3rd Degree the Podcast #251

[00:00:00] Speaker A: I'm sorry. I got all excited. [00:00:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Ooh. Third degree never pocket third degree. The third degree. Never pocket third degree. Never get there degree. [00:00:28] Speaker C: Third degree. The podcast is brought to you by Soccer 90 Dot. Explore their vast collection of FC Dallas Premier League and us national team gear, jersey, scars, tees and hat, and beyond. Soccer ninety s. Got it all. The new FC Dallas afterburner kit in north Texas kit. Enjoy. 20% off with the code third degree at checkout both online and in the store. Code third degree, 20% off. Some exclusions do apply, and this episode is brought to you by the Lindstrom law firm. For wills, trust, probates and business law. Call 469-515-2559 or visit lindstromlawfirm.com for a free consultation. [00:01:06] Speaker B: Well, hello there, FC Dallas. Curious fan. Welcome to the 29th season of Major League Soccer and episode 251 of Third Degree, the podcast. Hi, I'm Peter, and look who's back. It is our very own Dan Crook. Howdy, Dan. [00:01:23] Speaker A: All right, why are we doing this at 336 in the morning? [00:01:29] Speaker B: Dan, I've been dying to ask you this question the last few days. In general, do the English understand how ridiculous the phrase gardening leave is? [00:01:42] Speaker A: Yes. [00:01:42] Speaker B: Okay, good. [00:01:43] Speaker A: I want to make sure the fun one was when Ian Holloway got fired by, I think it was QPR, and he was on gardening leave for a month. For anyone that's familiar with mid ten? S Premier league, Ian Holloway is one of the more eccentric characters. So the idea of him running around, running around his backyard planting pansies would be hilarious. [00:02:14] Speaker B: Such a weird phrase. I don't know. I'm sure there's some history to it that makes sense, but in its application of paying somebody to do nothing, it just cracks me up. And also, now, time to introduce your hero. My hero. Everybody's hero in his 29th season. [00:02:32] Speaker C: 27Th. Thank you. [00:02:34] Speaker B: Oh, sorry. It is the editor, founder, and the original soccer influencer, the amazing buzz. Carrot coming. Buzz. [00:02:44] Speaker C: Hey, fellas. Dan, I have to know, what was Tracy Chapman like in person? Is she cool? [00:02:52] Speaker A: No idea. What you're. [00:02:58] Speaker B: A. I'm trying to figure out if I think that's a stretch buzz. [00:03:01] Speaker C: I mean, I looked at the pictures. [00:03:03] Speaker B: I can kind of see. [00:03:05] Speaker C: Oh, my God, dude. Yeah. [00:03:07] Speaker B: Do you think you look like Luke Combs, the country superstar? Dan, I don't even know the fuck. [00:03:14] Speaker A: That means nothing to me. I know who Tracy Chapman is, obviously. [00:03:21] Speaker B: Yeah, but he wasn't here when the Grammys took place, so he may not be aware of what happened because he. [00:03:25] Speaker C: Was at the Grammys. [00:03:27] Speaker A: Tracy Chapman I know in discord I keep seeing some pictures of a fat white guy with facial hair, but his is fucking orange. Mine's gray. [00:03:41] Speaker C: Hey, by the way, shout out to Turner Humphrey free. Who's the draft pick that Dallas picked? [00:03:48] Speaker B: See a fat white guy with a beard? [00:03:50] Speaker C: No. Right now he's with North Texas. But the shout out is to Tony Humphrey's mom, who sat with me in the stands for a good 45 minutes. And we had a delightful conversation. [00:04:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I bet you did. [00:04:01] Speaker C: Yeah, she's lovely. Lovely person. And the funny bit was that before the game, they were all kind of huddled up on that same sideline, and she tried to wave at him and say hello, and he totally cold and sold. Ignored the fact that she was there. Like, I am totally not waving at my mom. And, like, the first scrimmage game of the awesome story. Yeah. She was so delightful to talk to, but I was standing next to her when she tried to wave at him, and he just was like. Didn't even. Totally ran away. So funny. [00:04:31] Speaker A: Next week, buzz power ranks by a parent. [00:04:35] Speaker B: That's right. Buzz gives us his five favorite moms. [00:04:42] Speaker C: You know, the funny thing is, you and I, and maybe Dan probably, too, would find her exactly like the same age and the same sort of understanding of us as the world because her kid is now a 21 year old professional. Just like if you and I had kids, Peter, we're both 50. So it's like, I found her to be a very normal person and very great conversationalist. And we chatted the whole first half. It was fun. [00:05:11] Speaker B: Did she know what third degree is? [00:05:13] Speaker C: No. Well, she didn't when I first met her, but somebody told her who I was, and so we just chatted a little bit about the team. She didn't make a big deal about it, but she was quite nice. I told her about the podcast on the website, so hopefully she's listening. [00:05:26] Speaker B: All right. [00:05:26] Speaker C: Yeah, it was funny, but I just want to tell the story because of when she tried to wave at him and say hello, and he just was like, he wasn't having it. He was totally ignored her. [00:05:37] Speaker B: Well, hello, mom. Thanks for listening. If you're out there somewhere on a podcast player. All right, well, here we are, guys. Season 2024 is here, and it starts here in the next couple of days, depending on when somebody is listening to this. We're recording it on Thursday evening or for Dan early Friday morning, as he suggested. We got lots to discuss. We've got the DC game, the last final preseason game. We've got some predictions to do. And of course, Kit talk. And I think Dan's going to report back from the referee protest or strike or whatever they're calling it these days. I don't know where you want to start, bud. Do you want to just quickly review the DC United friendly? [00:06:25] Speaker C: Yeah, it's not really very important to talk about it other than the fact that once again, it was the three four three or 3421, whatever you like to call that thing. It was that same formation again. That's the really most important part. I will say that from the part I was able to watch, Dante Seeley was looking a little passive again, like I don't like to see from him. But then he also hit an absolute banger of a free kick that the keeper had to make a really great save to keep out. And the funny thing about that is that I asked coach Nico Esteves, I said, did you know that Dante silly had this free kick game? And he's like, no, I had no idea. He never does it in training. He doesn't practice it. We've never seen him before. All of a sudden he's banging in goals. [00:07:09] Speaker B: We saw him hit a pretty good one in Spain, didn't we? [00:07:12] Speaker C: Yeah, he had two of them in Spain and he almost had a third one in his, so, wow. You know, it's just all of a sudden the kids like, just, hey, look, magic. Look what I found in the free kick game. So that's fun. [00:07:22] Speaker B: How did they discover he was he just starting to do if he didn't do it in practice? How did it come about that he started taking them? [00:07:28] Speaker C: I assume he just was like, I'm taking this one. It was probably from the side of the field where he's a left footed player. So it was probably a situation that lined up for him and whoever was on the field, he talked him into letting him try it, I guess, because I didn't really ask him that part, but it's a surprise pretty much to everybody that has it. So, I mean, great addition. They haven't had a great free kick taker, probably like shot on goal, free kick taker since maybe Michelle was the last one. Verlasco is okay at it, but he's not great at it by any means. Seeley's at least in that same neck of the woods, in my opinion, as Velasco having now had two out of three go. [00:08:10] Speaker B: Really? That's actually an interesting trivia. Who are the great free kick takers of Dallas? Michelle was good. Christ was really good at. [00:08:19] Speaker C: Yeah, we're forgetting somebody was Callan. Good. I don't remember that. But Michelle for sure was. I don't remember, like David Ferreira. I don't remember being good at it, per se. [00:08:31] Speaker B: We're forgetting somebody. [00:08:32] Speaker A: One that he scored. [00:08:34] Speaker C: Yeah, but that's not like consistently. Like every time Jason Christ got one within 30 yards. It was a very dangerous goal string opportunity. And same with Michelle, that second level. I'm drawing a blank on anybody between them. Those two guys. [00:08:48] Speaker B: Yeah. There's somebody else. We're all going to kick our. At least buzz and I are going to kick ourselves in the middle of the night, wake up and go, this guy. [00:08:59] Speaker C: Maybe I'll come rest, the podcast will think of who it was. [00:09:02] Speaker B: Maybe. Okay. And what was the result of the DC game? I forget now because obviously I didn't see it. [00:09:09] Speaker C: I think for Dallas. [00:09:11] Speaker B: Did I hear right that they sold full price tickets to that thing? [00:09:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I think they were $25 each. I think. [00:09:19] Speaker B: I don't understand that. I don't either is that we got to cover our nut to staff the place kind of thing. [00:09:25] Speaker C: I don't know. And they didn't stream it either, so it's kind of silly. It's like, if you're going to sell tickets, why not then stream it? Because if you're letting some people see it, why not let everybody see it? So I don't know what's going on sometimes with those kinds of things. I mean, honestly, I thought it was crazy that you don't sell those preseason tickets for like $5 or something. Once you open the gates to some people, you might as well pack it out as much as you can. [00:09:51] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:51] Speaker C: So I don't know what the theory mean. [00:09:53] Speaker B: I assume there's. [00:09:54] Speaker A: I assume there's a. [00:09:58] Speaker B: All right, all right. Well, Buzz, can I tell you as we get into training report and the big discussion of formations that every time I see you or the good Steve Davis or some national pundit put this new formation on paper. [00:10:17] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:10:17] Speaker B: I get really nervous about this season. [00:10:20] Speaker C: Do you? [00:10:21] Speaker B: Yeah. I think I understand in theory what Nico's trying to achieve, but it feels to me there are so many question marks and there are so many weak spots that this roster contains that almost are maximized or poked upon by going in this formation versus something else. So three center backs with the bad center back situation, you're asking wingbacks. We play in Dallas in one of the hottest climates, and now you're going to ask two people to run up and down the field and do all that work and probably the people that are most suited for that are some of your least experienced and youngest players for a position that takes a lot of tactical acumen and smarts. Right. And then the next piece of that would be the reliance on two guys whose current injury situation, to me, I think at best, is mysterious. Paxton still being out after a knee scope, maybe that's fine. It just seems like that's been going on for a long time. And then lastly, the Jesus question, which is, why hasn't he had surgery on that thing every time he's played? The last few times he's played, it feels like to me he's hurt it again and is just purely resting it the solution to that problem? And is that a big risk going into the season and maybe that's not as tied to the formation. I think his value to the formation is important, but his value to the team overall is important, too. So there's my Ted talk. [00:12:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I can't argue with any of those concerns. I think they're all valid. The question, I think, becomes, obviously for the coach, is the positive he sees in it going to overcome those things? I think, anyway, the amount of work rate that it takes out of a wingback to play this shape is going to make a big driver in massive substitutions at wingback anyway. The ability to go 90 at wingback in the Texas heat is going to be rare. I think you're going to see aggressive subbing in those positions. [00:12:41] Speaker B: So what's your depth chart at that position then? [00:12:45] Speaker C: Well, on the left, Sealy and Farfan and Parker. But then you can also include any left footed player that can nominally is a wide midfielder or wing. So you could even include Bernie at left wing back or right, either one. If you really need, um, if you had another center back, you could use junka out there. He could run that line. You could even use ANSA. He's played wide on that side. In midfield, it's not ideal. The right side is even worth thin because both. Tuomasi is still coming back from he's training, but he's not 100% and then fit anyway. Giovanni is out for a while, so right now it's Herbert endelay or whatever else you can come up with at that outside on the right. So it is thin. I think the idea is that the driver is twofold and this is where coach is probably seeing the ideas that he wants to implement. And number one is like, okay, we're finally going to say that Jesus is not a nine and we're going to get a big, huge, powerful nine because we're trying to score more goals, and that way we have, theoretically, we have a big, huge, big money dp nine, and we have this really dangerous player in arguably his best position that obviously is the driver of the whole thing. That's why you're doing some version of a shape where Jesus is an off striker. Now, it could be if you went to the more traditional four three three, which I saw him do early in spring, then Jesus was a right wing. The day that I watched, he was a right wing. If you go to a three, five two, then he's up next to the other striker, and that's easily doable out of this shape. That's a slight tweak. That's no big deal. But I think the other driver is actually because of the centerbacks. Last two seasons we've seen occasionally Dallas exploited in the center back to outside back gap. Right. Usually it was when you had Martinez that left center back, or maybe somebody else over there that wasn't quite fleet afoot. And we saw teams consistently attack those gaps, particularly on not a counterattacks, but in rapid transition. And if you play a three at the back system, it actually compresses the space between the center backs because the wingbacks theoretically are dropping back into a five, really, when you're playing your bunker defense, and the space in between those center backs tightens up, so you also have a double pivot in front of those gaps, right? So like the two holding mids, for lack of a