3rd Degree the Podcast #270

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:00:04] Speaker B: Ooh. [00:00:08] Speaker A: Ooh. Third degree. The third degree. Nap III. The third degree. Napkins, third degree. The third degree. Nepochet, third degree. The third degree. Napodcast, third degree. [00:00:26] Speaker B: The podcast is brought to you by the Lindstrom law firm for Wills Trust, probates and business law called 4695. That's 469-515-2559 or visit lindstromlawfirm.com for a free consultation. [00:00:39] Speaker A: Well, hello there, FC Dallas. Curious fan. Welcome to another episode. This one numbered 270 of third degree. The podcast. Hi, it's me, Peter. And with the July 4 holiday, which means it's the anti holiday for one Englishman, Dan Crook. He is abstaining from today's episode in protest. So it is just you and me. Editor, founder of Thirddegree.net and this podcast and the original soccer influencer himself, the amazing buzz carrot. Come in, Buzz. [00:01:16] Speaker B: I like the way you put that. That was funny. He's abstaining. [00:01:19] Speaker A: He's abstaining. [00:01:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:20] Speaker A: He's still very angry about the tea party and the Boston Tea Party and the revolution and all that stuff. [00:01:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:29] Speaker A: Sticks in his craw. [00:01:31] Speaker B: Isn't he a citizen now? I thought he was a citizen now. Maybe not. I'll have to ask him next week. [00:01:36] Speaker A: He's a plant if he is. [00:01:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:40] Speaker A: Stuff going on. I'm sure lots of the havoc going on in our culture and society here in the United States these days is somehow tied to some sort of weird espionage mission that Dan Crook is on. [00:01:51] Speaker B: I figured it was Brexit, maybe. [00:01:55] Speaker A: Yeah, that may be what it is. So I actually don't know what Dan is doing or why he's not here or why we didn't wait to. I don't know. Anyway, his. [00:02:03] Speaker B: His extended family came into town, probably on his wife's side for the, like. He has, like, people at his house. Yeah, it occasionally happens. [00:02:10] Speaker A: Nobody wants to record a podcast when the extended family's around. Yeah. [00:02:14] Speaker B: Ten people standing behind you listening. Yeah. [00:02:17] Speaker A: You do not want to do that. [00:02:19] Speaker B: No. [00:02:19] Speaker A: Well, I don't know how long of an episode this one will be, Buzz, but you and I will get around to much of the information as we can. Since we last talked, Dallas and Peter looks in, have played yet another game, and now he has chalked up his second loss. He is two 20 in his four games, second loss in a row as they went down at home to FC Cincinnati and a one nil loss. And I know that this is not a good thing when the one bright, shining thing that Buzz appears to be trying to make everybody feel good about is that he played the kids. [00:02:58] Speaker B: Yeah, well, no, the, that bright shining thing just gives me joy that he's playing the kids. [00:03:04] Speaker A: Okay. [00:03:04] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm not saying that it's, you know, depending on your point of view and how you win soccer games, you might think it's a bad thing, but I think it's a joyous thing because I think that's what this club does better than anything else, historically speaking. So getting back to that is joyful. And those are young kids I've seen come through the academy and I'm super excited for all of them. Well, Pundike is not, but still, he was great, uh, you know, relatively speaking. So I was excited for that. But there were other good talking points, I feel like in that game, even though they lost. [00:03:29] Speaker A: Yeah, once you run through those. [00:03:31] Speaker B: Well, uh, Siri Armini was incredible and I, I jokingly made an apology to him in my breakdown of the game because at the end of the game, uh, in my instant reaction, I picked Logan Farrington as my man of the match. Even though I considered Ermindy and I considered the jet. I picked a Farrington because he got fouled six times, which told me that the team thought he was the most dangerous attacking player. But when I sat down and looked at Yarmini's stat line and exactly what he did and where he did it on the field, he was just absolutely spectacular. Again, you know, there's a subtleness to his game that can occasionally go missing and I will admit that, you know, maybe on the one goal by secati he probably could have done a little bit better, but then he is 34, so what do you expect, honestly? But in the context of the game, he had 102 touches and I think the next highest player was like 45 for Dallas. He had 14 progressive passes, which is just insane. Most people that are having a game have like four or five and he had 1480 7% passing. He was three for four on take ons, which means he dribbled by guys, three for four. That's incredible for a dude his age. Three. Three progressive carries, three shot creating actions. Four shots from a guy that deepen ideally, actually is not a stat you like because you don't want him shooting from like way downtown, but that's what it was. At nine passes into the final third. And then on defense he was six for seven in tackles, one which is just insane, five for five on challenges, one which is when somebody tries to dribble past him and he stops it. And he had nine recoveries. I mean, those are just absolutely obscene numbers across the board. He was amazing. I can't imagine what it must have been like to see him play in his prime day to day, you know, and how that guy didn't play more for Spain is just really a question about the generation he was in and it really is a treat to watch him. And I would just recommend anyone, particularly if you have young people that are learning how to play the game, encourage them just to watch him play. Take your eyes off the game and watch him. He is just spectacularly good and we should appreciate him while he's here because he's probably so frustrated. It may be difficult to get him to come back for a second season given how frustrated he is. [00:05:42] Speaker A: Well, it's, uh. I. This is a very weird and frustrating time, buzz, because trying to do this podcast, trying to come up with something good or different to talk about is difficult. And I. And, yeah, you know, and with Peter at the helm, I'm, you know. Cause he's never done this before and I don't know if you just magically know how to do manage a team like this or try to make it better. Is there. Do you see tactically things that he is attempting to do, whether they're coming off or not? I don't know. This is as important as what do you think he's tried to do to change up from what Niko was doing? [00:06:22] Speaker B: Well, predominantly shifting to a back four, I think is really good. The players at this club have mostly played that, you know, through the time here and probably other teams. So there's a familiarity there, a comfort level there that's really good. Playing that way allows you to have more bodies in midfield that are nothing, wing backs, and allows you to get better hold of the midfield. We've seen Dallas's possession come up even against Cincinnati. They actually had more of the possession, more than 50%, which is. That's unusual for this team. Granted, Cincinnati was depleted and they played, in fact, they played like Nico Ball, almost played to just get their moments and score when they, you know, not really care about the ball and just be defensive and have really good shape and they did that. But the other thing he's done is free up the tactics and let people get forward and let people try things, let people be inventive. And I thought in this game in particular, I thought Logan Farrington was very good. He was making really intelligent runs, making intelligent drawn fouls where he was baiting guys into foul and him in really good positions, you know, and so really we have to look for those moments like, you know, the big picture. Lucine has the same roster that everybody else before him had, you know, Nico, Steve specifically. Obviously not everyone else. You know, he still has the same roster deficiencies. He still has the same glut of injuries. So, you know, it's hard for him to do anything remarkably different, which was always going to be the case. I mean, no one was going to come in here and revolutionize this team overnight. It was always going to be the same roster. It's always going to have the same injury problems until they figure out where what's causing such a big slate of them, you know, so you have to look for small victories. The coach bounce seems to probably be over. You know, he got really good two games and then, but now the next two not so good, you know, but then the next two events against teams that are much better, well, Seattle's not much better, but at least better than FC Dallas. So all we can do is try and judge him on, you know, the tactics that he is rolling out, which I like a little bit better. Not ideal, but better. His sub rotations seem to be better. He is doing some rotation for management of minutes, but he's doing it in an appropriate game state manner, which is better and nice. And he's reacting