He's a tough kid. All I gotta say is the point
I can't say is CHEAT! And welcome to Sounders
Scuttlebutt. We are recording on March 1st, and
we've got some bad news. Though I think we all,
well, I predicted a win, but I don't know why
I did. We lost to RSL 2 -1. We got myself, Aaron
Lingley, and Nicholas Biela. How are you doing,
my friend? Good. How about yourself? Pretty,
pretty good. I'm proud of us for getting a recording
in. or the weekend of a match we got a whole
week to let this marinate for everybody so uh
yeah but uh it's a bummer it's a bummer we uh
don't have better things to talk about i guess
we could just wait until the end to talk about
the match but um yeah bummer it is a bummer it
is a bummer i mean we will obviously get that
in the in the uh in the show you know we got
a lot to cover today we are a little behind we
we got a few things to to go over some stuff
to talk about some some joy some prizes to give
away um you know we've got a a uh wheel picker
to go with um A wheel picker? What do you mean?
Sorry. I was pasting to the scuttlebutt the actual
wheel of all the people that have entered. Oh,
is that your notification? Yeah. I realized that.
But all the entries. Okay. Interesting. Hey,
you're not included. Why'd you put me in? We're
not going to be eligible to win, but I just want
to see if we do win. I think it'd be fun. We're
not going to be eligible to win. But before we
do that, I actually do have a little bit of housekeeping
to do. Yes. There we go. B minus on that one.
It's fine. We're in early season mode. so so
it's quite okay get mine going let me get mine
going what about you oh okay well someone's been
practicing someone's shown up a minus a minus
uh you're gonna think it's a solid a it's a solid
a solid a i'll take it and this is actually this
beer is a solid a it's a local here down in san
diego i think it is i should probably double
check that about it's from ballast point brewing
i thought nautical Might as well go for it. Yeah,
San Diego. San Diego. It's our IPA. Sculpin IPA.
All right. Yeah, cool. So get in our Discord.
Link in the show description to see what Spinner
Nicholas is talking about. We did show game predictions
throughout all of last season. We're doing it
again this year. And that's where you'll get
your submissions, right, is our Discord. So you're
going to be spinning for what? Well, we do have
a few different prizes to give away. First off,
we do have the announcement of the end of the
year of who had the overall top score for the
prediction challenge for the whole year. And
that will be a Sounders jersey, Bruce Lee kit.
Then we're going to draw, we're going to do a
couple drawings because I'm feeling a little
generous. The first drawing will be a runner
-up drawing, and that will be for an item to
be determined. I have a lot of fun Sounders items
that I've accumulated over the years, and depending,
I will reach out to the winner. and figure out
what kind of things that they have that they
don't have and kind of come up with something
that'll be a fun thing. I don't want to just
give away something that they can't use, you
know? But then the grand prize, which we'll draw
today as well, the second drawing, will be for
the team -signed Bruce Lee kit jersey. So it'll
be a lot of fun. So three drawings. Three drawings.
Well, two drawings and an announcement of a winner
because the overall top... top goal scorer gets
the one jersey that's not signed. So two spins
and then the winner. Scuttlebutt champion. Yeah,
we want to reward the people who have been playing
throughout the year. And we also want to make
sure that, hey, every time you enter... You get
a chance to win. So with that, let's talk about
those scores. Well, hold on. So here, I just
thought of this. We're going to be teasers here.
We're not going to do this all at once. I think
we start with the two spins throughout the first
half. And at some time during the second half,
maybe, we'll announce the winner. So you've got
to stay tuned in. Well, wait, wait. Do you want
to do the... Do you think that the autographed
jersey would be the last thing that we do? Yeah.
Okay, so then let's start by announcing the overall
winner of the score prediction challenge. Let's
talk about that. Yeah. So, some fun, fun facts.
We had, I got the top 10 here. Coming in at number
10 is... Our very own Aaron Lingley. Okay. 55
points. Coming in at number nine, we have Julie
Z. How many total people did we have? Out of
11? No, no, no. We've got a significant number
of total, almost 50. Almost 50 people. Oh, shit.
Okay, so I'm top 10 out of 50? Yeah. Julie Z
with 56. Number eight, 59 points, Daniel Rowe.
Number seven with 66 points, Cedar. Number six
with 68 points, Nicholas Biela. Which means number
five with 70 points, Cameron Collins. Cameron
crashed in the top five. Number four with 73
points is Paul. Number three with 76 points,
Eric Thirteen. number two with 77 points alex
diaz meaning our winner drum roll please with
79 points is the one the only dan the bastard
hey congratulations dan so we got a jersey coming
your way so how many in the top 10 speaking to
the microphone throughout our scuttlebutt uh
season that we had you said alex dan obviously
the winner you mean cedar Cameron. So all of
us. Nice. Top 10. The ultras and the OGs. One
thing that's really impressive about Dan the
Bastard is he won while he was third with the
most number of entries. So he was getting a lot
of points per game. But I will say the highest
average, the minimum of 10 games. So coming in
at number 10 was my wife, Bernie Viella. She
destroyed me, destroyed you, destroyed Cameron.
So if she had participated every time, she could
have made a big impact. Number nine was Bryce
Steph, Bryson. Dan the Bastard coming in with
number eight with 1 .72 a game. Asian Man 74
and Julie Z tied for sixth. Eric 13 in fifth.
Daniel Rowe with fourth. Our very own professional
gambler, Toontz's number three. I'll tie for
number two, rather, with Jeff Ram. And believe
it or not, the highest average with a minimum
of number of 10 games played. It is Roma. Six
-year -old. With a 2 .28. She destroyed everyone
else. She had a bigger gap. From first to second,
then from second to fifth. Something tells me
you just did not give her the computer after
she kept winning because she doesn't even know
how to open a laptop. Oh, she knows how to play.
