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Nos Audietis, Episode 245: Sounders panel at YachtCon II
52 Plays8 years ago
This is the third and final installment from YachtCon. This is effectively just the Sounders panel, which included Stefan Frei, Cristian Roldan, Garth Lagerwey and Chris Henderson.
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Transcript
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Speaker
This
Introduction & Sponsorship
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Speaker
episode of Nos Auderes is sponsored by Constellation & Co. Constellation & Co. is a letterpress stationery company and gift shop located in the Fisherman's Terminal, next door to Chinooks. Their storefront in the Magnolia Interbay neighborhood of Seattle is home to antique printing presses, unique greeting cards and locally made goods.
00:00:21
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They also offer design and printing services for weddings and special events. Mention NosAurieras for a 20% YNYA discount. For more information, visit ConstellationCo.com Yaaas! Exciting and new!
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Speaker
Come aboard We're expecting you Yacht Life's sweetest reward Let it flow It floats back to you
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The
Sounders' Offseason Strategies
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bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle And the hills the greenest green in Seattle
00:01:49
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I'll announce them again because it sounds better to say these this way. Sounders sporting director Chris Henderson and Washington State soccer legend, you may know him, Chris Henderson.
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MLS Cup MVP, Stephen Fry, most underrated goalkeeper in the league, and GM and president of soccer for the Sounders, Garth Legaway, come on up and let's do this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's kind of smooth in the middle. Oh, you want to leave it here? Okay.
00:02:35
Speaker
And Christian Roldon is going to come up, too. I wasn't expecting him. So I'm going to get you guys, you guys are going to have to share mics, potentially. Is that OK? Right. Hello. Well, first of all, hello. Yeah, can we do a mic check, Chris? One, two. Hello.
00:03:05
Speaker
Check, check. Hey, we got working mics for everyone. Is that one working? So thanks a lot for back here, this way. Sit down. He wants me to sit down. I'm going to sit with him. I think the battery might be dead. All right. I'm going to sit with you guys. I hope you guys don't mind.
00:03:31
Speaker
But if you have questions for this group, when I would imagine some of you do, please come up to the mic and ask your questions. Or if you want to tweet them at us, we'll try to get that going this time. But starting off, Garth, how has this offseason been different from previous offseasons?
00:03:54
Speaker
Isn't that thing around here somewhere? You asked how it's different than previous off-seasons. Isn't the reason it's different? Isn't that around here somewhere? Yeah, yeah, it's around here somewhere. As a practical matter, basically, these guys all get less rest. And we have to turn around the team and get everybody ready to defend the title very quickly. And that makes for a busy, congested off-season, but certainly a fun one and certainly a nice problem to have when you've got to work through a lot of things pretty quickly.
00:04:25
Speaker
So I want to take you guys all back to the MLS Cup final, the shootout. I want to start with Stefan. You guys were obviously, you were the most active of these four. What's going through your head at the beginning of that? Are you running through your notes? No offense, Christian. He just ran like 120 minutes. I just stood in the back.
00:04:50
Speaker
But do you have notes that you're going over? What is going through your head at the start of it and between each kick? Yeah, I mean, you definitely do some research. You know players' tendencies. But to be fair, in most games, you know their tendency, but then they might switch it up. But in a high-pressure situation, like in an MLS Cup final,
00:05:16
Speaker
Knowing those tendencies is probably even more important because that's what you go back to when you get nervous. When you know it's on the line, you tend to go where you're comfortable. With that being said, I'm still checked with my keeper coach. We have our own sign language that helps us.
00:05:37
Speaker
You just try to make yourself big, look comfortable, and look intimidating, if you will, and then pick a side and go. And hopefully you can make a safe. But I think the pressure is more on the shooters, right? So I was, I think, more nervous when I was stepping away and just hoping that they would find the back of the net. But our takers were amazing. I mean, you see Jovans stepping up. Yeah.
00:06:01
Speaker
That's a high pressure situation. So Nico as well, all the guys. And then I think I said this story before with Roman that the practice, literally the day before, we play small-sided games and someone gets fouled and Roman casually steps up and he says, I got it, I got it.
00:06:22
Speaker
Ty Miller saves it. This is literally a day before the final. But thankfully, he went up to it really quickly and took it before I could even think of that. And that's the rest of history. So it was amazing.
Memorable Soccer Moments
00:06:39
Speaker
And of course you guessed right I want to say on the first three at least if not the first four And of course you saved Michael Bradley Michael Bradley's kick Is there anything like saving a panel? I mean as a goalkeeper does it get any better than stopping a penalty? Okay
00:07:02
Speaker
Honestly, this might sound really weird, but as a goalkeeper, I don't want to be in a spotlight because the best is the game where you don't have to touch a ball, period. If your team does everything well and you win the game and you don't have to touch the ball, I'll take that any day. So, most importantly, it's winning. Honestly, like I said, I don't want to have to make a save in the PK. I don't have to make it. As long as we do good and we win, that's all I care about.
00:07:29
Speaker
So, Christian, you obviously didn't get a take in that. We talked about that a little bit during our interview. But, I mean, do you want to be taking? Would you have preferred to have been earlier than seven? I mean, you looked like you, no offense, but you looked like you were pretty spent at the end of that 120 minutes. Yeah, I was pretty tired.
