He's a tough kid. All I gotta say is the public
can't say it's cheating. Hello and welcome to
another episode of Sound or Scuttlebutt. I'm
your host Cameron Collins and I am here today
with the one and only Alex Diaz, the Ultra, who
decided that he likes Georgie Menungu enough
to come talk about him. Hey, how's it going?
Hey, we'll get to Georgie Menungu, but it's been
a... Been an interesting day all around in sports.
A lot of Sounders news, a lot of non -Sounders
news. Mariners kicking off tonight. Kicking off.
I meant the season kicks off. They don't kick.
They're throwing. They're pitching. They're pitching
off. They had David Segui bring out the first
ball to pitch. who of course is a former Mariner
and his dad Diego threw out the first pitch.
So that was pretty cool ever first pitch ever
for the Mariners. Yeah. So good, good sports
day. We'll get into all of that with some scuttlebutt,
but why don't we off the bat here talk about
where they can find you on the internet. I know
the answer, but we'll do it at the end. We'll
do it right now too. Yeah, they can find me on
the Discord. And then they can also find me on
Instagram at AlexDS509. Got to represent the
dry side. That's right. And of course, you can
get me at LegalMindedPunk on all social medias
that I haven't been banned from. I am back on
Instagram now since the last episode. I don't
think you heard this, Alex, but I was unable
to send messages on Instagram because I made
a joke. Using a line from the Chappelle show.
That's where they say cocaine is a hell of a
drug. And. They decided I was trying to sell
cocaine. Apparently. And prevented me from sending
messages for three days. I was shadow banned.
Whatever. So they think that by shadow banning
you for three days. Is going to stop you from.
Hypothetically selling cocaine. Apparently. Cocaine
isn't my thing. Today I'm going to. rather than
opening a drink i'm gonna make a drink right
here live as i pull out my tiki glass open my
diet ginger beer gosling brand which is the only
official uh ginger beer for um when you want
to make a dark and stormy then We get the Gosling
Dark Rum. We can go a little bit stronger than
that. Yeah, you got to make it nice and strong.
This is the start of a new season. That's right.
And then, of course, I've really gotten into
rum lately. And then grab this. Lime juice. Mix
it in. And boom, little tiki cocktail. You got
to give it a nice little stir. I know, I know.
Just use the edge of your glasses. As I spill
it all over me. That's tasty. One through ten,
what do you rate it? You know, since I was doing
it kind of willy -nilly like that, I give it
about a seven. It is a good drink, though. I
think it needs a little more lime. And I also
need to look at, oh, 30 days. So, yeah, the lime
juice is still good. I'm going to add a little
more shaken up lime. I don't think I got enough
of the pulpiness of the lime in it. I've had
a little more free time at night because my friend
that I usually talk to at night has been going
to bed earlier. And so I've been watching videos
on rum and good ones and bad ones and cocktails
and stuff like that and trying to become a rum
connoisseur, which I think is something that
happens when you hit your 40s, middle age. You
start picking up weird. hobbies. I mean, you
might have to start making some videos like Muffin
Top Model. Was he making videos about beer? Tequila.
Oh, that's right. Tequila Tim. I think that's
what he's under. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That lime did
it. My new TV glasses, too. Yeah. I do enjoy
a nice Coke and rum. Cuba Libre. Oh, I didn't
know Bill Mazeroski died. Former Mariner manager.
They're doing the people who died. Jesus Montero,
former Mariner who once threw a... Wow, Jervis
Medina died too. I totally forgot. Mike Campbell,
I did remember that. A lot of Mariners died.
One time he was getting heckled from the crowd,
and Jesus Montero threw an ice cream cone into
the crowd at a fan when he was sent back down
to the minor leagues. Yeah. It's been a while
since we've done Scuttlebutt Death. So we're
just jam -packing all the ones that we missed
all in one episode. Yeah, that's very true. You
know, we did get a question that came in from
the listeners. Shout out to Yaya who asked me
about tea. I think she knows that I'm into tea,
drinking tea. There used to be a tea shop on
Capitol Hill called Remedy Teas where they had
150 teas on the menu and I had every single one
plus a bunch that weren't on the menu. So I think
in my 30s that... I'm into rum now. In my 30s,
I was into tea. It's just getting stronger as
you get older. You know what's good? It's tea
-infused alcohol. That might be the next step.
It's Arnold Palmer. I mean actually taking tea
leaves and putting it inside vodka and leaving
it for a month. Stuff like that. It'd be good.
Maybe. Yeah. Oh, you have Legos. I was like,
what are your big hobbies that you've gotten
into in your quarter life crisis? Yeah, I got
back into Legos. And I started getting back into
Pokemon. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so I had an old 3DS
that I had when I was a kid. And I recently modded
it. Nice. So I have all the Nintendo games down,
I think, to Super Nintendo, Virtual Boy, 3DS
games, DS games. I can put YouTube on it. That's
cool. No more YouTube app on the Nintendo DS.
And Hulu, of course, is gone altogether now,
I think. But no more Hulu either. Not Nintendo
DS, sorry. Nintendo Switch. I think I bricked
my DS. It decided to update and then it wasn't
connected to the internet and it just sat there.
So I turned it off and now it won't do anything.
