Episode 18 Interview with Morgan
Kara
0:15
Welcome to a special episode of the queen's pitch podcast. I'm kara.
Bridget
0:19
And I'm Bridget. And today we have a special guest. We have morgan on the show. Morgan, how are you doing?
Morgan
0:27
Hey, y'all. I'm doing great. It's
Bridget
0:28
about time we get you on the show. I know we've been trying for, like, the last six weeks or something. With all our busy schedules, it's we're all moms. We're trying to take care of our kids, do our work, do everything, get it taken care of. So I know our schedules haven't aligned, so we're finally glad to have you here.
Morgan
0:45
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Bridget
0:47
Yay. Let's start off. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Sure. Yeah. How you got to like and show
Morgan
0:53
so, other than YMCA soccer, I didn't know anything about it, and my husband couldn't find anyone to go with him to the opening game last year, to the inaugural game, and so I was like, well, I guess I'll go with you. And I had an absolute blast, like, the culture and just how excited everyone was and how diverse the crowd was, and it was so positive. Even though we lost, I was hooked, and we were in the nosebleeds. I mean, we were, like three rows from the very back of the concrete wall, but it didn't matter. It was such a blast. And so 2s my husband took my son to the next game, and then by the third game, we had two season tickets, and then by the fifth game, we had four season tickets, so we just kind of jumped right in, and our family of four goes to all of them together. And I've gotten into Charlotte FC twitter now, so I feel like I kind of keep up with the team more so than 1s my husband does now, so it's pretty hysterical. That's how I started. I just went to one game, and then my daughter was like, let's go to another one. Can we come every time now? And we had never even really been to a professional soccer game. We don't even think we'd even watch one in our whole lives. She had played for her last eight years or six years, and so then we went, and it was just like we were hooked. 1s I don't even know what we like I told her last week, I don't know what we did before Charlotte FC. Because my whole world stood around by it now. Same for you, Kara? Yeah, my husband doesn't keep up with it as much as I do on twitter, either. And this is this is how we got started. We were like. 1s Talking to each other on there, paying attention to news, because I was like, I can't get enough. Although we don't bring both of our kids to every game because they have some overstimulation things, so sometimes they just need to stay in bed.
Bridget
2:47
Plus, they're late now, now that they're all at 730 at night. And if you go to church like some of us do on Sunday mornings, by the time you get home and in bed, it's after midnight. And then to up in the morning and try to get your kids to do anything on a Sunday is hard enough, but to take them to a game and then have them do that struggle? Yeah,
Morgan
3:04
my kids normally go to bed at 730. Thankfully, our church has an 1115 service, so we can sleep in and have a lazy morning and then hit it. But the biggest thing with my daughter, I've noticed is if you get her a cup of ice, she will play with that ice for the second half of the game, and that's perfect for a six year old. So we just let her have the ice and a straw and have a blast.
Bridget
3:30
I think Carol, when we talked to her, she told us about getting the binoculars, and Carrie used those last time. I think that's another trick we can try. I think I'm going to bring binoculars for myself so I can see some of these guys better out there on the field, and I'm not just looking at their shoe color to tell who they are.
Morgan
3:47
Yeah, that's a good point. I would definitely have to buy two pairs because my children will fight over them, maybe three, so my husband can have a pair, too.
Kara
3:55
So who is your favorite Charlotte FC player and why? And you can also, if your kids or family has different ones,
Bridget
4:02
please share. So my son's favorite is Swaderski 100%. 1s My husband's favorite is probably Yoseviac, and he likes to make fun of me because I was not the Yoziac fan last season. But this year, I think it was your first episode. You guys were talking about how you were hoping he had a good year this year, and I was on board with that. I was like, yeah, he totally deserves to have a good year. And having that DP tag, I think, can put a lot of pressure on somebody. So that plus coming off the injury and then getting acclimated to the American culture. So I was already positive on Yosevia. Thankfully, he's having a great season this year. My daughter does not have a favorite other than I. 1s I
Morgan
4:50
love Ben Bender just because he's so sweet and adorable and innocent and you just want to pull for him. I just want him to have good games and do great things. How do you not love him as a player and as a mentor for our kids and somebody they can look up to, like he's just wholesome and adorable.
Bridget
5:10
And this year they're spotlighting them. Like this year they're spotlighting them and all the social media things. They're showing us a little different side of bender that we didn't get to see last year. He's not on social media, so you can't follow him. He's not interactive with the fans like some of these other guys are, but they're showing us a little bit more of him. And he's signing autographs more. He's doing a little bit more this year. And I like that about him, the fact that he's little cooker, I like
Morgan
5:36
that. 1s Yeah, I love that. The thing they did with him and Hagart, where they are doing this cooking cook off or whatever with Harris Cedar, I think that's really fun that they're playing that up a little bit. Yeah. Bronnica is a second because he does work so hard for the team, but then also he works so hard for the community. I think it's great. Like he is Charlotte through and through, so I think that's that's an awesome thing. And so I pull for him and then see, I could just go through all of them. That's no problem. So I'm going to stop there. I'm just going to stop.
