That's another go around here on a Friday, So we know what that means.
On a Friday's where I turn the volume up and put my headphones down because it's time to get you ready for what's going on.
Oh hmmm, come.
On man, yeah, go for it, dude.
It's Friday.
Day.
It is indeed a Friday, and so we get you ready for the weekend. Let you know what's going on, and we will drop it all here in the next couple of hours. So John, hear you there once again, Thanks for coming by as you always do, and it is gonna be a fun show. We're gonna get you ready for the weekend once again at Lanty and I did in their last preseason home game, and it's a preseason home game behind closed doors, but nevertheless it is a preseason home game. So all of y'all's once again,
it's great to see you here today. So I didn't realize that I was Jason test for a second, So spot me a second and a half here, So there we go, all right. So there, I'm me, I'm i'm me, you're you all right, So here's the deal. We're gonna go over everything this weekend. I know that we kind of had on the table the breaking news that kind of broke yesterday involving the USL and what was going
on there. We've got that to talk about and just kind of put a bow on it anything else and just kind of once again look through the whole thing. We did go into stadium sizes and things like that, and the economics of it all.
Is it just me? And it's probably just this computer.
I'm gonna have to take the I'm gonna have to take the laptop into the geek squad and figure it out because there's one particular app that is one particular website that is fritzing all over the place on the desktop. So anyway, all right, so I know that yesterday we talked about stadium sizes and things like that, I talked about travel. I mean, we probably can put a bow on it more than anything else. Right now, I'm intrigued
with the next steps. I want to see if they're looking at different markets, if they're looking at the same markets, if they're looking at expansion. My biggest thing is the economics involved, both inbound and outbound. And I want to see who might be interested in something like that from a sponsor perspective, what's the TV package going to look like?
Is it going to be the same thing that it's there now?
So, like I said, twell to fourteen team league that we know, we yesterday went over the stadia and we'll go back over it again real quick for those that missed it yesterday as a part of the discussion, and we'll see what everybody else, you know, may think about all of all of that issue. So, like I said, we'll put it, we'll put a bow on it, and we'll see what's on everybody's mind involving that really quickly.
I mean, like I said, we pretty much went through the release yesterday when Paul McDonough said what he said, and we'll uh and and uh, Nick Papadeka said what he said, the interview with the McDonagh with UH the Athletic and then the release that came out with Nick Papadeka saying the things that he said. We went through the Louisville version of it because lou said he was the first one that got into my inbox. So that's
where that's where we are with all of that. So let's see So whatever whatever else is on your mind, we'll get into that this some stuff overseas to get into. We've got big matchups and things like that. We've got to get into the revisiting of the Premier League now that we're out of the FA window, all the big matchups that are coming up this weekend, and we may we may have another guest coming up at ten thirty to break everything down on your weekend and what we've
seen so far. So Opening Kickoff rought to is buy our friends at Kickoff Coffee and Kickoff Coffeeco dot Com. I've still got to figure out when to make sure that I can grab the QR code and flash the QR code on the screen, so what blocks out my face? Oh and the other thing I know that we'll do as a part of Opening Kickoff as well.
At your there's no piano here.
For those of you that were here yesterday and you got to see the end of the show where Nico and I were discussing what we always discuss. You saw the piano movers, so it's it's odd not having an armrest, so it's just a it's an odd situation. But yeah, we're getting the new piano brought in fairly soon, so we'll see what's what what's on the mind up By the way, when they moved the piano yesterday, we all
remember what happened over the last couple of days. But it was it was a mud bog in the backyard. It was a mud bog, a guarantee, so uh, it was it was an experience trying to get the trying to trying to get the how do we say this, uh, try to get the piano out of the out of the backyard. So that was that was very very interesting yesterday. I give the piano movers a great deal of credit for what they were able to pull off yesterday in
removing the piano. In removing the piano yesterday, they get they get massive credit for what they were doing yesterday. So big ups to them as as we got a piano move. And it's only half the battle, so we'll see what's on. We'll see what happens there as well. Okay, opening kickoff brought to is by our friends at Kickoff Coffee and Kickoff Coffeeco dot com. Well, I know, I know, but but ert Ricky, I know that I don't necessarily sing Rebecca Black, but we can still do that.
You know.
That was just the thing that was faster to get to. And we've got to bring I've got to bring her drop into the uh. I have to bring her drop into the computer. That's the word I'm looking for. We have to bring it into the computer and we can we can all sit there and enjoy. We can all enjoy Rebecca going forward. But okay, so I'm torn, I can. I'll tell you what. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go with the I'm gonna go with the promotional
aspect of things. So I don't know if you've had the chance, with your busy lives to sit there and see what we've been able to do with the Creek Cup. And it's been really fun to be able to show what's going on with the Creek Cup and with some of the great talent here in the state of Georgia. So opening kickoff is gonna be the blatant promo. Last couple of days, we've been at Northview and we've been at Johns Creek, Jason's been at Johns Creek, and I've
been at Northview. We're gonna be getting this is where the rubber meets the road because we have triple header. I have a triple header today. I think Jason has a doubleheader and it is Championship Saturday, where we each have four games going on at the same time. And you can catch up with us at soccer down here dot mixlore dot com. On the John's Creek side of things with Jason and the boys championships and the boys activity.
You can catch up with me and SDH two literally soccer down here in the number two dot mixler dot com. So go to Mixler, download the app, find soccer down here, find soccer down here too. Follow both get your notifications for when we're on the air. So I had the one match yesterday and it was Walton and the home side Northview Walton. It was a tight game at the half it was one nil, then Walton put the pedal down in the second half. A lot of credit I
give to Northview and a very very young team. They had as many as five ninth graders out there at any time. They were seven and nine last year, seven nine and one last year, and Walton made a deep run into the playoffs in seven A. So if you're big into high school soccer, and it's our first forays into that this year, this week has been the premier week for high school soccer, the premier week, first week, Premiere premier not premiere Premier week, opening week. How about
that for high school soccer? And what you do is you can go to mixer SDH and SDH two John's Creek activity in the Creeks Cup. And thanks again to everybody at John's Creek and at Northview for being great partners with us, so we can broadcast the matches and everything and be there and lay them all out for you.
And you've got activity today.
I have a triple header at four, six and eight over at SDH two and then Jason has I believe two matches and his activity is Do.
I have that written down? No, I have it written down.
The other one it is going on later this afternoon when it comes to everything at John's Creek, And so John's Creek will be there and Jason had an exciting match with his six o'clock last night and so big win for North Atlanta.
Max Roady.
We got to see him for the second time in a week. And so John's Creek and what is going on.
There with the.
With all of the activity that's going on with a Creek Cup, A lot of games, two locations going on, all at the same time, and so it's two matches, yeah, two matches on the boy's side. Jason actually gets an all Alabama match up at six o'clock with Dothan and Tucker. I know that a lot of us here in city to Tucker. No, there's a Tucker Alabama. So Dothan and Tucker will play at six Johns Creek and Murray will play at eight. And so that's the cardinal bracket that's
gonna determine champions for tomorrow. I have a tripleheader. We wrap up the Blue bracket at four North Atlanta for the second time in a week, plays Greenbrier and then the boys play immediately after that against Midtown So North Atlanta, Greenbrier Girls at four, Midtown Greenbrier Boys at six Northview,
and Lagrange Boys at eight. That's on SDH two. Dothan and Tucker Alabama at six Johns Creek, and Murray in the cardinal bracket that's going to be on the SDH channel a SDH one on the Mixler app and you
can catch all of those there all week. Let's see by the time we're done, so it's eight and thirteen, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen matches in a four day period on the SDH network to get us started, and then we get a little a couple of days off, and then we come back on Tuesday with McIntosh and Dalton three o'clock kick on the app because it's winter break so they can do those kinds of things with scheduling.
So mc McIntosh and Dalton Boys at.
Three and then at eight o'clock I will be with Maddie in the Cast of thousands up Appalachi for the varsity matchup between Seconder and Appalachi's Boys.
So that's Tuesday, and that's the next thing in the run.
So if you're a fan of high school soccer, Morning four Card, Morning Alex, and Morning Ricky obviously, but if you're a fan of high school soccer, it's a great way to kick things off and listen to the Creek Cup put together by our friends at Northview and John's Creek.
We've been running strong with that. We're actually gonna have some reinforcements coming in and it was it's going to be John Morgo I think is going to be helping Jason out on Saturday and Drew Dickinson will be helping me out with the quadruple headers at both sites on Saturday. So very very cool stuff that our friends at the Creek Cup are doing. And it's a great kickoff for
the high school season. So that is something of officially opening Kickoff brought to his buy our friends at Kickoff Coffee and Kickoff Coffeeco dot Com.
Let's run through all the promos, shall we.
So go to Kickoff Coffee and Kickoff Coffeeco dot Com when you're checking out, use the code soccer down here fifteen at fifteen percent off you purchase. They in turn take ten percent reinvested youth games youth initiatives from our friends at Kickoff Coffee and Kickoff Coffeeco dot Com. For those of you that may have seen Jason on Insta yesterday or the grammar of the ag he was wearing
his Soccer's just Better in Atlanta sweatshirt. You can get that at Grady Baby Co our association on our relationship with them this year. Soccer is just Better in Atlanta. You can get it in red, you can get it in black. Seriously, no, lie, it is one of the softest sweatshirts I own. The Boss has stolen the black one. I have to wear the red one. And well because she can't wear red in this house anyway. Oh, by the way, here is here's the boss. So there's the boss.
And there's got to be a way that we could. We don't have to be like back here or something. We'll figure it out. But soccer is just better in Atlanta. When you purchase that, you can get a T shirt, you can get it sweatshirt, you can get it with our friends there at Grady Baby Co. Proceeds help out middle school soccer programs attached to the Atlanta Public school system. So very very cool stuff there from our friends at
Grady Baby Co Olive in New York. You can get your first ever SDH jersey thanks to our friends at Kains of Permanente, thanks to our friends that Beyond Goals, thanks to Soccer for Good and that the proceeds from that will go to some of the programs that we've earmarked here in twenty twenty five as part of our Soccer for Good campaign. And you can get it in Navy. That Navy's the easy part. I don't personalize jerseys, but
you can get it personalized if you want. Either in white letters and numerals or in the lighter blue the Carolina blue letters numerals.
Morning Harry, and.
You can wear the Olivi and York SDH jersey for twenty twenty five.
Don't forget you can once again.
You can see how it looks on Maddie, Greg Garza and Sophia, the two, the four, and the seven all right there on our SDH model's Instagram account and on the SDH Instagram account as well. But our fashion our resident fashion model Greg Garza modeling his jersey and very very cool stuff that you can do there at Olivi and York.
To get that jersey.
Marshall Islands, you can get the Marshall Island scarfs to help them out.
I have those.