better term, of the second, stand between those two center back gaps that you have in your back three center backs. So I think those two things are the main drivers. And the third thing that's the main driver is the fact that you actually have a fairly good selection of eights and tens, even though we don't really use a ten anymore. We always say that because there's a defensive requirement, even if you're going to play a higher free position, this team has a fair bit of those guys, even though in the wings they have, a lot of them are better as false wings. And that's true all the way down through the academy. And so if you play this formation correctly, you end up outnumbering everybody in midfield four to three, or even or more. And because you're going to play a double, you put less of a physical burden on a guy like era Mendy, who's 34 and he doesn't have to go silent. Asylum has to cover half the field. And because you're not making him be one of the eight, that's got to play that free eight and get all the way up to the box and play in the half spaces. Those are occupied by what used to wings. That's going to be Jesus and Areola. So it reduces the physical requirement on your relatively old best player in your central midfield. So those four things, even really, I think, are what's driving this. Now, do those four things overcome the liabilities you're mentioning? We're going to find out, aren't we? I mean, this is a very unproven shape. This shape has been a disaster for this club in previous versions because they did it wrong, because the wings stayed as high wings, and that wrecks it. That leaves you outnumbered four or three versus two in your midfield, and it makes your wingbacks one dimensional and removes the whole reason for them to be on the field. And now you've just got an extra defender for no reason at all when you're struggling to score Gables anyway. So you can see why it has been a disaster. And if they play it like they did last year, it'll be a disaster. So the proof is going to be in the pudding. I mean, there's lots of talk about why they're doing it. Until we actually see them do it and execute it correctly over and over again, we're going to be wondering, is this going to work well? [00:17:12] Speaker B: And then also with missing pieces through injury and otherwise, at least for the first game or two or however many, I don't know how we'll figure that out. Before we move on to another topic, Dan, do you have any thoughts or reactions or feelings about the switch to this formation? [00:17:31] Speaker A: Well, I think one thing to keep in mind is that Nico said earlier in the season that that isn't the only formation they're going to roll out. We've seen it in previous seasons, albeit Lucci seasons, the team rolling out a new formation in preseason to try and get those reps in. But once the season rolls around, it's whatever kind of suits the players they have available and the familiarity they have with the existing formation. So it wouldn't be shocking to see them kind of drop into that four three three again. [00:18:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Interesting. [00:18:11] Speaker C: Yeah. This shape also easily flexes to a four four two, which we saw a. [00:18:14] Speaker B: Lot last year as well. [00:18:15] Speaker C: And that's another shape that would benefit Asus. So a coach is adamant that there will be variations and there will be other formations, and we even know that he likes to have these flex formations or flex players that shift from position to position during the game and taxes are going to remain fluid. It'll look like a five four one a lot of the time. Some other times it'll look like a three six one. If you want to go Steve Samson on everybody. [00:18:39] Speaker B: Oh, no. [00:18:40] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, effectively, that's right. Those two wings have to stay in the midfield. So really it is a three six one. In some ways. [00:18:49] Speaker B: I guess the question is Saturday buzz, as the curious are watching the first game of the season, what would be the early indicators for them to be on the lookout for that? This is working or is not working? [00:19:02] Speaker C: Yeah. Whoever's playing the two underneath positions, the 210 positions, if those guys behave like wings, if it's Ferreira, it won't be. It'll almost certainly be Areola and probably either Bernie or legit. If those players are out at the touchline, out the sideline, and they're trying to get behind outside backs, you're in trouble. Because that's 100% wrong. Because that's what's. What stifles your wingback offensive play, which is the entire reason that it's Dante C. Lee and Herbert Endelay. Right. So you'll have taken that away and now you just have bad defenders. And the other thing that will happen if they abandon the middle, then you're going to leave Yaramindi and probably Fraser because I don't think Paxton will go either. Those two guys will be on an island and down four or three versus two the whole game, and you're going to be in trouble. So if those guys actually play like wings and actually get out on the sideline, that's super bad. [00:19:59] Speaker B: Should we anticipate that they'll try to play out of the back again this season, or will they play direct? [00:20:04] Speaker C: No, they'll play out of the back. Well, this team will still want to be rapid in transition, like last year, where they're at their best. When you make a mistake and they turn you over and they get at you in a hurry, that's still true, but they do want to build out of the back like they were trying to also do last year when they have possession. Everybody wants to play that way now. [00:20:23] Speaker B: So in terms of having a plan, if you play out of the back is generally the outlet to go wide and come inside, or do you start inside and find the wingback plowing forward and play wide back inside? [00:20:37] Speaker C: Well, it depends on what the opposition is doing and how the opposition is reacting to your build. It depends on where they go and what their press triggers are. I'm assuming that most teams will press trigger on Ibiaga or Nikosi or Sam Junka, when the balls pass out from the keeper to them, that that'll be the press triggers, because those guys aren't necessarily real good at a shield spin and turn and pass outlet kind of move. So it remains to be seen what kind of defense San Jose will bring. Last time they came here, they played a flat four four two and sat deep, if you remember, at the end of last year. But then what Dallas was working on when they had a group representing San Jose on Wednesday, it didn't look like that at all. So I think we're not going to really know how that build is going to go until we see how it sort of is working. Keep in mind that your best probably possession guys, well, sort of Fraser, but really are Mindy and that's the guy that's going to help you relieve and outlet everything. You also want it to be your wingback, son, but both of those guys are vertical kind of players. They're not like, I'm surrounded by three guys that I'm going to go ding, ding, ding through the middle of them and pass it off. Like Armeni might be or Paxton might be, but he's not going to be playing. So definitely how they react to press in this game is going to be really important because this is the first time we're going to see the build out and they're also missing some pieces that might be helping with that. Ordinarily, Paxton, notably, how much of this. [00:22:12] Speaker B: New formation is a response to their inability to break down a low block last year, and how does this help solve that problem or if it does at all? [00:22:21] Speaker C: Not much. Mainly in the sense of that's not. [00:22:27] Speaker B: The answer I was hoping for. [00:22:28] Speaker C: Yeah, no, this isn't about know the answer to that one would be that you'll have guys like, because Musa theoretically, and Farrington probably too, are guys that can occupy center backs. You hope you'll give your guys underneath your areolas, your ferreiras, your legends, you'll give them a little bit of a freedom to do some things. Velasco, when he gets healthy in that zone 14, and try and do some things like right inside the outside the box there, you'll have wingbacks who could theoretically sort of get to an end and cross guys, but that's not the kind of players you're talking about. I mean, nobody really likes to play that way. Know, Ansa, all three strikers that are your main strikers, Ansa, Farrington and Musa, all have some good height, so you are adding a cross it into the box height component. Of a nine as another way to break down a block that they never have had when they had FC short out there. So that part is helpful. But that's not a tactical change, that's a personnel change. You've got three knives now that are a little bit taller than you have ever had in the last couple of years. So that adds that component. [00:23:38] Speaker B: Do any of those people playing wing, are they any good at crossing the ball? Because off the top of my head I don't know enough about Seeley or Endelay to tell you they are and I don't remember if Farfan is particularly adept at that. [00:23:49] Speaker C: Farfen is okay at it. Yeah, see is a driver goes at people. Endele probably is good at it. He played wide in midfield in Indiana so he's probably pretty decent at know. He wasn't a winger as much as he was a wide midfielder so he probably might be all right. Giovanni is. I mean we've seen their offensive game, they can both cross a little bit. Giovanni remember has that in his bag where he was getting the airline and firing the ball across. Know again, I think it's actually very clear that to me that by the end of the season when you have Giovanni theoretically will be healthy. Sort of middle of the season in Velasquez, sort of second, third of the season, maybe in August perhaps, is that you might see a completely different formation if you got personnel back that are very different then than you do. All because at that point if Velasquez is probably going to play it's like are you really going to have guys and Ferreira is going to play, are you really going to have Areola and legit both in the neighborhood of a million dollars plus? Well, one way plus and one just under. But are those guys really going to be sitting on the bench all the time? And I don't know that that would be the case. So you might at that point see a different adaptation. [00:24:58] Speaker B: All right, my last question about the four formation stuff. Who in this formation is the most important player? I don't mean position. Who do you think ultimately is going to be the most important player in this setup? [00:25:10] Speaker C: Well, can I give you two? [00:25:12] Speaker B: No, I need one. Okay, give me one and then make an argument as to why it has to be two, please. [00:25:19] Speaker C: Okay, well, the main one is Jesus because you need to add a bunch of goals and that's theoretically what you got Musa for. But the problem is that'll be enough if Jesus performs because you're putting Jesus in a position he hasn't done in a couple of years, really, and we all talk about how it should be his best position, but he still needs to perform in that position. If he doesn't continue to have a really high goal rate and add a good assist rate, then this whole thing's not kind of for moot point. And then the other is era Mindy, because you'll really need that deep lying playmaker to help you build out of the back. And while Paxton is a really good linker, he's not necessarily a great playmaker. He hasn't ever developed that part of his game. So you're really going to need some assists out of Yara Mindy coming from deep to spring guys on slashing moves, to spring guys on quick counters to spring guys into the box on transition. He's going to be really key to those two, if that's fair. [00:26:19] Speaker B: All right, well, it absolutely has been the story of the offseason, and it's something to look forward to, maybe through your fingers. [00:26:27] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, it's risky, as you said, peter, as you pointed out, there's the reasons to be worried. [00:26:34] Speaker B: I just look at it on paper and I go, man, I can see them getting caught in transition. I can see them with their wingbacks pressed way too high and getting overrun in midfield. But they've been working at it, so let's trust that it'll work. If you had to put your best eleven on the field, let's take injuries and everything out of this. If you just took the roster as it stands today and you could put the eleven on the field, who would be the eleven in this shape? Yeah. [00:27:07] Speaker C: Musa Ferreira. Can you really say Velasco since he's Alpha? [00:27:13] Speaker B: No. Yeah, I'm sorry, Velasco and Jesus, or Jesus don't count. They're too injured. [00:27:20] Speaker C: So Musa Ferreira and Ariola is your two off guys. I honestly think the way Seeley plays is a better fit than Farfan, Yar, Mendy and Paxton. And then on the right, honestly, it's a crapshoot between EMA and three years ago, I would have said Ema in a heartbeat, but he hasn't shown that offensive spark that Endele has this preseason. Endele has actually done really well and scored some nice goals, so I think potentially Endele has actually passed him. And then it's Ibiotica, Nikosi and Junka with pause and goal. And that really is. [00:28:02] Speaker A: Yeah, it's going to be a fun opening game, likely without any of the three dps, though. [00:28:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Let's talk about what you saw at training today. Let's talk about the injury stuff that you brought up and previewed for everybody yesterday, please. [00:28:20] Speaker C: Yeah. As Dan really rightly points out, Musa will not be here yet. He hasn't FCD visa. Coach said if he's optimistic, he'll be here next week. But you know how visas can go. Jesus and Paxton are both day to day. They both trained half the session on Wednesday. Coach said it's unlikely that they would both be fully cleared for this weekend, so there's a small chance they could end up on the bench, perhaps, but he said it's much more likely, and he's very optimistic they'll both be available and 100% for the game. The second game the next Saturday, Matt Corcha is out for a month. I don't really know what's up with him, but he's out for a bit, which doesn't help your center back problem. And then Marco Farfan, of all people, has a hairline fracture in one of his vertebra, which doesn't stop him from doing anything. He's fully physically cleared to run around or whatever, but I talked to him about it. I was like, oh, does it hurt? And he said, oh, yeah, real bad. And Coach said that what happens is if he gets hit, it really is painful. [00:29:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:29] Speaker