You're listening to Raising Anchor on 990 WBOB.
Welcome to the Raising Anchor Soccer Show with
Matt Entrickett and Jason Carey. Your home for
news, analysis, and everything Rhode Island FC.
Each week they take you inside the locker room,
inside the tactics, and inside the storyline
shaping R -I -F -C. Here's Matt and Jason. Rhode
Island FC gets set to take on Birmingham Legion
on the road this weekend. What reinforcements
are on the way for the Amber and Blue and can
they extend their win streak to three games for
the first time ever since 2024 or? Does the team
down in Magic City with Jay Heaps look to repeat
their earlier success in just one of two wins
on the season against Rhode Island F .C.? We've
got your preview for that match. A lot of news
around the league to talk about, including secret
or maybe not so secret entrepreneurs and investors
inside Rhode Island F .C. now revealed to the
masses. But before we get anywhere in all of
that, first got to join Jason Carey, co -host
with the most. How are you doing, my friend?
Excited. There is a lot to talk about tonight.
a lot so so for those that normally expect the
uh 60 minute format throw that out the window
prepare for two parts part of it on your drive
into work and then the other part on the way
home because there is a lot to talk about and
of course for such a stacked occasion we've got
to bring the big guns into the show and i can't
think of anyone better than fresh off of his
local world cup broadcast coverage your favorite
rc play -by -play shot caller and self -proclaimed
steak king enthusiast The one and only Tom Quinlan
rejoining the show. Tom, how have you been, my
friend? This has been my favorite week since
covering Rhode Island FC, since it all started,
since it all started. This might be up there.
Well, getting to the US L Cup finals is probably
the number one week. This is easily number two
for a myriad of reasons outside of what the BS
we've had to deal with today that we won. We
won this one today, boys. We're gonna get into
so much in this programming, but we do have to
start with the chaos, with the controversy, as
Tom just alluded to, or maybe the lack thereof,
because if you've been following this club for
long enough, a lot of what's been transpiring
over the last 24 hours really hasn't been new
news to the ever faithful, especially the listeners
of this particular show. And listen, I'm glad
that Rhode Island FC made its way to the top
of the sports news cycle in the last 24 hours.
Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the
performances on the pitch. So let's get right
into this. And for those that haven't been living
under a rock, Jason, what's the gist of what's
been happening in these last 24 hours? Yeah,
so the TLDR here, NBA superstar and Clippers
small forward Kawhi Leonard has been identified
as a previously undisclosed minority investor
in Rhode Island FC in Centerville Bank Stadium.
Based on reporting from Pablo Torres Finds Out
Podcast and additional stories provided by WPRI
12, the reporting frames the narrative that Rhode
Island FC investment did not emerge in isolation,
but emerged as part of an already existing NBA
investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented
the salary cap. The report further infers that
state officials, specifically Governor Dan McKee,
may have had some direct knowledge or involvement
in the ownership and potential money laundering.
I guess Kawhi Leonard is our Secret Santa this
year. Or was it the white Yankee gifts, the secret
swaps? Listen, Tom, we brought you on specifically
because if there's someone better when it comes
to bridging the gap between Rhode Island FC and
all things politics in Rhode Island, it has to
be you. So make this make sense for the uninitiated
and why the hell are we sitting here tonight
talking about an NBA small forward that is on
the other side of the country? Yeah, so here's
the way I look at this. I think the simplest
way to boil this story down is that Brett Johnson
has a lot of connections and Brett Johnson has
worked his rear end off to bring in, I'll keep
it clean for you guys, to bring in as many investors
from as many corners of the country as possible
to make this work, to make Rhode Island FC a
successful franchise, not for the short term,
but the long term. And from what I've gathered,
and I think the key things here is that As Jason
brought up before, reporting for Pablo Torre
was made to make it seem like this Kawhi Leonard
deal is tied up in the NBA investigation into
how maybe the Clippers circumvented the salary
cap. The little small fine print and the devil's
always in the details, the investment came pre...
Whatever Kawhi Leonard got involved in with Steve
Ballmer and this aspiration thing this Tom Tom
it was only eight days So when there's only eight
days between two deals clearly there has to be
an established link everything has to be connected
in this world There's only six degrees of separation
from Kevin Bacon Well, and this is where I appreciate
having an owner. And granted, let me just get
this out there right now. I am the play by play
announcer for Rhode Island FC. So technically
I do get paid by the club. So you're not going
to get me on here tonight to bash the club, which
by the way, if I felt like there was something
that could force me to have to be objective,
I wouldn't be on here. I don't think there's
any there there here. And Brett Johnson has been
very transparent about his connections to Kawhi
Leonard and his uncle, which I think is being
lost in the sauce here in this entire story that's
being curated by PRI and Pablotori reports. So
this deal, whatever Brett Johnson's coordination
is with Kawhi Leonard to get him to be an investor
here with Rhode Island FC is completely separate.
of Steve Ballmer, the Los Angeles Clippers. This
is a personal relationship that Brett Johnson
has with Kawhi Leonard's uncle, who is also his
agent, and Kawhi himself. So this feels like
this has, and this is coming out of Kawhi's money.
This isn't about giving Kawhi money to get him
onto a board somewhere. It's, no, no, no, no,
no, no. Kawhi invested into Rhode Island FC.
used however much money he has in the bank to
be, and now we don't know how much money it is.
And to be honest, I had no idea Kauai Linder
was an investor. I never really dug into it.
I didn't care about the investors. You know why?
The thing got done. And all I cared about was
just moving forward and moving forward and making
this thing successful for the future. For me
and my role with this team, it doesn't matter
who the investors are. Now I'll get into the
investor part of it and why maybe this story
matters in a minute, but Long story short, Kawhi
Leonard is one of the secret investors in Rhode
Island F .C. with Brett Johnson and making this
thing work long term. And that's about it, in
my opinion. There's nothing else there. So I
want to talk about the investment. We can get
to that and that's separate. But on the surface,
with Kawhi Leonard being an investor, there is
nothing more there than Brett Johnson has a relationship
with the family. The uncle was able to talk to
Kawhi, and they were able to convince him, hey,
you want to get in on this thing. And you know
what? You don't even need to have your name out
there. It's going to be good long term because
it's not just a stadium, but there's also affordable
housing involved in this as well. And this will
come back being a good thing for you. I appreciate
that Tom called this a nothing there there situation.
We need to get a there there sponsorship from
that burger place and put this in. The Kauai
Leonard nothing burger? Why not, right? They're
there free marketing, Brett Johnson make it happen.
We're going to talk about the investment stuff
in a little bit because I have some firsthand
knowledge, both having conversations with the
club today and then also just previous experiences
in the past with Brett Johnson back in Los Angeles.
But before we go there, want to just also quickly
run down the facts because what I don't want
is as we we're going to move around a lot tonight,
I have a feeling. So I just want to I want to
establish a baseline of what we know. and dispel
some of the notions that have been wildly, and
I mean wildly tossed out there, some true Pepe
Silva kind of conspiracy theories, and we'll
go from there. So one, to Tom's point, we know
that Kawhi Leonard invested in the club. We'll
talk about the amount that he invested and the
relationship of that investment in a bit. We
know that Governor Dan McKee went to a Clippers
game with Brett Johnson back in October of 2025.
where this whole thing skews for me is the A
to Z between connecting those dots and Establishing
it against the other things going on with Kwai
Leonard with the Clippers organization and the
pending NBA investigation around potential salary
cap navigation For me the whole thing that we're
gonna try to talk about tonight and you know
the chat if there's something that you guys want
asked Throw it in there, but the real questions
here are based on Pablo Torres reporting based
on WPRIs reporting Is there an effort to somehow
convince or infer to listeners and to viewers
and to their audiences that Steve Ballmer and
Brett Johnson are somehow in cahoots to help
navigate this salary cap dilemma because of the
previous fallouts with their aspiration deal
and all the things that are surrounding that
within the Clippers organization in an effort
to continue to compensate Leonard? Or is it something
else? which inferred the other part of it being
Governor McKee's inclusion in this because he
either wrong time, wrong place, or it's just
an actual coincidence, went to a basketball game
and then invited Brett Johnson to that game.
But because he bought his tickets through a Spanish
marketing agency known as 380 AMK, which has
direct ties to Visit Rwanda, the Clippers' next
jersey sponsor, that somehow this is all Illuminati
-confirmed triangles. And before we go any further,
I wanna, we were told multiple times today, Tom,
don't bring this up. Don't give this any flowers.
Don't give this any attention. But the idea that
people are, there's so many far -fetched conspiracy
theories out there. There were people online
today insinuating that Rhode Island of Sea was
a part of a complex bribe scandal by the Visit
Rwanda Tourist Foundation to bribe Georgia Quizera
into playing for Rwanda. so that they could qualify
for the 2026 World Cup. However, and Jason, I
see your confusion because I know you don't know
about this yet. They're saying they're saying
we want to visit Rwanda, bribe Joe Jaya in October
of 2025 to play for the Rwandan national team
when he'd already been playing with the Rwandan
national team since 2024. Like you ever need
to bribe any player to represent their home country.
Yeah. Who needs to be bribed to represent like
that's such a huge honor for a soccer player
like you. I'm just telling you, this is the depths
we are going to go into on tonight's show about
the craziness and just the sheer ludicrousness
of what's happened here. So Tom, I wanted to
put those facts in because I want to make sure
in case we want to maneuver around that. Where
do you want to pick up on this? Do you want to
start with the actual Kawhi Leonard investment
piece? Do you want to go? OK, let's start there.
So what we do know is that we've learned that
it was a very small investment in comparison
to some of the municipal owners and some of the
very large ownership stakes that have been put
into Rhode Island FC, we know that Kawhi Leonard
does not have a major stake in Rhode Island FC.
And then we also know that whatever that number
is, that it is $12. It is infinitesimal to the
fact that Kawhi Leonard has over $300 million
in assets that he can play around with however
he sees fit. Like even if he invested a million
dollars into the club, and I am not saying that's
what he did, But even if he had, that is still
less than 1 % of his total net worth invested
into a club. And when you start talking about
all this money to navigate salary cap, which
was like something to the tune of $10 million,
and you had to start three -card monting and
shuffling it across multiple companies, multiple
business ventures, the idea that we parked this
substantial investment, this substantial windfall
in roster salary cap relief into Rhode Island
of Sea, it's ludicrous. It's insane that that's
even a notion that we have to start talking about.
Yeah, so it's a great place to start is yesterday,
right? Yesterday, we get the real big bombshell.
I mean, it is a bombshell. Kawhi Leonard is a
secret investor in Rhode Island SC. That, in
itself, is big news. And I think it's great news.
