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Episode 358: Goodbye Garth and hello Craig
84 Plays3 years ago
Garth Lagerwey is out as the Sounders GM and was very quickly replaced by Craig Waibel, who joined the team about 18 months ago. We feel like this is a solid move, but understand that a lot of fans would like to see some proof.
This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor Note
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Full Pool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. The ethos of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now, should be familiar to full pool readers. But there's loads of fresh content, and since it's not trying to sell any wine through the book, there's a bit more of a sass factor.
00:00:21
Speaker
And there's food. Lots of it. Fullpool's unique writing styles applied to recipes like leftover Thanksgiving, turkey, schmaltz-a-ball soup, and pregnancy nachos.
Book Release: '36 Bottles of Wine'
00:00:30
Speaker
This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books. Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're
Seattle Sounders' MLS Cup Victory
00:00:37
Speaker
listening to... There's no study at this. Come on! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! I want to say bye-bye! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup win!
00:00:52
Speaker
important the KSA's genius. Here comes Rui Diaz through the middle to crowd it for Seattle. They have climbed the mountain and now are masters of all that they survey. Michael Odero leaves absolutely no doubt the Saldars rule the region. Seattle Saldars is convinced
00:01:18
Speaker
Seattle Sounders, the greatest MLS team in history. How does this one feel? This feels fucking awesome. The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle. And the hills the greenest green in Seattle.
00:01:48
Speaker
like a beautiful child growing up free and wide. I didn't know what it was. Is that what you young people call twerking? I have no idea. I don't know. Welcome to another edition of NOS Adiata, sponsored by Full Pool Wines and Watson's Counter. This is
Leadership Changes at Atlanta United
00:02:09
Speaker
episode 358 and we're recording on Wednesday, November 30th, 2022. I am your host, Jeremiah Shannon. Joining me as usual is Aaron Campo and Lickit P.
00:02:18
Speaker
Honestly, this is not a time of year we thought we'd be recording, but The Sounders went and messed up our plans. Last week, Garth Logaway joined Atlanta United as their CEO. And then today The Sounders revealed that Craig Weibel would be replacing him. It's a pretty massive change for an organization that has been among the most stable in North America for really the past few decades. But maybe this was a change that we should have seen coming and maybe it's due. Aaron, what do you make of this?
00:02:47
Speaker
Yeah, I was pretty shocked, I think. And my general reaction to being shocked by unwelcome sports news is to be overly dramatic about it. I was pretty upset. I was never upset at Garth, like I understood the reasons that he wanted to take the job and think he's definitely earned the chance to have a job like that. But I thought it meant very bad things for the Sounders. But I've actually gotten pretty,
00:03:14
Speaker
pretty calm, pretty tranquil about things over the past few days. Obviously, Garth, I think the way I described him to someone was saying that he's just a unique talent in American soccer. And I think that that's true. I mean, I think that not a lot of people have his skillset and even fewer of those people have his skillset and are willing to work in American soccer. So, you know, it's a loss, it's a blow.
Sounders' Confidence in Leadership
00:03:38
Speaker
But I think that
00:03:39
Speaker
I definitely trust the people running the club to make good decisions, to get good people into positions to succeed. And I think the flip side of the coin is there are a lot of people that are pretty negative on the sounders going forward in the fan base, just as there always are, who see the Craig Weibull hire as evidence of a lack of ambition and that while they've won the CCL, they've won MLS Cup.
00:04:06
Speaker
They're just going to coast on that for a while. They're not the same ambitious club. I don't see it that way at all. I mean, I see it, you know, just as a sign that they're very confident and the people that they hire. You know, Craig Wild Bill was brought in for a reason. He was brought in at least in part with Garth Lagerweis input and blessing.
00:04:25
Speaker
He, you know, Garth seems to think highly of him. I think you did earlier today a pretty good job of laying out some reasons why maybe just looking at his stint at RSL and saying, well, they didn't do a whole lot is an oversimplification of the situation. And, you know, I think it's scary because with Garth running the show, I think you can feel pretty confident that things are going to go well.
00:04:51
Speaker
But, you know, without Garth having the opportunity to really run the show, I think he was probably going to be heading out at some point anyway. Probably we should have made our peace with that. He'd contributed a lot to the infrastructure of this club. He was hired to do some pretty specific things. He did those things, you know, he delivered an MLS Cup. He delivered a Champions League trophy.
00:05:13
Speaker
Uh, he, he helped to get the academy up and running a lot of other structural things that he did and was responsible for. He set the club up for success. And, you know, I'm not going to say that the Sounders are better off without him, but I think he's almost made himself a little less irreplaceable just by nature of, you know, improving the structure of the club. Yeah. I think that's actually a good way of putting it that he, he sort of.
00:05:38
Speaker
He's sort of made himself, he's sort of made himself replaceable, I suppose is maybe another way of putting that, that maybe oversimplifies things. But I think you're right. He used to always joke about, and I just want to note, I should note this. I am not speaking on my normal mic. So if I don't sound as crystal clear as usual, it is because my mic is gone kaput and I'm in the process of getting anyone. So I apologize if I don't sound great,
00:06:08
Speaker
That's not to divert myself too much. I think it's, it's, I want to talk like focus on a little bit on Garth and we'll talk a lot about Craig, a little later. But when it comes to Garth, put yourself used to joke all the time about how, what kind of idiot would take a job.
00:06:25
Speaker
where the team that you are coming in to run is coming off absolute high of winning a double. They had just come off of winning the supporters shield, they'd come off of winning an open cup, they had two of the best, arguably two of the most exciting players. It felt like there was almost no way to go, but down.
00:06:45
Speaker
He would use that a lot and there's some truth to it, but I think he also was very well aware that he was brought in primarily to do one thing and that was to deliver an MLS Cup. And secondarily, I think whether or not the Senators
00:07:03
Speaker
specifically wanted this but he wanted to win CONCACAF Champions League as well and he thought the Sounders were set up in a way that would be more likely to deliver than
Conclusion and Sponsor Reminder
00:07:14
Speaker
at RSL and that was his ambition mixing with the Sounders ambition and while he was here he also did all the other things that you pointed out. I'll also add that you know he was instrumental in
00:07:27
Speaker
changing the folk like when he first came in and the Sounders were getting ready to invest a bunch of money in Starfire and sort of make that their long-term home and he looked at those plans and looked at the space around him and I think correctly determined that if the Sounders were really going to be a 21st century soccer club in a league that is rapidly expanding and growing
00:07:55
Speaker
They needed to think bigger than what Starfire could offer, which is essentially a place that there were always going to be tenants for a nonprofit organization like Starfire. And it was his vision that ultimately led them to go into Long Acres. Now, that may have delayed them getting into a new facility. But ultimately, I think that's probably worked out for the best because
00:08:18
Speaker
where back in 2015, the sounders were probably looking at investing, I don't know, maybe 25, $30 million into a new training facility. And this new one, they're probably going to be investing closer to like $75 million. And that's going to show. They have five fields there. Everything's going to be state of the art. It's going to be some place that they can potentially be. And there's room for expansion even. That's the other thing. It's kind of crazy about that. And this is some place that they can be for the next 2030
00:08:48
Speaker
you know, they might never leave this Long Acres facility. It's that kind of, it has that kind of room. And he did all these things and those are legacies that he leaves here. But what he also did is I think he set the sounders on a course where
00:09:05
Speaker
He laid out that vision. He doesn't need to be there anymore to fulfill that vision. The sounders have people that are perfectly capable of kind of like pushing this across the finish line. And frankly, to think of it as the finish line is probably a wrong way of thinking of it because
00:09:24
Speaker
they still have a lot of smart people. And that's sort of like the sounders superpower in a way is that they don't rely on one person to be an absolute genius. They bring in a bunch of people who collectively are able to raise the level. And I'm sure Garth would have been very successful if he had stayed here. And I think you can argue the sounders would have been better off if he stayed here. But I don't know that
00:09:50
Speaker
Garth was ever going to get fulfilled by staying here because he clearly had bigger visions about what he saw for himself. And it wasn't that the sounders inherently weren't a big enough club to meet that. It was that he just wanted a level of control that he wasn't going to get here.