C: So it's just a question of pain management. Farfan told me, and he joked with me, that they had to protect him from himself, that he would want to play through it because of how he is, and he even knows it. And he saw they're making me not play, and quite rightly, frankly. So he and Coach said one to two weeks and he'll be back. He's already been out for a couple of weeks, so it's really like, the minute it stops hurting, he's fine. He's back in. So that's several guys that are, like, day to day or week to week, but almost all of them are going to be out for this weekend. And the one other one is not really out eats Ima to Amasi, but he's clearly not yet 100% in his ability to run and break and sprint. And he looks like a guy that hasn't played or trained in two months. [00:30:19] Speaker B: Is he fat, Buzz? [00:30:21] Speaker C: Yeah, he's Paxton fat. [00:30:22] Speaker B: Whoa. [00:30:23] Speaker C: He's spring training camp fat, which is not real fat. Settle down. He's not like, fat. Like, just he has that little cheeky. Looks like he hasn't run in two months, that's all. He'll be fine. He'll just got to run into shape. He'll be fine. So I would not expect him to start, though. [00:30:41] Speaker B: Do you think I'm being alarmist in my comments about Paxton and Jesus's injury situations? [00:30:51] Speaker C: I think that they're being super conservative because I saw Paxton running a month ago, and he looked fine to me. He was absolutely crushing it up and down, rehabbing. So short of something like, sure, there have been a setback that I'm not aware of. I think they're just being really careful because of both of those guys. Obviously, jesus had a setback and that he played that first game and then something went wrong. So we can't forget that Jesus looked really good in that first scrimmage against he only, he just re aggravated it or whatever. That's my big concern with Jesus is that they keep not doing surgery, as you say, and he keeps re aggravating it. So that's maybe why they're trying to be really careful this time. [00:31:31] Speaker B: But, yeah, it just worries me. We're going to get, like a month into the season, and that thing's going to get really bad, and we're all going to wonder, why didn't you have surgery at the end of last season? [00:31:40] Speaker C: I know. I'm actually less concerned about Paxton because his was just a clean out, and I think they're just being hyper paranoid about Paxton because he's Paxton. I actually think he's probably much more fine than Jesus. Jesus is the one that I think is probably convincing himself and convincing them that he's fine, and it's just going to. I'm with you. My worry is that it'll linger and linger and linger and linger, and all of a sudden, it's June, and he's shutting it down now then. So that's obviously the nightmare scenario. [00:32:09] Speaker B: All right, so what else did you get from training today or yesterday? Whatever day it was, you went? [00:32:14] Speaker C: Well, Antonio Correa was gone, which was the first time that his loan was finally going through. And he's going to North Carolina FC, which I knew, which is phenomenal. That's a great deal. This is exactly the right step for him when you're investing in him just like they have with a bunch of other young players. [00:32:27] Speaker B: Will he be the starter there? [00:32:28] Speaker C: That's what I assume. You don't send him there if he's not know, because the whole point is for him to. Like, he's played two seasons as a starter at North Texas. That's plenty. He now needs a higher challenge, so you only send him to North Carolina if you're being assured he's going to start and they're moving from USL one where they won the championship, up to the USL championship. So they need people so where they're moving up. So I would imagine that the deal is he's going to be starting because if he's not, you just recall him because then you just bring him back and play him in North Texas if he's not playing there. That's the whole point to do this. You take a young guy who's 20, take him out of his hometown, you send him somewhere different, live in an apartment by himself, new challenge, new coaches, pressure. That's really good. They can write over, call him anytime, though, if they need him. So somebody gets hurt or whatever. No big deal. I have two hot takes on young players. Not a hot. Well, one of them is a hot take and one of them is not. The other player I want to mention was Ennis Sally. So Ennis Sally is super bursty. I think really early this season people are not going to know who he is or what he's about and he's going to come into some games and absolutely blow the doors off some people who are going to be tired late in games and he's going to wreck guys. So I don't think he's ever close to starting, but I think he'll be really dangerous coming off the bench because of how quick he accelerates and how direct he goes at people. And I think he'll really surprise some people. Be excited if you see him come in. I think he'll think he's nice, but don't think, carry that over and go, oh, start him because he's long. [00:33:59] Speaker B: So where in this formation does he play? [00:34:01] Speaker C: He's a false wing. He's Velasco. But you know how Velasco plays side to side. This guy plays direct. He goes right at you. He's more like Dante Healy, really, in a way. So he could even be a wingback, frankly. But he's small, but he's super bursty and fun to watch play, even if he's not very refined. And here's my hot take. Logan Farrington. Logan Farrington right now. The Beaver on the verge of opening day. The Oklahoma State draft pick, the number one, number three overall draft pick. They picked on the verge of this season. He is the most advanced striker on opening day this club has ever drafted out of college. He's ahead of where Bobby Ryan was coming out. I'm not counting 96 because 96 they drafted guys that were like 30 year old pros that were well established in the career. I'm talking about real college draft picks. He's the most polished and finished and complete forward striker on opening day. [00:34:59] Speaker B: More than Jason. [00:35:00] Speaker C: No, Jason was 96. He was drafted in like the regular round, like out of Duke. That doesn't count. He'd actually been playing somewhere, if I remember correctly. But yes, actually 15 years later he's better on the first day of opening season than, because you remember Jason played. They were hiding Jason at wingback and wide mid for a few years, certainly for year one. So better than Bobby Ryan, better than Cal Jennings, like the most complete today, better than tesho. There are guys that passed him eventually, but I'm just talking about when the season started. He's the best at this minute of any progression of a striker coming out of college and he may never go anywhere for all we know, but it's super exciting to watch him be this polished and this good. And if I were going to bet money, I would bet that he's going to start opening day over. [00:35:55] Speaker B: What is his best attribute? [00:35:59] Speaker C: He's a large bodied striker, not fat. I just mean like he's more like. Well, like Musa, but also like Blas Perez. [00:36:09] Speaker B: Like a bigger guy, a Graziani sized guy. [00:36:12] Speaker C: Graziani sized guy, but thicker than Graziani, stronger than Graziani and just is a really smart player tactically understands the game, knows how to post up, knows how to move, has a really well developed touch, can turn in space, lays off plays really aware around him. Now he's not polished superstar. He's not going to score 20 goals this season. I'm just saying that he's ahead of every other striker they've ever drafted coming out of college. And that's really amazing to see because I'm not used to strikers coming out of college looking like this and I'm not used to them being this polished this fast. To me, he already looks better than Cobra ever looked. [00:36:48] Speaker B: For example. Wow, okay, right? Even after Cobra started scoring goals. [00:36:52] Speaker C: Yeah, because Cobra's goals were like, he was never a polished player. Right. His goals were always like effort stuff where he ran dudes over. Right. He was never like a ticky tacky or smart tactical nuanced. Yeah. This guy's got lots of things that Cobra never had. So that doesn't mean he's going to. Again, he's not going to score 15 because Moose is going to get all the games. I'm just saying that it's super nice to see a pick come out of college that's this complete of a player already it's been a long time since I've seen a pick this complete of a player. [00:37:26] Speaker B: Wow, that's crazy. [00:37:28] Speaker C: Yeah, I already like him better than Ansa. [00:37:31] Speaker B: Well, I think everybody likes everybody better than. [00:37:33] Speaker C: No, I mean, there's people that like Ansa that think that he's much better, but I'm not Eugene Ansa, the guy. [00:37:39] Speaker B: That they got from the. [00:37:43] Speaker C: People. Some people ask me a long time, like, well, when I did my death track the other day, I had a couple of people ask me like, why is Farrington ahead of him? It's like, well, because he is, but also because I like him better. We'll see. You never know. Maybe Anson will start this weekend, but I feel confident. If I was going to bet, I would bet it would be Farrington. [00:38:01] Speaker B: Okay. Sincerely, I mean this genuinely, I'm not trying to pick on the guy, but I honestly can't recall a single, I don't have a single memory of Ansa doing something where I went, oh, wow, that's pretty like, not that I've seen him play a ton either. [00:38:18] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, in one of the spring games. Damn. Do you remember which one it was? Was it the second one or was it against Miami, New Mexico? Yeah, Logan had a really good game and then he fell off really bad. And Ansa was significantly better in one of the other games. [00:38:30] Speaker B: Okay. [00:38:30] Speaker C: But just watching and was. I've just been really impressed. The more I watch Logan Farrington, the more impressed I am with his current progression relative to him just coming out of college. It's exciting to watch a guy be that good. [00:38:45] Speaker B: All right, any other training stuff we need to talk about before I go to Dan? [00:38:54] Speaker C: I don't think so. I think that's about it. [00:38:57] Speaker B: Well, I'm going to save the center back thing until we talk about what you predict for the starting eleven. All right. [00:39:03] Speaker C: Oh, free kicks. Retro Ziegler. [00:39:06] Speaker B: Yes. He was good at that. [00:39:08] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I just did the starting eleven. Oh, you want, with guys missing? Yeah. [00:39:14] Speaker B: No, stop. [00:39:15] Speaker C: Sorry. [00:39:16] Speaker B: No, I'm going to let Dan talk about the ref stuff here in a second. I'm going to say I will ask you about the center back stuff. Who's going to end up playing center back when we do the predictions? Your prediction for the starting eleven. Okay. Now, Dan, you have been covering for Buzz and Co. So I had no idea that the weird crossing of streams of me driving to lunch on Monday or Tuesday, whatever it was, and I pass what appears to be a whole gaggle of referees standing outside protesting with reds and yellow cars and I'm like, what is that? Only to ten minutes later when I'm looking through twitter while I'm eating lunch to realize it's all of the striking referees are locked out referees. They're here in Dallas. Why is that? [00:40:05] Speaker A: Yeah, they've picketed the last couple of days outside of the Hilton Lincoln center. The one off of 635. Yeah, Wednesday and Thursday. They pick it effectively, that is one of the main centers for MLS concoct to have training seminars. They word you to be getting their kind of final instruction ahead of the season. At the start of the season, I should say. But instead they were on the outside and the replacement referees were on the inside. So the professional soccer referees association picketed that. At the same time, they also had a picket line outside of the MLS offices. Pro referees has an office within MLS's little office space. Yeah. A few notable names down there. Ishmael Elfath, who was, I think he was a VAR on the World cup final, refereed quite a few games in the early stages. Kyle Atkins, who was a linesman in the World Cup. Joe Dickerson, I spoke to him. Alan Chapman, two time MLS cup ref. Quite a few of the names out there. [00:41:31] Speaker B: These are all names that I've heard you fuss about over the years. [00:41:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I got done talking to Jerry Dickerson. I was like, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to submit a poll question to you at some point this year, so just be prepared for that. [00:41:47] Speaker C: Tell them to actually answer the question. [00:41:50] Speaker A: No, they'll never do that. But yeah, I mean, at the heart of it, we've obviously seen in the news the CBA that they've had for the past five years expired on January 15. The negotiators got, well, not the best deal, but the best deal that pro were willing to offer at the time. And then a normal bargaining tactic is to say, hey, we'll take this to our members, but they're going to say no. And 95.8% of the 260 members voted no. Pro had touted up to 104% pay increase, but that was based on a guaranteed compensation of $3,100 for the entire year. Speaking to Alan Chapman, he said, really, for a referee in his position, is one of the highest paid, I think, around 55 grand a year for a full time job. He said, what they're getting is basically 4% above inflation, so significantly below any player in Major League soccer. So your brand new homegrown, who's maybe just a chance that they might one day make an MLS bench, makes more than any referee in Major League soccer. [00:43:14] Speaker B: That's interesting because I'm somewhat familiar with what the PGMOL pays referees in the Premier League and then the EFL. And it's less than that. [00:43:27] Speaker A: No, because they get a large match fee on top of their guarantee. The guarantee in the Premier League is 70,000 pounds. Plus they get 1500 per game. [00:43:41] Speaker B: And what is this? [00:43:43] Speaker A: And what is what? [00:43:44] Speaker B: What is it currently with american refs. [00:43:46] Speaker A: In pro in total the cap is. [00:43:49] Speaker B: 55,000 and that's salary plus game per game. Okay. Interesting. Wow. [00:43:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Speaking timbers, there was a couple, that was a few officials there that have full time jobs and they're supposed to be professional referees. You want them to. If we talk about the quality of refereeing getting