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The Real Reason Sounders Players Are Furious Right Now - Ep. 105
1.5k Plays6 days ago
A player protest before the Minnesota match has thrown the Seattle Sounders into controversy as tensions over Club World Cup prize money boil over. We break down the drama, review Seattle’s three-game homestand, check in on our latest Agenda items, and preview Sunday’s Cascadia clash against the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Kickoff
00:00:00
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well it's gonna be scorcher.
00:00:21
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers.
Seattle Sounders Controversy: Player Protest
00:00:26
Speaker
We're recording this on Wednesday night ahead of the Seattle Sounders next match at the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday night soccer.
00:00:37
Speaker
But... The Seattle Sounders have also found themselves embroiled in drama and controversy following a player protest before their last match against Minnesota United as the dispute over the Club World Cup prize money rages on.
00:00:52
Speaker
So we're going to be talking about that as well. Noah, how are you feeling? I feel like it's been years since we've been in the studio, Ari, but you know what? I'm ready to rock it. This this is the most drama-filled, heat-filled podcast we have had in a long time, so we should probably just dive into it.
00:01:11
Speaker
Yeah, you know, we actually ah we had the drama section of the season last year with the famous Raul Ruiz Diaz crash out. new who crash who Brian Schmetzer dispute. We thought that was drama, yeah but this is this is drama drama.
00:01:27
Speaker
We're going to be talking about that. We're going to be reviewing Seattle's three game homestand that they just completed against Minnesota. ah We got an agenda check to hit.
Podcast Promotion and Subscriber Appreciation
00:01:36
Speaker
And we're going to preview this match against the Vancouver white caps who have been the best team in MLS all season, ah but just played in the CONCACAF champions final in their like champions cup final in their last match.
00:01:52
Speaker
Didn't go that well. No, did not go that well. Famously did not go as well as it did when the Seattle Sounders played in the CONCACAF champions cup final. ah But yeah,
00:02:03
Speaker
You know, they could be out for revenge. So we're we'll see what happens. We're going to get into all of that ah right now.
Growing Social Media Presence
00:02:09
Speaker
But before we do get into all that, I do have to let you all know that Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network.
00:02:16
Speaker
If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderathart.com slash LS. Noah, what's that link? sounder at heart.com slash L S scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show.
00:02:31
Speaker
Uh, I believe the road to a hundred sounder at heart subs is still ah alive. We're still, we're, we're taking bites of the apple slowly, but surely working our way up to towards triple digits. Do we have any new, uh, sounder at heart subs? We have two.
00:02:46
Speaker
All right. Okay. We take two. Blaze Sinclair and Elizabeth Peters. Thank you for becoming number 91 and 92. We're on the road.
00:02:56
Speaker
Blaze and Elizabeth, thank you so much for the support. We really appreciate it. And thank you to all our Sounder at Heart subs. ah subscribers also now get access to the audio only versions of our live shows, which are a lot of fun, right to your podcast feed.
Inside the Club World Cup Protest
00:03:11
Speaker
So that's a perk and a shout out to our sponsors, Hacks and Ferments, Podium Menswear, Full Pull Wines, My Data Removal, Body Spec, uh,
00:03:21
Speaker
Follow us on all social medias, including our Instagram, which has been kind of popping lately. We're nearing, I think we're at credibility. No, I've set the credibility benchmark in Instagram to 500. We're past that, but now we're on the road to a thousand.
00:03:34
Speaker
Give me one K on Instagram. I'd appreciate that. And also, this is the more exciting one. We are on the road to 2,000 YouTube subscribers. Yeah, we are. We're pretty we're really close. We're get we're closing in So if you're if you're listening to this or watching on YouTube and you haven't subbed to the channel, just just sub to the channel. Just sub to the channel. Push us towards that 2K. That's going to be an exciting milestone for us.
00:03:56
Speaker
ah The grind doesn't stop. The grind doesn't stop. The grind don't stop. grind don't stop. All right, Noah, let's talk about this protest today. ah we talked about it ah We talked about it on the post-game live in the aftermath, and Nico and I talked about it quite extensively on Lobbing Scorchers kickoff.
00:04:15
Speaker
But, you know, Noah, i have a I've been waiting to formulate my full and kind of final take process on this, you know, when it first happened, i didn't want to be reactionary and I didn't want to, uh, uh, get up there and start dishing takes before I felt like I had a ah ah full handle on the situation. And, after giving it some time marinating on it for a few days, i think I'm, I'm ready to dish my, uh, my full take on this protest.
00:04:46
Speaker
Uh, But before ah before we get into it, let's just do a brief nutshell of what happened for anyone who might not be up to speed and just to lay down the context of what's going on. So I'm going to do that real quick first, and we're going dish our takes on where things stand. Does that sound good? I love that. All right.
00:05:06
Speaker
So I'm sure most of you saw it. Everyone across MLS saw it. ah But before this last weekend's match against Minnesota United at Lumen Field, ah the Seattle Sounders took the field for pregame warmups with pretty funny shirts. I'm not going to lie.
00:05:25
Speaker
ah That said Club World Cash Grab on them. ah with a little dollar sign in the word cash. And then it had the Monopoly guy on it and he was wearing an MLS hat and he had like a FIFA logo on his shirt. yeah ah So this is, of course, related to the ongoing dispute that the Seattle Sounders have been, the players have been involved in regarding the prize money for the Club World Cup.
00:05:52
Speaker
Uh, there's a clause in the CBA that caps the amount of money that MLS players can make from any tournament at $1 million dollars to, uh, to divide among themselves. Uh, but the club world cup came along and has way more prize money.
00:06:08
Speaker
It turns out than any tournament, any MLS club has ever played in. Any tournament ever. by any Yeah, any tournament ever. A billion dollars. A billion dollar prize pool by orders of magnitude.
00:06:19
Speaker
Needless to say, um that turned the that changed the financial calculation ah little bit. ah And under that clause, the $1 million, dollars the players divide that all up.
00:06:34
Speaker
Every club in the club world cup gets $9.55 million dollars for participating. So with the rest of that money going to the, uh, to the organization and not the players, you effectively have a 90 10 split on what goes to the team and what the players can divide among themselves.
00:06:54
Speaker
Uh, so the players looked at the 90 10 split and they said, That doesn't seem very equitable. I think that might be a little unfair. ah So they voiced these concerns a couple of weeks ago. Jada Evans in the Seattle Times had a big write up about it.
00:07:09
Speaker
um And ah nothing got done. Apparently there was no movement. ah With the tournament closing in, the Seattle Sounders players chos a chose a bit of a nuclear option. Went out there wearing the shirts, made their ah thoughts on the matter even more clear to try and get a dialogue going.
00:07:28
Speaker
Uh, they spoke after the game about it and expressed that they were frustrated that they couldn't get a dialogue on this topic going and that this was their way of ah making a statement that they are to be taken seriously and not be ignored on this topic.
00:07:43
Speaker
Uh, Adrian Hanauer's Sounders majority owner reportedly did not take too kindly to this. According to multiple sources, as reported by Sounder at heart and Tom Bogert of give me sport.
00:07:54
Speaker
Adrian Hanauer ah gave the team a bit of a verbal lashing in the locker room post game that included some profane language. He wasn't happy. He wasn't happy.
00:08:06
Speaker
ah so it seems as though tensions between the players and and owner are are a little hot right now because of all that.
00:08:17
Speaker
ah But as things stand right now, ah Jeremiah O'Shann of Sounder at Heart had an update today. ah you said there are signs that an offer... ah could arrive as soon as Thursday with indications that the league understands the importance of further incentivizing the players by giving them a percentage of the performance bonuses along with the money they're already guaranteed.
00:08:38
Speaker
So it does sound like as we record this tonight, there has been progress on this front. That's more progress than I've heard about to this point, at least an acknowledgement of the issue and that an offer is supposed to be made.
Fairness and Equity in Prize Money Distribution
00:08:53
Speaker
But Noah, let's just give our thoughts on this whole situation in general. It's ah obviously the biggest story hanging around the club right now. Christian Roldan freely said that this has been a distraction for the players. They want to be focusing on the league games they've been playing. They want to be focusing on this tournament where they're going to be playing the likes of Atletico Madrid, PSG and Botafogo.
00:09:17
Speaker
But that this issue has not allowed them to fully do that and that they they need to get it resolved. So, Noah, I guess, i do do you want to give ah give your take on where things stand or do you want me to go first? Yeah, I can go first. um And I think, too, to add just a ta a tad bit more background in this story that Jeremiah put out today in his training notes.
00:09:41
Speaker
Again, this is the kind of stuff that we only find out this type of information because of Jeremiah and because of Sounder at Heart. So you really should go subscribe at soundertheart.com.
00:09:53
Speaker
Genuinely, does incredible work, helps us do what we do. um But this is another segment from ah his article, which was representatives from both the league and the MLS Players Association confirmed that the two sides have been at least discussing these concerns for months. That's months with an S. So multiple months, this has been a conversation.
00:10:12
Speaker
The MLSPA insists that league negotiators have been promising a final proposal was, quote, imminent for nearly as long. So they have been saying, oh, no, we'll we'll we'll get it sorted out for months.
00:10:23
Speaker
multiple months. um The league apparently felt as though they were still assessing exactly what the players wanted. So on one hand, you have the the the the union trying to get a better deal for their players and the league saying, oh, well, we just don't really know what they want.
00:10:42
Speaker
So is it miscommunication? Is it a bunch of like classic kind of corporate greed? Is it a little bit of both?