00:10:08
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that anybody that's ever been in a situation, you know, where they were happy at their job, but they they knew that they weren't going to be able to get to where they wanted to go in their career at that job. You know, once you make that realization that
00:10:23
Speaker
It's a matter of time, right? Like, you're going to start looking for the right opportunity. And if you don't do it, it's going to lead to better bitterness and bad feelings and, you know, most likely a lack of motivation, all those things. And so, you know, I can't blame them. And I think you're right that
00:10:43
Speaker
And that's what a good manager does, right? I think it shows that Atlanta made a good decision hiring him because a good manager is somebody who can be a visionary, who can set other people up to succeed. And that's what he's going to have to do in Atlanta, right? The sounders are a pretty well-oiled machine. They don't necessarily need, like,
00:11:07
Speaker
one guy's vision overseeing everything because they have like a lot of talented people that specialize in things that are doing things they specialize in. Atlanta's a mess. They have tons of money, tons of ambition, a great fan base, but
00:11:23
Speaker
It's been years since they've been getting the results that you would expect from a club with those things. And they still feel immature as a club in a lot of ways. They feel a lot like the Sounders felt when Garth took the job after the 2014 season of like, hey, this is a great club that has a lot of things going for them. But a lot of things about the club feel unfinished. They don't feel as polished as they could be. And I think that- I was going to say, they don't feel like they are
00:11:52
Speaker
they don't feel systemic. They don't feel like there is a Atlanta United way, at least certainly from, yeah, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think there's an Atlanta United way. There's not like a roadmap. And I think that's something that like Siggy started. And I think that he deserves a lot of the credit for that. But really, I think the Sounders have really only become the club that they are now.
00:12:14
Speaker
in the last eight years under Garth. And part of that is Garth, part of that is Brian, part of that is Adrian. But it's the team just sort of understanding what they are. And I don't think, and Atlanta's a much younger club, so maybe they don't. But so maybe it makes sense, I mean. But I think that's what Garth is going to basically be brought in to do is to sort of create what Atlanta United is. Yeah, and I think that there's a lot of focus on
00:12:42
Speaker
And it makes sense that this is the focal point that people have about like player acquisition, roster building, makeup of the squad, big signings and stuff like that.
00:12:53
Speaker
I don't think that that's what his purview is gonna be. Like obviously if Atlanta United is dropping $30 million on the transfer fee, he's gonna have some input into that. But he's not gonna be watching game tape, you know, of prospects. Like it's a much more, it's just a role that's much more about oversight and it's like a true management role. I mean, he's a C-suite guy now, you know? And he wasn't gonna get that here. And again, you know, like we've said,
00:13:21
Speaker
I'm okay with that. Like if, if the, if the trade-off was Garth six around, but it becomes his club and his vision. I don't think the sounders needed that. Yeah. And, you know, I'll give it, I'll sort of give a, another example of, of what I imagine things will be like in, in Atlanta.
00:13:42
Speaker
And, you know, he's going to be the guy who signs off on like he'll probably have to sign off on the next 2030 million dollar signing. And my suspicion is that if
00:13:55
Speaker
If Carlos Bocanegra, who's the current CSO, I guess he's, I think here's the technical director there. If he came to him tomorrow and said, I want $20 million to go sign this guy, Garth would probably ask like, why, why, why this guy? And Carlos, and if he's not satisfied with his answer,
00:14:15
Speaker
they're not gonna make that signing. And probably what's gonna happen is Garth's gonna say, look, I don't think we have the structure in place to make this sort of investment because we need to have a more robust analytics department. We need to have a better scouting apparatus. And so I think that's what he's gonna come in and try to build is sort of like all the stuff that it goes into
00:14:42
Speaker
you know, making the next big signing, spending money more smartly, and doing all those kinds of things. And those are things that he had already done in Seattle, frankly. Yeah, like, yeah. And I think you just, I'm sorry, like, you just look at the system that they went through to get Nico Ledero. That was his first big signing.
00:15:01
Speaker
And he basically made them like, he basically, at some point he was convinced that Nico Ledera was the right player. And even though everyone, or not everyone, but like Siggy especially was like, we need someone now. He's like, no, we're gonna get the right player. And so I imagine that's the kind of stuff that he's gonna be doing there. But now the centers have these systems in place, presumably, but go ahead.
00:15:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think I do think that like, if you look at Atlanta's hit rate with their big signings, they've obviously, you know, had some big hits, right? Like Miguel Amaron is apparently the best player in the Premier League now, or, you know, something like that. Yeah, that's what I keep hearing. But, you know, he, I mean, he made them a ton of money, right? They made their money back, great investment, had a lot of success with him.
00:15:49
Speaker
some of their other signings, not so much. They're batting 50-50 on their big signings and you can't be 50-50 on your big signings. You can be 50-50 on your mid-level signings, you can take flyers on guys and have a low hit rate, but you've got a hit on a big chunk of those
00:16:09
Speaker
10, 15, $20 million signings. And if that's the kind of club Atlanta is going to be, they're going to invest big money in the hopes of getting good production and selling guys on for a profit.
00:16:22
Speaker
Um, and that's, that's a fine thing to be right. Like it's a different philosophy than what the sounders have for a multitude of reasons. I don't think it's a better or worse philosophy inherently. Um, but you have to nail those big signs. Like you have to actually make a profit on those guys that you're bringing in to make a profit off of, or else the whole thing just kind of falls apart as soon as, as Archer blank gets bored with it. Right. You got to either make a profit or you got to win a bunch of games. And right now they're, they're not doing either one of those things. And.