I don't see, and you're hearing about it, you
hear Kawhi Leonard, you hear Pablo Torre involved,
you go, my first initial thought when I saw this
at 4 a .m. this morning was, oh my God, what's
going on here? Then, as I read deeper into it,
I'm going, Wait, what is going on here? Because
what I took away from it was there was nothing
here outside of the fact that Kawhi Leonard has
some type of, and his family has some type of
relationship with Brett Johnson. And Brett Johnson,
who in 2022, 2022, 2023 was making a heavy push
to find as many investors as possible. to be
able to make this thing work, was able to tap
into his network outside of Rhode Island, outside
of the soccer world, and into his California
connections to make this possible. And Kawhi
Leonard, I don't even remember when he got, when
he signed with the Clippers, and that's irrelevant,
sort of, in my opinion. But he was able to...
find a pathway to get him to put some money into
this thing. Then it becomes an issue because
Pablo Torre has a stick up his butt for Kawhi
Leonard, 2019. Thank you, Nate. For the last
year, you know, Poppletory's been working on
this story with how maybe possibly Steve Ballmer
and the Clippers are circumventing the MBA salary
cap and trying to find different ways to pay
off Kawhi Leonard. It seemed like, okay, how
are we tied into this? And then you find out,
okay. Maybe it's just Kawhi Leonard's a secret
investor. He was convinced to join this thing
with Rhode Island FC. And that's about it. If
you know anything about Kawhi Leonard, in my
opinion, you know, I was, I heard Eli Sherman
on, uh, with Tara Granahan on WPRO today talking
about how there's a lot of celebrity owners in,
in USL championship who, you know, have no problem
putting their name out there. If you follow sports,
what's the one thing you know about Kawhi Leonard?
He's a private. Quiet. Reserved guy that doesn't
let anybody into his personal life and that's
his choice and his choice and his Probably demand
to Brett Johnson was listen. I'll give you money
to help you, you know push forward this thing
I like the idea of what you're doing with the
stadium. I like the idea of what you're doing
with affordable housing to revitalize a ethnic
community In in a state in this country keep
me out of it, but here's the money for it That's
really at the end of the day of what we've learned
today before we got to you know, the new reporting
from WPRI tonight That's the conclusion and really
that's the full story in my opinion But is that
a story because like I've had conversations So
it's a story from the standpoint not to cut you
off, but it's a story from the standpoint of
and I was talking to somebody that I worked with
about this earlier and they said that it's a
story because of the public money that's involved
no matter if it's a private company or not the
public should be aware of who their money is
being used by but that's the thing the money
that was used for the infrastructure has already
been spent whether or not that's additionally
been Sidelined or attributed to these additional
investors or if the capital that they raised
from that group is being spent towards operational
costs There's no point in this where like there
was something that's been held back in reserve
to be committed to Kawhi Leonard that should
something go south Kawhi Leonard has an exit
strategy has a golden parachute to leave Rhode
Island FC as an investment before anybody else
and even if that does matter it doesn't at the
end of the day because No club that works as
a for -profit organization is, one, required
to list their investments or their investors
or their board. And two, it's none of our business
because it's not. Tom, if you were investing...
I agree with all that fully. I guess what I'm
trying to say is that from the new standpoint
is that, and this is not applicable to Brett
Johnson, Rhode Island FC, Fortuitous Partners,
Tidewater Landing Group. It's the fact that If
you're dealing with people who are giving you
money, the public should know, okay, John Gotti
is not an investor. Al Capone is not an investor.
I agree. If this was an ethically compromised
investor, we should know about it. Correct. What's
wrong with Kawhi Leonard? That he only got 27
points on average per game last season, and that's
just not good. What are we doing here? What are
we doing here? You're going to get people, and
I've seen it already from the news angle, Well,
Quietliner's got $300 million. Why did you need
public money to go build the stadium? And that's
a straw man's argument, in my opinion. I love
this comment from Bob Donald in the chat. What
a scandal. A man who values privacy over attention
and self -promotion contributes to the construction
of a magnificent new stadium in Pawtucket. That's
the real story. And we will talk about the spin
on this in a bit. But Jason, I want to ask you,
what is it our business that a player a celebrity
has to invest in sure we've heard that celebrities
in the past have announce their ownership of
things, it happens all the time. Why is it such
a controversy suddenly when one celebrity chooses
not to? I wouldn't be surprised if there's three
more celebrities on Brett Johnson's roster who
have invested in this club. We joke all the time
about Ed Sheeran and his Ipswich Town connection
because of that ownership group. I wouldn't be
surprised if Ed Sheeran said, hey, here's $60
,000. Have a good laugh, Americans. I hope you
do well in the soccer thing you got going on
over there. Why is this a big deal? I think it
has to, it's more of a news story from the NBA
perspective because Kawhi Leonard has the investigation
into him, right? They're coming out from that
angle and then they're dragging RAFC along with
them. Okay, but Rhode Island of Sea hasn't been
narrative spoke speaking wise. They haven't been
projected as the victim. They've been projected
here as an accomplice. So then why is that happening?
That's the thing is that they're drawing conclusions.
They're saying, well, this guy is under investigation.
So any and all investments that he did are involved.
And so part of it has to do with the timing.
So according to reporting, LLCs with names tied
to Rhode Island FC were formed around the time
of Leonard's contract negotiations. Coincidence.
So they're using that to say that whether or
not this is... I mean, they're making ties here
because it could be a coincidence. or there could
be some connection. But what happened to doing
investigations completely and getting everything
you needed before you reported on a story? This
feels so incomplete. So the problem is, where
is the smoking gun? Right? Somehow, you know
what, I can't say it on my radio show is, you
know, is is like you joke about early is Steve
bomber and an invested partner. And he somehow
gave a part of the ownership of this club to.
Real fast, real fast. That was alluded to and
heavily implied like that was the second shoe
to drop today was that we were going to learn
that Steve Ballmer was the angel investor and
the guardian that got the funding across the
finish line. Tom, I want to jump back to you
because you had a really good and insightful
why not about that. It didn't come to pan out
to be true, but like also that would have been
a lot of fun to know the 10th richest man in
the world was like saying, hey, I want to invest
in the state of Rhode Island. Not only is it
the 10th richest man wanting to invest in the
state of Rhode Island, Brett Johnson has connections
so far up he can go to Steve Ballmer and say,
hey, I have something that's really good. That's
just not a stadium, but something that's revitalizing
the community and helping people in a time where
housing is hard to come by in an affordability
standpoint. And your investment could give people.
a chance for a decent living. Um, obviously that
didn't come to pass. Does Brett Johnson know
Steve Ballmer? We don't know because the reporting
that a little bit, but even so, the fact that
there's no connection to Steve Ballmer and Brett
Johnson in this story should tell you right away.
This has nothing to do with what's going on with
Kawhi Leonard. and Steve Ballmer and the Clippers
and the NBA investigation right now. The fact
that that connection, in my opinion, has not
been made in the last 24 hours here, says to
me, this is nothing to do with what's going on
separately in the NBA. This is just Brett has
California connections in the sports world that
are... connected to Kawhi Leonard. And by the
way, probably don't have anything to do with
the Clippers, Steve Ballmer. And it goes back
to who Brett knows up in Canada, which we'll
get to in a minute. I think this is also funny
from not to disparage something that I love and
spend a lot of time invested in, but the idea
that salary cap was circumvented by giving a
player who was asking for ownership groups of
million dollar billion dollar like machines like
NBA teams. Well, here's a we've got this division
division two soccer team. So I agree with that.
And that's why the money and the numbers don't
add up. And I feel like if if Pablo Torre had
asked us had asked Tom Quinlan about something
other than Eli Sherman's take on this, you'd
find out some things because I would have been
very forthcoming. And just to go back to the
Balmer Johnson connection. And I don't know this.
I'm making a very educated guess here. But Brett
Johnson was at one point the CEO of Targus, which
supplies computer, third, like computer third
party parts, equipment, accessories. Steve Bummer
at one point was the head of Microsoft. So at
some point from a tech space, they probably shook
hands at a convention. And that could have been
the start of a blossoming crime fraudulent family
where they were going to do all these terrible
things 20 to 30 years later. But even if that
wasn't, it's just so crazy to Jason's point to
think that this is how we move money around in
today's world as we invest in division two soccer
teams as a way to skirt or circumnavigate NBA
cap salaries. The important thing here is that
Bomber is not connected to this thing. That's
why that's got to be highlighted more here. What
we found out tonight says to me, this goes back
to whoever Brett knows in Canada, not who Brett
knows in Los Angeles, not who Brett knows in
California, but it goes back to the investment
groups or group or person in Canada who possibly
made this connection with Brett and Kawhi Leonard
and his uncle and everything. Steve Ballmer is
completely irrelevant in this conversation. When
we're talking about, um, how Kauai Len, in my
opinion, how Kauai Leonard became an investor
with Rhode Island FC. There is nothing that I've
seen, and I haven't listened to the whole Poblatory
episode. I've watched both, uh, WPRI pieces in
fall. Um, I just know all of it. There's, there's
nothing there. There's nothing there with that.
So to me, what that says is, okay. Take Ballmer
out of it, take the MBA out of it, take the tree
planting group out of it, take the investigation
that Pavel Torey was initially doing in the Kawhi
Leonard out of it. This is completely separate
of all of that. And that needs to be said first
and foremost because that's... That's the key
here that I think was left out in Pablo's reporting
and in WPRI's reporting. I think that's important
because this should absolve any nefarious dealings
that people may think have gone on here with
Rhode Island FC and Kawhi Leonard. But when you
think about the secret Canadian relationship,
and surprise everyone, it's not Ryan Reynolds
trying to own more soccer outside of his native
country. It's this double part got you again
of WPI reporting secondarily to like put the
nail in the coffin that Canadian hedge fund manager
Whitney George helps guarantee the funding with
a substantial stake inside RFC to get the stadium
across the finish line. I go and read this and
I'm expecting this scandal. I'm expecting this
controversy. A hedge fund guy with a 40 billion
dollar portfolio. invested to make sure that
Rhode Island had a professional soccer team.
Where's the got you? Where again, to Jason's
question, where's the smoking gun in that time?
Because it sounds like he's diversifying his
portfolio to me. Exactly. And granted, Rhode
Island FC has got to pay off this stadium. You
know, there's a lot there when it comes back
to paying off the bonds and everything and buy
all accounts, by the way, this thing is going
to get paid off because people are attending
the games. Rhode Island FC is making money on
the merchandise. I don't have the official numbers
in front of me, but if they were in the red,
you would see more signs of that and you would
have heard more signs of that tonight. All you
heard is that what Rhode Island FC has left to
pay off on the stadium to pay back the bonds
and the loans that they were given to be able
to get this thing done. Yeah, are there some
things that, you know, financially that we don't
know about that you can be critical of? Sure.
Do I know about them? No. But what I can say
is if it was a bigger issue, it would be more
in the front pages, considering also that we're
in an election season. And Helena Foulkes, who's
running against Governor Dan McKee in the Democratic
gubernatorial primary, is looking for every little
edge that she can get. If she had something on
how this Rhode Island FC thing is failing, she
would go with it. But guess what? There's nothing
there. And to this story, this is more of a Governor
Dan McKee story and what he was doing out in
Los Angeles and how he got to the game and everything
than it is about Kawhi Leonard's investment.
As to Whitney George tonight, great. Brett Johnson
knows a lot of people who have a lot of money.
That in itself is a unbelievable thing that should
make you sleep good at night if you're a Rhode
Island FC fan. Brett Johnson knows people with
deep pockets that he's able to convince and show
that this is a worthwhile investment and people
will believe in it. So not only do you have name
value of people that are signing up for this
thing, but people who have deep pockets as well
who trust Brett to do the right thing with their
money, with their investment. That's it. From
a Rhode Island FC standpoint, that's it. There's
nothing else to this story, in my opinion. Again,
there's still an outstanding balance to pay back
the state and the city of Pawtucket on the stadium,
sure. But outside of that, what else are we talking
about here with Kawhi Leonard? And Whitney George
passed this point. Guess what? Rhode Island FC
is in the rear view mirror with this story now.