She knows the technology. But it's fun. But I'll
pull out the starting 11. And like yesterday,
she was like, is Jordan Morris playing? Like,
no, no, Jordan Morris isn't playing. So anyways,
just really fun. Overall, you did have the highest
per game average. And then me and Cameron bringing
up the rear there. Of the three of us? Of three
of us. 1 .6, 1 .61. I'll take that win. Then
Cameron was 1 .52, and I was 1 .51. So those
are all the geeky, nerdy stats for those that
are into that stuff. Overall, though, let's talk
a little bit about the other predictions that
we had at the end of last season. At the beginning
of last season, we did a... We did a season prediction
of, you know, would the Sounders finish where
in the regular season? Where would we finish
at the end of the playoffs? CONCACAF Champions
Cup, Club World Cup, Cascadia Cup, all that.
And we also did the standings for all of the
teams. And so for all the Seattle stuff, Cameron
had five points. I had four. You had four. Kenny
Sloth and Alex Diaz both had five. So, you know,
we're kind of up there. But then when you took
into effect all of the over -unders for where
each team would finish, your overall winner for
last year was Alex Diaz with 26 points. Kenny
Sloth with 25 points. You won with 23. Cameron
had 22. I had 21, along with Eric, 13, and Asian
Man, 1974, with 21 points. So we're going to
keep that one up. So that was for winning what?
That one was for where we were going, okay, here's
each team in the league. Do you think they're
going to win their points? Yeah. So we've got
that one up. I won? You won. You won. All right,
I guess we'll keep doing this show. I know what
I'm talking about. All right. Now, with that
said, we are going to keep that one up. We just
launched the 2026 version of that. It'll be,
you know, how many sound will be finalists for
the year -end awards, who's going to be the team
MVP, all these predictions. We'll get that in,
and I think we'll have some fun with that this
year, see how that looks at the end of the year.
I feel like this should have been a, you know,
you know. post -season, pre -season thing. But
we kind of got away from some episodes. Yeah,
well. We're scuttlebutt. It's fine. It's all
good. Alright, so what do you got for scuttlebutt
right now? What's going on in the world that
doesn't involve political violence? Oh, Jesus.
Yeah. Or... Depression. Right. drink to that
um this is mainly more for uh we got some scuttlebutt
from alex um in the discord so we'll go there
but just some stuff that i noticed that one i
just have some questions on um and maybe and
hopefully you have the answers too but i was
kind of hoping and cameron's just not not he's
not feeling too great so he's just bound this
one out obviously he uh heads up our ultras episodes
too throughout the week too so um That's another
reason we kind of got the three -headed monster
here so that we could always try to get a show
out during the season. But F1 is on Apple this
year, and I am really stoked on that. And I know
you're not. You never really got into it, did
you? No, I never really watched the show. The
show? the sport you mean no no i mean the show
the the the show that got everyone really into
all the americans into driving to drive and survive
is what it's called yeah thank you thank you
it does i mean it does really help kind of give
you just some context on the sport um but uh
especially you being you know a nerd um you love
numbers you love you know this this is your stuff
this is this is some interesting stuff um Anyway,
I'm just really curious to see how F1 covers
it. It's formerly with ESPN. And I had all the
ESPN channels, Uno through Ocho, back up in Seattle.
But down here, I got Spectrum. And the package
I have doesn't have to be strategic with choices.
I also share a TV with my wife, or at least a
house. So she has her channels. I have mine.
Some of the coverage was on ESPNU, the practices,
which I do like to watch. I kind of like to be
a completist, really to understand what's going
on throughout the weekend. So I've been missing
all that stuff, and you have to pay for F1 TV
for $90 a month or a year, that kind of stuff,
to get all that extra kind of footage and behind
-the -scenes stuff. So I'm wondering if Apple,
it looks like they have some really cool kind
of catchy up on the off -season. of F1, and some
behind -the -scenes stuff, some of the science
behind things. It looks like they just got a
really robust coverage of the sport, and I'm
really excited to kind of dive into it. The first
race of the year is next week, and there's a
true American team, Cadillac, in it this year.
Technically, Haas is an American team, but the
cars are built by millions of parts from different...
different teams essentially um they aren't a
true build your own car american team so anyway
i'm just excited to see i i don't know why i
didn't notice that last week um i must have just
dove right into mls um to watch the game but
i noticed that f1's on it this year so yeah anyway
i mean it's nice that we got the apple tv for
season two holders you know it makes that a little
um All in one spot makes it a little easier not
to have the whole separate package, plus people
who already naturally have Apple TV will get
it. I was asking you guys, because Cameron has
T -Mobile, I don't know if you do, but he had
offered me up one of his two codes for ML Season
Pass last year, and I had already renewed, and
I was like, shit! It was like two days later.
So I asked him this year, so I'm like, I'm about
to renew. He's like, actually, it's for everybody
now. I'm like, oh, okay. But that's cool. The
way you go about it is you have your Apple TV,
and then you go into your Apple settings and
add people to your family plan. And so you can
have up to, I believe, six people on your family
plan. So I currently have my brother, my good
friend over in Norway. who's a Sounders season
ticket holder, great guy. How? He moved to Norway
from Seattle just a couple years ago. Still a
season ticket holder? Yeah, he was sharing with
another one of my good friends. Oh, okay. Yeah.
And then, actually, my buddy Chris, who was my
plus one at the Sounders game, the Sounders home
game. Might be one of the only games he gets
to go to this year because he's got a baby coming
on the way. So congratulations, Chris. Yes, it
will be. I mean, there's only a few parents that
are like you and Bernie who have the fortitude
and the patience to. Take a baby to every single
match. The first year was a little tough. We
took Roma to, you know, her first match was beginning
of the 2020 season, the first couple games before
the pandemic. She was three months old, but she
wasn't going to go to all the games. That's true,
and the pandemic kind of gave you a little bit
of a gap there to age out. Exactly, exactly.
Okay. Well, yeah, see, the family plan, that's
a good point. I wonder if that's a loophole that
they haven't really, they're like, oh, shit.
No, no, no, that's straight up a feature of Apple.
It is a feature of, you know, see what family
members can access and share. I think I actually
have like one or two more spots available on
my family plan. I usually try and hold that for,
you know, for the right opportunity. Maybe the
next drawing, next drawing winner will get to
be in your family. No, no, no, no. So, do we
want to go over a little bit of scuttlebutt?
Do we want to talk about anything going on around
the league? You talk about some scores this week.