00:16:51
Speaker
And I don't begrudge Garth at all for seeking out and wanting this. And it's been suggested that maybe the sounders should have changed their structure in order to accommodate Garth. I don't know that Garth, like I don't know for sure this is the way the conversation went down, but my impression of the way this sort of went down was at some point Garth told Adrian, hey, I would really like to
00:17:22
Speaker
run this whole club. And Adrian probably told him, that's, I'd like to run a club someday. I would imagine Garth was a little more diplomatic. I'd like to run a club someday. And Adrian probably said, you should. Yeah.
00:17:40
Speaker
And then their actions went the way they went. Right. That's been the sounder's philosophy in every other. They've encouraged assistants to go on to become head coaches. They've facilitated moves for players even when it wasn't super beneficial for them. It makes sense, right? Culture matters in organizations and the sounder's culture, I just don't think suits that kind of arrangement.
00:18:07
Speaker
Yeah, and this culture does suit is saying, hey, that's you would be really good at that. And we're not going to stand in your way if that opportunity comes up. Right. And that's going to you know, the next Garth that comes along is going to want to work for a club like that. Right. And and I think and I guess is maybe a good transition is I've spent the last two or three days calling around talking to a lot of people that have worked with Craig Weibel in the past who will be working with him in the future.
00:18:37
Speaker
And I have to say, combined with what I saw today at the press conference, not only is it very obvious that he is a cultural fit for the Sounders, and by cultural fit, I mean, not only is he from the Pacific Northwest, not only does he have really strong ties with the Sounders that predate joining them in 2021,
00:18:58
Speaker
But he also really buys into this idea that the collective is much more powerful, that this is not about one star. This is about a bunch of really talented people doing the best work that they can do and making each other better. And I think he takes that philosophy with the front office. I think what we're going to see is even more empowerment to God. And this is honestly one of the best things that Garth did.
00:19:26
Speaker
is that he delegated a lot like Craig like Sean or Chris Henderson was in task of mainly doing all the scouting. Sean Henderson now is the main scout Craig weibel was essentially doing most of the talent evaluation in the last couple years and
00:19:46
Speaker
I think we're just going to see more of that. You know, people like Henry Brown are going to be empowered. People like Steve Cook, who runs the Academy, is going to be empowered. People like Sean Henderson, who is like the head scout, essentially, is going to be empowered. We may see some promotions from that group. We may see a couple of editions from the outside. But really what we're going to, I think that what
00:20:08
Speaker
Weibel is, I think sees himself as doing is like being much more of a classic technical director, and less of a, you know, a man manager, and, and, and weibel will sort of like, he'll actually do some scouting I suspect, and he'll do a little bit more talent evaluation you know
00:20:27
Speaker
I think maybe the best analogy that I can, I can give is Craig Weibel would show up to training quite a bit, especially during the end of last season. And he would kind of sit by himself and observe training and he'd be watching training and he wouldn't, you know, like necessarily be chatting people up or whatever. And he was, he was working, you know, he was taking notes, doing whatever, right? When Garth came to training.
00:20:52
Speaker
much like myself, when I would go to training, he was usually going there to talk to people, whoever it may, like maybe it was the reporters, maybe it was Brian, maybe it was Adrian, maybe it was whoever else. But for the most part, he was going there for a purpose of like communicating with people. He wasn't going there to take notes and analyze anything. And I think that maybe illustrates a big difference between the two of them.
00:21:19
Speaker
Whereas, you know, Craig is going to be someone who is, like I said, doing more of the technical director part of the job and less of the general manager part of the job. Yeah, and I think that it
00:21:36
Speaker
that I think that that's what it is that that has caused a lot of consternation in the fan base is that they think that a lot of girth's job was making signings and and it's not that he wasn't extremely influential in that regard right like probably much more influential than he will be in Atlanta but but I do think that
00:22:03
Speaker
He's, he's not the sole reason for like the Sounders success in terms of like building their rosters out and things like that he he's responsible in large part for hiring the people that did those things right so like it's not to discount his contribution, but I think that's also I mean that's another reason to be encouraged that weible is the one that got the job right is that.
00:22:23
Speaker
his job probably isn't changing that much, right? He seems like a little more oversight and responsibility in that regard and a little more freedom. But, you know, if you're happy with some of the signings the Sounders have made since he came on and some of the directions, like the direction they've gone with some players, you can probably be encouraged. If you're not, well, I guess then those are all Garth, right? Like if you want to stay up for a second. But yeah, I think
00:22:51
Speaker
One of the other things that I think I have a little bit more clarity on is looking at what Weil did at RSL. And I think one of the big things to keep in mind is when he was hired to be the technical director after Garth left to come to Seattle,
00:23:12
Speaker
he was promoted from an assistant as a first team coach. So he had no background in roster building. And so he was very much learning on the job. And at the same time, RSL was getting ready to launch a USL team.
00:23:29
Speaker
They were moving their academy from Arizona to Utah. They were building a whole training facility. And then on top of that, they had intense dysfunction in the ownership and in the front office on the business side. They had an absolutely toxic workplace that was stuff that was going on, obviously, outside of
00:23:54
Speaker
Wywell's purview, but he was having to sort of like keep his players siloed and focused on doing things, like focusing on soccer while this other chaos was going on around them. And then there was the whole Mike Pecky situation where he made some unfortunate remarks, got himself fired and then sued the club over wrongful termination. And I think Craig Wywell ended up getting
00:24:19
Speaker
looped into that sort of on the periphery. And ultimately, I think that's his involvement in that, which was talking, I think, if I remember correctly, it was talking badly about Deloitte Hanson, who was the owner, ultimately is what got him fired.
00:24:38
Speaker
But through all that, RSL made the playoffs in three of his five seasons. He made a whole bunch of really interesting signings that were on a pretty extreme budget. Guys like Damir Krylok. He was the one who brought Albert Rusnak over from Holland. He signed Jefferson Savarino. And then on top of all that, they had an academy that was good enough to produce about 10,000 minutes a year of first team minutes.
00:25:06
Speaker
Like, that's a pretty impressive resume, really. And no, he didn't have an MLS Cup the way that Garth did at RSL, but he was also competing in a very different league than Garth was. And all that said, Garth was five years removed from his MLS Cup when he came to Seattle. So I don't know, I actually feel pretty good about the resume that Weibull brings to the Saunders. Yeah, I think that it's always easy to say,
00:25:36
Speaker
Well, this, you know, this guy sucked in this job. Right. And, and you're using whatever your criteria is like, well, they didn't make the playoffs a lot. And, um, but there, you always have to, you know, control for the extended factors. And you also just have to think, like, look, it's a lot easier to succeed with a club like the Sounders and then a club like RSL if you're in that role. Yeah. Like.
00:25:59
Speaker
Ultimately, the money you have to spend, the flexibility you have, the buy-in you have from ownership, all that stuff matters. And he didn't have any of that in RSL, right? Like there are tons of managers, executives, general managers, technical directors, all throughout sports who struggle in one situation and knock it out of the park in another situation, right? And it just all comes down to the circumstances of those situations.
00:26:26
Speaker
And I think anybody would have had difficulty succeeding in RSL.