to the game and trying to bring guys on earlier than Nico Washington. You know, and now that we've seen these kids, granted, it was from probably an injury, you know, overwhelming situation that he had to go to these kids. But, you know, it was nice to see it, you know, and so those are small victories, I think, in a sense. Now, is it going to be enough to get him to the job? Man, I don't know. That's a big question. That's, that's, you know, the problem in the end of the day, Peter, and we've talked about this before, is that the front office and the TD and the owner, they all think this is a playoff roster and you and I probably don't have, you know, and that's what's going to come down to do they think that this is one and should loosen now, be getting them in the playoffs? I mean, that's a really big ask. [00:09:10] Speaker A: It's frustrating because, you know, I tend to think that people in these roles should know infinitely more about this game and this league and how this goes than I do. But this, you know, Buzz, we're not idiots. You know, we've been watching this team for almost well since day one. There's no way this is a playoff roster. And I, and I guess the question is, do you think they really, I mean, if you got them at a bar, if this was the old Dave Burr, Dave Durr at the old mill in, outside the cotton bowl after a game kind of moment, and you had Dave in that moment of where he was, you know, and had a beer or two and a little bit more honest than he probably should have been if you did that with Dan or Andre Zinata, do you think they really think that this is a playoff roster, quality roster? [00:09:58] Speaker B: I do. [00:09:59] Speaker A: Do you really? [00:10:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not so sure, however, that they don't think that thinking that Velasco and Giovanni and Paxton should be counted in that equation. You know, like, you know, they talk about, really the only one that's surprising to them is Paxton. Well. Right. So why do you think it's a play? You know, they talked about how much money was missing from the cap. Well, then why do you think it's the playoff? You have to live in the moment, live in the reality. Right. So, like, there's no way, in my opinion, that you can look at this team as it is right now and the state of injuries that it has and think that it's a playoff roster. Now, if you think as a GM, if you think that the injuries are the coach's fault somehow, I think you're crazy, you know, and, but I really do think they think that, you know, they, when they sat up there and said that it's not like they look sheepish, you know, when they said that, they look like they had. They were convinced, you know, they're, they had this, this. How dare you question the fact that we think that this is definitely a playoff roster. And I would have thought in a perfectly blank world where everyone's healthy, I would have probably agreed with them. But given the way it actually has gone, there's no way in hell. Right? [00:11:10] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I agree. And I think the frustrating aspect of that is that, I guess in a perfect world where everybody is healthy, it is a playoff roster. But that doesn't even begin. And we've, and I don't feel. I feel like we're beating a dead horse here. But that completely ignores the fact that two key players are still coming off ACL injuries. You have no idea as to what kind of quality they're going to give you this season. And I think we can all predict it's not going to be very much right. And every and so many other elements of this roster that were healthy at the beginning of the season or somewhat healthy were high risk players in terms of age or injury history. All of that has blown up in their face to some degree or another. And, and so I, that's why I find all of this extremely frustrating. And I get even more frustrated when I start thinking about the coaching situation because it appears to me once again, they have done the exact same thing they did when Oscar resigned, is they have, they have no backup plan. Like Peter Luxon looks and is a very nice man, got an amazing playing pedigree and, and all of that, but he should not be the head coach of an MLS team at this point. And, and I don't know why they think they can make hay out of any of this. I just don't understand the thinking. [00:12:38] Speaker B: Yeah. All I can come up with is that if you look back to Niko's first season, when they remarkably got through that season almost completely unscathed with injuries, there were very, very few in that first season and the team was great. They finished in, what was it? Third or fourth, right? [00:12:54] Speaker A: Something like that. [00:12:55] Speaker B: Yeah, this is awesome. This is how it should be. But then that's almost impossible. That's, it's very, very, very rare that you can have a season with that kind of injury situation. What you're more likely to get was what you got last year and this year. I mean, if you look through the MLS injury report, every team has got 3456. Well, not every team. There's probably three or four teams that don't. But almost everybody, because this is the norm, is to have four, five, six injuries. You know, where you have to consider the problem with your organization is if you have the same recurring injuries over and over, which they have a lot of in the same kind of people. And as you say, Peter, they have a whole lot of people wired up in a whole lot of roster and cap and everything else wired up in people that are injury prone. And they should have seen that. That goes back to the idea that I suggested, the beginning of season. If you expect this season to be a season where you compete, you cannot have a DP sitting on the bench doing nothing. You have to replace Velasco for the season and then worry about how you get out of it later. And they were like, what? No. And here we are, right, the season's over. There's no way. Or not no way. But in order to get 43, 44 points on the season, you now have to have less than half a season left to get 24 points, right. You have to double what you had in the first half. Basically, it's like, it's not going to happen. So, you know, you don't go from playing nothing to great overnight unless you can magic wand and turn, get rid of all your energy problems overnight. And you're completely right that no way Velasco and Giovanni come back at a significant level in order to help you. It's over by the time they come back and not. And it won't be soon enough to be able to help you. It's. The deficit is too big, you know, and so the bottom line is, like, their acceptance that that was going to be the case is mind boggling, you know, and I don't know what else we can do about it except try and live in the moment at this point and say, like, okay, what do we see that's good? As we wait for whatever the next phase is, we either wait for, look, saying to win enough games that he gets the job, or we wait for the next head coach to come in here, whoever it's going to be, and then start see what they're going to start doing. [00:14:59] Speaker A: Yeah, but isn't that the. That's really the catch 22, which is if. If, let's say we just want. We like him so much as a person. We want him to succeed and end up winning this gig that's going to require them winning games. But for him to win games, he's got to have a roster of players capable of winning games, and he doesn't have that right now. [00:15:19] Speaker B: Right. [00:15:19] Speaker A: And. And maybe that's. So that's what I think is. Is really that what makes feel. Makes it feel like the rest of the season is just wasted time, which then also makes me feel like the entire Nico Estevez era was wasted time. Like, I felt like the Lucci Gonzalez three years was wasted time. And. And I owe. And I just find all of it very, very frustrating. [00:15:44] Speaker B: Yeah. I might have felt better if they would have said to, uh, look, saying, uh, take the cup and the lease cup and try and win those. But in everything else, we understand that it's too late to make the playoffs and fett salvage the season, play for the future, play a bunch of kids, play some guys on the bottom of the roster that we haven't seen. Let's find out if those pieces are worth anything as we build forward, and then you can stack the deck, you know, do rotations so that when you get to these cup games, you go max out cup games and try and play for that silverware and sacrifice points in the regular season. You know, that's what I would have done. But then again, you know, we're, I'm not in charge, and I don't think they currently have a playoff roster. So, you know, there's a bunch of things wrong with this roster. But, you know, it's not always just talent. It's like the way you construct the roster, the way it doesn't match, the way the coach tried to play, the way it's imbalanced with old guys versus young guys, the way you've broken the system. You know, there's a whole bunch of things going wrong with it, and I'm not sure that how much it's gonna get fixed. And next week I'm gonna do a post on, like, what I think they should be the strategy going in the window because they have the, they arguably have the bigger, more important window about to come with an interim coach, you know, and