So we'll see. We'll see. I got to figure out
what to do. Not that I played it very much, but
I do have some cartridges still. Let's talk about
sports though. Big sports day. Of course, Mariners
opening day. Baseball started yesterday, but
today is like the real opening day, more than
one game. You had European playoffs for World
Cup. You had March Madness. You had an upset
and an almost upset. But you were at work, so
you didn't get to enjoy it much, did you? No,
I just got to. See the scorelines at the end
of the day. Yeah, I will say I watched the Ireland
match, and it was very frustrating as an Irish
-American to lose like that, to be the better
team the entire game, to be up 2 -0, blow that
lead, and then be ahead in penalties and blow
it there too. So no World Cup for Ireland. The
magic couldn't happen again after beating Portugal
and then... beating Hungary with a last -second
goal to send them through to the playoffs. Super
sad. Ireland has not been in since 1994, and
I think the last time they were close was when
Thierry Henry had the handball before he scored
a goal, and they didn't call it, and France went
instead of Ireland. So pretty frustrating as
an Ireland fan, but still an incredible team
to watch. Turkey beat Romania 1 -0, and so they
will play Kosovo, who beat Slovakia 4 -3. Italy
beat Northern Ireland 2 -0. Let's see, I can
just go through the rest of the scores. Denmark
beat North Macedonia 4 -0. We did see a 13 minutes
from... Mr. Mussofsky. A little cameo. Yeah,
but that's good. I was just looking up his North
Macedonia jerseys, or Macedonia, as Wayne Gretzky
called them. North Macedonia. On DHGate. I might
just throw down the $23 it takes to get a Danny
Mussofsky North Macedonia jersey. Yeah, I think
there's a good chance he could sign that one
because he's going to. catches on. That's why
I got to start bringing my Cameroon Nuhu jersey.
If people don't know, there is no better named
country in the world than Cameroon, which is
why I've been a fan of them since I was a little
kid. I wonder why. I wonder what the correlation
is. I don't know. Poland came back to beat Albania
2 -1, Sweden beat Ukraine 3 -1, and Wales fell
in penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina. And 1
-1 was the tie at that point. So those were some
big matches going on. In the first World Cup
qualification inter -confederation match, Bolivia
beat Suriname 2 -1, which is kind of a bummer,
you know, especially since Suriname was up. They
scored in the 48th minute, and then they gave
up a goal in the 72nd and a penalty in the 79th.
So there was a moment there where it looked like
maybe Suriname could could go through the 123rd
ranked team in FIFA playing against Bolivia,
the 76th ranked team in FIFA, and they were up
1 -0. So a little bit of a bummer. Bolivia had
been pretty poor lately, having lost three of
their previous four matches and tying the one
that they didn't lose. So it was looking good
for Suriname, but they could not pull it out,
sadly. I don't know. That just would have been
fun, right? To have a team that's chance. It's
just like Bolivia is not one of those great South
American teams. No, they've had some runs. It's
just when they play at home with that elevation.
If we complain about playing in Utah, imagine
playing in Bolivia up in the mountains where
they play. No kidding. It's a whole different
animal. One other friendly to talk about today.
France beat Brazil 2 -1. Two goals for France.
They were up 2 -0. Mbappe scored for them. And
the red card went to... I feel like I saw it
live. Upamecano. I can never say his name. You'd
think I would since I speak French. Interesting
match there. You know, I think two teams that
put their – some of their players out there who
were trying to make that final roster. And you
saw Bremer get some minutes. He plays for Juventus.
He had the goal out of center back for Brazil.
But great game from Casemiro, Cunha, and Vinicius.
So Vinny Jr. Did Rafinha get some minutes? Oh,
no, he's hurt. Oh, no, he's back. He's back.
He's back. He did. He was hurt. He got a 5 .8
rating in 46 minutes. Hopefully he's not out
for too long because we need him in the Champions
League. Well, they clearly brought him back because
he got minutes. So I think he just isn't match
fit for the full. the full thing so or maybe
he's just not gonna play a whole lot because
it's interesting where like if you look at brazil
they have all these attacking players but but
what like where they're lacking is honestly maybe
center back that yeah or defense defense mainly
they don't have the defense that they used to
they used to be so fantastic at defense or like
a holding midfielder yeah because customaries
Casemiro's good, but he's just up there in age.
He's like the Brazil version of Tim Rehm. Yeah.
And they're playing him next to Andre Santos,
who is more of a center mid, not a center defensive
mid. And 21 -year -old plays for Chelsea, and
that's where Chelsea's really been struggling
lately is in that transition from midfield to
defense, unable to stop teams from just exploiting
them. And so he actually had a great game, well,
passing -wise, 90 % passing, won 60 % of his
duels. But it's a pretty good game. But, yeah,
they just don't have – even their center backs,
you know, Leo Pereira's 30, Santos is 32, Wesley
is young, he's 22, and then Bremer, 29, but he's
playing well. Oh, they didn't take Marquinhos?
Or is he hurt? I think he's a lock on the roster.
Yeah, but they took a lot of locks. That's true.
Vinny's a lock. Rafinha's a lock. Casemiro's
a lock. Ederson's a lock. Maybe he is hurt. Or
has he played in any of the latest PSG games?
That's true. Indrik didn't get any minutes. He's
there. Ryan. So they had some good attackers.
And then defender -wise, Danilo. Kaiki. I had
another one. Ibanez. And then I was happy to
see Jal Pedro get some minutes. Didn't play that
great, but I don't know. He's just a fun player
to watch with Chelsea. What's the full? Is it
Igor Jesus? Did he play? No, he's Igor Tiago.