Now it's all a focus on what Governor Dan McKee
was doing out in Los Angeles, how he got those
tickets to the game, and what else happened out
in California. Other than that, Brett Johnson's
taken out of this thing. Kawhi Leonard technically
could be taken out of this thing. And Rhode Island
FC, in my opinion, is not a victim or an accomplice.
They're just a layer to what Pablo Torres trying
to tell people about what's happening with Kawhi
Leonard This feels like when Will Smith slapped
Chris Rock and it was like keep my wife's name
out of your mouth That's kind of how I feel about
these reporting levels right now I just want
to be like, you know what you want to go after
the governor fine But keep Rhode Island FC out
of your dirty mouths right now because again
it all it all just you can say it was pressed
You could say it was bad press, but like at the
end of the day Yeah, great. It's great. People
are talking about Rhode Island FC, but where's
the connotation? We read in the USL subreddits
today, like, is this a negative impact now on
the league, especially when they dragged former
RFC president, now president of operations, and
what is it, Academy product at USL headquarters,
and Brett Louie, that he dragged him through
it too. Like, there's a lot to still be inferred.
Like, mud has been slung into the face of Rhode
Island FC. And Jason, it makes me think, like,
Well, yeah, so what is the point of this, right?
So they they mentioned housing and at the end
like a one who falls it's already in from Rhode
Island Anyone who's followed the story in Rhode
Island knows all about it There was reports about
earlier about the progress of that. But like
is this just being is this just a hit piece?
Like something weaponized against the governor.
Yes, and that our FC is just getting dragged
through the mud along with it and then somehow
it's tied to Kawhi Leonard and maybe his like
crazy uncle who invests in everything for him.
I tell you right now if Governor Damanke doesn't
produce the what is it the 8 a .m. K Receipt
in the next like 48 hours. There's probably gonna
be some problem Governor Damanke's on my radio
show tomorrow. I'm gonna bring the receipt or
don't come on He's gonna have to answer for this.
But again I think for us tonight here on this
show, and this is my stance, and this is even
me taking myself out as a play -by -play announcer
who represents Rhode Island FC on the air. There
is nothing here with Rhode Island FC outside
of the fact you have Kawhi Leonard, who's a secret
investor, who in order to get Kawhi Leonard to
invest, probably said, again, pure speculation.
I'm a quiet guy. I'm a reserved guy. I want nothing.
that attaches my name to this publicly. As long
as you can abide by that, here you go. And to
me, the story about Rhode Island FC ends tonight.
And quite frankly, if I was WPRI, I would have
put Whitney George on last night as the private
investor for Mr. Big. And then I would have dropped
the bombshell on Kawhi Leonard tonight. Can we
talk about how I really wanted Mr. Big in this
investment story to be the actual Mr. Big from
Sex and the City. I didn't ever watch the show,
but I mean, everyone knows who Mr. Big is. I
don't know the actor's name, unfortunately. I'll
be honest, I'm saying I didn't know who Mr. Big
and Mr. Sex and the City was, so I had no idea.
I never watched it. That's on me. I'm probably
a bad guy for that. We need to get a Mr. Big
Sex and the City Tifo in Defiance and then have...
George Whitney's name underneath it instead by
the way catching up in the chat Pataka Jay writes
in we need to have a kawaii Leonard bobblehead
night absolutely Rhode Island FC we know you
listen We know you talk to us all the time. Please
lean into it tomorrow announce it final game
of the year It's the cats out of the bag. Just
just do a kawaii Leonard theme tonight Forget
investing in Taylor Swift. I don't get the whole
LeBron James, J .J. Williams meme thing. We have
Bad Bunny at the next home game. Don't worry.
Bad Bunny. And now guess what? We have Kawhi
Leonard. And for us here, I think it's great.
Again, personally, you know, unless there's another
shoe to drop here. And I don't just looking at
the facts the way they are. It doesn't look like
it. It's great that Brett Johnson has so many
different connections to be able to find people
to make sure this thing got done. So if anybody
ever questioned Brett's long -term investment
in Rhode Island and how serious fortuitous partners
was to reimagine That whole area of Pawtucket,
you got your answer in the last 24 hours between
these two stories with how aggressive our owner
was to make sure the funding got over the finish
line and not just got over the finish line, but
got serious investors involved that would make
people say, wow, I need to take this Rhode Island
FC club seriously. So then I'm going to ask a
difficult question for you. This is going to
be treacherous waters that you're going to have
to navigate, do the best that you can. And then
Jason, I will pick up the slack and do the interpretation
of what you said in a peaceful way. But one of
the things that has bugged me through this entire
story is the fact that WPRI has not really felt
like an ally. I don't care about public story.
He doesn't know this club. He's he's not put
any of the legwork in he's just embarrassing
public story was embarrassing. but but he but
he is like many of the people we saw and we're
I I have literally arthritis today from the amount
of uh comments and replies like someone told
me is is raising anchor unhinged have they gone
they gone mental because they're just replying
to everything I felt like we had to make sure
also paid which is oh yeah we're totally I checked
my bank account yeah I'm not I don't know if
the payments haven't gone through you're defending
the wall today today defending the wall today
you're getting up there and defending this club
because you know that this thing is not a money
laundering scheme it's not you know We're not
still playing in Byrne Stadium in year three.
We spent one year in Smithfield. Our stadium
got done and we had the investment group and
the ownership group that worked their rear ends
off to make sure that we are a respectable club
that is a model franchise for the USL championship.
So that's why. You, me, and a lot of other people
felt it necessary to go as hard as we did today
to tell the real story about what's happening
with this club because America is not getting
it right now. They're kind of confused and a
lot of people are looking at Pablo Torre today
and going, what is this thing? That's the real
story. And we are the ones that actually are
on the front lines with this thing. We talk to
the people involved. A lot of us know how to
sniff out BS when it comes to sports teams and
people involved and whatever. And again, if I
felt like there was something that would preclude
me from coming on here tonight, I wouldn't do
this. I feel obligated to do this because I've
had the transparent the opportunities to have
these people be transparent with me on air to
tell me about what's happening. They're saying
it publicly what's happening and the full story
is not being told. As for WPRI's angle, why...
Wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on, hold
on. Wait, wait, wait. I want to ask you a specific
question about WPRI. So don't get... Let me ask
the question first. And before I do that, I also
want to reference back to not getting paid. We
so don't get paid for this work that we do covering
this club that we didn't even get cocaine bobbleheads.
And Tom, you had the audacity to multiple times
today... rub that in our face with that image
of you holding your cocaine bobblehead. So I
love that's a meme. I just want everyone to know,
like we are so not paid that the club has not
even found a way to give us. We are cocaine bobbleheadless.
So if any fans out there that took like 10 that
night want to talk some numbers, I've got a investment
in Division two soccer club that I can help you
navigate. But anyways, the question I have for
you, because I want to specifically. Word this
correctly so that you can give the best possible
answer As I was reading through this and I guess
my bias slipped out my defense of this club has
slipped out all day Like you said defend the
wall, but it irks me continuously over the last
24 -hour news cycle, everything coming out of
Rhode Island local media were worded in such
negative connotations across the entire landscape
of their posting, their written reports, their
video shorts. It was things like secret investor,
long hidden investor, quietly embedding themselves,
controversial state. When do we get Rhode Island
media over this circus of hating on this club
to the point that they want this like Self -fulfilling
prophecy of this investment to fail because they
keep punching down on it. They keep making it
a joke They keep they keep insulting it and when
do we see a victory lap for Brett Johnson for
Rhode Island FC for Centerville Bank Stadium?
When does that happen because right now? All
of them are clowns and I see Ted Nessie all the
time. I've never said hi to him I see him all
the time in my coffee shop and I think tomorrow's
the time I finally go you're a clown if you're
going to continue to insult something where so
many people are invested, so many people have
faith, and so many people want this to succeed,
and in your position of influence, all you ever
do is just crap on this. Make this make sense.
And from your angle and from your perspective,
explain to me when Rhode Island media stops screwing
around with Rhode Island FC. So this is this
is PTSD for Rhode Island media because of Kurt
Schilling 38 studios and I was decades ago I
understand and here's so here's here's where
the angle I think they're coming from and I want
to give some grace to WPRI You know working in
the news industry here What people like WPRI?
and some people that I work with at WPRO are
looking for is a deeper analysis on the financials
because they want to know that the tax dollars
that are being spent on Rhode Island FC are being
met. And Rhode Island FC has really no obligation
to share a lot of this stuff. And I think because
there's a lot of outstanding questions on who
else is involved with this thing that, you know,
we all love. You're going to have some people
that their job is not to care about soccer. Their
job is not to care about Kano Smith and the players
that he's bringing in and how many people are
coming in the Centerville Bank Stadium. All they
care about is Who's invested in this thing? And
how are the tax dollars going to be reimbursed
to the state of Rhode Island? But does this feel
like watchdog reporting still? Because at the
beginning, I was like, yeah, hold the people
accountable. The stadium's now got taxpayer dollars.
It doesn't feel like that anymore. It feels like
every time there is some sort of success, like
Rhode Island of Seattle sellout, but they owe
a hundred million dollars in a high yield payment
that Pawtucket's going to be screwed for 30 years.
We can't ever get a win. When does that go away?
It goes I think it goes away when all the money
gets paid back and people start seeing actually
I you know what I take that back I think when
people start seeing the the the construction
on the pedestrian bit bridge and the affordable
housing Which is something that Brad Johnson
talked to me about that you're gonna see people
fall back And here's why because we already in
my opinion. We've already shut them up once with
the fact that the stadium got built and the team
is still here. Okay, that's already two wins
in our pocket. But they didn't shut up. They
just took a pause. And now when they have to
report on it, they remind us of the thing they
reported on four years ago. Right. And I think
the you know, once we get to the point where
fortuitous partners meets its obligation on phase
two and phase three of the project, which again,
if you go back and watch my interview on the
WJR YouTube page with Brett Johnson two weeks
ago about phase two and phase three of this project,
they're like, well, you know, you got the stadium,
that's all they really care about. And, you know,
quite frankly, that's not it. This is not where
it ends for fortuitous partners. It's kind of
like... all right well you know they got this
going on so you know they got their soccer stadium
you know they got all their money from the state
you know that this is all they must care about
now and you know from that standpoint i think
they're looking for you know they're holding
this team accountable you know okay you're not
just going to build the stadium now and and bail
out on the affordable housing that you promised
right and and i think that that's kind of like
the thing that They've got their nose to the
grindstone on and because again, there's so much
Unanswered questions and again for me. I don't
care about it because guess what? I got my team.
I got my stadium You know, I don't I really don't
care who the other investors are if you want
to be part of this thing great Nice to meet you.
Hope you enjoy Rhode Island. Have a co -hawk
Other than that You know That's what they're
looking for. They want to know who the investors
are and they want to know that the commitments
that were made to revitalizing that part of Pawtucket
are met. And again, this is where I think, you
know, Pablo fell short of doing his actual award
-winning reporting. Not looking into my interview
with Brett Johnson was a big Mistake on their
end because he gave it to you. He told you that
coming in 2027 We're starting phase two of this
project and we're gonna have a pedestrian bridge
and we're gonna meet our obligation of building
affordable housing and then in phase three We're
gonna build more affordable housing Tom, I saw
fans today of both the shows and the team defending
people that were making those accusations with
the links from credible sources about the pending
development and the approvals from the local
committees to get these housing projects underway.