You get the bucket hats in the jerseys. You have to place the order with our friends overseas and then they ship it back. You want the scarf, you can come through me and I can either hand it to you or mail it to you. Send something to Canton last week, sending something to Fairfax, Virginia this week. I'm under twenty with the supply of those, So be sure to help out our friends at the Marshall Islands and
you can do that as well. Go to the Marshall Islands Store and the Marshall Island Soccer Federation get the gear. Helps them with all of their programs, helps them bring up the Marshal leaves involved that are here in the United States as they try to build their program a lot of footsal going on. Follow them on social media too, so you can sit there and see what the growth of it is with the Marshall Islands and see how it is growing there as well. Also become a fanatico.
We have talked about being a finanti coo a lot, and thank you for everyone who has become a finanti coo so far. What you can do is you can go to the chant app and what you can do there is become a part of the fanatico's community here at SDH and I will show you just for the record right there chant Soccer down here, and it's telling me that I have to update my membership. My membership has expired, so I have to go to the website
to close the app and renew. So you can go to chant app and you can go to Soccer down here, become a fanatico and for ten dollars a year, get a lot of discounts on a lot of cool things hopefully that can help you out over the course of the year. And you get conversations with us on a daily basis just to kind of check in and see what's going on on your mind. Might help me stack
a show one day, those kinds of things. So become a Fanati Coo ten dollars for a year and it helps out our soccer for good and what we are planning with all of that, as well as everything else here at the SDH network, and you get some cool discounts and some cool things that our friends through Chant and our relationships have decided to put there to be a fanati Coo as well. And so once again, Finatiko Fanatiko,
Finati Coo. Go to the chant app, do a search for soccer down here, become a member Fanatko's ten dollars a year and you get to help out a lot of different things and be a lot of a part of a lot of cool different conversations.
So you've got all of that, So let me see Fanati cos.
Finates fntz dot co slash soccer down here. You can get all of the stuff overseas, be in being an Espanol all the bns, Tay Say Newester tel a CEO for the fans, Lega one LEGA one Max, Pro Goal TV, all the things FNTZ dot slash soccer. Down here, you can watch all of that action and become a true degenerate.
You can follow along.
Other buddy Nino Torres, who was on the show yesterday, visits every Thursday, takes us around the world, going fully loaded in thirty minutes, and who knows, if you find a way to have a conversation with him while he's calling a match. You get to have conversations on live TV with a play by play guy. So there's all of that, all right. I think that's all the promos. What I also want to do in this show is once again I ask this going into the weekend. I
will go into going into the weekend. Here it is the last preseason match for Atlanta United and it is FC Dallas. It's behind closed doors I think atoutd dot com slash Live from the Children's Healthcare of it in a training ground and it's FC Dallas. Don't know if Lucco Acosta is going to be here dressed Street closed, not here watching waiting. He might be you know the observation, you know the observation. Platform don't know, but you have all of that intrigue with Dallas. You have all the
intrigue with Alanta United. What I want to know for this particular program today heading into this matchup with FC Dallas, because starting next week we're going to be getting into previews and catching up with all of our friends and finding out what's going on in and around Major League Soccer as we get ready for it going into this last weekend, I want to know what's on your mind with it Landy United, whether it is team related, personnel related,
what you've seen, what you've liked, what are your concerns. Literally, I'm putting it all out there about it Land United for this last time as we get into the last preseason game. And we did find out that Emmanuel late Lot has his visa. There's a credit card joke in there that I'm going to leave alone. So he has his visa working out, So either Slam or the Four Horsemen or whatever you want to put it to, it
looks like they're getting it pieced together. Late loth you know he's in Obviously he's in mid season shape and endurance from a championship perspective, We'll see how how his physicality is with Ronnie Dila now that he's going through drills. You watched on the instagram for SDH yesterday you kind of saw him going through some opening drills and things like that. So El has his visa, so Latte Lot has his visa. Slam or the four Horsemen or whatever
you want to call him, they're all in house. Now, what what's on your mind as we get into this, as as Ricky says and Ben Alex is also pointing out this morning, and this is true, this is actually true. Alex has been hearing rumors that Atlanta United Football Club will be playing actual soccer that counts a mere eight days from now. And that's why, as we are getting eight days in under, that's why, as we're getting to that soccer that counts, I want to know where you stand.
I want to know where I want to know what's on your mind, what your concerns are, what you've been looking at, what you've been impressed with, all those things. I want to know what's on your mind as we
head toward FC Dallas on the flip side. Next week, it's going to be the preview from you nowhere, because it's going to end up being you're gonna have Bart talking about On Monday, it's going to be the national team in the U seventeens and she believes getting wound up from that, and you're going to have a previewing at Lanty United on Tuesday is when we start catching up with our friends. Well Logic, the play by play voice of Charlotte FC is going to be dropping by.
I think he's at nine to fifteen on Tuesday. On Wednesday, in addition to all of that, Matt Cairns is going to be joining us from Huntsville City. He's going to be in the ten o'clock hour on Wednesday after Tyler joins us on Wednesday, And we are also efforting a lot of our other friends on Thursday and Friday to go with Nino and Nico in the preview and the Friday free for all that gets us into next week.
You see, literally, we just broke down everything that's going to be happening next week in about thirty seconds because we're that close to the beginning of the regular season. But I believe Alex to be correct with his rumors. And then Ricky was also hearing rumors that they will be playing the actual soccer a mere eight days from now in a new kit, and it's being announced today.
We've seen the teas videos out there, and at the end of the teas video in question, I believe for Ricky there was a two point one four point twenty five that is not two fourteen in a quarter. I believe that to be the date in question for said kit. So we'll have the new kit, we'll have all the new stuff, we will have the new players coming onto the field to see if Montreal coming to town, and the season will be on.
In eight days.
But you you sit there and I mean, we go back to all the conversations that we've had, all the conversations that we've had about seven weeks. Seven weeks, Oh no, you know seven weeks. What are you gonna do to talk about seven weeks?
You want to know what?
Seven weeks went by? Pretty quick? There was plenty to talk about. Playoff formats the same four card, so it is the the eight to nine play in, the eight nine play in, and then it goes to winner the eight nine taking on the one two, seven, three, six, four, five, et cetera. So that's, uh, that's where we are. Ropes excited to see all the folks at the tailgate a week from Saturday. Understandably, so I said it's gonna be it's gonna be good to get games at COUNT. Don't
misunderstand me. It's been fun going to Birmingham and the Chattanoogaan too, seeing everything and IMG and all these pieces being put together. But yeah, you're gonna have games at COUNT next week. We're gonna be looking at all the teams, all the news, all the players that have been put into their new places and new positions, all that stuff. But yeah, a week from Saturday is your tailgating.
Eight days.
You are tailgating with your friends and your supporters groups getting ready for a night game with Atlanta United.
And c F Montreal. That is only in eight days, only in eight days. So that's where that's where we are.
We got we do have some news and some previews and things like that to get into and everything England and all the pieces in between. So that is going to be a part of the show today. That's going to be a part of the show today as well. Getting ready for the weekend and all those kinds of things.
So all across the board, it's going to be a fun time as we get you ready for the weekend Creek Cup on SDH network all weekend long, well not all weekend, Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday you might hear a voice on ninety two nine that is here on the network. Then he's going to be filling in. I think Jason is going to be filling in on Sunday and Monday on ninety two nine. So busiest man
in show business never stops being busy. But now this morning, what I want to know is what's on your mind with it landa United heading into the last preseason game, because it starts for real. Really, it starts, really, it
starts for real, he said, speaking English very goodly. Really it starts for real on the flip side of that preseason match because the team is getting ready for games account last time I heard, so we're looking at eight days, guarantee you that the team is looking at now, and then they're looking at Saturday afternoon and then it's like okay,
then you're off and running. Regular season starts then, and like I said, next week, what we're gonna try to do is catch up with as many of our friends as humanly possible, and what we'll do is find out what's going on in their cities. I'm gonna put out the bat signal for our friends like Glenn Davis and Houston,
Lucas Panzica in Nashville. Like I said, we're gonna have Willie Peon on Tuesday morning to break everything down in Charlotte and all points in between, all the all of our friends that we can get in touch with and figure out how we can have them on the show.
We'll have them on the show. I may I may even.
Pull out a couple of try to pull a couple of aces out of my sleeve and bring in some folks getting ready for the season too. So should be a fun week getting ready for everything going on in Major League Soccer. Balance that out with our high school schedule where we're going to be next Wednesday in Gainesville. And then also yeah, so next week is after apple Achi.
Get this, so next week after Appalachi and Macintosh and Dalton Wednesday, looking to go to Gainesville for North Gwenett and Gainesville.
Then we have Moxie Midtown. Remember the twentieth.
Moxie at Midtown another great sponsor with us here at SDH from like seven to eight thirty. Moxie Midtown is where we get our first Third Thursday, our first third Thursday event. I have to make sure that I have my beats in there, the first third Thursday event of twenty twenty five. And our friends at Moxie Midtown are being great hosts with us there this week and this season. So Moxie Midtown on the twentieth, and then Friday night Johnson Gainesville, Dalton back up there for that and then
it's kickoff of the season. So when you thought it was busy, it is busy high school season for US Pro season for US Julige soccer kicking in. I know you guys are ready, So everybody's getting all antsy and everything.
So that's where we are.
But this morning, this morning, this morning, as we head into that last preseason game with FC Dallas, I want to know what's on your mind.
I want to know what you've seen.
I want to know what has happened and progressed over time, and I want to know what's on your mind when it comes to Atlanta United. Is we get ready for the twenty twenty five season. My natural inclination, by the way, has been to call them the four Horsemen instead of
Slam and then. But I do know that that would mean that we would probably have to play Onyx in Mercedes Been Stadium with one of them scored, so in addition to what we traditionally play, or at least you know, uh, maybe Mike makes a lyric drop or something.
We'll see something like that.
But once again, I want to know what's on your mind with it Landy United this morning, what's on your mind with the team going through all the other news and all the other things. So that's where that's where we are this morning, and we'll try and preview as many teams as we're out there.
Harry, you have an excellent point.
If you have it, well, actually I'll give you a contender in a second. Harry says he's not sure anyone is beating the RSL kit.
It is.
It is without a doubt some some money that a lot of folks are gonna spend RSL is at a home run Seattle in the sale Ish s A Sea kit would be a second for me, all right, nine thirty Ish nine thirty or so, and we get to talk to our mogul in training and we get to find out what's going on as he's looking at multiple divisions and looking at multiple teams getting ready for the starts of their season. So what this means is we bring in the man himself, Michael Parkers parking up.
What is happening John.
You, sir, being a mogul in training as you are for season two of being a mogul in training? You get to and I mentioned it before you popped in, It's like you're looking at it from your your team perspective with Atlanta United, but then also the ownership perspective and overseer perspective at Rhode Island f C. What's it like handling all of these different personalities of yours heading into a season for a.
Chain no different than last year? You know, I think that.
What no, no, no comment about Well, expectations are higher on both sides considering what happened.