00:10:54
Speaker
I think that we are intelligent individuals and we can all pick sides while also understanding ah how this may have come to be, right? So for me, where I see it is like, I think the players are very justified in their frustrations, ah regardless of if the MLSPA accepted a deal or not.
00:11:16
Speaker
And here's why. The players are not always going to get everything that they want in a CBA. And that's just the truth, right? Like you can you can complain and bitch and moan and do whatever you want, but there's a give and take in these negotiations and the PA tries to do the best they can to get the best deal for these players. But...
00:11:38
Speaker
Well, yes, you know, ah when I was talking to Jeremiah um the other day, he was like, you know, it's interesting because um this tournament has been a thought for at least as long as this CBA has been around. Because this wasn't ratified in 2020. This was ratified like 13 or 14 months ago.
00:11:59
Speaker
So while it was created then, it was finalized not that not as long ago as we may have thought, right? I just think there's so many layers to this, but at the end of the day, I feel for the players.
00:12:13
Speaker
I think the Players Association could not have imagined that there would be a billion-dollar prize pool, and they probably negotiated ah on this without the knowledge that that was going to even be in existence.
00:12:27
Speaker
um And then for the league, I can understand that they're like, yeah, I would like to keep all of the money, or the code that the the teams being like, we would like to keep more money.
00:12:38
Speaker
ah So I think if this does progress with a incentive to give them performance bonuses, I think that's great.
00:12:49
Speaker
But I also do think that they should probably be making more just baseline considering this group of players earned the right to be here. This isn't like Inter-Miami or LAFC. I mean, you can argue with LAFC. They earned it. But this team...
00:13:06
Speaker
Earned this and 50% of the players. I feel like that were on that CCL winning team are here. They're playing on this team still. And so they, those specific players earned their spot to be here.
00:13:20
Speaker
And I think that they should be getting a way bigger slice of the pie, regardless of what their contract says. um And I think that Adrian should be incredibly embarrassed at the way that he acted.
00:13:32
Speaker
i think it was, emotional and childish. And I understand that, you know, people can get frustrated, especially when they're really passionate about something. That's literally our entire show.
00:13:45
Speaker
That's literally our entire show. But when you are having the same demeanor as some social media guys, that's a problem. You're running a multi-billion dollar business.
00:13:56
Speaker
Okay. Multi-million dollar business. i don't know what the sounders are worth, but getting close to that, Yeah, I think that's like 700 million. Yeah, like you cannot have the temperament of someone like that. I'm sorry, that's unacceptable.
00:14:10
Speaker
And I think that there has already been concerns about Adrian's leadership in the majority owner role. Maybe people would say, you know, he's cheap and all this and that.
00:14:21
Speaker
I'm taking that aside. I'm just talking specifically about leadership, okay? There's been questions about that. This is a big time for this club. You're moving into modern football even more and more every single year. and MLS gets better and better.
00:14:34
Speaker
I think that looks really bad on him going forward. So boiling all of that down, I feel like... This just sucks on all fronts. And i don't think that and I don't know what happened, but clearly the negotiations that went on for months werere were bad.
00:14:54
Speaker
And I think the more information we get about that will help us get a little bit more in the weeds with that. But I just feel bad for the players. I don't really give a shit about the riffraff and all of the other stuff.
00:15:05
Speaker
These players deserve to be paid and compensated for playing these matches, and they shouldn't have to get to the point where they feel that they have to individually take on the responsibility of wearing these shirts and then getting yelled at. It just, I mean...
00:15:24
Speaker
If I was berated at work like that, regardless of how much I made by my owner because I was asking for a little bit more money, I mean, I would quit.
00:15:35
Speaker
I would quit my job. And so I don't understand why that kind of abuse from an owner is okay in this context when it would not fly in any other job context.
00:15:48
Speaker
All right. That was very scatterbrained, but I think the whole thing is very scatterbrained. All right. All right. Now I need Ari's tissue. He's going to go. i think these players should shut up, kick the ball.
00:15:59
Speaker
ah this is All right. all All right. Here's where I stand on this. there are I think there are two ways there are two lenses through which to look at this situation.
00:16:13
Speaker
There's the basic fairness and equity lens, and then there is like the technical legal lens. Yeah. if we're talking about purely the, uh, fairness and equity lens, uh, I don't see any other conclusion other than that. The players are in the right on that.
00:16:35
Speaker
And I don't even think that that's up for debate when you're talking about 90, 10, that's crazy. What are we talking about?
00:16:47
Speaker
Like there's, there's no situation where 90, 10, 10, 10, ninety ten makes sense, especially in a situation like this, where we're talking about the, uh, the players are the ones who are actually playing the game. They're the reason that, uh, that this club is in the club world cup. Well, I heard that Adrian wasn't signing you 22 because he wanted to put himself on that slot. The 90, 10, the 90, 10 split is fun to fundamentally doesn't make sense.
00:17:18
Speaker
I think Stefan Fry talked about that after the game and he was pointing out that say they did make a deep run into the tournament and the prize money gets greater and greater and greater to an almost staggering amount.
00:17:32
Speaker
7 million if they advance. Yeah, and they would still be capped at the $1 million dollars to divide among themselves, no matter how far they made it in the tournament. I don't think anyone would argue that that makes sense at all.
00:17:46
Speaker
I don't think you can argue that that makes sense at all. The counter-argument, to the extent I understand it is... ah is that the PA negotiated this in the in the CBA.
00:18:02
Speaker
And so it's effectively, even if they didn't ah expect this tournament or whatever the rationale might be may might be, it's a bed that they made by making a bad deal. And that ah whether the players like it or not, they are beholden to that ah on a legal front, which I understand that.
00:18:22
Speaker
That's true. Legally, on the technicality of it, they don't have leverage to ask for a bigger share of the money. But to me, it's actually a situation that has a relatively simple solution, which is that, i mean, if you just look at it from a common sense perspective, everyone agrees, i think, that ninety ten isn't a fair split in this situation.
00:18:49
Speaker
So to me, even if you have... a technicality
Comparison to Corporate Labor Disputes
00:18:54
Speaker
in the CBA that, uh, that stipulates that the $1 million cap goes through all tournaments based on the circumstances,
00:19:05
Speaker
why can't you, uh, why can't you just renegotiate that to make it more fair? Uh, we got a, we got a, uh, YouTube comment that I thought, uh, it's kind of sized up a lot of the counter arguments that, uh, that we've been getting. So I want to do, I wanted to read it and then, uh,
00:19:26
Speaker
just ah just address what I think is wrong with it, which, okay, so I'm going to read this comment from someone that said, seems to me, unfortunately, the players signed a contract with a crappy clause.
00:19:36
Speaker
You don't get to demand the other party come to the table to renegotiate an executed contract just because you now decide it doesn't favor your needs. All right. can i Can I ask a serious question though? Can ask a serious question? yeah Why?
00:19:50
Speaker
Why? Like, why can't you why can't you go back, realize that the initial agreement doesn't make sense as it pertains to unforeseen circumstances, and then just, like, change it based on that? there's no there's no There's no inherent reason why they can't just do that.
00:20:11
Speaker
Other than that, and and if you're arguing against that, you're arguing on the legal technicality, which is just ah capping for the corporate oligarchy.
00:20:22
Speaker
If you buy a house and it's under contract and you find some something that wasn't disclosed or something new happens or there's there's some sort of issue during that period, guess what?
00:20:35
Speaker
you can You can change that. Things can be changed. Things can move around when new information comes to light. Yeah. And that's the thing. No one... i'm Anyone who...
00:20:47
Speaker
Anyone who truly believes that either of these parties ah or specifically Major League Soccer PA could have had any insight into what the Club World Cup prize pool was, I'd love to see that because there's no shot that anyone had any idea when this was originally being negotiated what this prize pool was going to be. We didn't even know what the clubs were going to take home until like a month ago.
00:21:15
Speaker
we There was speculation of the Sounders are getting $50 billion. dollars The Sounders are getting $100 million. dollars And then guess what? They got 9.55. I i don't really understand how any of that could have been foreseen.
00:21:31
Speaker
And so at that point, sure, absolutely, right? Like if if it's X's and O's, they don't have any leverage other than they do have leverage because they could just say, fuck you, we're not playing. Will they do that?
00:21:43
Speaker
Probably not. Well, okay. So that ah that goes to, ah then I think, the next interesting question, because what I think is so interesting about this situation, Noah, is that the ah the issue of a corporation...
00:21:59
Speaker
like this being structured in such a way that ah the executives at the top, the the CEOs, the VPs, the owners, whatever the case may be, they ah they get pretty much all the money, the lion's share of the money.
00:22:17
Speaker
And then the people who are doing the actual work
Public Perception and Pressure Tactics
00:22:20
Speaker
get paid barely anything and they do all the work that gets those people paid all this money.
00:22:27
Speaker
That's nothing new. That's every corporation and there's been labor disputes. That's what I do to Ari. There's been labor disputes ah in all kinds of companies throughout history. It happens all the time. But the thing is, and I've experienced this myself, when you're the worker in that situation for a big corporation like that,
00:22:47
Speaker
and you ask for raises or you point out that you're being paid unfairly, you get ignored. yeah Just like they were trying to ignore the the Sounders players.