00:26:32
Speaker
in those circumstances. And I think it really comes down to how you feel about the people that hired Craig Weibull. Do you think that they are making the decisions? Do you trust their judgment? I understand that there are people in fan base that don't. And that's fine. They're entitled to that opinion. And if you don't trust Adrian and you don't trust the other folks in the ownership group that are going to be making decisions like that,
00:26:57
Speaker
then yeah, I think it's reasonable to have suspicions, but I trust Adrian pretty implicitly to make decisions like this to hire good people. I think it's one of the things that's always kind of set him apart is a willingness to delegate a lot like Garth, right? To delegate to people who know what they're doing. You know, a lot of people were shocked when he brought Garth in the first place because it meant giving up a lot of oversight and responsibility and
00:27:24
Speaker
And it meant creating tension that ended with Ziggy, who was once sort of seen as being the club, leaving a couple years later. And Adrian wasn't afraid to do that because he thought it was good for the club. I don't think anything has changed. I don't think he's less invested than he was. If he was less invested, he could cash in that ownership stake pretty easily, I think. Well, I think if he was less invested, it would have been very easy for him to step aside and let him.
00:27:50
Speaker
take the CEO job. It would not have been a very difficult thing if Adrian was starting to lose his interest in this project, a term I hate to talk about with soccer teams, but I'll use it in this case. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for him to do. Just be like, look, Garth, here's the keys to the castle. Do your thing.
00:28:16
Speaker
Yeah, and I think you could look at that and say, oh, he's a control freak, but I think there's a lot of evidence to suggest that he's not. He just has he has a way that he thinks the organization should be structured. And yeah, I trust Adrian to do to hire good people, to put people in positions to succeed and to not phone it in with any of this stuff. And, you know, he has a pretty good track record, I think.
00:28:42
Speaker
Yeah, and I will say I think the other thing is I understand that the frustrations people feel like Garth has sort of left the sounders in on a lurch. I don't totally buy that either. I actually think this is if he's going to leave, this is a great time for him to leave. The roster is stable.
00:29:05
Speaker
Like I won't be at all surprised if the Sounders are contending for MLS Cup next year. If they just stay healthy, I think they will. You know, that's a, that's a big if, if they can stay healthy, but if, if they stay healthy, I think this is a team that can contend. And I don't know that we're going to see really the.
00:29:27
Speaker
the real influence of Craig Weibel until 2024 at the earliest. But I mean, that will be interesting because I do think at the end of this next season, there's going to be a lot of work to do. Even this off season, I think there's some big decisions to make that are
00:29:48
Speaker
You know, it'll be interesting to see what the sounders do with Christian Roldan and Jordan Morris who are going into the final year of their contracts. You know, it's going to be interesting to see what happens with Nico Lidero and how they sort of handle his whole situation.
00:30:02
Speaker
You know, there are, you know, like, I, you know, it'll be interesting if they get some offers for new who here, you know, is the guy who's going to end up starting for, you know, potentially three World Cup games for a team that potentially is going to be moving on into the, into the next round. I don't know how likely that is, but you know, there's going to, there's going to be some choices to make. He's played well and people, people who don't like people I follow on Twitter,
00:30:28
Speaker
don't know or care about the sounders who live in different countries have noticed him like he's stood out like he hasn't set the world on fire like he hasn't been like oh my god that guy's for sure moving but he's he's played well
00:30:41
Speaker
Yeah, I mean so I don't know maybe there might be some big decisions I suppose I guess so, but I don't know. I think this is actually probably a good time for for new for new if there if there is ever a good time for a new GM, especially a GM that hadn't been successful.
00:30:59
Speaker
going out like this, like it would be a lot worse, you know, he could leave in a lot worse situation, I guess. The situation that he left RSL from, I think was a much less advantageous, like he left RSL in a much worse place than he's leaving the sounders, although you can still argue he left RSL in a much better place than when he found them.
00:31:21
Speaker
So anyway, I guess my point about all this is that I am not freaking out about this. I really liked Garth. I really like Garth. Garth was extremely generous with his time, especially with us. He was someone who was like literally the easiest get we ever had for Yacht-Con. And he would, if you ever, if you went to any of the Yacht-Cons, you know how much he seemed to enjoy himself,
00:31:51
Speaker
He never seemed to be trying to get out of there. He would hang out and talk to people. And he was a joy. I mean, he seemed to be having fun at this job. And I really can't help but wish anything but the best for him. And it was a ton of fun having him here, but I also appreciate the legacy that he leaves behind. And I don't think there's anything to be mad about, I guess, is what I'm saying. Yeah, for sure. I feel like this is potentially a win-win situation.
00:32:19
Speaker
Yeah, I think, and, you know, I'm sure that you can find examples of me being hypocritical about this with players leaving teams or whatever so you know a cop to being a hypocrite but I think anytime somebody has an opportunity to make a move that allows them to fulfill their career ambitions.
00:32:37
Speaker
it's a little weird to begrudge them that. And I think this idea that like, if you feel like the sounders are being left in a bad spot because Garth is leaving when he is, that's not Garth's fault, that's Adrian's fault. That's their responsibility to make sure that it's the, in case of hit by bus plan, right? Like anybody should be, you should be able to move on.
00:33:04
Speaker
That's not to say that you're not going to be upset at losing talented people. But you have to be able to weather those storms. You have to be able to do that. And I think this is what Garth wanted in his career. And it's foolish to try to prevent people from going and chasing them.
00:33:24
Speaker
Yeah, and I'll add, like, for all the people the Sounders have lost, this is something else the Sounders spoke to today, our agents specifically spoke to. Good organizations are always going to lose good people, especially when they're being almost across the board being offered promotions.
00:33:41
Speaker
Like it, like you would be, you should be worried about your organization when you're not losing good people, because that means you don't have people, other people. Like this was a thing Garth used to say all the time. Like I'll be worried about Nico Ledero.
00:33:56
Speaker
when they stop being rumors about Nico Lidero going somewhere else. And you would always say things like, the thing about having good players is you're always going to have to deal with rumors about them leaving. And it's kind of the same thing here. The Sounders have lost a bunch of coaches. They've lost a bunch of front office personnel. Almost every single one of them have gone on to higher positions in different organizations.
00:34:26
Speaker
And, and that's just kind of, that's the nature of sports. And that's not, it's not a bad thing. Yep. All right. Well, I think on that note, we can probably call this a segment. We do have some questions that we'll take in the next one. You're listening to no audio discs.
