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Episode 412: Interview with Former Sounder Brad Evans
78 Plays2 years ago
Our interview with Seattle Sounders Brand Ambassador and Broadcast talent, Brad Evans. It's a rather long interview, the full version of which is only available to our Substrack subscribers. This is an edited version.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorships
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime sounder supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
00:00:21
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Thanks to Watson's Counter for sponsoring this episode. Located in Ballard, Watson's Counter is your neighborhood specialty coffee shop, brunch spot, and now, coffee roaster. Sourcing exclusively high scoring coffees, Watson's Counter has started their coffee roasting project to showcase amazing coffees grown around the world. Their first featured coffee is the beautifully complex washed Ethiopian Odola.
00:00:50
Speaker
Follow them on Instagram at Watson's Counter to keep up with all the upcoming releases or check out their website at www.watsonscounter.com. Whether you want to stop by for your daily coffee to go or sit down for delicious Korean inspired brunch, Watson's Counter has got you covered.
00:01:15
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adietes, sponsored by Fullpool Wines and Watson's Counter, as well as our sub-sex subscribers.
Guest Introduction: Brad Evans
00:01:24
Speaker
I'm Jeremiah Shan. Joining me today is a very special guest, Brad Evans. You know so well, former sounder, current podcaster, broadcaster, doing just about everything involved with the sounders. Court Jester? Court Jester. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much that's it. What's up, man? Yeah, how are you? Well, we're here at Starfire. So if you hear some banging in the background,
00:01:44
Speaker
It's part of the pod. Exactly. It's a natural sound of what we're going to talk about. Exactly. Exactly.
Brad Evans at the TST Tournament
00:01:51
Speaker
So the thing that got me interested in talking to you was just like I saw that you played in this tournament, the TST, and it ended up being a pretty great experience it sounds like. It was unbelievable. So it's the soccer tournament, right? It started out as a TBT, the basketball tournament.
00:02:08
Speaker
and that that tournament actually takes place over I think a couple weeks and so they get a chance to take a breath and I don't know how they do it and have everyone there for these weekends and everything but the other idea was like hey let's try let's try a soccer tournament so the first I had heard about it was I think Clint had announced something back in November last year right he was a slow team up with this production company and they did it the right way
00:02:32
Speaker
But my expectation, I looked at the article, and then I was like, oh, that's cool. They'll have fun. And never thought that I would get the opportunity to play in something. So fast forward to around late March, early April, I got a text from Nick Romondo. And he was like, hey, have you heard about this 7v7 tournament? And I was like, no, because I had forgotten about it. And he was like, well, it's the $77 million turn. I was like, oh, yeah, I saw the article. Didn't read it.
00:03:01
Speaker
He was like, you want to play? And I was like, well, maybe I haven't put on boots since I retired. I use them to coach, but I haven't. I literally have not played or kicked a soccer ball in that capacity. And I was like, you know, yeah, it'll be fun. He's like, oh, well, Mike McGee's putting together a team. And I was like, all right, I'm in. That's all it took. Once I knew that McGee was going to head this thing and spearhead it, I was like, this is going to be awesome because Mike brings a party. And that's the team I wanted to be involved with. And so, yeah, it was from then on, you started to see like the
00:03:30
Speaker
Clinton was holding tryouts. AJ De La Garza's team had like a training camp in Miami with that team. You know, teams are actually prepping for this and training for it. And I had no idea. I thought it was just going to be, you know, a rinky dink soccer tournament and oh yeah, here's some some bibs.
00:03:45
Speaker
And then Mike kept calling me like, hey, do you got you got this guy's number? Like, what do you think? Who should we have on the team? And it became this like real collaborative effort. Well, we built this team around the guys that we've always wanted to play with and really never had the chance to write guys that you went into the locker room and you said, hey, coach, I think we should get this player or hey, I wanted to be traded to the galaxy because they've got these guys. Right. You always wanted to play with these guys. You know, it was never going to be in major league soccer, never the perfect situation with the perfect team.