Igor Jesus did not get called up, but Igor Tiago
did. Okay, no, I'm thinking of the wrong Igor.
Yeah, there's two. Igor Jesus is the one that's
at, what, Nottingham? I think so. He's the one
from Botafogo. Yeah, he is. But Thiago got called
up from Brentford. He's been tearing it up. He
did get in in the 71st minute. So didn't play
a lot, but I don't know if you saw that video
of when they announced that he made it and how
nuts his mom went. It was just really cool to
see. Yeah. Once you get called up, I feel like
it's a special thing to get called up that way.
Especially your first call up. Yeah, totally.
But to go back on the Ireland game, were they
wearing green? No, they had white kits. They
had white. Because they had to wear the light
kits, even though they do have a lighter green,
because Chechia was home and they were wearing
red. Oh, okay. I thought they were wearing green
and they blew a lead like how, you know, Sounders
typically do when they're the better team. No.
No, but still. Rough one for that one. Yeah,
I mean, good sports day. March Madness is going
on. I think that's something we should talk about
before we get into more Sounders talk and the
big news of the day about Georgie Manungu. But
we're both in a bracket. And you are at 99 .5
% right. You are demolishing everybody. I'm tearing
it up. And I kid you not, I have not watched
a single game of college basketball at all this
year. I'm just going based off, you know, like,
oh, what's the higher seed? Oh, you know what?
Maybe I'll pick you. You know, I did take some
upsets. Yeah. But. I'm like, I haven't even watched
the game of Marsh Madness. I haven't had the
time, really. I watched the Santa Clara game,
and once they lost, you know, that's my alma
mater, I was pretty much done. I haven't been
watching anything since then. You're also doing
pretty well in Fantasy League. You got second
this week, but you are first overall in the kick
base with 8 ,000 points ahead of Dan the Bastard
with 7 ,700. How are you killing it so well in
that, too? I just, I mean, I look at, you know,
who's playing Orlando? Who's playing SKC? And,
like, who's playing, like, Montreal? Or who's
playing on the East, basically? You know what's
interesting is I'm looking at the match day wins.
Most people who have wins only have one, except
for Dan, who has three. And yet you're still
leading him. So he's been... He's been the high
in three of five weeks, and you're still up 300
points on him. I think it's because of the rotation
of Champions League. And what killed me this
week is I had Surge in my lineup before this
last week. I subbed him out because I thought
they were going to rest him, and then he goes
off to have a hat trick. And he was my captain
too, so all his points would have doubled. And
I subbed them out, so I cost myself like 600
points. Yeah. Yeah. That's too bad. I got screwed
by the rotation too, just because I forgot. And
then, yeah. Berhalter gave me like 8 points.
Yeah. Me too. I think Moeller gave me like negative
12. Just gotta... Keep up on who's playing. You're
good at that. I try my best, but let's take a
break. Oh, real quick, I do want to mention,
if you're listening to this and you want to check
out the Mariners this year, they are no longer
on Root Sports because Root Sports doesn't exist.
If you have Comcast, which is the local place
most people have in Seattle, it's on channel
1 ,261. So we'll get into more talk about games
moving and stuff like that. But are you good
with taking a break right now? All right, let's
take a break. We'll be right back. Listen to
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You know, during the off season, it was pretty
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Join the Patreon. We're back. We're going to
talk some Sounders now. And first things first,
as Logan Gilbert is taking the mound for the
first pitch, second straight opening day start.
Go Mariners. Let's talk about the matches that
moved. Yeah. The most recent one being the RSO
game. Yeah. Well, they officially moved to today.
I think we knew that they were happening, but...
RSL got moved to... Do you have the dates in
front of you by chance? I don't think I do. Okay,
I just pulled it up. So RSL was scheduled for
April 12th, got rescheduled to September 23rd,
and then the game against SKC, September 9th,
got rescheduled to October 1st. Beautiful. That's
a late season. Well, I guess this season goes
much further, but... Yeah. Got to get those rescheduled
matches in because, of course, we advanced in
Champions League coming out of Spokane, Washington
in a match that was huge, right? Did we do a
show? I don't think we did a show before that,
right? We didn't do one after? You and I? No,
not the Ultras. Yeah. Maybe a main show. But,
you know, shout out to the dry side. They showed
out. Yeah. Are they sold out? You know, the small,
I mean, it's not small. It's kind of like Starfire
in capacity. Yeah, a little bigger, but same
atmosphere where you're like on the field. I
love that. There's not much better than, you
know, a match at Starfire that is completely
packed and rocking. Yeah. And I mean, the turf,
you know, the field wasn't, you know, the greatest.
The camera angle reminded me like I was playing
FIFA. Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't the same. A little
bit lower, and I don't know. You could tell.