00:07:49
Speaker
It's tough chasing Gio Vinko around for 120 minutes. But I was hoping I was in the top five. I honestly wanted to kick it. I already had my side chosen. And I was just really excited. I mean, I think the reason why I was number seven was because I was kind of stretching during the
00:08:20
Speaker
While they were picking the five kickers, I had that cramp issue and I was stretching and I wasn't able to voice my opinion. Where was Chad on that list? I have no idea. I don't think Ozzy likes to kick PK's. Chad is actually extremely good at them and he probably should have been higher up, but he also doesn't like those pressure situations, but he's really good.
00:08:49
Speaker
So Chris, you obviously can't do anything at that point, but where are you in the, where are you sitting, where are you standing, what is the emotion like of watching something that you've probably taken part in numerous times but you know you can affect the outcome of?
00:09:05
Speaker
That night, I was probably like everyone in this room. I was in Seattle. I was watching the game on TV. We had a death in the family. So I got the same feeling that day that I got when Landon Donovan scored in the World Cup. And there's only a few moments in your life where soccer can move you that much. And that was one of those moments when we ended up winning. And it was just a roller coaster and emotional day.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah, I couldn't do anything but watch, but I think as a former player being in penalty kicks before, the kicker has to have the mentality that
00:09:44
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When am I going to get an easier chance when it's me against the goalkeeper? That's it. I'm never going to get an easier chance in a game to score. And if you go with that mentality, most of the time you're going to bury the PK. So Garth, you've been now through three MLS Cup final penalty shootouts. Obviously one of them at Centuryling Field, the other one in Kansas City, and then Toronto. None of them have been good. They've all been really either cold or wet too, haven't they? Yeah.
00:10:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's been, you know, I'm not playing it. I'm sorry. I got nothing to complain about. But, you know, for the players, it's definitely cold and wet. And, you know, people would ask me, hey, we know what was it like being because I came down from upstairs and stood on the field for the penalty shootout, as I had done in the previous two and.
00:10:30
Speaker
Everyone was like, you know, it's just like, it's got to be terrible just to watch this. This is my third one. Like, apparently, this is just how it goes when we go to MLS Cup. So it was no big deal. The coolest story I have from this, though, was down there. And I was behind Coach Metzer and the assistant coaches.
00:10:47
Speaker
And so I got to talk to Drew Carey a little bit about the World Series. Those of you guys who know me, I'm a Cubs fan. Drew Carey is a Cleveland Indians fan, so we were able to hash that out a little bit. But then more importantly, Jimmy Troyori would watch the guys walk up from midfield, and he would predict whether or not they would make their penalty before they entered the penalty area. And he was right like 90% of the time. It was uncanny. Like he would say, this one he makes, this one he misses.
00:11:15
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And he had such an experience in that and those big moments that he thought by reading just the body language of the approach that he knew kind of what was in the player's head. And that was kind of cool just to be there and listen to. And I'm sure you predicted Jovan Jones' top corner like it was nothing, right? I don't make predictions to this point, man. But what a player. What a shot. I mean, what technical ability that kid has.
00:11:43
Speaker
So,
Stefan Fry's Recovery
00:11:43
Speaker
Stefan, I feel like we need to ask, how is your ankle healing? It's good.
00:11:53
Speaker
No, I think, I mean, I'm always a guy that looks at things in a positive way. So as soon as it happened, I mean, I was bummed about the whole national team thing, but I looked at it as a chance to maybe give my body a little time to heal, take care of my shoulder and other things.
00:12:14
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get strong in the gym, work on other things in my game, because we have some time. If there's ever time to get a bit of an injury, this would be it, right? But no, I have good people around me and I just listen to them. Aki, who now has the title of
00:12:32
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rehabilitation coordinator. If you see him, tell him that. He doesn't like it. No, they're good people and I just followed their lead and I've had now two full keeper sessions completed today, this morning with Tommy as well and everything went well. It's just kind of slowly getting into uncomfortable, uncontrolled situations where you maybe step a little bit wrong and then you realize, okay, your ankle's fine. You have to
00:13:02
Speaker
learn how to trust your body again. But everything's going well and I'm expecting to join the team in full in a matter of days. So we're going to get to questions from the audience real quick. I did want to ask, I felt like the national team situation came out of, like we didn't know as the press, I had not heard that that was a distinct possibility. When did Bruce first reach out to you about potentially playing for the US national team?
00:13:35
Speaker
A few months back already, I mean, through my agent, that's usually how it goes, especially with the coaching change there. I think he wanted to reach out to players and get new looks and new players, if you will. But we're not allowed to tell until they release the news. But yeah, a huge honor. And like I said before,
00:13:59
Speaker
short-lived January camp for me, but it was a great experience and honor, and I hope to get another chance to show what I can do.
Q&A: Player Experiences
00:14:08
Speaker
All right, thank you. So take a question from the crowd. State your name and go ahead. All right, my name is Marshall. My question is for Christian. Did you have any choice words for Alan Kelly after you got fouled on that epic run near the LS Cup?
00:14:27
Speaker
Yeah, I was kind of too tired to talk at that point. I kind of just laid on the ground and was hoping it wasn't anything bad. That was actually my first cramp, so I'd never want to experience anything like that again. But thank you. You killed it, so. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Tom, I have a question for Stefan. What was it like vacationing with Zach Scott in Sid Martin?