Come on, where's my expectations or higher? SoundBite?
I mean, naturally, expectations are higher year two than year one. That doesn't mean that we're going to go further. I mean we could only win one more game at the end of the season at least. But yeah, to be honest, John, all this d one talk is confusing to me. I don't US is in a good place right now. MLS is a behemoth compared to USL, and I'm not privy
to all the information. I'm not on all these Board of Governor's calls with USL and owners calls, so I'm not sure what the thinking is, But i just don't think it makes sense to try and go up against MSS. MLS is buying and selling players intra league now for ten plus million dollars, and you know our budget for players is like one point five million, So yeah, we're on different levels. So you know, for me, it just
doesn't make sense. That being said, if things do do do progress, Rhode Island will be in the top bracket of USL for sure.
Okay, since you since you mentioned everything going on with Lanty United and getting ready for multiple seasons in multiple places as a player, how much did you look forward to the preseason in and of itself or did you just want to get out there and start knocking guys around and have things go on for real? What was your what was your thought about preseason and getting ready for the regular season.
As a player, I.
Enjoyed preseason for the most part. I think that there's obviously aspects of preseason that you don't look forward to, mostly the fitness, but I enjoyed it just because it was a time to get to know each other and set the foundation for the season. There was no you know, pressure yet as far as you know, games and seedings and all that stuff. So it was like, Okay, you know, this is a good time to just train. And I liked the process of training. I liked, you know, the
the daily routine of it. So yeah, for me, I really enjoyed it. But yeah, I think that there comes a time in preseason, even though you're enjoying it, where you're ready to start the season. And I'm sure they've hit that point.
When it comes to your mentees these days, and this might even play into how you were when you were their age.
There you go get ready.
Literally, it's the flipping of the switch, like it wasn't over the top stallone, you get the hat on backwards, You're ready to go. H when you were of a young and impressionable age starting out in the game.
So basically, last Tuesday, what did you.
Think about all of the conditioning and the preseason and all of these things and getting acquainted with new teammates and everything. You know, do you find that your mentees understand the importance of a build up and a preseason and staying as ready as possible, or do you have to explain to them, Yeah, I know, you got you've got games. Those are important, but at the same time, you have to maintain the self going into those games. Do you have to have those kinds of conversations at all.
Yeah, a little bit, And for sure it changes throughout time, right, I mean as younger players, the preseason is more important.
These these minutes that you get with the first team, and these games are super valuable and super important because you don't know how many opportunities you'll get sometimes right where for me as a veteran and later in my career, it was like health is the most important thing, Like, Okay, you know, I want to get going and I want to you know, get sharp and stuff, but like this preseason game, I don't really care about as long as I you know, feel good and stay fit and get
healthy coming out of it all, like that was the most important. But I do remember being younger, it was like, hey, you know, every time you're out there, it's like I got something to prove you, I got something to earn. So you know that that is definitely a different situation for younger guys versus some veteran players. And yeah, I think that it's important for the younger players to understand that.
And it's it's different now where players come into camp ready to go, and it's so much different than when I first started. So in that regard, these younger players are in a much better place than I was probably
when I was younger. But I think that they also sometimes put too much emphasis on one game, one play, where it's like, hey, that's the beauty of preseason, that's why we got six weeks together, right, especially if you're training with the first team the whole time, like you know, you can you can go out there and it's okay to have a stinker or have a bad training session. It's more important the response to it and getting back on the saddle.
Well, and you you mentioned that it's okay to have a stinker. I would think that, I mean, is pressure that much different these days? Where because I remember Beckuld buy a day, you know when I actually had more hair. You had that pressure from the the generations inside your home that you know, like the scene in Breakfast Club at the end when they're having and Emilio Ostevez, you know,
he has the big speech. We I'm sure that we either had parents like that, we had family members like that, or we knew folks that were like that, and you know, pressure was there and your attitude is for ish and I'm sure we experienced a lot of that growing up. How different is parental influence and family influence on players today and on your mentees than it was maybe when we were growing up. How different is it? Is it
different much? I know I'm asking like a four part question here, but I guess it has to do with parental influence and pressure that's put on from the family.
How different is it from your observation.
Yeah, I think it's I feel like back in the day, it was more pressure of winning and just playing well, and now it's a different type of pressure where it's like pressure to play your best, be the best, make sure that you're in a good spot to get a scholarship or you know, played on your high school team, played in college, get a scholarship, you know, it's that type of pressure is much more we're back when we were growing up, it wasn't like I didn't have pressure
to go play in college or anything. That was just like yeah, parents just freaking out trying to win each game, right, So I think it was just more short term pressure like game to game, where now I think it's like a sometimes it's an overarching pressure of like getting to a certain level or a certain place by a certain time, just because of year round the money that the parents are putting into sports, all the extra training, So the
pressure is still there for sure. And I'm sure it was like this back in the day, Like not all parents are like that, but you do have some. And honestly, I've been pleasantly surprised. And maybe it's because that the families that come and work with Greg and I obviously have a an open mind frame of how we can help their athlete. But most of the families that we
work with, the parents are hands off. They put the they set up the kid, and it's just us and the and the kid working together, which is awesome.
Uh.
And every now and then we'll have the helicopter parent that's answering the questions and sitting right there and everything. But I'm honestly been pleasantly surprised in that regard.
Well, and I know that we've talked about it in the past about the helicopter parent, and thank I'm thankful for you to you and for you for what you and Gregor are doing to where those instances seem to be few and far between, where the parents, even though they seem to be wanting to play this long game, however long it is about getting their their athlete to the next level and next levels whatever those are, that they seem to be laying off because I mean, once again,
going back in mind, hey days of black and white television, you had the family members yelling at umps, you had them yelling at kids through dugouts, you had all these kinds of things. And you know, I'm glad that it seems, at least through your prism that for the most part, they're laying off. And I think that that speaks a lot too. I guess what the parents are looking for and what they hope to see out of their out of their kids.
Yeah, for sure, I do think it's good. And don't get me wrong, Hey, you go to any Saturday soccer youth tournament and go on a sideline You'll be like, yeah, you know, holy smokes, what is going on in society.
Don't get me wrong, But it was like that back in the day too, and I so I do think that there's a lot of parents that have realized, and you know, I think social media can help in this regard where it's like you get called out a little bit and there's more information out there about like, hey, this is not good for our athletes and there's so many benefits from losing, so stop freaking out on the
sideline after every game or during every game. So yeah, there's always going to be some that don't get the message, and you know, are living through their kids and it means more to them than their kids. But honestly, I think for the most part, it's getting a little bit.
Better Michael Parkhurst than the Freddy Freekick, hanging out with us, answering all the questions about being an owner, being a player, getting ready for the season, being a mentor. But that is that's where our focus traditionally is here with what they're doing at beyond goals, mentoring at BEG, mentoring on the twitters, at beyond goals minoring dot com.
When it comes to social media.
Since you mentioned social media and how it can be a good influence, it can be a good it can be I was gonna sayhen is the reinforcement ever bad? It can be a reinforcement to activity and behaviors, or it can be an absolute negative And if you pay too much attention to the negative, then it could take everything and make it all haywire. Do you have conversations with your mentees about social media and how it can
be that that double edged sword sometimes? Do you have those kinds of conversations with them about the power social media?
Yeah, for sure, especially the players that are trying to play in college, because if I was an assistant coach, I would absolutely be checking out their social media to see what type of content are they putting out there, Who are they as a person, what are the people they hang with, what do they do off the field,
like all that stuff. It's it's super important. So yeah, you want it to make sure that your social media is a good representative of who you are and know that nothing ever gets deleted, and it can cost you if you're not smart with it. It can cost you
a place at a university. It can cost you a job in the future, right, And yes, people will give you a pass if you post something silly when you're fifteen or sixteen to a certain degree, but that doesn't mean it won't hurt you at some point along the road. So yeah, we absolutely talk about that and it can be a great tool as well. I've got a couple of kids that post all their highlights there, which is great.
Right If a college coach is all of a sudden looking at their social media and see some of these highlights like fantastic, that's a great way to use it. And obviously you can make money off it if you get to a certain level, right. So yeah, of course social media is important. You know, nil deals in college and all that stuff. A lot of it is social media based. So yeah, there's such benefits to it, for
sure if it's used the right way. But yeah, we definitely talk about what the negatives could be as well.
Is it eye opening to a mentee when you talk about the negatives because they may just sit there and say, well, it's social media and I'm just putting things out there trying to be social. Do you and Greg ever sit there and have you know, call a time out when you see something on a social media platform that's attached to a mentee and sit there and go, okay, this you need to learn from that. You need to either take this down or learn from it, or say something.
Do you do you have those warning conversations with mentees at all?
We haven't had to yet. We haven't. I've never come across a mentee who's posted something where I thought, you know, that's crossing a line, or you gotta be careful here, or things, and so no, I haven't, which is great. Yes, will it happen, probably yes, but not yet.
That's that's always a good thing.
But the thing is, but but you acknowledge though you and Greg both acknowledge it hasn't happened, it's probably gonna happen. So at least there's that preparation level of Okay, at some point, this is coming, and we've got to be ready for it.
We have to, meaning you and Greg have to be.
BGM has to be, and you have to be prepared to say the right things to a men tee in a situation like that and sit there and go, Okay, you know, saw something the other day and whatever it was is whatever it was. But this is the kind of stuff that will come back and hurt you. And explain why it could come back and hurt you from that perspective, I'm not trying to jam on you, but I'm trying to give you advice as to why this can hurt you long term.
M Yeah, no doubt about it. It's absolutely part of the journey. It's part of the pathway, and mistakes will be made. I mean, shoot, we've all made mistakes, so you know, it's more about the knowledge and growing from it and understanding it. Because I think that there's a false sense that you know, I'll just delete something, I'll just get rid of it.
Yeah. No, there's no such thing as fully deleted.
If you were to tell a mentee how to set up a social media account. Because there are times on in other sports when I when I look at recruits and things like that, or high school student athletes trying to get to the next level, they will lay out all the information in their their bioblast like on the two hundred and eighty character app. It is literally like name, positions, year, GPA, email, contact.
Info, all of these things.
Is there such a thing as putting too much information, you know, at the front of some kind of identification for a coach or something like that. Or is this where we are right now, you think where I got to put all this information out there and make it just as easy for the next level to get in touch with me. Or do you still hold some information back just because of how social media can be these days.
That's a good question. I definitely when we talk to mentees about creating videos to send to college coaches, we always say, either in the email or the front picture before your video starts, have some of this information because yes, GPA is super important. And a coach says sees that you've got a one point something, he's probably not even gonna watch the video. No, right, it's not waste my time. So you know that that is important. I don't think it needs to be front and center, like in your
face all the time. So that's that can be a little bit information overload, because that's you don't want to do that either, right. I think we all OI all can be like, oh shoot it get bogged down. That's how I feel at the grocery store sometimes, especially coming back from Europe, where I was like I was in the Cereal Aisle. And you know, just after being in Europe for five years, it was like I came back and was like, oh my gosh, there's seven hundred cereals
to choose from. I'm overloaded. That's also how I feel when I go to Golly it's the name of the restaurant. It's got a whole menu. It's like a book.