00:04:15
Speaker
But if you could build guys, build a team around the guys that you wanted to play with, this was it. And so Mike called Nick, called Alan Gordon, called Len Hart, called myself. And then the changes kept moving and moving and all of a sudden it was put together with these guys.
00:04:31
Speaker
Mike Mike Mike was actually like hey you got some guys up there in Seattle and I was like well you know Lamar has this Ballard FC team you might want to talk to Lamar and so all he did was call Lamar and Lamar was like oh I think you should get this guy Nick Pereira and it was like okay and I had no idea he was on the team until like a day before like that's how late our roster was set and then
00:04:51
Speaker
We got all these indoor soccer guys. We got all these beach US national team players. And I just remember getting on the plane. Oh, and I was like, hey, you should try this kid decky. We need a young player that's just going to run and work. And Declan was free right now. And so Kirkland Kids, Seattle U product, started off last season amazing with Seattle U. They went to Notre Dame. He scored two goals, I think. And then he picked up a groin injury or something. And he was out for pretty much remainder of the season. So MLS teams were like, no.
00:05:21
Speaker
We're not really interested. So he's trying to get on somewhere. But anyways, we got all these guys together that we really wanted to play with. And, you know, Len, Len Hart is like, people hate him. Right. And anyone in that room would tell you the same thing. Like he is the guy that you want on your team and that you want to kill when he's not on your team. Right. But he is the glue that kind of like
00:05:45
Speaker
binds everyone together. And from minute one, we got in and everyone's doing the rounds. Hey, what's up? This is my name. This is where I'm from, where I played. And the first thing we did as a team was just sit there and say, Steve was like, I want everyone to say their name, you know, why they're here and what they would do with a million bucks.
00:06:02
Speaker
And so I had never even been in an MLS locker room where the team had vocally set their expectations for what they wanted out of a season. And I was like, wait, what? Like you can do that? I always thought it was just like, okay, there's a coach up front. And he tells kind of the captain what he wants to go on. And then everyone just follows suit.
00:06:25
Speaker
and so this is like new for me and everyone is like all right well i'm brad i you know i'm here to push you harder than you think you're going to be pushing i might be yelling at you but it's because i want to win and i don't million bucks you know i'm happy to share that with everyone and whatever whatever you guys want to do chump change for you no not chump change but
00:06:42
Speaker
I just figured we were going to lose the first three games. So I didn't even say what I would do with the money. But from that point on, like everyone was just bonded like in the snap of a finger. Yeah, I could see that being a very useful what a great and and then from then on we just like kept winning and winning and winning.
00:07:00
Speaker
We were like, OK, we're going to take Uber's 15 minutes to the fields. And Mike was like, oh, this is a disaster. So our little team liaison, Erin, she worked for Nashville for a while. She knows player personnel. She got us a party bus. And it had a stripper pole. And we got in. And Drew Connor owns a house club in Chicago. So he's got the playlist. And we're just dancing and vibing and doing the whole thing the whole time. It was just so fun, dude. Played two games a day. And then we were out till 3 o'clock every day.
00:07:30
Speaker
morning party. There you go. And how did you guys end up doing? We made some semi-finals. We lost to the team that ended up winning the tournament, who were all indoor soccer professionals. And some of those guys actually play in professional 7v7 tournaments in Brazil. They have this Brazilian guy who's like, dude, they were unreal.
00:07:49
Speaker
We're playing 7v7 like you would at training with tactics are so different. Keep your shape there. You have unlimited subs, right? So some of these guys would come on the field for a minute and then you'd be looking over your shoulder like, wait, where's my guy? And then a new guy comes on the field and you got to keep track. And do you man Mark? Do you stay with the guy? Like we had no idea. Even though we had Nick on our team, he's like, this is different than indoor. Even these, these guys just knew how to play the game. They were so good and we just didn't stand a chance.
00:08:16
Speaker
So who ended up being the best player for you? The best player for us?
