He's a tough kid. All I gotta say is the public
can't say it's cheating. Hello and welcome to
Mariner's Scuttlebutt, where we talk about how
the Mariners have lost 6 -7 in our... Oh, no,
it's Sounders Scuttlebutt! That is right, we're
here to talk about your... Seattle Sounders,
one of the best teams in the MLS. I am here,
me being Cameron Collins, with my co -host, Nicholas
Biello. What's up, Nicholas? How are you faring
over there in quarantine? Well, just a little
bit under the weather, but I'm... Going to soldier
through because we want to get you some beautiful
content leading up to tomorrow's League's Cup
match. We are recording the night before the
match to get something out to you. Not COVID,
though? You okay? You know what? I don't think
so. I think it's just a little sniffles. No,
no, I didn't. COVID, I know. eight people that
just got over COVID independently of each other.
Oh, yikes. Well, around the country. So I mean,
to be fair, to be fair, I've already ruled out
going to the game tomorrow. So yeah. So I don't
want to get other people sick. Exactly. So looking
out for all of you, but I will be there in spirit.
Are you drinking beer today? All right. Ooh,
that makes me really want to drink some beer,
but yes, I will be. I have myself a little bottle.
That sounded great on your side. Yes. Cause it
was water. Oh, see, when Aaron does it, it doesn't
sound good at all, but you get that little pop
in the bottle. I think Aaron just needs to work
on his technique. It's all in the wrist. Yeah.
Aaron, get that wrist working more often. I guess
with a one -bedroom apartment, it makes it difficult.
You got to find your spots. You got to pick your
battles. I mean, you do work at a hotel, buddy.
Pretty cool that we'll have him tell the story
next time he's on the little scuttle, but he
had a good week. He had to go see heart play
after we had talked about on the show when it
was just me and him. I told him the heart was
coming to town. He found out that they were staying
at his hotel and he got to go see him, which
is, I think, I think he needed it. It's been
separate from Seattle for too long. All he gets
to do is talk about Sounders and that's about
it. Yeah, I agree. He, He was very happy about
that, but that's his story to tell. So we'll
have something to listen to when he gets back
to talk with us. That's right. Anything else?
I mean, you've been sick for a few days. Anything
going on before that? I mean, you're working
like 12 jobs now, right? Yeah, I'm just doing
a lot of just trying to trying to make some money.
You know, we've got obviously season ticket renewals
coming up soon. So definitely not need to stay
ahead of that. Yep. Yep. We had a meeting with
Alliance Council on that today. Just keep that
in mind. Not really anything exciting to make
public. Just that renewals is as it always has
been. You've opted in. And if you want to opt
out, you're going to have to be proactive about
it. Yeah. Other scuttlebutt. We're coming down
to the end of the transfer deadline. We got about
a few days ago. No news in Sounders Front as
of right now. Is today the last day? Is it the
19th? Hmm. It might be. Let's see. Transfer window
MLS. What are you? It ends on the 21st. Okay.
I didn't think it was today, but two more days,
you know, report out of sounder at heart about
a player that we tried to sign that is on loan
to a Spanish secondary club from Strasbourg.
The, the reporting was that it was nixed by a
higher up from the Strasbourg slash Chelsea ownership
group. I don't. We don't know actually what happened,
but I do, I can say that that would have been
a, I mean, this, I can't even pronounce his name,
but this signing a forward valued at 6 million
euros, 19 years old, Serbian youth Nash international.
This would have been a far better signing than
Noah Ohio. In my opinion, this guy was a higher
quality forward. Like Milos, Milos Lukovic, Lukovic.
There we go. If Serbian is anything like Polish,
Lukovic. Yeah. So it would have been super fun
signing. It makes me excited that the Sounders
were in on conversations with them, though, to
improve. And I think it speaks to the fact that
they're not complacent. Things just haven't worked
out. Well, you got to keep this in mind. One.
you have a very, very narrow window of possible
players that you can sign because the only spots
we have available are youth under 22 roster signing.
Now, the problem is any. under 22 roster signing
doesn't mean it's not like a dp where you can
spend as much as you want you can spend as much
as you want to get him to the team you cannot
spend as much as you want on their actual contract
so it has to be someone that is that true i mean
i know it only hits the cap at 150 correct but
you but you can spend far more than that no it's
the it's the transfer Oh, because it goes you're
saying because it over the length of the contract,
it goes through ameliorates over the length of
the contract. Yeah. And so that's that's kind
of the issue there. And so and so I'm just looking
that up right now, just to kind of quote properly,
because I did look this up and it was really.
I think I think, though, because it only hits
and obviously Leo chewing up over time, but it
only hits at 150. And that's why he was such
a deal. Well, if he wasn't U22, he was – the
UDP was what he was originally brought in under
and then they changed the – But at the U22 level,
he was making far more money and only hitting
us at 150, which is why it was like, okay. Well,
I mean as much as he's not producing for us,
if he had stuck around, I wasn't opposed to it
considering – I mean especially last year coming
into it, you had someone – sorry, Danny Muzofsky
who this year obviously worth $600 ,000. Not
worth $600 ,000 a year last year. Yeah, so to
give you context, the compensation as the player's
salary may not exceed the maximum salary budget
charge in any given year, including option years.
Now, a homegrown or super drop player on their
second contract may earn max salary plus $200
,000 above the max salary budget year. But what
it is is that there's not the budget chart. It's
$612 ,500. They have to make less than $612 ,500.
Yeah. So they have to make non -DP money. So
there is that going on. And plus, MLS is going
to MLS. Even though these are the published 2025
rules, sometimes we hear about rule changes after
the fact. So take it with a grain of salt. What
you were saying basically is that whatever we
pay in a transfer fee goes on to his contract
beyond the – so if it's $612 ,000 and you're
paying – $8 million. Let's just draw a number
out there. Let's just say $8 million over eight
years. Let's do $6 million over six years, just
to keep it easy. That's adding a million per
year to it, which is above what you can pay on
that. If you could get them for less or on a
loan and then transfer it later, the way Miami
loves to do it and change what status is later,
you can have up to a $600 ,000 contract that
only hits you at $150 ,000. thousand if they're
20 or younger 200 000 this year now if they're
21 to 23 so that that has changed as leo chu
was in that position for us i am yeah so i i
we may have a little bit of that slightly mixed
up as far as how the actual transfer applies
but i thought that the transfer itself is not
part of the cap hit it's the salary that is the
the challenge in either case so in either case
in both of these you have to have the money yeah
so so in both so basically that's the limited
window that we have so you need a player who's
young enough that will command a multi -million
dollar transfer fee but is not established enough
that their individual salary is above max tam
essentially we uh yeah yeah i mean they have
to make below dp money exactly yeah and and and
so second that changes you know that that creates
some of the issues and and and frankly leo chu
once again just to kind of for the record was
considered a successful u22 signing from league
perspectives you know of course everyone wants
the next denny buonga Of course. Or Dejan Jovovich.
I can't say his name. But yeah. And so I love
that these are the swings we're taking because
that tells me that we're taking swings on players
that will make a difference and not just signing
someone for the sake of signing someone. That
player immediately becomes a starter forward
until Jordan gets back. Yes. If he works his
way into the team and plays well. I mean, all
the ifs, ands, or buts, right? Because same thing
with Ryan Kent. Like, you never know what's going
to happen. But talent -wise, I mean, I love Osaze.
He's not there yet. Danny has been killing it
and is earning his money, but his upside isn't
as high. Correct. So I think you would see something.
I mean, but looking at the money -wise for up
to that, like... A lot of our players, there's
players on our team, when you look at their contracts,
I mean, if you had told me Danny Mazovsky was
making $555 ,000, if I didn't already know that,
that seems low this year, but it seems way too
high last year, right? So it's because you signed
a contract over a number of years. And so coming
into the season, it was like, how are we going
to pay him that much? Now, you know, the fact
that he's the 10th, 11th highest played player
on our team makes it feel, oh, well, he kind
of earned that. Well, it's really interesting
to see, one, just how the roster has evolved
over the last 10 years. 10 years ago, I was managing
an affordable housing. Well, a little over 10
years ago, I was managing an affordable housing
apartment in downtown Seattle. And as part of
the application process, you kind of pre -qualify.
People show me their pay stubs, and I can kind
of, oh, yes, you qualify, or no, you don't qualify.
and dylan remick was a sounder at that time he
qualified for affordable housing because because
35 000 a year yeah it was like it was somewhere
in that 35 to 45 000 a year yeah so so we've
certainly evolved and that's great from a league
perspective king county for a family of four
the ami is 88 000 so around 70 000 for family
four so that's going to be So everyone on our
team now is no longer low -income housing, but
not by a lot. I don't have the numbers in front
of me. Well, that's a family of four versus a
family of one. A family of one, the math works
out to 60 -ish. And the lowest paid player on
our team is 80 now. But they're not much off,
right? It brings an interesting question, though,
which, I mean, I don't know about you. There's
not a ton I want to talk about from the Minnesota
game. I think you and I are going to have a debate
over. the low block and then be able to move
on. But I'm interested to see what you think
of this. These, I'm going to tell you a player,
I'm going to tell you multiple players that are,
this is the last year of their contract and how
much they're making. And my takeaway is there's
going to be a lot of money that frees up next
year to sign players in the, in the cap. So,
so it could be interesting, but also to share
your screen. Oh, good thinking. I'd love to see
with you. Let me pull this out here and share
screen so that those of us that are on video,
which is only you and I, since this is not a
Patreon episode, we can... And of course, these
numbers aren't 100 % accurate, but they are the
accurate numbers that we have. You see that?
