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Paul Tenorio shares thoughts on Sounders’ place in MLS
94 Plays1 year ago
The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio is one of the top reporters covering MLS. Last week, he was in town to watch the Sounders-Whitecaps match while reporting out a feature that’s supposed to run around the 50th Anniversary match on June 15.
We caught up to talk about his impressions of the Sounders’ place in the current MLS landscape, what he learned while he was here and discuss some what make differentiates us in a copycat league.
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"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to NOS Arietes. This episode of NOS Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of NOS Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
00:00:28
Speaker
A.O. Shen! Let's go! What a save by Fry! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup win! Here come three years through the middle to crown it the vehicle! And now they truly can't stop the celebrations. It's the Sounders' MLS Cup! Niko Liddo leaves out!
Guest Introduction: Paul Tenorio
00:01:12
Speaker
Is that what you young people call twerking?
00:01:28
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adietes. I am Jeremiah O'Shan. Joining me today, another special guest, Paul Tenorio of The Athletic slash The New York Times. I'm just going to throw that out there. Am I going to get you in trouble for saying that? Yeah, I mean, I definitely, you said it, not me. So I think that I'm OK. We are we are owned by The New York Times. Fair enough. Fair enough. So, Paul, you just were here visiting during the
00:01:58
Speaker
during the white, or yeah, the white caps game. So let me just start with you.
Game Penalties and Adjudication
00:02:03
Speaker
Do you think that the end of game penalties, the two penalties, one that was given and one that wasn't, was that properly adjudicated?
00:02:12
Speaker
Um, I think that, um, look, I think that I'll, I'll, I'll say what Schmetter said here. I think the new penalty was correctly given. Um, I thought it was a penalty as it happened. I also think that it was pretty darn close to being a handball on the other side, right? Like it was like,
00:02:30
Speaker
to a clear hairball, I should say, like, now I think there's some debate there of like, is that a penalty or not a penalty? But I totally understand why the Sounders and Sounders fans would feel like it was inconsistent, which is my biggest pet peeve in refereeing, like,
00:02:48
Speaker
If you're going to call things a certain way, call them that way the entire game. And I think that would have been, that for me was what was controversial about that penalty call. It was a handball and it was a penalty in most cases. But like I do think when you know that you didn't reward a handball for a penalty on the other side in that game, to me, I know it's not like how the rules are supposed to be, you know,
00:03:18
Speaker
put into place, but like, it factored in. It just factors in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I tend to agree with that. And I think what, at least for me, and I do want to talk a little bit about the way VAR is instituted, because you and I had talked about this after the game.
Inconsistencies in VAR Decisions
00:03:35
Speaker
But to me, it's even more glaring when you have a third party who is being asked to step in. And in one case, they didn't step in. And in the other case, they did.
00:03:44
Speaker
And to me, if you see it differently on the field, that's more excusable than there's a third party who's watching multiple replays and says, no, this is a penalty and this one isn't. That feels a little bit more like genuine inconsistency, not as easily chalked up to you. Well, I didn't see it that way. And I did see it that way. And it's like, well, come on.
00:04:07
Speaker
I'd agree with that because when you're on the field, like you can miss things, right? Like it's about angles and how fast the game is moving and all of that. And when you're sitting in a booth somewhere watching and you can watch multiple replays and you have the time to do it. I also think that like, if it's going to be a close handball.
00:04:23
Speaker
I would say that you throw it down for the ref to review the video, both instances, when you think it's a kind of a toss up handball. So if you, I mean, again, but this isn't the problem with VAR, it all comes down to the interpretation of was it a clear and obvious error. And I think on the first handball, you could say like, okay, there's an argument that that is not a clear and obvious penalty. Whereas on the new one, I think it's a much harder argument to make.
00:04:50
Speaker
But that, you know, that comes down again to subjectivity. Like a lot of people might say, no, it was a clear and obvious handball the first time around. Like it hit his hand, it hit his arm, you know, like how, so like this is the issue with, with VAR, it'll always be the issue with VAR. But, and, but to your point, I think that the debate becomes a little bit easier to stomach. When a referee goes, look, it happened really quickly. I was down on the field. I felt like it hit higher up on his arm and his arm was in a natural enough position.
00:05:20
Speaker
Whereas with new who he goes sliding in his hands are above his head originally, you know, like, um, I think that's a much easier one, much easier pill to swallow versus like, well, this guy could slow it down on that first handball and see it clearly hit under his shoulder. And, you know, I get that. I get that. I totally do.