Rediscovering Passion for Soccer
00:08:20
Speaker
I mean, our goalkeeper was unreal. He just signed with Tacoma Stars now. He came from San Diego, but he was fantastic. Really lights out. Really, really good goalkeeper. He plays for the US Beach national team as well. And now the Tacoma Stars with Nick down there. And offensively, Nick is 6' 5", 2' 15", and he just is an immovable object. And one of the goals of the tournament it looked like, too.
00:08:44
Speaker
And his ability to roll the ball and finish was, I mean, unmatched in the tournament, say for the team that, you know, won or made the final two. And so what did you, you said you hadn't played basically at all since you retired. Did you, did this inspire you to like want to play more or is it, is this like a one and done situation? No, I think so. Yeah. You know, certain things happen where a fire gets reignited. I mean, I, I said in my,
00:09:09
Speaker
We had this huge text thread with all the guys. And my first response was like, I had a lot of resentment when I left the game. I wanted nothing to do with it. That's why I traveled for a year. I watched one game in Montana at a random bar outside of Glacier National Park, East Glacier. And I was like, hey, can you put on soccer? And they kind of stared at me like, what the fuck are you talking about? And it was Portland versus Seattle in 2018. I think it was an away game at the time. And yeah, I sat there and had pizza. And that was the only game I watched.
00:09:38
Speaker
And along with coaching, that gives you the joy because you're imparting your knowledge. But to be able to play again with a group of guys, that's what you miss the most anyways. Like the camaraderie and stuff. Yeah, this has no contracts. It's like playing pickup. It's like playing pickup. There's no contracts. There were no expectations. No, you've got to do this. I played very minimal minutes. I pulled my quad in literally the first game. And so I was playing with a taped up quad.
00:10:07
Speaker
I was just there as a place marker for guys to get rest, and then I'd pop off the field and sit back and just pass the ball back to the goalkeeper. But it was just so fun. And now, maybe it ignites something to, well, I got something to look forward to next year.
00:10:23
Speaker
Yeah. I was wondering, you look at those rosters, and there's almost every roster, almost every team had some notable players. There were a lot of former MLS players, or maybe even some current MLS players. I don't know if there any current MLS players, but there was guys that are
00:10:39
Speaker
that are a lot of notable names, like I said. And I think there was this assumption from the outside that it's like, oh, this, you know, Jermaine Jones is going to dominate this thing. But of course, the teams that were the best were the players, the teams that had the most active players. Yeah, for sure. All the guys that played indoor or Futsal leagues or played in Brazil, like they completely dominated.
00:11:00
Speaker
Jermaine's a great soccer player and an athlete, but not for that setting. I mean, they had such a different game. I mean, it is a fundamentally different game. Yeah. Yeah. It's not based on power and strength. It is technical and tactical awareness. And for someone that's used to you rarely head the ball, the ball's always at your feet. You're only playing two, three minute shifts. It's just so different. It feels like more of a more of a team sport than anything and a bit more of a chess match in that regard.
00:11:27
Speaker
You have to be really concise with your passes because at any point, one person is a touch away and off they go to goal like real quick, right? So in that respect, like they had Eddie Johnson, they had, you know, Clyde Sims, they had Daniel Hernandez, you know, guys who I had battled with back in the day. And they just, and they had Wondo too, obviously.
00:11:47
Speaker
who ended up scoring two goals in a game and then Luis Robles took a header to the eyeball and so yeah he was playing for the pretty mean Shiner for the games I saw it was terrible and so Wanda went into goal and played keeper had a couple saves and then scored a penalty kick in that game too for them it was just hodgepodge dude but what I was told is that the team that made the final for the Canadian team they paid a loan fee for a Brazilian guy they paid him like 30 grand to play in the tournament
00:12:14
Speaker
If they had won, he wasn't going to get any of the winnings though. So these teams are really going after it, right? But if you get enough sponsors, why not? They're paying for sponsorships on the jerseys. We had O'Neill. We customize every jersey. So if anyone ever wants to be a sponsor, we're open to it, because the more fun that we can have, dude, it was so fun. So it made me sort of think of these days that you, had you played with any of these, anyone on your team, had you played with at any level before?