Bridget
6:11
As long as you weren't saying burn or bill. We're all getting knobskin. We can cut that part out, too. Can't always be ragging on them, too.
Morgan
6:19
It's.
Kara
6:19
Bill's a nice guy. Well, my favorite is Marks. We all know that. So it's not a question. But I am
Bridget
6:25
starting to like Hagart a lot. Yeah,
Morgan
6:27
Hagart seems like a great guy and I've been really excited for Marks. I think he's doing awesome. And I was so thankful that Latanzio put him back in for that last game because there were rumors that Kalina might come back and I didn't want him to his last game to be that that one bad goal that he let in after having. I mean, his first half was so good and how many times he had to block a shot. So I'm glad that he got to have a clean sheet. That was really awesome.
Bridget
6:54
Me, too. I told my daughter, I know I was being mean, but I said, if they put Kalina in, if Laddie starts Kalina, I'm going to get on that fire Laddy train faster than anybody I've ever met, and then we're going to leave the game. And she's like, no, we're not. And I mean, we probably wouldn't have and I probably wouldn't have been on the fire lady. I mean, I might have, but I'm glad he gave I mean, because just because Laddie is that type of person that I think he mentors those kids. He teaches them to do better. So I thought if he sat Marks after that game, it was going to show something totally opposite of what he presents. But I'm glad he did, too. I knew Marks could do it, so I'm glad it came back. And he seemed so happy when we talked to him on Sunday. I know you saw him, too, but I was like, I'm so glad that you came through on Saturday night. And you could just see in his face he was so excited, too. I love that.
Kara
7:42
So speaking of that, what are your thoughts so far this season?
Morgan
7:47
What are my thoughts? So I think that obviously this week we've heard that there's a lot going on behind the scenes in personal lives of players that we're not privy to and we don't know what's going on. So I wish that people would give Latanzio a little bit more of a benefit of doubt. 1s Last year, him being the interim manager and then this year finally having the freedom to kind of move. I don't know. He says his game plan, I don't know. I trust Latanzio. Maybe I have rose colored glasses on like Dave Rams says, 1s but. But 1s I believe in this team so much in this whole one and a half years that I've been a soccer fan and I want these players to do well and I want Latanzio. To do well and I want the team to be successful. So I'm just trying to be more positive and trust the process because they are getting better. I mean, I can see the sparks of things coming together like Kerwin and Yoziak and how well they're playing together. Now. Sworders, he's jumping in there and if we can just get them to click with Capetti more and then I'm just waiting for Guzman to come back because that's who I should have said is my favorite, was Guzman because he is amazing. He's just not been there.
Bridget
9:04
He's everybody's favorite,
Kara
9:06
right. He's a backbone and we obviously miss that
Morgan
9:09
backbone. Yeah.
Bridget
9:11
I can't wait to see him come back as a legacy because we can be right there. We can reach out and touch
Morgan
9:16
him. I like to
Bridget
9:17
see how Marks works with Guzman, too, with Guzman being that leadership and that big presence out there. And I think that only strengthen Mark's confidence and strengthen his trust. But I did hear Mark say that he trusts Bill. 1s He trusts Bill, so that's good.
Morgan
9:35
Is that what he said, he trusts
Bridget
9:36
Bill? Yeah, he said him and Bill get along really well and if Mark's trust Bill, then we're going to trust Bill. No, I'm kidding. I'm not going to always trust him. But he did. He said that
Kara
9:48
if you could pick any team to win against the rest of the season, who would it be?
Morgan
9:53
I mean, it would be really nice to beat Atlanta. At Atlanta, I feel like that's always a fun rivalry that we've created. 1s And the Red Bulls are always fun to beat, too. So I think those are the two that if we could get really dominant wins out of, that would be really awesome. Yeah.
Kara
10:12
Not going to lie. I can't wait till we smack John Tolkien again. 1s I
Bridget
10:16
think we're going to be LAFC at home. 1s No. But I can hope. We can all
Morgan
10:23
dream 1s might happen. If I drink enough, it might happen. No, I'm skinning. We're not going to win that game. But we hope
Bridget
10:31
maybe by then guzman will be back, though, because it's at the end of the year, right?