I mean that I.
Can't remember that. It's a huge chain.
But if there's a restaurant that's got like seven hundred things and their menus like an inch and a half thick, you kind of get lost.
It's like, that's what I'm saying, you get too many choices, too much information a shutdown. So that's that's what I'm saying too about information about you know, on the front right it's cheesecake factory, Thanks Ricky. Too much information right in your face right away.
Can also be a shutdown, I think. So, yeah, there's a balance there, but I do think, you know, you do need to provide some information right of like yeah, GPA and contact info is probably about it.
Though, when it comes to mentees trying to get in touch with coaches or whomever at the next level, have you had the chants to help them navigate those kinds of things. It's like, okay, initial conversation, it's like what they see in a relationship or a business relationship. Don't call on Monday, don't call on Friday. Best business is
always done on Tuesday. Have you gone through those steps in trying to help your your mentees and the families navigate Okay, if you're going to reach out, reach out in this way to this person at this time to do these things, or is it just kind of like, all right, we'll just put the information out there and then let the contacted individual come back to me. It's like I want the coach to talk to me. Here's my first piece of info. I'm going to leave it alone.
Or do you encourage mentees after that first contact? Hey, did you get my tape? How long do you wait before you get my tape? Those kinds of things Navigating the next level, I guess is where I'm trying to get at.
Yeah, we're actually putting together in the very early process, John putting together a whole playbook for such things.
I interviewed the size of the cheesecake factory.
A menu, I hope not. I hope we can dissect it a little bit and get down to what's most important. But I interviewed a D one assistant coach yesterday actually, and so it's part of the process of like helping out with what information is important, when to contact, who to contact, and you know, how to get in touch with some coaches with the benefit of going to id camps. You know, this type of information that I think a lot of people are are looking for and could use.
So that is definitely one of our goals probably for the first half of this year, is to try and get more of that information out there. I mean, yes, we do it right now on a one on one basis, but to have this information available for those that you know, we're not meant during full time or something like that, I think is valuable.
The BGM Handbook for contacting I get it, and I mean that's a valuable piece of information that folks can have.
You know.
It's like, okay, not all coaches like to be contacted
by email. They like to you know, they like carrier pigeon, they like to have things in a PDF, they like to have things mailed, and literally you're having to navigate individuals who have complete and totally different character traits about contact, and it's got to be something that you know, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen year old athletes they got to know and it has to be a case by case basis, because you can't just blanket assume that everybody wants to be contacted
the same way at the same time. Because you get you get a coach at the wrong day, at the wrong time. He might have been interested in you as a talent, but because you took that misstep, that might be something that pulls them back from any kind of further contact or interest.
Yeah, for sure, absolutely, And there's still so many college coaches that have been around for a really long time that they see things differently than possibly a college coach who's in his thirties or forties. Right, So, yeah, it's dealing with these different coaches. It's not all it's not all the same.
No, before we get you out of here, it is the last week of the preseason, and I know that folks just want to get out there and then have games for real.
They want it.
It's like, look, man, they can see they can see this first finish line. They're like, can we go ahead and just get games to play in whatever tournament you're talking about, are multiple things. When you're getting close to that finish line and you're getting ready for games for real, what was the anticipation level like for.
You, Yeah, really excited, but also like, hey, a little bit more serious and a little bit more okay, this is crunch time. This is real, Like these points are just as valuable as points and set so you want
to start off well and be prepared. And you know, so much of the focus the whole preseason was just US US US US, and and now all of a sudden, you know, leading soon leading up to week one, you have a little bit of focus on the other team and how are we going to play against this specific team rather than just us working on our own thing.
So it changes a little bit, but I think it's it's it's awesome that change and change into the routine of like, okay, now we're prepping for a game, a real game that matters, is really cool.
I know that before the next time that we talked to you, there will have been a home opener down here in a Jersey that you previewed a while back. The anticipation for an opening night and a crowd that you know, that is as ravenous as the seventeens are look looking forward to a season in general, regardless of what you were talking about, But what was it like for you on an opening day and an opening night?
Knowing that the anticipation is there, Knowing that the what the fans are looking for is they're knowing.
What the players are looking for.
What is opening night like for someone who's never experienced it, Yeah.
You're nervous, you get the goosebumps, you you know, tough to sleep the night before, Like all that stuff is normal no matter what age you are. I think that you really look forward to that first one just because it's that unknown, right, the anticipation of like, you know, is it going to be a full house? Is it going to be so loud? You know? Are we prepared?
Are we ready to go?
You know, there's just so much unknown, and so I think that brings a little bit of extra nerves. I think that just those that have played in front of the crowd before know what it's going to be like, could be, like, will be like. So they want to feel that energy, right. That's one of the best parts of being a professional is playing in front of that environment and having the people cheer for you, and it's just amazing. So I think that everybody will be really
looking forward to that. The nerves will be a little bit high, but that'll be a fun night for sure for all.
Are you the kind of guy that you know once the whistle goes you're locked in or is it that first tackle that you create a moment going the other way?
What kind of a.
Player were you when it came to Day one and whistles and getting into that zone?
Yeah? No, whistle, whistle blow, because for me, I think that was important because you don't know that first touch, the first tackle, the first moment that you're involved could be super important. So they have to wait for that moment to then get into the zone. It could be too late. So you know, for me, it was the whistle, and it was like, you know, you hear the noise, and you hear the the horn, and then you know you got the whistle and then it's like, okay, I
don't hear anything anymore. I just hear like I just hear noise or just a background noise. So yeah, opening whistle.
I was going to ask, it's like, once that whistle goes, do you know, like Costner said, and for love of the game, you know, it was it released the mechanism and then you just heard yourself and then everything else was in the background. Was so that was It was that way for you, literally whistle and then like white noise and focusing on the game.
Yeah for sure.
Okay, yes, I didn't know how certain athletes go certain ways, but for you it's just whistle goes white noise, locked into everything. Are you coming down in eight days or are you going to stay up there? What's your plans?
I'm not getting down for the opener, but I definitely will be down to catch a couple of.
Games because I know you gotta go to the games in Rhode Island also in early March, and I know you got to.
Sit there and balance. I know, I know how this goes.
Uh well, Rhode Island doesn't even have how many home games until May.
So because of like weather and things.
It's because of the stadium and the state.
Oh that's right, Oh that's right, Tidewater Landing, Yes, yes, yes, yeah, okay, so you're on the road and then okay, so you're stockpiling all of the home games. So when Tidewater Landing is open, and so you're on the road forever, correct, Okay, So all right, so now that's got.
A couple of buys in the first eight weeks or six weeks or something, and then yeah, six six away games like two buys and then we're home.
Okay.
So so basically what you're seeing is we need to road trip up there for like the home opener or something and the unveiling of the stadium.
Probably should Okay, just check.
Uh, be well, my friend.
As always, it's great to catch up with you on what you and Gregor are doing and applying it to uh the every day and helping spread the messages across the board. As always, my friend, have a great weekend. When's your next golf game?
May God, I haven't swung a club since before Thanksgiving. It's been way too long, John.
Right there with you, brother, all right, So just be safe, have a great weekend, stay warm. Okayon there it goes Parky, and it's always fun. He puts up on my crap like nobody's business. Everybody on the show puts up with my crap like nobody's business. So at BG Mentoring at MF Parkerston the two hundred and eighty character app and all of the all the things that they're doing. They've
started at Beyond Goals Mentoring TV. They're doing video stuff now, so Beyond goalsmenoring dot com and at bg Mintoring on the twitters and you can sit there and find out what Greg and Parky are doing on a daily basis, helping out the next generation of athletes and getting them on the path to success whatever that whatever that word entails next level, next levels and next level of play, next level of activity, being more secure in themselves when it comes to their everyday life and how it can
apply to their everyday lives going forward. So great stuff from Greg and Cap and they put up with my questions like you know what, So all right our number two and this is where I get to say, hide everybody and get back into the debate of the Jersey releases and Atlanta United. I know that some of you put in your thoughts about it at Lanty United and what you're anticipating for and what you'd like to see coming out of this other than everybody healthy and a
big win against Dallas. But what you've seen so far with Atlanta United to this point and or your favorite team, since I saw that Rich was in the timeline too, So I want to know what you've seen from your club so far. I want to know what's on your mind about your club. Thoughts, concerns, positive suggestions, all those kinds of things. I want to know about your club.
I want to know about what you've seen. I want to know about what you're looking for in this last weekend, because next week it's on getting ready for the Sprint with multiple competitions, the Triple C for those who are in it MLS regular season, League's Cup, which will be concurrent with what's going on in the regular season. It's not just going to be that gap in the schedule where it's an hour of nothingness a month of nothingness. So everything's concurrent games in the middle of the week
and we'll see what goes on from there. Okay, now, time to say hi to everybody who is in this morning, and let's see. So we got to let's see Alex and Ricky and four card ropes. Let's see. Okay, so Ricky with his thoughts. Ricky thinks that sleash is the lynch pin to the team if you can hold it down in the middle, especially in transition from defense to offense vice versa. Going to see something special. This year,
we caught up with Kevin Egan. Kevin Egan crashed the party yesterday before rehearsals up at the Old up at the Old Haunt for him where they're now in Stanford, Connecticut, at the w at the WWE studios for this season for MLS three sixty and all of the Apple TV programming. But the six was where Kevin was looking. And you can catch that in our shorts on all of our
social media. But Kevin Egan was saying the six, and so Ricky's saying it's Bartik Sleish and so that's what, Uh, that's what everybody's hanging out, Yeah, with the kit with the Kit release today, David, take the little one and hang out of Atlantic Station for the KIT drop. You know, getting first in line wouldn't be a bad idea. Uh, maybe you can go to publics and get some shopping done.
There are some pretty cool restaurants. Uh, there is some space, you know, team storage where you can kind of hang out. But it literally it just depends on how cold you want to get. So uh, that for me is the big thing I would be, you know, in in that particular vein. I don't know, but the thing and this was the thing for me. And I learned this the hard way.
Uh. I picked up and I had and.
I've got to get I have to get the the Miguel almeroon T shirt because I bought that, but I'd also bought the Fea before the season was over.
And I learned that at the store.
And you can't just uh, and this is something, this is a public service announcement for everybody that goes to the store. You can't just if you're gonna go pick something up at the store, have your transaction number ready with the with the store. And it's like traditionally is like a four to four number transaction I went with. I went in the first time and I was like, okay, it's me and here's my idea. And they're like, well, what's your what's your transaction number? Look, I don't know, Okay,
we need that. We don't do it with names, we do it with transaction numbers. So take your transaction number with you in these situations. Took me two months literally to find my transaction number to get my FEA T shirts, which I now finally have and now that I know how the system is, and I still don't get the return email.