00:34:49
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:36:09
Speaker
Welcome back to NOS Audio Disk. So we've got a few questions here. We waited a little long to ask for them this week, but I'm going to get better about that. It's the off season. Aaron, you want to start us out here? Yeah. So the first one's from Bill Jones TRPT. Who does the bulk of the sounders scouting and recruiting? So this is one of the areas that I think is probably
00:36:35
Speaker
Pretty unchanged with Garth leaving. Garth, I don't think did a lot of in-person scouting. I don't necessarily, I don't know that he was watching a lot of tape either, but most of the, the way the centers, like right now, Craig Weibel was one of the main talent evaluators and recruiters. Sean Henderson, I think is actually the head scout
00:37:02
Speaker
And then Tyler Cox is their main analytics guy. And between those three, that's, I think, doing most of the first teamwork. Henry Browner does some of that for the Academy. And Corey Sinsler is the guy who kind of manages the cap. And all those guys are basically still there.
00:37:26
Speaker
You know, I don't know who does. I imagine Garth had a little bit more to do with the final like pushing it across the finish line type work. I'm sure he had a lot to do with that. And that's something that, you know, Weibull will have had experience with. But I think that's one area where the Sounders are actually in pretty good shape. Like if you like the way that they've been looking at talent recently,
00:37:52
Speaker
then you should feel good about that. They haven't had to sign a bunch of players recently, though. I will say that is one area that I can understand why people are a little trepidatious, is that really since why we'll join the sounders, they haven't really had, like they signed Rusnak, they signed Leochu, and those are like the two big signings that they've made.
00:38:17
Speaker
Right. And I'm, I'm curious, like, cause Leo, she was pretty shortly after he got here. Right. So I mean, it was, yeah, a few months after I think most of the legwork had probably been done by Chris Henderson on that one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, uh, it'll be interesting to see, um, how, how the approach to big signage changes. If it does, I feel like that's probably more of an organizational philosophy thing, but, um, it'll be, it'll be interesting.
00:38:48
Speaker
Yeah. All right. This one's from Twimberly23. Any guesses on the region Weibull was referring to where he is planning to scout where we have it before? Also, any guesses on the World Cup player we may be scouting who hasn't yet made the round of 16? He must be referring to a team from group E to H. Yeah. I'll just add.
00:39:10
Speaker
he made a lot of, dropped a lot of hints, which is not necessarily something that we're used to coming from the sounders. Like, you know, this is like some Chris Henderson stuff. Definitely a change of pace from Garth, for sure. I think, I was thinking about the regions that the sounders haven't scouted before and, you know, they've signed players from Europe, they've signed players from Asia, but I feel like those sign-ins have always been
00:39:36
Speaker
free agents who were I'm guessing at least in some part agent like an agent saying hey I've got this guy and there's nothing wrong with making signings like that and like you know every team in the world well not every team in the world certainly every team in MLS yeah make some signings like that for sure every team outside of like the the top European and South American leagues are making signings like that so
00:40:01
Speaker
It's fine to do that, but I wouldn't be shocked if the Sounders haven't really scouted Europe that much outside of maybe some DP signings. They've definitely scouted Africa, they've definitely scouted South and Central America.
00:40:17
Speaker
I wouldn't be shocked if they haven't done too much scouting in Asia, either, you know, Japan, South Korea or West Asia, you know, the Gulf States. There's some talented players in that part of the world. I wouldn't be shocked if one of the players that, you know, that they would be looking to bring in now that he alluded to that's still in the World Cup is playing like for maybe like Morocco or something like that, Japan, maybe, that'd be cool. It's tricky because it's like,
00:40:49
Speaker
just because a player is playing for Japan doesn't mean they play in Japan. Or just because they're playing for Morocco doesn't mean they're playing in Morocco. It's tough to say. But my guess is that it could be essential. Like it could be a Costa Rican player. There's still a lot of teams left to play. So I don't know. I'm guessing it's not going to be a DP level player. I don't really see how that would work unless they're pretty far along in restructuring somebody's deal.
00:41:17
Speaker
um but you know they probably have room for a tan player if they wanted to and so
00:41:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the countries that are still out there, like I could see Serbia maybe being a place like they haven't spent a lot of time and energy, but they have started to make some inroads into that part of the world. Like that was where Ethan Dobler went on loan to a team in what used to be called the Czech Republic, which I realize is not Serbia, but at least is getting into that part of the world. Same thing like, I guess Croatia is quite the same.
00:41:53
Speaker
Well, yeah, it's you know, central, central, central, central, yeah, Central Europe, like in Morocco would be the other one. I think that, yeah, yeah, the sounders have Chris Henderson has definitely scouted and in Japan, they've never made a signing out of Japan. But yeah, I wouldn't mind.
00:42:13
Speaker
That's definitely probably the most intriguing spot. They have scouted Spain pretty heavily. Yeah, that's right. And they've signed players out of Germany before, obviously signed players out of Uruguay.
00:42:30
Speaker
Um, I feel like the, like the leagues that it feels like MLS would, would be looking at pretty heavily that they don't would be, I know this is a, uh, not the best term, but everybody knows what I mean. So I'm going to use it in the middle East, those countries. Like there are a lot of talented players in those countries. Um, the level is like.
00:42:53
Speaker
A lot of those teams are as good, if not better than MLS teams. A lot of the teams are much, much worse than MLS teams, but there's definitely players that could be impact players in those leagues. And then South Korea and Japan, like the pretty similar Japan, I think it's probably.
00:43:09
Speaker
better than MLS or at least on par with MLS. Um, but it's a similar, you know, it's, it's not the whole thing of like, it's tough to say whether a league is better than MLS because there's not as much parity. So some teams are better, some things are worse, but, but definitely a level at which there could be guys to, to make an impact. Uh, next one's from Andy Fretwell. What positions do you see us looking to improve with more World Cup caliber talent?
00:43:37
Speaker
I think the position the sounders are probably targeting most specifically right now is like backup striker that's probably the area that they have the most glaring like I think they're starting lineup is actually
00:43:53
Speaker
pretty set, you know, that change, you know, if they have to sell or if they have the opportunity to sell, new who that that changes. But I think they're starting 11 doesn't strike me as having an obvious need, frankly. And I suppose you can say you need a long term replacement for Nico Lidero.
00:44:17
Speaker
I don't even know if that, like, but that's not someone you're not, like, I don't think you're going to sign that player this off season. Like, you just don't have the, like you need a full DP spot to replace Lidaro. But yeah, I think probably like a backup striker.
00:44:32
Speaker
is someone the sounders is probably the position that they're most interested in signing and and they do they do have some roster flexibility. I think Garth actually one of the last things he said about the roster was they have room to sign a tan player so that's that's where I would put my
00:44:54
Speaker
estimates. Yeah, Costa Rica has a couple of pretty young, pretty young forwards. This one's from Garrett Amini says as much as I hate that the World Cup is being hosted in Qatar, am I alone in actually secretly liking that it is happening in the fall winter this year?