00:12:43
Speaker
I had played with Mike in a national team camp McGee. I had played with Len Hart, obviously in Columbus. Oh, yeah. But other than that, you know, some of these I played against Nick in college because he was at Santa Barbara when I was at Irvine. He's two years younger than me. But other than that, no, these are just guys you had heard of that were kind of journeyman also.
00:13:04
Speaker
throughout the league. I never got to play with Alan Gordon, obviously played with Nick Armando with the national team, but no, not in a real team setting, so it was just cool to be with these guys in the same space and kind of occupy
00:13:20
Speaker
the mindset that we've always shared, but could never do it on the same team. You know, the reason I ask is because you played for a pretty famous PDL team. It was you called Ventura blue star. What was the name of Orange County blue, orange, Connie County blue star. Okay.
00:13:35
Speaker
and and you that had a like you look at the roster of teammates that you had and it's like a who's who of you know like MLS stars during your your era do you keep in touch with those guys and is that what I mean I don't know that seems like would be a fun team to put together yeah look I tried it was well here's Kenny Cooper facetiming me right now
00:13:54
Speaker
He was there too and scored a banger of a goal against West Ham United, took off his shirt and celebrated. So, yeah, I mean, on that team, I tried to get Sasha to play, but he's doing Apple TVs. Like I can't even get a weekend away. Benny Feilhaber's coaching SK, supporting Kansas City too. So I couldn't get him. Tyson Walls, the general manager of the, you know, youth program, the academy program in Austin, he can't check out.
00:14:18
Speaker
you know, some of these guys and then a lot of them had to retire because of, you know, concussions. So Sam Cronin was going to be on the team, but couldn't play because of his concussions. Kalen Carr, even Kyle Martino was there and just couldn't, couldn't do the business. But I text Robbie Rogers. He's like, Oh, I can't get away for four days to go to, to go anywhere. And I was like, all right. So we tried, we tried and fucking Kai Camara is still playing, right? Like that's crazy to me that is. And we played together for blue star and he's still scoring goals.
00:14:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean how that's got to be surreal to see just to see what he's doing. It's unbelievable. Yeah, I mean he is. Why wouldn't I? Why would in the right setting? Why wouldn't you sign him right? I mean Ezra, that's Ezra's son back in Kansas Columbus. We all played together and that's why you got brought to, you know, Chicago. Okay.
00:15:06
Speaker
I think yeah, his ability to continuously perform is actually remarkable. It's remarkable. I mean, he's not putting up Wondo numbers, but man, what is he fourth on the scoring list now? He's definitely putting up Donovan. Like I think he might be he might even be second, second or third. Yeah, I mean he's close to I think he's close to passing Donovan.
00:15:25
Speaker
Yeah, which is insane, right? When you think about one of the greatest. So yeah, but those guys that were on Orange County Blue Star, I mean, a lot of guys that had 10, 15 year careers, and that was kind of the golden age for college kids, like good college kids, right on the cusp of you're still good enough to play college. There's no academies. Right. That was the last era of pre-academy sort of. That was it? Talent. Yeah, that was it. So that was cool. It was so fun,
Sounders Organization Culture
00:15:50
Speaker
dude.
00:15:50
Speaker
So shifting gears a bit, you're still obviously very involved in the sounders. Like we alluded to at the beginning, you wear a lot of hats within this organization. How has it been making that shift and how does it change your perspective on the team?
00:16:10
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's been awesome. And Schmetz has been great, because for us former guys, we can go into the locker room right after the game. We can come to practice and hang out and go to every single training session. I got to take my high school boys to a training session, and he's talking to every single player. And he brings us right on the field, grass level, for these guys to watch in person. He really understands what it is to have culture and to build that, which is super important.
00:16:40
Speaker
And that's been probably the coolest part is because I thought when I left it would be a complete Disengagement from the locker room because that's the thing I miss the most but he's like come in like do what you need to do And every time I go in everyone is like stoked to see guys in the locker room exactly why he won't do it He doesn't want to be a part of that. He just he won't travel. He still wants to play I think
00:17:02
Speaker
But he won't travel on the team flight. He just doesn't want to be a distraction. But I think at the end of the day, these guys want to see you. They want to talk. They want to know what you're doing. Well, it's what makes it feel like a club, right? Exactly. It's a club. You have to have these guys come back.