Yep. Okay. So, I mean, obviously, our two DPs
are the highest paid, although... Our third DP
is paid less than a couple of TAM players we
have, which is interesting that we use a lot
of TAM money to pay down Jesus and Christian,
I guess. I think you and I might have a very
robust, interesting debate on the fact that Jordan
Morris makes $2 .2 million a year, making him
the second highest paid player on the team. But
let's move past that for now. Ryan Kent, $936
,000. I mean, I can't see him being brought back
for a number even close to that. Well, it depends
on what his injury status was. Right, but still.
Yeah, it's not looking great for Ryan Kent. Plus,
it's very tough to have both Paul Areola and
Ryan Kent on the roster. It may end up, because
both of them are having what's effectively season
-ending injuries, you may end up having to make
a decision of which one is more likely to come
back. to full fitness. Yeah. And let's circle
back to that because there's another player who
is coming out of contract that's going to be
needing to pay a lot more money. So then we move
down, look another here, Yamar, 800 ,000 a year.
I was talking to Alex Diaz about this and I think
perhaps, I mean, obviously we want him back,
but I wonder if he might go the way of Leardom,
that if he wants to make the same money, they
might move on because he's not. I mean, he's
still excellent when he's on the field, but he
might not be able to stay on the field as much.
So he might be a cap casualty if they're making
other big moves. Yeah. Do we happen to know with
this? Does this take into account whether we
have an option year or not? This does not have
it. I can pull up another thing where I can tell
you if that exists independently. So I'm pulling
that up right now. Okay. So Ryan Kent, we do
have a club option. Yeah. Yamar. we have a club
option. So these are all players that we have
a club option on so far. So big decisions have
to be made on Yamar there. It's going to be interesting.
Obviously, I think he's worth bringing back,
but that money, we'll see. Steph Fry, another
one, $600 ,000 out of contract. You're paying
a lot less for Andrew Thomas. What is the drop
-off? You're paying $200 ,000. What is the drop
-off in terms of quality versus the amount you
could use to spend on another player? You don't
lowball for that position. The way it's already
being discussed from our coaching staff, I don't
know that Stephen Fry is back next year anyways.
Stephen Fry is back if he's still playing. Not
if he wants more money. I don't think they bring
him back at a higher number. Absolutely not.
Well, his numbers are going lower and lower each
year. And he had to fight to get this number.
They didn't plan on bringing him back pretty
much as how it seemed like it was going. But
regardless, I move on personally, but that's
just me. I have no problem with him being brought
back. He's not the one that we have to have obvious
conversations about. I think you've got to move
on from his $600 ,000 contract. Yeah, I don't
think you exercise the option, but maybe you
re -sign him for something smaller. Right. And
he, let me pull back up over here. Club option.
So the only people that don't have club options
that we're going to go through here are Rothrock,
RBW, John Bell, and Steph. So everyone else has
a club option. But Rothrock, RBW, given their
ages, we may have some sort of, we may not have
a, that may be, that may fall under the, we have
the right of, for as long as we're saying they're
a legitimate contract. They can't leave, but.
But we're going to have to pay them. At least
they can't leave within MLS. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Danny Masovsky, $555 ,000 is a steal right now
based on how he's doing. Do you bring him – I
mean, do you exercise that club option? And what
is – we don't know what that number is either.
But that brings up another question. Nuhu, I
don't think he does – is he on this list? He's
– Oh, you're looking for the option list. He
does have a club option. So interesting to see
what that would be at. The other names. So that's
all the big names money -wise. But here's what
I really wanted to talk to you about because
I think it changes some of those decisions up
above. The players that need to be re -signed
are Ree Baker Whiting, or if you sign him, bring
him back. He makes the most at 150. John Bell,
135. Obed already taken care of. Jacob Castro.
Well, Obed not taking care of Obed's in negotiation,
but nothing's official at this point. Something
I saw on other official MLS sources has his contract
going through 2027 or eight now. So they must,
they must still be working on it, but I guess
they assumed it's done. I don't know. Kim Kihi,
Osaze, Paul Rothrock, KKR, Leo, Bernie, and Travian
Souza. Of all those names. be selling Paul Rothrock,
who's going to need a huge pay raise, who stands
out to you as like, this is people we need to
sign, which means we might need to use Ryan Kent's
money. You know, you don't need all 900 ,000,
but you're going to have to throw, I don't know,
500 ,000, 400 ,000 of that at Paul Rothrock,
if you're being fair, more. But. I mean, to be
perfectly honest, yeah. This may be a year where.
We let some players go. That might be a little
surprising. We'll find out. But yeah, I think
I would expect to see Paul Rothrock get a raise
somewhere in the Danny Mussofsky set of numbers.
Between $500 ,000 and $600 ,000. Jackson's at
$600 ,000. Yeah, I mean, Jackson's a good analog
there. And all the names above that are like
the stars of the team, which he's close to, but
maybe because he's not getting the minutes, isn't.
Yeah. So that's one that would jump out to me.
KKR's got to have an option here. He's just so
new to the team, so I'm not worried about that.
But obviously you bring him back. I think you
keep Reed Baker whiting just because he's got
potential sell -on. He's still got a lot of potential.
Yeah, I think his contract will go up, though,
from 150. I'd see him more in line with the Danny
Leyva type. He's getting more minutes than Danny
Leyva. And a couple of these people may end up
being used on the U -22s as a cap savings there.
With that in mind, I think this is probably the
last. Oh, no, he's still under contract. I was
going to say Cody Baker. No, he's got two more
years. I worry about him because he's not getting
a lot of time and people are jumping ahead of
him. I'm curious what we do with John Bell. He's
kind of turning into the backline equivalent
of Azira. Yeah. Michael Azera, who I love. John
Bell is, I mean, to put it in baseball terms,
he's Willie Bloomquist. You put, oh, he's before
your time, isn't he? Damn. Utility infielder.
You can put him at multiple different positions
in the defense. He's going to step up. He's going
to be purposeful. Yeah, he's going to be fine.
He'll be serviceable across the board. He's not,
I mean, he had that red card, but arguably, I
don't even think that was a red card. No, that
was not. But outside of that, his mistakes are
minimal. You know, he had one here, one there.
But when you're not getting minutes, those are
bound to happen. Like, I think he's a steal at
135. Yeah. Again, I think Michael Azera is the
perfect analog to that because Azera is someone
that was on a league minimum contract and was
able to step up and get those minutes and take
those minutes. Yeah. So who's the other, there
was another player we had that was much like
that. They went on to be one of the union reps
for the league. Played for New Mexico, right?
Yeah. It's in my head, but. And I just can't
get there, but yeah. We'll think of it. But yeah,
I mean, so there's some interesting decisions
to make, but I could see some, if even though
this U22 signing didn't come through for the
Serbian now, if he's someone we're seriously
interested in and he's top of. uh mind i could
see them having plenty of money to go after him
next year with the amount of money that will
i mean you're gonna have to pay some out but
the amount of money that's gonna free up from
a ryan kent from a xiao paulo i mean that's right
there alone is 1 .5 million and then potentially
you could use some of that money to up other
contracts rework contracts there's a lot you
could do here to to uh change things so i'm excited
to um See what happens. But I just, here's for
me, I was mainly excited that they, they were
make trying to make a big move. Like they didn't,
they weren't just giving up cause they couldn't
get no Ohio. Yeah. Yeah. And, and so I'm just,
I'm just trying to not get too involved in reading
some of the. some of the conjecture if it's like
i i ignore most of that stuff i mean i i will
be frustrated if we don't bring in anybody because
it is true that five of the top six teams in
the west have brought in starters true but we
also are coming from a deeper we're coming from
a better place of advantage where we are so deep
i think we need a forward though and here's i
don't I don't need one of these. I was saying
this to people off mic. I think, I don't know
if I talked about, I might've talked about it
on the last ultras episode, but, uh, I just want
an M MLS level backup forward to come in and
just be another body in that position right now
that can do what Messiah is doing. Yeah. Yeah.
Praise the Messiah. Cause I don't think, I don't
think, so I don't think that Osaze is MLS backup
level at this. time he will be but yeah yeah
yeah he he is firmly a third string you know
he's taking up the minutes that were previously
given to players like um darwin jones and vick
mansouray and those weren't a lot of men he's
only getting more because the huskies uh we 90
uh darwin jones oh no andy craven no 99 yeah
i i was thinking we just let go of this year
um he was oh yeah i really liked him more time
dylan thomas not thomas dylan remez yeah dylan
yes something like that tevez there we go tevez
thank you it was a tea it was a team yeah i'm
like dylan thomas is a poet we're not going there
oh that's where my head is at apparently um but
no uh Tevez, and I like Tevez, but he wasn't
producing goals. But that's the level, you know,
Osase is better, is producing better, is looking
better as your third string forward than we've
had in that spot. And I mean, that just speaks
to the kind of depth we're getting. production
out of our six choice center back that other
teams would kill for you know when you've got
alex rolled on as your sixth choice center back
and just leading to a couple shutouts and just
so so we're building really good stuff there
but yes i think forward is somewhere where we
are most um susceptible to problems if things
if things don't go our way and There's a lot
of people asking, how do we buy down Jordan?
I mean, clearly he has not lived up to the DP
contract because of injury. Not necessarily his
fault. The amount of money he makes to buy him
down from... You could spend that damn money
on much better things than buying him down. You
can't buy him down. You can only buy him out.
Yeah. And they're not going to do that. Maybe
they should. I think you got to give them a year.
You got to give them a year to see how it goes.
So I think we're committed to, my suspicion is
we're committed to Jordan for at least next year.