They actually said the turf was nice afterwards,
and I don't know if that was the Sounders just
being nice about it, but both Brian and the players
mentioned it. But you could tell, especially
early on, that the passing was not as – like
the ball wasn't – moving as fast as it does on
the pitch at lumen field where they water it
down and so i don't know if they just didn't
water it down to make it a quicker field or if
i mean it very well could be a different length
turf right because it's only for soccer they're
not using it for football and so it's not a dual
purpose turf it might be an older turf it might
be that they didn't water it and it could be
you know the different climates You know, it's
much drier on the other side of the state. It
rains, but not as much. And I think, how much
do you think it is the ball in general? Because
they use a different ball for MLS than CONCACAF
champions. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, it was
noticeable, though. Like, it felt sloppy. I don't
think it was sloppy, but it felt sloppy because
the ball just was not going where they wanted
it to. Yeah, I was honestly very frustrated watching
that game up until the subs came in. Yeah. Because
we don't play that way. Even in the recent games
where we won and we didn't have possession, we
didn't look as sloppy. Yeah, true. Yeah, I mean,
because it was the opposite in Minnesota, where
we, of course, had possession all the time, but
weren't able to really put anything together
scoring -wise. But we still didn't look sloppy.
Yeah, I mean, we had our moments, which lets
you know some counterattacking moments for Minnesota.
But, you know, luckily, we have our defense standing
on the set, and we have a keeper that's, you
know, playing well. Yeah, absolutely. So those
matches moved. So now we have at Tigris in Monterey
on the 8th of April. And then is it the 15th
that we're back here in Seattle? Yeah, the 15th,
I think. Yeah, so tough. I mean, watching Cincinnati
blow. that game and give up a goal in the 98th
of 99 minutes, it would have been much easier
to travel to Cincinnati than it would have been
to travel to Mexico. But, yeah. I mean, I was
watching that game live, and I was just taken
aback by, it's not that Tigres scored, you know,
like sloppy. The game wasn't sloppy. It was just
that Tigres was so dominant. And they scored
absolute goal -assos. Even the first goal that
was, you know, quote -unquote a tap -in, the
build -up play that led to that goal was beautiful.
You know, it was like tiki -taka, quick one -two
passes, and then hit the guy in the back post
just to tap it in. And then the goal to get him
the fifth goal at the end of the game, the game
winner was an absolute rocket from outside the
box. But I think... Pat Noonan, he just went
in that game just to defend. Yeah, that sounds
right. Cleveland just hit a second batter, just
hit a home run off Logan Gilbert. Yep, that's
Mariners baseball, baby. Mariners are already
losing. And there were some places that had him
predicted to win the American League. Oh, yeah.
I mean, this is one game. It's a long season.
Yeah. That is, you're going to lose way more
often than you want to in baseball. You're going
to be unhappy. Even the best teams are unhappy
60 nights a year or so. All right. Well, let's
get back to the Sounders. Yeah, you're already
starting to get a little fresher. You might have
to make another dark and stormy. Yeah, yeah,
right. So, oh, you almost caught it. Almost robbed
the home run. It was about, I don't know, a foot.
If he was a foot taller. So what do you think
that means for the Sounders then, watching them
play that way? I mean, is this going to be –
obviously playing there is always going to be
tough, but is this a team the Sounders can match
with, or are we going to get our asses handed
to us? I think we can match up with this team.
I trust Christian in that midfield against their
midfield. And you know their midfielder, Bofo,
he likes to be very physical and try to get into
our center back's head. And I feel like Reagan
is not one to get agitated. And, I mean, we have
our own, you know, bear that would agitate other
players. And it's probably going to go, you know,
head and head with Bofo, with Nuhu. Yeah. Although
Nuhu seems like a different person this year.
Yeah, but I think he has that fiery side. And,
honestly, like, if, you know, you look at, you
take a step back and you look at the bigger picture,
and as you know, Sounders make a run. If we go,
if we beat, you know, one of Mexico's, you know,
top four teams, in the next round, you're either
going to play Nashville or America. And then
on the other side of the bracket, you're either
going to play Toluca, Cruz Azul, LAFC, and LA
Galaxy. Well, they're already getting knocked
out. There's no shot. But, I mean, it is. I mean,
it's four MLS teams and four Mexican teams. Yeah.
I know Nashville's not in the West. They are
in other sports. I just feel like, again, we're
seeing that the East is extremely overrated,
that the Western Conference, you know, the top
five in the Western Conference are as good, if
not better, than any team in the East, except
for maybe Nashville. But Nashville's on this
amazing run right now. Yeah, I think if you really
look at it on the east side, whose teams have
scared you? Nashville? Miami? You can put in
New York City FC. Maybe, yeah. But they haven't
been playing like they normally do. It's only
two teams. Who scares you on the west? Both LA
teams. Yeah. San Diego. San Jose has been on
a terror. Yeah, they're good. Vancouver. Yeah.
And, you know, you have Dallas playing better.
Houston's playing better. And then you have,
did I already say Vancouver? You did, but they're
worth mentioning twice. Yeah. And then you have
RSL. And, you know, we got, you know, our annoying
little brother over there trying to get a wooden
spoon out of the kitchen. But, I mean. Look at
who would win this game, SKC or Montreal? I mean,
SKC has improved this year, but I'd still say
SKC. Yeah, I just think that there's just this
East Coast biased. Yeah. Mainly because of, no,
they were there before Messi. It preexisted.
There's always been an East Coast bias in MLS,
and I feel like... There was a few years there
where people started recognizing the West Coast
and then Messi came in and it went away. And
it didn't help that there was one year where
I'd say the top six teams in the East were as
good. I mean, they didn't work out that way,
but the top six teams in the East could have
beat any team in the West. Yeah. But I feel like
normally, I mean, when the Sounders are finishing
fifth and I think they're as good, if not better
than the top team in the East. That tells you
a lot about how good the West actually is. Oh,
yeah. And that's why you can see the point discrepancy
between the West table and the East table. Yeah.