00:17:18
Speaker
Even after the game, I called with Marcus. This is probably like four weeks ago now. We went downstairs into the locker room. They got food set up in there now, which we never had as us being players here in good food too. And so everyone's there having a bite to eat. And I forget who was on the staff. They were like, who is that guy?
00:17:36
Speaker
And I was like, well, it's one of the greatest American goalkeepers to ever play. It's just, but you have to have those guys around because it builds community, like you said, and it's, it's so vitally important. Um, but yeah, I wear a lot of hats and, but, but I enjoy it. Like I have great bosses in quotes, like Ashley Fosberg, head of rave foundation is my boss and she's the raddest chick.
00:17:55
Speaker
And then Keely is my boss on the production side, and she's the raddest chip too. If I'm like, hey, I got this thing going on, or I'm going to check out for four or five days, hey, go do your thing. So it's kind of the dream role for me. And then I also get to work at Seattle Academy and just coach the soccer teams there. And Craig Tomlinson, former player of the Sounders for a decade, USL days.
Coaching and Youth Development
00:18:20
Speaker
He's the head coach of both the boys and the girls. And we've made the third place game. We got third place for the girls in the fall. And then we just won a state championship with the boys. So building some cool. Congratulations. Thank you. And yeah, just trying to do what we did as sounders and impart some knowledge on these kids, too. So it's a good gig right now.
00:18:38
Speaker
It does feel like that's sort of what makes the sounders really differentiated from virtually any other North American team, that it's not just the first team, it's not just Seattle Islanders MLS era, but it's like you go anywhere into the soccer space in the greater Puget Sound area and you're going to find former sounders.
00:18:58
Speaker
almost no matter where you look yeah i mean you just look at the head coach of of defiance right now right and he's you know doing a fantastic job in developing what it means to be a sounder and now when these guys uh young kids you know 16 17 years old they already know the expectation of coming into the team because of these legends and greats that have lived and breathed it grant clark's still the administrator vince is still here as an administrator
00:19:22
Speaker
went to the first game in nineteen seventy four i think these guys bleed sounders right you don't see that at other clubs you don't see it in vancouver even which has been around like just as long right and even i don't think in portland with that front office either and so it really is special and adrian is a really smart person when it comes to keeping a culture together
00:19:45
Speaker
Can we do a better job? Absolutely. San Jose has an alumni association where they fly guys out for a special occasion. We don't do that. These are all things that we can still learn from clubs that are trying to build it. I think we've been blessed with just, oh, the community's here. It's great. Let's keep them together. That's not good enough at the end of the day, but resources are resources. And most of it gets poured into the first team and the academy at that point.
00:20:12
Speaker
What have you learned sort of about the, the, the stuff that goes into building a club outside of like, like we said, the, the, what the performance on the first team. Yeah. Well, I think the biggest thing for me is just the sheer size of the club. Um, one of our downfalls and just because we didn't have the space to do it was we were always separated from the front office right there in pioneer square and the sounders are here. So there was this real unspoken division that when you went to an appearance or you went to a club event,
00:20:42
Speaker
You had no idea who anyone was because you get no interaction with them on a daily basis. No one's fault But the
Sounders' Future Challenges
00:20:50
Speaker
priority is is the team right? That's why we sell tickets is to make money so that we can go out and buy players and Corporate sponsors like that's why we sell sponsorships is so we can buy players and have a better product on the field like it all gets funneled there in my opinion and
00:21:06
Speaker
And so really now, just to be in the office on a day-to-day basis, that's a loose term because I started when COVID started. But to see the operations side, it's a machine. And it's been really interesting to see how much the vast majority of the ticket sales corporate sponsors, they love soccer, and they love sounders, and they love working for a sports team.