But if we have two years of non -DP production,
whether through injury or no fault of their own,
that's going to be the writing on the wall there.
i was looking up the numbers because i was curious
how many games aussie played when we decided
he was too injured to continue to play for us
versus jordan and last year jordan even though
he was injured for a little bit of it he played
enough games that he doesn't fall into aussie
categories but this year and the year before
last apparently looking at the total played there's
also more more things now so i was like is he
in aussie numbers he's not he's playing more
than aussie did even with this year in there
so uh In my head, I thought, well, this feels
very similar to Ozzy when you move on, but he's
not there yet. He's not there in terms of numbers.
But just keep in mind, last year he was very
healthy. He played in the most games of any sounder.
He played in 37 games. Right, right. He played
a lot. But that is the year he was good, and
the year before was where he wasn't. He wasn't
getting the same number of matches, but this
year he's at 10 games. So that's, and this is
league play, not all the other competitions,
but you get the point. And he got one club world
cup for three minutes, but and you know, the
other time he's been in the other ones too. So
it's, it's, it's an interesting idea. I think,
I think people who are still frustrated and they
take it out on Jordan. And this is, I'm talking
not about us, although you probably put me in
the same category as them, because I think people
are frustrated that we haven't signed a DP in
the summer window for, what was the last one
I saw that was a meaningful one? It's been a
while. Priority is. No, there was a few signings
after that weren't that level. But still, Leo
Chu. Well, you said DP. I thought you said DP.
Oh, I did. I meant just like a big signing. A
big signing. So I get the frustration. For me,
I think if they don't bring in anything, they
failed. I don't know. Is the trade deadline the
same as the transfer deadline? That I don't know.
I don't know when the roster freezes because
they could still bring someone in after it if
they don't have a club. I just don't know why
you don't have a – if you have an open spot.
And I was meant to bring up their roster. I'm
pretty sure they have an open roster spot regardless.
The roster freezes September 12th. The transfer
deadline is August 21st. So they could still
pick someone up in theory out of contract. Yes.
So Stuart Hawkins is not currently on the roster
apparently. Oh, this is preseason. So this is
an account for Leo Chu being gone. And Stuart
Hawkins probably is. And we brought in other
players. But Dylan Tevez is gone on the supplemental
roster. So we could bring in another player.
It's just, I think, I just can't. We just need
bodies at this point with the number of games
that we have going into the playoffs and everything.
And I think this may be a good point to break
so we can talk about the Minnesota game. I don't
understand why every team just doesn't play the
low block against us, and then we would never
score again. I'm going to disagree, as you alluded
to. We had some good opportunities. Unfortunately,
Osase just couldn't finish a couple of those
opportunities. They weren't good crosses. They
were over his head, and he was able to get up
to him. I don't blame him at all. Maybe you could
argue he could jump earlier, but they were not.
Those were high for him, and he's freaking tall.
But also, that's my point. We need someone better
than him in those positions. I love him. I'm
glad he's on the roster. He's a great addition.
Moose isn't getting those either. We need someone
who can play that. We need someone who can come
in and start for us right now in positions where
you're not starting Moose. The only way we can
do that is through the under -22. That's what
I'm saying. I don't think that's based on some
of the other stuff we've done. And because we
opened up a roster, we've opened, we opened up
a roster spot there with injuries. They still,
we, so they still count against us in terms of
cap, but I'm pretty sure because of the way it
worked out, looking at this roster that was preseason,
right? So it doesn't account for we'd have to
see, but. We could bring in a supplemental roster
level player for sure, which doesn't have to
be a U22. You had Reed Baker whiting on that
roster. Jackson Reagan was on it prior. Paul
Rothrock was on it prior to this year. Paul Rothrock
was awesome enough last year. So you could bring
in someone who's making less money, right? I
am not 100 % sure, but the supplemental roster.
Yeah, the supplemental roster has to be filled
with players earning the reserve minimum salary,
so $80 ,622. Definitely players on there making
more than that. Which may include homegrown players.
Homegrown players earning more than the reserve
minimum salary, subject to the homegrown player
subsidy. Which is why Obed's there. So we could
not bring in someone. If we're bringing in someone,
they have to be maxed at $80 ,622 in those spots.
Johnny Russell, man. Johnny Russell. If you have
an open spot, why not do a flyer on someone?
No, because those reserve minimum salary players
must be 24 years or younger during the year.
Now, senior minimum salary players, that's slots
21 through 24. That is $104 ,000. And yeah, so
they must be paid a base salary that's at least
a senior minimum salary. And that's 21 through
24. I don't think we have any of those spots
available. Yeah, I mean... We could, we would
have to look specifically at the roster and figuring
out because. We didn't have those spots available
earlier in the year. How, I mean, yeah, we also
have had major injuries since then. But how else,
I mean, but I mean, you know, I don't trust.
the reporting from sounder at heart it is some
of the most mediocre reporting out there unless
they're getting direct leaks from the sounders
but some reason they get however they said we're
gonna go get they believe we're gonna go get
an mls level player how could i mean unless we're
trading for them i mean that's certainly one
one way we could do it uh could also be someone
who is not in the cap the only other way i think
we could possibly do it is if One of the players
that are in slots 21 through 24 would also qualify
for U22 spot because we had three of those spots
available. Let's see, 21, 24. They would not.
I'm looking at the current one right now. Yeah.
So we would have to send. I mean, yeah, I don't
know how it works then. This is stupid. mls math
but yeah i mean unfortunately that's one of the
that's one of the areas that mls has to do better
is we can talk about other sports and look at
a cap and and and play capology with mls there's
so many different constructions that and they
don't publish the salaries or the contract lengths
so so much of this is just speculation and then
it unfortunately leads to two types of people,
people who are trying to get the good understanding
of it and get an accurate picture and people
who are just talking out of their ass and going,
well, I can do it in FIFA. Why can't I do it
here? Actually. So I didn't count numbers. It
looks like we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. We have 18 senior
roster, senior roster players for 20 spots. So
as long as. Osaze counts as a supplemental roster
player, which based on the money, I'm pretty
sure he does. And as long as you 22 Brunel counts,
I mean, he'd be a homegrown player. So I believe
we might have to now, do we, we have, do we still
have our international slot that maybe we'd have
to get an American player? Do what do we like?
There's, there's other considerations, right?
How much cap space do we actually have? Well,
that's the other side of the, it looks like we
do have two. Open senior roster spots. So for
those 18 spots, do we have a salary budget charge
of under 5 .9 million? So that's the question.
And so again, we just don't have those transparencies.
So what I can say, so with that, I have to go
off of emotion. And my emotion is that we have
built a very, very deep roster. What I think
is the deepest roster I've ever seen in MLS.
In its current construction, like its current
existence, I'd say yes. Even in previous years,
you've never had bits. Oh, not for the Sounders.
I think there's been other deep teams, though.
There have been deep teams. Deep youth teams,
youth player teams for RSL. I mean, we've had
a lot of that. But this is, I mean, the amount
of injuries we've had, there's no reason the
Sounders shouldn't be near the bottom of the
league. Correct. Correct. If you assign every
player a numerical position, oh, this is your
first center, your first center back, your first
forward, and you give the total number of games
played by all those positions to every team,
there's no way in hell anyone else is even near
our roster, our record. And so with that in mind.
that's the trade -off you have you have different
ways of doing things you've got the la galaxy
way which is to go all into the last penny and
then be screwed uh when when the season's over
for the next year i mean that's that's what happens
to a lot of teams right you go in and then you
win your championship and then you gotta have
a fire cell baseball does it too even though
they don't the marlins have done it multiple
times yeah i mean uh yeah right you can go the
you know the sounders way which is we're gonna
we're gonna spend smartly where consistently
they've had they've gone with numbers over individuals
like in their In their history, they've often
been one of the league leaders in total number
of TAM players. So they've gone for depth in
that way. But this is on a new level that I've
never seen before with this kind of depth. You
can go with the few years ago FC Dallas way or
the Philadelphia Union way, which is just fill
it up with nothing but homegrown players and
just try and make your money that way. You can
go the Atlantic galaxy or the LAFC way, which
is take huge swings at players. And then when
it doesn't work out, you spent so much on them.
You could still sell them for, for pennies on
the dollars, but still bring in millions of dollars
back, you know, and take those, take those swings.
I don't think that this club has that appetite
to, to, to do that, but, but I'm. okay with that
like look at Atlanta this year they brought in
the the 40 million dollars worth of on two players
and they are not getting the results like yeah
so spending money doesn't always lead to lead
to results you gotta you gotta be smart about
it now one of the things that the Sounders have
the biggest advantage and go ahead oh I said
the difference when you and I is I agree. You're
saying you and I agree 1000 % on all of this
stuff. You just think that spending a little
more money than I, than they're already spending
is too much. And I'm like, is it not my fucking
money? Go spend it. Well, I just try to be realistic.
Dollar player. Why, why not? Well, And I get
that. But the thing is, I don't like when people
are like, oh, well, look at how the Sounders
aren't spending any money on transfers over the
last four seasons. Well, the Sounders also have
the highest rate of base players returning. And
look at our core players. We've got Christian
Moldon just hit 300 games. Nuhu is at 200 games.
We've got players that have just... been part
of our core for so long that we're not needing
to bring in and get rid of and transfer in and
transfer out. And Alex has turned into a player
that I think will be here long -term now too.