Yeah, let's go down to scores. I saw something
pretty interesting. Well, I don't know if it's
interesting or not, or maybe I'm just... But
there was all the matches this week. How many?
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, right? There were
only four matches. No, three matches. No, four,
including ours. One, two, three, four. Four matches
where both teams scored at least one goal. That
means there were 11 shutouts. And I don't know
what to make of that. I mean, it's early season.
It's early season, man. It's early season for
everybody, though. Yeah, yeah, but cohesion,
you know, when that's... That's the key. Strong
defenses can really make a big impact. I guess
so, yeah. Between us, our match, Kansas City
and Columbus drew 2 -2. We got New York City
FC over Philly 2 -1, Miami over Orlando 4 -2.
And that is, that's it. Everything else was a
shutout. Yeah. And only, how many? no draws there
no draws there one draw that's the kansas city
i mentioned dallas nashville that's it only two
draws yeah and teresante anyway yeah that's uh
that's something that stood out to me and uh
we are sitting at number nine number nine in
the west Uh, it was a frustrating game, you know,
but it, it literally been, you know, the last
time we beat RSL in RSL and regular season play,
we were wearing the sport Rogers. That was like
what? 2010, 2011. Didn't we, didn't we, didn't
we win with Raul? No, not like four years ago,
not at home or not, not during the regular season.
Really? Uh -huh. I thought there was one out
of the last 15 years. Okay. Negatory. No. We
were wearing what jerseys? Because I have a comment
on jerseys. The sports bra. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Well, maybe it's because we're just not wearing
the right jerseys. I don't know, man. This time
we had the... Usually we place RSL in midweek
or when we're in the middle of a cup run where
we don't have our whole lineup. We didn't have
a lot of excuses, which is probably why I knew
better than to pick a draw or a loss. I'm like,
you know what? We're going to do it this time.
Charlie Brown and the football, man. Charlie
Brown and the football. I was just thinking we're
just due at this point, but I'm just next. prediction
next year no we're just not winning until we
do um i do have a comment though as you mentioned
the kits and i know you and cameron are involved
in the in the design process and whatnot yeah
i am i have nothing against uh pardon me the
the tops uh the green's fine I haven't really
taken a lot of time to kind of dig into the deep
cuts that it has. I understand that it does.
I am not a fan of the combo of the shorts and
the green, the light, whatever. It's like a weird,
I'm kind of with you. It looks like someone packed
the wrong shorts, man. It looks like the shorts
should be the blue that the numbers are and the
same accent of the jerseys, which is that light
ice blue. whatever you want to call it, of the
shorts, the accent that the jersey has needs
to be the accent on the shorts that are blue.
I feel like it's like a washed -out color palette.
Sure, I guess. It's not really the palette. It's
just the pairing to me. It's just so contrasting
that it doesn't flow together. I don't. It bothers
me to watch the match, actually. I don't know
if I'm going to get used to it. Well, we've got
two years to do that. I don't want to. Can we
fix it? I'm not a huge fan of it. It was pretty
milquetoast. But maybe they'll make an adjustment
on those shorts. Honestly, if you make those
shorts be the same color as the numbers on the
back of the jersey. That's exactly what I said.
Yeah. Sleepy head. I just said it needs to be
the same color as the blue. And the accent can
be the same as the jersey. That light blue, ice
blue. But yeah. But we'll see. I don't think
there's going to be a change this season. Maybe
we'll just run out and pants them and throw some
new ones on there. What could go wrong? What
could go wrong? Yeah, so Alex Diaz has some in
the Discord here. Let's see. And they're pretty
much RSL related, but why not? Let's just get
into it. What were your positive thoughts about
RSL? And you're negative. My positive thoughts
about RSLs, I thought they passed really effectively,
directly attacking the Sounders. That's not what
he meant. That's not what he meant, but you still
answered the second half of the question. No,
about the RSL match. Honestly, though, I thought
we... You know, I thought we had some good opportunities.
XG says so, yeah. Well, not just that. Cabral
had some great saves, like early in the first
10 minutes, a save off an open header. That was
a training ground play, too. That ball that came
across, I think it was Reagan that headed it
back into the box. the six -yard box to Yamar,
right? Is that one of the plays you're talking
about? Yeah. Yeah, now I would like to see that
go more. Getting a goal off the corner, a set
piece goal, that was a huge positive. Ten corners,
by the way. Honestly, I'm not worried with altitude.
Altitude is a big deal. Having just been up at
altitude playing pond hockey last week or two
weeks ago now at this point. But, yeah, it's
my ass every time. It's a great home field advantage
for them. And they take full advantage of it.
But I thought we had a good amount of shots.
Offensively, I was happy with our performance.
I thought we were creating opportunities. Defensively,
I was a little worried. Because RSL was really
quick on the transition with three passes in
on goal. And Thomas made some good saves. Knew
who made some less ditch defending. I'm being
completely honest. I really do think it felt
like Yamar had an off game. And I don't know
if it just sometimes you feel like you're running
in quicksand. Yeah, so I'm not feeling super
negative about it. It's one thing when we lose
a game and we just can't get anything that looks
positive. I didn't really feel that. Yeah, I
agree with you. I think the only real negatives
I saw, there seemed to be maybe some just kind
of, I know it's... We already played a match,
and we won that match. But Colorado seemed like
they were in a different league, not in a good
way. RSL was a completely different team to play
against. Yeah. And I felt like there were some
passes, though we did have some decisive ones,
and we had great possession again. We finished
the game at 58%, but we were in the 60s, just
like we were the week before. The thing is, is
just when RSL got the ball, they were very decisive.
One, two, three. They're in. Gozo, they're a
little guy. He is a good young player. He's kind
of annoying, but yeah. He's just frustrating.