I don't know. That's probably a glitch in the system too.
They tell you when your item is in, and I've not gotten those emails in the path. But if you're going to get something at the store, take your transaction number with you so you're not just freezing and standing waiting for a pickup. Transaction number, transaction number, transaction number, take.
Those with you.
If you're going to go and put do anything at the Atlanta United Store Atlantic station. So David, if you're going, take the handwarmers and just be warm. And Ricky absolutely
is jacked up about seeing everybody. And that's the other part too, And that was one of the things that with this club, and frankly with what we've been doing here at the network, going and seeing the seventeens, going to see each and every one of you, going out into the community, seeing each and everyone again, saying hi, not just during the season, but when you out casually and you run into somebody, when we go to other towns and we have the events there, and they are
thankful that you know that you come and see them when you go to a high school game, and you go to a town outside the Atlanta area and you come and you visit and you say hi, and everyone's great with conversation, happy to see.
Those kinds of things are really cool.
Along that point to what Ricky is saying, that it's just really cool to see everybody, and for me, it is evolved into something that's twelve months out of the year. Run into somebody at the store, high you talk Atlanta, knighted for a while, run into you know, somebody you know at a random concert or something like that, and then you'll sit there and they'll get way.
You're walking one way there, walking the other. You wave.
You know, those kinds of things. The interaction that starts during soccer season, that evolves over twelve months, that to me has been the cool part of all of this since we were getting close to your number eight for the State Network. So just the interaction that has started with soccer season and evolved over a twelve month period, that's been cool. Ropes is saying, put Mickey on your
fantasy team. Nico said, Pedro de la Vega be an interesting midfield for fantasy, and we got to figure out if in fact, there is going to be a fantasy team this year, if anybody has gotten a note from Jason Right and the Jason Right Agency about fantasy or if we have to figure out how to start it ourselves, because remember we're eight days away. So Jason Right and the Jason Wright Agency have done really cool work with us in the past about the fantasy league here at SDH.
We got to figure out if we're doing one because we only got a week that kind of thing. So Rich, Happy parade day, even though it's very cold out, so he's going to go watch on his television, Absolutely true. May your parade be safe, May everybody stay warm. What day is prediction Day? Aren't they all prediction days?
Ricky? They are all prediction days. I think with.
Everybody that I'm aiming to have on the show next week, it might end up just being a week of addressing predictions as folks drop by. So that might be the way that it goes with predictions, and such might be just it might be prediction week, might be prediction week.
So we'll keep an eye on all of that.
Ricky digs the Galaxy kit as the ones that are being released. Ricky had does admit However, Seattle and RSL are very strong. I don't know Ricky was talking about Parky and what Parky was talking about with the USL, and so it's gonna be something over the next couple
of years. And like I said, we probably once we say hi to everybody and get into the rhythm, we'll go back over who's in the championship and what the capacities are, and who has to do some building, and who would have to be prepared and who might have to move those kinds of things. Harry admitted yesterday in the twitch pitch the DAYA San Antonio would have to either expand it would have to expand their building at Toyota as we know at Toyota, or they might have
to move intoors of the Alamodome. So I mean that that's these are things that are going to have to be considered by this league going forward, Stadium capacities, possible expansions and where you're play, adding to the infrastructure questions of the capacities that you have. Now actually, shoot, since we're here, hang on, let me get into the let
me get go back to the stadium capacities. And this is another thing, uh that you have to consider about all of these venues and the capital outlay that would have to be there just to become compliant with Division one standards. You're talking fifteen thousand and so right now, And I'm gonna go to our friends at transfer Market and we'll see if they have the intel in one place. Yes, except and continue. It's like my computer rebooted overnight. Uh okay,
Protective in. Protective is in obviously with a capacity of forty seven to one. If the MIAMIFC continues as a franchise, I have no information to say otherwise, but they're not drawn, and they've played games on the campus of FIU at the FIU Soccer Stadium and not at Ricard what used to be Ricardo Silva the football stadium.
They would work. It's twenty thousand.
Lynn Family has seating at eleven seven, but a capacity of over fifteen, so they could add seats if they wanted. To the coliseum for Oakland Roots, You're fine, And I personally hope that the Roots sell out every game that they have there because of how but they've got to take care of the raccoons at the coliseum. But I love the idea of the Oakland Coliseum still being a part of the fabric of sports there in the Bay. Isotopes Park needs some extra seats, but they're only at
thirteen to five. They can make it to fifteen easy cash men seats ninety three capacity twelve five, so they have standing room. That gets them there. They might have to add something. And this is where from here down folks are going to have to add seats. Indianapolis just over twelve, Sacramento eleven and a half, Phoenix Rising, and of WAKEMD, they're at ten. El Paso ninety five hundred.
That's with standing room. Toyto Toyota Field, Harry, you had it yesterday, eighty three, eighty two ninety six, Colorado Springs Widenerfields at eight. They'd have to double their size if they were interested. Keyworth seventy nine thirty three. But you know that they are looking to build a new stadium on the old hospital property, so they probably could make it fifteen and may be fine. One ok is halfway there at seventy eight hundred, lex SC seventy five hundred.
They'd have to double capacity. Al Lang seventy two twenty seven. They'd have to double Cardinal at at you see Monterey Bay six thousand. You're playing on a college campus, you're probably gonna have to find your own facility. Burn right now at fifty two to fifty two, but Tidewater Landing is on its way, and I think it is slightly more than that. Patriots point five thousand, high Mark listed at five, Irvines listed at five, Segra's listed at five.
So even if those and.
That's if those clubs were interested, if any of those clubs were interested, half of that run, you'd have to either expand your building, tripling your capacity, or find another venue.
So there's capital outlay in that.
It's a lot of things that folks have to consider when it comes to this idea that the USL has announced yesterday through Paul McDonough's interview in Nick Papadekus's press release, it's, like I said, it's all of these things that we've seen right now in the USLLL announced what they announced yesterday, even looking at it from a capital outlay perspective, for the teams that are currently USL Championship, if they want to take that step to Division one, that's what they'd
have to do. Just from a stadium perspective, and we know how stadiums ain't cheap.
I'm intrigued.
They said a twelve to fourteen team league, twenty six seve twenty seven to twenty eight I think was what was said in the release.
So we'll see.
But there's a lot of there's a lot of money that has to be found trying I'm trying to figure out the right way to say it. To expand your footprint, it's going to have to be a lot of capital outlay if you're going to have any of those teams that we talked about in the lower half of the capacity table, if they were interested.
In going into the new D one League.
There's a lot of thought that's going to have to go into this by the USL, by its franchises. What do they want to do and do they how do they want to be, how do they want to be in that Division one. So, once again, like I said, I'm intrigued. I want to see the next steps. They've got a runway. But you know me, I always sit there. My first thought is, okay, I look at the investments and what you have to do to invest into something to get it, to get it to an endpoint, and
even just from getting people to sit down. We just went through the challenges of the current USL Championship rosters and positions, and maybe Memphis comes back in if they want to go back and play at AutoZone. If Santa Barbara was engaged, they could be because they're playing I think at a twenty seven thousand seat stadium. So there's a lot to think about here and I want to see how the USL proceeds.
So that's basically it.
Like I said the McDonough interview with Tenorio yesterday in The Athletic, plus the press release that was put out, So your favorite club in USL Championship, I'm sure has put out a version of that press release. And we know where the USL wants to go. So we'll see what the USL has in mind over the next couple of years.
Harry, Oh, actually, wait a second.
Alex says that Seattle's Salish Sea kit number one underline three times RSL is at number two. So we're going to be going back and forth. What's on your mind with Atlanty and ied are your favorite club hanging into the last preseason game. What's going on in your mind period? And obviously Jerseys concerns for your club, what you've seen from your club, what you're anticipating from your club, what you look forward to here in this last weekend. Everything's
on the table here on a Friday. And speaking of everything being here on the table, we welcome in Jared Smith. Jared, it's a Friday, so that means that absolutely everything is on everyone's mind and we're going everywhere from the USL announcement yesterday to the Jersey releases and now we're debating whether it's Seattle who had the best one, LAG who had the best one, RSL who had the best one, and Atlanta United heading into this last weekend. So where do you want to start, sir?
What were you talking about most recently? We just started there. I'm very flexible in this. I have my opinions on the shirts, so.
Sure, Okay, Well, I was just discussing briefly yesterday the announcement from USL about wanting to start and go Division one, and basically I was looking at it strictly from a financial standpoint and a stadium standpoint, because half of the clubs would have to get to fifteen thousand in their current points. Half of the clubs would have to expand their capacities to literally twice the size of what their stadiums are, if not three times, just to get to
that fifteen thousand markers. So me intrigued by the economics of it all. I want to see where it goes.
I do too.
It's a noble idea, being like being a division one doesn't doesn't change anything for me. Like I think it's cool, but it's not like it's not the bollendo, right, this shouldn't be like this isn't a you made it game that you have won the game, you know, please play on new game. Plus, Yes, there's layers to it, man, Like, how are like can the stadium? Can you get the stadiums to that level?
Can?
Is the funding going to be there? Is the support going to consistently be there? And I don't mean just the very loud people who d e t as we spell his name backwards as not as to not beetlejuice his existence.
Warning, not like the very.
Loud people who want to yell about pro rail and anti melas like I'm all for competition on this as long as you're going to be able to do it sustainably. And that's always been the problem is sustainability. Like it took MLS a long time to get where it is right now. It's not perfect, but any stretch of the imagination and I'm sure USL won't be either. Like I think Louisville is the easy like layup here like that can be one of your crown jewels easily. I think
Oaklham would be an interesting one. Can you get the funding in place? Can you get disability in place? Can you get this this, the not this that? Can you get the facilities in place? And go back to apparently the other day, uh the Dex McCarty was sitting at an airport and decided to do an anima.
Yes, yeah, Kevin was right next to him. Yeah, yes he was.
And one of the things he talks about is facilities. And when we're talking about facilities, we're talking about training, we're talking about recovery, we're talking about the building.
Basically, infrastructure.
Is your infrastructure going to be good enough?
I don't know, mm hmm.
Is your infrastructure gonna be good enough to lure people? Are you going to be paying guys enough to lure people and to keep them? And do you have the structures in place to continue in again, lovels the outlier here levels, but a machine to continue to develop players. That is that is That is where my brain is at with this, because there's there's layers to it. Can they do it at Absolutely? They make it work. Absolutely,
It'll be tricky, Yeah, it will be. That's okay. Again, they're gonna go through growing pains, and as they go through growing pains, I don't think that we should damn them for going through growing pains. When they get things wrong or where they get things right, it doesn't mean everyone else sucks and they're great. And when they get things wrong, it doesn't mean that everyone else is great and they suck. It will be La, there's gonna be It's gonna be a grind man. That's all I got for it.