it's like, who's picking the direction of all this stuff? I tried to ask about that and they were like, oh, Peter Luxe is. And it's like, dude, he's an interim coach. Why is he, why is he involved in the discussion about what direction the team's going for the next several years? This is the big window. I know it's not in terms of this current season, but it is. This is when the big players are available, the money guys. The big international window with all the players available is going to be this one right now. [00:17:18] Speaker A: I guess my, but here's the thing, and I, and I think that's the obvious question and the obvious problem by putting him in this role creates for the club, which, again, takes me back to this. Like, I don't ever, I don't think this was part of any kind of plan. This feels like, and if, if this is part of some sort of plan, it's the weirdest plan that makes little to no sense, which is how are they going to approach this transfer window? Are they going to do anything? Are they going to spend any money to buy any players and replace Paxton or sell anybody or make any moves? I've seen nothing anywhere. I've heard nothing on the wire as terms that people feel like Dallas is getting ready to do a, B or. [00:18:04] Speaker B: C. Yeah, well, you know, they've been saying since a couple of weeks into this season, coach Nico Steve was saying that in the next window, they were going to need to get a center back. That's still true, you know, despite the fact that before the season. So now I said they were finance center back. Clearly they're not. So clearly they need to at some point get a center back. If it's not for this season, it's for next season. But now's the time to when, you know, there's more available. And then the other thing they're going to do is replace Paxton because as they've said, they need the body in midfield. Now, I've suggested that the, you might as well not do it now. You might as well just go with Diego Garcia for now because you're going to have Paxton coming back, you know, and you have his contract and you have all kind of stuff. [00:18:44] Speaker A: We assume. [00:18:45] Speaker B: We assume, well, you know, unless they use the buyout on him, but, you know, that's, they're going to. And we think that a new, an extra second buyout is coming. You know, you worry about the mechanics of, like, how you clear things when you get to the off season and, you know, to a certain extent, but at the same time, it's like if you really want a top flight center back and you know that there's a couple other contracts that you'll need to get rid of, you know, you don't bring in a high priced midfielder, too. Also along the lines of the midfielder, they have sold off mulatto, Jose Mulatto. I was surprised to learn that the loan of San Antonio did not clear his international stat and his U 22 initiative signing. So apparently they didn't. The loan was the wrong kind of loan to do that, I guess. So those two things were just cleared. So they've cleared the deck for potentially a replacement of Paxton in likely a U 22 initiative form. So another sort of Delgado ish in a sole type player or Giovanni Jay Zanoni. Excuse me, Giona. Jesus is the other one. So that's kind of the direction it feels like they're going because otherwise, I don't know why you would trumpet that sale, opening up those things if that's not your plan. So that seems to be what's happening. It also seems to be reactionary. It's like it's all a reaction to what happened in the first half of the season. You know, it's not what they thought coming into the season. So I think you're going to see something or. Sorry, I think you're going to see an attempt to do something. Now, can they pull it off? Is a bigger question. I don't know. You know, and I don't know that either one of those things are going to say, make it go, oh, yeah. Now we're winning 75% of the games and we're going to make the playoffs. You know, like that kind of turnaround, I think, is an unrealistic expectation for a center back and a kid six, not six kid eight. You know, whether it be Diego or whether it be a U 22 initiative who, those guys tend to take a little longer to really like, Giant took a little longer and Douglas took a little bit longer to really get going, you know, half a season or so. So expectations are low. In fact, for me. [00:20:58] Speaker A: Well, yeah, I don't know why anybody would anticipate Dallas would make any considerable moves in the off in the window because to make this roster good enough to really be competitive would be not one move, not two. I mean, it's going to take a lot to get something done and a lot of creative movement in terms of moving players around and clearing out cap space. I just, I just, I mean, the roster is what it is. And, you know, it's funny how we're having this conversation, this podcast when a week ago we were having this whole conversation about how they should be creative to figure out a way to get Weston McKinney to come back if in fact Weston was coming back to the league. Yeah, I mean, we're literally just seven days apart from this conversation and here we are just like, could you, could you just do something? It's like that, that meme. Come on, do something. Cause other, other teams are making moves and that, you know, not that this is directly relatable, but the, the Dallas Stars and the Dallas Mavericks are also in the same, you know, fighting for the same entertainment dollar in this same, you know, Metro and their seasons are over and they are making moves all over the place and, and one of which is, you know, a big, a really, really big time deal that is getting national attention and you just go back and look at your MLS team locally and you're like, yeah, they don't care. They're just going to fart out the rest of the season. [00:22:20] Speaker B: It's not helping that other MLS teams, because the, the european seasons are over. People know that they're now out of contract or they're available. So some MLS teams are making pre window signings. Like the actual MLS window doesn't open until the 18th, which is, you know, two weeks from now still, basically. So, but teams are lining those moves up so that the minute the window opens, you push the paperwork through. [00:22:46] Speaker A: Have you seen what, have you seen what Atlanta and Garth Lagerway have done? They have. They are clearing the decks, man. [00:22:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Garth Waggon was the best GM in MLS and he has been for over a decade. You know, he, he won titles at RSL. He left there for Seattle, won more titles in Seattle, and now he's going to do the same thing for Atlanta best. [00:23:04] Speaker A: And he's selling off, you know, two or three guys or three guys that are going to net them tens of millions of dollars and they're making. And Austin, Austin has already signed somebody. I'm going through the list. I actually, before we went to, we started recording this, I went through, I just wanted to see what kind of signings have done. And multiple teams, to your point, Buzz, are already making moves, uh, in this part. And Dallas is one of the few teams that has done squat. [00:23:31] Speaker B: Yeah, well, we have to hope, and we're going to cross our fingers that since that early part of this season when Nico Seva started saying we need a center back, that they've been working on it and we just don't know about it, you know, they, the group here that does things is a pretty small group. They're pretty tight about letting information out domestically. We usually only learn stuff when it comes out overseas. I. So the best we can hope for is that they've got something brewing. They don't even like to do pre contract announcements like, you know, but there, there easily could be a guy lined up and ready to go and for all we know, he can even have his paperwork done and they just haven't announced it, you know what I mean? So, like, I'm hoping that that's the case, that we're going to see a center back. But the thing is, though, is like, because your team's as rough as it is and because of the injuries you still have, you're right. You can't really expect a move that's going to push you into the playoffs and make this a competitive season. So these moves you're going to make, they better be about next season. You better have a plan. You better have an idea about where you're going. And that's why, again, it's a problem that Peter Lucene, interim coach is involved in these discussions. Like, that's going to damage your ability to get a really good coach if he's not going to be around for this window and he's going to have to deal with a roster that you're going to hand him from your GM and your interim coach this winter. If it is going like, let's say this winter, it's not Peter Lucene. And miracle of miracles, the hunts go, hey, you're gonna clap. Why don't you come coach us? And he goes, dude, I'm not gonna come there. I don't. I wouldn't be able to get any players. I spent $250 million at Liverpool, adding players over the first season and a half of us there. I can't do that with you. I'm not taking that job. Now, that's an absurd conversation, but the same conversation will happen, relatively speaking, with whoever they're gonna try and get this winner, if it's nothing, look