Yeah, yeah. And yeah. And honestly, I feel like
that it could have really, I mean, we should
have had another goal probably. Like I said,
XG says so. We were, we were. Nine shots on target,
17 shots total to their 15 -4. And that last
second chance that... Oh, my God. Oh, that would
have pissed them off so much because it was already
past the added time. Yeah, 30 seconds past. But
the ref added time on for the time wasting during
added time. So I thought Penso did a really great
job as a ref. But I do want to mention, though,
I feel like – no, we'll talk about it now. Dotson
with that – during their first goal where Gozo
kind of diced us up. And then Dotson does a great
job of intercepting that ball. But then, even
though he's in the box, he tries to make this
smooth operator pass just to – instead of clearing
it. just getting rid of it. I mean, you just
had the entire defense go on their heels. Don't
try to just pass this ball out. Like we're just
going to counter from back here. He should have
cleared it because he basically was part of their
sequence of that goal when he could have been
a hero on that play. And I, that just kind of
kept bugging me throughout the match. And I,
I, I still, I don't know enough about him. I
mean, I know who he is, right. He's been around
for a while, but I have, I've watched him a lot
and it's going to take some time when you have.
the cohesion that this lineup already has rolling
over from really not just last year, but the
year before, that he is a new piece, right? And
that's, I think, a learning moment for him. Just
when we're on our heels on defensive, we seem
to give up the stupid goal, and that was one
of them, in my opinion. Generally, we're pretty
stout. It's just we kind of have boneheaded,
just like... We just got turned upside down right
there by Gozo. We need to get rid of this ball.
So I feel like it should have been a draw, whether
we scored an extra one or we take that goal back.
And that's my negative. It was bugging me the
whole match. Yeah, I mean, it was really frustrating
when there was a – I keep thinking about some
of the other opportunities. There was a – I mean,
obviously the Yamar header, like 10 minutes into
the – seven minutes into the game. Cabral just
had our number. It was just really frustrating.
I was hoping that post would take him out. Yeah.
He kind of landed a little awkwardly there. I
think he was more scared than anything. Slow
-mo makes it maybe look worse than it really
was. Let's see what the next one is. i would
like to carry over some of these alex questions
about they're kind of rolling over to st louis
um for the second half of the show yeah let's
hold off on some of them i do i have a question
that is um something i noticed and you know how
we're changing our schedule right we're going
to kind of be more aligned with the rest of the
world Tell us how that transition is going to
work. I'm sure you've thought about it, right?
So it's the 2027 to 2020 schedule. We'll be starting
mid -July. It is 2026 now. So we're talking in
a year and four months, the next, next season
will start. But technically, it's the next season?
How is that? Is there going to be a seven -month
break from the end of this season to July? No,
we're going to have a mini -season. Think MLS's
back tournament. Think... Along those lines a
little bit. Okay, so the season ends December
18th, right? With the MLS Cup. With MLS Cup,
yeah. Yeah, so... So walk us through it. So what's
going to happen is we are going to transition.
So before that, we're going to do a 14 -game
season in early 2027. So it'll be a 14 -game
regular season between February and May of 2027
with the playoffs starting in May. then the calendar
shift will start July 2027. And then what's going
to happen is it's going to run from summer to
spring. There will be a few weeks of a break
between mid -December through January. That might
be a great opportunity to do Selig's Cup, for
example. But we'll see. Yeah, so I'm curious
to see how they're going to do that break in
there. How long is the Premier League break?
It's only a couple of weeks, right? It's like
over Christmas. Well, I think more Bundesliga
than Premier League because Premier League plays
on Christmas. They play on Boxing Day. Oh, yeah.
But more like Bundesliga. Okay, so there'll be
a little mini season. Yeah, and in Bundesliga,
for example, this year, their break was from
December 22nd to January 8th. Okay, so they just
have a break. Yeah. How do you feel about it?
Are you excited we're going to be more aligned
with the rest of the world in terms of signings
and whatnot? I'm optimistic. I like the idea.
of having summers. Yeah, I love going to a game
in the middle of the summer. There's some really
nice parts about that. But sometimes in the middle
of the summer, you're trying to do other stuff
and you don't really want to, you know, sometimes
like, oh, kind of wish I didn't have to go to
this game today. I don't mind the colder weather
stuff. It sounds like, honestly, it's not going
to be that much different because we've been
playing pretty much most of our, most of our,
I want to say career, but that's not what I,
not the word I want. Most of the Sounders history,
we've been playing games late into November,
you know, in the playoffs. The season starts
in February, March. We've been starting the season
in February. So it's not. That different is a
couple extra games. And knowing MLS, they're
probably going to try and schedule those games
to be more non -Northern teams. Yeah. But yeah,
I think there will be some benefits. Not playing
through FIFA international windows anymore. Yeah,
I think that is a big pro. For me, I don't know
if there's many cons. I don't really like the
break. What's the explanation for such a long
break? The weather? Because we are a larger map?
Oh, you mean the winter break? Yeah. All of January?
No, I think they want to say they say mid -December
through January. Yeah, I'm curious to see. how
what the actual date cycle look like on that
i don't even know unless it's what you're saying
like league scott fill it up because if i was
a player right i mean i get weather's not an
excuse for me i mean there that's not the whole
league right there's minnesota yeah st louis
montreal montreal uh there are some teams that
they will get cold we'll play through it um Put
a gap there. Okay, a couple weeks. Bundesliga
it, right? But schedule around it. Make them
go away for a couple weeks or play through some
bad weather. But I think if they're making a
pocket in preparation to put the League's Cup
right there, then I'm fine with it. As a player,
I wouldn't want that break. You want maybe a
kind of bi -week type break, but a month and
a half, it seems. Well, this time around the
month and a half. The one we know about for sure
is the 27 to 28 winter break, and that is the
switch to the new schedule. So you might not
be a consistent thing. Yeah. So I don't know
if... I don't know if this year is a one time
where they're making that extra long or if they're
going to dial it in. I'm sure they're going to
dial it in and adjust a little bit here and there.
But we'll, we'll see. We'll see. All right. Well,
yeah, just stood out to me. I hadn't really been
paying attention. Then I took the off season
as, as, as for what it was and it was an off
season for me. So I was like, Caught up on a
lot of things, and that one kind of caught me
by surprise. I forgot to mention it last week.
But keep in mind, it also means that our Champions
League runs will be when we're in mid -season
form. Or just coming back from a winter break.
And just outside of a winter window, too, for
signings. But the only challenge there is if
you're trying to run for MLS Cup and Champions
Cup at the same time, you're going to have some
tough decisions to make. Yeah, I think that's
something we've been used to. Yeah. No, not really,
because we've been able to go, oh, well, we'll
go all in on Champions Cup. No, I said we're
going to have to get used to it. Oh, we're going.