00:22:58
Speaker
they The executives and the corporate fat cats, they they don't give a shit if you think that ah what you're getting is unfair for the labor that... ah you're putting in. All they care about is their own bottom line and they're going to try and maximize that as much as possible. And the actual worker has pretty much no leverage. If they go and they say this is unfair and if ah if you don't give me a raise, I'm going to quit. You know what they say? All right, go ahead and quit. like We'll find someone else who will fill that job. like We don't care. You have no leverage. We're going to just pay you what we pay you.
00:23:33
Speaker
And like, if you think it's unfair, then get wrecked, buddy. That's basically how these things usually work. But what I think is interesting about this is like, when you're a professional athlete, I think that the calculation changes a little bit.
00:23:51
Speaker
You actually do have leverage. You have the fact that you're the ones who are playing the games. And if you don't do that, there's no money for the executives. And then you also have the leverage that public opinion, when it comes to a who a fan base is going to side with in a dispute between and act between the athletes and the owner, they're going to side with the athletes.
00:24:15
Speaker
No one gives a fuck about Adrian Hanauer. Or any owner. not even just about Hanauer. People famously boo commissioners and owners and shit. That's like the whole that's like a bit.
00:24:26
Speaker
And so I think... ah What the Sounders players clearly realized in this situation is that we're getting we're getting screwed here. We're voicing our displeasure about it, but clearly it's not getting taken seriously, and they're just they're just going to ignore us, and we're going to end up getting ah paid way but beneath the amount that is like the global standard for a tournament like this, and ah and they're not going to do anything to change it.
00:24:58
Speaker
Well, guess what? we actually We actually do have leverage here. We actually have ground to stand on. We're going to go out there in our Monopoly guy shirts and we're going to make that statement that we are to be taken seriously on this.
00:25:15
Speaker
And then if it's still not taken seriously past that, I guess we'll see what happens. But you're not going to just ignore us. You're not going to just say you're going to take your pennies on the dollar and be happy with it.
00:25:29
Speaker
We're, we're gonna, we're gonna make sure that we negotiate on this and that this is dealt dealt with and this is taken care of. So I actually think the way that they, uh, realize that they had that leverage and are now using it to, uh,
00:25:47
Speaker
to try and get an outcome that is, i think we all agree would be more fair than 90 10 split, which the more I say that, the more I'm just like, it's crazy. don't even know what we're talking about.
00:25:58
Speaker
Um, I think, I think there, why don't, why doesn't Adrian come out and say what he's going to do with that 90%. Why don't they come out and say, listen, we understand where the players are. This is totally understandable. This is exactly how we're going to use that 90% to benefit not only the players, but the club and and club of the future.
00:26:17
Speaker
The PR has been a fucking nightmare, Ari. Like, even if you just look at it from that perspective, what do you think is going to happen when you have your players wearing these shirts and then you go berate them in the locker room? You don't think that's going to come out?
00:26:31
Speaker
You don't think that's going to come out? That's going to come out every single time, 100% of the time. it's It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. I think, though, that...
00:26:42
Speaker
that like it shouldn't, it it doesn't even necessarily have to be on the on the club to give the players like a larger percentage of the 9.55
Creative Compensation Solutions
00:26:52
Speaker
million. That's what they should do in that situation because that's all the money they're getting. I think FIFA should just, FIFA has more money than like any corporation on earth, practically. Why don't they just give more money? that yeah Okay, so like what's the problem? the problem the well Because FIFA is allowing whatever the clubs to...
00:27:15
Speaker
decide how that gets dispersed. So like for real Madrid, if they win the tournament, every player gets a million dollars. If they win the tournament, every player gets a million dollars. That's what they decided. And then there's a base level payment that they're making to every single player because all of their players, you know, have game checks as well and and all of that.
00:27:32
Speaker
But because major league soccer has this collective bargaining agreement, uh, they're like, no, this is what you're abiding by, which I also think is insane. Like,
00:27:47
Speaker
there's There's just... There's got to be a way to get around it. And it's like... So that's where I say, yes, absolutely, the league is, like, shitty for. But I'm going to be honest with you.
00:27:57
Speaker
If, again, people brought this up in our post-game live, they could create a trust for every single player and over 10 years pay them out more money. There's infinite ways that you could give the give these players this money legally within within salary cap rules, within all of that,
00:28:15
Speaker
to find a way to to get them more money. But it's the club at the end of the day that has no interest in siding with their players. That's my problem.
00:28:26
Speaker
I knew and MLS was greedy. We've always known that. They're anti-union. They always have been. They tried to shut down the referees' union. They've tried to shut down the players' union at times. They do not want to share their money.
00:28:38
Speaker
that's That's the whole point of them. That's the whole point of that building. And they got a building in New York. you know They're like, ah We're big guys, you know? Yeah. And that's why that is. It doesn't shock me because that's just ah that's how every corporation works. Right. And they don't ah they don't really care about fairness as it relates to, like I said, the people who are actually doing and doing the work and not just like sitting in their offices doing things.
00:29:08
Speaker
Who even knows what? Jack shit. They're not doing shit. They're doing jack shit. Probably nothing and just getting paid boatloads of money for it. so That's why I'm mad at the Sounders more, though, because it's like you as an organization chose to react in the way that you did Knowing full well... Because I'm sorry, the fact that Adrian's pretending that he had no clue that this was going on is fucking bullshit. Yeah, so wait, okay, let's let's talk about that because... That's that bullshit. He, like, apparently, ah part of what he was admonishing the players for was that he felt like they didn't communicate enough with him. They felt like... He felt like they didn't come to him with the concerns before they went to the protest.
00:29:53
Speaker
ah I mean... I don't really know what we're talking about with that because Albert Rusnak brought this up at practice like a month ago. it's And then it's been reported the Seattle Times. So even if they didn't come to him directly, Christian Roldan even said at practice today, perhaps, you know, we could have been more communicative in that regard.
00:30:11
Speaker
But the like the the this issue has been out there. You don't tell your boss about a protest against your boss. He was saying that they should have come to him with the issue of the equity and payment more so than they did. They've been working on it for multiple months. If the PA and MLS both acknowledge that they have been working on a deal for multiple months, there is no way that the majority owner of one of the largest teams and a team involved in this would have no fucking clue what's going on. That's bullshit. That is bullshit. He is lying.
00:30:44
Speaker
He's lying. There's no way. i don' I think it might be a little more gray area than that because, like I said, Christian even acknowledged that today. He said, like, when he was asked about that, he but he thought about it and he was like, I mean, yeah, maybe we could have handled that slightly differently.
00:31:01
Speaker
But then he did also point out what I just pointed out, which is that, like, we've been talking about this for a while. Yeah, it's not... The idea that it's an issue that would have, like, blindsided Hanauer, mean... i what What more could an owner of a soccer team need to focus on than legitimately a payment grievance about the biggest tournament that he's ever going to play in?
00:31:23
Speaker
Would that not be something that you would think that would be tuned in? Like either you are inept at your job and the people around you don't know what they're doing to tell you that.
00:31:35
Speaker
And I, and I, and I don't want to believe that because I know that there are ton of really talented people working at the Sounders. Well, and there's not their track record doesn't suggest ineptitude. That is. Yeah. and And I think that's all talking about track record, too. This doesn't feel like my club.
00:31:53
Speaker
This doesn't feel like the club that I grew up with, where players were loved this place and wanted to play here and would take pay cuts to play here because they understood that, yes, well, maybe finances were tight. They would be treated with respect and they would be they would be they would be honored in that way.
00:32:12
Speaker
and This is, this is, I mean, this is just, why would any, if I'm, if I'm, here's my thing too. If I'm Ryan Kent and I just saw this whole shit show go down, I'm out, dude.
00:32:23
Speaker
I'm out at the end of my contract. Why the fuck would I want to be talked to like that by some fucking frame salesman? By some fucking frame salesman? You kidding me? That dude doesn't know how to do a fucking Rabona.
00:32:36
Speaker
That dude doesn't know how to do a whatever. Like, he can't dribble a defender. Like, like, dude, don't don ah talk to me like I'm a child. Don't yell at me. I'm serious. If my boss came into a meeting like that, I'm getting fired.
00:32:49
Speaker
I'm getting fired. I'm getting fired. Well, it's different than like a normal It's not though. It's not. It's not. It is not. Yeah, it yet is. It's not. Being a professional.
00:33:01
Speaker
Well, okay. Like it's not in the terms of like how you should treat people on an interpersonal level. It's not different from that respect, but it is different from the perspective of like when you're on a team, a professional sports team, ah like quitting over your,
00:33:18
Speaker
over
Conclusion on the Protest Discussion
00:33:19
Speaker
your boss yelling at you, like, that's not... you're not good like Athletes just aren't don't do that. They're not going to quit on the team over a labor dispute. He got pushed off because he had disputes with the coach and then eventually left the team.
00:33:35
Speaker
Yeah, but like... Like, do you really think anyone in that locker room would ever stand up and be like, I quit because of that? I'm not saying that, but I'm saying that when, when it comes up to renew your contract, you're going to remember that. That's a different question. Sure. But it's like, there's that, that, that that's, that is dumb. That's stupid business. And, and, and honestly, like if it was like an Amazon warehouse and a bunch of people came into work wearing a t-shirt that said like, pay us better.
00:34:06
Speaker
ah We don't want to pee in bottles anymore. And the a Jeff Bezos came down and looked at all of those people in the eyes and said, I fucking hate you. Why the fuck would you wear a t-shirt? You're a piece of shit. You're so disrespectful to this to this organization. You'd be like, dude, what the fuck?