It took five seconds, and even Eli Sherman, knowing
where this was going to go, the direction I'm
sure, he got a proofreading session of this,
of at least what they planned to talk about.
What are we doing here? Again, this is why it
feels like the RI media is out to sabotage this
club, this project in its entirety because here
we are saying, oh yeah, all that stuff's gonna
come, but we're never gonna give anyone the credit
and we're gonna continue to lambast this because
we didn't like it to begin with, but we'll begrudgingly
deal with it. Well, listen, we have a very cynical
media base here, plain and simple. We have a
very cynical media base that because of so many
other failures outside, of Rhode Island FC that
have occurred in the past. Again, I go back to
38 Studios. The failures in, you know, some people
would talk, if some people watching understand
what the Fang Tower was that was supposed to
be built in Providence from this Miami investor
back in 2018. You know, a lot of different things
that passed through the Rhode Island State House.
I mean, all the corruption that happened with
Buddy Cianci, the former mayor of Providence,
all the corruption that happened with the former
speaker of the House, Gordon Fox. You know, a
lot of this is what I said before, PTSD for people
in this area that, oh, here comes another flash
in the pan that's just going to take our money
and put us more in debt. And quite frankly, again,
this has been the opposite. of what the past
has been here in Rhode Island. I asked AI Tools
if Eli Sherman has ever said a positive thing
about Rhode Island FC. It said that he has never.
It did defend that as a reporter and an investigator,
it's not his job to, but I did use AI. Which
I would agree. Listen, their job is to go out
there and hunt and do stories. Fine. But there's
also another side of the story that needs to
be told where you know, for two of his partners
and Brett should and Dan Krober and Peter Baptista,
you know, the really the leads on this project,
Dan and Pete, because as Brett said to me, and
George and George. Well, but in terms of just
like face to face through the project. Now we
have to add George to every single conversation.
I've got a list of my favorite Whitney's I want
to go through tonight, as well as my favorite
Canadians of all time. And George Whitney is
now surpassed. Brett, the hitman heart. It's
it's it's not these reporters jobs to play cheerleader
for Rhode Island FC. It's my job I don't need
them to but they don't have to kick they also
have to tell the other side of the story of what
they are doing and I don't think they're reporting
in their Narratives that they're trying to build
allow for wiggle room for Rhode Island FC to
be able to tell What else is happening? They
have an agenda You know, we have this, this,
this, and this, and we're only focusing on this.
We don't care about what you have to say necessarily
when it comes to, you know, other things happening.
We're focused on X, but I found interesting in
the W what the differences between the WPRI piece
and the public Tori piece is that, um, you know,
public Tori focused on affordable housing. It
was interesting to me that WPRI didn't even touch
that. part of it maybe because they know Brett's
meeting his obligation to build this stuff and
build the pedestrian bridge so all they care
about is focusing on the secret investors and
Again, that's really all that you've gotten out
of the last 24 hours from channel 12 This is
not me trying to slam Tim White and and Eli Sherman.
No, I'll do that. That's fine This is but but
it's the reality of the situation they're not
going into the other sectors of where Rhode Island
FC is meeting what they... Tom, Tom, their only
questions that were used in their reporting and
in the Poblatory hit piece was to Brett Johnson
catching him in a completely unrelated thing
after they didn't respond. Hey, is Kawhi Leonard
an investor? And Brett Johnson didn't even delay
in answering and then asking Governor Dan McKee
where he was on October 23rd, 2025 at 9 p .m.
Eastern Time. Like, like, and I granted, I know
there's a lot more to it. I'm a journalist. I
study journalism. I know how that all works.
You do a lot of legwork to get very small things.
And then when you want to make it to print or
to radio, you get 30 seconds, you get two sentences.
I get that. But like, they could have done other
work. Once they said this, they could have gone
to the club and like, hey, we are going to launch
with this. Do you want to double down on this?
Do you want another seat at the table to talk
before we report on this? You know, we both know
they didn't do that. We both know they did not
do that. I think I think they I think they know
the other stuff and they're focusing primarily
on who are the private investors that we don't
know about and Who is the guy that fronted 20
million dollars to Brett and that's really all
they cared about And and again, you know, they're
not talking about how this thing is moving forward.
It's Where we are in the past and I don't think
that's fair to this club uh from that standpoint
because it never gave a full picture of what's
really happening in totality with fortuitous
partners which is um you know much more which
is progressing much more than i think a lot of
the people that are naysayers would like to admit
yeah i i want two things out of this one i want
kawaii lennard to do the ribbon cutting on the
first affordable housing building that's completed
needs to be out here cut that ribbon And then
we'll just send that as a nice framed metal plated
picture to Pablo Torre. I want Don Grebian to
give Kawhi Leonard a damn key to the city. I
want a Kawhi Leonard night. I want Kawhi Leonard
jerseys in the stadium. I am now the leader of
the Rhode Island Kawhi Leonard fan club because
all I learned in the last 24 hours is Kawhi Leonard
believed in the vision that Brett Johnson was
selling him and he was willing to invest into
this thing. And you know what? I'm so proud of
this club that they have been able to sell Rhode
Island in an era where other people and politicians
cannot sell Rhode Island. And Brett Johnson did
it. And that's what makes him great. And that's
what makes this project great. If only the media
knew how to say that story that way and not the
way they did with investors. If you invest in
Rhode Island. From a biased angle. No, no. Listen.
You could have done this one of two ways. Again,
I did this for a while. I got paid at one point
to do this. You could have written the story
as famous NBA superstar, you know, small forward
invests in Rhode Island infrastructure and entertainment
in the state of Rhode Island. Or you could have
been secret suspicious investor from an NBA league
scandal chooses maybe to put money in our state.
But that but that's the thing where, you know,
it goes back to Kawhi's personality. This being
a secret thing that's nothing to do with it tom
but in a sense it does in a sense replace that
replace that with the word instead of kawaii
leonard replace that name with jason carrey and
try that again yeah but but but jason carrey
does an average 27 .9 won an mba title you don't
know that you don't know that you don't know
his rec league you don't know what he's putting
up in rec league okay but but but Kawhi Leonard
being a secret investor here matches up to me
with the personality and the person we know that's
consistent with who Kawhi Leonard is publicly.
Publicly, Kawhi Leonard is very short -winded.
He's very private and secretive, you know, about
what he does with his life outside of the NBA.
And he was convinced to move forward with this
thing in a certain type of way. And again, he
just didn't want his name on it. And that's,
and that's consistent with what we know about
Kawhi Leonard. None of that's a shock to me now.
Now that I know the story and now that I have
a better grasp of what's happening here, this
is not a, this is not a bombshell. The only bombshell
here is that, oh my God, we have one of the 10
best NBA players arguably in the league involved
in our USL Championship club and the thing that
came out of this, this is a great day for Rhode
Island FC. Like this has been a great week and
this is kind of topped it off with everything
because now you should sleep good at, you should
sleep comfortably at night knowing that people
are protecting this thing for the long term.
Rhode Island FC has now become the most recognized
club in USL Championship in just 24 hours and
and by all accounts, the most stable club in
USL Championship in the last 24 hours and is
setting an example for future teams coming in
that, hey, if you want to play with us in this
league, you better have people with deep pockets
to come in and support this. because we don't
want fly -by night clubs. We want people that
are getting serious money investment to be able
to stay around 10, 20, 30, 40 years, 40 years
down the road. You know, when you look around
Centerville Bank Stadium, what do you see? At
the end zones of each side of the stadium, you
see a lot of steel structures that are ready
to be built up for expansion for this stadium.
So, you know, They already know they need the
capital to be able to expand this stadium for
when we go to Pro -Rel in 2027, 2028 or whatever.
And it's an example for everybody else coming
into this league moving forward, even for current
owners like, hey, we're getting serious money
people involved in this. And not even just serious
money people, we're getting serious names affiliated
with this thing. So. Yeah, are there some outstanding
issues that you could be critical of for Rhode
Island FC? Sure. But you could say that for every
sports club that is existing in America today.
The stability, I feel so much better about the
stability of this club moving forward in the
past 24 hours than I did after Tuesday night.
And not that I was worried after Tuesday night,
but I feel so much more relief today knowing
that Brett has the ability to reach out to these
people. to protect the future of Rhode Island
FC moving forward, that we don't end up like
the Paw Sox. So now that we know Kawhi Leonard
is a secret investor, what's our wishlist for
other secret investors? Who are we hoping that
we find out one day as investors? Bon Jovi. Tomorrow.
Taylor Swift, because it would just be so poetically
perfect that she would be like, yeah, I spent
three hours in Rhode Island one time at my house
and I just dropped. $600 ,000 by accident out
of my purse at Central Bank Stadium. So I let
him keep it. If Travis and Taylor want to invest
in the Rhode Island FC, welcome. Let's give you
a nice white kit. Let's give you a blue kit.
Let's set you up in the club sections, whatever
you need. It would be great. You know what? It
should say to other people now, now that this
reporting is out there and really there's going
to be no blowback on Brett or the club, in my
opinion. This is a safe place to invest. I can
invest my money here. If Kawhi Leonard can invest
his money here and a guy with $40 billion in
his investment portfolio can invest in here,
then you know what? Maybe me as a mega millionaire,
I can invest in here too. And Jay Leno is a great
call. Jay Leno is a good call. Jason, who would
you have as a secret investor into Rhode Island?
I would love for some like aging European soccer
star where we maybe do the kind of like drogba
thing where they also like... play for half a
season and just score a few goals. But that would
be secret because they just show up and then
maybe maybe they've already bought into it. It's
like their retirement plan. So here's an interesting
thing. CVS at one point, I know there was conversations
if they would invest in the club, whether it
was stadium ownership rights, I think that was
always going to Centerville Bank Stadium. But
CVS Pharmacy notoriously into soccer. Now they're
in the women's game a lot. I wanted desperately.
to see if CVS had any relationship into the club
from even if they just owned a suite, because
then I was going to try to tie that back to Helena
folks from her time running CVS and be like,
we have an investor already. It's Helena folks.
And then just stir the pot. Tom, I just wanted
to stir the election season pot. Well, let's
stir the election season pot a little bit here.
Go back to when McKee was the tie breaking vote
on the. Oh, I know this story. on the Commerce
Association. Guess whose brother sits on the
board that voted on whether or not we approved
the Rhode Island FC Stadium. We were always getting
this thing. Question for the audience here, Tom.
Would you be saying maybe that Helena Foulkes'
brother was the one that voted against RAFC happening?
Yes, and guess what if Helena folks was gonna
be the next governor of Rhode Island Helena folks
his brother would have voted for this thing the
only reason why Helena folks is But brother voted
against it was because McKee was involved if
her sister was involved in it I can guarantee
you Helena folks would have moved forward with
this, no matter who was going to be the governor,
whether it was going to be Helena or McKee back
in 2022, this stadium was moving forward. And
here's another reason why Helena would have moved
forward with this entire Rhode Island FC project.