00:15:00
Speaker
I had a great time. Apparently, the real Zach Scott, the only one living here, was a bit jealous because he wrote back at me and said it wasn't fair. But now, I think I was talking to him when we actually got those bobbleheads first. I was like, I'm taking mine wherever I'm going in offseason. So who knows? Maybe next offseason, he'll join me again. We'll see. I definitely got to say, Stefan, bonus points for painting on the beard, which really took it from Hercules Gomez to Zach Scott.
00:15:32
Speaker
Hey, my name is Sarah. I have a question for Garth. So previous MLS Cup winners have gone to the White House. Considering the state of politics and the makeup of Seattle, what are your thoughts on that? I have been to the White House for one of these
00:15:54
Speaker
And look, I mean, candidly, we had Mormon owners that were not supportive of the incumbent at that time. And they took our franchise, and we went. And I know it was a cool experience to go to the White House. In terms of what would happen with the Sounders today, we need to get an invitation before we even worry about that. So yeah. So as I said, we'll react.
00:16:27
Speaker
This is for Garth and for Chris. So, is there any young players on the team that you see maybe from the draft or from other places that you see making the 18 on a regular basis this year? Somebody we should look out for? Young players who make the 18 on a regular basis. Almost by definition, I can't answer that question because otherwise the young player is going to get the wrong message about how great they are. So sorry.
00:16:58
Speaker
Look, I don't think Christian's an old man yet. I know I'm still old enough to be his dad. So does he count?
00:17:04
Speaker
You know, look, one of the things that's been exciting is that we're starting to see some Academy kids really raise their level. We're going to see Academy kids participate with S2 at a level never before seen, at least in this club. And that's very exciting for us. You guys have noticed, I'm sure. We've got a couple Academy kids that have gone through the preseason. We're going to take two of the Academy kids to Charleston with us. Now, that's not necessarily to sign them next week or next month.
00:17:31
Speaker
But long term we are really excited about how many young players continue to go through and if you look at Last year we had olex Anderson come from s2 and and got hurt unfortunately, but this year we have Dilem Geordie Dilem and Zach Mathers that are in camp from that team and we're going to continue and knew who told us so we've gone from one to three and
00:17:51
Speaker
And again, I think you're going to see even more of those guys come up and make it.
Sounders' Academy & Talent Development
00:17:54
Speaker
And so all of those three guys from S2, those guys probably have the best chance of the quote unquote young players, because as we've preached, they've been in our system. They've played at S2 in a fashion similar to what the Sounders want to play. They're familiar with their coaches. They're familiar with their players. And that really gives them an advantage in terms of trying to break into the team. And just to add, keep an eye on some homegrown players that we've had that we brought back as well.
00:18:21
Speaker
I wanted to ask you a question, Chris, about scouting and about talent evaluation. One of the most fun things that happened last year was you tweeting out pictures of where you were watching games. And then one of the writers on Sounder at Heart made quite an effort to actually figure out not only where you were, but who you might have been watching. How aware were you that people were paying that kind of attention to it? And was it kind of fun for you to be playing a part in this kind of guessing game?
00:18:51
Speaker
Yeah, it was fun and some of the answers were spot on, so I was getting a little bit worried. The good thing is we have a discovery list, so once we have the player on our list, we're safe. There are players.
00:19:07
Speaker
No, I thought it was fun. I thought once they started catching on, I'm like, OK, I'm pulling up a picture from last spring in Spain. And I'd put one up just to throw them off. But I enjoy it. I think the first time Adrian said, hey, keep doing it. It's fun. Fans like it. So sometimes we'll throw it out there. And other times, we've got to keep things confidential.
00:19:35
Speaker
So the Sounders are unique. They're one of the few teams that have a pride night. And what has that experience been for you guys? To the table.
00:19:52
Speaker
As an organization, it's something we're very proud of. And look, I've been in Seattle myself now for two years, and it's something that makes me feel like this is a great place to live. And it's a place that I think everyone is comfortable and everyone is welcome, and it's non-judgmental, and I think those are all really important things for our organization and for this community. And I think it makes Seattle a great place to live.
00:20:22
Speaker
I think as a team and as a city, I think it's brought all of us together even more to be honest. Last year we had a couple events where we went to and we just appreciated everything that we have going on in this city and I think that's what makes Seattle so incredible and I think the people here are just incredible and that's the reason why we do things the way we do.
00:20:55
Speaker
Yeah, for me, I just want to say the same thing that ever since I came here, I felt like a real sense of community in this city. People supporting each other no matter where they're from, what they're doing, what their interests are, religion, any of that. So I think we need to keep going with that inclusiveness and that bond that we have, I think is what makes us really strong. Another thing, I think I took part in two parades last year. One was the Pride Parade.
00:21:24
Speaker
Which was awesome. And the other one was ours, so let's do two again this year.
00:21:38
Speaker
I just want to reiterate what everyone has said here. Being a fan of the Sounders since 1974, going to every game, that feeling and pride we have in our community, this is the only team and club that I've been part of for all my playing days and working days.
00:21:58
Speaker
really is together with the fans and you can feel that front office through the players. We all feel like we're one community and it's a lot of every time we step on the field we have pride for our people in Seattle.