00:34:23
Speaker
Like, I make one one hundredth of you. Because the truth is, Ari... Yes, some of these players are incredibly wealthy. Some of these players have made good money in their career. Some absolutely have not.
00:34:34
Speaker
But the reality is none of them, none of them will ever touch the wealth of what Adrian Hanauer has. And so for them to be doing all of that, making him a shit ton of money and then him coming in and acting like a fucking child, it it makes me so angry. It makes me so, so angry.
00:34:55
Speaker
It just makes me angry. The Hanauer crash out, I guess I'm not as ah as passionate about that as as you. I think it's... I just think it's funny when members of the corporate oligarchy act like aggrieved and shocked that their workers like want to be paid commiserately for the labor that they're putting in. i just... It doesn't surprise me that he... ah that he flew off the handle a little bit, like just based on what I know about how like executives and CEOs are wired. Uh, it doesn't surprise me, but like I said, ah I don't, I don't understand where the shock is coming from that the, uh, the players would be upset about enough about this to, uh, to protest it publicly. Like they did. It's a 90, 10 split.
00:35:48
Speaker
It's 90, 10. Like, like there's just There's just no way that, like that, the 90-10 split got caused by something that, yes, it is a it is was technically agreed upon in the CBA. I get that. So you don't even need to to point that out.
00:36:06
Speaker
But it's created a situation that any objective outside observer can see is blatantly unfair. ah Christian was asked at practice as well, like, well, what is it exactly that you guys are,
00:36:19
Speaker
looking for. And it felt like whoever the reporter was, and didn't recognize the voice. It felt like he, uh, was almost asking Christian that to try and trip him up. Like, okay, so didn't sound like that? He's like, yeah. So what is it?
00:36:34
Speaker
What is it that you're, uh, that you're looking for exactly. Like what is, it and Christian was like, we've looked at what the normal like rates and numbers are for tournaments like this globally around the world, the standard, I think. yeah We looked at what the what the normal standard is around the world and we compared it and we just want the normal standard.
00:36:54
Speaker
yeah That's it. That like, what doesn't make sense about that? Like, honestly, like I'm trying to. Nothing, it doesn't. and And if you're even looking at the CBA itself,
00:37:05
Speaker
and MLS clearly agrees that 50% of a prize pool is a fair and equitable measure to give to players because it's 50% of a tournament prize pot up to a million dollars.
00:37:19
Speaker
So they truly do believe that, okay, if you win a tournament, you you you should totally be able to give the players 50% of the prize pot. But they put that million dollar stipulation in there.
00:37:30
Speaker
But there's never been a tournament where they've played in i think I think if you win Champions Cup, I think you get like $4 million, dollars right? So that would be 25%.
00:37:41
Speaker
You would get 25%-ish, right? So even then, that's still an insanely better deal. And it's it's so clear to me that they know that because it's in the CBA. 50% $1 So give them 50%.
00:37:56
Speaker
up to a million dollars so give them fifty up to like $5 million or like four million, give them $4 million. I don't know what the standard is exactly that Christian was referring to, but I think it makes sense to just give them that or in the ballpark of that. And they probably will be perfectly happy.
00:38:16
Speaker
It's one of those situations where, and then we and we can, uh, we can wrap it up and move on. But, It's one of those situations that seems like super complicated, but I feel like when you actually just break it down, it's really not that complicated.
00:38:31
Speaker
You have a situation where the the CBA, as it was agreed upon, created an unfair split based on ah ah tournament with a record-breaking, unanticipated, unprecedented unprecedented amount of prize money.
Advertisements and Sponsor Messages
00:38:48
Speaker
And so whatever whatever you need to do to just address that, if it's ratifying the CBA or if it's just the funds like you were talking about, whatever it is, but just whatever you do rectify that so that ah the players are getting paid a fair amount, like reflective of the...
00:39:11
Speaker
normal global standard for a tournament like this. Just do what you have to do to get them that amount of money and call it a day. You should, you don't need like a long drawn out, ugly, i like brutal negotiation like this.
00:39:29
Speaker
Like it's, it's pretty clear cut in my opinion. And, ah I hope, uh, I hope they get all of what they're, what they're asking for. like I think, and and I wouldn't, I'm not, I don't just feel this way about, uh, about the Sounders players, but any, uh, I hope they get like, I hope they, they get it for, uh,
00:39:52
Speaker
any labor dispute out there where pretty much workers get screwed on this stuff all the time, every single day in all kinds of, uh, companies. It was funny though. Like, like like I hope that, uh, I hope that in a situation where they realize they actually do have the, uh, the leverage to get a fair outcome.
00:40:12
Speaker
Like I'm glad that they're using it and I hope they get the outcome that, uh, that is merited and that is fair. It was funny, some of the like 40k a year like solar salesman guys on Twitter were like, dude, like just like you, that's just what you get, bro. Like don't agree to something shitty. It's like, why are you, why are you, why are you like standing in front of a water hose for this dude who's worth so so multiple millions of dollars or a league that's worth billions of dollars? like what do what do
00:40:43
Speaker
Why are you doing that? if you're Why are you doing that If your argument, ah like this is the last thing I'll say, is that if your argument, like your counter-argument is hedged on the technicality of the CBA, I think that's lame as hell. yeah and It's important to understand it, yeah but if that's your take... It's just not like ah a lot of people have been using that as like supposed slam dunk argument. it's not ah It's not a good argument. It's not. Like the legal technicality, it it is true, but it's not a good argument when we're talking about, like I said, equity basic fairness and equity. Like yeah that's ah that's what it's really about.
00:41:20
Speaker
Yeah. Plus the shirts were sick as fuck. So they were pretty funny. They were cool. They were funny. They were well-made. So I do have one. I do have one question before yeah we leave the club world cup topic as a whole. You know what? Actually, I'm going to save it for the bonus episode because I think we could go a little bit on this, but I'm going to share it with you guys. So if you want to become a YouTube member, you can watch us talk about this topic.
00:41:45
Speaker
Ari in general, This has been kind of a shit show of a Club World Cup. It hasn't even started. And it hasn't even started. We can pontificate more on how we think it's going to go, what the crowds are going to look like, and how this all is going to... When the dust settles, we're going to look back on this. We'll talk about that in the post-game bonus episode.
00:42:08
Speaker
Post-game. Yeah, post-game. we're This is a game right now. We're playing a game, but... hit join, uh, down below to become a YouTube member or the first link in our description helps support. You get cool emotes, all that fun stuff. So, all right, we're going to take an break and then we're going to come back and, uh, review Seattle's three game homestand.
00:42:29
Speaker
We'll be right back. This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based cellar. Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans.
00:42:41
Speaker
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00:43:04
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Review of Seattle's Recent Homestand
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Speaker
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00:45:30
Speaker
Welcome back. if we If you skip the ads, we know you skip the ads. Don't skip the ads. it's It's hot outside, Ari. I know that people are leaving their windows open right now.
00:45:41
Speaker
Just be careful because if I watch you skip your ads, I'm crawling in. I'm crawling in, all right? ah All right. Noah, do you want to talk about some actual ah soccer? I mean, yeah, we can do that. That's cool. Yeah, why not? So the way I figured, ah like, we we can't really do, like, a conventional game review because we we got behind it's been a it's been a minute since we've, like, laid down one of these formal podcasts. Yeah.
00:46:04
Speaker
So we've had, we've got a full three game homestand to review. And I figure we can kind of just give our takes on the homestand as a whole. And if there was anything that happened within, uh, within the specific games, we can talk about that as well.
00:46:19
Speaker
Uh, but, uh, Let's talk about this. It was a one, zero, a two, zero and one homestand for the Seattle Sounders to one, zero wins. Uh, one starting with one, zero over FC Dallas, then a one, zero over San Diego FC.
00:46:34
Speaker
Uh, and then with a chance to make it a three, Oh no against Minnesota United, one of the top teams in the West, the Sounders took an L in their last game, three to two at Lumen field. So again, a two, Oh, and two, Oh, and one homestand, uh,
00:46:52
Speaker
No, I guess here you can start it off. Like how did this homestand end up going relative to how you thought or hoped it would go before they jumped into it? I mean, I would have hoped for nine points, but that said, um, I think I was going to be happy with, with six or seven.
00:47:11
Speaker
I was hoping for a minimum of, of seven, but I think that six is arguably a pretty good result. I think, That's probably what I would have thought going into this.
00:47:22
Speaker
Yeah, I was hoping... I said 2-0-1. I meant 2-1-0. Yeah, I know. yeah yeah So i was I was hoping for a ah ah two o and one ah assuming that the 3-0-0 is off the table. Obviously, like you want to get the 3-0-0, but with the knowledge that ah that's not necessarily the most likely outcome, I was hoping for the 2-0-1.
00:47:45
Speaker
They get the 2-1-0, and think... want to know and i think i I think I want to give them credit for getting the two one zeros. The one over FC Dallas was we called it an ugly win. And I think that was accurate, but I didn't mind seeing an ugly win. I think MLS as much as any league, you have to be able to get ugly wins. So I was actually actively encouraged that.
00:48:10
Speaker
to see them, uh, win a game in that manner, given where they were at with personnel and all the guys that they had missing. There's been a lot more, there's been more injuries lately. Kim Ki, he is now out as well.
00:48:24
Speaker
Uh, John Bell and Stu Hawks have been getting a lot of run uh, at CB, which it's been great to see Stu Hawks finally getting in there, holding his own in MLS. Uh, but I really liked the, uh, the one zero over San Diego FC for a couple of reasons, Noah.