Critique of Referee Announcements
00:05:40
Speaker
So the other and the other element of this, and then we'll move into more interesting things. But I had an interesting email exchange with someone who reached out and asked to ask for this to be off the record. And so I think it's okay to say broadly what this was. But I was told that the way it was announced was, and so if you remember the way they announced that this is one of the first times
00:06:03
Speaker
Uh, or it's been as good as it happened a few times, but the way that it was announced was, uh, Rivas went to the center and just said, penalty Seattle. And this person insisted to me that that's the way that pro and I fab even want it announced. And that blew me away because to me, that's insult, like it's insulting to waste our time and our, uh, our intelligence, like insult our intelligence, frankly, for the referee to go to the center circle.
00:06:32
Speaker
and announce something that could literally be pointed out with his hand. Like if you're going to take the time to announce, you got to give us more than that. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it defeats the purpose of it, right? The purpose of it is to explain what's happening to the fans. You know, if that's going to be their excuse that the problem is that this has always been an iPad issue, right? Like MLS has wanted to do this for a really long time. So I kind of think of it of like,
00:06:58
Speaker
When Tam first got introduced, it was like $500,000 in 2015. It was like $500,000. And then a year later, it went up to like $800,000. And then after that, it went up to what it is now. It was like 2.8 or 1.2 of discretion or none.
00:07:13
Speaker
So it's like it needed to be eased in. They started doing it at five hundred thousand. They were like, this makes absolutely no impact. Like this is a ridiculous. But they weren't like still weren't ready to go fully like the next window. And then they were like, OK, if we're going to do this, like there has to be this much money. Right. And it's almost like that with IVAB. It's like, OK, like, hey, this might be we're doing it. Like, I think it's good for the fans to understand what's happening on the field. Like, hmm, maybe we should want our wild stuff. What's going on? And then they're like, but like, don't be you know, this is still refereeing. So like you got to be vague.
00:07:43
Speaker
the call
00:08:00
Speaker
but like why it was interpreted that way why why what it was that the referee saw otherwise just point and whistle I agree no this point and whistle because it's the same thing it's the same thing and it's ridiculous and anyone that tries to make an argument that that is what
00:08:18
Speaker
It's designed to do is not doing so in good faith. You can say that's what IFAB is telling us to do. But if you're going to try to pass it off as like, this is the intention of the change, like, come on, it's not the intention. Yeah, I agree with you.
00:08:34
Speaker
And to me, it's even if you don't even have to editorialize, it can just be, you know, number five Seattle was a judge to have handled the ball in the penalty area. It's a penalty. It's his second yellow card. And he's now ejected from the game. Just give me the whole like, we don't need a, I don't need to, you don't need to explain why it's a handball, but just state the whole explanation. Totally. And like you, all you need to do in my opinion is you don't have to look that far for how to do this. Like
00:09:02
Speaker
the NFL does it. And there's a difference between the way that the NFL announces normal flag, right? They get on the mic and say offside number 92, five yards, first down, right? And when they go to instant replay, and they look at the instant replay, and then they come back and you get these like 30 second
00:09:23
Speaker
very explanations, like very detailed of what they saw and what's happening. And the NFL evolved to that because they realize it's worth it to do it because all those people in the stands have no idea what the people back home know. So let's just give them the information that you are used to getting when your team's on the road. Let's give you guys the same experience the best we can so that you keep coming to the stadium.
00:09:47
Speaker
I think it makes a lot of sense, but it's that is the point. That is the point. If you're going to go to instant replay, tell the people what you saw. And what you called, right? So like, right upon it upon review. Yeah. Number five slid with his hands in unnatural position. The ball struck his hands. Right. It's not a box penalty kick. The second yellow card, you know, and that and that's it. Like, and it's not that big of a deal because that's what you saw. Just say what you saw and why you're giving the what you're giving.
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah. You know, if they, if the ref wants to add a little panache, they can say, look, if you go into a slide with your hands above your head, you're going to get called for a penalty every time. Don't get, don't complain to me. Don't knew who that tackle knew who don't knew who this exactly.
00:10:35
Speaker
Well, uh, so I don't want to, uh, your story hasn't come out yet. I don't even know if you've written it yet, but so I don't want to. I don't, I don't, I don't want to try to scoop your own story, but what were your impressions of, of coming to Seattle and, and what did, what was the, what was the idea of your, what was the intent of your visit?