better, that tends to be the reason for pro and PGMol is to have professional referees that can dedicate their time and their efforts to getting better. It's kind of funny. This all comes up at the time when I think MLS has boasted 15% sponsorship revenue increase, 15% total season ticket sale increase. Miami is expecting to make 200 million in revenue this year and the league have come back and said to the officials, well, we just don't have any money to pay you. Sorry. [00:44:59] Speaker B: Well, it'll be interesting to keep an eye on how. I mean, obviously in the Miami game the other night, I don't think it was a particularly critical issue. I don't remember anything from the highlights or anything that I saw where it was like a big problem. But you can totally see how the minute there's a weekend with a number of questionable calls or decision making that'll just get amplified from there. [00:45:24] Speaker A: I think the last lockout ten years ago, kind of went without incident. It was only two weeks. The one big thing on the opening day, Luke Mulholland had scored a perfectly fine goal for Rail Salt Lake. He was a good five yards behind the ball, two LA Galaxy defenders ahead of him, and the Lino flagged it. Bizarrely, that is now a FIFA panel assistant referee who runs the line for MLS. I think really the big thing we're going to see across the season is kind of the league walking back on a few of the things, the time, substitutions. The big disappointment for me is going to be the in stadium announcements of VAR decisions. I think that was something we've been looking forward to since the start of VAR. [00:46:24] Speaker B: Yeah. They announced just before the Miami game that they were not going to enact those three procedural changes that you mentioned. And I agree. I was looking most forward to the VAR announcements like NFL style or NBA style. Or, hell, even hockey and baseball do it. I. But here's the thing. When I read that, I thought, oh, ok, well, this will last a few weeks and then everything will get settled. But since you talked to these guys and gals, did they give you a sense as to how long they are anticipating this is going to drag out for? [00:47:01] Speaker A: I didn't ask that specifically with Alan Chapman. I asked him what the similarities and differences to him were like as going through the last lockout ten years ago. His answer was simply that they are more prepared financially. There is more solidarity within the union now. At the time, pro referees was in its infancy. It was in its second year. They kind of rushed through the negotiations just to kind of get back on the field and maybe missed out on some protections themselves and that this time they have to be patient and kind of get the right going to be. It's going to be interesting to see. I think one thing actually I wanted to mention, because we're obviously kit nerds pro referee sponsored by Capelli the officials for the Miami game didn't even have sufficient time to get Capelli kit. They had those old black ones with the little white stripes up them from whoever the old supplier was at Moss park on a Sunday morning or something along those lines. [00:48:20] Speaker B: What is the brand official something? I think. [00:48:23] Speaker A: Yeah, that was like match official or something. The other interesting thing is, and I think it's in the name of security and the fact that they only have 26 people that are qualified to actually referee a game in their reserve roster, they're not announcing official assignments until game day. [00:48:47] Speaker B: Interesting. Well, I'm sure it's a mess. I'm sure the organization and scheduling and trying to get people to and fro and working within their schedule and everything is an absolute disaster of trying to make this work. [00:49:06] Speaker A: And one thing, actually someone did tell me, is that Nelson Rodriguez, who is the vice president of competition and something else, effectively he's the guy that signs the check that pays them. He happened to be in Dallas and for just a training exercise for replacement officials or regular officials, there was no reason for him to be there. So be interesting to see kind of what was going on behind the scenes there. [00:49:35] Speaker B: All right, well, I guess we'll all keep tabs on. I'm sure we'll have a much larger conversation about this next week after we have a whole slate of games to kind of pick and choose all the good and bad incidences. I'm sure it'll get worked out. All right. You want to do kid talk or predictions first? Buzz predictions. [00:49:57] Speaker C: Let's do kid talk last so that people that don't care about that can bail. Steve Davis, notably. That's fair. [00:50:05] Speaker B: I think there's the Steve Davis allowance right there. Okay. All right. We're going to make predictions. The questions are where Dallas will finish, who will be Dallas's top goal scorer, conference champs, shield winner and MLS cup champ. I will go first. How about that? I'll deviate you guys from having to go first because I've already put mine out there on the interwebs Wednesday afternoon because I want it to happen. I have Orlando winning MLS Cup. I have Seattle and the crew as eastern or western? Eastern champions. I had not thought about FC Dallas top goal scorer. I'll just say Jesus because that just seems. I think he'll come. [00:51:01] Speaker A: When you say Seattle and Columbus, are you referring to the regular season or the actual conference championship? [00:51:09] Speaker B: Well, I assume when he said conference champs he meant by regular season top of the table. What did you mean, Buzz? [00:51:15] Speaker C: That's what I meant. [00:51:16] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. You don't mean like who wins the conference? [00:51:20] Speaker C: No, that's not what I meant. But you could throw that in if you want to. I mean, that wouldn't work, obviously, since you said Orlando was going to win. That's why he. [00:51:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:27] Speaker C: So I assume that's what Peter meant. [00:51:29] Speaker B: Yeah. So Jesus, top scorer. Yeah, sure. And I had Dallas finishing 6th and getting knocked out in the first round to the Rapids. I'm going to go so far as to make the prediction of how that season is going to finish because it just feels like we're due to have the Rapids be the new boogeyman again since they were the original Dallas Boogie club. [00:51:52] Speaker C: So the Rapids are going to finish third in your thing? [00:51:55] Speaker B: Yep, I think so. [00:51:56] Speaker C: Nice. [00:51:57] Speaker B: There's always a resurgence club. There's always a club that comes out of nowhere and puts it all back together. Why can't. Why not? [00:52:04] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. [00:52:05] Speaker B: They're definitely due for a good season. [00:52:08] Speaker C: For decades. Yeah. Dan, you want to go next? [00:52:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:12] Speaker A: I'll tell you why it won't be Colorado. Because it'll be rail Salt Lake. [00:52:16] Speaker C: That's your researching team? Yeah. [00:52:18] Speaker A: I've got FC Dallas fourth behind LAFC Seattle and RSL. FC Dallas top mean. Provided he gets fit, we're going to say Jesus Ferreira. Musa obviously is going to have some level of, you know, has a pretty good knack of scoring from that kind of more recessed role as long as there is someone ahead of him to play off of. So Musa could be that ideal foil for him conference champions. I've got well for regular season LAFC and the 2024 MLS supporters Shield winner Orlando City before Seattle piss on everyone's parade and wins MLS cup again. [00:53:16] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:53:17] Speaker B: All right, Buzz. [00:53:18] Speaker C: Well, Dan and I are very similar. I also have FCD at Dallas Porth. Not behind Real Salt Lake though. My top goal scorer. I'm going to drink the Koolaid and go with Mosa. The Moose is going to be loose because Asus's goals are going to fall off because he'll get more assists and he'll be just playing from deeper conference champions. I have Seattle in the west and the supporter Shield winner is Orlando City. Yep. However, Orlando will be upset in the playoffs, probably by Columbus. That'll give Seattle home field advantage because they'll be second in the Shield standings and Seattle will win MLS cup at home. [00:53:58] Speaker A: Not sure. Columbus beating Orlando as much of an upset. [00:54:01] Speaker C: Well, it is when Orlando will be the Shield winner coming out of that conference. That just mean that Orlando won't get to the MLS cup. They'll lose a game. [00:54:09] Speaker B: I want to interject another prediction. [00:54:12] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:54:12] Speaker B: How many goals will the Moose score this season for Dallas, Dan? [00:54:17] Speaker A: Nine. [00:54:19] Speaker B: Buzz? [00:54:19] Speaker C: 14. [00:54:23] Speaker B: P. Okay, I was going to say eight or nine, but here's the trick to my prediction. I think the vast majority of those six, seven of those are all going to come in the final third of the season when it starts to click for him. And we're going to go from, oh my God, what's going on? This guy's a bus to it. Really beginning to click as he figures things out as the season goes on. [00:54:48] Speaker C: He's got a cobra. [00:54:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:50] Speaker A: How dare you? [00:54:52] Speaker B: Well, yeah. [00:54:54] Speaker C: $10 million cobra. [00:54:55] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess that could be cobra, couldn't it? [00:54:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:54:59] Speaker B: Hopefully this time he doesn't want to go home right when he starts to figure it out. Right. And I hope the fans love him as much as they loved cobra, too. I think that would be great for this club to have a guy like that again on the run. [00:55:14] Speaker C: Well, if he only scores eight, that ain't going to be happening. [00:55:16] Speaker B: Well, if they're eight in the last five weeks of the season, that may make everybody feel different by the end of the season, right? [00:55:23] Speaker C: Yeah. How far before end of the season can we start calling him and Jesus Moose and squirrel and making rocky jokes? [00:55:33] Speaker B: How about this? I want to be ten yards away. [00:55:37] Speaker C: From you when you tell Jesus Ferreira. [00:55:39] Speaker B: You'Re calling him squirrel. Squirrel? Yeah. I want to see what he says about that. [00:55:43] Speaker A: He wouldn't say anything. He just looked really confused. [00:55:47] Speaker C: Yeah. He might not know what moose and squirrel is. [00:55:50] Speaker B: God, what are the odds that Jesus knows what moose and squirrel reference? [00:55:56] Speaker C: Low. I bet it's low. I bet he has no idea what moose and squirrel is. [00:55:59] Speaker B: Probably not. All right. And since he's not going to be here this weekend, I feel like we can put. Speaking of the moose, we can hold off on having a longer conversation about how everybody just needs to be patient and temper their reaction and not expect too much. Like, everybody's expectations on the moose need to be set properly. And I feel like that's something we can do next week. [00:56:23] Speaker C: What's the overrun on people that are going to tweet me? Like, where's Moose when he doesn't show up on Saturday? It's like, come on. [00:56:29] Speaker B: Oh, it'll be off the charts. [00:56:30] Speaker C: Yeah, it's going to be a lot. [00:56:32] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, is this officially where we can tell Steve Davis and those who hate the kit talk? Hit stop? [00:56:40] Speaker C: Did we do an eleven prediction versus San Jose? Did we do that? [00:56:43] Speaker B: Oh, no, we didn't. Thank you, Buzz. Yes, let's do that. [00:56:46] Speaker C: Just real quick. [00:56:47] Speaker B: Because of the injuries and stuff, I think this is really important. [00:56:49] Speaker C: Yeah, I have Farrington over onsite at the nine. Ariola is one of the tens. The other one will either be legit or Bernie. I'm going to say legit because Bernie doesn't quite know how to play that underneath role. Sealy on the left, Yaramindi in the middle with Ian Fraser. Liam Fraser. Excuse me. Ian Fraser is a totally different player from a long time ago. Herbert Endelay on the right, Ibi Nikosi, Sam Junka and Paz. [00:57:16] Speaker B: Are we running in? Do we have a potential? Bernie Kamungo is the odd man out story brewing. [00:57:25] Speaker C: Yes, because he was a disaster at wingback. Yeah, you can put him in as one of those tens and he sort of becomes like Jesus might at times more of this off striker, slightly higher. And then the other guy, Ariola, will kind of, in this case, will probably slide under a little bit and it'll look more like a three, five, two. That's how you can do it. But again, he doesn't really know how to play that center up the middle striker role either. He's been a wing. The other thing they did is they tried an adaptation when he was at wingback that they let him stay higher and then the whole defense kind of rotated and almost became a four four two when he was at wingback. So there's that adaptation. But, yeah, right now he definitely is the guy who does not fit any of the profiles in this formation. [00:58:18] Speaker B: That would be a really weird turn of events if Bernie Kamungo just kind of disappears this season after everything that happened to him last season. [00:58:28] Speaker C: Well, somebody on the MLS extra time, when they did that golden boot draft, somebody picked Bernie. And I was like, well, it ain't going to be Bernie because somebody on. [00:58:37] Speaker B: MLS extra time thinks he's going to score the most goals in the league. [00:58:39] Speaker C: Well, it was like a 10th round pick. It wasn't a high pick, but I was like, I'll tell you, ain't going to be him. I can tell you that. It's like it was a late pick. But the point was that if he gets back to last year's total, I'll consider that a big win. If he gets back to that, what was it, four or five that he had? Because right now he does not fit this team at this profile at all, this team at all. In terms of tactics. He could be frozen out of play almost. [00:59:02] Speaker B: That would be a weird, it would suck, but weird twist of the fate if that's how it all plays out. Okay, now this is the part for the nerds. Right, guys? [00:59:13] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:59:14] Speaker B: Danny, you ready? [00:59:16] Speaker A: I was born ready. [00:59:17] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:59:18] Speaker B: It's time for kid talk. How do you want to do this? [00:59:22] Speaker C: Well, I think we should definitely