00:48:40
Speaker
Uh, number one, San Diego FC has been one of the best teams in the league. And I think that we saw that in that game. Yeah. They, uh, Mikey virus has got it going on with that team. That was a really impressive road performance by them. And i think it's fair to say that they outplayed Seattle on the whole in that game.
00:49:02
Speaker
But again, it's similar to the Dallas game. Like you have to be able to win games where you get outplayed sometimes. And when you're playing the elite teams in this league, sometimes you're not necessarily going to outplay them. And there's going to be stretches of the game where you're under pressure. Or in this case, ah San Diego FC was so good in possession that Seattle had a a hard time just like keeping the ball for sustained periods of times and getting like good fluid attacks together.
00:49:31
Speaker
That all was true in this game. And San Diego FC played really well and put on about as good a road performance as you can for a visiting team at Lumen Field and Seattle still won the game.
00:49:42
Speaker
So I think that in itself was encouraging. And then also ah the Jesus Ferreira game winner in the San Diego game, was, uh, was great to see. We'll talk about it in, uh, agenda check, but Jesus Ferreira has got his first Seattle Sounders goal.
00:49:59
Speaker
He missed the Minnesota game because, uh, he's having a baby. Congratulations to him on that. Uh, but he got the start at the nine against San Diego and got the game winning goal. That was a really nice goal, uh, with a Paul Rothrock assist.
00:50:14
Speaker
So as God intended. Yeah, I think these ah these first two games were again like the FC Dallas one wasn't super pretty and the the San Diego FC one was ah as a hard fought competitive game.
00:50:26
Speaker
But I was not super pressed about the fact that they didn't win those more convincingly, like considering the ah the injury situation. And then with San Diego, the level of competition was very high and and you still got
Analyzing Sounders' Performance and Injuries
00:50:42
Speaker
that win.
00:50:42
Speaker
ah But it did end in disappointment with this 3-2 loss against the Loons. So I guess we can talk about what went wrong there, which we we did on the ah on the post-game coverage and all that.
00:50:56
Speaker
ah But to me, that game was just, that was on the defense. yeah there were the All of Minnesota's goals came on defensive breakdowns that really, like the the type of which you can't really have and expect to beat a good team like that. And again, like they played two of the best taught like the top two teams, two of the top teams in the West, these last two games. So it was a good measuring stick type of a type of stretch for them.
00:51:25
Speaker
And they passed one test against San Diego. Uh, but the loons game, it got away from them defensively. I thought they played, I thought they played well enough in attack to not lose that game. yeah like ah sometimes, i don't know, sometimes the talking points, I'm not, I just am not sure that I follow them.
00:51:44
Speaker
A lot of, a lot of people were talking about how like, you know, boring and awful and like the 2024 Sounders that that Minnesota game looked.
00:51:56
Speaker
I mean, they, they scored two goals in the game. Maybe, maybe it's like, it was an own goal. but Okay. That's probably why one of them doesn't count because it was an own goal. But to me, that attacking performance, it wasn't like,
00:52:10
Speaker
as electric as you would like to see in a, in a home game. But, um, when you're playing a team like Minnesota United, they're not always going to let you do that. They're very well organized, like good defensive team.
00:52:21
Speaker
Uh, so I thought the disappointing thing about that game was the, was the defensive breakdowns. I mean, I know you've got a lot of center back injuries, uh, but, The penalty that they gave away and in that game, I didn't think needed to happen. And then I thought that was silly and that was really bad. And I thought the killer in that game was conceding the third after the KKR goal, cut it to two one after the kkr goal.
00:52:46
Speaker
I was feeling like, I mean, and there's so much time in the press box. Like, dude, there's time. where This is, yeah, this is, this is, they needed that. And, uh, now it's, now it's anyone's game again.
00:52:57
Speaker
And they conceded the third on another defensive breakdown. So really like, I think that was the most disappointing thing for me closing out and that homestand. But I guess if there's a, uh,
00:53:12
Speaker
reason for hope on that front. I do think it was the type of stuff that's theoretically like correctable, right? You don't. And for me, this team is, they're pretty reliable defensively for the most part. Although this season has been a little more hit or miss on that side of the ball. So that is The number one thing at least I want to see in this Whitecaps game is getting that short up and and not seeing breakdowns like that.
00:53:40
Speaker
i And then hopefully getting Ryan Kent back going. Yeah. And ah hopefully having ah Pedro De La Vega build off what I think was a good game against Minnesota.
00:53:51
Speaker
He got that. He got them on the stat sheet with that nice assist to KKR. kkr That was a great, that was a great like dual, like both of them combining on that play was so nice. Yeah. And KKR was another bright spot in that game.
00:54:06
Speaker
So I think there were some positives from the Minnesota game, even despite the L, but that was, that was a, a bit of a vibe detractor to end the end of the homestand. Mm-hmm.
00:54:20
Speaker
Yeah, i I don't know. This was a long stretch of games with like very different outcomes, I think, on on each game. like I think that i think they just fell the wheels kind of fell off on the Minnesota game defensively, but that's that's almost predictable considering what the personnel was down to. I don't think Jackson Reagan played well.
00:54:46
Speaker
I don't understand. It was his first. game back. Yeah. Like, but I understand the, the, the, you've got to put him in the game. You have to get him healthy again. You have to get him more reps in minutes. So it's like, what are you going to do? And you have Kim Ki-hee injured as well. right it's like you're a, you're, you're a little bit under it in that situation.
00:55:03
Speaker
ah But yeah, I mean, I didn't think he was at his sharpest in his first game back. They were also doing the kind of weird thing where he was, to if didn't it feel like he was playing like right back a lot?
00:55:16
Speaker
I thought that that was so dumb, like weird and dumb. He was playing like a wingback. I think there there was some intent behind that. I think that Brian said that they like put him there for some reason, but I don't remember Yeah, there was some reason behind it. It led to a couple of kind of comedic sequences oh my god where he was like ah like attacking from out wide like he was Alex Roldan or Pedro de la Vega something. It was a good bit.
00:55:43
Speaker
Just Jackson Reagan, all six foot six of them, lumbering into the primary system. Well, that was part of it. is like he He turned over the ball to the loons on one of those attacks, and then they built up that counterattack out of it.
00:55:57
Speaker
And the Sounders were already stretched in the back because of that. And so I think maybe I'm completely misremembering this because this game was a total shit show from me being like dealing with all of the...
00:56:09
Speaker
protest stuff. But I was like, what the, what the hell? Like that was, that was, that was kind of weird. Not sure. I want to see that again, but I guess it was, it was good to get Jackson Reagan back, especially ah with the timing with the Kim Ki-Hee injury. Yeah. Mar is still a little ways out, but good news.
00:56:30
Speaker
Jordan Morris, full practice participant. Jordan Morris, full practice participant. Schmetz said that he is theoretically in line to at least I think feature some against Vancouver, right? With the idea. Please don't play him. I'm scared.
00:56:44
Speaker
I mean, what? like You can't not like never play him again. No, I know. Just like, you know, I don't know. Just like a little 60 minute or like just like a little 20. You want to give him 20? Yeah, give him 20.
00:56:57
Speaker
Give him the day row. Give him the day row. Give him seven. I don't know. I don't want him to get hurt again. Yeah, but I mean, like him playing the sport again,
Individual Player Highlights
00:57:08
Speaker
inherently, there's a chance. Yeah, you're you're right. You're right. We'll see. I hope he gets ah as much. it is I understand where you're coming from from the standpoint of like last time they brought him back. He was just chargeing random he was just charging super hard and then immediately yanked his hammy again.
00:57:25
Speaker
Hopefully this time they've established the timetable as such. So that's not as much of a risk at at ah happening again. You can pull your hamstring playing soccer at any time. Ari, in fact, you know, it does happen. It does happens to the best of them. It does happen.
00:57:40
Speaker
But ah I'm hoping that he's like, you know, 60 fit for this game. But if it's more like, uh, uh, do we know what Moose's status is? i think he's good.
00:57:51
Speaker
Moose is good. So I would, I would hope my hope I think would be that they start moves for this game and then give Jordan the last 30, 35, whatever, however fit that they think he is. But it's just good that he is, uh, he's ready to start playing again and that you don't want to see you should be able to feature at the club world cup.
00:58:11
Speaker
I actually, let's, all right, that's a good segue. Let's, let's ah get into the agenda check. Talk some Jesus Ferreira. All right.
00:58:22
Speaker
Well, okay. The first agenda I have written down here is the club world cash grab agenda strengthened. Yeah. Yeah. That's the club world. Cash grab has been a, uh, an agenda before the Sounders protest. Uh, I love that they took the bit and ran with it. they Like that's like actually, they went out there and they did a bit, they did a bit.
00:58:44
Speaker
There was also, I got a lot of attention. I have to say in the locker room post game, there was one folded club world cash grab shirt, just sitting there like, and all of the media members were just staring at it. Like,
00:58:58
Speaker
We could take, man, we could just put, I could just put that on right now. Anyway, we would have never PR. We would have never done that. I want to, I would personally never do that. That's like big. No, no would never do that. But I just thought it was funny.