00:22:19
Speaker
I'm Andrew. I guess my question's for the table. One of the biggest changes in the second half of the season that I think a lot of fans saw was a kind of shift in the locker room or what was shown from the locker room and people having fun and being really supportive. How are you trying to continue that in the new season and going forward? And is that playing a big role, I guess, in who you're picking to be part of the team going forward?
00:22:47
Speaker
Well, I mean, you're hitting it spot on. I think a really, really important part of a team's success is the vibe in a locker room. It's not just what the guys are doing on the pitch, but it's that you need some characters in the locker room to have people be happy,
00:23:12
Speaker
you know, make a bond, be willing to go to war for each other, right? I'd argue that we were always pretty close. It's quite depressing when you lose game after game after game and you're pouring your heart out. So I think when we kind of started winning a couple games and our confidence picked up and then we saw a light at the end of the tunnel, you know, a little flash and we're like, okay, we can get there.
00:23:37
Speaker
So to me, I think that stringing a couple of results together was a big thing that gave us a huge confidence boost and allowed us to make it all the way.
00:23:50
Speaker
Yeah, I think throughout the year, everybody was pretty positive. I remember having a conversation with Garth, actually, where he kind of asked me if, you know, how do you think we were going to do throughout the year? And I was extremely positive with him, and I thought that we were going to make the playoffs and, you know, really go pretty deep in the playoffs. And this was probably when we were in last place. And then when we started winning,
00:24:16
Speaker
You know obviously you guys got to see a little bit of our locker room dancing and all that stuff and making fun of Jordan.
00:24:28
Speaker
But you saw that sense of togetherness. We just didn't display it when we were losing. It's kind of difficult to do so when you are losing. But I thought once we started winning, everybody was a little bit more happy, a little bit more positive in everyday situations, whether that's
00:24:49
Speaker
getting into the locker room and saying hello to every person or just being happy on the field and smiling. I think there was a difference there. And I think that's because we started winning.
00:25:06
Speaker
Sorry, I just want to add one thing to that because you were saying that how are we gonna do that this year? I think one of the challenges will be for example replacing someone like like Zach Scott You know, you don't see him much on the pitch
00:25:23
Speaker
And he doesn't talk much in the locker room, but it's that calming presence and It's just he brings it every day and he doesn't need to talk It's just every everybody knows when you look over and you see him hustling now. I get a better go with him, you know, so uh, I think us veterans the guys that are that remain with the squad we're gonna have to
00:25:46
Speaker
You know, I take chunk of that responsibility in another guy because you can't replace him one for one. But the leaders, the veterans will have to come up with something to replace that. That's Zach Scott.
00:26:04
Speaker
Garth, I actually had a question for you. I've been told that at one time you were a pretty avid Dungeons and Dragons player. And so my question is, when was the last time you actually embarked on a campaign? And is it true that you were actually, were you with the Dungeon Master or was that Wade?
00:26:26
Speaker
Unfortunately, it's been a long time, Jeremiah. I actually was talking to my wife last night about we have two boys that are two and five years old. Is there a point at which are we ready to introduce the older boy to something like this? Because I think it would be so much fun to play with him.
00:26:41
Speaker
But now that 1997 Wade Weber, who many of you know, coaches our U18 team, he was the Dungeon Master and we would go and play games. We were teammates in Dallas at the time and that's what we did for fun. That's how cool we were. So we would go over to Wade's house and if you know his wife Erin, she's awesome too.
00:27:01
Speaker
We would all play together with a couple. Richard Fair was another teammate of ours. And as Wade will tell you, then I, you know, off that I got a lot extra money. I was back that minimum salary was 24 grand a year. So we had to do a little stuff on the side. So I would babysit Wade's children when they went out to dinner. And sometimes we'd play when they came back. But fun stuff.
00:27:26
Speaker
Hey, guys. Tim, first of all, Chris, your ascot looks super sharp. My question is mostly directed towards you, Garth, but if anybody else has thoughts, we'd super love to hear them. I know previously you had made comments regarding the production and level of sort of synergy and integration between the Academy and S2 and the first team.
00:27:51
Speaker
with players like Aaron Kovar and Jordan Morris clearly producing or being seemingly ready for contribution at the first team level, the signing of homegrown players like Shay Yatakoya and Henry Wengo who at the very least were sort of projected or talked about if they had gone into the draft, being drafted relatively high, bringing academy players into camp like Shanden Hopo and Sam Rogers who
00:28:20
Speaker
from watching streams of pre-season games seem like if there may be a little bit undersized, still seem to belong with the players out on the field, performances from academy teams, the seemingly more complex and diverse tactical approaches to academy games, how do you feel like the academy has changed since you've come to the team? Do you feel like that?