Yeah, next thing on the board, we'll build to Atlanta United for the rest of the program. Jerseys, And we seem to have a debate among RSL L A G. Seattle and anybody else that's out there. Atlanta's because yeah, I like the Sailors Sea kid and we do have some Salis sea gear here in the house. So it's RSL It's Seattle L A G. Atlanta said at the end of their promotional video two dot one four two five. So I imagine that that is when the release date is going to be for theirs for this year.
Happy Jersey Release Day.
Yeah, Happy Jersey Release Day. Let's see what it looks like. We have a general idea. I'm a firm believer that you know, like I'm a firm believer that you have your home kit that is generally tried and true. Your road kit is where you get a little you played with it, you color within the lines, but maybe you
are changing a couple of colors up here. The third kit is where you have taken all of the old records off the shelf, you have broken them, covered them in gorilla glue, and molded them into some sort of like Lovecraftian monstrosity that you slap on everything. Commit Well, that's how we end up with the Foal four kit. And it was beautiful, and the Foal four kit grew on everybody as it damn well should have. Its great But that is what the third kid is for.
Mm hmmm.
So let's see what it looks like for Atlanta in the finished product, like the details of it. As my wife would always say, Uh, the sports is just like so many of what we do in sports is just fashion.
Mm hmmm.
And and and you all be a lot happier if you'll just admit that it's just fashion.
Yeah, considering all of my all of the things that I buy, You ain't kidding, brother, Yeah.
Yeah, So yeah, that's I. I liked the R S L one just because there was a cool little First of all, not enough people do the checkerboard, and the checker boards are risky thing to do, but to do the checkerboard there is interesting because if we don't know salt the and go find go find the old episode of ninety percent of Visible where they talk about the layout of Salt Lake that it was designed with unique dimensions.
So like your city blocks are huge, so you have these big checkerboards that kind of represent the weird city blocks that they have in the grid in the downtown area. So it's it's kind of a cool. It's cool somebody in an integrated checkerboard because we need more checkerboard, just like we need more sashes. Demark Crawlock should have gotten a chance with that. You need more checkerboards the same
we need more sashes. And it works for them because they have a unique checkerboard layout as a city in and of itself.
Yeah, so.
I am intrigued, and I will probably end up buying something and the boss will probably wear it long before I do or anything like that. So, uh, I'm now officially clicking on the Okay, so five stripes, one kit. We have people running around and people cheering and looking. I'd love to know where they shot this as I sit here and look at it for the first time
that extra little session. And by the way, Emory Healthcare was named as a founding partner for a MBS and they it looks like they're going to be on a shoulder, so we'll see what it looks like there.
We got a lot of a lot of folks.
What I wanted to do going into the last exhibition, last exhibition plus preseason game of the year. I wanted to just kind of gauge where folks were and what they've seen and what they're looking forward to in this match outside of everybody getting out healthy with FC Dallas, what they've seen, what it has impressed them, what still
concerns them, all these kinds of things. So Ricky says, I don't want to get caught up in thinking that just because past Atlanta teams had some level of hype and didn't mean it, I should temper my expectations and excitement or whatever.
But this year just seems different. I really think something good.
What's the What has been from your interactions, not necessarily from yourself, Jared, but have you been able to gauge the excitement level for folks coming into this last weekend heading into the regular seas?
It seems like people are excited and I'm glad. I'm not trying to temper excitement personally. By philosophy on this is that enjoy things. Life is too short and too chaotic, Uh, not to enjoy things. There's already enough negativity in the world without bringing it into sport. And the beauty of sport is uncertainty, always is, always has been, always will be. Like you don't get the storybook Juggernaut, Uh, you know goes undefeated all the way through. We just don't see that.
Yeah, And so.
It's it's it's okay to be I think it's okay to be nervous, but it's also okay to be excited by things. And I'm like, I'm excited about it, about this season just because you have you you have the heartwarming story of the gael Haman on back, you have lot of lots coming in, you have core pieces in place. This really, for me, is the the the attempt for Garth especially to for it to for him to put this is a new passport, trying to find the right
metaphor for this, this is a new passport. He was putting his stamp in other past, in a past passport, so that when he was putting stamps in making changes. There's a book that had other stamps in it, obviously from Carls spokenager, from Daniels. As of the end of the season, he got a new book in the mail. Everything that's going in this book right now is on him.
This is his and this is not a this isn't I don't mean that in a you know, he better watch out because of everything's on him and he's going to be to blame for everything. No, I mean that in that because of the changes they've made. This is his club.
Now.
These are all of his finger princesses, his rash passport book and all the stamps are going to be from his hand. And as it stands right now, everything going forward it's going to be his stamps, and that's that's part of what he's trying to build.
Ye.
You know he did it out West, two different clubs. You we'll see what it We'll see what it ultimately what it ultimately looks like this year, and there's going to be there with every team. Man, there's going to be those good days and bad days again, no one year. I don't know, you're I would be willing to. I would be willing to bet a fair number juice boxes. You'll never get an invisible team. And MLSS is too hard, too much travel, there's too much parody of the wage structured.
You can't super team your way.
Through it, especially under a salary cap.
Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean. Like, yeah, you can't. You can't power through this. There's too much going on. Yeah, Like it's so you're gonna have good times have bad times. He's gotta you gotta hang on and enjoy the good.
Times I've had when they're not good.
Uh, the Florida State fandos as well as anybody, Well though you have had good times like that. You you had your youth, it was a good time.
Yes, it was how long ago that was but.
But you have but sorry, Ricky, uh, you have title that the crab man brought you and Calvin Benjamin high point the ball.
Like you put.
Hey man, I know how you feel about him, I how you feel about the coach. Yeah, but but but but but quitter but quitter banners always fly.
Yeah, but I can hang on to this. I still reserve the right to hate my coach. Now you can't.
If if Brian Kelly wins a national title, he won't at LSU. Yeah, I'm still gonna want to kick him
in the shins. Yeah, I still have more than highlights voluntarily, Nor should you look that Auburn team was I wish I had been able to watch that game with with John and Patty because of the dual allegiances in that game, that Auburn team was still a team of destiny because not only is that not only is that the year of the kick six, that's also the year of the prayer Jurdnaire where Nick Marshall go back and watch that throw because on the Prayer to Jurdnaire is the most
effortless looking fifty yard nuke first seen where he just snapped his wrist and that ball with fifty yards it was like, this isn't the one to one. It was kind of like when Mike Vick used to throw the ball, where it's like he wasn't throwing his whole body into it. He just kind of snapped over his wrist off.
And the thing is is that we knew.
That Nick Marshall could throw that ball because our household.
One in Georgia knew that, yeah, cruisy.
Everyone who saw Nick Marshall played for a championship in high school football.
On television knew that that ball was possible.
Yeah.
And I'm like when he when he threw that, when he threw that ball, every time you look at you said, yep, yeah I've seen that, and everybody seemed shocked.
But once again outside.
The same effortless fifty I've ever seen.
Yeah, and too and too and to Ricky Horn.
So cardl Lewis who brought that down.
I think I think it was because I mean, yeah, yeat was a throw.
Also also Ricky. I turned down tickets to the kick six game. I had to go to a thing for my mother that night. Anyway, it was like I think it was like the Georgia country music thing, and I ended up going to that and it was during this there was this weird period where like they had a bunch of acts performing and there's one guy, one infamous guy, who firmly believed that a pedal steel should be cranked up to fifteen on a scale one to ten. And so we just stepped down the lobby because I didn't
want to listen to a pedal steel at fifteen. And like I stepped out there as the Kicksticks is about to happen, like they're reviewing, and I'm like, oh, this is this is gonna be scandalous. And then we watched the kick six ear your. My wife had to go to a separate wedding that day for a friend of hers, but we had had been asked if we wanted to go to that game or likenh we got other things to do.
Mm hm oh.
God, a decision, yeah, I mean a full disclosure. We'll go backward. That championship game was just shy of the bosses and my first anniversary. So our common opinion is that if our marriage could survive that game, and for some strange reason, the tickets ended up in the Auburn section.
I don't know how this happened, but if our marriage could survive that national title game, then I think our marriage could pretty much survive everything, and and it pretty much has to this point, I continued to tell her after that long pass down the sideline that created the first and goal, I'm like, look, just keep pi in and knocking time off the clab Just literally, what are they going to do? Move the ball forward like two inches.
You've been stopping the run all day. Just keep pieing and inch the ball forward, eat time off the clock. There is a picture that I have here in office HD and the boss will probably know where to find it faster.
Than I will. Of the two of us.
After that game, and because I was wearing a garnet golf shirt, I had to wear something different and I had a miserable look on my face and I was like, get me the blank out of here.
And so Jason is.
Here, what in the blue hell are you talking about?
We ended up so all the crux of this was I mentioned, you know, enjoying the good times in terms of the vibes leading up to the seats. I said, you enjoy the good times, and I brought up in Florida State, you had good times, Yeah, like your coach, but you got a title, and then we spiraled off into like the Auburn Florida State national title game, and how that Auburn team had a horseshoe up its asshole a year and it was beautiful to watch.
Did you remind John to enjoy the good times when he was wanting his coach to be fired here recently? Who actually had a really good season last year until they d a little bit shorter ago two years ago. It all runs together at this point, come.
On, because they had more inches of snow on campus than they did wins in.
Twenty twenty four.
Yeah, but you didn't like the guy before when they were actually good, so you missed the good times because you were complaining about Norvelle before and then when he got bad, you tried to justify your complaining, but he had been good before that. No, you have to put your hands down and you have to listen to Jarrett for once and enjoy the good times when you have the good times, because you never know when you're gonna have more snow than wins in your season. You never
know what's gonna happen. You complain and you whine and you cry about not getting into the national championship situation, which probably should happen anyway, and then you got blown out by Georgia and it broke your club's whole everything, everything was broken.
Man. So anyway, that's my rant for today.
Anyway, my whole point was to enjoy the good time.
So enjoy the good times exactly. John enjoyed the good times.
And this is this is about like this season of like most people, I talked to her side and that's good. Yes, And I also said, you know you're you're you're never gonna have an an indentible team in MLS. It's it's it's not happening.
There's too much in MLS. Absolutely, it's it's even more difficult. But yes, you don't have it anywhere.
Yeah, I mean you're like, enjoy the arsenal. What what it was that one magical time? You're not like man like. Look Celtic and Rangers. Celtic did once. Even though this only happened. I think Rangers did in League a couple of years ago because Neil Lennon was like huffing paint for half a year.
That's like the usual m upen Anyway.
Yeah, future empty coach, I'll see it, boy, was that you.
Haven't stop turn no no at all.
But you're not gonna get that. So, yeah, you have good times, you go on bad times, and so it's okay, we'll work through it.