00:59:11
Speaker
Um, yeah I mean, you can't not go through here. You can't be like, okay, that's like a sick ass shirt. Like I want one. It's it's, I wanted to buy one less than I wanted to take one. That's where it's at. Anyway, that, well, I thought it was funny that like, as soon as it came out that they were wearing those shirts, there was people like who made their own versions of it and were already selling it. So they were doing a cash grab. They were doing a little, that was protesting. That was good. Um, all right, let's talk about the, Hey, Sue's for Eric can't play the nine agenda because, I think you can't come to any conclusion other than it got weekend in the, in the San Diego game. Even if the goal didn't count, it went in. And so like you got it's, it at least was a little bit. I think we have a couple of little data points now of him at least being more effective and now scoring a goal playing up there. Like I thought in the, uh, what was the, what was the first game? God. Was it the dad the the Dallas game? He like scrambled and should have scored that one. Yeah, and he also a header in that game that was pretty close. yeah So that was like a little bit of progress. And then in the San Diego game, he breaks through with the goal, which I just love that goal because that was that was FC Dallas Jesus Ferrer. That was the guy so who I was expecting to see this whole time. The guy that I was telling people when they made this trade, I was like, this guy does some like...
01:00:33
Speaker
he scores some really cool goals. Like he's because he's not like a, uh, he's not a player that's based that whose game is based on like physical traits and athleticism. He's a, he's a slighter guy and he's, he's fast. He's got pace, but he's more of a ah cerebral, like I'm going to get my IQs or my IQs, my goals by IQ that like outsmart you.
01:00:56
Speaker
And that's exactly what he did on that play. The low cross from Rothrock and then the touch he takes to kind of ah put the defender in a spot where he's really, I feel like the CB on that play, like kind of did everything that he could have done, but the touch was just so good. And then the execution on the shot was just inch perfect.
01:01:15
Speaker
So I just, I just love the C that he got on the score sheet, but also the manner in which he did it was just vintage Jesus Ferreira. And hopefully it's a sign of things to come, ah but you can't score your second one until you score your first.
01:01:31
Speaker
So that's out of the way. And i think there's also the psychological component of it. of I think the longer you go without scoring a goal as an attacking player, especially on a new team, the more has the the chance to get into your head, right?
01:01:49
Speaker
So I think there was, all it honestly felt like there was a little bit of that starting to seep in with how long the scoreless drought has gone. So that's over. And I'm not saying that ah he should start at the number nine in any situation where Danny Musavsky or Jordan Morris are available.
01:02:07
Speaker
But I do think that he, he showed enough over this last week of games that I feel like if there is a situation where he has to do it again, i wouldn't feel terrible about it.
01:02:22
Speaker
I would be fine giving him the run there and you're not in a situation where it feels like you're doing that and it's totally chalked, which that's progress from where things stood with it as recently as like two weeks ago.
01:02:36
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that goal was pretty sick. Yeah, like that that goal was pretty sick. And like if cool goals count, that is trademarked by happy foot, sad foot, but cool goals do count. And I think extra so when like you haven't scored and you score an absolute banger.
01:02:55
Speaker
ah That pass from Rothrock was awesome. Everything about it was great. and The whole sequence, the ah the first ball from Alex rolled on yeah to to put Rothrock in, then Rothrock with the classic but the classic service from out wide, fantastic touch by Ferreira, perfectly executed shot. you can't You can't do it up much better than that one. You can't. You can't at all. So, I mean, i don't know. I...
01:03:20
Speaker
I don't think that there's any world in which anyone's thinking, oh, we need to start this guy as the like number nine going forward. But I think he's he's he's he's he's settling.
01:03:34
Speaker
He's settling. And I think his celebration even showed that, like, just wiping off the cobwebs, man. I thought that was great. And also... him and his partner just had a baby. So that means new baby bump.
01:03:46
Speaker
That was also part of the celebration as it was like a multifaceted celebration. He brushed himself off. He did the, uh, the plastic cause I'm, I'm acting brand new. ah Yeah. The fist pumps.
01:03:57
Speaker
And then the, uh, the, The baby the suck in the thumb. Yeah, so it was it was a good great goal, great celebration. No one clicked I think an encouraging sign that Jesus Ferreira can function as the number nine for this team.
01:04:13
Speaker
Or just score. If need be. Or, yeah, just score a goal. Just score. Like, he could play the 10 and score. Like, he could play the winger. Like, whatever. Like... He's got that off of his his brain.
01:04:26
Speaker
And I think what a perfect way to do it than like a highly, like you were saying, like a highly technical, high degree of difficulty. Ready for this, Ari? Low XG. Goal.
01:04:38
Speaker
I would be interested to see the the XG on on that one because the defender was right there, but it was from inside the box from relatively i don't know how they calculate that bullshit, Ari. I don't.
01:04:48
Speaker
I thought i was trying to be – I was trying to give credence. I was trying to, you know, all of branch it, but, you know, God forbid. God forbid. um should i Should I hit this is this next yeah agenda for us? Yeah, it.
01:05:05
Speaker
The free Stu Hawkins agenda, Ari. We've been pushing this agenda. We've been believing that while some skeptics may think that Stu Hawkins is undersized, Stu Hawkins is not ready for the show.
01:05:18
Speaker
We were like, no, what? i think I think you've got to play him. I think he's good Yeah, we just wanted to see it. And we've seen it. And I think he's played pretty damn well.
01:05:29
Speaker
He locked up. He pocketed. A Mexican national team legend, Chucky Lozano was not able to do anything against this guy. He was out there for like most of the game because Kim Kihee got hurt pretty early in the, in the first half, if I recall correctly. yep ah So yeah, he was out there in the second half after Chucky subbed on.
01:05:52
Speaker
Stu Hawks was out there battling against Chucky Lozano. That was, ah that was awesome to watch. He got a match ball too from, me he got a match ball. They, uh, they, uh, shouted him out in the post game locker room and Stu Hawks is, uh, in the MLS rotation, it seems, which that's like you said, we've been on that.
01:06:12
Speaker
Uh, we've been saying free Stu Hawks for a while. And I think we're seeing positive early returns, like from the minutes he's gotten so far, like I really like what I've seen.
01:06:23
Speaker
and ah I think that's just another that's it's good to know that especially with all the CB injuries that you have right now that you can put Stu Hawks in a game and the level is not necessarily
Player Development and Team Dynamics
01:06:36
Speaker
going to going to drop. He can not only hold his own, but excel in some of these situations. I thought some of his progressive passing was really good. yeah His passing is good. I didn't know that he had that much in his in his bag, but he had that really nice like long pass. And I was like, Jackson,
01:06:52
Speaker
Jackson, are you back on the field? Yeah, no, exactly. So, ah yeah, no, this agenda is very much strengthened and he's probably going to have to, kimki Kim Ki-hee and Yaimar are still out. So, I mean, you're going to get John Bell and Jackson Reagan and Vancouver, but if one of them subs out, Stu Hawks is the first man up and I feel great about that.
01:07:14
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. i'm pro I'm pros, you know, play the kids. Play the kids. Play the kids. um My next agenda here, Jackson-Reagan wingback agenda. I just wanted to hit on this because i thought it was funny. Please, Brian.
01:07:27
Speaker
It was a good bit, but I don't... Yeah. I don't think he's built for that. I just... i'd like I feel like Schmetz explained it, but I don't exactly remember like what the... There was some impetus there was for it. there was that might it might have made sense It might have made sense. I've tried to learn from the time that I crashed out about Georgie playing the nine.
01:07:46
Speaker
And then ah after I cooled down and thought about it, I was like, you know what? data I can see why why he did it. So, you know, I'm trying to just gonna try shit. I'm pro trying. exact Exactly. Like if i' pro try if it's just like ah we think we see something on film or we're kind of in like a ah situation with the personnel, we're just trying some some random shit like that. Yeah. but We think it might it might hit.
01:08:14
Speaker
i'm I'm trying to be cool with it, even if it doesn't work out, because yeah we also often argue the opposite the thing. Like when something's not working, like we always say, oh, we'll just try this. like yeah way This might work. Why not just give it a shot?
01:08:28
Speaker
So I don't like to do both things where I say, you know, just try it. And then when he does just try random stuff, then I also get mad about that. Like, I think this falls in that category. Yeah. I mean, I did. But it didn't look that hot. It's a careful what you wish for a situation because I did at one point advocate for a Rothrock at the nine agenda and then we saw it twice and I was like, yeah, I i don't know. But it's it's fine it's fine that he tried. it It's fine that he tried. He it and I, Brian, that's why I love you. Cook, Brian. Cook, please. We...
01:08:58
Speaker
I was, you know, I was a let Russ cook guy. So that, yeah, and I stand by it and I stand by it. So i would let Brian cook. um The start KKR. Okay. I want to lay is an interesting. I want to lay out why now.
01:09:15
Speaker
I actually don't know if I completely agree with it, but like I want to stir the pot a little bit. I love Alex Roldan. I have been an evangelist just for Alex Roldan. You have. I think he is an incredible player and I think that he brings so much to this team in so many ways that people don't respect. Underrated. Yeah. Underrated.
01:09:33
Speaker
And for me, KKR brings something very different. He is like a bolt of lightning on the field, dude. I have never seen someone run harder, work harder, get into space, get up and down the field like crazy. just Well, wait, wait. I have seen one person.
01:09:49
Speaker
Christian rolled Christian rolled on. He is, yes. I've seen that comp more and more. Like, he is... Not just the U-Dub thing, the style. No, it's exactly it. It's like, he's got the same build, too. He's like, yeah he'll body people off the ball like Christian. Like, it's very clear that I think him and Christian kind of have good... They're like kindred spirits. Yeah, it's awesome.