And then the East always tends to win the shield
most of the time. I think it's because the bottom
is so bad. But who wins MLS Cup? Yep. It's always
the West. It's always the West, except for when
we really want the East to win, like when New
York City FC beat Portland. Yeah. Or when, you
know, you got Messi, you know, sign him for $40
million and he'll get you an MLS Cup and a Leafs
Cup. Yeah. Conco champion? I don't know about
that one. Not every MLS team can beat the Seattle
Sounders. Yeah. There is no team that really
scares me. I feel like in the East, but we do
have three Western teams left on top of three
plus the one we're playing for really good Mexican
teams. And so I think this feels like a really
difficult task. And if the Sounders were to repeat
as the only American champions, this may be a
bigger deal than last time. Because I feel like
the path is harder to get there. And, you know,
you have a team like Toluca who is not, I mean,
they're just, those teams are so much higher
right now than they've ever been. Yeah, they're
striving to go back to back to back in the league.
Yeah. And I think that going back to the Steelers
matchup, I think it's very beneficial for us
to have the second league at home. Because you
can go to Mexico and grind a draw, grind out
a result. If we only go down 1 or 2 -0 or 2 -1
or 1 -1, I like our chances in Seattle. Yeah.
Yeah, I agree. As long as we're still in it in
a home, especially when we have the advantage,
I would love it if we could get out of there
with a draw, especially with an away goal, which
is a debate we should have in a second. If we
can somehow do that, I'd really like our chances
of advancing. But before that, I'm a little,
I don't know, I'm worried. We're a little like,
we're Seattle sports fans. Yeah. We always have
to have a little bit of self -doubt. Yeah, absolutely.
We got to keep our expectations low. So when,
you know, she hits the fan, we're not entirely
disappointed. Yeah. So we're going to talk about
Georgie. Don't worry. But I do want to have this
debate real quick with you where you've been
talking about how nice it is that they don't
have away goals in UEFA Champions League. And
I prefer away goals. And to me, seeing this latest
round of CONCACAF Champions Cup just proved to
me how much more fun it is with away goals because
you had. Several matches that went down to away
goals. I mean, even the Seattle match late until
we started scoring really felt like it could
come down to away goals with the way we were
playing. Seeing how Tigres had to go for it.
They couldn't just sit back and wait for penalties,
sit back and wait for overtime. They had to go
in and score. Keep pushing, keep pressuring,
keep pressuring. And it was just like this awesome,
just chaos ball. Donovan in his first at bat
for the Mariners. Hit a lead off home run to
tie the game. There we go. That's the Mariners
I know. Told you we were winning it. Never doubted.
But I think to go off, I just feel like. CONCACAF
and UEFA, there's two different play styles.
Oh, I agree totally. I just really like away
goals because it makes you have to go for it
on the road instead of sit back and be boring.
But I think that's just the way it works in CONCACAF
or in UEFA. You see teams go for it. Sometimes.
I mean, Chelsea won it basically parking the
bus for several straight games when they won
it back in 20... Was it 2012? No, no. They just
recently won it. Are you talking about that run?
No, the previous run. It took a goal from Torres
to really do it. So, yeah, I mean, it was a –
so teams still did it back then. So it's not
like people don't park the bus. Like you said,
maybe that's what Noonan did with Cincinnati,
and it backfired. Well, he did because he took
out Evander and put in another center back. He
only left Danke out there by himself. And once
they went down, there was no way they were going
to get a goal. I mean, they did get a goal. It
was off a set piece. I know. But I mean, once
the Tigers scored that fifth, if Cincinnati scores
another one, they move on. Yeah, they don't have
time that late. They just didn't have no attackers.
They were so demoralized. Yeah, and I said to
myself, there was this chance that they had.
It was a two -on -one on break where the guy,
he just hits it when he didn't need to, and the
ball just goes out for a goal kick. And in my
head, I'm like, that's going to bite them in
the ass. And what happens? They just go down
and score. And it's like there's these little
moments in the game that happen and, you know,
like a big miss. And you don't think, oh, like,
oh, you know, it's early. we'll get another chance,
but sometimes that chance doesn't come. Yeah.
Like in the, in the Vancouver game, when Ruth's
like missed that open net in the first minute,
I'm just like in my head, I'm like, Oh no. Yeah.
Here it comes. Totally. Those are, and that's,
we've seen things like that come back to bite
the Sounders in the past. We saw quite a lot
last year, especially I feel like, Hey, Zeus
was a little snake bitten where he'd have these
chances that should have been sure goals that
don't go in. And then he'll come back to bite
us. And so I'm glad it didn't. But it was worrisome.
You're right. You're absolutely right. Yeah.
And I mean, Rusnak, it feels like he's in a little
bit of a slump right now. Yeah, I think I agree.
He hasn't been playing at the same consistent
level that he has been last year. And maybe it's
because he's older. Yeah. Maybe time has caught
up to him a little bit. I mean, it almost felt
like, though, he's been a little in his head,
like missing that goal. Some of the other stuff
is not characteristic of him. Yeah. He's usually
the one who doesn't miss those opportunities.
I mean, he still misses some, but he makes them
more often than misses from Sounders' perspective.