00:28:49
Speaker
integration has improved. Do you see that continuing to change? Where do you feel like the academy is at at this point? Thanks very much for the question. What I'd say is, you know, we have great coaches at the academy, like Chris' brother Sean, who does an awesome job for us. You know, we had, everyone has always worked really hard at the academy, and we've had
00:29:12
Speaker
In this community, you've already had DeAndre Edlin and Jordan Morris come through that I had nothing to do with. So that's clearly that everything was working fine to begin with. But what we hope is that we can produce a greater number of players, that in addition to these
00:29:27
Speaker
Spectacular players every about every four years because if you look back before them Kellen Rowe before there was a Sounders MLS level Kellen Rowe is another really good player that came out of this community So clearly there's talent here. It's incumbent upon us to find it we've tried to make some partnerships here locally to Increase our reach into the community to see more players and hopefully that'll continue to bear fruit and one of the things that I think is a residual outcome of winning MLS Cup is that
00:29:56
Speaker
People paid attention. If you watch the numbers of people, leadership online, television viewers, it's not just people in the stadium coming to playoff games, but the buzz around the team built. And as we progressed, and then we win the title and 3.5 million people watched around the country. Honestly, some of those kids are young kids who say, hey, I want to come play for the Sounders Academy, and that can only help us going forward.
00:30:20
Speaker
I just want to add that I think Garth coming in here and coming from Salt Lakes Academy, which has developed a ton of players. If you watch the Under-20 qualifying next week, I think there's four or five kids through that Academy. So that's a big stress that Garth has put on with our Academy staff and developing players through our system. So it's a credit to him for
00:30:44
Speaker
recognizing it and helping us get players from Washington State and our region, but also some players outside our region.
00:30:56
Speaker
So we had some questions from Twitter. And I know this was an important one.
Immigration Policies & Community Values
00:31:01
Speaker
We actually kind of teased this in the question and answer. But I felt like it was important to ask you guys. And maybe Christian and Stefan have the most insight into this. But do any players, this is from MLS Watercolors, do any players have cats? The number of dog owners is apparently getting ridiculous for some people.
00:31:28
Speaker
So I believe Tyler kind of adopted a cat by moving in with his girlfriend. So he actually has a dog and a cat, and they get along really well. I can't remember his name, but I call him Garfield because he's big and orange, so yeah.
00:31:55
Speaker
Do Chris or Garth have any insight into this question? Okay, go ahead. I have a question for Stefan. How is it seeing Bradley and Altidore after saving both of those and then going to national camp? Seriously, no, the vibe was really good.
00:32:19
Speaker
This might sound kind of weird, but I almost feel Klinsman drove all the MLS guys together a little bit. So there's that instant respect when you got into the room, and obviously we all play against each other, so we know what we're capable of. So I think everybody got going really quickly, tried to look at the task ahead.
00:32:40
Speaker
Of course, big goofy Chad Marshall behind me when I'm introducing myself to everybody and Chad says, this is Stefan, the MLS MVP. To every single guy, including Josie and Mike. No, but we all had a good laugh and then we went to work.
00:33:07
Speaker
Hey, I'm Matt, a fellow UW alum, go dogs. This question is for Steph and Christian. Who on the Sounders, I don't know if you guys, I know you guys play soccer a lot in real life. Who plays FIFA though, and who's the best at FIFA?
00:33:27
Speaker
So a lot of guys play FIFA. Who's the best? We should probably do a tournament on time and figure it out. Christian's pretty good. I'm not gonna lie. He's pretty good. He doesn't have a wife, though, and stuff, so he can... A lot of training, a lot of training, no. But I do have homework to do, so... That kind of makes up for it, right?
00:33:55
Speaker
But no, I would say Kovar is a really good player, FIFA player. Jordan really thinks he's good, but he's not. Ozzy, not so much. Tyler's actually on the rise, so give him a shout out whenever you guys... Yeah, Gustav is pretty good, but there's a lot of guys that play FIFA. And we just... Honestly, I bring the Xbox to every road trip, and we just have a blast, so it's fun.
00:34:22
Speaker
All right, so this is another one from Twitter from Sean71. And we can kind of just go down the line here. You can all probably answer this, hopefully. If you could choose one, would you go with Christopher Cross or Michael McDonald? This is kind of a yacht rock question. Does anyone have an opinion on these? These two for sure have no idea.
00:34:50
Speaker
Sailing, Christopher Cross, remember that? Christopher Cross. Sure, sounds good. Whatever Chris said.
00:35:04
Speaker
All right, shameless plug since the last person took my FIFA question. Just for everyone, April 1st, weekend, keep your ears open for a FIFA tournament that's sort of repeatable if you haven't. Yeah, for sure. And I'll switch it up. I guess I wanted to ask, I'm an immigrant from Mexico, huge fan. Thank you for the championship and all the work you guys did.
00:35:25
Speaker
I wanted to ask you guys, with the current changes in immigration, how will that impact the team? A lot of the players are immigrant players from other countries. Could that potentially impact what the changes of the executive orders and potentially new executive order and immigration may reduce the number of visas? I don't know if that impacts the player visas or how that works, but would that at all impact any of the team's efforts with reaching out to immigrant players?
00:35:58
Speaker
As some of you guys know, most of you know probably, I'm a lawyer by training, and the reality is that you're asking really difficult legal questions, and until policies are actually passed and in place, it's really difficult to comment or speculate. I mean, you're asking, and look, I understand a lot of people have uncertainty right now, and it's definitely legitimate and justified, but in terms of commenting on what the policy might or might not be, we just have to wait and see.
00:36:27
Speaker
You know what happens because you know, we don't even know what's gonna happen with the initial executive order right now let alone What what may follow so makes sense. Okay. Thanks The Christian or Stefan have any thoughts and both of you come from immigrant backgrounds Have you have you is it impacted you have you given it much thought?