I mean, that's, that's a guy that becomes a leader,
has become a leader. He's been a, he's been a,
he's worn our captain's armband. Yeah. That's
what I'm trying to say. Now that's the words
I'm trying to say. I will say, and this is according
to Ben Wright of nashville sc this is as of the
start of the season okay seven so after we'd
already made all our trades so this number isn't
completely accurate because there's uh some of
it may have gone to some other players but we
would have had 1 .15 million gam available uh
that does not include the world cup money That
if we did get that game and we didn't already
trade it away, which we don't know the answer
to. No, I thought we did. I thought we did know
the answer to that. We never had proof that that
actually happened. Oh, no, no, no. I thought
someone had said to us that that was part of
the Jesus Ferreira, Paul Areola trades. That
was the speculation from you and I, but we have
not found any proof to back up why that's in
our heads. But that would still leave us with
1 .15 million then, depending on what else happened.
And the way we got there is we got $250 ,000
from sending San Diego international slots, which
one of those came from the Arriaga trade. We
gave the Red Bulls an international slot for
2025. And 2026. So we got 350 ,000 out of that.
We got a hundred thousand from Atlanta for an
international roster spot. She just keeps sending
these away like crazy. And we got, we keep green
carding people. Yeah. We traded two international
roster slots in January, 2024 to LAFC. And so
we got 350 gam from that. Plus you can, if you
want the sounders, like you said, are reticent
to borrow from the future to pay for the past.
I mean, I guess it's the present, but still you're
paying on past performance. They can borrow up
to $1 .25 million of GAM from 2026 and 2027 budgets
if they wanted to, which makes me think they
probably have done that in the past, which is
why we are in some roster trouble in the last
few years in terms of salary cap. That's a good
question, and that's good speculation there.
Does that also include the Josh Atencio incoming
money that we got? No, I don't believe so. But
that $1 .15, I think, would, because that took
place. prior to march right yes yeah yeah so
that does but so uh yeah so potentially we have
money gam that we can use but again let's not
get gam money confused with tam money you're
not going to be able to get a player that's of
deep equality or equivalent or you know close
to it you're not going to get a paul areola type
of player yeah no jesus ferreira no yamar no
christian we're talking to danny mazovsky uh
well knew who but I don't know why he, I mean,
I guess he's right on the cusp, right? But Jao
Paulo and the older Jao Paulo, Jackson Ray, because
he's coming. So it's either a young player that's
just coming up or it's an older player who's
coming off of being that TAM level player. Yeah.
And so one of the things you got to keep in mind,
though, with all of that is that the. uh yeah
the roster rules are are not super transparent
that's a little unfortunate there's people that
probably turn this off because they're like what
the hell are they talking about hey we don't
make these rules no no and that's okay but but
what we have done consistently is is field winning
teams with what we're given and it's it's it's
just a i i wish we all I wish we all had a good
understanding what the rules were so that we
can make good informed arguments. Because a lot
of times I read some, oh, why don't we do this?
If only we did this. And what they're proposing
isn't even a possibility. It's literally not
allowed. And if people could. You know, if you
want to make criticism because there are there
is room for criticism. There's room for, you
know, agreeing or disagreeing on the way we construct
our rosters. I happen to really like it. I just
think if that areola injury hadn't happened,
imagine the heights this team could be reaching,
even with all the other injuries. I was you and
I watching areola, you know, we're looking at
each other like, oh, my God, this is this is
going to be great for that game. I mean, all
I can say is, in the words of Dylan Thomas, and
I was green and carefree, famous among the barns,
you know? What's the scene from Back to School?
Oh, no. Yes! Yes! We're pulling out the classics
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Oh, that sounds nice. By the way, I appreciate
that you went full Wayne's World. I was hoping
you would. I was hoping you would. So thank you.
Thank you. Welcome back. Welcome back, everybody.
Yeah, let's talk about the Minnesota game. But
before that, I just want to say you and I were
in a meeting the other day with Peter Tomozawa,
who is the CEO of World Cup Seattle. Yeah, nice
to see him again. Yeah, it was fun to get in
there and talk to him and kind of learn what's
going to happen. I don't mean to bring it up.
to actually talk about a lot what we were talking
about but we did talk about at the club world
cup they had some sounders fans get to use the
boards i'm blanking on the name right now that
let them feel with their hands what's going on
on the field at the soccer game so they could
actually keep track of it and then i was just
at dinner a couple nights ago at bang bang kitchen
on the block from my house if you haven't been
there amazing new mexican food from uh new mexico
uh it's fantastic sisters uh miki and yuki that
own it go check it out but uh i ran into a guy
there who named david who works for the state
who is uh partially sighted and he said he got
to use it for he's used it for both baseball
and basketball and it's fantastic yeah they're
called uh one court thank you One Court is the
company that does this, onecourt .io, and they
create these tablets that are trackable vibrations
so they can watch the game with their fingertips
because all of these sports now basically have
a GPS chip inside their balls. Yeah. My favorite
thing to have happen to me, I'll tell you what.
I mean, it's usually court mandated when you've
been... Nope. Nope. But yeah, so you know, there's
so much data out there now that they can translate
it to the physical field that the - Instantaneously,
practically, with minimal lag. And I actually
had the sincere pleasure to chat with one of
our fellow ECS members that I've known for years,
and I love picking his brain. just to kind of,
you know, he gives me great feedback of things
to bring up to the Alliance Council. And he's
the one that brought this to my attention that
he got to use one of these tablets during the
Club World Cup and was just blown away by it.
And then I saw some Instagram videos of another
visually impaired person being able to use it,
but they had their, what looked to be like their
nine -year -old daughter on their lap. And he
was talking. through the game with his daughter
because he could feel immediate, you know, he
had his headphones from listening to play by
play. And it's just so, so great to see this
kind of technology. And I believe we are allowed
to share that the, that FIFA is trying to, they're,
they're trying to negotiate with FIFA. Peter
is trying to negotiate with FIFA to get tablets
at all the games for the world cup. um because
it's such a cool thing and and talking to someone
who had first -hand experience and and this is
not a question for you and i uh i think but i
would be curious if there's anyone out there
who who is not sighted uh even though my vision
is getting worse and worse and i think i need
new glasses already uh if you don't have a concept
of what the field is like because you you were
never previously had full vision can your brain
process Like how would you – like I could close
my eyes and put my fingers on it and feel it.
And because I know what a soccer field looks
like, a baseball field, a basketball court, I
could easily translate in my head. And the person
I was talking to who used it had been previously
sighted and lost his sight over time. So I'm
curious. Someone who was born without sight,
how they learn about soccer? Yeah, and can they
– what kind of visual images can it create for
them? Or are there even visual images? Like,
it's interesting. I don't know. So if that's
you, you know, shoot us a message. I'd love to
hear about it. This is something that's really
fascinating to me in particular. My grandmother
was legally blind. And she spent time in the
70s as the president of the American Association
of the Blind. Now, that part's a little unclear
to me, whether it was the Buffalo chapter or
just the entire thing. That part's a little unclear
to me. But she was one of those people that was
just beloved by so many. It was just the biggest
heart. I'd never really thought about it until
my adult years, just how it was just part of
my life living with someone who was visually
impaired. And then as an adult, kind of looking
back at that and realizing, oh, yeah, I guess
those are things that maybe other people don't
really consider or think of that were just kind
of a normal part of seeing grandma. Yeah. Are
there... You don't need to talk about this if
you don't want to, but has your intake of the
game changed over time based on the technologies
available to you with some of the stuff you have
going on with your hearing? Well, you know, last
year I returned to hearing aids and I used to
wear them in the early 90s and the technology
was just not there. took them out i hated them
and didn't want to go back to them because it
was just it was really really bad um since i've
gone back to wearing hearing aids uh i can hear
our beloved stadium announcer much better usually
being in the front row of ecs i am literally
the furthest away from the speakers As you can
be, you know, kind of dead center right in front
of the goal. That's about as far away from all
the speakers as you can get while remaining in
the seated area. And so oftentimes I wouldn't
be able to hear anything that James would say.
So being able to hear him, that certainly happened.
And also a few years ago when they started going
to captions and putting in closed captioning,
that also helped a lot for me. So, yeah, for
that. And that's something that we talked about
on the Alliance Council and really kind of sharing
a need for that. And I know the Sounders have
also been good about autistic children and kids
with sensory needs. I think we're lucky in that
regards that the GM of the Seahawks has a kid
who... has those sensory needs and so when he
was there he said we got to put this in the stadium
no matter what so not that the sounders haven't
done anything it's like but the infrastructure
when the infrastructure is there it makes it
real easy right yeah yeah and so and so these
are things that the the club do take into account
um i think one of the things we talked about
with the world cup is the idea that people coming
from other countries that have ada needs will
find themselves quite surprised because the level
of accommodations that U .S. have for ADA needs
versus other countries and other stadiums, we
are kind of world leaders in that regard. Whereas
in other countries, they don't. I think the number,
who was it that told us that? It might have been
Paul. Paul Cox, yeah, who worked with an international,
went to school and then became. uh uh and or
i guess he's living in spain and was working
in an international agency yeah and he said you
know they have eight or nine seats in the whole
stadium sometimes for ada people you know that
is i mean i guess it's not ada in that country
because that's the americans with disability
act the spa the spain spaniard spaniards with
disabilities spaniard but no so yeah so it's
just really interesting there um so so I mean,
it's such an interesting thing that people who
don't have any sort of concerns like that, and
I think we ran into the same thing with the LED
lights when they were brought in and they affect
people, some people in different ways, particularly
they can cause seizures. Those are things that
you don't think of as an able -bodied person
always, and it gives you a different perspective.
Yeah, and it's really great to see that talking
with Peter at the... world cup headquarters here
in seattle the fifa seattle headquarters that
they are taking these things into consideration
that they're really trying to um focus on what
happens outside of the stadium so you know that's
kind of what fifa seattle is really working on
fifa i can't wait to announce some of the stuff
because it's going to be so cool yeah and and
so one of the one of their goals that they that
they said in this meeting that i really took
to heart was their goal is to go for a 1962 world
fair impact on the community. Yeah. And I think
that's such a brilliant way to look at it. Cause
the world cup, you're getting a new monorail.