But we see that even in the home opener when
he missed that ball that Jesus gave him right
in front of the goal where he just missed the
frame. Yeah. Maybe there's just something in
this. that he's been carrying since preseason.
I think once he finds the nets, he's going to...
The roost neck we know is going to... The DP.
Our DP is going to flourish. Speaking of DPs,
we just saw a trade today from the Sounders that
a lot of crybabies are mad about. But I think
is an absolutely brilliant move where we traded
our seventh winger. Third. On the depth chart
for two million gam, which means we can use it
this summer to sign a player of DP caliber at
a lower, if we spend money, of course, at a lower.
hit on the salary cap. But more importantly,
you pointed out to me, because we hadn't heard
the news yet, that along with that came 15 %
sell -on clause. A little less. A little less
than 15. But also escalators above 2 million
if Georgie plays well. Yeah, we're escalators
FC, baby. I'm going to tell you what I love about
this trade. People will be like, well, how do
you say Georgie's 7th? Well, if you go through
the players that would be ahead of him, you've
got Morris, Pedro when he's healthy, Rothrock,
Areola, Jesus. And then I would argue that he's
now been surpassed by Kingston because Kingston
is getting those minutes that Georgie isn't.
And we've seen what Kingston has been able to
do on the wing. Yeah. He dismantled Vancouver
in, what, 10 minutes? Yeah. And he iced the game
for us. Right. And I think because we had such
depth at wing, that's the reason we haven't signed
him yet. We don't have that depth at center back,
which is why we had to bring in Tino. We had
to sign him to the team. It's easier to loan
a player up than loan a player down. I mean,
we can do it, but when you have to have that
roster, when you have to bring them up and down
constantly, it's a pain. So I think what it does
is great for everyone. Colorado gets a dynamic
player who can make plays for them, power their
offense. I think you and I both question whether
or not he's been figured out, but we'll get into
that. And that may be why he's dropped down the
depth chart. But it gets Georgie minutes. It
honors the fact that he came over and has been
with us since Tacoma Defiance, since he was a
young man, that he went through losing an eye
while he was with us and completely reworking
his game. gives him a chance to go, okay, you
can go and you're going to get minutes. I mean,
I believe he will be starting for Colorado. Not
right away. He's got to work into the system.
He's got to fight for his minutes for sure. I
think he'll get them because he's that dynamic,
and it's going to be fun to watch him there.
I think it's great for him. He's going to get
minutes. It's great for the Sounders. If he plays
well there, not only did we get a record 2 million
gam, we're going to get a ton more. If he's playing
well, we can get a sell -on fee if he continues
to play well. I mean, he's on the Burkina Faso
national team, of course, so he's on a national
team who played well in the African Confederation
Cup, which we haven't talked about how they just
changed who won the Cup. It's going to court.
We'll talk about that next year when they figure
it out. It's great for the Sounders because you
get that money. And then it's great for Kingston
because I assume now they're going to bring him
up and sign him and bring him into the Georgie
spot. And are they different players? Yes. But
I think Kingston is more… Versatile. Yes. Thank
you. Yeah. Because he can play in the midfield.
He can play out wide. And if you really need
him in a pinch, he can play right back. Mm -hmm.
which we've seen Georgie play forward, but out
of necessity, not out of him actually being good
at it. Yeah, and I mean, he's had 53 appearances
for the club. He's only had 10 goal contributions.
Yeah. And I just don't think he fits our system.
We tend to be a possession -based team. And where
does he excel? In transition. Yeah. What was
his biggest moment in the club? I would say it's
when he won the penalty. in the league's cup
final yeah but when was that moment came off
a transition moment and and he continuously drew
yellow cards in transition uh he had some great
one -on -ones in transition i mean i think it's
probably the same reason ryan kent didn't work
out for us yeah weird towards the end yeah but
weirdly uh most of our goals this year have come
on the transition game rather than possession
so uh maybe we should be playing more transition
but i don't know i i feel like you know a lot
of if you look at how soccer's played now it's
either transition moments or set pieces yeah
it's really difficult to see you know a build
up you know, build up play lead to a goal. Even
if you watch, you know, San Diego play, they
have built up in, you know, the middle of the
third and then at least to a ball over the top.
Yeah. With, with the runners, which can be seen
as transitional. Yeah. But it's just, it's just
very, very, very difficult. It's, it's, you know,
soccer is evolving. We're not, we're not seeing
the tiki taka pep. Barcelona days of soccer no
more. We're seeing a different, you know, more
athletic. Players are more athletic. Especially
in the MLS. I mean, I saw someone on Blue Sky
complaining about how the MLS is worse now than
it was like seven years ago, which I think is
absurd. You've gotten rid of Peter Vermees style
play where you just hack players down to actually
skill -based play. where you are seeing athleticism,
and it's way more fun to watch. I will watch
way more MLS matches today. I can sit down and
watch. I treat the MLS like I used to treat the
NFL. Back in the day, I could watch any NFL game,
just sit down and enjoy it. I only watch Seahawks
games now. Occasionally, maybe a Sunday or Monday
night football game if I don't have anything
going on, but not normally. I will sit down and
watch any MLS game. Yeah, and I've been watching
more of other games. Because of kick base. Because
I want to see which players are performing. Yeah.
So it gives me an edge. To say, oh, this player
is hot. He's in form. He's going to be. This
guy takes penalties. This guy's taking corners.