sane. [00:25:15] Speaker A: So, you know, let me, let me reverse that. What kind of player signs a deal with a club not knowing who his manager is going to be? What kind of quality of a player does deals like that? That's a player looking just to get a deal and make money. They don't. I can't imagine a guy would sign a deal to go play for a club, no matter what the money is, having no idea what kind of manager he's going to be playing for. [00:25:45] Speaker B: You know, we see people, especially young kids, jump at the, any situation like, oh, it's Europe, I'm going, right? [00:25:55] Speaker A: Yes, of course. [00:25:56] Speaker B: There's going to be lots of countries where young kids are going to be like, oh, United States. I'm going. And there will be a slate of people that will be like, you know what? I'm reaching the end of my career. I'm, my wife and my kids. You know what? They probably would love to live in Dallas. You know, not, maybe that's not true if you're playing in the Netherlands or England or lots of european countries, but if there's a whole big, huge chunks of the world where playing in the United States for, I don't care who it is, it's still pretty cush, you know what I mean? Like, a lot of those players that came here from South America, even though they don't play for FC Dallas anymore or long gone, they've all stayed here. The Rangers are the same thing, you know, when they get players that leave Dallas, leave the Texas Rangers, a lot of them stay here, you know, for various reasons. So the lifestyle is pretty nice. [00:26:37] Speaker A: Does, do you think that if the manager situation was at the time what it is currently right now, an interim manager with no professional coaching experience was in place back when they tried, when they began negotiating with Laura Mendy, he, he still comes here. [00:26:57] Speaker B: That's a tough one because I have to figure that the coach, being spanish, was part of the influence, you know? [00:27:03] Speaker A: See what I'm saying? [00:27:04] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:27:06] Speaker A: I think that the problem that they've created for themselves is a two way street. It's. It is. What kind of player wants to sign this summer in a club in transition like this, with no idea what they may be dealing with after the fact? And what kind of guy wants to sign up with the club with who didn't get to sign any players in the, in the big transfer window? [00:27:28] Speaker B: The answer to the first part of that is people that care more about the off field, in the lifestyle than they do the actual competitiveness of the team. [00:27:36] Speaker A: Is that the kind of guy you want? [00:27:37] Speaker B: No, I'm not. I'm agreeing with you. [00:27:39] Speaker A: Right, right. [00:27:40] Speaker B: Yeah, we're in agreement. I'm saying, yes, you're right. It's only going to be the last time. And the second half of that is a guy that's looking for the first break. It's. This is why people are like, oh, Bruce arena is available. Are you kidding? Stop it, dude. There's no way a guy like Bruce arena would take this gig. [00:27:57] Speaker A: Right? [00:27:57] Speaker B: It's like he has to answer to Zanana. No way. Dan Hunts can be two doors down and knock on your door every day at 02:00 for his meeting. No way. I know the roster. No way. [00:28:07] Speaker A: I feel like I keep having this conversation in, in two different hands. I'm having it currently with people for FC Dallas and also the us men's national team. Well, we're going to go out and get Jurgen Klopp or Pep. No, no, no, no. None of those tier one guys are wanting to take the us men's national team job. That is not a desirable job, period. The end, it doesn't pay enough. And all of the other reasons I could list off why nobody like that is ever taking this gig until after the World cup is. And then when people are like, why can't Dallas go out? Because the hunts are never going to pay the money to get that done. And everybody else in MLS already knows how badly this organization, this organization historically has been run. It is. It is. [00:28:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:54] Speaker A: Someone and I both know how many times have we had conversations with people in the media and from other clubs or league related across the league over the last 28 years that all. Look at each. Well, since the Hunts took over and I'll go, yeah, it's not a very good organization. [00:29:07] Speaker B: No. You know, like, people have asked me, one or two people have asked me like, if Greg Berhalster would get fired, would he be a person that the Hunts would look out for this team? Sure. But Greg Berhalter is just coming off a $2.2 million this last year in overall compensation. And the SC Dallas job pays something like four or 500,000, we think, based on people we talk to. Right? Like, no, it's not like, it's. That's why it always ends up being a guy who's on, like, his first MLS gig, you know, every time. [00:29:40] Speaker A: No, in fact, every time minus Oscar. [00:29:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And Oscar only did it cause he had the relationship, obviously, and they only went for it. That was the one time they paid a club to get a guy out of a contract so they could have Oscar. It's because they had a 15 year relationship with Oscar. [00:29:55] Speaker A: You know, it's. It's funny you. You mentioned that, and it made me think of something I was thinking about the other day, which is this weird. I mean, this has really become clear to me of late, which is this running trend of the hunts, doing something that everybody goes, hey, that's pretty impressive. And you see something success out of it, and it's almost like a shiny object that they get obsessed with. And then if you just give it enough time, it's like they get distracted and then they don't keep tending to it, and it just kind of fades out. And I think you can apply that to a lot of things related to this club. You can. You can start with the stadium. Like, they went out and they built this stadium, and they've let it kind of fall into disrepair. Right. You can think about the growth of the 2016 team and how they got so close to putting together something unlike this league had ever seen before, and then they just let it fall apart. They then went out and kind of got to a point where they grew the academy and have really made it the best academy in this entire country. And they've kind of let it kind of fall by the wayside, too. You can then go back and think about the team, like this weird new era that they put together where they sold a lot of players, made a lot of money, put it back into the club, and everybody started feeling like maybe something really new and great was getting ready to happen. And then they didn't really do all the supporting work to kind of let it sustain that, and it kind of fell off then, too. And I'm sure I could think about five or six or seven different kind of examples of this, but it just feels like the hunts don't have the ambition. It's like they have the ambition to do something and make it really interesting and great, but only for a short period of time. And they don't nurture it and grow it. Does that make any sense? [00:31:48] Speaker B: Yeah. How's the Texas soccer walk of Fame running? [00:31:51] Speaker A: Yes, that's another great example. [00:31:54] Speaker B: That's my personal pet peeve. [00:31:56] Speaker A: I mean, let's, let's talk about, let's talk about the work that they did in marketing and correcting the attendance problem with this club. [00:32:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:04] Speaker A: They, I mean, how long have they been the running butt of joke in this league about attendance? [00:32:10] Speaker B: Forever. Yeah, forever. [00:32:12] Speaker A: And now suddenly now they're selling out games and everything. And now maybe it's, you know, the stands are not as full as they used to be. I know they're calling them sellouts, and maybe technically they are, but you and I both know they're not. It's just another example of their inability to sustain success and quality for any period of time. And it's, it's, it, it's maddening. [00:32:38] Speaker B: Yeah. The butts and seats is dropping rapidly. You know, it's the, it's the, it's the. Maintaining the quality at the highest level is the, is the issue because, you know, we, I've had this joke about FC dialysis betting thing for a long, long time because the hunts have done some things correctly. Right? They've, they've, they've. Because of the academy, because they've invested enough in certain areas. They have sustained, generally speaking, a relatively modest to good level of winning. They've only missed the playoffs. I think it's eight times in their existence. They've all. But they're always just slightly above mediocre. They're always good ish, but not great. You know, they get to a very short window of great with Oscar, and they don't keep it up. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's a maddening combination of better than most, but not good enough to actually do anything. And that's very frustrating. And it's, and it's in. We've, I've actually said this many, many times, and I know you remember this, Peter, is that like, lots of times we'll be like, hey, that was a great idea. How was the follow through? How was the execution? Not so good. So many good concepts and so often little follow through. You know, and I don't want to seem like we're just piling on all the time, but, you know, this, this season and the last couple years, for example, is a great example. Right? You built the roster for the first season under Nico Stephens, which is 2022. I think it was, if I'm not losing my mind, that roster came together perfectly and the health came together perfectly and everything worked out and that team was quite good. And when you're ready to take the next step, you took the next step in all the wrong ways. You didn't maintain it, you didn't, you couldn't keep the health up. You operated in ways that let it decline and decline, decline. So this is the second straight coach where the first years look promising and then the two seasons afterwards have declined, you know, and it's like it just happens again and again with this team, you know, it's the reason why Oscar climbed the mountain once and then left, you know, and Shellis climbed the mountain and then it fell off hard. You know, Colin Clark climbed the mountain and they fired him. You know, they didn't even give Mara a chance to climb the mountain. They just, they heard they could get Shellis, they just fired Mauro. [00:34:43] Speaker A: So, yeah, well, I mean, you know, you can go look at clubs across the world and all the leagues and this is kind of the norm for most clubs. They go through cycles and managers come and go and, and things happen and, and I do think that the hunts feel like that, that is an okay way of operating. I have said this a thousand times. I admire the Hunt family for being the longest sustained multi sport, generational, pro professional sports ownership group probably in the entire world. You know, the number of teams that they own or have ownership parts in, the number of championships they've won is all very important. There's a reason why they've been able to do that and part of it is because they run these operations as proper businesses and care about the bottom line. And I, and I don't begrudge them for that in any way, shape or form. In fact, I admire them for there's stick to it. I've miss to doing that. But it does come at an expense of creating enthusiasm, sticking to the idea that really your goal is excellence and championships. And I just think kind of like with the us men's national team, there are a lot of really weird parallels. As a fan of both of these things for me is it's just, it's hard to get excited anymore about either one of these things. When you really begin to kind of touch grass and take a reality check, you just understand, hey, it is what it is and you got to find the element of it that makes you happy and gives you a reason to, to enjoy and support it, I suppose. And that's about it. [00:36:26] Speaker B: I suppose this comes back to what, when everyone has asked me why I've done this for so long. And it's the idea that, you know, you and I grew up without having division one soccer, and I'm just glad there's a team in my backyard. And. And since this team would have folded if not for the hunts, I'm forever grateful that they saved this team. This team would not be here if it hadn't been for them. Stadium would not be here if it hadn't been for them. So that's great. And the fact that it's consistently pretty good, I'm grateful for that because most seasons I get to go out and watch a fairly decent product on the field. I don't ever get to see any championships, and we don't ever get to see any, like, superstar teams, but we get to see a relatively pleasing product most of the time. That's all great. And if you're happy with that, like, I am mostly happy with that. That's awesome for those of us that are. But at the same time, I would like to occasionally have the team try to be excellent, and I don't know that it does. And they probably would be mad if we asked, said that we're saying this like, you know, how come you guys never really can put it together? And they'll say, oh, we work our bed. We do this, that. Well, I know you do, but you don't. It doesn't happen. [00:37:24] Speaker A: Somebody asked me this question at my game the other night after our game. We were all sitting around talking, and somebody said to me, where do you think. Where do you think everything would be if Lamar Hunt had not saved the burn? [00:37:40] Speaker B: I mean, like, would there be a soccer team here? [00:37:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:37:44] Speaker B: I think if the. If Lamar Hunt had not saved the burn, the burn would have been folded and then the championship. [00:37:49] Speaker A: Yes. It absolutely would have been. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It would have gone away. [00:37:52] Speaker B: Yeah. That's not. That's not our opinion. That's a fact. [00:37:55] Speaker A: Yes. [00:37:56] Speaker B: Correct. The Miami fusion and the Dallas burn would have been folded. The reason that Dallas burn was not folded was because Clark Hunt. Not clockwise, I'm sorry. Lamar Hunt, agreed to take on ownership of the Dallas burn. That's a. That's a fact. So, uh, that team would have folded. Tampa Bay mutiny would have stayed in the league. Um, and between now and then, Dallas being a top five market, it would have gotten a team somehow. It would have been probably a USL team, because I don't know that there's a rich soccer person in this town other than the hunts, because, like, people. People say, like, that Cuban's a soccer fan, but he's always said a million years, I'm not interested in that. Would Jerry Jones have done something? I don't. I don't think so. I think he's got a money printing machine over there with the Cowboys. As far as I know, there's not anyone mls rich enough to have done a team here other than the hunts. And of course I could be wrong. So I think we would have a USL championship team here, would be here. [00:38:57] Speaker A: Somebody made the. Made the contention to me that if the burn had folded and time went by in this last, you know, ten years of expansion and growth, Dallas would have been a priority for the league to add. And you may, you may be right. There may not be somebody obvious in Dallas that have done it, but somebody would have coined, put the coins together to put this. Put a team back in the Dallas area, potentially build a stadium somewhere. I mean, my big. My big objection to that or the. Or what? I don't know what the phrase I'm thinking of. My kind of argument against why that would prevent this from happening is. I don't know where anybody thinks there is real estate available in Dallas proper to build a stadium that would make sense financially. See what I'm saying? Like, yeah, okay, there's that piece of land over where reunion arena, what used to be. Right. Well, you don't have. God doesn't have enough money to pry that away from the hunts to build a soccer stadium on it. You see what I'm saying? And so you may have, you may have people with enough money to. To pay the fee to MLS to do the team. But where was this stadium? Where's this mythical, you know, urban stadium going to go? I just don't know if that exists. [00:40:15] Speaker B: That's a fair point. You know, I think that in that universe, you're right, that Dallas would have been a market that as a top five, top six media market, that would have been a market that the league would have prioritized. But at the same time, look at the markets that they've gone into. Right? There have been major markets they've not gone into because they don't have the right kind of big pocket superstar owner in some of these places. Like, you can look at even markets now that fit the description of being these major markets that don't have an MLS team. So that's my question is, like, maybe there's some out there I don't know about, but there's nobody. Like, if that was the case, like, Donnie Nelson wouldn't be enough. Like, Donnie's been trying to get a soccer team in Fort Worth, but, like, nobody else really has in this town been talking about this idea. No one's been like, oh, I'm gonna get a USL team. No one in this town that I know of has ever tried to buy the team from the huntsde, you know what I mean? So it's like, I'm not sure that there would have been the pocket now, even if you had, could you have found a stadium? Maybe something in Fair park? Maybe something. Maybe some other city would have put it up, maybe Arlington would have pony it up, like, you know, Arlington's trying to be. Have all these stadiums now than the current Dallas mayor. Maybe he would be like, oh, I'm the sports guy, remember? That's his whole shtick. So maybe you could have. But it's a. It's an impossible question to answer. But there would be a. There would be at least a USL team here, if not another MLS team. Somebody would have done something. It's too big of a media market. But. [00:41:42] Speaker A: Well, it was all part of a conversation where somebody suggested to me they wondered if soccer in Dallas would have been better off if Lamar had not saved the burn. [00:41:53] Speaker B: It might have been. That's a good question, which actually, to. [00:41:57] Speaker A: Me, in many ways feels like sacrilege to even