00:21:33
Speaker
And I think when we get into long acres and you can see them on a day to day basis and have a sit down and say, OK, how can we help you? How can you help us? It's going to elevate the club to the next level, especially when you're selling sponsorships, too. You have these touch points with players. You get to know them on a more personal level. And that's something we haven't had in the past. But the whole.
00:21:56
Speaker
just the way the operation is, is actually mind blowing. And it's been really cool to kind of be a part of in, you know, certain instances. And all that said, the first team performance is still the thing that keeps us paying attention. It keeps us talking that keeps us. What have you made of this season, which started off
00:22:16
Speaker
gangbusters and has sort of hit this weird lull. Yeah, a little bit of a lull. I was just in the locker room right now, and the attitude is positive. I've been in locker rooms many times where you haven't won in a month, month and a half, and it's like everyone wants to kill each other. I don't know what it's like on the field in training, but everyone in the locker room was happy, spirits seemed high, talking with the trainers. They said, no, we're going to be good. I talked to Ebir, and he's like, look, we haven't been able to field a first choice lineup this year.
00:22:46
Speaker
And he said, when we do that, if we can stay healthy and do that, we're a really good team. So it's not lost on these guys that there's been challenges. The team did have a faster start and a bit of a boost because they had the Club World Cup. And I think that they get a little bit felt like a little head start. They entered the season a little bit hotter and a bit more organized than other teams. And that's what set them apart. Now that other teams are getting settled in and how they want to play.
00:23:12
Speaker
Um, you know, the sounders with injuries with absences, have they been getting a little bit unlucky? Yes. But what is it? 10 shutouts, nine shutouts. So half the games have been shutouts with the sounders. If you're saying half the season, we're going to get shutouts and we're still going to be, you know, wondering what's going on with the team.
00:23:32
Speaker
So it certainly isn't defensively, right? It's now putting the ball in the back of the net. It's not effort. Yeah, it is not effort. There's been a couple games where you're like, guys, what are you doing, right? And that's going to happen in a season. We've done that before. We've had to give fans our money back because we played like shit against the Galaxy at home. I get it. They're going to have those in a season. But you can't sit here and say that this team has a poured effort into pretty much every game. So now what you're talking about is just a missing link of finishing your chances.
00:24:02
Speaker
LA game I was there calling it with with Danny, you know a lapse in the first 60 seconds And then you know, we have Leo has what eight nine crosses in that game like in good positions Raul two good chances not great chances. So it's close Yeah, I told Rowley better score and he was like, okay, right and so it's not lost on them like this is this is what what we're doing and I don't
00:24:29
Speaker
Of course, we want to see results. We want to see Niko hold his position more on the right. We want to see Leo get more good quality chances by himself on goal. And we want to see Raul finish. And we want to see Rusnak play key passes in the final third. And right now, it's not happening. But I think it's really close to seeing what this team could potentially be. But is this the last year? I don't know for some of those guys, because
00:24:55
Speaker
It does feel like we're getting close to a transition for sure. And those
Broadcasting Ventures
00:25:00
Speaker
guys have to smell it because you can stay here for as long as you want. Schmetzel will have you here. If you're going to put in the work and you're going to provide, but you're going to need to accept a new role because that's just the way that MLS is going. LAFC is the team now that's buying players.
00:25:19
Speaker
selling them within a year or two. And you just didn't see that in even five, six years ago in Major League Soccer. And that's what this league is becoming. Has it been a strange transition for you to go from being the guy who is being talked about to the guy who has to talk about the other players?
00:25:35
Speaker
No, no, not for me. I don't think I was ever even aware of that. I think my role with the team as I reflect, you know, five years removed is I was just trying to do everything I could for the team. And this league has even changed in five years. When I talked to Roll Dawn, he's like,
00:25:57
Speaker
We'll sit and watch a game together when he had his concussions and he's like, dude, you won't believe like even the level since you've I've left the game has just dramatically increased trainings are harder guys are just fucking better. And we don't really see that on a day to day basis watching this club, but the guys can sense it and feel it in the locker room and the guys that are on the field consistently.