Sounders' Evolution and Identity
00:10:55
Speaker
Well, I, you know, the intent of the visit is, is obviously with the sounders coming on 50 years. I think they're a really interesting story as I work on this book that I'm doing. Um, that's kind of about.
00:11:07
Speaker
I hate saying it's about the messy effect. The messy effect is a part of this book. It's about where American soccer is now, where it's going, and all of these things that are influencing this really critical period of growth right now, this potential to grow. You've got the World Cup, Messi being here, the Apple deal, the Copa America, the Club World Cup.
00:11:26
Speaker
the relevant lawsuit, all of these things happening all at once that can influence the way soccer looks in this country for a really long time. And Messi, I think, accelerated some of the conversations around the direction of the league. But I think the Sounders are this really interesting example because they are evolving
00:11:49
Speaker
having to evolve kind of who they are in this league because of the expansion of the league. But in, in the midst of that evolution, they are, they have remained successful. So, you know, they went, they came into the league and it was Freddy Bloomberg. And it was immediately like a big name player, big money spent. And they kind of followed a little bit of that path, like over the next few years, right? You, you had,
00:12:16
Speaker
Dempsey and you had open for me martins and you had i mean in addition to like some of the really good core players i think the sounders were a great example of how to build a roster right cuz it wasn't just the dps it was it was right it wasn't i shouldn't say not just the dps because like i see lanso became a dp eventually but like it wasn't just the guys you went bought there were guys that developed into stars and
00:12:36
Speaker
And they're the first team to really mine U.S.L. for a significant, you know, they had four or five U.S.L. players. They were the first team to sort of like plausibly be elevated from the U.S.L. to. Yeah, I think, I think like when I covered Orlando City expansion in 2015, like the Sounders did pretty much everything right in that expansion season. Like they nailed their expansion draft. They brought the right players up from U.S.L. They had DPs who contributed and they hired Ziggy and
00:13:05
Speaker
You know, there's so many different layers to that, right? You hire Ziggy, but Schmidt sticks around and that allows continuity from the USL team and the USL history into the MLS team. And it provides some context for the team to understand what it meant in the market, all of these different things they did right.
00:13:21
Speaker
All that being said, you know, we've seen this sounders team adapt and change and really it's less even about adaptation as it is that the environment around them has changed so dramatically over the last five years. I mean, we've seen, or I guess a little bit more than five years now, but Atlanta United coming in in 2017 and doing what they did in 2018. LAFCs come in.
00:13:47
Speaker
You can look at the way ownership is spent in Chicago, not as successfully clearly. David Tepper is the wealthiest owner in the league.
00:13:57
Speaker
San Diego's coming in on a $500 million expansion fee. That team in Miami. Miami is doing what they're doing. How do I leave them out of it? And then you've got even like ownership, new ownership in Columbus that spends differently. It's all changed. And I mean, even a team like Dallas is out there spending $9 million on the transfer.
00:14:17
Speaker
Yeah. And, and so like, how do you, how do you adapt to that and, and stay true to who you are? And in the midst of that, I think, and this is the biggest part of it is that there's an expectation of success in Seattle because of the, the consistent success that the club has had over its entire history that you have to adapt and there's very little room to not succeed. And the,
00:14:44
Speaker
line for success is the bar is set pretty high. And so I wanted to come in and do some reporting on what are the Sounders doing to try to adapt, because I think adaptation has to happen as this league evolves. Everyone in the league is having to change, in my opinion, and I think the league itself has this kind of really important moment where it's evaluating how it needs to evolve.
00:15:07
Speaker
How are they doing so and trying to stay true to their identity? And then also like what built that identity? What's allowed them to be successful for so long? How have they done it? And so my hope is that the story tells aspects of all of those things. And I kind of came in with some ideas going in, but I tried to come in kind of with a blank slate and see what they told me.
00:15:43
Speaker
And so from your embrace, you know, you have a much better handle, I think on the landscape of, of MLS of, of, you know, even broadly more, uh, North American soccer. Do you feel like from where you're sitting, the information that you gathered, do you feel like how, what's your sense of if the sounders are doing an effective job of actually maintaining that place and maybe even pushing the line?
Sounders' Success and Future Decisions
00:16:08
Speaker
I think we're going to find out.