Kara
10:34
Yeah, he'll be back before the end of the year, though. Guzman will be back, I think by June. By
Bridget
10:40
then we'll have a good line up. Maybe we'll have actually a back line. We might get us a transfer in the summertime. Dreams can happen.
Kara
10:47
Sounds like wishing on a star.
Morgan
10:49
We could do it. We're not
Kara
10:51
going to do it, but we could try. So did you have a favorite game or moment of last season other than like the inaugural one that stood out to you as a defining moment either for the club player, you yourself? So last year this is a personal favorite moment. This wouldn't be particularly about the team. So my dad was battling congestive heart failure for several years and then last year he was in hospice care and he had good moments and bad moments. But last year he had a couple of weeks where he was feeling really good and so we were able to take him to one of the games with us. So he went in my daughter's space and he had enough energy to get up to the 300 level and he bought a shirt and we have awesome pictures of him and he just had the time of his life. He'd been to panthers games before but had never been in the panthers din and getting to see that kind of thing. So he passed away this past january. But one of his favorite things was being able to go to that Charlotte SP game. So that was a big moment for our family and an experience we'll never forget. I love that so much.
Bridget
12:01
What was yours, kara.
Kara
12:02
What defining moment? Yeah.
Bridget
12:04
What was your favorite time last year? Well,
Morgan
12:06
so I guess with the team, my two personal moments have been that I have broken bones and yesterday I got an emergency root canal.
Kara
12:19
So I have lead, sweat, tears, broke a bone, gotten a weird surge, emergency surgery. And listen, I am still at the game,
Bridget
12:30
so nothing's going to stop you.
Kara
12:34
Nothing's stopping me. 3s If I have another baby, I'll just labor at the
Bridget
12:43
stadium. 2s I don't trust the sanitary sanitation. I'll just
Kara
12:49
walk down to the hospital after. It'll be fine.
Bridget
12:52
No, because in the beer showers the beer showers? That's not good. I'm not near that. I
Kara
12:58
have a very nice restroom.
Bridget
12:59
We had a nice section until the beer showers the other day. Not too times ago. Oh, they hit you? Oh, our whole section was in. Like the beer went everywhere. Lily was like, lily's like, Mama, I was going to open my mouth just so maybe a couple of drops would get in, but I didn't. I didn't
Morgan
13:14
do it.
Bridget
13:16
Like, really?
Kara
13:17
You'd be like, good, because it's nasty.
Bridget
13:19
That's what I told her. I said, you're going to put it in your mouth and then you're going to throw up and then we're going to have to leave, so don't do that. That's
Morgan
13:25
right, 1s Mama. I was thinking about open my mouth, but I didn't. At least she told me. But I was like, seriously? That's such a teenager answer. Yeah, but she's ten. She's ten. Okay? We ain't teenagers.
Kara
13:39
I know, but, you know, she acts like a 13 year old.
Bridget
13:44
I know. It was horrible yesterday. We were at that game, right, and I was watching her and your daughter and your daughter's not boy crazy like mine, but anyway, these little boys came up behind us and Lily goes, oh, mama, those are ten.
Morgan
13:59
What?
Bridget
13:59
Those are tens. They're eight years old or nine years old. They can't be a ten
Morgan
14:08
you. Anyway, I guess it's better than her having crushes on all those guys out on the field that are ten years older than her. So we'll just go with it
Kara
14:17
as long as it's a good one. 2s So this one is like a take it or leave it type of type of question. 1s Who do you predict is going to be the breakout star this season else this season? So I feel like we already know that Yaziak and Kerwin Bargas are having really awesome seasons compared to last year, but after seeing little glimpses of it, I'm thinking Chris Hagart might have a breakout season. And 2s with the way we don't have a ton of depth in all of these Cups games that we're going to have to play, I think that he's going to have a lot of opportunity to shine and 1s I think he's going to become a really valuable player for us. I think it's a great call.
Bridget
15:01
Me too. I think I actually said that in our podcast that we recorded last night.
Morgan
15:06
We.
Bridget
15:07
No, we talked about him, but I think 2s no, I think that means we're all on the same page.
Kara
15:15
He obviously impressed us with something. We all saw the same potential. He could do those
Bridget
15:21
corner kicks. And Laddie
Kara
15:23
let he did have some nice service into the box, and that has been lacking.
Morgan
15:28
Amen to that.
Kara
15:29
Did you see how him and Camille, when Camille got his goal, did you see how Camille immediately ran over to Chris and hugged him and picked him up? And that shows you that they've got some chemistry there. They've been practicing and they trust Hagart and I think Laddie trust Hagart to come in. He did in that one game. And everybody's giving a hard time, but he came in and got a penalty.
Morgan
15:50
He did the corner kicks. I mean, what else can you ask for out of a kid that's just trying
Bridget
15:58
I think you got a good answer there,
Morgan
15:59
Dang.