Ooh, cue the song. Let's do, let's sing the song.
We don't want to pay. Yeah, we don't know. No,
but, but no. So that I think is a really great
goal to shoot for. Yeah. Because there are parts
of Seattle that have a lasting impact on the
World's Fair. I mean, the Space Needle, for example,
the monorail, as an example, Seattle Center.
And part of what we're already seeing, the waterfront
has been revitalized. Part of that was knowing
that the World Cup was coming. So seeing how
wonderful it is. If you haven't taken a walk
from Pike Place Market in the Seattle Aquarium
down to the stadium, do that. The one thing that
struck me about it, and they're going to make
it even better, obviously, but this is something
that I've heard from day one of Seattle putting
in the bid for it. is how walkable a city Seattle
actually is, particularly in those areas. Because
you don't always think of it that way because
of the weather and whatever. But compared to
other cities, I mean, I remember the guy from
FIFA being like, this is amazing that you can
walk from the Kraken game to the Sounders game.
Yeah. I actually did it the same time he did.
Because that was during the... It was the inaugural
Kraken. Champions League. Yeah. So it was like
Champions League straight to the inaugural Kraken
game. But... Uh, it was, it was fantastic. Uh,
I guess it wasn't, uh, that, yeah. Uh, it was
one of the first Kraken games. It wasn't the
inaugural obviously. Uh, but it was something
that not everyone can do, but you can do it.
And to find out we're actually a much more walkable
city than any of the other cities that are, are
part of, uh, the world cup is pretty, pretty
interesting. Uh, it's because America is so car
centric, but. I think I even forget that sometimes
living in Seattle because I do love to be on
the light rail. Yeah, I mean, you're not wrong
because keep in mind, the cities are Atlanta,
which is a sprawl. Boston, the stadium is in
Boxborough, which is the equivalent of not even
SeaTac. It's even further out than that. It's
like the equivalent of Federal Way. Dallas, and
oh my God, no. uh houston i don't know enough
about houston it is just freeways i i mean i've
never i've driven around houston at rush hour
never threw it and it took me three hours just
to get past it like uh kansas city los angeles
yikes miami uh which the stadium's nowhere near
downtown new york new jersey no philadelphia
san francisco bay area and seattle so yeah seattle
is That's absolutely the walkable option. Oh,
and I'm assuming Bay Area, they're doing it at
Fort Dyer Stadium. Yeah, which isn't, it's over.
I mean, if you're trying to walk to an In -N
-Out. Yeah, there's one close to there. I mean,
if you want to go watch movies, the Mercado 16,
not a far walk, but it's at the site of the old.
paramount great america so it's it's not it's
just it's just in the shitty part of santa clara
it's not even your stuff no no but that's the
whole point is so yeah so seattle seattle is
not it's not even close it's not even close so
i think it's gonna be super fun with everything
they set up out there and just kind of do around
town um i'm excited you know i'm having to wrap
my brain around the fact that i may only get
to go to that one game that we have the right
to buy for yeah but um you know if i get into
that game then i i guess i'm more privileged
than most of the other multi -billion number
of people in the world that are going to be able
to watch it so yeah and and that's why we kind
of went with that is the idea that hey if we
can go to one game watching the u .s play a group
stage game in person great um you want to talk
some sounders let's talk some sounders let's
talk about that let's talk about that game a
little bit um Hey, there we go. This happens
in soccer. We were the better team. We deserved
better. We were the better team. We got good
opportunities. Minnesota did what they've done
all year long, which is give up possession and
score on a set piece. They did it. They executed
their game plan. Hats off to them. Fry was out
of position. Late goal for them. We had a bunch
of chances at the end. We only, to me, looked
dangerous at the end of the game, if I'm being
honest. Like beforehand, we might have had a
few okay chances. Like some half chances. Once
the subs came on, and maybe it's because Minnesota
was tired. Maybe it's just because we subbed
on some damn good players. And I think it's also
because once they got the goal, they were just
content to sit back and defend because worst
case scenario, they get a draw. But that's where
we looked the most dangerous. But Fry was out
of position on their goal. uh and and i don't
know if it makes a difference but new who also
didn't cover his man who was stepping back and
kicked it into the goal i don't know why i knew
who was covering him i did not go back to look
and see if he switched over and shouldn't have
been on him and someone else left him open so
that doesn't mean it's new who's fault i'm just
saying what happened in that moment that in that
moment knew who was the closest player right
and and he stepped still on size but in front
of new who to kick it in didn't get followed
but there's you know there could have been a
communication mistake where someone else was
supposed to be kind of there's all sorts of things
that could happen so don't think this is me hating
on new who i know people like to think i hate
new who despite the fact that i have a new jersey
uh and uh i just i get frustrated when he doesn't
um when he makes mistakes the one's bound to
do behind the net angle of that shot i think
was the most telling for me as someone who plays
goalie in both hockey and interesting soccer
tell me more well Fry comes out and he makes
this kind of really awkward marionette type of
movement, like just kind of his hands and legs
are just kind of doing this weird thing. What
that tells me, it looked to me like when he's
coming out, he's defending off of what he expects
to be a flick on header. And when that didn't
come and the ball continues, it's almost like
a dummy, even though it was kind of. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. But it looked like it should have been
a header. So he wasn't actually out of position.
He was in the position you would have expected
the ball to go if you're a soccer player. And
sometimes as a goalie, I've had that happen where...
i'm watching and reading the body mechanics and
the body language and i'm making my move to make
a save based off their mechanics but they just
fucking flub the shot and it like trickles just
to your side i mean even as a defender i i i'm
doing the same i'm watching where their knees
are i do that uh you couldn't do with eusebio
but i actually learned it from that short documentary
where eusebio's knees pointed all the different
directions so you couldn't follow his knees yeah
most of the time you follow someone's knees instead
of their eyes so you know where they're going
and and and i think that's what happened i think
that the ball should have been flicked on yeah
and when that didn't happen he just misread it
he came out to challenge was trying to to make
himself big for that and when they missed the
flick on header and the ball bounced through
it just kind of nope it were kind of kind of
screwed at that point no This was like the earlier
Minnesota game in some ways, even though there
was way more goals and that we struggled with
some of the low block. I view it more the model
that LAFC has set up now where we couldn't get
past them, but they had some cutting passes and
scored on us and basically blew us out in that
game. But it was like three good passes is what
made the difference in that game. This was not
that either. So this was a game, I think the
sound, I mean, what did someone say, 0 .02? goals,
expected goals off that shot. That I wouldn't
be surprised. I mean, but I mean, it's ridiculously
low. Like the Sounders had 29 % possession. Yeah.
And we, but we know, we know they're going to
play like that. So my question becomes all the
stats aside, did we get out coached in the game?
Because we changed our style. Wait, wait, let
me finish. Okay. I'm listening. We changed our
style. We changed. the players on the field,
did we do that in response to Minnesota? And
so we didn't play our game or was it rotating
the roster because of what we know is coming
tomorrow? So I guess could be the other answer.
So, so I, I, I'm not sure which one it is, but
it felt like because we, to me, we changed our
style instead of playing the kind of game that
we usually play where we can score a lot of goals.
We just, we seem boring and uncreative for two
thirds of that game. It wasn't like those earlier
games this year that you praised the Sounders
so much where they could have scored seven, eight,
nine goals and just couldn't score. No, I feel
like even at our best, we had one to two goals
in us with what we saw in the field. But I felt
like we did better than a one -nothing loss.
And that's just going to happen sometimes, you
know, St. Clair made, made a couple of saves
that he needed to make. So this is good on him.
That one set. I know. I know. And I still don't
like St. Clair because he stole Tyler Miller's
not Tyler Miller. Yeah. Cause Tyler Miller had
the chance to be the starter and then, and then
they brought in St. Clair and he never let go
of the role. No, and I respect him for it. I
respect him for it, but yeah. It makes me not
like him because Tyler Miller, I mean, maybe
it's the Dutra effect where Tommy just makes
everyone look good, but I'm surprised he hasn't
caught on as a regular first team player. I mean,
he is getting, he's still in the league, he's
still playing, but he's not a star. No, no. And
he might be the kind of journeyman who has a
hot year here and there and gets that opportunity.
But I do like Tyler Miller. He's played one.
Oh, that's not the same Tyler Miller, is it?
It is. No, that's a different. Yeah. He's now
32, and he actually plays in League One for the
Bolton Wanderers. Oh, wow. Good for him earlier
this year. I mean, he just moved there obviously
because the season just started last year because
he was at DC 23, 24 season. And so he went over
to knots County. He didn't get any minutes and
now he's on Bolton water. Wow. Good for Tyler.
Cool. All right. And I mean, and he did not get
any appearances with them. He was on the bench
for all of them for knots County. um yeah he
he was he got brought in for basically a month
and a half as a backup keeper until the end of
the season he joined the league two side uh in
case they needed him and then they released him
at the end of the season so he i don't even think
he was brought in with the intention of getting
any minutes but uh bolton is that where uh wayne
rooney is who's their coach or was he the coach
How did he, because it's interesting because
he was coached by Wayne Rooney at DC United and
suddenly he was playing over in England. Steve
Schumacher is Bolton's head coach right now.