I thought you were saying we've had to get. No,
we're going to have to get used to it. But also,
if you think about it, right, the other European
leagues, they're playing Champions League through
their fun. They're trying to get to. I mean,
obviously, they don't have playoffs, but they
are there. Every point matters in the last third
of the season for Premier League, for Bundesliga,
right? All those matches matter unless you're,
you know, blowing the number two away. Your gap's
huge, but you just got to have depth. And obviously
this league wants to grow. Obviously this league
wants to have better quality players and better
depth across the league. So we should be able
to compete for both. The best teams should be
able to compete for both. I do have a quote from
Clint Dempsey about this, by the way. Ooh, not
your dog. I know, I know. Clint Dempsey, having
MLS... His dog is named Dempsey, by the way,
for new listeners. Having MLS on the same timetable
as the rest of the world is great. Whether you're
in MLS, Europe, or anywhere else, being aligned
means players are sharper when they get called
to camp, and it's easier for everyone, players,
coaches, fans, to follow the game year -round.
Okay? But... Why don't we do one of our drawings?
Let's do a drawing and then go to break. Yep,
love it. Let's do that. Which drawing is this?
So this is going to be for a prize to determine.
I will reach out directly to the winner. I will
kind of find out, all right, what's your jersey
size? What kind of things do you have? And I'll
try and I'll come up with something that'll be
good. Right on. With that said, So we have, you
know, 50 plus entries. It is a weighted draw.
So if you entered 18 games, then you have 18
entries. So your piece of the wheel is 18 times
as big as someone who's entered one time. So
here we go. This is for the random item that
we're going to spin to win. Ready? Sound effect,
sound effect, sound effect. I probably could
have put on the sound. I'll try to find something.
Here we go. It is going to be JesusM509. Okay.
He's our winner. I don't recognize that name.
I do have all that information, so I am going
to... that we are going to save that we're gonna
go right to the break jesus congratulations jesus
all right welcome back um we I want to talk about
a few things. We've got some new things going
on with the show. I spent some time this weekend
making a little merch shop. I'll actually give
Alex some credit here, listening to the Ultras
episode a week ago. I forgot what they were talking
about, but he said, oh, we should do some merch.
It's a merch idea. And I was like, you know what?
We say some funny shit. There's some times, you
know, I think we could put a funny idea. And
also, I like our logo. I like our little ball
and helm. It's what I call it. I made that. I'm
pretty proud of it. It's simple, but it's very,
very us. And that on a hat. And, you know, maybe
it's not the coolest thing walking down the street,
but if you want to support the show and you want
to get a hat or a mug or a shirt that says Free
Pedro on it. or a Ziggy line shirt, which I've
got in the works. I'll probably have that up
in a couple of days, but yeah, it's just, it's,
you know, and we're not making the shirts ourselves,
but we're making the designs themselves and it
goes to support the show. Yeah. We don't make
them ourselves. We, we hire 10 year olds in,
in other countries to do it. 12, 12, 12 or up.
Yep. Oh, pretty firm on that. Yeah. Okay. Good
on you. Actually, I should probably double check
and make sure it's not one of those third parties.
It's a good partnership, it looks like. But yeah.
So anyway, if you want to support the show, Discord,
Patreon, of course. We got our ultras and we
got our Patreon members. That does really help.
And obviously doing the little ratings. That's,
you know, I always kind of hate asking for that.
I feel thirsty. But, you know, it really does
help. Brings the more we rate, the more we look
better. The more audience we get and the more
audience we get, the more scuttlebutt we get.
That's how it funds my World Cup trips. Yeah.
And that's not a joke. You got some World Cup
matches. That's pretty fucking awesome to say.
Yeah, I've got a USA -Australia game on June
19th. And then that game's at noon. I'm going
to get on a flight at 10 o 'clock that night.
Flying overnight to Toronto. And then at 4 o
'clock the next day, we'll go to Germany versus
Ivory Coast in Toronto with one of my good friends,
Alex. He's Roma's godfather. And I was born in
Germany. He lived in Germany. We used to watch
German games all the time. So getting to see
U .S. on day one. germany on day two and then
father's day for you know the next day couldn't
ask for a better father's day weekend that's
pretty awesome that's pretty awesome yeah well
cool um let's wrap a little bit let's wrap up
rsl yeah um the prediction challenge uh spoiler
alert no one got more than one point so we all
sucked okay just we all thought we were gonna
no one got more than one So we're all winners,
actually, in a weird way. Let's talk about that
highlight, though, because that corner kick was
really nice. It was a good set piece. And we've
struggled for the last few years on set pieces.
And earlier in the game, we had a nice cross
that Yamar almost put in off a set piece. So
this is... encouraging to have two big opportunities
cashing in on one. What stood out to me on that
goal, I don't recall many times seeing a player,
let alone Christian, running into the goal and
around the keeper to lose whatever mark he's
got on him. I don't know. I don't know if that's
just me not paying attention or if that was a
unique little set piece run, but it worked. He
was wide open and right there. Perfect pass from,
of course, that was Rosnack, right? Off the corner,
yeah. Yeah, he's always him. My guy. So it just
looked just solid. Finally, not 210 corners without
a goal. Was that last year or the year before?
We just led the league in corners and couldn't
score off of them. That was last year. So just
as an FYI, Roldan's goal passed Obathemi Martin's
for sixth on the club's all -time scoring list.