Helena would not have made her best friend, Gina
Raimondo, look bad with Brett Johnson and not.
approved this stadium project. Helena would have
approved it as well because of the tight relationship
Helena and Gina have together as well. Gina made
the outreach to Brett. Gina recruited Brett to
come here to Rhode Island after the Paw Sox left,
and with Nick Mattiello, the former Speaker of
the House in Rhode Island, put together a deal
that made it possible that Brett Johnson could
invest in this state, Helena would have not embarrassed
Gina by denying this stadium. And that's going
to be the little fly in the ointment here for
Ms. Foulkes. Which is why she's not going against
this thing, I think. Because of how tight she
knows Gina is with Brett and how tight Helena
is with Gina. 235 episodes before we just become
a political podcast. We knew it was always going
to be a Tom show when that happened. But getting
caught up in the chat here, I do want to say
we don't need our own Chicharito because as fans
of the LA Galaxy, I watched Chicharito take our
club into nothingness. So we need something better
than a 40 year old Chicharito. aging euro stars
might not be it but maybe they will i don't know
uh listen we probably should talk about the rest
of the stuff we need to talk about so you know
tom is there any is there any lingering thoughts
is there anything you're remembering through
the battles that you had all day on twitter is
there because i i even just remember one just
now someone posted that uh brett johnson went
in and stole posox money to force them to wuster
and then became a soccer nation here in Pawtucket
instead, not realizing the timelines that the
Possex had already moved before Brett Johnson
ever got the USL franchise license. Because again,
everyone's an expert on our club and our town
right now. Is there any lingering comments, thoughts
that you want to take this to before we wrap
it up? I think we need to two things. A, put
a rubber stamp on the fact that this Kawhi Leonard,
Adam Silver, Steve Ballmer, Clippers connection
to Rhode Island FC. is completely out the window
tonight because of the Canadian way. Wait, wait,
wait. If Steve Ballmer somehow gets on the show,
though, you still have to shave your head. Yes,
I will. If Steve Ballmer somehow comes involved
with Rhode Island FC, I will come on the show.
I go to I will go to either Matt or Jason's house
and I will let them shave my head. That's how
I find a Steve Ballmer. It won't be that Steve
Ballmer, but I'm going to find a Steve Ballmer.
That head will be shaved. So to go back to my
original point, the idea that Rhode Island FC
is connected to the investigation into Kawhi
Leonard, Steve Ballmer and the Clippers completely
goes out the window because tonight when we found
out that Steve Ballmer's name in the last 24
hours has not been mentioned once when we talk
about this club completely absolves Rhode Island
FC being part of any type of money laundering
scheme with the Clippers and Steve Ballmer. That's
point one. Point number two. The idea that affordable
housing is not being built is a complete fabrication
because Brett Johnson is on camera saying that
phase two of the project with the pedestrian
bridge and the affordable housing units is going
to break ground at some point in 2027. And at
some point I'm going to have Dan Krober on with
me on channel 10 to kind of talk about phase
two and phase three of that project. I don't
know when, but at some point I will have them
because Brett told me on camera, go ask them
about it, but we are breaking ground in 2027.
So for those, so those two points need to be
stressed when people, if you're challenged, if
you're out there listening right now or watching
right now or listening at a later date. And somebody
says to you, oh wow, I can't believe they made
all this promise for affordable housing and they
didn't follow through. Show them my interview
with Brett Johnson when he said, we're moving
forward with phase two of this project and we're
going to have affordable housing. I'm committed
to affordable housing moving forward. And this
was never just about the stadium. I agree on
all points. The only thing I would add to it
is that we just need to stay constantly vigilant
and defend this team, defend this city, defend
this wall. when situations like this come about.
I was insanely impressed today with all of the
people who rose to the occasion and I was a little
disappointed in the local media, but that's my
opinion on this. Our people didn't back down
today. Our people didn't back down today because
our people know the people involved with this
club and the commitment to making this thing
the pride of Rhode Island. It's a shame that
this was all done from the guys of reporting
and journalism because Rhode Island FC can't
hit anyone with like a slander or a libel because
they didn't actually make any accusations. They
just said things and did the Tucker Carlson infer.
Like, what does that make you think? How do you
feel about that? Did you? The people that they
questioned on the street saying Kawhi Leonard
is the owner of Rhode Island FC. You know, what
do you think about that? And people are like,
what? So now you've only brought more interest
to Rhode Island FC. Thank you, Tim White. Thank
you, Eli Sherman. You're bringing more awareness
to how cool and how great this thing really is.
Thank you. Do not thank those people on my show,
sir. Do not do that. But also, that's fair. I
will say this in final pieces to it. I really
think, Brett, I know you're listening. Dan, I
know you're listening. Tom, Nate, I know you're
all listening. Get on this as fast as possible.
The cat's out of the bag. Give us everything
Kawhi Leonard, you possibly can do by the end
of the season and just ride this gravy train.
You might as well. You might as well lean into
the the what is it? The the curve and just go
for it, right? Lean into the stick and just go
skid. Yeah, steer into the skid. I guess the
only thing here is that if it's true, like I
hashtag not NBA podcast, I don't follow it that
much. I know is we would say hashtag not an NBA
show. If it's true that he is a. Quiet kind of
reserved person. I mean maybe like at this point.
He's like, well it is what it is It's out there,
but he might not want that right? He might not
want the likeness. He might want not want the
attention I mean, I mean they should still like
Hey now that's out Hey, buddy, come on. All right.
Well, that is that part of the segment Listen
tom at any point that you want to bow out. You
said you were in for the long haul tonight We'll
see we'll see how long you can actually go buddy
mister. I don't I don't want to ruin the flow
of your show I'll let you guys do the rest of
your show the way you normally do it. I I feel
bad that I got all Fucked up here tonight. So,
you know, um, i'll you know bow out and just
say i'm My only thoughts on the current state
of the club is that this has been my favorite
week covering this team Considering that now
we can say one of our own has been low into an
MLS side. We got redemption and we finally beat
those SOBs down there in Pittsburgh. And we're
going to get redemption this weekend against
Birmingham. And we have a lot of stability moving
forward. And I'm so proud of you guys. And I'm
so happy to know you two because we really show,
you know, you know that this is there's more
to the story and and people came together when
people tried to take us out so um thank you for
letting me you know opine on a lot of this stuff
tonight um and i and i'm just so excited for
the future this what these last 24 hours should
show you you know taking the key out of it take
grabbing out of it you should be so excited and
so you know thrilled that you have an owner in
brett johnson that has such a you know a deep
commitment to this club and to this state that
we have something special here for generations
to come. So thank you. Agreed. Tom Quinlan, where
can people find you before they go? I'm sure
everyone listening knows you already, but where
can people find you? So we do the broadcasts
on 790 The Score. I'm the play -by -play announcer
for Rhode Island FC. We usually start right at
kickoff for... away games usually start about
five minutes before You know during home games.
So follow me on Twitter at Tommy from an underscore
IV for all that and You know, I I love this club.
I love you guys and Just let's listen. Let's
keep rolling here boys. We have that's all that's
that's really all I've taken away from the last
24 hours train keeps moving Defend the wall Defend
the wall. That's Tom Quillen everyone. We'll
see you soon. Tom. I love you. Thanks Tom All
right. Now back to the regular show. Leave it
to Tom to drop some cussing into our show. It's
happened, what, three times in 235 episodes?
So we'll probably edit that out. Yeah, I can't,
you know. Maybe we won't because it's going to
be such a long episode. I won't have time to
pull it back. So we're going to go back through
now the regular show that we had planned before
any of this dropped earlier today. So for those
of you that are listening... I'm sorry if you
stayed this long and didn't want to hear it.
And if you didn't, I don't care. I'm not cutting
this up into two parts. You're getting a two
hour show. So let's reset and let's start here,
Jason, with the news we thought we were opening
with. And that was that the game is gone. Reports
here from the athletic, the new company that
we were going to be calling FIFA Forward Enterprises
or FFE was going to have FIFA prepared to sell
up to 21%. are what we would call four point
two billion dollars into the governing body of
the World Cup, allowing a majority of retained
control. What are we doing here, Jason? Is the
is FIFA for sale? I didn't think that's how governing
bodies worked. Oh, man. I mean, the the corruption
train just went full steam ahead as soon as the
World Cup's over, didn't it? I mean, it's you
know, let's just take our beloved tournament
to private equity and let's just get a watered
down tournament like Late -stage capitalism strike
again. Like let's all celebrate in the streets.
Am I right? I these are the things that cause
Riots and revolutions you'd think that the you
think that the leaders of this world especially
this free world would know better Zlatan had
a scathing conversation about it today. I was
really enjoying it luckily cooler heads prevailed
UEFA and CONCACAF already out in support or lack
thereof I should say of this initiative of this
establishment of giving every country a 20 or
40 million dollar gift to lose their rights forever
in FIFA management of the World Cup and it's
you know qualifying and its other entities it's
good to see that these groups are coming out
against this But how do we get Infantino out
now at this point? And how do we make sure this
never happens again? I think Infantino spent
a little bit too much time in America. I think
he learned from a certain other person, like
a playbook where you just tell them exactly what
you're going to do and this be completely openly
corrupt. And there's no repercussions for it.
Like, what are they going to do? OK, it's over.
At least we think it will be because with UEFA
standing strong, usually the rest of the dominoes
in terms of the confederations without UEFA,
there is no There's no world cup. I mean granted
common ball, but like they're just gonna wait
and like side They're like they're like switzerland
even though switzerland the uef when they already
did a vote I guess that's the first time switzerland
has ever had to make a vote in something Interesting.
I just don't want to ask this question now because
this will I think forever tarnish the legacy
of infantino Is he worse than bladder yet? Or
does he have a lot more corruption before he
had set bladder territory? I think They're pretty
close right there. Like if we had a Mount Rushmore
of corrupt FIFA, they're just, they're neck and
neck right next to each other. Would it just
be the two of them twice for now until we get
two more corrupt FIFA leaders at some point?
Or are there? There's some more. What was that
guy from? Was it Jack something? Or Chuck Jack
or something like that? There was some guy. I
mean, yeah, you know, if there was some sort
of different organ. you know, organization may
be in our government. I would assume the FBI
would be all over this. Um, you know, well, it
remains to be seen what's happening, you know,
to, to quote the infamous Taylor twelman. What
are we doing here guys? Like what, what is this?
Spoiler alert. Infantino. probably almost became
the secret investor for Rhode Island of Sea.
Good thing Brett Johnson has an excellent judge
of character when it comes to these types of
things. Going further into this, moving on in
other news, back to the USL here, a new technology
emerging for USL in trial now. football video
support enters the USL here. It was announced
earlier today that the USL plans to become the
first professional competition in the United
States to implement this technology, and they're
going to implement it during the final stages
of the 2026 Prinks Tires USL Cup, and then the
interleague competition. Of course, they want
to be really clear in saying this is not VAR.
That being said, This technology is designed
in lieu of all of the necessary cameras of how
VAR works to provide a different version of analysis
and secondary reffing and understanding of what's
going on on the pitch when it comes to those
key match decisions. And the really critical
thing here is that what it can cover, because
I think people are saying, oh, game's gone again
because a lot of people don't like VAR, right?
Some people like it, some people are okay with
it, but a lot of people still hate it. people
are fearing that we're moving in the wrong direction
with this technology. Right now, this new FVS
system will only be used to provide clear and
possible, or excuse me, clear and obvious errors
around serious missed incidents involving goals
or no goals. penalties or no penalties, direct
reds, and mistaken identity where a card would
send off the other player. So not even if it's
just the yellow card given to the wrong player,
it's only if that yellow card would result in
a rejection. So very much similar to VAR, but
instead the way they're going to use this technology
is just refs are going to be watching the game
as a secondary, tertiary kind of backup. and
making sure that the head ref, the assistant
refs didn't miss something along the way. There's
no additional, we're not using fall line technology,
we're not using goal technology, we're not using
anything like that. It's just a set of eyes watching
a screen intently and trying to help assist in
the head ref making the best possible decisions
on the pitch. Any thoughts, any concerns about
this? And is the Pring Stire Cup the right place
to test run this? I think that's a good place
to test run it. You always want to try in somewhat
of a little bit. I don't want to say more low
stakes in a sense that it doesn't matter, but
it is always good opportunity to test them in,
if you will, other competitions. I'm open to
the idea. Kind of want to see how it's actually
implemented. So definitely be paying attention
to this competition as it wraps up to. see if
we get any instances of it being used, what that
looks like and if there's like, you know, slowing
down of the game that everyone kind of hates
about VAR or like, will the video system all
of a sudden still get the wrong call? And they're
like, cool, it's nothing, nothing has changed.