00:36:53
Speaker
I mean, it's extremely tough, especially coming from an immigrant family.
00:37:01
Speaker
You also don't want to say anything wrong and offend anybody. But for my sake and for all the immigrants out there, people come here to the United States for a reason, for a better life. And I know my parents did so and we benefited from that. And I just hope that these situations get resolved and hopefully people can
00:37:28
Speaker
can come over here for a search for a better life. It's a tough time in which we live in and hopefully it just improves, honestly. Well done.
00:37:50
Speaker
I agree with what Christian says completely and it's just for us players usually you're taught to avoid politics and religion and all that fun stuff but it's interesting because I think the country is so polarized right now and you see more and more athletes now dabbling in that
00:38:17
Speaker
politics, you know, when you see Michael Bradley releasing a statement. So if anything, I think athletes will more and more maybe give their two cents when it comes to politics. But again, I think we have to be careful because it's not just a comment to a friend. It's something that can be put on Twitter and will never be erased again. So yeah.
00:38:46
Speaker
That's my two cents on it. I'm in the process of getting citizenship, so I really want to finish that first before I comment on politics.
00:39:05
Speaker
Hey guys, my name is Andrew. Since I was planning on asking about immigration, I will ask something a little more light-hearted. Are there any players in MLS that you like beating in particular? Beating,
Soccer Rivalries & MLS Expansion
00:39:25
Speaker
yeah. Well, it has to be the Portland Timbers, right?
00:39:31
Speaker
No, honestly, I mean, I played for Toronto, and they had that, what was it, trillion cup thing against Columbus, which is just purely made up, really. But really, there's a sense, there's a real rivalry going on here. I feel like even more with Portland than with Vancouver.
00:39:58
Speaker
I've gotten really biased at this point. I don't like their front office. I don't like their coach. I don't like their field. I don't like it. So definitely feels great when you play against them and you win. Yeah, I would say Portland, it's kind of in our blood now. And it's just so satisfying when you beat them.
00:40:23
Speaker
I would also say LA, I'm an LA boy. And I don't know, when we beat them 4-2 last year, it was kind of like a turning point. And I think we just had a lot of fun just winning over there, honestly. So Chris, even though you grew up in a time when there wasn't necessarily the Sounders' Timbers rivalry, is that still in your blood to want that?
00:40:52
Speaker
Yeah, I remember the games we went down, watching the NSL games when they'd go down to Civic Stadium. And we'd be sitting in the King Dome and, you know, 3,000 Whitecaps fans are making noise and blowing their horns. And you could sense that rivalry back then, and it's carried through. And I think that tradition is very important to continue with our fans here.
00:41:25
Speaker
More than a question, I just wanted to kind of make a statement that when we're on away games and stuff and we see a sounder that it's not with the group and has sounder clothes on and stuff, we always do this cheer, one of us. You know, one of us, one of us. And that's what we kind of think of the players. We think of the players as being down to earth, one of us. Any time that we've met players on the street or on a store or something, they've always been gracious to us.
00:41:36
Speaker
Okay, I'm Grandma.
00:41:54
Speaker
That's one of the things that we want to keep on continuing and to have the players just to be one of us. Thank you. Thank you, Grandma. Hello, I'm Mark. So this is kind of two questions. One,
00:42:13
Speaker
Everybody debates what the turning point of the season was. Was it Nico? Was it Roman? To me, it's both Nico on the field, Roman in the locker room. Which one do you value more? Which one do you think made more of a difference? Roman dancing, Nico dancing on the field. And then the number two, this is for Garth. Do you think the MLS is expanding too fast?
00:42:39
Speaker
I'll take the second part first. From an expansion perspective, the thing that's different about soccer as compared to the NHL or the NFL or MLB, et cetera, some of these other leagues that we've watched expand rapidly and then have potentially some issues.
00:42:54
Speaker
Soccer players are a nearly infinite pool. There's a hundred countries that have a professional soccer league from which you can draw players. And so the market is there for as many soccer teams as can reasonably be supported. The talent pool that gets stretched is the American talent pool, right? I mean because we can only have eight foreign players per team.
00:43:15
Speaker
which means that the great majority of our players have to come domestically. The good news is, on that front, though, is that we all started academies, in some cases as long as 15 years ago, but even for the Sounders, it's been around nine years now, and have had an academy since day one. So that's helped the player development in this country. We need to keep working on it. We need to keep investing in it. But that's how you avoid, I think, some of the dilution problems that you might run into.
00:43:44
Speaker
Overall, for the enterprise, we're a growing league. We need to continue to generate more revenue. We need to have a bigger television contract that will let us pay these guys more money. And as we're able to pay more money, we'll be able to retain good young players like Christian and Jordan and hopefully attract more players like Steph to play their entire career here and some guys like Nico to come from abroad and continue to join our team. So my answer is, unequivocal on expansion. I don't think it's going too fast.