ask. [00:42:01] Speaker B: I mean, it's such a hypothetical. It's kind of. I mean, it's a good conversation for a bar over a beer, but I don't know if it's really worth. Because it's not anywhere close to the reality of what actually happened, you know? [00:42:11] Speaker A: No, you're right. Yeah. Well, okay, so here we go. We're getting ready to get. Let's get back on track. Sorry I derailed us. My apologies. [00:42:21] Speaker B: It was fun. [00:42:23] Speaker A: So they got Portland. We're recording this on Wednesday the third. The July 4 game is Portland. Portland is, sorry to tell you guys, kids in fifth place. And, you know, it's probably going to be quite a challenge for Dallas, who obviously are in bad shape at this point. Portland is on a, let's see, seven game undefeated streak of five wins and two ties, and, you know, coming in here with a bit of. A bit of power behind them. So what do you got? What do you think he's going to do in terms of lineups, Buzz? [00:43:04] Speaker B: Well, Delgado is still out. Liam Frazier will be out three weeks. Jesus Ferrer is out, like two, three more weeks, obviously. [00:43:13] Speaker A: So all of your midfield play. So let's just. Let's take an accounting here. When the season started, who was on the roster as center midfielders, there was alarmy. There was Paxton Pomicol, there was Patrick Delgado, there was Liam Frazier, Sebastian Leggette. There's five. Who else? [00:43:35] Speaker B: Seeking and sibling, I guess. [00:43:37] Speaker A: Okay, Zeke and sibling is six. Anybody else? [00:43:42] Speaker B: Thomas Pondeka. Okay, who played, made his debut? Yep. [00:43:49] Speaker A: Norris. [00:43:50] Speaker B: Noel Norris. Yeah, kiddos. There's another homegrown named Alejandro Ozura who is not moving the direction. [00:43:56] Speaker A: Nobody. Nobody knows who that is. [00:43:58] Speaker B: That is. Yeah. Well, technically, he's on the roster. [00:44:01] Speaker A: Okay. [00:44:01] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, you asked, so, you know, he's not even playing for North Texas right now, so he's. He's got a bunch of injury problems, and it's just. It's not going for the kids. [00:44:11] Speaker A: So of those eight players, alarm. Alarm. D is thankfully, knock on wood, healthy. Paxton is out. Delgado is out. [00:44:20] Speaker B: Yep. [00:44:21] Speaker A: Frazier is outd. [00:44:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:44:23] Speaker A: Is insemling. Healthy. [00:44:25] Speaker B: Uh, he. He. Technically, he's off the ross, the. The out list. He was on there last week with an illness, so he must be ready to go then. So. [00:44:34] Speaker A: Okay. [00:44:35] Speaker B: Fingers. Yeah. [00:44:36] Speaker A: Pondeka. Okay. Yeah. So we got nothing. Yeah, there's a whole lot of nothing. There's like a 34 year old ex superstar and a couple of kids for the center midfield tomorrow. [00:44:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Well, so now we come down to some questions. Like, the coach rotated the team a little bit, you know, like, musa got a break. He got some guys in and out, various things. So now it comes down to, like, what kind of formation do you want to play? Like, is he going to try that 4141 that I like so much with Yarmini playing that single spot, or is he going to go with what he's done with more, which is the 4231? And I think that with Frazier out, if you're going to play 4231, you're really only choice in that other spot is Norris. He's the only one that sort of fits that deep spot. Now, I'd be okay with that. I'd be fine with that. But I think there's. This is actually a moment where if inseparling is healthy again, you can bring him in and go with that 4141. Look, with. You don't have Fraser, I'm sorry, you don't have Jesus Ferreira, but you have Sebastian Leggette. He can play right there with Siki. You have Camillo wants to be a little wider on one side. Fairing has done a nice job as one of those guys, so you can do that. So I think that makes a lot of sense. As much as I would say. Yeah, leave Norris in there. I think it won't. You know, as long as Lucien is still trying to win games, I think he'll go with the slightly more veteran players and I think that lends itself to that shape. Now, you could easily drop in Ck or legit next year Monty instead. That was a perfectly acceptable idea, but I think he'll try and play those guys, whichever one a little bit higher and then you get that same basic shape. The back, I don't think will change at all, you know, Areola, Farfan, you know, maybe they'll try and sub in a junko or an Omar later and try and spell some minutes back there, but. But really that's about it. You know, there's not a lot of choices available because of all the injuries. And really it's just how do you rotate that shape in midfield around Ermindi? You know, who you're going to pair with him? Who are you going to try and prop this thing up with without having Paxton, because you're not going to have packs in the rest of the year. So what works best? You know, I think that answers that question, you know, or however you, any particular person wants to answer that question. And my guess is that in settling will be back in, you know, and having split time with some of these other guys in the last game, you'll be able to split time with some of them again. And that kind of is what you're looking at. Musa should be back. That'll help, you know, so it's not optimistic. The trick is that you then this weekend you have sporting Kansas City twice, you know, you have them Sunday and then you have them in the Open Cup Wednesday. And remember, optimization of the Open cup is a real thing. So by, by resting a couple people, like resting Moussa last game, you can bring him back this game and then you can on Sunday against Sporting Kansas City, but you can rest maybe a little bit again in the league game and then you could stack again for the Open cup game on Wednesday or Thursday, whenever it is next week. So it's a weird situation that looks Sainz having to try and work his way through when the priority might not be the league game guy and his roster is just jacked again. So I think you like, if you're going to use Norris again, maybe you use Norris again on Sunday and bring a seat back in this game if he's healthy, you know, and maybe Moose is in this one and maybe Moosa gets another game off or vice versa, you know, and if you play your cards right, could jesus be back right in time for the open cup game, possibly, you know, crossing your fingers. So there's a lot of, you know, he's in the same situation Niko was in. You know, he's got so many missing pieces. And yet this heavy load of games where the priority is maybe not even the games that you might ordinarily throw aside, the priority nerves, that now is the cup game. So it'll be a dance this week, and I think that's how you're looking. So I'm predicting the 4141 tomorrow with Sigi and legit in front of Yarra, Mendy, Farrington and Kamungo. That's my guess right now. [00:48:42] Speaker A: So I guess time will tell. [00:48:45] Speaker B: We will see. Yeah, time will tell. This is actually fun for me, this kind of thing, because these are fun puzzles. [00:48:53] Speaker A: This reminds me of the wonky sky high camera view of us game. [00:49:00] Speaker B: We need to talk about that. [00:49:01] Speaker A: Yes, I know. Every time for that entire however many minutes it was on there, I was like, buzz is having the very best time right now. [00:49:09] Speaker B: So good. Yeah. [00:49:10] Speaker A: All right. We'll come back to that. [00:49:12] Speaker B: Yeah. When I watch the game, like everybody else, I'm not enjoying necessarily the kind of soccer I'm seeing, but I did enjoy the kids and so. But these puzzles of, like, who do I have available, what kind of schedule they have coming up, how do I play, the tactics that the coach wants to play? Well, I say I. How does he. This is always about what they're going to do, not what I want to do. You know, it's kind of. This part is fun for me. So, you know, I. I get that enjoyment at least going into the game. And the game starts and I'm like. [00:49:40] Speaker A: Everybody else, like, oh, well, I'm glad you're having a good time, buzz, but I think this generally sucks. [00:49:46] Speaker B: It does stink. [00:49:46] Speaker A: It does stink for the 28th year in a row. All right. [00:49:50] Speaker B: Yeah, there been good times. [00:49:52] Speaker A: Yeah, there's been a few. [00:49:53] Speaker B: You want to talk about that camera? [00:49:56] Speaker A: So if for those living under a rock at the beginning of the game at the arrow at Arrowhead Stadium where the Chiefs play for us, Uruguay, it was the most impossibly tall angle three quarter field shot you could possibly imagine, and immediately the Internet lost its fricking mind. And the entire time I kept thinking, this is Buzz's favorite camera angle of all time. [00:50:28] Speaker B: Oh, it's so good. Yeah, so good. Just because it gives you, like, a sight. Like, I like to sit high and central so I can see the tactical shapes as they happened. So that's why? [00:50:38] Speaker A: Right? Yeah. [00:50:39] Speaker B: All right, so let's, but that was. [00:50:40] Speaker A: A technical problem, right? That's all it was. [00:50:42] Speaker B: Probably. Let's, let's talk about that. So the first thing to understand is that the broadcasts of those games, like the World cup, like the european championships, the broadcasts are done on a world feed. The group in charge of the tournament, in this case common ball, maybe possibly in partnership with CONCACAF. The european championships, is a UEFA product. FIFA World cups are a FIFA product. They hire a production company to put on the games, and obviously there's an interaction between those two things. They and the production company, with probably the managing group's approval, hire producers and directors. They also hire a tech company to put all the equipment together. So at some point, this was the first game at Arrowhead for this tournament and it was the only game, so there was no chance to see it ahead of time. Someone with authority at either the production company or with common ball Slash Concacaf decided that that location was the appropriate location for the game camera. They met with the stadium or at least exchanged data. Where are the positions we could put cameras? Those are all built and predetermined. They can run cable, they have to, but most of them are fibered already these days ahead of time. So somebody decided that that high center spot on the front of the third deck was the ideal place for the game camera. And then one of two things happened in this scenario. The first is that it's possible that the low camera angle they eventually changed to was supposed to be the game angle and that there was a problem. I've been on several broadcasts in my career where a camera craps out, two minutes to air and everyone is scrambling to fix the camera and get it back up. If it's the game camera, you just say what other camera is dead center. Okay? You're not the game camera. So that easily could have been a case where the low one crapped out the bad cable, bad lens, bad whatever, okay? Just use the high camera so we get it fixed. So that's entirely possible. The second option was that somebody really did think that that was a better camera angle, someone that had never been to Arrowhead before to do a soccer game, which is entirely likely because they're a product like this. They're going to hire producers and directors from South America or Europe or whatever, people that have a establish worldwide reputation in this game, not some local Kansas theater director. So the second option is that it's so bad that people are screaming at the tournament, screaming at FIFA, screaming at COncacaf, screaming at whoever the fox and that enough people, it worked its way up the command of chain, the chain of command through Fox, perhaps. And Fox is the biggest bidder, or probably or one of the biggest bidders for rights, called somebody at common ball and said, hey, what is this stupid camera angle? And then it trickled back down to the producer in the truck, like, why are you using that camera? Is there a different camera you could change to? So that's like a 30 minutes process. So that's entirely possible that that could also be the case. So anyone yelling at Fox is like, you're yelling at the wrong people. Fox had nothing to do with that. Maybe you eventually got them to change by yelling at Fox, but Fox has nothing to do with it. Fox is taking a world. [00:53:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I am, obviously. And for those, I assume everybody listening to this podcast knows that buzz knows what he's talking about, because this is what Buzz does for a real job, which is game production, television production. You've been doing it for almost 30 years. [00:53:59] Speaker B: 30 years, yes. [00:54:02] Speaker A: But maybe there are new listeners that don't know this about Buzz's actual real life career. I'm going to say buzz, it seems improbable to me that it is not the first one because there's no way an experienced producer director looks at that high angle camera and goes, oh yeah, that's great, we're sticking with this. There's no way that happens. At least I hope not. So I'm going to go with the broken equipment. And they scrambled and did the best they could until they got it fixed option. [00:54:32] Speaker B: Well, the one reason I would maybe not say, the one reason I would believe that is because that higher position is really good for an all 22 camera. And so if they lost the low one, they might have said, hey, all 22, your game, instead go like two minutes to air. But generally speaking, the main game camera is one right there at the 50 yard line. At the lower position. Right next to it, 99.9% of the time is camera two, which is a tight follow camera, like a replay camera. And so 99% of the time if you lose camera one, your game camera, you just say to your game, it's like that's what would happen. So like why it would go to a high one is what's confusing to me. That's why. That's the one thing that makes me think it might not have been the technical now, maybe, maybe, maybe one and. [00:55:16] Speaker A: Two boat, maybe whatever they were plugged into, because that's probably the same networking port. Maybe it all went out right there at the same level easily. [00:55:24] Speaker B: Could it? You're right, because it would have been the same fiverr jump, probably right there in the stadium. So they easily could have lost both cameras in that location. That's entirely possible. Could have been power. It could have been some fan going crazy and spraying them with paint. I mean, you never know. There was a, there was a, there. [00:55:37] Speaker A: Was a climate change protest. [00:55:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, there was a game, I think it was a Champions League game one time where some protesters took big, huge cables, cutters and cut the power cables to the truck and took down the whole thing with these, like right outside the stadium. [00:55:52] Speaker A: I think I remember. [00:55:53] Speaker B: So, like, crazy, crazy things can happen to a camera or even two cameras together that could cause it to go down. And the thing that makes me think was the Russians. Yeah. Now the reason I did think maybe is very possible, not very possible, perhaps 10% possible someone chose that camera is if you've never been there and you're from Europe or South America or whatever you might think, man, that high spot right above the field looks really cool. It reminds me of, there's a couple of european. Not your opinion. There's a couple of english teams where the sideline is super tight, where the camera is literally on the front of the roof and the camera almost looks like it's maybe Everton, the old Everton town. [00:56:33] Speaker A: Goodison park is like that. [00:56:34] Speaker B: I, so you can, I can see a world where someone who's never been to Arrowhead is just looking at like an email they got of the locations that go, yeah, that high center camera on the top of front, their decks would be there. That's a great camera. I'm super excited about that. So I don't have an official answer and I promise I know people that are involved in this thing. I will try and find out, but I may not be able to, but I will try. [00:56:55] Speaker A: Okay. [00:56:55] Speaker B: So I just wanted to, it's so fascinating to me and I thought I should provide what expertise I do have in this scenario and talk about the two possibilities and stop yelling at Fox. Fox has nothing to do with it. [00:57:06] Speaker A: I laughed and giggled the entire time thinking how much fun you were having watching a soccer game from the all 22 position. [00:57:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, it was so good. Yeah. And then they changed it. I was like, oh, no, why didn't you go back? [00:57:21] Speaker A: You couldn't tell who was who. [00:57:23] Speaker B: I felt bad for strong and Stewart, who kept going, like, why are they showing us that replay? We have no control over this. Don't yell at us. [00:57:30] Speaker A: It was like playing football. Manager, when everybody was. When the graphical, the original graphic version of it was just dots moving around a graph. [00:57:40] Speaker B: It was so good. Some people asked me if some people said, oh, it's the camera on a cable. No, no it's not. Because they showed replays of, of the camera that's on the cable. That's the one that looks straight down. Particularly the yellow card slash non stoppage play. The definitive angle was the one that was the straight down cable camera. This was not that. This was a basket or a position on the front of the third deck looking almost straight down. And that only happens at Arrowhead because that Arrowhead is built very vertical like the upper deck is almost on top of the lower decks. So that's why it was so on top of play. And I loved it. It was so good. [00:58:14] Speaker A: Man, buzz, you make me horny when you talk tv. Talk. [00:58:17] Speaker B: You know, there's two camera locations at Toyota Stadium too. Like there's a lower and an upper camera and depending on who comes in there, they change that upper to lower. The one you see on MLS is usually one of the top of the stands, right? [00:58:30] Speaker A: Don't you remember the entire conversation that we had and we. It was a big conspiracy theory because typically the game camera at Toyota Stadium is the one right in front of the club