When it's good, enjoy it. Don't constantly wait for the other shoe to drop, and when it's bad, want it to be good rather than I hate everything. I'm never supporting this again, I'm never coming back open. And then you come back and oh, magically appeared. Crazy how that happens. Enjoy and that's Look, this is something that you want
to get really deep. This is something that we talk about a lot in this game because I feel like it's super easy in this country especially, and look, maybe it's because of the way that England covers the game and there's a healthy dose of cynicism on a regular basis. There's a healthy dose of tabloidishness and always looking for controversy and all these sorts of things. Soccer in this country is by far, it's not even close. It's not
even close. It's healthier than it's ever been, it's better than it's ever been, it's more sustainable than it's ever been. It's not perfect, because nothing is, but it's in such a good spot. And yeah, clubs come and go in terms of being contenders and not contenders, and you can never guarantee that, even if you outspend other people, you
can't guarantee it. But the idea that we're constantly looking for negative right now when we talk soccer in the United States, whether we're talking lower divisions, mls, your club, national teams, whatever, the idea that we're constantly doing that is crazy because you are having to look for it. There are so many good things going on right now. Literally, just enjoy your time, because man, don't we need a break from real life. This can be that at this point and it's much needed.
We were getting into we were getting into that, Oh the Jersey releases. That is uh too well.
It sounds like you might need to uh, I think most of you've already seen it because our friend Michael Parkhurst might have accidentally on purpose spoiled it. Possibly you might want to keep your ears open and uh notifications on because there has been a teas at pretty specific teas, so you might want to be ready for that.
Yeah, we we were looking at that on threads.
Prepared to drop the minute.
Why were you looking for it on threads John because Ricky posted that particular link and that's where it was.
Because his live journal doesn't update yet.
The Tumblr page is not updated yet. Yeah, well yeah, it's I mean, I guess a little bit. What corners is Tumblr alive in. I mean, I'm not, it's not dead.
But where this among like the fantasy sci fi got it it is? It is there?
Okay, good for good for Tumbler. I'm glad they found their niche.
Yeah, very much.
So maybe my space will one day too. Compu serve man, look man, Tom, nobody knows what compu serve is around here.
Okay.
Tom made a ton of money good my space and like just.
Dipped and then want to be a photographer.
And did not did not hang around long enough to become the villain.
No, he just he did his thing.
He gave people their ability to you know, break friendships and pick your best friends and put it on a page.
And Tom basic html too.
Yeah.
Yeah, he lets you, you know, play music when you'd go to the page and it'd drive you crazy.
But you know, he did lots of good things.
Yeah, I mean he did the Randy Johnson thing. Randy Johnson also did that after he quit pitching. Randy Johnson like bought a bunch of cameras and he will pop up at Super Bowl. He gets he gets a photo credential, he goes games.
Good on Tom.
All right, so let me let me ask this because I was a part of this universe. What did what did Tumblr supposedly do? What was it? What is it?
It's just like it's just like people post messages, and it is post memes, post messages, post stories.
It's blog ish blog is yeah, and then what.
You can do is you can kind of tailor your own feed.
Okay, I knew it existed, but really didn't take part in it.
I need you to be.
Really careful about what you do going forward, because I can't protect you if you decide to go down that road.
No, that's that's why I was asking.
It's like I never went down that road, and so I was trying to find out what Tumblr actually does.
John still shocked and freaks out anytime that somebody uses what's app to actually call him true, Absolutely true.
I mean that's kind of become like my the ikey some chats because of my friends who have iPhones and like still, they'll have I messages, but I've poured a lot of what's happened?
Yeah, yeah, it's it's chaos, John, I'll catch up at some point.
Well, hey, I mean, look, if Apple TV can can give us a MLS for Android, and if I can figure out how to log in?
Oh, you can't figure out how to log in? It's me. I mean it's like, how is it difficult? Well?
I think I'd probably have to download an app first, or click a link or something.
Do you what do you have the Apple TV app on Android?
Not at the moment. I usually go through web and log I'll go no.
No, So okay, let's go back to the beginning.
You were very excited about having the Apple TV app on Android. Yeah, so yes, to use it, you would have to download it.
Okay, So I can't go on like the web and type in you know, Apple TV and then go in that way.
Oh my god, Jared, are you hearing this?
Yeah?
Like broke? What happens?
Like a I mean, you want to use the app, so you have to download the app. It's an app, all right, you don't use the browser. No, no, this this should not be difficult. This is really upsetting. This should be very simple. If you want to use the any app, you use the actual app, not the browser on your phone. You had to use the browser on your phone in the past because you didn't have an app. Now you can download an app. Okay, all right, does that make sense?
It does? Does it? Look? When I when I want to, I'll do this.
Do you know how to download an app? Let's start there. Well, that's what I was going to do. It's like, there's this thing called place, There's a thing.
Called pl No.
No, we know. You don't have to explain it that way. We know. We know.
So what So what I will do and do it? Do it while we're sitting here. I need to.
I need to make sure you can do.
This because I'm not bad.
I'm actually Okay.
We know about Android phone.
I know all about androidloading. Unfortunately, so does a sidewalk in Montreal.
It's probably still smoking. Okay, so uh ooh okay.
So Apple TV on Android right now is only grading at three point one stars with more than fifty million download.
Okay, John, there's a bunch of Android people who hate Apple. I was one of those people in the past. I saw the light or joined the cult, whichever way you want to put it.
You took you took a step into the walled garden.
Yeah, Montreal tried to kill me and my phone tried to kill me as well, so I had to switch.
So I'll worry about the reviews. John, Just download the app. It's new. I think I just did.
There was If there was anything in Montreal that was going to kill you, I just assumed it would be the poutine.
No, it's always now if you go to the right place in your poutine's okay. All right, So I've logged in through the boss's account and she's gonna look at it and go verification.
What are you trying to do?
So gonna leave all of that alone. But it was downloaded the app. That's step in the right direction.
There we go.
Good job. We got a whole bunch of high school games for calling tonight. John's calling games at Northview. He's got three of them. I've got to at John's Creek, John's Creek one of the Well, both of the hosts are playing tonight, which is good. In the eight o'clock games. We have it set up now you can listen on Mixler. That's another app, John, you have that one downloaded. Yes, yes to do okay, good, you can I check to make sure that I'm doing it right when we're doing broadcasts.
That's good. You can listen on Mixler.
Just search soccer down here or soccer down here too, because we have both channels up and run into this weekend. And you can also go to soccer down here dot net. You could even do this on your web browser on your phone if you are John like and you click listen and then you'll see the widget. You can listen to whichever game you want on SDH one or SDH two from Mixler right there on a on a web page, on a phone or a tablet or a computer or whatever. A carrier pigeon, we'll bring a widget to you.
I don't know.
That'd be for me. You had a Golosso match ender last night. Yeah, it was good games last night. Both were three two. The first one, Walton jumped out to a two zero lead. Sekoya came back with two from the penalty spot, both good penalties that they earned, and then a late scramble ends up in the back of
the net. Walton gets the win. Their second game, more back and forth with North Atlanta and Campbell North Atlanta maybe was the better team in general, but Campbell scored two goals from long throw ins.
They're right back.
Had a throw where he could get it from and look, we're talking about high school fields, but he's getting it to the back post from even twenty yards away from the corner flag.
Wow.
The problem was he probably took about twelve throw ins as the night went on, and by the end he couldn't get it at the back post. He could get the near post, got two goals out of it. But the finale was a great ball over the top and Max Rody with really nice composure. It's a freshman goalkeeper for Campbell, and he was really good.
But he was also I don't even know where to put him on the renee.
He geat the scale pretty high. He dribbled past a couple of players. Wow, he juggled the ball at one point. But he also was very good coming out at the top of his eighteen. He made a couple of really big saves. This one he came out and Roady was able to keep his composure and kind of chip it around him. It wasn't like straight over him, a little more around him, and it was a really good goal second of the night for Roady and North Atlanta got
the win. So they'll play Walton on Saturday. That's an eight o'clock game. The other two will play at four o'clock, and then tonight we'll decide who plays at six o'clock in the final. It's been a really fun tournament. You're gonna be very today with three games as Greenbrier comes over with their boys and their girls to play.
YEP, that's gonna be fun. Green Brier was looking forward to being a part of this tournament. The coach is really excited and to be able to have teams. You've got two teams coming up from Alabama for you, Dothan and Tucker playing each other. And not Tucker Alabama, it's Tucker Georgia. Oh it is Tucker High School. Yeah, okay, so I don't know if the Tucker Alabama. It's Tucker Georgia. Okay, so it's Tucker. So it's a Tucker.
Tiger's playing. That was a typo.
Then they're going against Dothans, So Dothan's making the four hour drive up. Greenbrier is making the probably three hour drive over from Columbia County, just north of Augusta and we're going to see them today and so it's fun to see all of these. Murray County is going to be a part of this as well, So seeing all of the the wide range of geography that's in play
here in this tournament's been really cool to see. And it anticipated obviously with North Murray playing and Greenbrier playing twice, those kinds of things, in Dothan playing, it's going to be fun.
Yeah, it's been really good college coaches out scouting as well. I'm getting messages from college coaches like, he know what you're saying, let me know who's who's shining, let me know what's what's good out there. So it's been really good, good celebration of the game, really fun tournament. Big thanks to John's Creek and Kelly Bowler for putting everything together and having us as part of it. It's been really a good time. And in Jared, we have a really
interesting game that we're calling tomorrow. I've never called a game like this. I've never called a game that will be formatted this way or just the sheer run time. We are calling Atlanta United and FC Dallas from the Children's Health Care of Atlanta training Ground. Kickoff is at noon, and I didn't know it was possible to play three halves of anything, but they are going to play three halves.
Okay three feel like in Brestlmania and split it into day one and day two.
I feel like we're basically there. It's gonna be three forty five minute segment.
Huh.
This is gonna be broadcast on nineteen nine, the game and a stream, so it's gonna be really interesting. Jared like, we're calling a behind closed doors game for radio, So I mean you're gonna hear a lot of natural sound. You're not going to have a crowd to hear and bounce off of. We're gonna be pretty close to the action. It's gonna be a really interesting, long marathon of preseason soccer.
Apologies in advance for anything you hear that is not radio friendly.
Yes, yeah, there's a few guys.
We're gonna want to try to find a dump button, but I don't know if we will.
I I can go back to in my head, and I was telling the story the other day when we were playing pickup. Was the infamous twenty nineteen Open Cup game behind doors against the Battery where you could hear Brad we're Kennesaw. You could have heard Brad at the Big Chicken.
Yeah, well, I mean that's and you could hear.
You've never heard of talk. LGP had a very extinct, raspy voice.
Yeah, I did.
And you could hear everything. He was yelling in multiple.
Languages, and it was probably foul in multiple languages.
Well, yeah, it was, it was. It was. He was working at profanities. Uh, the way an artist would work in Clay's or oils to jack a line from Christmas story. Yeah, there's a non zero chance you could sign that tomorrow. But yeah, man, three forty five minute halves should get a good look at a bunch of people. Thank god, it won't be hot, it'll be actually cold. Yeah, we'll see how they management. We'll see how guys push and are pushed.