00:44:13
Speaker
in part because I think we've made some intelligent choices to make investments that will offset some of what looks like maybe moving too quickly in some cases. And if you look at bids like LAFC, you look at bids like Atlanta, these are really strong organizations. When you look at the infrastructure that they have in place, the amount of planning, I mean, Darren Eales, the gentleman that runs Atlanta United, was hired fully two years
00:44:37
Speaker
before they're going to kick the ball for the first time. And this used to be that you'd get these things up and running in like three, four months. So the level of complexity has been understood. You're talking about these teams coming in. LAFC already has started an academy and has a site identified where they're going to play their U.S.L. team. So these teams are doing it the right way. And as long as they do it the right way and they take steps and you have groups like Sacramento that have had a team playing for a number of years already,
00:45:03
Speaker
I think expansion is healthy and hopefully is a signal to how quickly the league is growing and getting better. The answer to that question is going to be some form of all of the above because you needed everything and look don't underestimate these guys because trust me I remember the conversation I had with Christian as well that he commented on earlier and these guys were optimistic and they said we're not going to give up we're going to keep fighting
00:45:30
Speaker
And they stuck with it, and when you change a couple of things that maybe is the match that lights the fuse, but it was the guys in the locker room that won this title. And to Steph's point earlier, those guys in the locker room may have changed by one or two guys, but it wasn't a radical change over what was earlier in the year or what had been there the year before.
00:45:53
Speaker
My name's Bruce. I have a question for Garth. About early 2016, there was a really exciting rumor about S2 teaming up with the Tacoma Rainiers to build a new stadium in downtown Tacoma or somewhere in Tacoma.
Partnerships & Team Branding
00:46:08
Speaker
And we haven't really heard anything on that since then. And it's kind of been radio silence. Has there been any progress on this idea of some kind of Rainier's S2 Tacoma situation?
00:46:20
Speaker
It's something we continue to work on. It's something that we are exploring. And unfortunately, we're not at a point where we're able to make any kind of announcement on it at this point. But it's definitely not dead. We are definitely trying to work with it. Look, we want to have as big a footprint as we can have from a regional perspective. And sometimes you don't want to reinvent the wheel. The Comberineers have been really successful and have grown the Mariners' audience over time in this community. So if that's something that helps us do the same thing, then that's something we'd be interested in doing. Thank you.
00:46:57
Speaker
My name is Bread. I think my question's mostly directed to Garth. So I think most of us has figured out by now that only the authentic kids will have stars on them. What can we do as supporters to ensure that for next season that women's and youth kids will have stars on them? Because we earned that star, too.
00:47:26
Speaker
I totally understand the sentiment. That is a league decision in terms of what the league allows us to put a star on. It is accurate that they are going to be on the authentic jerseys. Beyond that, this is something that you can imagine. The league has to have one set of rules that applies for... Sorry, I didn't hear that.
00:47:48
Speaker
Anyway, we are instructed as to what we can and cannot do. That comes from New York, and we have to follow that policy, because every team has to follow that policy. But again, I understand the frustration with it, and hopefully over time, maybe that liberalizes. But is there something that we can do as supporters to show MLS that we want our star?
00:48:09
Speaker
I think the young lady in the back there said embroider your own star on the jersey. Obviously, it's a free country, and that's something that you can do. If you feel that that symbolizes your support, then awesome. Bravo and more power to you.
00:48:26
Speaker
We're at four o'clock now, and we're going to start wrapping up here. So go ahead and ask your question, and then we'll probably do one more. This is kind of a big one. I apologize. My name is Jonathan. Given what Hugo talked about a second ago in the state of things,
00:48:42
Speaker
in this country, kind of questions for multiple people here. But given how things are, Garth, what do you think is your responsibility and your role with the club to reflect? And actually, let me go back. The South Siders, who are the ECS equivalent in Vancouver, have stated they're not going to come to the US for any matches. And you see it quite often that
00:49:07
Speaker
soccer is for all. This is obviously having a significant and poignant effect in terms of fans and everyone else. What is your role in responsibility and your role in terms of the club? What do you think MLS's role in terms of responsibilities
00:49:23
Speaker
Chris, same for you. You're obviously traveling, talking to people from outside the country and trying to recruit people to play in this country. What is your role and responsibility? And then Stefan or Christian, as players and then as fans, how do you see your roles and responsibilities when it comes to something like this and how it affects everybody? And what should the fans' roles be? How should we act? How should we demonstrate? How should we communicate?
00:49:47
Speaker
Look, this question's now been asked a couple of different ways, and I appreciate it, and again, I appreciate the sincere concern that folks have. You know, in terms of our roles and responsibilities, you know, when we go abroad and Chris meets with people, and I meet with people,
00:50:04
Speaker
You do talk about things like the American Dream, like Christian alluded to, for his family. I think if you ask Nico, part of the reason he's here is because he believed that it was going to be a very good place for his family and a good place to settle. So I think we need to continue to encourage a culture of inclusiveness. I think it goes without saying that for our club, being able to attract players from all over the world is a good thing. We signed players from literally dozens of countries over the last.
00:50:32
Speaker
nine years and so that inclusiveness I think is also reflective of our community and that's something we're going to continue to strive for.
00:50:42
Speaker
Yeah, just to reiterate Garth's point, when we're out talking to players, agents, you know, players ask about Seattle if they haven't been to the United States before, and we try and sell the club. And I've always said when we bring a player into Seattle, we have the player. He sees our atmosphere, he's around our fans, and I think the culture that we have in our locker room and our players,
00:51:07
Speaker
We want to bring players in who are going to help our team win and fit into the culture of the club. Their character will fit in. For the most part, that's what we're selling to them. We can have players call our players on our current team and ask what it's like.