talk about FCD Dallas and with a little bit of north Texas specifically, and then just run through the kiss in alphabetical order and talk really quickly about each one. We don't need to dwell on them. [00:59:32] Speaker B: All right, so congratulations, Dan Crook. Your mockup was almost spot on to what they officially revealed, which we have. Huh. Except better that we have not really talked about since it's been revealed because obviously we didn't do, or Buzz had to do the podcast by himself last week. All right, Buzz, what's your reaction to the final result? [00:59:59] Speaker C: All right. In a vacuum, I'm okay with it. It's not bad. I like halves as a general concept, if you were a halves team, this is a cool variation. I like the way the trim pops. The white is crisp. I like the mismatched shoulder. Dan's is better in terms of how the gradations work because this one has too much purple in like, if you, if you were done with hoops, this is a fun variation of halves, and that would have been cool. However, it's an FCD Dallas kit. This is, it's more blue, particularly with the blue shorts and the blue socks, than it should be. It should be more red than blue. They're almost a blue team now, right? The white trim is nice, but literally right now, this is the only thing on this kit that makes it not be an RSL kit is that it has white trim instead of yellow. And by making it predominantly blue, you've actually turned it into a revolution kit. Or in this case, because there's a big chunk of purple down the middle, too, which makes it even worse. And the giant most important thing is that it's off brand. It's like it doesn't match the brand that you have been poorly building in your kits for the last. Since they rebranded in 2004. Yes, they've slightly varied away from hoops from time to time, but there's always been some hoopish elements. Even the kits that were almost all completely red still had, like, little pinstripes, or they had, like a fade in the gradation. They were all still kind of there. This time, hoops is 100% gone. And so for that reason, I think it sucks. I mean, it's a decent enough kit. I'll probably wear it around a little bit once I eventually buy one. But it's not an FC Dallas kit. I don't know whose kit this is that you're borrowing. It has nothing to do with the club that we've been writing about for 27 seasons, but here we are with a purple kit. Purple? [01:01:36] Speaker B: Seen it in person? [01:01:37] Speaker C: No. [01:01:38] Speaker B: Okay. [01:01:38] Speaker C: But I've seen lots of images, and as you pointed out, they keep putting out images of it from the blue side. So it basically looks like a rev kit that has too much purple in the middle of it for some reason. Doesn't look like an. So, you know, that's my take on it, Dan. [01:01:55] Speaker A: I really need to see it in person. Some of the photos, it looks not necessarily a great FC Dallas shirt, but a great. Know that that gradient is just like a very smooth blue into dark purple into red. Others, it's very bright. It looks like it would, from a distance be like, by, you know, the kind of know, that kind of indigo and magenta with, like, bright purple in the middle. [01:02:34] Speaker B: Is there any way Dan and Clark hunt have talked themselves into this? Is their gay pride shirt? [01:02:39] Speaker C: No way. [01:02:40] Speaker A: Think that's probably the best part, is that they would be blissfully unaware. And then. Yeah, like Buzz says, I think the blue shorts and socks are a little bit of a cop out, particularly that they're just plain blue and white. There's no red in those elements at all. When the shorts and socks really are. And you can see this from the really exact same style with the burn baby burn kit. The black shorts have the white stripes, but they have that red trim on the back. The socks, whether it's the white or the black version, the top, the fold over part is red and then the hoops are a different color. The designers obviously had the options to do these, but just went with, oh, we're going to add all this color to the shirt, but then the shorts and socks are just going to look like something you could buy from dicks. [01:03:40] Speaker B: I completely agree with both you guys on all of this stuff. I think it just is a standalone soccer shirt. It's a really kick ass design. Yeah, the vacuum is just, it is not a Dallas shirt. And it would have looked better with white shorts with red trim and red socks. I've been quietly, passively, aggressively nudging Dan into drawing up what it would look like with white shorts and red socks. [01:04:07] Speaker A: Or even blue when I get a chance, or white, then we'll do know what we would have done as well. [01:04:14] Speaker B: Yeah. This, along with the afterburner theme phrase, catchphrase, whatever, and the promotional video with all the jets and stuff, I find all of it very confusing because is this team now suddenly super fast? Is that what we're supposed to think about? We're going to be really shocked at how quick this team is. [01:04:39] Speaker C: Counter team. [01:04:40] Speaker B: I don't know that. So when I see all of the pictures of them focusing more on the blue side of the shirt versus the red half of the shirt, to me, it always feels like because this is a group of people who clearly don't care about brand identity, that it feels like however long ago when Adidas walked up and said, here are your options, they saw this one and went, oh, that's the coolest looking one, and just pointed at it and said, let's go with that. Without putting any other thought to it. Because I agree, if you just see it, it looks like a cool design. But to your point, Buzz, it's not a burned Jersey in any way, shape or form. [01:05:25] Speaker C: My real worry is that off the success of the Ranger blue jersey, they went, oh, people love blue. And they went more blue. I mean, it's the wrong blue. [01:05:36] Speaker B: Think about that. [01:05:37] Speaker C: It's the total wrong lesson to take away where people love the Ranger Dallas tornado connection to that blue one. The variety of it as a secondary kit, not be a red team. All of a, just, it's a misfire for the brand. Like you, I agree, in a vacuum a, it's not bad. I'm going to probably wear it around it's cool. Cool shirt. And it's the bestie. That's kit terrible. [01:06:01] Speaker B: Well, and it's a weird match with the burn baby burn jersey, too. [01:06:08] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:06:09] Speaker B: Which is what really surprised me when people shot photos from cocktails and cleats and somewhere in a corner was two mannequins with the north Texas pair of jerseys, which I think, while I don't know if I like either jersey specifically a lot, I do think are a really good, solid pair of contrasting kits for a soccer team. Just in general, like off the shelf stuff. [01:06:33] Speaker C: Yeah. Particularly because they're catalog kits. Right. They're not boutique kits. And you could argue that the blue one is a more FC Dallas branded kit than the FCD Dallas kit is because it's at least got horizontal red striping on it and some white stripes. [01:06:47] Speaker A: With that one is. That is a revs kit. The entire back's blue fair, but it's. [01:06:52] Speaker C: More in line with the Dallas brand than. [01:06:55] Speaker A: Oh, definitely. And it has that kind of hoops that aren't really hoops element that is typical of FC Dallas in recent years. [01:07:05] Speaker C: Exactly. And my only question about that kit is since you're supposed to sort of. We're not supposed to. They, generally speaking, kind of try to mimic the ScDls kits in some thematic way, minus the fact they have to use a catalog kit. Well, why in the world then did you not use a halves catalog kit? Since your first team went with basically a version of a Halves kit, why did you not go with a version of a halves kit for your second team instead of going with a more on brand kit for your second team? [01:07:32] Speaker B: Because I would argue, Buzz, the fact that they had had similar designs was just purely coincidental in the past. I don't think there's anybody up there that's thinking about stuff like this in the way that the three of us. [01:07:45] Speaker C: Do look at this. [01:07:46] Speaker B: And that's not a criticism they don't have. They don't. They may not think any of this is important, and that's their right. You and I and Dan think that's ridiculous, but that's how I envision how that all goes down. [01:07:59] Speaker C: Yeah, but the secondary kit has the off white, gold and black that matches the burn baby burn kit. Right. [01:08:06] Speaker A: One thing to keep in mind is they are constantly pushing the idea that North Texas SC is in itself a different entity than duster. It's not just a reserve team, that it's something worth attending. So having a different look, albeit in the same color identity, is definitely on brand for them. I can tell you the half and half options off of the. I can't think what they even call it now. It used to be my adidas. They're crap, basically. [01:08:41] Speaker C: Fair. [01:08:42] Speaker A: Yeah. FC Cincinnati, when they had that weird blue and orange, not the half and half one that was custom, but the stripe one where the stripes were all kind of looked purple because they had, like, weird fades in them and stuff like that. That's effectively what the half and half is. It's like these little hexagons that fade into one color and it just looks a bit silly. [01:09:08] Speaker C: Right. [01:09:10] Speaker B: Well, it'll be interesting. I think the general reaction. I've been surprised how many people just don't like it, period. And I don't know if that's because of the purple. I really thought that the way that they were handling the gradient was designed to help alleviate the problem of the red to blue or blue to red gradient. That can give you the purple effect. But, man, from the photos, until I see one in person, it looks flat out, like it's got three purple stripes down the middle of shades. [01:09:41] Speaker C: Dan did a better job with that. His gradation transitions are better. He has less purple bands, basically. [01:09:47] Speaker A: I think it doesn't help as well if you see the replica version because it doesn't have the white trim. So you're punched in the face by the color transitions. There's not even something to kind of take your eye off it. [01:10:01] Speaker C: The other thing I thought was clear from Dan the way you did what I thought was better is, like, you started the gradation more in the middle with the red because, like, this one, the red is already fading out by the time you're at the badge. And so by the time you get to the middle of the kit, it's already well into purple and blue. Whereas, like, if that transition starts more in the middle, then the kit is more half red than the real one is. The real one is more than half blue. [01:10:25] Speaker A: Yeah. There's definitely an emphasis on it because there's a centered stripe in it that is purple. So I'm sure it was kind of, okay, ease the transition one side to the other from that. But the red has three or four very defined steps. And the blue, for whatever reason, the shading they chose just did not come out right. [01:10:50] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, well, if they win a molesque cup, we'll love it. [01:10:54] Speaker C: How about that? [01:11:01] Speaker B: All right, let's run through. Oh, that was my question. Do we have any idea if they're going to do that same stupid ass thing they did? Last year, which is switch between kits, probably from home game to home game. [01:11:12] Speaker A: The afterburner adverts have got both kits on, so they probably have an obligation to show both sponsors. [01:11:21] Speaker C: Yeah, that's why. It's because the fact that the sponsors are different on the two shirts they have an obligation to wear. [01:11:25] Speaker B: The second I understand why they do it, it's stupid. [01:11:28] Speaker C: I'm not saying that you should wear. [01:11:30] Speaker B: Your home kit at home, period. [01:11:32] Speaker A: If they're going to do it, they should choose a little better. Last year, having the away kit at home so that against RSL, when RSL plays in FCD Dallas colors was confusing. [01:11:43] Speaker B: It was. [01:11:44] Speaker C: Oh, I've never been asked, have people so confused about why is everyone cheering when the white team scored as that game? [01:11:50] Speaker B: I remember, yes. [01:11:52] Speaker C: Literally, like 30% of people around me were like, what's going on? The whole crowd was confused. It was awful. [01:11:58] Speaker B: All right, we're going to run through these alphabetically. We will start with the Atlanta United, what they are calling the resurgence kit. [01:12:07] Speaker C: I actually like it. I thought it was a plant. It turns out it's a phoenix. I think this is a pretty good. [01:12:13] Speaker B: If that's very confusing buzz. You thought it was a plant? [01:12:19] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, so there's something about this. Well, Atlanta apparently rose from the ground and reborn. Right. It's a phoenix. So it's a phoenix. I thought it was a flower. [01:12:28] Speaker B: That's what it looked like to me, too. [01:12:30] Speaker C: Yeah. Either way, I think it looks kind of cool. The fact it's not a flower and it's actually a phoenix, I don't care. It looks cool to me. [01:12:36] Speaker B: All right, Dan. [01:12:38] Speaker C: I like it. [01:12:38] Speaker A: No, I think it's great because it's the city crest, isn't it, from. [01:12:43] Speaker B: Yeah. The Phoenix is in there. Yeah. [01:12:46] Speaker A: I just think it looks really know. The head of it kind of is centered on the Atlanta United logo. It's not kind of confusing in what it looks like, but from a distance, you don't have to know it's a phoenix. It just kind of looks like a really cool. [01:13:03] Speaker B: Just. It bothers me that it looks like it could be Nashville's secondary kit with the yellow and blue in it. [01:13:11] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay. Off brand colors. [01:13:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:13:14] Speaker C: Leeds United kit. Third kit. [01:13:17] Speaker B: Well, no, specifically Nashville, since they're adjacent to each other, which will take me to my criticism of the Orlando kit here in a little bit. Austin and their armadillo kit, which is hilarious to me, that they're celebrating a vaunted historic studio, recording or music venue that they tore down for an office building 2030 years ago. Very strange. But what do you think of their creamy and green kit? [01:13:43] Speaker C: Trash. [01:13:45] Speaker B: Just because it's awesome or you just don't like it? [01:13:47] Speaker C: No, I don't care that it's awesome. It's trash. It's a