I mean, it'll be a wait and see. Some people
argue that these technologies are there to support.
Some say that it ruins the spirit of the competition
and others say it makes refs lazy because they
have this fallback even though when VAR does
make a challenge, they still have their egos
bruised and don't go with the decision. I can't
wait to see it happen. Again, it's in trial.
I'm sure if this goes well for the rest of the
season, it will be implemented in its continuation
into the regular season at both Championship
and USL One levels. And I'm sure they probably
need this technology online for what they want
to do next for their premier aspirations. So
when you have an ambition like that, you've got
to get those things in order and it's best to
trial it now. I think it's a good kind of compromise,
right? In a sense of like, we're going to become
D1. Can we maybe far also like let's be honest
maybe that is an expense a little bit too far
for the media see what if we try out something
new if it works out well we can implement that
too and that kind of adds to the credibility
of the league if you want to. One of those things
Kat is asking in there, is there additional refs
to this or can they go to the screen and do a
review of this? It is actually supposed to be
a secondary ref who's monitoring on screens.
There are camera setups for a ref to go if they
have confusion or conflicting perspective between
the line refs and the head ref, but the technology
is designed basically to provide clear and obvious,
or not clear and obvious, sorry, clear video
watching capabilities for a secondary person
to make that decision. Now the interesting part
to it is what we've been understood so far is
also the way a team can request a review and
that that's one of those things in the trial
phase where if a referee overturned it they can
say hey this isn't the right decision. Now I
don't know to Kat's point if the the refs that
are being assigned for the Prinks Tire Cup matches
are in addition to make sure the technology works
and it's more of like an IT vendor there on site
that also knows game. Or if this will strictly
be something on the pitch where they come in,
they stop the game, they go over and assess it.
I've heard a combination of the two things. So
we'll have to get closer to that. But either
way, even if there's any additional technology
and whatever this challenge system looks like,
it will be interesting. And yes, Derek, so that's
what I'm trying to say. Sorry, I didn't mean
the extra like. someone say that I met as the
fourth official there will be another set of
eyes who can review the technology so I apologize
for that guys that's where this is going but
let's move on and let's talk about some good
news here in the league and that is of course
the resigning not resigning but the resigning
because we saw the typo it looks like Koke Vegas
Amos Shapiro Thompson and Hugo Bacharach have
all resigned from Rhode Island FC No, despite
what the typos may say, Rhode Island FC resigns
goalkeeper Koke Vegas, midfielder Amos Shapiro
-Thompson and defender or guess midfielder Ugo
Baccarac. Rhode Island FC announced today that
it has resigned Koke Vegas, Amos Shapiro -Thompson
and Ugo Baccarac ahead of the 2027 USL Championship
season. Vegas and Shapiro Thompson, a pair of
the club's original signings, will return for
a fourth season in the Amber and Blue, while
Bacharach will play his third season in the Ocean
State. The trio of players are the first to re
-sign with the club for 2027 and beyond. Gokke,
Amos and Hugo have been key players for us and
bringing them back is crucial to maintaining
our success, said Rhode Island FC head coach
and general manager Kano Smith. We are excited
to bring a strong core of players into the 2027
season. as we continue to build on the club's
culture. So unlike previous seasons where they've
hinted at multi -year deals, these all seem like
they are single -year extensions that bring them
into the 2028 landscape. Jason, I want to talk
about Koke Vega separately in a second, but do
we think that that's intentional to prepare for
USL Premier in the event that suddenly if we
go to Division 1 and there's more table stakes
that are larger than ever that we may need to
change the composition of this roster? Is that
intentional by design that they didn't say because
in the past they have said multi -year? I think
it's possible. You don't want to kind of like,
you know, also lose players on free. We also
just recently saw that one of our players was
loaned out. And so I think you also take a look
at your players and think about who are your
quote unquote most valuable players. If we're
being honest here, Koke is probably going to
stay here as he's on the wrong side of 30, right?
I don't expect a keeper like that to be moving
to MLS, but you have hugely successful, you know,
players in Amos and Ugo for us that could be
viewed as assets to, you know, maybe at some
point, if not, bolster our squad also be sold
on for some potential profit in the future. So
then the real question back to you said a second
ago, Koke Vegas. He's starting to get long in
the tooth, getting older. Now granted, a keeper
can hold on a lot longer. The vitality is there.
At what point does this become the conversation
one year too long versus one year too early?
Because you never want to, as a club, as a head
coach, as an owner, you never want to hold on
to a player longer. than you should because of
the money wasted, the injuries, the lack of performance,
the dip in performance versus sell them. Even
if it's a year earlier, you get that value out
of them. You move on and you start building for
the next big thing. Again, I don't know where
Koke fits in that timeline, but when do we start
asking ourselves? Is it one year too early or
is it one year too late? No, good question. But
I don't think he's had any dip in form to make
us question that. And we've seen very good goalkeepers
can play till they're pretty much 40. So I at
this point, like I don't even think there's a
reason for us to have any concerns for for one
of two things until he's either hitting 35 or
we see a massive dip in form. I remember my goalkeeping
just went right out the window at 35. So I agree.
Moving on to other news within the RFC universe,
going into a little bit of alumni updates. Marky
Barra now. assistant coach. It was released earlier
this week that the University of Las Vegas men's
soccer head coach BJ Craig announced the addition
of Marky Barra from the Las Vegas Lights as an
assistant coach to his staff. Craig went on to
say, we're very excited and grateful to have
Marky Barra join us. Mark is a top player in
person. He is passionate about the game and coaching,
has great skill sets and will be another great
addition to our staff at UNLV. This is confusing
because he bars joining this rebel program mid
season and the way The news article listed it.
It sounded like Ibarra was hanging up his boots.
It went on to say Ibarra played professionally
over the course of four years. Most recently
with like an obituary with his club at the Las
Vegas Lights. Right. The weird thing is when
I read it, I was like, well, is Mark Ibarra retiring
as a player to take this role on? Is he double
dipping? I go and look at Fop Mob and he played
90 minutes, five days ago. So. Does this just
poorly constructed and we expect him to be both
a player for the lights and then a continued
coach? Does he have Las Vegas? Does he have like
a identical twin? Not that I'm aware. Not that
I'm aware. Maybe he spells it with Mark with
a K at the end. I don't know. But either way,
good for Mark and maybe for the lights. It sounds
like they may have a journeyman for as long as
Mark wants to continue to play if he's now potentially
working on his coaching degree and his coaching
licenses, so to speak, here with the university.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's good for a lot of
these players to kind of think about, you know,
post career. How do I like post soccer playing
career? Like where where do I go next? And to
have it kind of already lined up that he's going
to go into coaching. Perfect for him. Yeah. Cat
and a couple others, I think Derek in there as
well. Bringing back up, it is the fourth official
for that video football system. Guys, it's been
a long day. I'm tired. I'm going to make some
mistakes. But unlike Pablo Torre and the WPRI
news team I will accept that I've made a mistake
and take accountability for it So thank you for
holding me accountable in the chat Jason a little
bit news left to go so much more actually I should
say Maybe you're a firework Yeah, our FC announced
that their September 19th home match against
the Miami FC will have a fireworks show following
the match The only fireworks I'm gonna be seeing
that night is Fred Durst though The funny thing,
it's not funny, but I do believe that they are
doing this one because of the rain out that forced
some of these other fireworks shows, and also
maybe in the effort to close the gap on getting
some additional solids. They know the power that
fireworks has over Rhode Islanders. Is there
anything more to that than this simple butts
and seats transaction? No, absolutely. It's,
you know, anyone who's been in the state knows
that it rains on a lot of Saturdays. Apparently
not the ones where we play away games, but anytime
we're at home, it's gonna rain So if you're a
legacy fan in living in Rhode Island, you're
having the best life possible this summer If
you're a Rhode Islander see fan living in Rhode
Island There's room to improve. Yeah. Yeah quick
shout because we jumped over it You go back rack
made a team of the week here. Um, but you know
there's so much news did you know we signed another
player today yeah and so got the got the bean
spilled to me uh late last night that alone was
inbound did not think that this was going to
happen jason because of the breaking kawaii lennard
stuff thought hey maybe maybe they're going to
pause this so they can build this up for another
day but head coach Conor Smith's like not today.
I'm not letting any basketball player get in
my way. If anything more eyes on us might as
well announce tons of things. So Rhode Island
FC announced today it has acquired forward Yutaro
Tsukada from Major League Soccer Organization
Orlando City SC on loan for the remainder of
the 2026 season pending league and Federation
approval the 2024 first round MLS Super draft
pick joins the club after spending the first
two seasons of his professional career with Orlando
and will be available for selection for Saturday's
game against The Birmingham Legion FC. And there's
one thing I've learned. Jason Kano Smith. He
loves Japanese players and he loves the 2024
MLS Super draft picks because that is where so
many of these players come from. He actually
went on to say you Taro is a creative winger
with an eye for goal and his technical ability
and pace will help drive or attack forward. This
creativity will add yet another dimension to
our squad. Yeah, Utah's professional career began
when Orlando City SC selected him 25th overall
in the first round of the 2024 MLS Super draft.
Sukada signed with the club's MLS Next Pro Reserve
team Orlando City B, where he made an immediate
impact in a breakout rookie season. The Tokyo
Japan native finished third on the team with
seven goals and second with seven assists in
22 MLS Next Pro regular season appearances. 20
of which were starts. The impressive string of
performance earned him five call -ups to Orlando
City's first team in 2024, and he eventually
signed with MLS club for the 2025 season. Although
an ACL tear did sideline him for the entirety
of the 2025 season, the winger returned to the
club in 2026, where he logged 281 goals in six
appearances. 281 minutes. He did not log 211
goals. You're tired too. It's fine. Yeah, it's
been a long, long time. 281 minutes. Imagine
go if he got 281 goals and six appearances we
couldn't afford him Yeah, um the teams he did
that too. Yeah, I Got a you know, of course I
had to work so not a lot of time to do some research
on it Don't apologize, but I did watch I did
watch his highlight reels and he does seem to
prefer coming from the left So I assume that's
you know, that's where we're gonna employ him
So to two things one 14 goals in his in his MLS
next Pro Season across 20 games is not nothing
but that was two years ago when you factor in
his ACL tear second We also know that Kano Smith
he loves taking wounded warriors into this club
think about Amish Shapira Thompson off of ACL
tear and a lot of time missed I think if you
go back Iraq same thing had knee problems coming
into it Connor McGlynn had knee problems. We
inherited a broken JJ Williams That's home for
the broken in the dam. He it might be it might
be so my first question is Where do we think
this player's actual rehabilitation and ceiling
could be in trying to get eyes back on him to
reignite his career? Is this is the right move?