00:26:19
Speaker
And that's why you don't see too many shitty teams in the past couple years. Teams have bad runs, but the quality of players is still there. You don't see a lot of bad rosters, rosters that are just bad. Teams are spending and they're getting good players and then ultimately sometimes down to coaching and if that player is motivated or not.
00:26:40
Speaker
Yeah, no, I've had a really good time talking about the team. Like I said, Schmetz gives me the opportunity to go in there and really get a pulse. I still have relationships with guys and they'll open up. And I'm not here to like spill beans. I want to make sure that sometimes they don't get the opportunity to say what they want to say too.
00:26:59
Speaker
So I know what they're going through. I can see it and sense it by watching it. And so now I get to actually just talk on behalf of the team, because it can all be roses all the time. It has to be criticism, because everyone experiences it, whether it's from a pundit or me. I'd rather hear it from someone like myself, because that's what I did in the locker room, too. I wasn't like, oh, this is great, guys. Most of the time, I was like, get your head out of your ass. Let's go. I'm not good enough. You're not good enough. What are we going to do to fix it?
00:27:29
Speaker
Do you get the sense that there's that leadership in the, in the current locker room? Yeah. And this, you know, I don't want to like be kitschy here, but I read a book recently and it was the David Goggins new book. And that dude's just a, I just thought he was like an Instagram guy. I didn't know his story too much, but I read his book and he's like,
00:27:51
Speaker
this gnarly navy seal dude that went from like a big fat dude and cut and then he got cut and he was a just a seal and a fire jumper all the stuff massive surgeries and in the book and I had criticisms over the guys because I never heard anyone really in the press saying like this isn't good enough like we gotta this guy's not doing right this and during my time I called out guys but I think I was more of a vocal leader on the field and
00:28:13
Speaker
in practice and for me I didn't have that sense. I didn't know if it was Steph or Jordan or Christian or Nico but in that book he was just like sometimes it's the you know the silent motherfucker that does his work and gets the job done and that's the one that people follow and so I think that that's more of the case with this current group is like Nico leads by example you know Raoul when he's scoring leads by example he's not going to be the guy that's like on the field Ra Ra Steph leads by example
00:28:40
Speaker
He's a goalkeeper, right? But he's been here a long time. And he leads by example as being the guy who's been incredibly fit, incredibly durable, and has given everything he has for this club. So my thought has shifted on that, even in the past couple months, and really taking a step back and understanding that people lead in different ways. And that's more of Schmetz's leadership style, too. He's not the guy that's going to give a huge motivational speech before every game.
00:29:07
Speaker
He'll get guys fired up, but he's more lead by example like you're here for a reason I'm giving you the keys to the car so I do think we have it But if we're looking for someone and from an outsider's perspective That's gonna be you know screaming and yelling I think JP is kind of coming into his own in that respect on the field the longer that he's here He's frustrated. You know talking with him right now. He's like Well, what's up, man? He's like we just have to work work work work work, so I
00:29:35
Speaker
They have it. It's just a different leadership than maybe Ozzy. A little different than Clint when he wore the armband, a little different from Gonzo. When he wore the armband, he was the, you know, raw, raw guy that's going to get in everyone's face and it's just different.
00:29:50
Speaker
Do you get the sense that one of the things that Schmester talked about last year was he felt like there needed to be more internal competition for minutes, for spots, for whatever. Do you feel like that's happening this year within the limitation of there being a lot of injuries obviously? I don't know. It's hard because whether you want to go back to my days when I first came in where you had a development team also. So we had like 30 something guys at every practice.
00:30:15
Speaker
And there was competition there. We were all training together and fighting. But some of us knew that we were never going to play, no matter how good we played. And I still think that that's the case with teams. It's really hard to have five, six guys on the bench who are 20 years and younger and expect them to really make meaningful impacts.
00:30:39
Speaker
And none of those guys are attacking players except for Tevez. That's a little bit different than I think other MLS teams. I think other MLS teams have a little bit of a different, and maybe that's just the, like we say, the season that academies go through. Some are going to produce three or four good strikers. Some of them are going to produce a couple number sixes, and we've got what?