00:45:12
Speaker
I'm not going to say you're alone, uh, because I don't, I don't know everybody in the world, but I sure, I don't, I don't like it. I think it's harder to get up for the games, um, for the early games than it would be in August. Cause it's dark still. Oh, I see. Yeah. It's the world cup is just such a summer event to me. Um, it like is synonymous with summer. And so it feels wrong. It feels weird having it on. Um,
00:45:40
Speaker
The, it's not like this isn't something I necessarily has ever been super into, but I feel like people aren't like going out to watch the games as much like it's not like the bars are as packed with people, it feels like the
00:45:57
Speaker
just general awareness of it is lower than usual. Like this is the first time I've ever in my adult life had a World Cup happening and nobody that I work with is talking about it. No one's mentioned it. And you know, I know there are people I work with that are like not soccer hardcores necessarily, but like
00:46:18
Speaker
soccer fans, you know, who like know know about soccer and nobody talked about it. And I think part of that is where it's being hosted but I think part of it is just the timing like holidays are happening people got stuff going on. And the disruption to. I think that it's made the tournament worse because of the.
00:46:39
Speaker
there have been players that probably would have played a Summer World Cup that couldn't play because of injuries. They didn't have time to heal injuries because it's happening in the middle of the most seasons. And I think that that sucks a lot. I think it sucks really bad. So yeah, I mean, I can definitely understand the appeal to some degree. I can understand why somebody would like it, but I have not at all.
00:47:03
Speaker
I don't mind it as a one-off thing, but I largely agree with most of your criticisms. It definitely doesn't feel like I'm able to fully embrace the World Cup.
00:47:24
Speaker
Part of that is the time, the time difference. Like I know, you know, it was funny the last time we recorded people were asking like, what were some of the early kickoff games that you might be getting up for? And I found a handful of games in there that I thought like, oh, I might get up for this. I will be complete. There hasn't been one that I've even considered getting up early for like.
00:47:46
Speaker
those 8am games are absolutely the earliest games that I have watched uh the 7am games are almost like I'll watch the luckily the the us is playing on Saturday so I can actually watch that one but like I I just straight up I can't watch the first half of the 7am games because I'm getting my kids to school like um I've watched almost all the you know the 11am games have been pretty good about watching but
00:48:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's, you know, like I'm just not, I'm not getting up. I'm sorry. I'm not getting up at 4 a.m. to watch, to watch these games. It's certainly. Yeah. I, I have watched the, like the first half of a couple of the 2 a.m. games and I, I definitely. Yeah. And I definitely like on Friday or Saturday night or whatever. And I definitely feel like I would have done that more for a summer world cup.
00:48:40
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree. I hadn't even really thought of that until you mentioned it, but I think that's probably true. I'm also much older than I used to be. Right. I mean, it used to, I would have watched the whole game no matter what, but no. I mean, I definitely think back to 2010, which was one of the first times that you and I really hung out. And I think we went to the US England game at Georgian Dragon, where we got up at like five in the morning to get in line.
00:49:06
Speaker
No, not that one. But we did. We did. I guess that was with Kirsten. Oh, now we're way off. But. But yes, I mean, I definitely did get up early to watch the games on the way. Like I would watch the late games and then wake up early to watch the early games. And yeah, I probably wouldn't do that now. Me kids. But well, I don't have kids. I do. But yeah, I do think that the time of year is a factor because I'm just tired all the time in the winter. It's just the way it goes, you know. Yeah, no, I I'm with you there for sure.
00:49:36
Speaker
All right, so next one's from Just Gale. What past current future sounders, if any, will be a part of the U.S. Men's National Team at the 2026 World Cup? I think the best bet, and frankly, the, yeah, like the best bet is Obed Vargas, who is a player who's in the
00:50:00
Speaker
the youth national team set up, he was in the he was called into the U-20 team didn't actually play because he got hurt. But I would say if there's one player, I would put some money on. Like, I think he'll be at the 2026 World Cup. I think there's a chance it's not for the United States, like he could choose to play for Mexico. But I think one way or the other, I think that's a that's a pretty solid bet.
00:50:28
Speaker
I don't think, I think Christian and Jordan will both be aged out probably in four years. I mean, I don't know, I guess it's possible, but they're- I could see Christian here, they're like in a vibe spot. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty, I mean, they're both in their late twenties already and they're not, you know, Jordan played, you know, five minutes or something and Christian probably won't play at all during this tournament.
00:50:54
Speaker
It's pretty rare for a player to go from a fringe national team or at 28 to, although I guess Tim Reem is, is a counter example, but yeah, I don't, I'm trying to think if there's anyone else that's in the sounder. I mean, I suppose it's possible that like a Danny Leyva or Josh Intensio could potentially get in, but.
00:51:16
Speaker
I think younger defensive minded players, you never know, um, it's possible to have a big, big breakthrough and, and, and get into the pool. I mean, like a player who's not currently, um, on the first team, Stuart Hawkins is in the U 17 set up. So I suppose there's a possibility that, and it's probably still a little too young for 2020. Uh, past sounders, I could, I think it's a long shot, but I don't think it's out of question. Sam Rogers.
00:51:44
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good, that's a good, that's a good shout. I mean, if he makes it, if like, if he moves like Germany or something, um, you know, before then and does well, I think he, he's got a shot to give into the, into the rotation for sure. Yeah. He's been, he's been doing very well for, uh, Rosenberg in, in Norway, right? Yeah. And, and Rosenberg is like, Norway is not good as a league, but Rosenberg is one of the clubs where it's like, if you can play at that club, you can probably play, um,
00:52:14
Speaker
at least into Bundesliga or whatever. So yeah, I would say the very least is not out of the question that you'll be able to turn if he continues to play well there that he will be able to parlay that into a bigger European club. And if he gets into a bigger European club, there's no reason he can't get into the national team set up. Yeah, for sure.
00:52:37
Speaker
I can't really think of too many others. So I think, you know, at least in terms of guys who are on the radar now. And to be fair, if you would ask me this question in 2018, I definitely wouldn't have said Christian Roldan is going to be at the next World Cup. I definitely wouldn't have said knew who's going to be at the next World Cup. I wouldn't have known. I would have assumed Jordan Morris was going to be like starting.
00:53:02
Speaker
Yeah, Jordan Morris, I think we would have said, but Javier Arriaga is not someone that we would have pegged as being in the, I don't think he wasn't with the Sounders until 2019. Right. Yeah. This is also the question I guess was about the US men's national team. Yeah. Yeah. But you, it's like, it's also is kind of, you just, guys could come out of nowhere. Right. That was sort of. Yeah.
00:53:28
Speaker
This is from IP Ross, is CR7 worth DP money? Christian Robon is here. Yeah, I was gonna say, I'm assuming we're talking about the goods. Yeah, not the other CR7. The other, not the bad CR7. CR7 is, that one is apparently worth a lot more DP money. So, I don't know. I mean, now I don't think so. If Christian is worth a DP contract in MLS when his contract is up,
00:53:56
Speaker
Um, if somebody is willing to give it to him, I think the founders probably would also be willing to give it to him. And that's going to be the case. He's going into the last year of his contract, I believe. And he makes right around a million dollars. And so like in a sense, he's already making.