00:16:12
Speaker
very soon because I think the sounders, we know the sounders are reaching a point where there's going to be turnover with this team. You know, the teams usually go through cycles and the sounders I think have had a longer cycle with this group than the normal and that's great. That means you've been successful and the budget's been managed well enough to keep the core together.
00:16:33
Speaker
But now we're reaching this point where there are going to be some decisions that get made over the next couple of windows, DP slots that open up, and most importantly, players that get added. And I think to oversimplify things, the thing that has made Seattle so good for so long is that they've nailed, especially their big signings.
00:16:56
Speaker
There have been a couple smaller misses or like guys who were like, okay, but weren't great. But in general, when you look at the DP history of this team, it is.
00:17:07
Speaker
very consistently good. And in this league, one of the better hit rates, right? Definitely. And it's like, that's the differentiator in MLS. Like if you miss on DPS, the Chicago fire, I think would be the exact example of opposite of the Sanders. Like they have not hit on a DP in like a really long time. Um, and I guess you could maybe say in the money, Nicholas, cause he won a golden boot, but like, you know, I think if we're talking about guys who are,
00:17:38
Speaker
game changers, which is how I think of the best DPs in this league. You can go through a much longer list. I mean, Nico Ledero is the best example for the Sounders. I think he came in at a time where Ziggy left and it changed the team changed, right? And won a lot. So the, the DP choices that are coming up, the DP slots, that's going to be a big part of this story.
00:18:03
Speaker
how they manage that. And I think in the past, I think this is a credit to Adrian Hanauer, is that the people that work for the Sounders have been really good and they've been really successful. And it's not always the obvious changes. Like for me, going out and hiring Ziggy was a really smart move, but it couldn't have been an easy one for Adrian.
00:18:30
Speaker
for a club that is so much about their history, you know, there were some tough decisions that they made, you know, they listened to the fans and kept the Sounders name, right? That wasn't a given. And, you know, he went out and hired Ziggy, even though Schmetz was there and had been there and had history in the market. And, you know, Schmetz stayed and like, that might not have been easy for him to stay on the staff and Ziggy kept him, right?
00:18:54
Speaker
Garth, you know, Adrian was the GM, and he went out and got a GM to oversee things and not just a GM, but the best GM in the league. And, you know, then you had a GM and Garth who was willing to, I think, to empower the people who work for him and Chris Henderson was
00:19:14
Speaker
A critical part of it all in scouting the players and signing some of the big names. His eye for players is really, really good. So all those things contributed to this to the Sounders success.
00:19:28
Speaker
And, and now, you know, I think that you, you look at what's going on now, like now it's going to be up to, to, by the way, I should also mention like Ravi and the analytics team, like to build that out before the people in the league had done so, and to listen and empower Ravi and his team at the time, um, to contribute to, to player signings and player signing strategy. I don't want to leave that out because I think it's important.
00:19:50
Speaker
And so now there's been turnover there as well, right? Like Chris Henderson is gone. Yeah. All their way is gone. Robbie is gone. Almost everyone you've mentioned is gone. Right. So and now not to put too much pressure on Craig Weibel, but like, yeah, like I think we'll start to see like how.
00:20:05
Speaker
How efficient is the process that has been put in place with that club over time? And I think that's the key. The goal for any club should be that your process and your identity remain no matter who comes and goes. If you become too tied to any specific individual,
00:20:26
Speaker
then you're at the mercy of one person leaving and you're in trouble. And I think that's a credit to the sounders that they haven't done that. But I think, you know, we've seen enough people leave now that the question is like, do they have enough of the process in place to
00:20:41
Speaker
to kind of manage this turnover and this changeover. And we haven't really seen one of the first steps of it because Pedro de la Vega hasn't been healthy. And we'll see how he plays. I think he has the potential.
Long Acres Training Facility Significance
00:20:54
Speaker
I mean, we were there together for the Vancouver game. I thought he was a really bright addition when he came onto the field.
00:21:00
Speaker
He hit the crossbar. He hit the post. He was running all over the place. He was a very forward-minded player. That's what you want to see out of him. But that, for me, is going to be this kind of like what, from a soccer perspective, like what do we judge the sounders on going forward? It's like, well, okay, let's test these big decisions.