Okay. I can't remember where Wayne Rooney has
been saying some stuff that I agree with lately,
which is really weird because he was always kind
of a block head. And so I kind of like him right
now. Okay. That's pretty funny. um but yeah so
you you felt like this isn't don't freak out
whereas i'm like this bugs me because this is
the same old story sounders can't any team that
goes into low block knows how to shut us down
and why don't more teams do this okay but why
shouldn't we worry about that because this is
our first loss in like 11 games this is it also
makes us it knocks us out of the top three probably
for the playoffs hey hey you know what here's
the thing when What kind of drives me nuts is
just the first time something goes wrong, it's
like, okay, here's where it is. This is the same
old Sounders. Completely disregarding the fact
that for two -thirds of the season, we would
be the league leaders, the way we've been playing.
So one game does not make a season. I didn't
see anything in this game. That made me worry
for the state of the Sounders, especially considering
we didn't have a single DP on the field until
the 75th minute. Let me kind of run this down
really quick. So we're going with our third string
center back. Weed Baker Whiting in the midfield,
who a position he has not played, he has not
started at all season long. I just, I'm just
not, I'm not worried. And Minnesota is a good
team. And honestly, Eric Ramsey might be, might
not be long for MLS. I have a feeling he's going
to go to Europe probably, probably within the
next year. Wow. Okay. He is. So, so if I understand
correctly, Minnesota United is not just good
at set pieces. They are worldwide. Good. How
many players they have left? Cause they've sold
off like three of their main players leading
into this game. Now they've gotten a player census
game, but they've sold off three of their main
players and were pissed because they were expecting
more players. And they felt like they were giving
up on the season. This game seemed to change
there. They have some elite talent there though.
You're right. And, and, and again, I think, I
think globally they are, they are like, I don't
know where they stand globally, but I do know
that they're in the elite company with their
set piece conversion ratio. Um, like, like elite
company. And so, so Eric Ramsey is trying something
different that isn't seen in global soccer. Um,
he might be onto something. We're two -thirds
of the way through the season. It's more than
just a gimmick. Minnesota is winning games with
under 30 % possession. This is not the first
time they've done this. This is part of their
strategy. That is unprecedented. Yeah, absolutely.
Real quick, I just want to say that Tyler Miller
started... The Bolton Wanderers Sheffield Wednesday
EFL Cup match the other day, which finished tied
3 -3. So he gave up three goals in it, but both
teams scored three goals. And then Bolton lost
on penalties 7 -5. So he ended up losing the
game. But wow, he was very involved for the Bolton
Wanderers in that game. That's good for him,
man. I hope all this looks... He was such a nice
young man, even though he's the same age. i have
a game warren tyler miller usl s2 jersey right
there nice he was the goalie when i got my picture
taken with s2 when i was the man of the match
or whatever it was called back then nice very
nice yeah i mean here's the thing is i'm worried
other teams are going to emulate what minnesota
did but maybe other teams can't because they're
not good enough so I mean, the real thing for
me is I was worried we were going to finish fourth
and then have to host Portland in fifth. But
LAFC has two games in hand, and they're going
to be a mess to play against. So we could be
playing at LAFC first round with the fifth seed
right now. So we'll see what happens. Keep our
head down. I want a top two seed just so we could
have had the home field advantage through the
Western Conference final. You know, or maybe
all the way through, depending on what happens
at the top of the table. Is San Diego for real?
We'll see. It was just after the run we'd been
on, that was not how I expected things to go
in that game. I thought we would have learned
something from the previous games. And this feels
like something that happens to us on the road
sometimes. And that's, I think, true across the
board in soccer, probably. But also... It reminds
me how many home games we've had lately with
the league's cup and all these other games. It's
go. Oh yeah. We've been playing so much at home.
No wonder we've been just like, because you're
coming out of your own bed. You're not having
to fly anywhere. You're, you know what I mean?
Like you can just go through matters. Yeah. That
stuff matters. So one, nothing loss. Bummer.
I mean, I think we got to move on and see what
happens next. I am worried that it's a portent
of things to come. We will see. You obviously
are not. Which brings us to tomorrow's match
versus Puebla. The announcer on Apple seemed
to think that it was going to be a tough game
for us against the bottom of Liga Emekis. Now,
every team is obviously going to beat anyone
any given Sunday. I would assume that there's
a very good chance we win this match just based
on our talent versus their talent. Well, one,
yes. But two, the big question mark is... Puebla
just fired their coach. So this will be their
new coach's first game, Martin Bravo or Martine
Bravo. I mean, they won, win four losses, including
a seven Oh loss and they lose to nothing the
last match. So yeah, it's, it's been a rough
go of it for them. Yeah. So, so this is an opportunity.
I mean, here's the thing is, is if you're Puebla,
do you, I think you, you go all in on this. You
go all in because this is an opportunity. New
coach. You're four games or three games away
from a potential title. You're three games away
from a potential title. You're, you're, you're
two wins away from making champions league. Yeah.
So, I mean, it's, it's an incredible opportunity
and it's not like they're going to come into
our stadium and be, Oh, it's such a, they play
in front of 48 ,000 people at their stadium all
the time. Now, I will say their quality of player
is not quite up to ours in terms of across the
board, our players are worth more than theirs.
I think that we have more talent on the field,
but they're going to want to come in and win
and show us that we can't be cocky. So it's going
to be a very interesting match, I think. Yeah.
I think with our home record, only one team has
beaten us at home. Ironically enough, Minnesota.
I mean, I guess you can say PSG and Atletico
and Portofogo, but we'll just somewhat discount
that. Yeah, come on. Our form has been good.
Even this game, looking at who we had playing.
I'm not feeling like it's going to be a blowout,
but I feel like we should be controlling and
dictating how this game goes. I'd hope so. What
I don't know is who's going to officiate the
match. I sincerely hope that it's a ref with
experience and not someone. I don't know how
it works. There have been matches in which there's
been a Mexican ref, even though we've been playing
a Mexican team. Yeah, the last Tijuana match
was that, for sure. I hope that it is a Canadian,
U .S., or Mexican ref, just because we're getting
down to the final games, and so we really should
have... better refs than what we've seen yeah
i think they would put the hopefully put the
best ones through right yeah and and what i found
is i found that what ends up happening is i feel
like the more experienced refs are coming from
u .s canada and mexico and i think that my theory
is the other teams in conca calf just don't the
refs don't play And they don't get a chance to
ref enough high -quality games because the leagues
just aren't as high -quality as Liga MX or MLS.
And unfortunately, that's just kind of what happens.
It's like putting in a single -A baseball umpire
into a Major League Baseball game. You're going
to see things are going to be different. Or high
school football in an NFL game. Yeah. And let's
talk about their run. They lost 4 -0 to Minnesota
in their first game. They beat Chicago 11 -10
on penalties in the second game. I'm not sure
what the actual score of that game is. I'm pulling
that up right now. What the regular time score
was 1 -1. They lost to Miami 2 -0. Then they
beat Tigris 2 -1. Beat New York City. Oh, that's
last year's. Okay, let's back up. I was like,
they didn't play as many games. What's going
on here? You're making this up as you go along.
I went the other direction. So I thought the
latest games would be on top. They're on the
bottom. Excuse me for that. So most recently
they beat Montreal 2 -1 playing a 3 -4 -3. They
lost to Columbus 3 -1 in a 3 -4 -2 -1. And then
they beat New York City 3 -0 in a 3 -5 -2 flat
five. That's interesting. But so they probably
play five at the back sometimes because they'll
do what the Sounders kind of did this last match.
Three center backs and two wing backs that go
up more. Although interesting in that Sounders
match, you had Nuhu going outside of Reed Baker
whiting at times, which kept giving me a heart
attack because I was afraid Reed was going to
run up and they weren't going to communicate.
But here's a team that... will be interesting
to see what happens but they they did beat new
york city three nothing and montreal two to one
um new york city seemed to just not show up in
that tournament at all though um what do you
well it's weird because once you lose the first
game you're you're you're pretty much out yeah
like what's in yeah yeah so what is your um they
won they ended up winning one and losing two
in that tournament uh but uh what is your thinking
than going into this match i mean if they're
going to play five at the back uh are we going
to try and exploit it with our quick wings or
what do you think we do well i think we come
out attacking um i think that i think that we
uh i feel like we come out we come out swinging
what that means i don't know uh i i feel like
i feel like pedro's gonna start Good news is
their left wing row. Castile will be out. Interesting.
He got a red against Montreal. So, so he will
not be playing. That's a damn shame. I mean,
we'll take, we'll take, we'll take all of that
in the, in the 91st minute. Yeah. You got, you
got a yellow in the 89th for descent. And then
you got two minutes later, got a foul for his
second yellow. Wow. That sucks for them. Yeah.
And he was someone who, in that game, created
the most chances in the match. He had an assist.
He had three shots, had an assist, was creating
some offense for them. So that's a damn shame.
I do not know who the ref is. I was trying to
see if I could look up and figure out who the
ref was going to be. I don't have that information.
Um, which is kind of a bummer. I was, I was hoping
to figure that out. Yeah. But, uh, we'll see
if they've announced it yet. I'll try to look
at my source. It's not, it's not under pro ref,
uh, because it's, it's run by leagues cup. So
no, but they, they definitely had, they, they,
before they were listing it, um, in terms of
who, who was going to be on the website for leagues
cup, but we'll see if, uh, if not, I can put,
put our friend over at, uh, nag down in uh the
la galaxy podcast uh he'll he'll get he'll get
on it for us because he he knows where to find
all that information because he does a little
breakdown of who the referee is going to be for
every game which i love the only reason i don't
do it is i don't want us to focus on the referee
unless there's a reason to you know what i mean
no i get it i get it i'm just curious if it's
going to be you know if it's if it's just going
to be uh you know like i mentioned I was curious
if it was going to be a U .S., Canadian, Mexican
ref. Well, I do know the ref with the most appearances
in this year's – the refs with the most appearances
in this year's League's Cup, the most is a Jamaican,
followed by a Guatemalan, a Honduran, another
Guatemalan, and then a couple of Costa Ricans.