00:54:18
Speaker
He could be like it's theoretically possible he could be made into a DP as like an accounting mechanism. I assume the spirit of this question is this is he worth like a 1.7 million dollar a year contract and
00:54:33
Speaker
I love Christian Roldan, but if you have to lock, if the only way you can keep them is to use one of your three designated player spots on them, and it's not as an accounting mechanism in order to allow you to have three U22 players. Right. That's a hard sell, I think. This is where, this is where I think the TAM
00:54:59
Speaker
stuff and the DP stuff really starts to hurt is with players like Christian and Jordan as well who are worth their contracts. I think Christian has a skill set and brings value to a team that's worth that if you remove the DP spot from the equation.
00:55:20
Speaker
Right, like if you just said, is he worth paying 1.7 million dollars without any restrictions on how much you're allowed to spend? For sure. If Christian was English and was playing in England, he would be making a lot more than that, right? Maybe he'd be playing in the championship and making like three, you know, two and a half million a year, but he's not. He's American and he's playing in MLS and
00:55:45
Speaker
This is the nature of the beast. I don't know. I mean, I think that Christian is going to, assuming there's not interest from overseas, which I don't think is out of the question or from like Mexico. Like I could see Christian being attractive to the teams in Mexico. I think, you know, that maybe the sounders facilitate that, something like that. But I think that he's going to get an MLS like,
00:56:11
Speaker
I don't know who was gonna be willing to pay him that. I don't know who was gonna be willing to give him DP money and give up a DP spot. And if a team is willing to do that and give him that deal, are they really gonna be a team like he wants to play for? I mean, money talks, right? So, but like, if a team is willing to give Christian rolled on a DP spot, I can't imagine that they're gonna be a super competitive team necessarily, like that doesn't,
00:56:38
Speaker
So I don't know, I don't know. Yeah, I guess in the true spirit of the question, I do not think the sounders are gonna pay make Christian Roldan a full DP. And I would, I don't know, I love them, but I would have a really hard time. Yes, for sure. Supporting that move. For sure. And I think... And same thing with Jordan Morris.
00:57:09
Speaker
Like, I definitely got, sorry, I was going to say that like, I think with Morris, it's entirely possible. The centers let it like, basically let them play out this year. And if he can get a, if you can turn that into a, like a free agent deal in Europe, like.
00:57:29
Speaker
go with God, like good for you, right? Like, like the centers don't get anything out of that. But hey, if we can facilitate that move, that's what you want in your career, right? Go for it. Um, I suppose on some level, maybe that's Christian's thing too. I don't think either player is going to get a full DP contract in MLS. Um,
00:57:55
Speaker
but I didn't run about things before. But, you know, if someone wants to pay Christian $2 million to client MLS and make him a DP, it would be extremely painful to see that happen. Yes. You got to take money. You know, you got to do it. You got to do it. You got to do it is the best thing for you. And I wouldn't be grudging that.
00:58:15
Speaker
but I would also not consider that to be a great use of resources by that team. And I wouldn't, I wouldn't want the Sounders to do it. And I think if it were just a situation where it's like somebody else is willing to pay Christian more than the Sounders are and the Sounders let them walk, but they're not a DP spot. They're not like putting themselves in a bad position. Yeah. I think you've got to overpay to keep a guy like Christian, but it's so much more than just a few hundred thousand dollars or whatever. It's losing a DP spot, losing roster, flexibility, all that stuff.
00:58:44
Speaker
Yeah, like if you can get, if you can keep either one of those guys for closer to like one five. Yeah. And you can make it work in your budget. Yep. No problem. Yep. I dream of the day where, and the last has a structure where we don't have to have these discussions. Yeah. Yeah. Cause it's, it's, it's definitely the most painful thing about the roster construction conductor than in the last. So the next one is from.
00:59:11
Speaker
I'm going to give this my best faith effort. I believe. So, two part question and the first part, Eric, we're just gonna go with Eric. We'll go with Eric. So the first part of this question is,
00:59:27
Speaker
We've addressed it. It's in what ways could replacing Garth and Weibull make with Weibull make things better? I think we kind of talked about that sufficiently in the first segment. But the second part of the question that I do think is interesting and we're talking about is how bummed should we be in no Henderson and no Tanner? I'm assuming that's Tanner and Philly. You know, I won't tell anyone not to be bummed about about Chris Henderson.
00:59:54
Speaker
I don't honestly know how attainable either him or Tanner were. My understanding is the way it works in MLS is that if someone's under contract, like a front office person is under contract, you need to get permission to talk to them for, I think, any move, let alone a lateral move.
01:00:24
Speaker
And, and in either case, I would imagine the sound would have had to be paced, even if they'd gotten permission to talk to them, which I don't know if they requested. I don't know. Like, I don't, I don't know the answers to these questions. They were probably had to give up something to get those two people because they are under contract, uh, putting all that aside. I mean, I don't know. I.
01:00:51
Speaker
It would have been, I guess it would have been a sexier move to go out and get someone else's, uh, GM. It would have been sort of like a statement of purpose. I think like saying like, Hey, we, we still feel like we're the premier job in them lasts and look who we went out and got, uh, you know, in a perfect world, Chris Henderson, I think would have been, you know, allowed to have stayed here until Garth left.
01:01:19
Speaker
but I don't know. I don't, I'm not, I'm not bummed, I guess is what I, the short answer is I'm not, like how you feel about it, you listener, I'm not gonna tell you how to feel about it. I think if you look at what Chris Henderson's done at Miami, I think it's actually pretty similar to what Craig Weibel did at RSL. Yep.
01:01:47
Speaker
I think if you look at what Ernst Tanner has done, that's impressive. I'm not gonna lie. I don't necessarily think that was something he would, I don't know that he was interested in moving here. I think he's probably someone who's gonna move back to Europe before he leaves. I don't think he's gonna take another MLS job. And I really do, I really believe why we'll do a good job here.
01:02:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think you're right on all fronts there. I think also something that I've seen mentioned, but it feels like it hasn't been talked about too much. But I think that there's a chance that Weibull was brought in maybe not officially as an heir apparent, but as someone that the Sounders felt like they had to be aware that Garth was looking for other opportunities or open to other opportunities. I don't think that that's been a secret. And I think maybe they wanted to,
01:02:46
Speaker
have like a backup plan or have somebody that they could kind of steep in the culture or just, you know, have somebody that had the technical director part of the job as more of their remit so that they could have like a painless, more painless transition if, or less painful, I guess I should say, if Garth did move on. And I think that
01:03:08
Speaker
You know, he's a guy that they, they've been able to see his work how he thinks how he operates and how how that works with the club and I think, you know, a lot of the things that you said about going out and getting somebody else's guy and making a statement of intent you could have seen said those exact same things about
01:03:24
Speaker
Brian Schmetzer being hired. And that's worked out pretty well. Yeah, absolutely. And so I do think that there is something to be said for awareness of the culture, knowing that the person fits into the culture, knowing that there's buy-in on both sides. And they have a better job or a better idea of what he can do and bring to the job than we do, just because they see it every day.