This center back is doing all these goal line
clearances. So I'm like, it's giving me more.
reason to watch other teams and not just the
Sounders. Yeah, totally. But yeah, it's just
fun to watch. I mean, the MLS playoffs I think
have been fun for a while, but this has been
a pretty good... I will sit down and watch any
game if it's on. And I mean... Yeah, I'm enjoying
this. I feel like it's one of the most accessible
leagues in America. In American sports. Because
if you want to watch a football game, you either
got to have Prime, you got to have Netflix, or
you got to have, you know, what's it? The NFL
Network? Yeah. I mean, you can watch some games
on CBS and Fox that are over the air. But yeah,
you've got to. For Thursday night, you need.
Prime. Prime. Friday night, you need one thing.
Saturday, you need another thing. The Seahawks
are playing a Wednesday night game this year.
Who knows? Maybe it'll be on FUBU or something,
DAZN. It might be VIX. Yeah. That's why I couldn't
watch the Ireland game. I had to find an Irish
broadcast of the game and watch. It was nice,
though, because I got the Irish announcers. But
that game was only on VIX. And I'm supposed to
have VIX for free through T -Mobile, free pass
never worked right and I never knew who to contact
so I can't watch it. Also, no habla espanol.
That's how you're going to learn. They talk really
fast. Also, my friend Diego from Uruguay says
that Mexican announcers don't know shit about
soccer. They just know how to say one word. That
seems like some Some South America, Latin America
hate going on, but I don't know. Since I don't
speak Spanish, I can't tell the difference. Just
tell them, you know, as an Argentinian fan, let
us know when they win another World Cup. I mean,
I think Uruguayans have a kindredness with Argentina
since it's right across the water there. Yeah,
but, you know, South Americans, they all hate
each other when it comes to sports. Especially
soccer. You've seen actual wars start over soccer
matches there, which is crazy. What's the tournament
called? Copa Libertadores. Yeah, remember when
the fans were having a brawl? Yeah. Taking the
metal pipes off the stands. It's pretty crazy.
Trying to play baseball with the people. Yeah,
totally. But, yeah, I think this is a good trade
for everyone involved. You know, am I sad to
see Georgie go? Yes. I mean, I liked Georgie
on the Sounders. I think he added a lot to the
team. It was a really fun story. I like players
that came up through our system, obviously. But
you can't keep everyone that comes up through
your system, number one. The fact that you're
willing to move on from them and let them go
somewhere where they can play is going to make
the players under them who are coming up go,
of course I want to be here because I'm going
to get my chance to make the pro team. And if
I don't, they'll let me go somewhere where I
will have an opportunity. They're not just going
to have me sitting at the bottom of the depth
chart not playing. Why should we hinder a player's
growth and development just so another team in
the league can't have them? Yeah, I mean, don't
trade them to Portland or LAFC. You know, there's
certain teams not to send them to. But Colorado,
I mean, we have a good trading partnership with
them. We sent Danny Leyva there on loan. Now
we've sent Josh Atencio and now Georgie. So it's
fun to, I mean, and I don't, I mean, maybe it's
because I have friends in Denver. It's funny
that I hate the Broncos, but I don't. I like
the Rockies. I like the Rapids. Yeah, we tend
to beat them, so I like playing against them
too. Yeah, although we probably would have won
the MLS Cup much sooner if their goalie hadn't
given up a late goal one game to make them have
to drop down to the Eastern bracket, and then
they had the easy path up to make it to the final
and win the championship the year they won. Back
in the day when you would take... I think it
was the top four teams from each league, and
then the next best four, which were always from
the West. And so they were able to go through
the Eastern bracket easily and make it to the
final and win. Really? But I heard that the East
is always the better side. Ain't that crazy,
huh? Yeah, it's wild. But yeah, I'm for this
trade. You think good trade? Oh, this is good
trade all around. Good for the player, good for
the club. you make $2 million off a player that
is arguably at the bottom of the winger depth
chart when everyone's healthy. Yeah. Or in some
people's eyes, you know, they haven't ranked
third. Yeah. Maybe they're only watching, you
know, the per 90 stats and not the actual game.
Yeah. True. I mean, I, I, is he a loss? Yes.
It will hurt the team in the short term. Will
it hurt the team in the longterm? No. Because
either he flames out at Colorado or he continues
to improve and we get more money and a higher
sell -on fee when he's sold. I mean, more money
from the sell -on fee. And yeah, I just think
it's something that the Sounders have always
been willing to do with the youth is move on
when necessary. And that sometimes is this player
isn't going to work out here. And it sometimes
is this player deserves a chance. And so we're
going to let them go somewhere else. We're going
to send them to another team. So I'm excited
for Georgie. I'm excited for the Sounders. I'm
sad that we won't get the excitement from when
he came on the field. But I think it is a win
-win. I think, yeah, we're going to lose that
excitement aspect to it. But I'm going to get
excited when Arioli gets on the pitch. seeing
him whip and crosses the way he would. Yeah.
Finding that, you know, maybe Danny subs in,
he'll get, you know, Danny tends to, you know,
get at the end of those chances. You know, maybe,
who knows, maybe D -Ro finally heads one in.
Yeah, that would be nice. I mean, you know, he
had, you know, I like Georgie, but I understand.
why they moved on, and I like the deal. Yeah.