01:10:08
Speaker
um But I love the attacking prowess that he brings, dude. Like, The way he's able to get the ball up the field in a way that that Alex truly isn't.
01:10:18
Speaker
like I think that maybe KKR lives leaves you a little bit more risky on defense, but what he brings going forward is Second to none, man. I mean, that goal, his we want to talk about Moose's hold up play.
01:10:35
Speaker
His hold up play on that was awesome. He parked his ass in the perfect place in the box, knowing full well where Pedro was going to go, because I know they trained that right. Parked his ass in the box.
01:10:46
Speaker
And what a finish. What a finish. I mean, how many times have we seen Jesus for a shoot that right at the goalkeeper? it It was a good goal. It was good goal. And it was the second goal of the season.
01:10:58
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. No, he only scores bangers. I think he, uh, he's playing great right now. And, you know, the, the, the stardom agenda is, uh, I like it, but it's just, it's just tough. Cause I don't know. I just, I like what they've got going on at the position right now.
01:11:14
Speaker
It really feels like Alex Roldan and KKR have been pushing each other. yeah They've been making each other better. i think there was a ah very clear, ah like Alex raising his game when he kind of felt that KKR was pushing him.
01:11:33
Speaker
And that made him play better. And KKR kind of ah super hungry because he's just breaking in and realizing that, like, I can be a starter for one of the biggest teams in MLS after, i think him and Rothrocker boys, too. Yeah, like, not even having a guarantee that I was going to make the first team, being the last guy cut last year.
01:11:51
Speaker
And now i actually am like... on the precipice of being like a major, major contributor to this team, two MLS goals. So I think that's made him elevate his game. And it's really, it's, it's created a good situation.
Albert Rusnak's Standout Season
01:12:04
Speaker
I think at that position where they're pushing each other and they're both playing at a level where, uh, honestly, whatever one of them is starting in a game game, I feel great about it.
01:12:17
Speaker
Uh, but that's actually the perfect like situation. That's what you want. yeah That's what you want. That's theoretically what you want at every position. And I think, uh, what they've got going on at right back has really embodied it.
01:12:28
Speaker
Um, but I do, uh, it's hard to watch KKR play and not love the, uh, like the extra dynamism that he brings in attack specifically as is like, as a goal dangerous player as he is. Yeah. Uh,
01:12:46
Speaker
Alex rolled on is he's a good attacking fullback like he can get forward and ah his wide service is pretty good. But KKR it's um it's almost like having a ah it's almost like having like a pure winger as your as your right back. Rothrock is your right back, which like Rothrock is a wing back is it plays It plays. It plays. It plays. And it is a little similar to that.
01:13:12
Speaker
ah But it definitely is a different dynamic. So, like, yeah, I guess I don't really mind them just ah starting whoever based on matchup or fitness. You got you got two starting caliber right backs. That's great. Yeah, it's tight, I think. i think Also, it's just a good story, and it's two Seattle guys. I know Roldons.
01:13:33
Speaker
Both the Roldons are Seattle adopted, I think. we I think KKR is Seattle adopted as well. Yeah, exactly. Isn't he from in California too? Yeah, he's from California. yeah so do We'd just be adopting people. so ah And then I wanted to close this one out because of a ah you know a recent ah goal that he scored against FC Dallas.
01:13:54
Speaker
A game-winning goal, mind you, Ari. Albert Rusnak is a great DP signing and is gonna be popular and he is putting together an MVP caliber season. This is going to really unpopular. I like it.
01:14:11
Speaker
Albert Rosanak is currently at seven goals, three assists in Major League Soccer with 12 started matches, 16 matches total. ah So a thousand, about a thousand minutes.
01:14:23
Speaker
He is week in and week out on the top 11 for Major League Soccer in their little, you know, either he's on the bench or he's in the starting lineup. Team of the week, yeah. Team of the week, correct. Or team of the match. Yeah, team of the match.
01:14:40
Speaker
um And I think that he is going to be in the consideration for player of the year.
01:14:51
Speaker
And that's my take. MVP. MVP. And I think he's putting together ah season that is proving not only me wrong, because i was skeptical about re re-signing him, but...
01:15:04
Speaker
I think he's a lot of the Russian active arguments. They're just, they're falling flat on their face every single week. Um, and I think it's also that there's a catalyst of the national pundits are starting to talk about this too.
01:15:19
Speaker
Yeah. Like, uh, that, I think that when we're talking about stuff like the MVP, uh, conversation, That's the most important part of that actually happening is when you start to get the national recognition.
01:15:32
Speaker
and And everyone's all the national pundits are like, he's underrated. He's underrated. You, you love that. You love to hear that because those national pundits love to pick someone like that. They're like, Oh, I'm different. Right. I'm like the, he's kind of like the, like, he's the if you know, if you know ball, it's actually roost neck. Yeah. which like vennd Vindicated for us, bro. Like yeah vindicated as hell for us.
01:15:54
Speaker
I mean, yeah, i I'm glad that they brought him back. I think he's playing great this year. He just had a stretch where he scored five goals in five games. So that's what you want out of your DP. And, ah you know,
01:16:12
Speaker
he's not He's not the flashiest name and he doesn't have the flashiest game. So I don't know if if he'll break through for the MVP stuff, like some of the bigger, more flashier names in the league. But I do think that ah he there's there's a decent chance that he ends up putting up a real crooked stat line this year, like even more so than last year, which, I mean, people forget that he had 10 and 16 last year. which is That's pretty good, man. That's really good. That's like, ah
01:16:47
Speaker
if any If any other ah player came in and did that for Seattle as a DP, people would be like, oh, this guy's awesome. yeah so He's what, 30 and 30 for multiple teams or whatever? 25, 25. 25 and 25, yeah. For both Real Salt Lake and and Seattle. So wo ah
Vancouver Whitecaps Preview
01:17:06
Speaker
we'll see if the if more national recognition starts to arrive. Percolate. Starts to percolate, yeah.
01:17:14
Speaker
That would be, that would be cool. But really, as long as he is, ah running the offense at a high level week in, week out, getting goals, getting assists, I'm happy with him as a DP.
01:17:26
Speaker
That's all I care about. Are there like, uh, are there flashier players in the league? Sure. But, uh, as long as the production is there and he's a good team player, which by all accounts he is, uh,
01:17:39
Speaker
Keep him as a DP. I'm fine with it. DP, DP snack. He's, he, he's a snack. He's a snack. All right. We're going to take another ad break. We're going to come back and ah talk about the Vancouver white caps. We'll be right back.
01:17:55
Speaker
We're white cap. Cause we're right back. Cause we just came back and you'll be Vancouver.
01:18:08
Speaker
If you skipped our ads. All right. i Was that, is that, like, did cook on that? I thought it was going to go off the rails a couple times there, but you brought it back around. ah Yeah, Noah, let's talk about the yeah the Vancouver Whitecaps, Seattle's next opponent that they play at BC Place on Sunday. We're going to be making the trip. It's going to be fun. first time at BC Place. Yeah, Noah's first time. Wow, that's...
01:18:30
Speaker
Your first time at Providence and your first time at BC. play I never used to go to away matches. never It's a, it's a fun place to watch a game. I really liked the city of Vancouver. So I'm excited to go back.
01:18:42
Speaker
um And the, ah the white caps are an interesting little case study at this exact moment in time that they'll be playing the, the Seattle Sounders.
01:18:53
Speaker
If you asked me about this, this matchup, even like a week or two ago, When I also didn't know about the international absences or just kind forgot, I guess, that they were going to have around this time.
01:19:07
Speaker
i would have told you that the Sounders are about as heavy an underdog as it gets against an MLS team, like with how the Whitecaps were playing for all of this year and in CONCACAF Champions Cup.
01:19:24
Speaker
They've been far and away without question the best team in the league this year, ah both in terms of the soccer that they've played and and their record and points total and the goals that they're scoring.
01:19:37
Speaker
ah so That is, uh, that would make you think again, that Seattle would be the underdog, but they are, ah they're coming into this wounded Noah. They are, they went on this incredible CONCACAF champions cup run where, uh, they made the final while also playing at 2.3 points per game in league play.
01:19:57
Speaker
And I think we, we praise them a lot on this show. Deservedly. They said this was a white caps podcast. yeah They kind of became the the bit was like, it was the galaxy. of Last year we were the galaxy podcast because we were, we liked watching the triple P's this year. We were really enjoying what the white caps were doing. They were doing it without Scottish messy.
01:20:17
Speaker
ah Baby Burrhalter is still the best number eight in the league. True. ah So yeah, I, uh, I wouldn't not necessarily have liked Seattle's chances in this game, basically at any other juncture in the season. However, they are coming off a conca cap champions cup final at Cruz Azul.
01:20:36
Speaker
That was just a debacle. Like i i I felt pretty confident that, I don't know if I was confident that they were like for sure going to beat Cruz Azul, but I was confident that they were going to make a good run at it. yeah They might not win it, but there ah there was no part of me that expected that game to be like abjectly non-competitive. You didn't think they were going to intermall on it? No, no. I thought they were going to least make... I was sure they were going at least make a run at it based on what I'd seen from them all season.
01:21:05
Speaker
And, you know, Berhalter was suspended on some CONCACAF bullshit for this game. You did say that if they lost, you were going to claim that was the reason. And I'm still... I think that's fair that we've got to follow through on that. I'm still going to be a purveyor of that agenda. But the thing is, like, they...
