talking trash about it like all the women's games a joke and it's like sorry you don't know how to have fun yeah sorry you don't understand like these players are out of season and like they're having fun they're goofing around go figure um but yeah so found out so they called in jane campbell okay
00:43:15
Speaker
ah Well, ah we've got a break coming up. we As of today, we have another we have a whole month until the rain play again for the NWSL.
Anticipation for Improvement Against North Carolina Courage
00:43:27
Speaker
Their next game is against... I don't think we need to do a super big preview on it because it's going be a while. And i imagine we'll figure out some sort of bonus episode of some kind in this break. But they're playing the North Carolina Courage next Saturday, July 4th, 3.30 p.m.
00:43:41
Speaker
and obviously not in the morning. It's going to be in karaoke. Why not? They're playing at 3.30 a.m. No, they're not. Just kidding. ah That'll be an eye on. what do What do you want to see in this? Like, you if you could say if there's something you want to see in the North Carolina game, I think the thing that we want to see is not get absolutely run over by Ashley Sanchez. um But like, is there something you want to see like in that game, maybe kind of with this extra time that they've got or like, I don't know, stuff with the team?
00:44:10
Speaker
I mean, other than the obvious, which we can talk about, but um I want to see like a renewed sense of just gumption. Yeah, totally. And a connectivity between players.
00:44:23
Speaker
This is a time where they're going to be able to reflect on the first half of the season and figure out what's wrong and hopefully rectify some of those issues. I mean, it's not all going to be fixed. Yeah.
00:44:39
Speaker
But this is a unique and incredible opportunity for the team to come out and have a new sense of responsibility for the product that they're putting out on the field.
00:44:51
Speaker
Yeah. But also, please spend some money. Yeah. On that note, the transfer window doesn't seem to open until July 14th. I think there's like a free agency thing that they can start like doing some weird stuff before that.
00:45:04
Speaker
But the window where something can actually happen doesn't open until July fourteenth um I did go and do some looking to see what players are going to be having their contracts expire, at least within the NW sell for players that I think the rain definitely could use. If these players, if they don't get their contracts renewed, it makes a lot of sense for these teams to sell them for any amounts of money that they could possibly get. i would be surprised if if all these players I'm about to list aren't res re-signed to a new contract with their current teams. not res re-signed, not wanting to go to Europe. Yeah. um But the ones that I may note of just in terms of what I think the rain needs, ah how Hirschfeld's contract is expiring. She did seem to really enjoy the city of Seattle. Yeah, I noted that. So maybe Lacey Santos's contract is expiring. i feel there's probably a good chance she's going to go Europe. She's so good.
00:46:01
Speaker
ah Maybe, maybe Kang just throws money at her because she can do that also. Yeah, the limit does not exist for their roster. For their scam. ah And the last one I had listed that seemed at least, maybe not maybe not as crazy as my last name, but Minaka is her contract expiring this year too. oh man yeah that would be amazing.
00:46:28
Speaker
That'd be incredible. i did organize the free agency list by like age. ah Organized by age and then like midfielder specifically. um Yeah.
00:46:39
Speaker
But there are some names where I was like, i would have been really into those if they were like two or three years younger. But because like Roosevelt's also going to be available. But isn't their team joining in Ohio at some point?
00:46:51
Speaker
Also, who knows what's happening with her? Yeah, never know. The one that I would not be opposed to, i say to this at least once a year. i don't think it's going happen because she seems to only say one year contract. So it just gives me a false sense of hope. ah Mitch Purse.
00:47:07
Speaker
I don't think we need her. I would love to have her energy, though, on the field. Okay. Yeah, that's just a personal thing. That's not the money I want to spend. and don't will she be ah I don't think it would cost that much.
00:47:18
Speaker
It's Mitch Purse. Yeah, but her contract is up at the end of the year. i That doesn't matter. Yeah, i don't I think it matters a little bit. but you got clubs You got clubs like Boston. You got clubs like Denver.
00:47:30
Speaker
You know, Pittsburgh. Louisville, like clubs are willing to spend money on players. We are just not one of them. Yeah. Sucks. Boo. Change my mind, please.
00:47:42
Speaker
but Anything else you want to add on to this episode? No, let's be less depressed. Uh, any July 4th. Yeah. Well, not going to be a fun day for, going to avoid the TV that day. do you have any shout outs?
00:48:00
Speaker
Uh, shout outs to my vet office. Just refilled my cat's fluids today. They're very kind. Great. Do any shout-outs? I was going shout-out Steve Vogt. He put out a really cool article that I enjoyed a lot on Ride of the Valkyries.
00:48:16
Speaker
Oh, yeah. After we had our certain episode a couple episodes ago. Steve, I saw he was working on this piece when I was like getting ready to you know get our little post going for... He did that before the last episode.
00:48:30
Speaker
Yeah, no, but like I saw it, like that's what I was saying. like It was like two episodes ago that we had it, but I saw his draft and that that he was working on something for like yeah a little while. And I was like, oh this is going to be good. And it was, it was really good. Yeah. Shout out to Steve.
00:48:46
Speaker
Good work. Really enjoy your work. Also, thanks for editing our three sentences, three to five sentences for our descriptors. Yeah. uh that we don't always do perfectly um yeah that was my shout out um thanks again to our sponsor the doctor's office you can go follow us on blue sky and instagram at cooler guild pod you can send us an email we'd love an email shoot that over to the cooler guild at gmail.com you can also visit us on the main page sounderheart.com forward slash the cooler guild
00:49:17
Speaker
We're on YouTube, youtube.com forward slash outthecoolerguild. Please, wherever you're listening, go rate our episodes and shows wherever that may be. Five stars. Till next time, I'm Coop. I'm Van.
00:49:30
Speaker
Stay cool, y'all. Stay cool.
00:49:56
Speaker
So it's just a little hard to, I don't know. Oh, fuck. My cat wants out. Hold on. Of course. Of course. It's not one pet. It's the other. All right. Sorry. to let my meow and cat out. Where were we?