And Rusnak's assist... puts him fourth in club
history with 39 assists all competitions but
he's got i'm curious i'm curious what his total
goal contribution goal and assist is not not
with secondaries he's got to be two or one at
this well maybe we would have heard about one
already if he was number one but he's in my mind
he's going to be he's still got you know five
six years in him maybe more um the way the style
he plays if he stays with us he's going to be
it's gonna be hard to argue i think nicholas
is landing the way he did and what happened right
after he landed like literally off the plane
pick the team up on his shoulders and take us
to a mls cup is going to live in him like that
it's just going to be one of the greatest few
months is of this career of this club's it's
still history right but it's still my argument
that nicolo darrow was the best dp signing in
mls history for impact and and trajectory for
the club yes i totally have to agree with you
for exactly what you want that that type of player
to do he did not including messy i mean messy
is probably going to or david beckham well back
he was literally the designated player but la
galaxy were winning trophies were doing that
seattle was not and so yeah galaxy galaxy has
like six trophies at this point so yeah but before
david beckham yeah i know they had a few in the
early 2000s but then they have a i thought they
were kind of sucking for a couple years before
him but yeah so that's that's kind of the the
thing about uh nico is he just the the way that
the sounders just completely uh decade of dominance
i mean just watching all the trophies we've had
all the mls cup finals just yeah i i i think
he's absolutely a top five it's my argument that
he's the number one or number two best dp um
can't just screw that um And see, and then I
had, I was pretty, obviously we lost, but, and
we didn't get a shutout, but I did like seeing
how the varying types of passes that Thomas had
at a goal, his distribution, it was not, you
couldn't anticipate if you were the RSL, what
he was going to do. You couldn't always rush
him. You couldn't always play deep. He was doing
short to the corner center back. Sorry. Short.
to to new who short to um alex rolled on leading
them both also so they were on a run he was he
was launching he again he's got a leg right he
was launching it to to um there was ario so you
kind of have to have your distribution be kind
of not random but you have to change it up you
can't let the the team always know what you're
gonna do once you get the ball and I thought
he did a good job, and he was pretty accurate.
So I like what I've seen. We knew what Thomas
was, right? Yeah. We knew what Andrew was, and
I'm just glad to see that, okay, you're officially
our starter. We had a lot of faith in you. We
expected this, and it is coming to fruition.
It's not smoke and mirrors. you're going to be
a solid keeper this year. I don't think any keeper
stops the goals that happened against him, and
he had some wonderful saves. So pretty confident
with – I think what's going to be key is his
communication with the back line. He had one
keeper for a decade talking to a few – I keep
saying cornerbacks, just out of football season,
center back pairings, because I think we're pretty
fortunate also to have pretty consistent center
backs over the last 10, 15 years at least. through
Stefan Frye's career with us. So that's going
to be an interesting, that's got to be key for
him to make sure he's communicating. That's been
the secret to the Sounders' success, though,
is the stability. Because I think it's often
overlooked when talking from the same ownership
the entire time. We've had these two coaches,
you know, Z, and then Brian was the assistant
coach. And became the coach, obviously. Everyone
knows that. We've had three goalkeepers, now
four. All three top -notch. Stephen Fry, Michael
Sperning, Casey Keller. And Thomas is certainly
looking the part from what we've seen of him.
We've had amazing number sixes. From Ozzie to
Gustav Svensson to Christian. JP, we've just
been spoiled. These are key things you've got
to get right. And we've had very minimal turnover
in those positions. There are teams that go through
as many as we have. Roman Torres as center back.
Obviously, Chad Marshall. John Kennedy Hurtado.
I mean, Yamar. The back four all have over 150
games played with the club. Alex, yeah, it's
funny. It's Alex, you know, he followed his brother.
He got cut, came back within, you know, it felt
like days, but whatever. He's got it would be
on his, what, sixth season? Maybe more. 2018,
maybe. Yeah, so seven, eight seasons, right?
And then you have, obviously, New Who is ageless,
but he's been our left back since Joven, right?
Yeah, well, I mean, New Who's got 281 appearances.
That's insane. New Who's been with the club since
2016. It's just nuts. You know, it's just crazy.
It just seems like the exact same team except
with the Sonny Donson. And it was obviously De
Rosario starting up top. Everything else is the
same. Which is great. Obviously, Andrew Thomas,
too. We were just talking about him, though.
But anyway, he looked the part. You're right.
Yeah, like going into this season. Jackson Reagan
has the least amount of all competition appearances
for the Sounders as far as the back four with
154 games. Yamar's got 209. Alex has 249. And
who's got 281? What the fuck? Let's just not
talk about who's behind them. because I think
that's more of a question than a comment. Well,
I don't know. Kim Key, he's got 87 games. He's
got a good amount of games. That's true. That's
true. So, you know, it's... And I like Kalani
Kosa -Rienzi. My nickname for him is Creedence
Clearwater -Rienzi. There you go. KKR. But yeah,
Cody Baker, I thought, had a... really rough
last year he got injured but i liked what i saw
out of him i'm not expecting him to be a full
-time starter but a spot starter someone that
can can fill in for some minutes absolutely yeah
you know i would have liked to see you know georgie
get some minutes in this last game if there's
any game i feel like it should have been so i
my initial reaction after their their goal right
after the second half started uh was you time
for georgie Like, shake this up. If we're going
to lose the match, let's just go. We still have
plenty of subs left, which he clearly, he being
Brian, showed by seven on, was it Moose? Oh,
at the same time, yeah, we had Brunel, Moose,
and Rienzi. Yeah, that's where I wrote down Creedence,
Clearwater, Rienzi. I was like, okay, we're not.
It's these three, which I totally understood.
I'm fine with it. Georgie wasn't in the 18. A
little bit. I feel like the speed and the, I
guess, I don't know. But no, Aaron, Georgie wasn't
in the 18 yesterday. He wasn't? No, no, he had
a foot injury. I'm stupid. Leave me alone. I'm
sorry. Well, then I love every sub that he did.
Yeah, but we... What happened to his foot? I
didn't know that. Pekovic even got a chance to
play. That is crazy, yeah. Yeah. My last note
for the match was can't wait for Areola to start.
Yeah. I was just like, man, he's so good. Even
in his few minutes he had, I was just like, yeah,
yeah. Get worked up. Get ready. His touch, he's
got a deft touch. How did you not lose that ball
right there? He had three guys on him, and then,
boop, it pops out. I'm like, he's going to look
good. He's going to look good when he's up and
ready. So, anyway, let's talk about St. Louis.
Do we have another drawing, though? Or we're
done? We got one more. We got the big one. We
got one more. The big jersey. The big kahuna.
Yeah. Let's do that and talk St. Louis predictions
and get out of here. All right. Let's do it.