00:51:25
Speaker
Do you feel safe there? Are you happy? What's the culture of the club? We usually don't have a hard time selling it to players. Getting players sometimes to say, I'm going to go play in MLS, sometimes they don't think our league is quite there. And then they come here and they're surprised at the quality. So we've made huge strides in the last 10 years in respect around the world and where we're at.
00:51:52
Speaker
I think as players our responsibility is to realize that we have an opportunity to show what this country stands for because we are in a limelight. We know people do follow us on our social feeds or kids look up to us. So it's simple things as how do you care yourself.
00:52:16
Speaker
You know, this was actually one of the big things that was floating through my head whether I wanted to get citizenship or not, because when the whole thing was going on,
00:52:27
Speaker
I felt like a lot of people in this country don't think the way I do. And I struggled with that until I had conversations with my family and my agent and other people. And I realized that this was an opportunity for me to show what I think this country stands for. And I think as a player,
00:52:48
Speaker
As a player, we do have that opportunity. Like I said, I don't consider myself a celebrity at all, but there is that six-year-old kid who thinks I am. So if I'm behaving responsibly, you know, I'm accepting and caring and loving, then maybe that person will, it will rub off on that kid and he'll grow up to be a good human being. So that's, I think, my responsibility as a player.
00:53:16
Speaker
This is the last question from the crowd, and then we'll have one more. I'll make it good, I promise. My name's Tim. My seatmates and I have a little game day superstition that pork equals points. Every time we have pork on game day before the games, you guys always at least draw, but 90% of the time you win. For Christian and Stefan, do you guys have any game day superstitions that you abide to each week?
00:53:46
Speaker
Mine is more in the locker room. I definitely shower before games just kind of to wake wake me up. I turn in the heat.
00:53:56
Speaker
in the locker room, the water heat is pretty good and it could burn you pretty bad. So I turn it on pretty high and then I cool it down very, very cold to kind of wake me up. And then as I'm putting on my socks, I wear my left sock on my right foot and my right sock on my left foot.
00:54:22
Speaker
For me, it's also just game day. A lot of rituals. I mean, too many really to list here. But it's silly things even as taping all my fingers. Any excess tape has to go in the bin. If it doesn't, I'm going to freak out.
00:54:39
Speaker
It's gotten to the point where I took a little strip and I put it on my while I was sitting down I put it on my On my leg just to kind of put it there and then I run out to warm up and I realized it's still on there I was freaking out I get one of the trainers like throw it in the bin make sure it makes it in the bin man so there's there's every player has so many things that you go through and If it helps you prepare and you know keep keep doing it I guess
00:55:05
Speaker
So we're going to end it on this. I'm going to pass around a picture, a couple pictures that are side by side. We're going to hopefully put it on the monitor here. And take a look at these pictures. And I would like to know.
00:55:22
Speaker
I would like to know Stefan and Christian's thoughts as to which image you're more likely to make fun of the person from. One of these is Garth with dreads and the other is Chris Henderson from his Austin Powers themed or braids not dreads.
00:55:40
Speaker
And the other one is if you haven't seen the commercial of Chris doing the Austin Powers themed Kansas City Wizards thing it is glorious But which of those two would you more likely use to like give them a hard time who's looking worse there?
00:56:07
Speaker
It's a trap. Yeah. They're both my bosses, I mean. Yeah, Steph is saying plead the fifth over here, so. Let's be honest, between me and Henderson, I'm a lot worse looking. Chris, your hair kind of looks the same here, though. I know.
00:56:37
Speaker
It's not, Chris doesn't look bad, it's just the setting that's pretty... What was the theme of that? Mojo time. Mojo time, yes. We won supporter shield and MLS Cup that year, so it worked. Yeah, absolutely. Well, anyway, I think that's a good place to probably end this. I really can't thank everyone enough. Thank you so much, guys, for being good...
00:57:01
Speaker
Good sports about this. Thanks to all you here. Thanks to Queen Anne Beer Hall for hosting us. Thanks to Constellation & Company, Bootstrapper Studios, Queen Anne Acupuncture, Flywheel, Foolpool Wines, James Willard again. Thanks a lot for all your help here.
00:57:22
Speaker
And hopefully you guys had a good time, and who knows, maybe we'll do this again, but if not, at least you'll have this, and thanks. I felt like we raised a lot of money for Seattle Children's Autism Center. Hopefully we all learned something about them as well. And yeah, on behalf of Aaron Campo and Lickett, I'm Jeremiah O'Shan, and remember, you'll never yet alone.
00:58:14
Speaker
Yacht Exciting and new Come aboard We're expecting you Yacht Life's sweetest reward Let it flow It floats back to you
00:58:44
Speaker
Your car, soon we'll be making another run For your car, promise is something for everyone Cause at a cost for adventure, your mind on a new romance
00:59:33
Speaker
I have to go now. My planet needs me.
00:59:49
Speaker
Green Douglas fir where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll On, Columbia, Roll On. Roll On, Columbia, Roll On. Roll On, Columbia, Roll On. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll On, Columbia, Roll On.