00:30:59
Speaker
three or four sixes that can play there. We've got a couple right backs. We don't have that like number nine that has been developed here or a pure out and out winger. Right. Right. And so certainly not a number 10. Right. And so it's just, it's different when you look at, you know, Luna for rail salt Lake, um, you look at, you know, the kid that came on for LAFC, that right winger who's left footed, that's going to take on guys. And he's a big boy, a cow at San Jose.
00:31:23
Speaker
So the Wolf brothers, like, you know, Josh's kids. So I think it's just a different time for the Sounders and that can kind of be constraints on how you make subs and maybe how the course of a season might go.
00:31:38
Speaker
Schmetz is probably thinking, man, if I had two more young attacking players, we might be better off. Then I don't have to feel like I have to trade a guy to open up a roster spot and get allocation money and go find a player overseas is going to take time to develop at mid-season. And is it the right fit? There's a lot that goes into it that I'm learning about now. So I think you have been open about this.
00:32:04
Speaker
You were up for one of the Apple broadcaster spots. You've done some radio this year. Is that part of the game that you want to pursue? And I don't know, what other kind of stuff are you hoping to get? Are you just kind of like sampling everything? Well, yeah, I was sampling everything. So COVID hit, I had signed with Fox to do games. And I took the job with the Sounders at the same time. And they were like, cool, go down, call the game, you'll be ambassador for us, spread the word of the Sounders.
00:32:30
Speaker
COVID hit and they only did locals like Keith and all the guys that lived in LA, so no one could travel. So that kind of got pushed to the wayside. But then I jumped into pre-half time with the guys here. And that was fun for me, the pre and half time. And then radio, I'm not, I don't,
00:32:50
Speaker
I don't know if I'm good at doing in-game, really. I think I'm probably better suited as more of an analyst pre, half time and post. It is really hard to do what those guys do. It takes a lot of reps and consistency. And for me, I've done two games this year because Steve got sick on one for the half. I only did the second half and then at LAFC.
00:33:12
Speaker
Which is great fun. I feel a bit more comfortable talking off the cuff versus maybe watching the game at this point. And that's Steve's job. And so Apple is to the wayside. They needed someone every weekend and I couldn't commit to that. Yeah. So that's not.
00:33:29
Speaker
I really enjoy just talking about the game in a more casual setting and radio for pre half and post is like the most casual as it gets. Yeah, it is an interesting thing. There are definitely a few guys that are doing Apple right now who if you hear them do.
00:33:45
Speaker
non-game calling they're like oh these guys are great right but it's it's a touch you'd see what a different game it is when it's when you're calling it live it is it is really an acquired skill that is all about reps it's not like it's very hard to walk into that and be good at it no it's impossible although
00:34:02
Speaker
Danny Jackson has been pretty spot on for a guy who walked into a play-by-play. That's true. I mean, you're right. No, he has been incredible. Yeah, I would agree with that. The owners are very lucky to have him, obviously, a former player too. I was pretty skeptical about how good he'd be, and he's been much better than I expected. Yeah, I think for him walking into that and from day one, I don't think we could have asked for anyone better for what we need right now.
00:34:29
Speaker
He's been fantastic, and the consummate professional, and even though we're doing radio, he's suited, and you know, it's that guy. He just, that's how he operates. But yeah, it's incredibly difficult. It is a reps-based position, for sure. It's a lot of muscle memory that you don't normally use. It's, can you watch it? The play ends, talk about it, oh, the play's starting again, stop, go back to your point, but also want to, it's tough.
00:34:56
Speaker
No, it is. It's very tough. And radio is its own beast because you're having to paint this picture for your listeners that they don't have the benefit of watching it. Yeah, sometimes it's better when Twelman doesn't talk and those guys, and you just kind of watch the game for even three minutes. Just watch. You can't do that with radio. You have to pretty much talk about every single play. Right. Well, thank you again for doing this, Brad. I'm Jeremiah Shannon. This is No Side of Yet This. And we will catch you next time.
00:36:09
Speaker
Let's win another one!