Okay. So, here's this one. We're going to do
this. This is going to be for the team -signed
jersey. Once again, we have one. Which team?
The Sounders. It's an RSL jersey. Team signed
jersey. No, I meant like when was this signed?
2020. And our winner is Bryce DeHeff. Bryce DeHeff
is our winner. Wasn't he, what was his stat for,
wasn't he the best? He was best at something
for the predictions. Yeah, he was. Sorry, that
was a curveball. Yeah, no, you threw me off.
While you're looking, congrats, Bryce. Look at
that. No, he was in the top 10 for points per
game. Points per game. Okay, well, good job,
Bryce. But yeah, all right. So we got that going.
So congratulations to everyone. It's kind of
funny because part of me is like, oh, no matter
who wins, it's like, oh, people that I consider
friends. So it's like, hey, congratulations,
everyone. We don't know what we're going to give
away this year, but we'll always come up with
something fun. I don't think we knew exactly
what we were going to give away at this time
last year. That's also true. Yeah. I thought
I had this jersey. team signed jersey i thought
it'd be a good prize um that's awesome i'll i'll
i'll come up with something i'll i'll come up
with something we'll get it going get it going
yeah and which we've already got going right
so and we you just sent out on the discord for
the predictions to today or yesterday uh that
sheet to fill out um our homework all right that's
gonna be um that's gonna be a uh full mls season
as far as each team you'll see the total point
the total points that they got last year i add
a 0 .5 as the over and under and you just pick
will it be more or less um but then it'll also
be like i said um how many all -stars will the
sounders have how many best 11 players will the
sounders have um some other you know where will
we finish in the heritage cup which is currently
sitting in cameron's house i think uh at least
it was on halloween yeah it's because they found
it right it's true um you know where where we
finish in the in the cascadia cup standings etc
well right on why don't we go quickly we got
four minutes why don't we have alex ds's final
questions that's exactly what i was gonna say
look at us in simpatico how many matches have
we done together look at you all right well let's
do it what changes tweaks need to be made get
a result away at st louis and would you like
to see the same starting 11 at st louis for many
changes to the lineup so i think those are kind
of similar questions uh why don't we start with
you there And St. Louis, just for the heads up,
for those not paying attention, they lost 2 -0
today to San Diego. And they tied Charlotte last
week at home in the first game. Yeah, so we played
them. This is when we just started our away.
That was the first. Those will be the second
of four or five away matches, right? We got a
lot of away matches. Yeah, and this will be on
the 7th. So we still get a week off. None of
these are five days apart for Vancouver. That'll
be huge. Okay, so actually now that I see that,
we're going to play Vancouver and BC, which is
a short jaunt from our homes. Not including me,
but when I'm speaking to you, my heart's in Seattle.
Yeah. I think Vancouver is a huge match. It's
on Fubo, One Soccer, FS2, Tudin. How do you say
that? T -U -D -N? Tudin. Tudin. Anyway, people
are going to be watching that one. And I think
that'll have a good barometer of where both these
good clubs are. Everyone knows Seattle's good.
We just happen to lose against, I think, a pretty
talented young RSL team. Flashy. Vancouver showing
that they're... carrying right over from when
they left off and they're looking hungry um 7
p .m on the 12th is that that's right after st
louis which which tells me you know i i don't
think you have to bench anybody um but maybe
some time when i mean benching i mean like bench
the starters um you got to treat we got to get
it we got to get some points here um we just
lost right We've got to get some points. I do
think, though, Brian does need to make sure that
Vancouver is that availability of players and
health of some players is ready to go. I think
we really need to go at Vancouver 100%, and I
wouldn't be pissed if we didn't chase St. Louis
down despite Vancouver. I'd rather win Vancouver
over St. Louis, and I just want to see. Either
the lineup or the substitution tactics reflect
that effort. That's just my opinion. I know it's
early. I'm not worried about anything. But we
just came off a loss. We're playing a crappy
team. And then we're going to play a really good
team. That's our rival. I want to win that other
game. Yeah, I think there's enough of a gap between
the two games that you don't have to worry about
rotation too much. It's not seven days. It's
five, but you may work with your, you know, this
is not the one that would need the rotation.
I think, honestly. The one after that, the San
Jose game, that's the one that falls right in
between the two Vancouver games. So the 12th,
the 15th, the 18th. I needed to scroll one more
click down on my wheel to see the other Vancouver
game. Wow, we're playing them in six days? What
kind of scheduling? Oh, it's CONCACAF. That makes
sense. That's the one that will be in Spokane.
Let's make sure they have a match in between,
too. Yeah, I'm sure they do. They better. Yeah,
they got they got us. Then they they've got they
got Portland this weekend. Then they've got us,
Minnesota, us. And Minnesota, they're games at
home, though. So. But. Yeah, so ultimately, I
think to answer the question, I think it wouldn't
change too much. I would definitely make sure
that we are being aggressive. If you get a win
in this game, it negates the loss. Because you
want to draw on the road and win at home. So
we can get a win on this. It kind of clears our
balance there. Because on this road trip, we've
got St. Louis and San Jose. San Jose is going
to be tough, not because they're good, but because
we're going to be rotating. So that could be
a tricky game, but that could also be a great
opportunity. where our young kids and the guys
that are not getting the main playing time can
really step up and show why they should be getting
more play time. That might be a great competitive
match. San Jose, it's been only two matches,
and both of them have been at home, just like
San Diego, but they have not given up a goal.
Yeah, I mean, they're coming out swinging. But
wait. Those two teams. SKC and Atlanta. So let's
not. Those were two of the three worst teams
in the league last year. Fair enough. Fair enough.
Fair enough. What was that? Would you like to
see the same starting 11? Okay. We kind of just
talked about that. Yeah. So, I mean, mostly,
mostly, I think we get, we see more minutes from
Paul. Maybe, maybe a second half start. Probably
not. Probably. Yeah. Probably comes in. probably
around 60 instead of 85 -ish. Yeah. And Georgie,
hopefully his foot's better. Yeah, no, I think
you're right. Mostly the same lineup, but I don't
think we're chasing the win if we happen to be
in a position. I'd really like to make sure we're
not gassed. Well, the worst part is, going back
to this RSL game, we had two. great opportunities
in the first 20 minutes before we allowed a goal.