Yeah, my guess is guys play around sixty. I would think so, kind of in various permutations, Ronnie Diela spoke to the media yesterday and said that he hopes that Latte Laugh will be able to take part one. And I'll give you guys the behind the scenes here and everybody listening, we are going to go with lat lat and the last part is a little tricky. When we get into pronunciation, it's not exactly like it looks. It's more like lat, like a hard t than a th
h at the end. It's a little tricky, so we're I'm working on getting that perfected.
It will not be perfect straight away. We're getting there. But he will go by Latte Lat and not Latte as a first name.
It's you don't call him late. That's not his first name. It is the combined name at all times. And the nickname because Immanuel is his first name. He's not choosing to go by that. His nickname is Manu like that's what you'll hear everybody calling him when players speak about him. When when Ronnie will speak about him, I'm sure they'll say Manu a lot. But yes, lat Lat, and he is expected to take part in some capacity tomorrow. Visa's good.
Everything is good. He was training on the side yesterday. It was pretty much a side session for everybody. It was a regi in session as the team came back from Florida. So my guess is he will be taking part in training today and be ready to roll maybe thirty, maybe sixty tomorrow. My guess is nobody plays more than sixty and you'll see pretty much everybody that we've seen in preseason so far.
Three minute halves. You might see everybody in the damp system tomorrow. Same with Dallas.
Yeah, you could see.
You could see a few players that we haven't seen in the preseason so far, like Javier Armas joined the group down in Florida, so you know, could he play thirty or sixty minutes?
Sure? Other twos guys coffee you don't want to do that. I don't anyway.
Other Two's guys who have been around and have started training, you could see a few of them as needed. So yeah, I think it will be a very interesting cornucopia of preseason soccer tomorrow from Marietta and Jared and I will be at the Helm.
So sorry in advance.
Ohologies, no worries. So, Jason, as you've been keeping an eye on things from absolutely zero here in pre season, what has what has impressed you and what have you been looking forward to the most with this last preseason three haves making up one day to get us.
To the regular season. What's impressed you so far?
The progression? I mean, it's been better each time now. I didn't get to see anything from Wednesday against Cincinnati when they switched fields, so and it looked like just from the lineup, it was more of a second group and guys coming back from injury, like Steven Gregorson who played forty five. That's what he told us yesterday. But the progression generally has been really, really good, and that's what you want to see. I don't care about results.
I'm not worried about the specifics in production. I'm more about how is the overall group looking. Are they getting comfortable with the way that Ronnie Dilo wants them to play? And I think we're seeing that. Defensively, they've gotten better and better and better, and that's gonna be the foundation
of anything for this team. I know we're all gonna talk headlines, and we're all gonna talk highlights, and we're all gonna talk Miggy, and we're gonna talk Lat Da Lat and we're gonna talk Moranchuku, I think has been very good in preseason.
We're gonna talk Saba. That's where the headlines are gonna be. But this team has to be at a very good level defensively to do what they want to do this year, which is win trophies.
They have to.
You're not gonna be able to purely just go out and outscore teams. I think we saw Miami do that up to a point last year. But you've got to have defensive stability to win things. There's gonna be a game where you're just not firing and all cylinders offensively, or you know, the passing isn't isn't clicking, or you've got to manufacture your luck and you've got to go press and create a turnover and go win a game that way. You're going to have to have that defensive ability.
And this team will be defined in twenty twenty five by how well they defend. It'll be talked about by how well they attack, but it will be truly defined. Success will be defined by how well they defend. And I like what I've seen so far in preseason on that department.
What about the younger players. I know that there's a lot of confidence in a player like Noah Kabb, but we've also seen Evan Morales get minutes, Matthew Edwards get minutes, Dominic chong Qui has impressed since absolute zero, and you have to I believe say Dominic to Ronnie to Ronni Daila, because if you ask about Chanqui, it's like who, But it's Dominic to to Ronnie. But the younger players have shown up as well, especially.
At the back.
Yeah, they have. But here's the thing. I mean, as good as they've been, and they're gonna push for playing time, don't get me wrong, but they're going to have to stay motivated to support when needed. And that was something that that Ronnie mentioned yesterday. He's been very happy about the overall group. He feels like it's not eleven guys, it's twenty two to twenty five guys that are able to contribute and play at this level. But some are
going to be asked to do more than others. And I think, you know, I went through it on Atlanta Soccer tonight on Tuesday night. I feel like we kind of know what the starting lineup is going to look like. There'll be some rotations. I think central midfield you'll see some rotations as the year goes on. But I think ideally you want to see Bartoschleish and Matteo's click together
in that holding midfield behind Maranchuk. You know what the front four is going to be you know what the fullbacks are when they're healthy in Pedro, Amador and Brooks Lennon. I think a center back, you want to see Steian Gregorson and Derek Williams as you're starting center back duo. So the starting lineup in a way picks itself. That doesn't include Cobb, it doesn't include Morales, it doesn't include Chonkqui, who's on a tuesdaal this year. Remember that doesn't include Brennan.
It doesn't include a lot of those young players. But there will be moments, whether it's from the bench or in a midweek game or when there's an injury, they will be called upon and it's going to be on them.
And this is the hardest thing.
You never know when that opportunity is going to come, but you have to be ready to take it with both hands. And I think we saw that last year with Jay Fortune when Tristan Mihambaal went down with an injury after not playing well, Jay Fortune kept him off the field after that. Now, I think Matayo's click comes in and he can make this team better in that midfield. But Fortune will be ready when that moment opens. Itself up again and he showed last year that he can
handle that. Brennan has to be ready for that. I think Cobb showed that he can do that last year as well. He has to be ready again. Morales has to be ready and when he was called upon last year, he did well. But you're going to have to have those guys be ready in reserve roles, and whether it's ten minutes at the end of a game or it's a spot start, they have to make it count because this group has a different level of expectation than they did by the time you got to the middle of last season.
It's different. This group's expected to win trophies.
And if that means Luke Brennan plays in fifteen games and starts three and plays about three hundred minutes, those three hundred minutes need to be impactful. They have to be and that's going to be the trick for this coaching staff and for those young players to be constantly ready when their number gets called.
Jared for Jason as we wrap up getting toward the preseason.
Land, No, Jared, I'm not gonna let you ask me a question, because actually I have another call here in just a second, Oh.
Yeah, I got. I'm going to talk to you enough tomorrow. Man, all right, so go that's fun.
I mean we're doing one hundred and thirty five minutes of soccer tomorrow, Jared question.
The only people mad about this, apparently is on mataflow. Because he's mad, I won't be in net.
Nobody wants to see that.
You want to see that because it gives you for a year.
No, you would get or you'd hurt yourself or no.
Not against professionals. I'm talking about media game thing. The media game gives.
You toe No media game of course. Yeah, yeah, of course I want you to make a fool of yourself. That's great. Yes, not in a game against Depsi Dallas nor would ruin your life.
I would die.
Luco would would run through your legs back in four three times and then nutmeg you again and score, you know.
Like just does a little bridge over the guy ling on the ground of the engineces.
Yeah that Luco would would jump over your giant Ostrich sized frame to begin with.
He would just do it because he's Luco. I don't know if we'll see him tomorrow, that's a good question.
Actually we'll see Dallas has got a bunch of good players that they've added a lot of new faces as you look at their roster, so should be a fun one. We'll be on the air on nineteen ninety game at eleven forty five, kick off at twelve for the first of three halves, a cordcopia of preseasons Tomorrow on nineteen nine the game, the Audisty app and atl utd dot com slash.
Live, Yes and Ricky doing a stand up producer work has sent the link. The video is out the connector kit, so the.
Connector kit is live.
Enjoy Bye, gotta go Bye, I gotta go, all right, So he's got to go. I'm not too far behind him, so uh, I'm actually out all right. So then you're out all right, So get out of here, go on bye, all right. We'll see you on Monday and beyond.
All right.
So Jared's gone and that's where we are, so all right. Obviously a very very packed weekend. Jason and I are going to be at separate locations. Jason will be on our on our primary Mixler channel doing the matchups from John's Creek for a Creek Cup. I will be doing the triple header today at Northview on the girls action and some boys action, so I'll have both boys and girls today. It's four six and eight. I'm on SDH two.
Go to mixlore dot com and download download the app m I exl R Mixler and you can save and follow soccer down here in SDH two. Creek Cup is going to be there all weekend. It's well not Sunday, but Friday and Saturday. The games to determine who's going to be playing in the championships. All the championships and third place games and the brackets are going to be at the respective schools all Saturday. All the games are going to be on SDH and SDH two on the
Mixler app. Once again, Jarrett and Jason are going to be doing Atlanta and Dallas where three halves make a hole,
and that's going to start late in the morning. You can follow that ninety two nine the Game of the Odyssey app and you can get ready for everything there with Atlanta United FC Dallas on the flip side once again, going to be a very very busy week on the high school side with us on the other end of Saturday, because then games officially count and it's going to be fun to get into all of this, and the kid is out. So there's a minute and forty video that
Ricky has posted the link to on the youtubees. It is the Connector Kit and enjoy it because obviously, well hang on just a second. So I flipped over to it and so went past. All right, so where is that? So no, I don't want YouTube TV, so uh, everybody with their videos, So walking forward in the final sixteen seconds, it is everybody with arms folded in unison and the Connector Kit is out. So there you go, Atlanta United in Adidas for the club Kit for twenty five twenty
six minute forty video am fam and Atlanta United. It is there and it's been up for the sum total of four minutes four minutes. I say, so, there you go, unified by the colors, powered by the pattern repped the A and so there's a darker black accents apparently, so darker black up into the shoulders and it blends more. That's sharp. That is very very sharp, as always, very very sharp. So good stuff from Atlanta nighted. The Kid has out repped the A with the new home kit, So.
There you go.
I don't know what's been going on with the two hundred and eighty character app and my laptop this morning. It's just man, it's nuts, okay anyway, be safe, everybody, have a fantastic weekend. We'll be back at it again nine oh five Monday morning. We'll get everything square away, Abe Gordon bart Keeler gets you ready on the flip side from Messi Dallas in Atlanta, and the sprint to
the regular season starts anew. So that means one thing here on a Friday, plate safe, everybody mucha Platyall that means we get to do this and we be back at it again nine oh five on Monday morning. Be good, everybody will see you over the weekend. Be safe, stay warm, back at it for real. A couple of days, the.
Points sticking into our fingers started asking us questions, and our papers sent electric shocks just through our body, like a candle prod out in the warehouse. The trucks kept banging into the docks, not even thinking about stopping. Our frail bodies were strapped to the chairs, and our chairs were chained.
To the desks.
Our please for justice were ignored, and the end seemed near. But we busted our slave drivers little bitty balls.
We've charged higher, break.
Fortress, the streets, Our harsby guys, yets Friday Fridayday
Religence,