Kara
16:00
Okay, so we only got two more questions. Unless there's anything else you want to
Bridget
16:03
add. We got two more questions. Morgan
Kara
16:06
so it's do you have a game day routine or any advice that you'd like to pass along for other parents? Families with
Morgan
16:13
kids? 1s For families with kids? So we always park in the parking deck right at the north gate. It's $40, but it's totally worth it. Back into your parking spot so that you don't have to back out when there's a ton of traffic. That's the best thing, is just not having to walk down busy streets with crazy people driving and just park in that parking deck and walk straight across and go in the north gate. It's also great if you are able to get club seats because they have the unlimited soft drinks and so you don't have to pay for a cup. Walk up there and grab a cup, and then the kids can mix all their drinks and have all the drinks. And I think that saves a ton of money and stress and you don't have to worry about it. The kids can just get whatever they want. I wish they would bring back the potato chips that they had last year, but that's okay. 2s Ah, but you can also get, you know, the bucket of popcorn and, and roll with it for a couple hours. So I guess that's our, you know, the way we always do it because Saturday mornings are normally, y, soccer in the morning and then Charlotte FC at night. So it works out really
Bridget
17:25
well. What's your favorite kit? I just threw a question aside. You know me, I'm going to derail us. So let's go. Out of the three kits, which one is your
Morgan
17:33
favorite? Well, so technically there's five kits if you count the Adidas. What do they call them? The ones where they use them out of water bottles? So my daughter and I both have matching what was it,
Kara
17:46
Earth Day for the save the plastic whatever in the plastic.
Morgan
17:50
The Earth Day kits. Is that what they call them? Yeah,
Bridget
17:53
I think so.
Morgan
17:54
My daughter and I have the matching white ones with the pink or really light pink writing on them. So that was cute last year because we've never done the matching mother daughter outfits because that's just not her style. But the fact that she let me have a matching kit with her was a big deal. But our family so I mentioned that my husband's only five, six. We wear the same size kit. And my son and my daughter, we forced them to wear the same size kit. So we have one of everything in use and an adult and we just kind of rotate them out. That's smart.
Bridget
18:30
My daughter and I wear the same size now too. So that's what we do. We just have one of each. And then I don't usually wear a kit. I try to wear a different shirt if we win or lose and we haven't been winning. I'm running out of shirts. But 2s I won't wear this one again because we lost really bad when I wore it. So it's not allowed to be worn at a game. 2s But yeah. So we just alternate our kits now that she's my size, thank God. Because they're expensive. They are not cheap. We don't have a name on any of the back of ours because my husband is a Browns football fan. 5s As a Brown football fan, they never have the same quarterback for, like, more than two or three years. And so he has all of
Morgan
19:16
the Stars jerseys, and then as soon as they leave, he can't wear that jersey anymore. So, 1s yeah, he's learned not to put names on the back of the soccer kids. Now that's
Kara
19:29
about how we are now with how many people have departed.
Bridget
19:32
Carol learned hers.
Morgan
19:35
Yeah, I can't remember who listed that out on Twitter, but to put all the original players and where they are now, that was humbling. It's hard because you get attached to these guys and you're like, oh, they're so great. And then the next thing you know,
Bridget
19:50
they're gone, and you're like, well, that
Kara
19:52
sucks. It's the last one. It's are you a tea or coffee drinker and what type? If so
Morgan
19:59
I'm actually drinking coffee right now even though it's 11:00 at night, so I'm an all day long coffee drinker. My husband jokes that my coffee is actually just like, melted coffee ice cream because I put so much sugar and so much half and half in it that it's more like a dessert. 4s What is that DC boys song? I like my sugar with coffee and cream. That's me.
Bridget
20:23
I do mine the same way, except I put whole milk, so I go even further. I'm like, straight up, let's go. It's so white. The coffee doesn't even look brown anymore because it looks like a white color when I do it. So I just drink sundrop instead.
Morgan
20:38
I used to be a Mountain View girl. Yeah,
Kara
20:41
that's so much better.
Bridget
20:42
Well, Morgan, thank you for being with us today. It was fun. You're more than welcome to join us anytime you want to. We hope you had a good time with us.
Morgan
20:50
Yeah, I had a blast. I would love to do this again. You guys are great. 1s Well, care is great, and I'll definitely take you off the rails. So if you need something to just definitely get you some humor out there, here I am.
Bridget
21:04
Call on me. But anyway, thank you so much. And Carrie, do you got anything else for us?
Morgan
21:11
Thank you all for listening, and we hope you enjoyed it. We'd love to interview any of our other fans who'd like to come on and chat with us. Thank you.