We could have been up 2 -0. Go up fast. That's
the right idea. And the way that we came out
in this game, I thought we dominated the first
10 -15 minutes. And then it was kind of a little
bit cagey. RSL got that goal kind of against
a run of play. Then we immediately answered for
the rest of the half with just dominating play,
trying to get back into it. It didn't work out,
but I liked the energy that I saw. Yeah, we're
not going to go undefeated, right? And I like
losses like that where we still look like the
better team and just sometimes the ball goes
in the wrong net sometimes. I'll be honest though,
I don't know. if we looked like the better team.
Because RSL, even though we had the majority
of the possession, they were getting chances.
So I don't want to say you're absolutely the
better team, but it was actually a winnable game.
Play 10 times, I think we win 6 or 7. 6? Play
ten times. Play ten times. We don't lose at least
five games. Okay. Don't lose six games. We get
a result in six or more games. Yeah. I'll take
that. Just because, yeah. Let's be honest here.
All right. Well, let's wrap this up. Do you think
we're going to win? With the St. Louis game,
I do think we're going to win on this one. I
don't think St. Louis has done enough this year
to improve on their team last year. And I just
don't see it. I just don't see it right now.
Maybe I'll be surprised, but I think we've got
to win in this one. I'd like to see Andrew Thomas
get his first road shot out of the season. Yeah,
I think it's a win. They're near the bottom,
second from bottom. I know it's two matches.
I know, I know, I know, but they've only scored
a goal. They've only scored half a goal a game.
And they're just not a great team. They're just
not a great team. That's just the honest truth.
And there's going to be hunger for three points
after. The only X -Factor is Berkey can have
a game. Yeah, and so can Paul Rothrock. And Asante,
De Rosario needs his goal because I keep putting
him as my first center to score a goal in my
two predictions because of preseason. He wants
to stay up top. then I think he needs to score
probably this match or at least have a goal contribution
because other than that, we've seen what Danny
Wazowski can do. I mean, it could be a matchup
situation. Brian may decide that he likes the
tactics better. This is a game where the starting
11 could be different, but if it is different,
I don't know if it's necessarily because of ineffectual
play. I think it will be tactics. Yeah, well,
and then I'm fine with that. We know Danny is
a more veteran. He understands where to run,
when to run, how to play off the shoulders. He's
got the guile, right? Which, let's not say he's
24, which kind of blows my mind. I feel like
he's 22, 21, but he's 24, so he should be. This
is it. This is his prime career opportunity.
Well, he came into the preseason ready and bulked
up. Huge. I think he's got the right mentality.
His neck is wider than his head. He saw his team
shot. I got to say, though, do you think with
a player like Danny Mussofsky, where we've talked
about all last season about being that player,
that Wondolowski -type player that is always
in dangerous positions, I feel like... He would
be better served with a Paul Areola versus a
Paul Rothrock on that wing. I don't know who.
He was off by half a yard, and Rothrock got that
ball in, and he scored. I mean, that's not shade
at Rothrock. I just know that Areola can bring
some balls in. Anyway, I think we are loaded.
Areola can bring some balls in. Don't you start
that. Explicit. Look who's talking. Jesus Christ.
You almost took your pants off in the last episode
and you weren't even on it. We got to design
a and muted. Explicit? Question mark? It doesn't
work without the voice. That's why you got to
put the question mark. I'll put it in italics.
Explicit? All right. Where can they find you?
Good, sir. Here. I'm just, honestly, I can't
even do our fantasy league and I'm just not on,
I'm just not on socials and I'm just going to
be confident about it. I'm just not going to
be. If something crazy happens, maybe you'll
see me, but I'm Aaron Lingley and I am scuttlebutt.
I'll be right here for you. All right. Well,
I am Nicholas on discord. I am cascades to see
on Instagram. Come find us. Come play with us.
Come see us down in Section 121 for any home
games. Next month. Yeah, that's right. In 40
days. Alex Diaz. We had Eric, our team. We had
Dan the Bastard. We had a couple other player
people. So come join us. It's a party down there.
We got a Scuttlebutt section down in 121. Ooh,
get a Scuttlebutt two -pole going on. with basically
everyone from our discord in that section and
uh you already mentioned some ultras which you
know this is exactly what the podcast was supposed
to be right it's it's it's fans talking having
a couple beers afterwards and um you know i'm
just uh happy that i'm one down shoot i gotta
get caught up What the hell? We're going to chug
it next 30 seconds. Hey, big congratulations.
All kidding aside, big congratulations to Dan
the Bastard for winning last season. Again, you've
got a jersey coming your way. JesusM509 gets
a TBD prize. I will be contacting you for that,
and we'll figure out something that you'd like
that you could use, et cetera. I got a few cool
ideas there. And then Bryce to have wear of the
autographed jersey. Congratulations, Bryson.
Congratulations. And for all you losers, go buy
merch. There you go. Buy a scuttlebutt hat. You
know what? Honestly, keep participating. Free
Pedro shirt. There's actually a promo. I think
it's like 25 % off for two weeks for a grand
opening. Well, let's get some more designers
in there. Yeah, that's the plan. I'm going to
be working on it all week. If you've got ideas,
if there's any designers out there, come shout
out us. If you've got some fun Scuttlebutt ideas
from listening to the shows, that's all I kind
of really want to do is just do shout outs to
some funny things we've said over the shows.
Yeah, I like it. I like it. And if you've got
a two -pole idea, I'm all ears. I never used
it to make pool, so it's something maybe I want
to try and do this year. There you go. All right.
Well, great talking to you, my friend. Let's
get a win. Let's get a win in St. Louis. Let's
do it. All right. Take it away, James. You can
follow the Sounders Scuttlebutt Podcast on Twitter
at SSFCScuttlebutt. And for all inquiries, including
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please email contact at scuttlebuttproductions
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episodes following every Sounders FC match. And
don't forget to share your feedback by rating
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We'll see you at Lumen and go Sounders! Alexa,
who's the best MLS team of all time? The Seattle
Sounders are both unequipped and they are arguably
the best MLS team of all time.