I think from a competition level, it's above
next pro, it's below MLS. But where do we see
this guy's ceiling based on the information we
have at hand? I mean, I feel like this is the
in kind of the. That zone, like you said, right,
where he's somewhere in between. I think at this
point we're taking a chance on that he's good
enough for this level and that he might prove
us that he can play at a higher level and make
that jump back to MLS. I mean it's just alone
at this point too and in our experiences with
loans they usually tend to do pretty well and
we lose them pretty Orlando City recall happening
in six weeks guys. So I mean if this just kind
of gets us through a bump while some of our players
kind of come back to health. Maybe like a Corcoran
last year if you will. I mean, I don't hate it.
Okay, but then the other question is we've heard
Kano say Repeatedly this season that any acquisitions
he has are to make the squad better where do
we rate this then especially as a winger a position
that we thought we had enough of is this a is
this just simply a gogo peters replacement because
we didn't have an additional forward attacking
piece or is this designed to put pressure on
the likes of leo afonso i mean no if he's on
the way atkinson reported is injured we don't
know to or he's unavailable we don't know what
extent that is right if he's playing on the left
that's kind of the position that we've been playing
him i mean maybe this is to challenge him To
rise to the occasion if you will then do we see
him? Do we see this player getting sizable minutes
because again the counterpoint is on Saturday
as a well he of course we will there only have
16 players available to dress right now, but
as alone Do we think that he will get sizable
minutes because if he doesn't get his minutes?
Then he's just gonna want to leave the club or
Orlando's gonna recall him anyways. Yeah. No,
I I bet he will I Speaking of which I wonder
if they saw that uh dorsey scored and like that
oh man oh what if he could have been doing that
for us but hey listen we're not going to do ad
breaks tonight because this show is not going
the way it should have for our sponsor so we're
just not going to put a sunday show or saturday
show up for our radio so this is just a podcast
back tonight guys so we're going to move right
into the next part back to the good old days
where we spent just two hours talking just waxing
poetic about rfc jason bring us up to date with
the league standings and uh let's go from there
Yeah. So RFC still in sixth place as the midweek
matches couldn't affect RFC's table position.
So we've still got that six, four and five record.
We've see a Indy 11 traveling to San Antonio
on Friday here. So they temporarily could jump
RFC or they, if they're able to get a result,
but San Antonio is second in the West. So I do,
I don't see that being an easy match for them.
Well, we'll kind of figure out on Saturday where
we're at from there. RFC traveling to Birmingham
this weekend. So let's take a look at how we
think they're going to line up this before we
do that. I cannot not comment again. You said
it earlier in the show, but Pittsburgh losing
to FC Tulsa via a Logan Dorsey goal. is just
the cherry on top of everything else happening
this week. Jason, they are now two games ahead
of us, only two points ahead of us. And we could
really make a jump this weekend, depending on
how things go, with a win. And I don't, again,
every time I feel like we get ahead of ourselves,
it doesn't work out in our favor. But with just
that one point difference between Pittsburgh
and Rhode Island, we could jump into fifth place
and be staring down the sights, looking at our
first time ever of a home playoff berth. Are
we ready to dream just yet or do we need to pump
the brakes a little bit here with based on how
Birmingham's been their form? They don't look
like an exceptionally great team, but sometimes
this spells trap game. Is this a trap game? Oh,
I hope not. And so speaking of rain, let's let's
talk about their form here real quick. They recently
had a game against New Mexico called out due
to weather conditions. Interesting enough, they
were not going to play that at protective stadium.
Instead, it was going to be scheduled at a Donovan
Valley field. Donovan. Yeah, but that's, I'm
actually curious. I kind of wish that game would
have gone through to see if like them playing
somewhere else could have had a different effect
on them because every time I've seen a match
in protective field, it looks like there's maybe
three people in the state. That's because they're
all on the nine camera. Yeah, but it's just like,
it's such a massive stadium. It looks empty.
There's no way that can do anything for the players
on the field. I also think by the way that Birmingham
Legion has to rescheduled like three games at
a minimum this year because of weather So I don't
know if I know like one of them really messed
up the Brinks tires up schedule. I don't know
how many more games I mean, I'm looking at their
games in hand and they have they have 16 games
They've played more matches than us But I don't
know if that's gonna haunt them with a more stacked
schedule towards the end of the season like we're
facing as well Yeah Birmingham Legion also played
last night against Louisville in a midweek match
losing 2 -1 And so with that loss they are now
winless in the last five in the league with three
draws and two losses. I went back and watched
the and looked at the highlights and some of
the stats on the match. Louisville had 29 shots
against them. They're trying to pretend to be
the Rhode Island of Sea. I don't know like their
their goalkeeper was on a tear like Louisville
should have beat them like eight one. Do you
know the only other team you talked about their
record total overall? Do you know the only other
team that they've actually won against this season?
Well, I do know they beat us Probably Pittsburgh
it is Pittsburgh. What is going on here Birmingham
Legion? What water are you drinking down south?
Oh So speaking of with those two wins You know,
we talk about the one against us back on May
2nd. It's not fun to remind ourselves that we
fell three to one, a very weird goal. I mean,
I think the two weirdest games of the season,
Jason, for us have been that Birmingham home
game and then the Sacramento Republic away game.
But we went down so fast losing a goal in the
fourth minute. We went on to try to equalize
before just the game got routed. And it was probably
one of the weirdest showings, like I said, of
the season. Birmingham did see some success in
Prinks Cup, but a lot of that was leveraged against
USL one side. So it's like, how much of that
teams not caring about the competition or teams
that like, yeah, we're not going to prioritize
this. So, you know, they didn't move on in that
one. I, their form is bad. Their record is terrible.
Just those two wins. I asked you trap game. Is
this, you know, Jay Heaps has some kind of Formula
against kano smith. He knows a little bit about
the guy from his extensive time with him in new
england and also kind of time down in Birmingham
coming back to new england and him like gaining
his powers back and he just had to Oh, so j heaps
is only strong against us if he's in the new
englander. I think it's more than that. I think
j heaps Became very familiar with kano and his
approach down at Kano's time with Birmingham,
you know, we saw Kano never get bested by his
former mentor and Tommy Sohn, but I think Jay
Heaps is a little bit different of an animal
there. I don't know if we take the previous history
of our time and our success against Birmingham
Legion and use that as a stepping stone, or if
we take this most recent loss as like a fresh
wound and say, never again will this happen to
us, especially down in Birmingham. And so it's
crazy that you bring that up when we look at
our history against Birmingham. Until this year,
we've absolutely wiped the floor with them. So
our record here against them is four, one, and
one. And it wasn't until earlier when they came
on May 2nd that they actually picked up one win.
Before that, it was just... You were firmly in
control. Firmly in control. Yeah. We, you know,
Zach Haraveau started off the party just scoring
goals for fun against them in our first visit.
And then from there, it's just been... you know,
pretty comfortable for the most part. Zach Harrevo
feasted against his former team, JJ Williams
feasted against his former team. No, if you saw
him getting goals from distance, it's, it has
been almost a relatively cruise control type
of matchup. When we've seen this team, Demos
comes into the picture, rattles our cage a little
bit. Now here we are in the second season against
them. What does that mean for Rhode Island FC?
Hard to say, but when we look at what we're bringing
down to Birmingham this weekend, I don't know.
I don't know how we should feel about this getting
through the availability report as we still understand
it. Leo Afonso still listed us out. We won't
know it until closer to the end of the week on
whether he traveled. Zach Karavos still on the
mend along with Krifa Yow, Omni Joap, and we're
just not going to report on Go Go Peters after
tonight because you guys know he's on the season
ending injury list. And also, I will never say
Clay Holstead's name ever again when it comes
to this report, at least until maybe sometime
in 2027. We'll see how that goes. Got a few additional
details about that, by the way. We'll probably
share it in a future pod when I don't have a
million things that we got to share about. But
we'll transpose on the Clay deal a little bit
more in the near future. Jason, with all these
injuries, with all this lack of availability,
we do know that one player on this weekend will
be available in Sukada. What do we think this
lineup should look like? Yeah, because of all
the injuries and not knowing whether or not anyone's
going to be available, if you will, in that regards,
we're thinking here, we're probably going to
use the same lineup that we beat Pittsburgh with
here. So if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Absolutely.
Okay. Vegas and net here with a back four of
Nick Scardina, Grant Stoneman, Frank No Darce
and Aldair Sanchez. You're holding midfielders
of AST and Oboe Baccarac with Joe J. Quizera,
50 Rodriguez and Noah Fuson as your cams or wingers,
if you will. and JJ Williams up top. You know,
when it comes to Sukata, we know he'll be available.
I don't imagine he'll start, but I think assuming
he's healthy, he'll probably play. Well, where
do we think Froyo is available? And I said that
on purpose in terms of availability. Oh, man,
I I can't wait till someone accidentally typos
that into like a custom Jersey kit and they just
end up with maybe it'll be intentional. I don't
know. I have no updates. I can only infer what
I know from previous itc transfers that come
out of that particular region of the country
because there's good relationship standing between
the uk europe in large and america i can't imagine
that unless there was like a major like a lawyer
failed to dot an i or cross a t that he would
not already be available after the pending announcement
uh because those are usually after the process
order has already begun them on purpose they
don't want to announce it be like well We'll
see him in three months when his visa clears
and they also say pending federation and league
approval, right? So now it has happened in the
past like players have got installed in the paperwork.
I just this isn't a country where I would be
worried about something like that. Go back to
the World Cup and like you look at all the countries
that had harder permits, whether they were working
or tourist visas. It's a little bit different
of an animal, depending on the area you're coming
from. The UK is just not one of them. I expect
Foyo to be on the bench in this game. I don't
expect him to make a start. And that will bring
us up to 18 people that we can field on a game
day roster. That being said, though, I also wouldn't
be terribly surprised if we're one more week
away from seeing him actually dress for a game.
It's just until we hear it and until someone
can send a picture and see it, that's just where
we stand on that one. So but I personally believe
that we will have Foyo in the mix. Is there anything,
you know, we said we joked about how if it's
not broke, don't fix it. Is there anything about
this lineup? Is there anything that Rhode Island
should be doing differently on the night against
Birmingham. Obviously a different type of team,
different type of play style, but Rhode Island
looked really good defensively. They got the
goal they needed on the road. Should they be
doing anything other than perfecting what they've
already become really good at? There's only one
thing that concerned me. We gave Grant Stoneman
his flowers recently and said, hey, we're sorry.
You've proved to us in the last few weeks or
months that you've still got it there after maybe
a few shaky performances earlier on in the season.
But we know that Rinaldo DeMous has been a tear
in our backyards, our back line. Sebastian Trigarthen
as well did a lot of damage to us against in
that early match. I would just be very wary of
our back line, maybe pressing too high, giving
them opportunity to play in behind us. Because
we know that we like to press high, we like to
suffocate, we like to win the ball back, redistribute
and continue the attack. But that also sets us
up to be countered and that could be a worry
for our back line there. So I mentioned just
J Heaps know the secret code to Kano Smith. Does
it go the other way now? Has Rhode Island FC
solved Birmingham in the sense of they know the
tweaks and the adjustments that they need to
make in the second edition of these matchups
and was made the wake up call? The thing that
I would say about our. About our FC in Kano the
way that he played like while he will change
players for matchups. He doesn't have those players
Yeah, and right now we're so We're so thin that
he really doesn't have like what is Dwayne Atkinson
gonna do differently that Leo Afonso or pity
Rodriguez I know if you saw it with the with
the exception of a few games right there There
where there's a few exception a few games where
it's a like a one -off tactic change our FC kind
of play their game Right. They, and they, they
try and do it away. They try and do it at home.