00:21:23
Speaker
it doesn't necessarily mean how much money you're spending. At least if you're not going to spend a lot of money, you better hope that your processes are really good. Yeah. I think that's all very astute and an absolutely fair way of looking at it. You also got a chance to check out Long Acres. We tell ourselves at least that Long Acres must be one of the premier facilities in MLS now.
00:21:53
Speaker
I don't have a lot of firsthand knowledge to make that a real assessment. A, do you think that's true and B, how much of a sense of long acres being at the center of the next 50 years potentially of the sounders or the next iteration at least of the sounders did you get from this? It's a huge part of it.
00:22:19
Speaker
this is where I'm going to struggle not to scoot myself. But I think like, in general, there's like this idea in in sports right now that that sports business needs to evolve to be more of a business to be able to be this thing that that can capitalize on a product and entertainment product that a lot of people watch. And we've seen that look, we're in we it's not that's not a radical thing for us to say, because we live in the United States. And like,
00:22:45
Speaker
That has been the way that it has worked in a lot of American pro sports leagues. I think the NBA changed drastically in kind of how they changed marketing their business and to kind of build out this whole culture around basketball. The NFL obviously is this business that just never ends. And so finding ways to capitalize on the business of soccer in the Seattle market is a crucial part of
00:23:12
Speaker
moving the club forward and growing. And there are different ways to look at that. And I think if you look around MLS, you'll see one very obvious thing that a lot of owners are doing, which is the real estate play, where you try to monetize everything around your stadium. So you're no longer like Miami Freedom Park is a good example. It's not just the stadium, right? They have all this land, they're going to build condos, and they're going to build storefronts, they're going to build restaurants and bars, and they're going to own all of it.
00:23:39
Speaker
And that's going to be this thing that in hotels is to generate money for them around the stadium. And I live in Chicago, 15 minute walk from my house is Wrigleyville. The Ricketts did the same thing with Wrigleyville. They bought up a whole bunch of buildings around the stadium and it's changing what that neighborhood looks like. And they've got a nice hotel right across the street and some nice cool hip restaurants. And that's a way to generate more revenue. So I think
00:24:07
Speaker
That's an important part of moving any sports franchise forward. And the Sounders are going through that. And I think the new training facility, the idea behind it is much bigger than just a training facility.
00:24:24
Speaker
That's important. Um, I also think I liked the facility partly because it's different. Um, you know, a lot of MLS feels, I don't want to say cookie cutter. It's not really fair. I get it. Like a team does a training facility really well. And then when it's time for you to build a training facility, you go visit that facility. You know, I like this. I like this. I like this. All right. We're going to build it very similar. So like Atlanta and LAFCs, they look very similar and you know, Miami is a version of that. And, um,
00:24:51
Speaker
by the nature of the building that the sounders came into that already existed, it just looks different, it feels different, and I like that part of it. I think it fits the sounders. I think it kind of fits a little bit of how they think about the business of the sounders and maximizing
00:25:08
Speaker
basically the resources that are around them in the market and taking advantage of moments to get in at a good price and to maximize what you can then do with the rest of the money you have or whatever. So I like that part of it too. I thought it was a really cool building to walk around. I got a chance to check out like
00:25:29
Speaker
And this is an important part for competing in MLS, you know, some of it is spending as much as on the first team rosters. Some of it is spending enough so that when the players look at where they're going to be living and working day to day, you're competitive, right? Like if you're competing for a tan player against Atlanta United,
00:25:46
Speaker
your training fields facility better be as good as Atlanta United's or sporting Kansas City's or Miami's or LAFC's. So to have like the cryo stuff to have the cold pools to have the nice new weight room to have an updated locker room with a big screen TV and all these amenities to have a really cool
00:26:04
Speaker
place to eat that I thought was totally different than the ones I've seen pretty much anywhere else. And the closest comparison to the players cafeteria is sporting Kansas City, where you kind of make it a place where like, it's kind of cool to hang. But like, that's, that's a part of being competitive in the league now too. So I thought a lot of positives around the training facility and
00:26:24
Speaker
For me, what's cool is the ideas of what could come. There's the train that runs there and stops right there, and what can you build up around it? Obviously, the sounders are thinking a lot about that right now, but it's got the chance to be another cool Seattle soccer spot.