01:03:49
Speaker
You know, one other thing I had been thinking about that I meant to say earlier, and this is maybe a good place to say it now is the hiring of Weibull is similar, like you said, to the hiring of Schmetzer, which is similar to so many of their DP signings, which is they're not necessarily the sexiest player. They're not necessarily the most well-known player. They're not the player who you sign and is a message to everyone else in the league. We mean business.
01:04:18
Speaker
But it's the kind of move that sounders make, which is like, we aren't trying to make a state. We're just trying to make our team better. We're just trying to find the right person for the job. And it doesn't matter if it looks great on paper. All that matters is how it ends up playing out. And it would have looked a lot better on paper to go out and get Chris Henderson. And it would have looked better to get Ernst Tanner. And it would have been better to go out and get
01:04:46
Speaker
some random GM from Argentina, right? Or wherever. But I don't think the Sounders felt like they needed that. They needed someone who was going to kind of fit into what they do. And they didn't want someone to come in with, like, frankly, they didn't want someone to come in with all their own ideas. They wanted someone that was going to like work within the current system here. They didn't want someone that was going to be like, oh, I want to bring in all my own scouts. And I want to bring in all my own
01:05:16
Speaker
You know, all my own people I want to hire the, the, the Academy director I want to hire the, you know, I want, I want to hire my guys right. Like, what I was like already got his guys here essentially. Yeah, and
01:05:31
Speaker
And I suppose Henderson maybe would have been the same, but anyway, I just think it's, you know, it's a signing that makes sense, I guess. I think that the way you go about replacing somebody or making a hire when things have gone wrong and you have to fire and course correct is probably a little different than the way you go about doing it when somebody just moves on for other reasons or retires or whatever.
01:05:57
Speaker
All right, I'm going to let you take a stab at this one, because honestly, I don't have this just as well. J.G. Kaczowski closed us out with a guinea speculation about the new kit sponsor. They are hoping for Costco and bringing their $1.50 hot dogs to the women field.
01:06:21
Speaker
I think if you could get the Costco hot dogs at Lumen, even if they were like twice as expensive, I would go to a lot more games. Those hot dogs are so good, man. Would you be willing to wear the Kirkland jersey? Yeah, I like the, I kind of want to get one of those Kirkland hoodies. I think those might, like the irony level is maybe, but they're, you know, those are pretty good. Costco actually would be pretty good. They're like one of them. 32 degree.
01:06:50
Speaker
Yeah, there you go. Costco is one of the better companies, I think, in the region.
01:06:57
Speaker
So, you know, that would be cool. Alaska Airlines would be funny for obvious reasons. And they're also a local company that people like. Although airlines are obviously problematic in some ways. But I think it doesn't have to like it's not necessarily going to be a local company. Sounders are pretty like a reasonably big brand. It could be any number of different companies. I'm hopeful it's on Amazon for
01:07:23
Speaker
Same reasons I was hopeful it wasn't Amazon before the Zulily thing and I don't think it's likely. I think Amazon probably feels like MLS is beneath them.
01:07:36
Speaker
Well, however you feel about Amazon and this aside, they're probably right. I mean, you know, it's like, they don't need, they don't need the brand elevation of being on a shirt sponsor. I, I will say that I think Xbox really, it really spoiled us for it did. Yeah. Like there's no, there's no way around it. Like Xbox was sort of a.
01:07:59
Speaker
Like, I think it changed everyone's expectation of what a kid sponsor is. Like, I think most teams are like, hey, we're not really picky. And I don't think that's the reality. I think most teams aren't picky about who their kid sponsor is. It's like, whoever's willing to pay the money. And I think the Sounders are probably in the same boat. Like, if someone's going to bring a $5 million check to them, they're going to like, let's get some in the door. And I've sort of come to terms with
01:08:28
Speaker
that reality. I don't expect to love the kit sponsor. Like I said, I was not in love with the Zoo Lily kit sponsor, but if they were the ones that were willing to pay the most money, whatever. There's definitely an actively evil threshold that I hope they don't go over. Sure. But if they do, mostly what it means is I'm just not going to buy a kit. I'm not going to buy any merch that has the sponsor on it.
01:08:53
Speaker
capitalism is capitalism, man, business is business. And I think whoever it is, just like if you think it's however embarrassing you think it is, however, whatever.
01:09:05
Speaker
just remind yourself of the fact that half the teams in the Premier League have sponsors that are just completely made up shell companies that are functionally money laundering operations, where all the executives are made up, all those gambling companies, they don't exist, they're not real, all the crypto companies. Oh, really? Is that true? Yeah, dude, it's crazy. A lot of them are just money laundering operations or shell companies or just ways to circumvent financial fair play.
01:09:34
Speaker
It's, you know, so it could be worse. And however bush league you think it is, I think it's hard to get more bush league than like, you know, a Chinese casino that you can't even go to their website in the country you live in because it's blocked, right? Like, so yeah, it could always be worse. Emerald Queen, though, would be kind of cool. I wouldn't mind that. You know, because I don't necessarily have anything against gambling, just the weird
01:10:07
Speaker
Yeah, well, yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't know. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. I imagine I won't be excited about it, but it'll be things that people talk about. That was one of the things that was so funny to me about the
01:10:22
Speaker
people being as mad as they were about Zulily and being as excited as they were when it became apparent that it probably wasn't gonna be Zulily after the season is like, it can get so much worse than that, man. It could be America first. It could be Rio Tinto. It can always be worse, so. I can't, I just can't get over the,
01:10:45
Speaker
They're calling it America First Field. It's so bad. It's so bad. They're also like one of the sponsors for the jazz now. So they've got like America, the jazz have like America First on their uniforms or something. Is that good? Well, great, great note to end on. God willing, this will be the the last show we do this year. Yeah, I hope so. Not that I know I love doing the show and talking to talking to you, but
01:11:15
Speaker
Right. But if there's anything to talk about between now and the end of the year, and it's going to be bad, most likely, if the US wins the World Cup, we'll do another show. Oh, sure. We have to do that. Might as well. I'll be in Mexico at the time. I'll be going in from Mexico. I'm just doing to get back. It's fine.
01:11:37
Speaker
Yeah, well, uh, yeah. So, uh, I guess that's that thanks to our sponsors, uh, full pool wines and, and, uh, what's its counter. I will plug that great time of year to go get.
01:11:51
Speaker
to go load up on wine at full pull. I'm sure they've got a ton going on right now. Watson's counter also has not just food, but they also have some really good coffee. If you're looking for stocking stuffers, that's probably a good one. And that's that. I am Jeremiah Shannon, signing off on behalf of Aaron Campbell and Likit. This is No Society Yet This. And remember, you will know the other one.
01:12:22
Speaker
Green Douglas Burr where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian northwest to the ocean so blue. It's roll on, Columbia roll on.
01:12:37
Speaker
Roll on, Columbia Roll on. Roll on, Columbia Roll on. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll on, Columbia Roll on. We love you. Let's win another one!