bad. [01:13:49] Speaker A: It just looks like a pair of kids pajamas. [01:13:52] Speaker C: Yeah, it's a bad kid. It looks like a dirty kit that didn't get washed. Right. [01:13:57] Speaker B: Okay. Did we say that about the burn baby burn kit last year too? [01:14:01] Speaker C: No, because that actually has a pattern. This is just a crappy looking, not white kit. [01:14:06] Speaker B: Okay. [01:14:07] Speaker C: It's all faded like you washed it with your dirty cleats or something. [01:14:10] Speaker A: It's apartment wool, beige. [01:14:13] Speaker B: I'm going to say this. I think it's a success only because it allows them to get away from that stupid off green color kit that they were wearing as a secondary last prior to this. [01:14:24] Speaker C: Well, it's better than that, I guess. [01:14:25] Speaker B: It's a vast improvement over that. [01:14:27] Speaker A: Some of the photos of it. That green still looks off. Like really off. [01:14:32] Speaker B: Well, it's definitely not the same green that's in the primary kit, but at least it's not that weird toothpaste green that the previous kit was. [01:14:39] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:14:39] Speaker B: Fair Charlotte. I think the Charlotte kit is a win. I like this kit. [01:14:46] Speaker C: I agree completely. I think this is tremendous. Mean, if you've ever been to the Smoky Mountains, it looks just like the Smoky Mountains. It's beautiful. It's a really good kit. [01:14:55] Speaker B: How do you pronounce those mountains? [01:14:57] Speaker C: Smoky Mountains. [01:14:58] Speaker B: Oh, it sounded like you said smoky. [01:15:00] Speaker C: Smoky, isn't it? [01:15:01] Speaker A: The Blue Mountains. [01:15:03] Speaker C: Well, it's the same thing. It's all the same thing. Smoky mountains. You know, Appalachia, Smoky Mountain National park, it's all the same area. [01:15:11] Speaker A: I have one problem with it. Just one problem. And it's the same thing as the stars at night where it looked really cool, the fade up to the blue. But then MLS forced them to have FC Dallas to have white everything with them. That jersey is paired with white shorts and white socks and very much like FCD Dallas. It's plain white with black trim. What would have looked really cool is if they'd have had a darker blue as the shorts and an even darker blue or a black as the socks. And then you just complete that slow transition down the entire kit. [01:15:54] Speaker C: That would have been good. [01:15:55] Speaker A: Yeah. It just feels like a little bit of a cop out. [01:15:58] Speaker B: Will this be their light kit? Because what is Charlotte's primary regular blue, I think. Blue. Yeah, Carolina blue. [01:16:05] Speaker C: This is their. [01:16:05] Speaker B: Like it interesting. Okay. The fire went back to their normal jam. I'm fine with it. [01:16:17] Speaker C: Yeah, full credit, 100% credit for going back to their branding theme and getting it right. This is what Dallas has never understood, never done right. [01:16:25] Speaker B: And I will say they deserve full credit for including the city light blue highlight in the stripe. [01:16:33] Speaker C: That really makes great execution of the brand for your club. [01:16:37] Speaker A: Yeah. And it doesn't encroach in any way on the way that Vancouver had their throwback to white, a very similar blue and navy blue. It is a typical Chicago fire look to it. [01:16:54] Speaker B: All right, Cincinnati with the canvas kit. I will submit that they rescued this with the trim pattern. [01:17:02] Speaker C: I agree with that. I think it's a boring kit, but that trim pattern is the saving grace that makes it better than the other white kits. [01:17:09] Speaker A: It's crap. [01:17:12] Speaker B: Okay. [01:17:13] Speaker C: It's mostly crap. I'm mostly crap. [01:17:16] Speaker B: Mostly crap. [01:17:17] Speaker C: It's slightly better than the other white kits because of the trim. [01:17:19] Speaker B: Okay. All right. What are we thinking about the rapids new checkered pattern thingamajig? [01:17:29] Speaker C: Well, you guys go first because I feel like I might be an outlier on this. [01:17:32] Speaker A: Oh, buzz loves it. I actually want to see it with the shorts and socks. The jersey itself is cool. I like the pattern. I don't really understand. I know they're calling it one flag kit. I don't really understand why. To me, if you're going to do something with a flag, that should probably be the Colorado flag. And they had that really cool blue, white and red away shirt with the flag in the middle of it a few years ago. But as a jersey, it's totally serviceable. [01:18:10] Speaker B: Okay. [01:18:11] Speaker C: I think it's great. I think this is one of the best jerseys in the league. Now they're wearing it with maroon shorts instead of the blue shorts. It needed the blue shortest. Yeah, it needed the blue shorts and keep the maroon socks, but the kit itself is phenomenal. I love this kit. [01:18:26] Speaker B: Are they at least wearing the light blue socks with. [01:18:30] Speaker C: No, it's maroon. [01:18:31] Speaker B: That would look kick ass if you wore the top with the maroon shorts and the bluish socks. That would be a cool Chelsea. [01:18:36] Speaker C: That would also be good. [01:18:37] Speaker B: That would be really cool. [01:18:38] Speaker C: That would have been awesome. That's a good variation. But one of the other two elements should have been the blue to really make it pop. [01:18:44] Speaker B: I dig the design and I agree that it needed something else in terms of shorts and socks. All right. Everybody's called it the Charlie Brown kit, the Columbus crew. I think it's. It is, but I'm fine with it. [01:19:00] Speaker C: I think you embrace it. I think you call yourselves the Charlie Browns. [01:19:02] Speaker B: From now on, I just call the team peanuts. [01:19:05] Speaker C: Yeah, that's their new nickname, the Peanuts. [01:19:07] Speaker B: The Peanuts. [01:19:08] Speaker A: I missed a trick by not. Actually. I should have flipped that pattern because then it would have matched the logo. [01:19:16] Speaker C: Yeah, that's true. [01:19:17] Speaker B: Interesting. Okay, good call. I like this one. I think the new DC united shirt is really sharp. I love the all black and the super bright red trim. I think the red pops on this, and I love the design in the black pattern. [01:19:31] Speaker C: Yeah, totally agree. This is 100% on brand. It's well done. This is a great jersey. Well executed. Among black kits, having that really bright red really helps it. This is a tremendous. [01:19:42] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, love it. I don't understand why a lot of people don't. [01:19:47] Speaker B: I just don't like DC United. Okay. I've lived in Texas. Most of my, and my wife is from Houston. I had no idea that purple is an official color of the city of Houston. Like a secondary color for the city. Did you know that's where I've read that. That's where the inspiration for going to a purple shirt as their secondary shirt comes from is because purple is in the city color scheme. [01:20:19] Speaker C: I've never heard that before in my life. [01:20:21] Speaker B: I haven't either. [01:20:22] Speaker C: I believe it. I just have never heard that. That doesn't mean it's not. The thing I don't like about it is that purple has not been in their color palette. They were all orange, black, and white, and have been since they redid their logo. So this is like, a big departure. Now, I grant you that maybe it's better than the black in terms of, like, a variety or something, but, yeah, I mean, orange is their primary. [01:20:45] Speaker B: I'm reading from the press release, sporting a bright purple parentheses, the city's unofficial secondary color. [01:20:53] Speaker C: Yeah. I don't remember a Houston team ever wearing purple before, certainly not the Texans or the Oilers or the rockets. [01:21:01] Speaker B: I meant to ask my wife if she knew this. [01:21:04] Speaker C: Even the Astros tequila jersey, tequila sunrise jersey is not purple. It's orange yellow. And know, I believe they're not making it up, but I just never listen. I'm not a Houston guy. What do I know? So I think this is a bad kit. I mean, I don't like it. [01:21:19] Speaker B: Well, I'm going to say this like the Dallas kit. I think as a shirt, it's a cool design. I actually like the orange and purple match as a don't. As a Houston shirt, I don't like it. [01:21:33] Speaker C: Yeah, it's off brand again. [01:21:34] Speaker A: Well, it's also very plain. Yeah. I mean, they're centering the entire design on a color. [01:21:45] Speaker C: Another team's. [01:21:48] Speaker B: I mean, well, but Dallas did that with the baby blue. And we love the powder blue jerseys. Whoa. What? [01:21:55] Speaker A: Well, that had that red and blue pattern in it as well. [01:22:01] Speaker C: Yeah. That was a variation on the ranger pattern more than it was somebody else's. Like man city or something. [01:22:07] Speaker A: Yeah. At this point, those jerseys have gone up to $150 without any kind of customization. I don't know. I'm not paying $150 of anyone's money for something that's that plain. [01:22:25] Speaker B: Okay, well, this isn't plain sporting. Kansas City back at the Argyle with the diamond pattern. I like this shirt. I love the fact that they keep sticking with this argyle diamond pattern thing. I wish they would do it more on a regular basis. I think this is a good looking shirt. [01:22:42] Speaker C: Yeah, I totally agree. It's on brand again brand. Right. It's like this. When you see this kit, if you follow this league at all, you know, it's a sporting. [01:22:50] Speaker B: That's Kansas City. Yeah. [01:22:51] Speaker C: You know, it's like, they nailed it. I'm with you. I wish they'd do it more, but they mix it in and out. That's fine. It's exactly on point in the sense of like, the minute anyone that follows soccer here sees it, they know it is. [01:23:05] Speaker A: It's a great kid, Dan, completely with you. I think it's going back to a pattern that they've used now for over a decade, and they've managed to do it in kind of a fresh way. It's interesting, and this is kind of a perfect example of what could have been of that Houston one. It is at its heart, a very plain navy blue and sky blue jersey. But they've added that subtle pattern in just to kind of make it interesting. [01:23:40] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:23:41] Speaker B: And sticking with the theme and putting a twist on it, la with their new angelino kit, which is a negative space sash. And I like the three yellow stripes on the side and on the sleeve. I think this is a good looking shirt. I like this one. [01:23:58] Speaker C: Yeah. This is a progressive design for me in the sense that they've kept the slash, they've kept the style, which is a mostly white jersey. It's a variation on that thing. That's good. I get distracted by the five stars over the logo, which annoys me, but can't help that. [01:24:13] Speaker B: Didn't MLS say that they were going to a whole star structure where once you got five, you went to a single giant gold star or something. [01:24:21] Speaker A: They did it, then they went back on. [01:24:23] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [01:24:23] Speaker C: Well, they do have one gold one or four white ones, but I don't know whether the rules are on that. But for a variation on their brand. Again, well done. [01:24:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it looks cool. [01:24:36] Speaker B: All right. When I first saw this, I thought this was going to be my favorite kit of the year. It's not anymore, but it's still one of my favorites. The new LAFC black kit with the gold pinstripes. [01:24:50] Speaker A: Not a fan of the pinstripes. If they were the same, that'd be great. But where they kind of thicken them, two varying styles, it always just looks a little bit messy every time I see a picture of it. [01:25:03] Speaker B: Yeah. I would say to you I would agree, because when I first saw it, I think I saw an illustration versus a photo. So when I saw a photo and realized that the stripes were kind of a slight fade versus a solid, that did detract, that's probably part of the reason why it's not my favorite anymore. But I still like it. [01:25:20] Speaker C: In general, I agree with Dan saying about the pinstripe. The matching pinstripes would have been the same, but overall, Peter, I'm with you. I think this is a tremendous jersey. I love this jersey. This reminds me of the favorite versions of the Dallas kits from the early days, what we call pin hoops. We really liked. Dan's right about them not being the same all the way across. That would have been better, but this is an outstanding kit. [01:25:43] Speaker A: I would have liked it probably more if they did kind of something like FC Dallas had with that 2016 pin hoop where it was actually, the red was different shades of red in between. Yeah, they've obviously had gray in the kit from the art deco on the last one. If they kind of varied up the shading of the black in between the pinstripes, that might have been. Just made it a little bit more palatable. [01:26:13] Speaker B: All right, Miami in their pink thing. I think to. I'm going to let you guys go first and see if you're going to say what I'm thinking. [01:26:21] Speaker C: I like that the pink is the brighter pink. And I personally like a centered logo. A lot of people do not. I like a centered logo. This kit is a little boring. But for a pink kit with black trim, it's perfectly fine. It's sort of middle of the pack for me. [01:26:36] Speaker A: I think the thing that hurts it is the last one was really cool. It was very totally plain. It had the nice fold over color. It was a very. That lighter pink. That into Miami, adopted in the first place. This feels a little bit more suffers by. [01:26:58] Speaker B: Don't. I don't like centered logos in general, but I think what really hurts this with it being a centered club crest is the goofy sponsor boat anchor design underneath it. It makes everything so center heavy and then everything else is just an ocean of pink and it just all looks a little wonky to me. [01:27:25] Speaker A: It's too symmetrical as well. The Adidas logo is a triangle. [01:27:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:27:30] Speaker A: The Miami crest is a circle, the anchor, perfectly symmetrical. If you had, like. I don't know. [01:27:37] Speaker B: Well, if they just had a horizontal sponsor of some sort to kind of underline it or something, I think that would have been better. [01:27:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Or even know, Minnesota United's logo, it just kind of like that little bit of asymmetrical nature just kind of makes things a little less, I don't know, overly structured. [01:28:00] Speaker B: Okay, well, you