So you've got to go all the way down. There's
one American and a bunch of Mexicans and a Canadian.
below that. Although, now I should care for what
I wish for, because we're going to get Canadians.
It's going to be Drew Fisher. Oh, gosh. Yeah.
Thankfully, he's not the Canadian that's been
doing the games. His name, oh, no. Pierre -Luc
Lozier. He's a Frenchman. You're making that
up. That's not even a real name. That's not a
real person. No, no, no. Oh, no. No, no, no.
But he's a ref from the... We are turning into
Looney Tunes. He's from the... He does the Canadian
Premier League. Okay. Most recently, he did the
Canadian Championship in 2022, where Vancouver...
I mean, in terms of large Canadian Championship
matches, Vancouver beat Toronto 6 -4 in penalties.
And he did a Central American Cup match between
Alou Houlince versus Rael Esteli. But, yeah,
we've seen some interesting... So speaking of
which, I don't know what happened. Vancouver
FC was potentially going to play Vancouver in
the Canadian Cup final. Can you imagine if that's,
I don't know what happened in the second leg,
but that would have been really cool to see.
Oh, the second match happens in September. Okay.
So right now Vancouver is tied with the Forge
2 -2 on aggregate, meaning. Whitecaps. And then
Vancouver FC is up 3 -1 on Atletico Ottawa. So
September 16th and 18th, we know. We might have
an all. I mean, we should go up, honestly, to
the Canadian Cup final if it's Vancouver versus
Vancouver. That'd be fun. That would be. I love
going up for a game. I was texting with a friend
of mine who is from British Columbia who went
to Mueller's first game Sunday to see Vancouver
play. And late, late tie game there. Not Atlanta,
Houston. Houston scored a late stoppage time
winner. Not winner, but to make it 1 -1. So Houston
helped us out a little bit there. Damn shame.
But Mueller actually scored a beautiful banger
that was offside. I have to go watch those highlights.
We're getting near the end here, so I'd be remiss
if I didn't mention, holy cow, did the... The
rain blow a huge lead yesterday. And then were
you there? No, but Dan and I were talking about
that. And I did not have both Seattle teams blowing
a 3 -0 lead at home on my bingo card. Yeah, not
only that, the third goal for Chicago was scored
by their goalie on a corner kick at the end of
the game. Like, oh, talk about - I thought they
ruled it an own goal. Did they change that? Oh,
did they? I don't know. When it happened, all
the thing that popped on my phone, because I
stopped paying attention when we were up 3 -0,
like, oh, this game's over. I got other stuff
to do. And then suddenly I got a notification
from ESPN sending me the video of the goal. No,
they nair, Alyssa nair. Yep. So, yeah. Oh, God.
So let's wrap it up then with a little finish
up this Lease Cup. Well - Before anything, before
anything, let's just say our winner for the Minnesota
game. Yes. Who's been off the winner's board
for quite some time and is now back in Dan the
Bastard. Dan, you're back. It's because he's
been so optimistic lately. He keeps picking optimism
as his choice, and that is not working out well
for him. Wait, wait, shouldn't it be the other
way? No, it shouldn't be the other way around
where he's picking negative, but we've been doing
so well that he has. Yeah, it's it's it's he's
he's been so optimistic that he's picking us
to win all these games. And so this must have
changed his mind. No, I did look to see it. He
did. He did pick a draw. um but but we've been
in a good run of form and unfortunately we just
didn't weren't able to get it done i mean i had
to enter into i'm sure you saw because i i i
accidentally put fry as my goal scorer when i
did the right thing and i was like no no no and
then it was the edit button i went to hit the
edit button and then it refreshed out of the
way i was like no and so i just put in the new
one no i wasn't picking fry to score the goal
although if i had and that was the right answer
i think i would have should have deserved a million
extra points for you up yeah um To be fair, if
you make an error and you need to put in a second
entry, go right ahead because I will count the
most recent entry as your entry. So if you put
in more than one entry, I just take the most
recent one and I only count that one just as
an FYI there. Very nice. So look in the Discord
channel for the match day, Sounders match day.
Let's talk about predictions. We'll be able to
do it. Yeah. I mean, I want to get predictions
from all four games for you. So we have all four
quarterfinal matches tomorrow. And obviously
we haven't gone in depth on these other teams,
but gut feeling. 5 p .m. Seattle time. Miami,
Tigris at Miami. Two seed versus the five seed.
That's the original starting seeds. not the new
seeds based on performance. Who do you have winning
Miami? Tigris. Real quick, I was trying to pull
up the – pulling up the league's cup in here,
and that's kind of throwing me off because they
aren't in foot mob under – oh, there we go. Wait,
because I was looking at today, not tomorrow.
Tigris is averaging 55 % possession, and Miami
is 50. They're both averaging 18 .7 shots a game.
No, Tigris Miami, I've got Tigris winning this
one. Okay, nice. That'll be an interesting game
for sure, especially if Messi's healthy and playing.
Next, coming up at, I don't know. 5 .50. 5 .50,
the times just went away when I clicked through
on something here. You have Toluca. hosting orlando
so i don't know where i guess i could click through
to find out i'm not sure it's in la it's in la
okay yeah it's perfect at la galaxy stadium is
it a double header then it is that's why la galaxy
that's why la galaxy are playing at 8 45 which
spoiler alert is going to impact my choice for
that game that is so fun wow i wish i wish we
could go to a double header so here's the deal
toluca as one of the four teams that were in
the next four that were not america or Cruz Azul.
Yeah. They were guaranteed a, a home quote unquote
home game in this round only. So after this round,
the, if an MLS team is, is in, it will be hosted
by the MLS. So you're saying they, if they win
and it's that the MLS team would be Miami means
Miami one. So they would be playing at Miami.
Yes. Yeah. But if it's too. If it's two Liga
MX teams, it'll be hosted at a venue of choice
by the higher ranking in phase one. So I actually
don't recall who phase one standings, boom. But
that's irrelevant for our purposes right now.
Yeah, it would be Toluca. So Toluca would be
hosting Tigres in that match if they were to
advance. So with that in mind. I love the gamesmanship
right from the start from to Luca. They made
him Orlando go cross country. Yeah. They picked,
they picked the venue furthest away from Orlando.
Only thing that would have been there would be
Seattle, but then they wouldn't get the two Luca
fans. Right. So I think that's going to come
to, I think that's going to be a double whammy.
It's going to, it's going to help to Luca and
it's going to get to Luca the win. Nice. What
do you think? Orlando is an interesting team
where they can destroy Miami. Orlando's been
scary good this year. Oh, and they beat KC. They
lost to somebody in the middle of all that, though.
They're on a big run. Yeah, they're on a good
run. So their last loss was New York City back
on July 16th. They've had a really fun run here.
They've won six of their last seven. They were
down 1 -0 to Casey early, which I think that's
what I saw. And I was like, oh, interesting.
But yeah, so Orlando on fire. I got to go with
Orlando, even going across the country, just
the way they've been playing. Fair enough. I
mean, they may be the hottest team in the MLS
now that the Sounders lost. Well, yeah, they
are. I mean, they've won like seven straight.
So I think Orlando can come across and win that.
I don't know what the score will be, but I'm
picking Orlando to win. So let's skip us then.
Let's go to LA versus Pachuca. Well, this is
where I was alluding to a little earlier. Toluca
not only screws Orlando, but they screw LA Galaxy.
Yeah. And here's my thinking. So you're Toluca.
You've got the early game for some reason, probably
because Orlando's on the East Coast. Yeah. LA
Galaxy, their game's going to kick off at 845.
You're doing a doubleheader with two Liga MX
teams. So you're going to bring in fans of Toluca.
You're going to bring fans of Pachuca. LA Galaxy,
fans have not been happy with LA Galaxy as of
late for good reason. I mean, you heard the Boo
Birds coming out when they played us and they
got beat by us. They lost to Miami in their last
game 3 -1. So I don't expect this to be very
heavily attended. It's a midweek game, 845 start.
Why the fuck do you want to show up? So what's
going to end up happening is this is going to
be a very pro Liga MX crowd between Toluca and
Pachuca and any other Liga MX fans that are going
to be in attendance. So LA Galaxy are going to
have a home game that's going to feel like a
road game and they're going to get their asses
handed to them. So Toluca screwed over. Orlando
and LA Galaxy. And I think the Sounders are going
to be the only MLS team to get out of this stage.
LA Galaxy has been so good in this tournament.
I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't
continue that. But at the same time, they certainly
didn't against the Sounders. The same players,
they tried the same thing, and the Sounders shut
it down. You saw Pantsil doing the stuff that
he was doing against the other Mexican teams,
and it didn't work. I think that's probably a
good call. It's interesting that they let them
do that and didn't make them play at LAFC Stadium.
But here's the thing. Have they been that good?
Because they beat a Santos team 4 -0, a Santos
team that was down two men to red cards. They
played better against the teams than we did,
is what I believe. How they played against the
teams was better than how we played against those
same teams. Obviously not Santos. But the other
two. Well, Tawana got beat 5 -2. So they did
come out and they did punch them in the mouth
and they did do that. Although, to be fair, it
was 2 -1 LA Galaxy at halftime. Tawana scores
right away to make it 2 -2. Payne still makes
it 3 -2. And then... A lot of subs happen. LA
gets two more late in the 82nd and 90th minute
when I'm assuming Tijuana had to push for that
goal because you know a loss, you're out. So
there's that. They play Santos. Because they
had a chance to advance in the end anyways when
they were playing us. I mean, that's kind of
true. But they play Santos after Santos has already
gotten beat. twice so so santos was already very
much out of it so they had no hope so what okay
so so that's that's a nothing burger for them
so the now i will give some credit to them for
tying cruz azul 1 -1 but that was right after
cruz azul got beat 7 -0 so so i'm not entirely
sure that the galaxies run a form in leagues
cup can be chalked up to anything more than good
fortune. Could be. We'll see. We will see tomorrow.