They do the same thing. The, the one example,
I think I would use this difference member, the,
um, open cup against Hartford where we're just
like, Hey, just have the ball. We know you can't
do anything. We technically did it again in the,
in the, in the El Camico. Sometimes, sometimes
we can't, we can't control that either though.
If we put, come up against an opponent who was
maybe just a little bit better at Controlling
possession than we are it just forces us to play
that transition style But we know that Kano does
like to have more possession if possible And
so he doesn't want to give that away. He believes
that it gives them opportunities to kind of build
an attack against us So I don't see us Changing
anything outside of maybe little tweaks where
he says hey, we know that these guys can hurt
us So you need to just be mindful, right? Always
be checking checking your shoulder for runs,
maybe, you know, they're still going to try and
play the same way, but they're probably going
to be a little more wary of counter attacks.
They got to watch the transition. I think that's
spot on. I mean, and if anything, Jay, he was
going to do more of that, right? Like, can we
talk? Is what I'm going to play the same strategy
they played against Birmingham or excuse me,
against Pittsburgh, or are they going to modify
a little bit to the stacked approach? But for
Birmingham, I think the blueprint is pretty obvious.
They're going to keep doing the same thing until
that fails them. And right now they have some
version of success against Rhode Island this
season. So I do think that, you know, right now
I still think that the overall historical alignment
of the series gives the psychological edge to
Rhode Island, especially with the chip on the
shoulder of that loss. But I don't think that
they can rest on their laurels against this Jay
Heap side getting into it. Now going further
and talking about the defense itself, you know,
Right now, the defense is definitely going to
be carrying this team. We saw it last week in
Pittsburgh, but we've seen a lot of it. They're
one of the better defenses in the championship
this season. We've just been so excited about
the goals. We need to also give our flowers to
those players. Do we see the defense keeping
up with this Birmingham side on the weekend,
especially with speed like the Mooses against
maybe players like Stoneman on that? Because
he's not going to attack wide. He's going to
attack centrally. We know that we've seen him
do that. I anticipate a lot of Route 1. Do we
think that that's going to be a liability on
the weekend? I mean, defense wins playoff races,
right? And we've seen this team historically
be strong at defense. We've had some lapses and
where we've looked a little shaky, but overall
this team has been consistently a high performer
when it comes to defense. By the time this game
happens, it is going to be August and we know
that this team loves. A second half of the season,
kind of like, you know, it doesn't start in August
though. Don't do that. It starts September 1st,
maybe the last week of August. When we go back
to 2024, I mean, maybe last year was a little
bit later. Like, you know, they just came off
road win against Pittsburgh. We beat our rival
to one nil victories. Strong defense. I mean,
it's a formula that translates well into postseason
success. 2024 actually kicked off in June. But
last year. Last year, my friend, it did also
not really kick off till August 9th. Okay, fine.
It kicks off in August. You're right. Again,
I'm wrong again tonight. This is such a tough
one. Joe in the house saying Wilmeyer will get
the Hattie on the night. That is a bold prediction.
Put that into calcium. Let me know how that works
out for you. Next question here, then. Birmingham
season overall, we said two wins. Obviously underachieving
but two wins against respectable teams because
hey one of them is us buddy Does that make them
dangerous? Like should we should we be? Anticipating
that they're kind of in that do -or -die moment
themselves to beat people in the East to get
Further up the table and to get back into playoff
contention I mean when we look at the history
of at least in the years that we've been covering
this league Abraham just are inconsistent. It's
just it's their middle name I, they, they struggled
to string together consistent results throughout
each season. So, and I mean that they've not
been able to build all the momentum. There's
been lots of player changes. I mean, last year
we thought that they were going to be a real
contender, right? They were like the strongest.
They were the Tampa Bay Routies of last year.
Yeah. They signed so they signed everyone. Like
they went out and literally bought everyone and
we're like, Oh, Hey, what's up? And then of course
what happened? Yeah. They, they didn't, they
didn't build all that. So I, I think if our FC
don't get in their own head if they play strong
in the back line I I don't think that you know
Birmingham's gonna come up with too much to really
spoil our day there. It's so weird. I look at
their their History of performance and it's like
they get two draws Almost a win and then you
see the timelines and like they almost had a
win and then they lose the game They are very
inconsistent right now. I I don't know if I would
say they can't be dangerous i think a team like
this they can be can play a little a little less
fearless because there's no pro rel so there's
no there's no circumstance where they have to
worry anymore i think they can be dangerous for
that reason but uh then the final question this
is to eastern conference teams is this a true
six point match or because one team is firmly
cementing themselves rather quickly into the
basement and one team has aspirations for a home
playoff berth is Obviously, it's it's movement.
But is this even do we call this a six point
match of any kind? Yeah, I mean they're in the
East they're in the Eastern Conference We saw
that you know when you turn it on at the right
time They could mysteriously just all of a sudden
when their last like six games and all of a sudden
sneak into eighth place So anything is possible
to a certain extent here. So I think that all
of our you know Eastern Conference matchups from
here on are all six pointers at this point if
we're especially if we have the ambition to go
for that fourth place Home spot I think that
too and plus the fact that the people behind
us in the stable in the table standings All are
sitting just one point behind us So we need to
quickly widen the gap between those but talking
about the wins talking about that momentum Jason
Said it at the beginning of the show almost two
hours ago The Rhode Islanders. He hasn't won
three consecutive matches since 2024 That's feels
so weird to say out loud It does I went back
and looked through all of our matches and the
last time we we've won three in a row during
the postseason run in 2024 we knocked out Indy
Lou and then Charleston to win the Eastern Conference
final and then before that in the regular league
season play earned a three game winning streak
towards the end of September best team Tulsa
San Antonio in Tampa Bay And I mean if you add
the two draws that happened with the Charleston
and Loudon matches between those sandwiches of
Hatties This team went on a nine game unbeaten
streak. It's again so far so long ago good old
days wild It's the best streak they've ever had
I don't know if Rhode Island see is any any point
soon going to match that success But it can start
on this weekend. I don't want to jinx the club
But this is this is the sign of this team going
from a good team To a great team is getting three
in a row and beating opponents that are at the
bottom of the Eastern Conference Despite the
fact that we've spent almost the entirety of
this season's podcast Talking about how they
fail to show up against teams that are beneath
them in the standings Is this that moment where
we flip that switch? Absolutely. This is the
moment where you know Connell Smith and RFC proved
the doubters, the haters wrong. They show Kawhi
Leonard why he invested in this club. Do it for
Kawhi, everybody. And so speaking of that, then,
Matt, what what do you think RFC need to do here
to get all three points this weekend? Listen,
if you look at what went wrong in the Birmingham
game, it was what Rhode Island needs to do against
Birmingham here in this match. They need to set
the tempo early and silence the 17 fans that
are going to be at protective stadium. Rhode
Island FC has demonstrated time and time again
that they can be one of not only the hottest
teams in the Eastern Conference, but it comes
by when they score first. We've seen that time
and time again. Right first, your last. And once
they go up, they can organize, they can stay
compact, they can play the game in a style that
suits their strengths, especially with these
injuries and lack of availability. Even if it's
just a one goal win, we've talked about the smash
and grab away, do the damage, get out. and live
to play another day, I think that Rhode Island's
most important tactic on the night is figuring
out how to prevent the transition, score first,
and then just play the way you want, whether
that's keeping the ball away from Birmingham
or continuing to do a high press that pins Birmingham
back. But that first goal has got to come. Otherwise,
this is going to be a very, very difficult game
for Rhode Island to get through in all 90 minutes.
Yeah. RFC is going to need to lean on recent
history here, but Not becoming too complacent
here. Um, you know, historically they've had
Birmingham's number winning four of six meetings
between the club, but one blemish came earlier
this season when RFC got handed a three one defeat
there. So, you know, we can't chase the game.
We gave up a, been a goal. I think that was our
fastest ever given upright. The four minutes
of the season or of the club's history. I don't
know which, but it's definitely up there. Yeah.
Yeah. So we're so used to scoring the fastest
goal. It's weird to have to think about who scored
the fastest on us, but it's probably them now.
So we can't chase this game. So we're going to
need to have patience, right? We don't have to
score immediately, but we have to keep them off
of and keep them at arm's distance length here.
Yeah. And I think that's right. Like if, even
if it's a nil -nil going into the 65th minute,
that's still a better position for Rhode Island
FC to be in. They just have to be the first team
to score to cause Birmingham to want to try to
mix things up and change their style of plays,
change their tactics to claw one back. When that
goal happens, I don't know. It can be a very
patient. I mean, we saw that Pittsburgh, it was
what a 63rd minute goal. Do it again. Give us
45 minutes of figure it out, play some soccer,
and then give us a goal and let us, you know,
laugh our way all the way out of the guild that
night and enjoy that first three win streak of
the season. I don't see anything wrong with that.
Absolutely not looking to the ref assignments
here head ref here is going to be Carlos Rodriguez
assistant ref one Seth Martin assistant ref to
Nick Goyette and fourth official Joshua Belk
There was so much news that I get derailed and
did not have a chance to look up the history
of these refs and just We'll just have Kawhi
Leonard pay him off if he starts doing something
wrong because now all of our answers to all of
our problems are just Kawhi Leonard. So it's
going to work out perfectly. In Kawhi, we trust.
In Kawhi, we trust. Now, guys, I don't know how
to tell you this, guys and gals, but brace yourselves,
OK? Because this may come as a shock. This game
is not 730. This game is an 8 p .m. game, everybody.
You can do that. Apparently you can. Are they
in the same time zone as us? They are in the
same time zone as us you made me think for a
second there, but yes, they are Okay, they better
be otherwise everything i'm about to say is going
to be wrong But we are back at the guild with
defiant 1636 for the official watch party. The
kickoff is at 8 pm So make sure you come out
support the boys in amber and blue support defiant
1636 They've been working hard all summer to
make sure that you guys are loved supported and
giving you the best soccer experience inside
the home stadiums Now give them the best away
experience as they're at the guild in Pawtucket.
And it's important to remember that it is the
guild in Pawtucket, not the guild in Providence,
which has just opened up and gone from there.
So anyways, it's been real. It's been fun. It
has been two hours, Derek. You're absolutely
right. I am exhausted. Oh, and signing the clay
banner. Thank you. Thank you, Pawtucketjay. The
clay holstered banner. Will be at the guild for
a final signing so that I don't know what happens
with the next I heard it's getting retired to
the rafters. I heard we're sending it to clay
holstead dreaded in the rfc museum Yeah, what's
it? Whatever. It's fine The point is be there
to sign that banner and give clay holstead the
sending off he deserves for the fc dallas legend
that he will become Jason i'm so tired. My mouth
hurts In kawaii lennard, we trust get us out
of here, buddy Thanks everyone for joining us.
We'll catch you next time Anchor's up. Anchor's
up. You've been listening to the Raising Anchor
Soccer Show. You can follow the show on Twitter,
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.com. Fans, we thank you for listening. We ask
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as you leave the show. We thank you for joining
us and look forward to seeing you again. Until
then, I'm your main man Juju, and on behalf of
the Racing Anchor crew, goodbye for now. And
as always, we are Rhode Island FC.