mentioned Minnesota United, and I gotta say I am shocked at the number of people who think this is a kick ass winning kit. [01:28:12] Speaker A: I was with them until I saw that Adidas actually used the exact same print in a different color on another jersey and the other jersey did it better. [01:28:24] Speaker B: What color was it in the other jersey? [01:28:26] Speaker A: I do not remember. [01:28:28] Speaker B: Okay. [01:28:29] Speaker C: I am a hypocrite. [01:28:31] Speaker B: Oh, no. You're going to tell me you like this. [01:28:34] Speaker C: I think that the FC Dallas Starry night kit was utter bonkers trash. [01:28:38] Speaker B: It was. [01:28:39] Speaker C: I like this one. [01:28:40] Speaker A: Well, this one's actually executed unlike that one. [01:28:43] Speaker C: Maybe that's the difference. I like this. [01:28:48] Speaker B: I mean, if we're looking at a shirt that is supposed to represent the starry night, then, yes, Dallas's was bad and this is better. But I don't like bit kits. And this is a bit. [01:29:00] Speaker C: Totally. I agree. That's why I'm a hypocrite. I totally hate bit kits. I like this one. [01:29:07] Speaker B: All right. [01:29:07] Speaker C: I don't know why. [01:29:08] Speaker A: As far as a bit kit, the north star is a big feature of their logo. So kind of having a kit surrounding that is nice. That trim that kind of runs down the side and the back, I think it has is this north star in French, which is a really nice touch if you want to go to that kind of like micro level. [01:29:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Is this going to be their primary? [01:29:35] Speaker C: I think there are other. [01:29:36] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it says this. Yeah. Their primary jersey, which means they're getting away from the gray, the dark gray. [01:29:45] Speaker C: The other one is that one that is white on the bottom and it has pink and powder blue on the top, which is a terrible kit. But I like this one. [01:29:53] Speaker B: Okay. [01:29:54] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:29:54] Speaker B: Well, I love me an offset racing stripe design and Montreal has that. So in my book, this is a giant win. [01:30:03] Speaker C: Yeah. I knew you were going to love this one because this is like that Spain kit that you love. And there's a couple of people that have had a kit just like this one. It's a good. As white kits go. I don't hate this one. This one's okay for me because of the same reason. That stripe through the logo, it's blue. [01:30:18] Speaker B: It's what? [01:30:19] Speaker A: It's not white. [01:30:20] Speaker C: It's not solid white with a blue. It's like a soft blue. Oh, my God. [01:30:25] Speaker A: Going to send you a picture of it. I found it. [01:30:28] Speaker C: Oh, never mind. I hate this thought kit. This is awful. [01:30:31] Speaker B: Oh, wow. It is like a light blue, isn't it? I did not know this. I did too. [01:30:36] Speaker C: Yeah, the main header photo, like of all the stuff, it looks very white. It's not white. [01:30:40] Speaker A: MLS has just put weird filters on them all. Again. [01:30:44] Speaker C: That is awful. [01:30:45] Speaker A: No, that's beautiful. [01:30:47] Speaker C: You think it's beautiful? [01:30:48] Speaker A: That's my favorite color, which is a big bias. But I also really like the way they did that stripe. I think it just looks. Know, the feathering on it looks really cool. [01:30:58] Speaker B: Stripe is great. I don't like it any more or less than I did when I thought it was white. I was just surprised to find out that it's not white. [01:31:05] Speaker C: I can't stand it not being white. This blue on blue, I don't like. [01:31:08] Speaker B: All right. [01:31:09] Speaker C: I was all in when I thought it was not all in. I thought I liked it better, but I thought it was. [01:31:12] Speaker B: Oh, man, talk about a shirt. I do not like the new Nashville jersey looks dumb. [01:31:19] Speaker A: I mean, it's a nice throwback to when they had those under armour ones in. [01:31:28] Speaker B: Like, it looks like a kit out of a. [01:31:34] Speaker A: Mean that that is a throwback to a kit that was out of a. [01:31:38] Speaker C: And the. But the bar is Chicago's bit now. The thing they did change to was blue pants, blue shorts, which I've said all on blue shorts, yellow socks. [01:31:47] Speaker B: I'm excited about that. [01:31:48] Speaker A: Been saying that they also changed the blue. [01:31:51] Speaker C: Oh, did they? Yeah. [01:31:52] Speaker B: This is a lighter blue than they've been wearing it, Piers. Like more of a royal blue versus a navy blue. [01:31:58] Speaker C: Yeah. The kit itself is not a great execution, but full credit for doing the yellow. Blue shorts, yellow socks that I've been saying since they were founded that they should have done because they needed a differentiation from Columbus's solid yellow. [01:32:11] Speaker B: Okay, what do we think of the New England revolution. Marvel kit. [01:32:19] Speaker A: Love it. [01:32:20] Speaker C: Yeah, it's fine. I'm not a lead on it. I think it's fine. [01:32:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. I kind of like the dotted stripes. [01:32:28] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:32:29] Speaker A: I don't understand why it's called a Boston tea party kit, but it's a really cool shirt. [01:32:35] Speaker B: I know that's a problem in your history, Dan, and you probably have a negative bias towards talking about the Boston tea party and what it means to your country, but jack shit, if the. [01:32:48] Speaker C: Stripes were horizontal, it'd be a great burn kit. [01:32:51] Speaker A: Yeah, 100%. Yeah. No, I just mean, like, you know, like when they did the. Whatever they called. Whatever it was called. But it was that one that had, like, the light blue, and it was, like, the Continental army uniform or the officers uniform, and it was 100% in the theme. I don't understand. [01:33:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know why they're calling. I don't either. I'm totally with you. This is insane. And I love it. The Red Bull kit. [01:33:20] Speaker A: Beautiful. Great metro throwback. [01:33:24] Speaker B: You know, I hadn't even thought about that. But you're right. It is all right. [01:33:28] Speaker C: Now that you've said that I can buy it, because I was saying it's a gimmick kit. I hate it. I think it's sort of. If you want to say it's a metro stowback. Okay. I can sort of see that. [01:33:37] Speaker B: I don't think it's a bit kit. [01:33:38] Speaker A: Don't forget, like, New York Red Bull fans had been crying out for a white and black stripe or a red black stripe since about 2006 when they had that really nice one that was about to be used, and then the sale happened and they changed it. [01:33:59] Speaker C: Yeah. This, to me, looks like whatever the new pattern you've made up with it, you're going to have this one weird pattern in your catalog that there's, like, eight versions of this black with every other color. [01:34:10] Speaker A: If that was blue instead of red, that would make an amazing San Jose earthquakes kit. [01:34:16] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh, you're right, because that's. [01:34:19] Speaker C: The earthquake symbol on the thing. Yeah. Yes. I don't like this kit at all. I think it's terrible. [01:34:25] Speaker B: All right, NYCFC, despite the fact that in general it looks like a garbage bag, I do love the fact that it's split orange on one half and the trim on the other side is light blue. I dig that a lot. [01:34:38] Speaker C: It's a good way to spice up a black kit. It's nice. [01:34:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Kind of trying to make the most out of not a lot, right? [01:34:49] Speaker C: Yeah. Middle of the pack, clean. Fine. [01:34:51] Speaker B: Okay. [01:34:51] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:34:52] Speaker B: All right, here we go. Now, I've predicted them earlier today as MLS cup champions this season, but somebody tell me that this shirt. Please tell me that this shirt is a light purple and it is not pink. [01:35:11] Speaker A: It is light purple. [01:35:12] Speaker B: Thank God. Okay, now, I like it a lot more because obviously I love it for its throwback. USL Orlando City crest. The use of that, which, by the way, was another thing that I liked about the Austin kit, was that they used the secondary logo. I meant to mention that, but I do like this. If in fact this is purple, I've seen too many photos of it where it looks Miami pink, and I just want to scream if that's what it was, but if you're telling me it is in fact a light purple, I think this is a winner of a kit. [01:35:40] Speaker C: I think it's. What I think is red trim or orange trim is making you think it's pink because it's definitely more purple. [01:35:47] Speaker A: Okay. There are a couple of pictures out there where it looks really pink. [01:35:53] Speaker B: It does. I know. I've seen it. That's got to be a bad filtering or a bad photo. What do you think of it, Dan? [01:36:02] Speaker A: I like it. This is, weirdly, probably the only shirt I think looks better as a replica than an authentic because the sleeve trim doesn't match the collar and the collar is what came from the original jersey. It was that really light purple, the deeper purple, white and red. It's a cool throwback. A little like the New York City thing. It's weird to do a throwback to something that was within the last decade, but here we are. I mean, I don't like it as a jersey, but I like the concept of it. [01:36:42] Speaker B: Okay. [01:36:45] Speaker C: You can let me say what I think. [01:36:46] Speaker B: Oh, I thought you did. I'm sorry, Buzz. [01:36:48] Speaker C: Nope. I hate it. [01:36:49] Speaker B: Why? [01:36:50] Speaker C: Because the kit that they just got rid of is perhaps the greatest kit in MLS history, and this thing is trash, comparatively speaking. They had that purple sunburst thing. [01:37:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:37:04] Speaker C: So gorgeous. And I will tell you that as one of the very few kits from another team I've ever bought in my life in this league, because that jersey is so beautiful. [01:37:14] Speaker A: I wonder if. On sale. [01:37:16] Speaker C: Yeah, I bought at the end of the season when it was $20 by comparison. Listen, I get the old logo. That's fun. But for me, the execution on this is just pails of pails. Pails in comparison to how stunningly great the one they're replacing. It was. [01:37:33] Speaker B: That seems very unfair to this particular kit. [01:37:36] Speaker C: It may be unfair, but sometimes comparison matters, and I'm not a fan. [01:37:41] Speaker B: All right. I hated the original Philly union solid center vertical stripe design. I really like this, though. [01:37:52] Speaker C: Yep. This is well done in the sense of, like, it goes back to their brand of that thing, that center channel, that ix style center with. With, like, a little variation on it. It has the digitalized sort of gradient that we've seen in some of these kits this year, so it follows that MLS theme. The trims are nice. Yeah, this is well done. If this is your kit, it's well done. [01:38:12] Speaker B: I like that the diamonds aren't all. They aren't just one color. Like, there's a mix of the silver and the blue or whatever that other color is. [01:38:20] Speaker C: I think this is the snake skin motif. [01:38:23] Speaker B: Snake logo. Yeah, I dig that. I dig it a lot. What do you think, Dan? [01:38:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I like it. I like they kept that kind know, snaky look. It was a really good execution of that. That center stripe. Yeah, I like that they've got away from that whole just, like, blue and gold because the old gold was a little bit boring. Yeah, I like it. It's solid. [01:38:56] Speaker B: And maybe for the first time in their MLS history, I'm not a fan of the Portland timbers kit. [01:39:05] Speaker A: This is a big improvement over the grandmother's curtains, I think. [01:39:09] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:39:10] Speaker A: Not massively, but. [01:39:13] Speaker B: Okay. [01:39:14] Speaker C: I like the pine needles. I think that's kind of fun, but that's about it. [01:39:19] Speaker B: I think I would have been fine with the pine needles if they had carried it through the shirt and not made it like this weird trim thing, like, all of the white space in the middle with the pine needles around the edges just. I don't know, it doesn't make any sense to me. [01:39:37] Speaker C: I almost feel like this would have been a better concept if they'd have held this till the next green kit and gone heavy on the pine needles to make it solid green and make it out your dark kit by overloading it with the pine needles and just not tried to cram it in on the sides of a light colored kit. That might have been better. [01:39:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Real salt lake. [01:39:59] Speaker A: Love it. [01:40:00] Speaker C: Yeah, it's really good. [01:40:02] Speaker A: 2017 FC Dallas. That is how you do a state flag. [01:40:08] Speaker B: Yes. 100% agree. Do we know what color shorts they're wearing with it? [01:40:15] Speaker C: Do not. [01:40:16] Speaker A: Usually. [01:40:17] Speaker C: It's blue, I think, isn't it? I don't really remember, to be fair. [01:40:20] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, that's typically what they wear is. It'd be interesting if they wore it with, like, yellow shorts. [01:40:28] Speaker C: That's their other kits. Yellow. That yellow, yellow, yellow color. [01:40:32] Speaker B: Okay. [01:40:33] Speaker C: And they could do that. They could borrow those yellow shorts. It's that weird mustardy kit, the one they have that's kind know. Yeah, it's well done. It's a good execution. [01:40:47] Speaker B: Dan, do you like it, did you say? [01:40:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I absolutely love it. I was trying to look for any pictures that show the shorts. So they're going to have the cobalt shorts and claret socks with the yellow trim on both. [01:41:03] Speaker B: That'll look nice. [01:41:04] Speaker A: Yeah, that will look nice. Really nice. [01:41:08] Speaker C: No, that's better than Dallas with the Red Sox. That really helps. [01:41:12] Speaker B: All right. San Jose have unveiled yet another white secondary kit and the only thing that's redeeming about this in my mind is that they're using the old quakes logo from the USL days. [01:41:24] Speaker C: Yeah, agree. [01:41:26] Speaker B: Which seems like a last second thought of how could we make this better? And I am interested in the conversation about where the idea of some of these clubs using secondary logos and or throwback logos started and came from. I thought I'd love to know the history or the background on that. [01:41:45] Speaker C: You might like the cool sort of satin 70 style quakes jacket that one of the guys has on MLS. That's kind of cool. [01:41:53] Speaker B: Oh, I see that. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, that is cool. [01:41:57] Speaker A: I do like with the quake shirt that they've made use of that little side stripe to make it black and then have the white bordering kind of to look like the early 70s jerseys. Like when. I think when George Best was there. [01:42:20] Speaker C: Right. [01:42:23] Speaker B: Drinking heavily. [01:42:24] Speaker A: Well, but ultimately, if you're going to do a throwback, then at least do it right, right? [01:42:30] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. All right. I'm interested in both of y'all's opinions on the new Seattle Sounders anniversary kit and somewhat of a rebrand. [01:42:43] Speaker C: Well, rebrand aside, best kit in the league this year. [01:42:48] Speaker A: Yes, I hated it at first from the leak, but I think when you see it with the shorts and socks, it just looks phenomenal. I hate the logo. The logo is dog shit, but the shirt, I think, just, I don't know if it looks like a throwback. Seattle sound as anything, but it looks like a 1980s, really fantastic kit. [01:43:17] Speaker B: I know it's going to drive a lot of the curious nuts, but I am going to complete the trifecta of celebrating how awesome this shirt is. And when you put it with the blue shorts and white socks and white socks, it's farting amazing. This instantly rockets up to one of my all time favorite shirts in MLS and kits in MLS history. This is amazing. And I really, honestly hope. I know this is a throwback to the 50 years and everything. I hope that Seattle sticks with this color theme of this blue and this green and the white after this season. [01:43:54] Speaker A: I got to say as well, we were talking about that FC Dallas pinstripe with the different reds. Seeing the further out photos of this jersey. That blue doesn't stick out nearly as much as it did from the previews. It kind of fades in a little bit with that darker green around it and just makes it look like an old school double pinstripe. [01:44:18] Speaker C: This is how important your shorts and socks are. If you have that same green as shorts and socks, this kit sucks. [01:44:25] Speaker B: I agree. [01:44:25] Speaker C: Having the blue and the white also. So as you're breaking it up, it has the variations. Like this is again coming back to FC Dallas. If you take any FC Dallas kit of the last six or seven years, the home ones, and you pair them with white shorts instead, it's 1000 times better across the board. And this is a perfect example of why that's true. Right? Look at any of the photos from the academy when they wear the white shorts with the home uniform. This is gorgeous. [01:44:53] Speaker A: 2016 to when they wore the white shorts because of Castillo turning up at the media day with the wrong shorts. And then the next year when they went back to the red and the jersey just didn't look as good. [01:45:10] Speaker C: Yeah, it's so much better when you have some contrast. [01:45:13] Speaker B: God, I hate fucking Seattle. [01:45:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I know. It's honestly probably the best run franchise in the league. Honestly, it's ridiculous. [01:45:22] Speaker B: Such a good kit. Good Lord. All right. Seattle threw out their white shirt. Not Seattle. St. Louis throws out a white shirt with that cherry candy red kind of color. I know it's got some sort of thumbprint design in the background. It's pretty plain. [01:45:38] Speaker C: Is that what the waves are? Is it a thumbprint? Is that what that is? [01:45:41] Speaker A: It's another one where don't look at the MLS preview picture because they removed so much of the contrast that. Oh, sorry. No, they just over brightened it that you can barely see that pattern. The pattern is actually pretty visible in the jersey, which is the only thing that salvages it. [01:46:04] Speaker C: Yeah, it's not a very good kit for me. It's bad. [01:46:09] Speaker B: All right. I think everybody generally, this is the shirt that everybody's crapped on the most, which is the Toronto white thingamajig. I'm not 100% sure why it's just a white shirt to me. I don't know why everybody hates this so much. [01:46:25] Speaker C: It's just boring. Have they just completely given up as a franchise on doing anything interesting? They got a secondary logo. I guess that's kind of interesting. [01:46:33] Speaker A: That's part of the problem. The secondary logo is crap. They don't have the best logo in the league, but that secondary is a pretty bad downgrade. And then to just weirdly repeat that shield, that very generic shield on the jersey is just weird. And then the whole GTA kit thing. I've definitely heard from people from Toronto that GTA isn't necessarily as common a phrase as the club is trying to. [01:47:10] Speaker B: Say it as GTA stands for area. [01:47:16] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, global. Well, it's supposed to be greater, but on the jersey they've put global. [01:47:22] Speaker C: I guess it's like saying DFW GTA, greater Toronto area. Okay, I guess. [01:47:26] Speaker A: Well, that's it. But they're calling it global Toronto area. So it'd be like DFW Dallas fucking worth. [01:47:34] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:47:34] Speaker A: Doesn't make sense. [01:47:36] Speaker B: And last but not least, Vancouver with a new secondary shirt. I'm just going to say this is my favorite color combination, navy blue with yellow and white. And I think this is a really sharp. I know it's really plain, but I think it's just a solid, solid kit. I'd like to know what they're going to wear for shorts. It looks like the same blue shorts, which is kind of a bummer because this will look kick ass with white shorts or the matching gold or whatever or something to contrast it. But I do like the shirt in general. [01:48:06] Speaker C: This is an example of a simple execution that actually works. It is modeled on a throwback. So they sort of were limited in the sense of like this 50 anniversary or whatever that they were trying to replicate. But you're right that the navy and blue is a really nice navy and blue. Navy and white and yellow is a really nice combination. I really like that color pattern, too. So for a team that is usually a relatively solid top, and their home kit is one of the best, when they have the white with the bar and the red numbers on it, that's really good. So if they keep up the alterations where they've had white shorts with it, if they keep that up, or maybe even yellow this time, that'll look really good. But I think the pictures are showing them with Navy, although they do have white socks with it, Peter, which is really help. Give it a little Chelsea, a little vibe for you there. So the white socks is a nice change if they can keep that, but well executed, simple pet shirt for sure. [01:49:10] Speaker A: Well, I'm going to disappoint you both. I hate it. [01:49:14] Speaker C: Oh, you think it's boring. [01:49:16] Speaker A: I don't understand it. Vancouver had what they for 50 years ago. Their jersey was white and red. It wasn't navy blue. So I don't really understand where that comes from. We all think of the. [01:49:34] Speaker B: I just assumed this is a throwback to whatever they were wearing 50 years ago. Interesting. [01:49:40] Speaker A: I did too, because it's even called like the 50th something. [01:49:43] Speaker B: The 50 jersey is what they're calling. [01:49:45] Speaker A: It, but it's not. I mean, it is their 50th anniversary of the original white caps. But I think most people think of that 1979 onwards, which they've obviously done a lot with the blue band, or the reverse with the blue, with the white band, which they've had a couple of phenomenal executions of. I own one of those, like buzz, it's one of those times where you're like, oh, I'm going to buy another team's jersey. It's that good. I just don't understand where this navy yellow and white comes from. [01:50:21] Speaker C: Yeah, Dan's right. Look in the back of the pictures in 79, they had that bar, that was a blue top of the bar and white shorts. [01:50:28] Speaker A: Before that it was white with red. And I just don't understand where. Because back then the white caps logo was a red soccer ball with the maple leaf inside. It wasn't. [01:50:40] Speaker C: Yeah, well, fair criticism then. Still a good execution of a symbol design, but fair criticism. [01:50:46] Speaker B: Well, it still will never get close to the greatest kit they ever had, which was the brown one. [01:50:51] Speaker C: Oh, that's a great kit. Yeah. [01:50:52] Speaker B: God, that kit was awesome. And I wish I had bought one back at the time. [01:50:55] Speaker C: That's a top ten ML. [01:50:56] Speaker A: They've had some really cool way kits. They've had the execution of the band. They had that when blasphem signed from that top to bottom gradient, that kind of shit all over the version of that that the US national team has tried to. Yeah, they've had some phenomenal ones. So it's another one for me that it doesn't keep up with that high standard in a vacuum. Yeah, that's a cool kit. That would make a great Philadelphia alternate. But that's fair. Say white caps. [01:51:38] Speaker C: To me, that's fair. [01:51:42] Speaker B: Overall, I would say that this has been a good year for shirt designs. Absolutely. And man, we're so far away from everybody just getting a white shirt. I'm relieved about that. [01:51:54] Speaker C: That was so bad, if you remember. [01:51:56] Speaker B: Yes. It wasn't that long ago. No, for sure. All right. Any other last second kit thoughts before we wrap this up, what do you. [01:52:07] Speaker A: All think of the goalkeeper jerseys? [01:52:10] Speaker C: I like the black one. Okay. [01:52:12] Speaker A: I was surprised to see how many people have said they really like just all of them. [01:52:18] Speaker B: I've only seen photos, and I guess I saw a little bit of both of them in the Miami real Salt lake game last night, and they didn't stand out to me one way or the other. Dan. Maybe I'll just have to pay closer attention. All I want to know is Martin paws wearing an all black kit with red gloves again this year, because that's the most kick ass. Yeah, I believe keeper, get up. You could possibly imagine. That was awesome last year. [01:52:45] Speaker A: He did tell me it's his favorite combination, but the gloves just happened to be a coincidence. [01:52:52] Speaker B: No. Well, tell him to keep going with it. All right. [01:52:57] Speaker C: Well, boys, I got one tiny little thing. [01:53:00] Speaker B: Oh, sorry. [01:53:01] Speaker C: Yeah, so I went. I told you I watched north Texas scrimmage the other day. They had a trials there that somebody I know recognized. Dan. I was going to see if you know this name. He's from Bristol City. His name is Duncan. Sorry, identical city. He's been on loan for a couple of other teams, and apparently he's british, but he's got from nigerian descent. Anyway, he's at north Texas on trial. He's like 20 years old. So I just thought it was an off chance Dan might know him because somebody I knew, know, recognized and was like, oh, that's so and so from Bristol City. I was like, oh, okay. So I wrote it down anyway. Tiny thing. [01:53:41] Speaker A: Just want to throw that out there, so I do. [01:53:43] Speaker C: Okay. He was with Carlisle United, a little on loan. And is it Yuvaltown? Yeoviltown. [01:53:47] Speaker B: I don't know how you say yeovaltown. [01:53:49] Speaker A: Yoville. [01:53:49] Speaker B: Buzz, do you think everybody in England knows each other? [01:53:52] Speaker C: No, but Dan is a soccer follower of. I didn't mean does he know him personally? Oh, I just meant does he recognize him as a player? It is a small country, Peter. [01:54:05] Speaker B: It is a tiny little place. Yeah, for sure. All right. Well, boys, well done. Dan. It's great to have you back. I'm glad we waited to record this so that you could participate in all of the fun. And just in case you were wondering, I felt like you guys deserved something out of that game against. [01:54:25] Speaker A: Too. Me, too. I mean, some referee decisions or something. Anything. [01:54:30] Speaker B: Okay. And Buzz. Thank you, sir. Here we go. [01:54:35] Speaker C: Thank you. You're welcome. Season 27. Also, shout out to our new podcast sponsor. [01:54:40] Speaker B: We have a new sponsor. [01:54:43] Speaker C: It's on the read. Kevin lynch. From law firm. [01:54:46] Speaker B: Oh, very nice. Good deal. How many thousands of dollars is he paying you a week to do this? [01:54:53] Speaker C: $265,000 a year to. No, obviously not. [01:54:59] Speaker B: Wow. The Kevin Lindstrom law firm is really kicking ass these days. Business. Is that guy cranking out same rate. [01:55:07] Speaker C: As Soccer 90, so all's good. [01:55:10] Speaker B: All right. Are we ever going to get to a point where we see Kevin Lindstrom ads on late night on local television? [01:55:17] Speaker C: I don't know. [01:55:18] Speaker B: Like we do with Ben Abbott. [01:55:20] Speaker C: That's Kevin. Different kind of law, but yeah. [01:55:23] Speaker A: I mean, I couldn't imagine Kevin ever being as grating as that Texas Hammer idiot and his weird looking kid. [01:55:38] Speaker C: The Texas Hammer. [01:55:39] Speaker B: The Texas hammer. [01:55:41] Speaker C: Third degree. The podcast is brought to you by Soccer 90 Dot. Explore their vast collection of FCD Premier League national team gear. They got all the stuff, jerseys, hats, scarves, tees. Soccer 90 has all you need. Check out the FC Dallas afterburner kit and new North Texas kit as well. 20% exclusive discount in store and online for third degree listeners. Use code, third degree in store, online code, third degree. 20% off. Some exclusions apply. And this episode of Third Degree, the podcast is brought to you by Lindstrom law firm. For wills, trusts, probate, and business law, call 469-515-2559 or visit lindstromlawfirm.com for a free consultation. [01:56:23] Speaker B: All right, guys, well, everybody have fun. This weekend. We'll all just go into a new season filled with hope and excitement and anticipation that maybe this, maybe this, the 29th year is the year for football club Dallas. Go burn, boys. Thank you very much, and thank you, FC Dallas. Curious for listening. We will speak to you next week on another episode of Third Degree, the podcast. [01:56:51] Speaker A: It's our year or some shit. [01:56:55] Speaker B: Third degree, the third degree Nair podcast. Third degree, the third degree Nair podcast. Third degree. [01:57:05] Speaker C: Third degree. [01:57:06] Speaker B: Never get third degree. Never.