01:21:19
Speaker
They lost that so bad that I don't even know if I can credibly argue that. It was just it was from like the first minute of the game. they gave up They gave up the first goal in like the seventh minute, but ah they basically got rolled from minute one to minute 90 in a way that I don't think anyone was expecting. I think most people probably thought Cruz Azul was going to win the game, but... like yeah Based on how the Whitecaps had played this year, i don't think anyone thought that that was going to be how that game went. I didn't even know what to make of it while I was watching it.
01:21:53
Speaker
But by the end of it, it just seemed it seemed pretty clear that they were just not like ready for a moment like that. that That only happens... That's not... ah The five Oh, I don't think was ah was illustrative of the gap in actual quality between the two teams.
01:22:12
Speaker
I think it was illustrative of one team that has a lot of big game experience and has played in a lot of moments like that and was ready for everything that comes with that.
01:22:24
Speaker
And one team that just wasn't any of those things. And They got ran off the field in a way that like part of me feels like, all right, one game shouldn't discount the entire season of elite soccer that they've played.
01:22:40
Speaker
And I fully expect them, despite what happened in that game, to end up playing at a level closer to the team that we've seen for most of the season, more than the team that we saw in that game.
01:22:53
Speaker
But there's also part of me that's like, that but was so demoralizing that if there's a type of loss that can like damage your morale, I don't know about permanently, but like just substantially yeah for the foreseeable future, that's the type of loss that can do that.
01:23:15
Speaker
So you have a sound, you have the Sounders playing a team who's playing their first game since then. And I think in that situation, there's two things that can happen. Number one, the, they use that the white caps use that as like motivation to, you know, like go out there and show that they're actually the best team in MLS and that that wasn't a fluke run.
01:23:36
Speaker
And that what was the fluke was the CCC final. And they're going to go out there and prove that and like kick the ass of the next team that they play to show that. Or they could be like permanently psychologically damaged by that. And we've seen it before. we and like That happens. That does happen. And also CCC hangovers happen. So you combine those two things.
01:23:58
Speaker
And I honestly don't know what to expect from this Whitecaps team, not just in this game, but for the rest of the year. And
Cascadia Cup and Game Predictions
01:24:04
Speaker
when you combine all of that with the fact that I think they're going to be missing nine players for national team duty, you have a situation where I'm not saying like I fully expect Seattle to go in and take all three points easily, but I think, I think a win in this game is attainable.
01:24:24
Speaker
It's, it's important. It's important to win this game. It's, it's momentum. It's momentum into club world cup. And also, You have to beat the first team in the West if you want to have a chance to slide up. And you're never going to have a better opportunity to get these guys. You're never going to have a better opportunity to get these guys. They're demoralized.
01:24:47
Speaker
They just sacrificed an opportunity at MLS Immortality. They would have joined Seattle. Listen, not everyone can do it, Ari. Not everyone can do It's famously hard. They had a harder path, though.
01:25:00
Speaker
so that is there was that that was there There was that discourse flying around. Before they had even played the game, I think i think we were both trying to say, let them actually win it before you start talking about how their path was harder than Seattle's.
01:25:13
Speaker
You hear us MLS season pass? and Let us on your show. they dished They dished those takes, and then the Caps ended up getting blown out. So... ah No, I mean, I think Seattle actually has a great chance to win this game.
01:25:29
Speaker
It's definitely not a given, you know, going on the road at a Cascadia rival against a team that I feel like they're still going to be able to put out a solid lineup, but I don't even know how they're going to be lining up with all the guys that they have missing.
01:25:45
Speaker
yeah So really like this is a, this is a big opportunity for the Sounders is what I'm saying. Yeah, it's it's it feels like the right time to... have a five nil game, like demoralize them even more.
01:26:01
Speaker
Like this is, this is, this is potentially a chance the Sounders have to put the nail in the coffin of a rivals season. We've seen the the caps do this before. Do you remember last season when they came out to this blazing hot start and just like, we're going crazy and everyone was like, Holy shit. It's the white caps, different coach, different circumstance.
01:26:19
Speaker
I think that this is a way better coached team in a way more like, better built team. Like everyone's kind of coming into their own right now. But the reality is man, like CCC hangover is real. CCC demoralization is real.
01:26:35
Speaker
They played a lot of minutes and a lot of games. It got a lot of points and I'm, it's This is when the exhaustion starts to kick in. Right now. Right now. And the fact that most of... All of their best players are going to be playing in Gold Cup games. Berhalter's not going to be there. Brian White's not going to be there.
01:26:54
Speaker
Seven other guys aren't going to be there. Like, it's going to be tough. And God only knows what's going to happen in the Gold Cup. Like, who knows if they take knocks or... That's just more games.
01:27:05
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? And... I fear for the Whitecaps. I hope that they can keep it up. I think that's a good story. i like having, you know, an interesting Whitecaps team. I think that's fun.
01:27:18
Speaker
but um and been It had been a fun little subplot this year. But also, like, it'd be tight if we won Cascadia Cup this year. Yeah. So, like, it's a chance to for the Sounders to win some hardware. I know that people will be like, well, that's not real.
01:27:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's not real, but it's fun. like the Cascadia Cup. like Cascadia Cup. It's not, like, it's not the most important trophy of all time, but it's a fun little thing. They could, yeah, they could... uh, pick up some ground in those standings. But I think mostly it's just, uh, you, you got to capitalize on the opportunity presented by playing the, the team that's top of the West table and, up near the top of the supporter shield standings. But like in this weekend state, this is their first game after that CCC crash out and they're going to be missing nine guys. So like,
01:28:05
Speaker
That is just when you, when you have an opportunity like that, you got to take advantage of it. If they honestly, if they, if they draw this game, I wouldn't crash out about it, but I would be a little disappointed.
01:28:18
Speaker
And if they lose, I think it's, it's a pretty big letdown considering the circumstances that they're, that they're getting this team under, like you gotta to go, you gotta go take advantage of this. Listen, Ari,
01:28:30
Speaker
We are currently tied with Vancouver for most Cascadia Cups. Seven. We both have seven. we need We need that eighth. And if we win this game, we go to the top of the the standings for Cascadia Cup. So this is a must-win tournament game, Ari.
01:28:44
Speaker
This is a must-win tournament game in the city of Vancouver and BC Place. I don't know why I was getting so excited. I just tournament game. yeah Yeah. I don't know. Cup game. Whatever. Okay. So it's like a playoff. Yeah. i was doing a bit. I was doing like a, you know, like this is the biggest game we've ever played. Oh, okay. But the Cascadia cup is kind of a tournament.
01:29:04
Speaker
Yeah. That's what i'm saying. Like i enter it's like a, what's the interleague tournament for NBA? Do you know the NBA cup? Yeah. Whatever they call it. Yeah. I don't know. We're rambling at this point, but, um, Vancouver, what are your predictions?
01:29:19
Speaker
think what You think there's going to be a win? Do you think it's going to be a draw? I think it's going to be a win. I think i think you said if it's a draw, you're fine with it. I think if it's a draw against this cap side, I'm unhappy. No, I think I said I would be disappointed. Didn't I say that Oh, I guess so. Yeah, sorry. I said if it is if it was a draw, I would be disappointed, and ah and a win would a a loss would be like a pretty big leg. Yeah, okay. Then i'm on we're on the same page. Yeah, so... ah I mean, don't know. I hate predicting wins. Well, yeah, we don't have to. But they should win this game. They should win this game. On paper. Yeah, and I would not be saying that if this was the caps of earlier this season. Not at all. They were playing at an insane level. I'd be like, hell yeah, get that road point, Kings. Yes, exactly. That's what I'm saying. It's a totally different calculation with their team under these circumstances. This is
Closing Statements and Listener Appreciation
01:30:12
Speaker
a game that you should win.
01:30:15
Speaker
Yep. yeah I think we did it. I think did it, Ari. I think we're going to call it right there for this episode of Lobbing Scorchers. We had our protest coverage.
01:30:26
Speaker
We had our our agenda check, homestand, preview in Vancouver. so Great show. Great to be back doing the more conventional pod. i know we We took a break for a minute. yeah i mean didn i mean We've been fucking streaming our asses off. That's a good plug. ah Thursday nights...
01:30:46
Speaker
under the lights with ari monday mornings with nico and ari on kickoff we're gonna have the new vlog from the portland game is dropping soon we'll have a vlog from vancouver ah we have post match in vancouver i'm sure we will do some sort of stream maybe we can stream from the stadium Yeah, let's try and do that. We'll try and do that. I'm not to promise that. If not, always Sunday mornings after. Well, I guess it would be a Monday morning. Wait, Monday morning?
01:31:17
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, yeah. Well, but you'll be streaming with Beacon. We'll figure it out. Don't you guys worry. We'll sort it all out. But all that's all to say. If you are not subscribed to our YouTube, youtube.com slash atlivingscorchers or if you're watching the video, hit the subscribe button.
01:31:33
Speaker
We want you to see all of those live streams. Like, comment, subscribe, rate five stars. Yeah, also, we had a up to the channel we had a crash out in the ratings, so please rate us five stars to offset that. We did get a one star, but honestly, I'm not mad about it.
01:31:47
Speaker
It was pretty funny. It was a good bit. Someone called me an idiot. give us a Give us a five star to counteract the one star. a I think that's it. so Sub to the YouTube, follow us on Instagram. Until then, we'll catch you next time.
01:32:01
Speaker
Peace.
01:32:13
Speaker
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01:32:26
Speaker
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Speaker
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01:32:55
Speaker
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