Yeah, we'll see tomorrow. And that's why I do
think they're going to be essentially playing
a road game. And I think they're going to struggle
mightily. I mean, we played a road game against
Cruz Azul for being real, and we beat them 7
-0. But we're not talented. But we also have
a lot of experience playing a league of MX teams.
That's true. That's very true. And a lot of experience
beating Liga MX. So let's do this last one then
and then get out of here. Seattle Puebla. What's
your prediction? Oh, yeah, there is that game.
Here's the problem. I'm not going to be there.
And that really breaks my heart. I thought you
were going to change the score. Well. Look, if
we're struggling, I promise I'll go into the
bathroom so we score goals. Thank you. Thank
you. Please do that. I will text you, get in
the shitter. Because I've talked about it. They
tend to almost always score. It happened when
Georgie got his goals because I turned to my
friend James. I was like, hey, I'm going to go
to the bathroom because whenever we do, we score.
And as soon as I walked in the bathroom, goal
Georgie. With that said, I expect a good lineup.
It's going to be a little. Bit of a bummer that
we don't have Albert. Yeah. But I think we've
got a good enough lineup for our starters to
get the goals necessary. The thing is. I don't
know if we've got a good enough lineup for starters
and a bench to get like four plus goals or three
goals, but I do think we're going to be up to
nothing by the time we're in like the 65th minute
and start thinking about subs. So we'll be up
to nothing. Now Puebla is going to have to push
because we're in a knockout competition. We might
end up getting another goal. We might end up
giving up a goal. So that's kind of the question
is, do I think that, do I think that, them pushing
hard is going to lead to a third goal for us
or is it going to be them pushing hard is going
to get rewarded into a goal and to answer that
i'm just going to take a quick look at their
runoff form uh zero goals three goals two goals
one goal you know but they're missing their their
their one player i think we are going to win
two one nice Oh, gosh, my heart can't beat that.
No, I know. We're going to be up 2 -0. We're
going to start making subs, and they're going
to get a late goal to make it 2 -1 and to make
us kind of close our sphincters a little bit.
So I'm going to go 3 -1 now until I obviously
will, Sounders, revise that as I see our roster.
I think sometimes... When we make subs, how we
make subs, and who we start lots of times changes
our success. But I will say that if we were to
advance, we will be playing on the 26th or 27th.
So next Tuesday or Wednesday? No, Wednesday or
Thursday. And then if we make it to the final,
it would be the 31st, I think. One of those days.
I assume the third place game would be that same
day? It is, yeah. Okay. The way the bracket on
League's Cup has this set up is that we would
play the 27th in that next match. But I bet you
there's availability questions and time like
that. So that could just be a placeholder they
place in there. But if you were to click through
on the bracket, it does say the 27th. So the
semifinal matches are the 26th and 27th, according
to League's Cup. So expect us to be playing next
Tuesday or Wednesday. And then if we were to
win, or I mean, if we play next Tuesday or Wednesday,
hard stop, we will be playing another game. If
we win tomorrow. If we win this game, we're guaranteed
a minimum of two more games. Yes. Or not a minimum.
We're guaranteed two more games. Two more games.
It's just a question. If we lose, we'll play
in the third place game. Still a chance to get
in Champions League. If we win, we'll play in
the championship game. Guaranteed a Champions
Cup spot before we've even played that match.
Here's the bottom line. We need two wins to get
to Champions League. Now, win number one has
to be tomorrow. Win number two could be... Any
of the next two games. Yep, any of the next two
games. So all we got to do is win tomorrow, and
then we're one win away. So we can finish third.
We can finish second. We can finish first. We've
got Champions Cup. Ultimately, I'd love a Leagues
Cup trophy. Yeah, we don't have one. I care more
about getting that cup spot, though. So that's
far. I will say this year has been my favorite
year of Leagues Cup. Yeah. Last year was kind
of fun, though. Well, I got to meet the Monterey
mascot, so I was happy about that. But what it
is, is this new format with the Swiss ranking,
where you're not playing any MLS teams, you're
playing up through the semifinals. This format,
they've got it right. the only question is is
four teams from each side enough i don't care
about that right now that's another question
for another time because if you're adding more
teams that's more games i'm i'm not as enamored
about that but i like the format as it stands
i i it was interesting to see some of the critiques
of it where if you you ended up rooting against
your own league When usually you would be rooting
for your league because you want your league
to be the more premier one. But when you're the
Sounders and you win that first game 7 -0, suddenly
you're like, I mean, 7 -0 is a little excessive.
I think we were safe at that point. But if it
was like 3 -0. But we weren't. Yeah, we weren't.
The thing is, we weren't. We weren't. But we
had to do some rooting for some Liga MX teams
to help us out. So I saw some critiques there,
but I thought this has been so fun. You're right.
And let's hope it continues after tomorrow. So
where can they find you on the internet? Because
we should get out of here. We should get out
of here. Just edit it and get it up there. Let's
find me on Instagram at Cascades2C. Nice. Uh,
how about you? Good, sir. Anywhere you do social
media, I'm probably there at legal minded punk.
Uh, and you can find everyone else, all our ultras
and Aaron on the, uh, discord. Yeah. Join, join
the discord. It's a fun place to talk about stuff.
Join the Patreon. Uh, and one reminder, join
us on those match day predictions. Join us. You
can find those and in. discord uh every match
day because at the end of the season we will
be giving away some prizes based on uh we'll
give one prize away to whoever has the most points
in total throughout the whole season yeah so
kind of rewarding people who have been playing
from the very start but hey you you listener
who's thinking i've never done that fear not
because we're also going to give out the big
big prize to all people um The big prize will
go out to basically every time you play, you'll
get an entry. Mainly because I want to make sure
everyone stays engaged on that. I want to give
everyone a fair chance at that. That's just really
important to me. And I can announce that the
big, big prize is going to be a team signed jersey.
Nice. That is going to be the big, big prize.
The Bruce Lee kit. So that means you're getting
Sounders, Raul Ruiz Diaz autograph, right? Yeah.
Raul's on that one. Oh, that's amazing. Yep.
Yep. uh so so definitely uh actually if i i can
take a quick look that might be raul and nico
might be might be raul and nico because it but
it might mean warul and nico but not pedro yeah
matter of fact i'm sure of it because it's the
original logo not the new logo yeah so it's raul
and nico wow But yeah, it's a great kit. Looking
forward to giving that away to someone. Ask why
are you giving stuff away? Because we love you,
the listeners. We want to say thank you for participating
and helping make this community what it is. It's
very important to us that we all sit around,
have a beer, have a good chat. I love running
into all of you on game days. Yeah, come say
hi. Yeah, it'll definitely be a bummer not to
see you tomorrow. Yeah. Dan might be out there.
I will be. I'll be in the club section with my
dad, though. But if you see me, say hi. I believe
Dan is coming out. So you will see Dan the Bastard
around, most likely in ECS. Say hello to him.
And Eric. Eric will also. Eric 13 is down there.
So it should be a fun time. It's a fun community.
Come join us. It's been so much fun. You know,
especially with the ultras talking about ways
to expand. I think we're going to have flyers
at the Gorilla FC table when we get back to league
play for the Sounders at home. And, you know,
I just, this season's been fun. I'm sad that
we have, what, nine home regular season games
left? Not home, total. It's coming to an end.
Not fun. But that's okay. We have cups to win.
We have the ability to win, what, two more cups?
Is that what we have? League's Cup and MLS Cup?
What's the third one? What else? Cascadia Cup.
Oh, yeah. I forgot about Cascadia Cup. So this
could be a quadruple since we already run the
Heritage Cup. Yeah. All right. Oh, we didn't
talk about it earlier. San Diego and San Jose
named their cup between them the El Camino Cup
because El Camino Real goes. El Camino Real,
which is basically Highway 99, which is Aurora.
Yeah. So it goes between the two. So pretty fun.
You couldn't score on Camino. Score on Camino.
Score on Camino. But you know what you can do
on a Camino Real? Get a damn good burrito. That's
true. And I used to get my car washed a lot there.
When I had my 66 Mustang, I'd drive it out to
one of those touchless car washes and they would
do it upright for me. El Camino Real had all
the good restaurants and shops. There you go.
El Camino Real. Yeah. So funny enough, Cameron
and I both lived in San Jose around the same
time. Yeah. We didn't know that. We didn't know
each other at the time, obviously. But it's kind
of funny how this all works out all these years
later. Yep. And you know what? We didn't talk
about our deaths today. There were some more
actor deaths that I'm sure we could have talked
about. But I am going to say R .I .P. Iguanas.
Better than Lobvick's Burritos. The orange sauce
at Lawbakes is obviously better. Alaguanas finally
died after decades. You know what? They had it
coming. They had the superior burrito, but the
orange sauce is mythical. Yep, absolutely. So
let's let James take it away, and I'm going to
go edit this piece so that we can get it up in
time for people to listen on their way to the
game. They make blue pills for that. Good point.
See you later, everybody. You can follow the
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see you at Lumen and go Sounders! Alexa, who's
the best MLS team of all time? Seattle Sounders
are both unequipped, and they're arguably the
best MLS team of all time.