Because arguably, I'm not playing him over Pedro.
I'm not playing him over the Paws. I'm not playing
him over Jesus. I'm not playing him over Jamo.
Right. And I maybe wouldn't play him over Kingston.
Especially right now, Kingston has the hot hand.
But even if that's the case, you're still trading,
you know, their sixth winger. Yeah, and I feel
like he's been figured out a little bit. Teams
tend to put two defenders on his side. They have
the initial defender and then they have someone
covering. And we saw that he couldn't win those
one -on -ones against the Mexican teams when
we were in Leagues Cup last year. Yeah, or in
Minnesota. What did he do apart from that one
cross he had into D -Row? Yeah. So, yeah, I mean,
and it's not that he's a bad player. It could
also be that he wasn't getting the minutes necessary
to ball out also. Yeah, and maybe just systematically
he just doesn't fit into the way that Brian wants
to play. Totally. Which I can totally see that
because Brian wants to be more possession -based,
and I think Georgie's going to excel in transition.
Yeah. Because he's just dynamic, you know, up
and down the field. As far as side -to -side,
he's probably not the best. Yeah, totally. Well,
I think that might be a good place to stop for
the day. We got the big news in. George, do you
have anything else you want to hit on before
we go? What's the score of the Arizona game?
Oh, that's a good question. We do have a lot
more sports still happening. And, oh, Jamaica
hasn't kicked off yet. Let's see. Mariners are
1 -1. in the second inning. And then Kraken came
back, overtime win, 4 -3. That's pretty great.
Let's look at general scores here for the NCAA.
Here we go. I don't care about my bracket. Illinois
is up 21 -14 on Houston, which is interesting.
That would ruin my bracket. Arizona is beaten
up on Arkansas, 44 -29. That's what I like to
hear. I mean, I also have Houston, but I have
Arizona winning it all. And I'm just trying to
do what I can to stay in first place. Yeah, right?
I mean, that Iowa win over Nebraska, I felt like
if Houston goes through, that's going to be an
incredible game because Iowa has been on fire
and Houston's offense just isn't there. Yeah,
but I think the Pac -12 is going to do it. win
the national championship this year. I wish.
The Pac -12 is Oregon State and Washington State,
and neither are in the tournament. If you know,
you know. Arizona was in the Pac -12. They are
middling, not even middling, bottom of the WCC
this year. And we did get three WCC teams for
the first time in as long as I can remember with
Gonzaga, Santa Clara, and St. Mary's making it.
But they all lost opening weekend. Yeah. But,
yeah, so some exciting games there. You know,
baseball is going nuts. Dodgers, of course, are
winning again. We've got the Japanese Grand Prix
coming up. Is it this weekend? Yeah, I think
so. No, that was last weekend. We have a weekend
off, huh? I would say tune in to, you know, I
think Mexico versus Portugal, Saturday at 6 p
.m. Even though it's a friendly, I know that.
You know, Mexico is going to try to come out
to play because they have a lot of players on
that roster that got called up that aren't, you
know, locked in starters for the World Cup. Yeah.
And who knows, maybe Obed is going to get some
minutes because they're, you know, they might
be a little bit hurt and he has a good chance
of making the roster. I don't know if you heard
what the coach said about Obed. That if he was
still in Seattle, he wouldn't make the World
Cup. Oh, yeah. Which is insane. He rides the
bench. Yeah, he's riding the bench in Spain.
And now he's like a locked in. Oh, home run Mariners.
Dom Canzone. Bibbidi -bobbidi. Bibbidi -bobbidi.
That's Italian, right? Yeah, we were just talking
about him earlier. Look at that. Career high
in RBIs and average last year, I believe. And
first at bat of the season, home run. Love it.
I mean, he tore it up for Italy when they made
it to, what, the semifinals of the World Baseball
Classic? Yeah. I was rooting for Dominican Republic.
I was rooting for Japan, but yeah, Dominican
Republic. But let me tell you, Venezuela. Oh,
my God, their fans are fun. The celebrations,
everything was so joyous. I loved it. Seeing
them beat the USA was so much fun. I don't think
I watched that game. I didn't watch it live,
but I watched all the celebration afterwards.
Apparently, I'm still speaking Italian. Italiano.
I'm not black. I'm a Dominican poppy. Yeah, it
would have been fun to see them go far. It just
wasn't their year, and Japan's year either. They
had been so good. I think that's the game the
USA showed up to play, and then they just dropped
the ball in the final. Yeah. All right, let's
get out of here. I mean, one of the players from
Dominican Republic let a rip against Paul Skeens.
He got pulled in 37 pitches in the first inning.
Yeah, well, maybe it's that. He's not really
a sophomore, but the sophomore slump. I don't
know. It's pirate space, but I don't know how
much longer he's going to be a pirate. Oh, yeah.
We can trade him for something good. He'll be
a dodger. Probably. And they're winning today,
of course. All right. They can find you on the
Discord. And what is your Instagram? Alex underscore
DS 509. Yep, and I'm LegalMindedPunk everywhere.
Join the Patreon, and we'll see everybody next
time. Bring back our Sonics. Yeah, we'll talk
about that next time, because I have a lot to
say. Woo -hoo! Bye, everyone. You can follow
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Alexa, who's the best MLS team of all time? Seattle
Sounders are both unequivocally and indiscriminately
the best MLS team of all time.