Fan Engagement at Long Acres
00:26:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, you know, one of the things that I you you you're talking about it now and I'm having this realization in in real time that you know sounders fans were sort of were very much spoiled at Starfire in that it was a public space. It wasn't fancy and it wasn't
00:27:00
Speaker
There was nothing, um, there was no recruitment, real, real element to it. It had fallen behind in terms of, of the way that it appealed to players and whatnot. And that all needed to be upgraded. But from a fan perspective, it was great just because you could walk up and you could, you could engage with the players. You could literally watch training anytime you wanted to. And I think we definitely took that for granted in that.
00:27:28
Speaker
And we maybe overlook the fact that most training facilities are not built with any sort of public access element. Like maybe the press is allowed for 15 minutes or whatever, but there aren't, my understanding is there really aren't very many teams that are allowing the level of access that the sounders are, which is just basically say, any day we're holding training, the press is effectively given carte blanche to come in and watch training.
00:27:52
Speaker
but that there is spaces there designed for fans to watch as well. Now, it's not as open as it used to be, but there are fans being brought in and there's areas designed specifically to engage fans and that's probably going to get better.
00:28:07
Speaker
And am I accurate in that those elements just don't exist in other places, right? Yeah, it's super unique in MLS to have that level of access. I think it's more in line with the rest of the world. You can go through different clubs and see the different ways that they handle things of fans being able to watch training, sometimes not wanting fans to be able to watch training because they can get confrontational.
00:28:30
Speaker
I think about like when I went to Cologne for US men's national team friendly before the World Cup and they were training at the Cologne facility and it was this like beautiful facility that's literally tucked into the middle of the woods. I took like a train and I walked through this little town and through the woods through this park and then through more woods and all of a sudden it was like boom there was like a facility there in the middle of the woods.
00:28:51
Speaker
But they have like a little grand stance so that when their reserve team plays or whatever and occasionally they let the fans come and watch training, but it is it's kind of like a Controlled environment at the same time, you know, and I think that's that makes sense It's like how can we engage fans? But also be careful make sure we're protecting our players and make sure that we are
00:29:17
Speaker
finding a balance. And but I think it's a really cool part of the sounders that they are open. I said this to Alex Caulfield, the director of comms for me just to be able to walk into the locker room after the game. It's been a while that that's happened for me in an MLS game, which is just crazy. It used to be the norm. I used to walk into last time I was in Seattle in 2015. I walked in and interviewed Kaka in the visiting locker room. And like nowadays, like the idea of like going up to like
00:29:45
Speaker
you know, boost gets our album in a locker room is just like, it's not gonna happen, you know, so I think it's, I think it's a cool part of the sounders identity and culture that that openness is, is expected and that in the club embraces it.
00:30:01
Speaker
Yeah, no, I've been very comforted recently to hear both the comm staff and Brian say things publicly and privately that they really like this level of openness because it is something that I feel like it's easy for us to take for granted. I feel like I should take it for granted because that then creates the expectation that they'll keep doing it.
00:30:23
Speaker
But it's still good to hear that there's some comfort in knowing that it is not quite the norm and that the sounders are happy about
Conclusion and Upcoming Sounders' Content
00:30:33
Speaker
it. But Paul, I know you have other things to get to. You have puzzles to solve and all kinds of fun stuff to do. Thank you so much for joining us. When are you expecting this story to come out? Because I am sure our listeners are going to rush out and buy a
00:30:50
Speaker
athletic subscription just to read it. They don't already have one, which I imagine a lot of them do. Yeah, it's going to come out around the 50th anniversary celebration, which I think is June 14th or 15th somewhere in the 16th. Thank you. I was close. And I think that's like where I'm where I'm like filing it.
00:31:10
Speaker
Yeah, so it should it should run right around then. So keep an eye out for it. And thanks for having me on. I had a blast in Seattle. Appreciate getting to spend some time with everyone and always happy to come and chat. So thanks for having me on the pod, too.
00:31:24
Speaker
Yeah, you also have a book that eventually is going to come out. And so I know that's a long way off, but I do want to put it on people's radar, be looking for this book. I'm genuinely excited to read it and to hear about it. But Paul, anytime you feel like coming on the podcast and just chopping it up about The Sounders, I'm more than happy to, or anything you want. I'm always happy to have you on. We miss you from allocation disorder. It's like a huge hole in my podcasting world.
00:31:54
Speaker
Uh, but I, uh, and I would imagine we have a lot of crossover listeners in that. But anyway, Paul, thank you so much for being on. Uh, this is no Saturday at this and we'll catch you next time.
00:33:01
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!