at the windstar, right behind section 106 and 107. Seven typically, right. But when Austin showed up and started sending over like 5000 fans to a game, remember they started using the camera in the press box that came at a higher angle so they, they could cut off the angle so you couldn't see the Austin fans. And we all speculated that that was a, an active choice they made to try to hide the Austin fans. Do you remember that conversation? [00:59:10] Speaker B: Yes, I do now that you say that. But in the back in the day they used to use that higher location more for depending on who was coming in there. Some teams like that higher spot, you know? [00:59:19] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I remember like it would. Depending on the game, it was either the. I don't know what the, the technical term for those tiers are, but the press box camera or the, that, that little, you call it basket or whatever that's right there behind section 106 and seven right at midfield just outside the window. I think that typically is the one they use for game camera these days, isn't it? [00:59:41] Speaker B: Yeah, generally now. And there's still one in the booth. Usually that's a. It'll either be doing some kind of replace that follow or it'll be like an all 22 look and they use it for or maybe it's just for talent, if you're going to put talent on camera, although current MLS doesn't do that. So if there is one up there still, and I haven't looked lately, you know, but sometimes they're both up there. It just depends on, well, not now. Now they have a uniform plan. But it used to. To be that you sometimes get two cameras up there in the booth, which makes the booth really hot because the windows are open and stuff. [01:00:08] Speaker A: And before we go, everybody should take a minute to go over to Buzz's website, thirddegree.net, and read your interesting article that you posted today about the academy. And it's perfect timing because this is also part of the reason why I was thinking about the Hudson ability to sustain excellence for any period of time is how the shine has come off the Dallas academy over the last, uh, three or four or five years. [01:00:32] Speaker B: Yeah, a tiny bit. Um, so. [01:00:34] Speaker A: Oh, come on. It's more than a tiny bit. [01:00:36] Speaker B: No, it's just a tiny bit. Um, we went through a little bit of a spot where there was a little bit of a drought in the academy, but it's picking back up again. But what's, what's changed is that we're not seeing. Well, the main thing that changes, everybody else actually got into the academy game for a long time. Dallas was it, and so nobody else was producing talent. Now everybody else is producing talent. So the other thing that's happened is that they've lost five or six coaches that had sexier names like former pros, former MLS players. You don't. I'm not a guy that thinks that all coaches have to be former pros, but you want a little bit of that because you want some star power. You want some attractiveness to, in terms of a famous name for some recruiting, you want different perspectives. You want a player from a player perspective. You want a non player perspective. You want variety. So right now, there are no former MLS players in the main academy coaching staff. There's a tendency, tendency to not have as many us youth national team stars as there used to be, although we're seeing a little bit more for other countries like Mexico or Jamaica or Honduras and things like that. Dallas did not penetrate far into the turn the postseason tournaments, but they were the only MLS team that had their team make every single kept bracket and one of three teams overall that did that. So there still is some quality there. They're still turning out the pro players, but it's not as good as it was. So I wrote about some of the symptoms that are, that are showing why it's down a little bit and some ideas about how they could make it better. One of the big problems, of course, is that Nico Estevez wasn't playing kids, and so it all was stagnating back down the pipe that, therefore the younger players were staying in north Texas, therefore no academy was getting into north Texas, therefore none of the kids are playing up inside the academy. And all that is pushing back down and hurting. So it's a con. It's a. It's a multi tiered, nuanced issue. Some of it has to do with structure and some various things. And if you're into the academy, I think it's pretty good. It is. All fixables can get better. Except that because everybody else now is also doing this, it'll never be clearly, by far the best by itself again. That won't ever happen again. But it can be back to closer, to where it was before when they was churning out talent between 98 and zero three. The talent that came out in those, that bracket is just absolutely insane. Good. And hopefully you can get closer to that than it is now. [01:03:01] Speaker A: Well, everybody should go read that. It's an interesting read. I don't know if it'll make anybody feel good about the situation, but I do think you give a fair accounting of the current situation. Want to do a little kit talk real quick? [01:03:16] Speaker B: Sure. [01:03:16] Speaker A: Before we end this? [01:03:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:03:18] Speaker A: So are you aware of this rumor? I don't even know if it's a rumor. It could be official. I haven't been paying close enough attention that MLS later in July is going to be revealing something they call the archive collection, which is ice. A certain number of teams are getting a third jersey. [01:03:37] Speaker B: I'm aware of the third jersey part. Yeah. [01:03:39] Speaker A: Okay. Well, they're calling it the archive collection, apparently. And have you seen any of these kits? [01:03:46] Speaker B: Yes, they're fantastic. Yeah. [01:03:49] Speaker A: I've only seen a few of them and I don't know. [01:03:52] Speaker B: I've seen three. [01:03:52] Speaker A: What have you seen? [01:03:53] Speaker B: The Miami one, which has like, the Miami vice style. Miami on the front. [01:03:57] Speaker A: Right. Okay. I've seen that one. Okay. [01:03:59] Speaker B: The LA Galaxy one is a, like a throwback to early LA Galaxy. It's really, really good. [01:04:04] Speaker A: It doesn't it just say galaxy across the. It's like. It's like true throwback because the logo of the club is giant across the chest. There's not a sponsor on the. [01:04:13] Speaker B: None of them have sponsors. That's correct, yeah. You know why they've decided that none of them have sponsors. I don't know. But, you know, it is a big, chunky team name across the front. And one of the things that makes the Miami one really good is that it's basically dolphins colors and it has the old school Miami vice style Miami text. And then the galaxy one is the split black and green from like the Kobe Jones era, which is really nice. And the third one I've seen is the timbers one, which is a sort of a maroon with a script timbers across the front, which is a throwback to like, NaSL days with them. So those are the three I've seen. They look at. They're really good. [01:04:51] Speaker A: Oh, actually, I'm looking at them right now. Yeah. Okay. Oh, Kansas City gets the old rainbow jersey. Have you seen that one? [01:05:00] Speaker B: I have not seen that one, but the old Kansas City rainbow jersey is a great jersey. [01:05:03] Speaker A: Okay. Well, I didn't know if you were aware of this. I just saw this the other day. [01:05:07] Speaker B: It's, it's, it's quite good. You know, I'm jealous, of course. I don't. I don't know if what they would come up with for the berm would be any good or not, but it's certainly, it's certainly good stuff. And if the league continues to do, you know, good stuff like this, it's, it's, it could be a win. I mean, you know, there's a lot of old good brands that have good, positive stuff in them, you know, that can be used in a way, a throwback way like this. And I'm sure that they could come up with some good Dallas burn FC Dallas stuff. Now, Dallas won't get it because they don't sell enough jerseys, so they'll never get like a third jersey, but not unless they completely change their ways. [01:05:52] Speaker A: All right. Anything else you'd like to discuss? [01:05:56] Speaker B: Just congrats to let me make sure I say his name right. Leo Oreja Reyna, who is the academy pick for the MLS next academy all star game. So he got picked. So congrats to him. He's a U 17, so cool. He's one of those kids that's actually signed to North Texas, technically. So that's. That's cool. [01:06:17] Speaker A: I've been trying to get Julian Eyestone on the kick around. In fact, I'm on this new crusade to try to get a host of Dallas tied players that made it, quote unquote, on the show. I've been trying to get Tanner on the show. Like, Tanner's in town right now, and I've been trying to work through some connections to get him to come on the air and do a segment especially. Have you seen the news that he's signing a deal with Ener? Have you seen. [01:06:46] Speaker B: I saw that it was progressing. It's. [01:06:47] Speaker A: Yeah, like, apparently that, that, that, that is in the works. That would be amazing. Although he's getting loaned back to Venezia for the season. Julian, we're going to try to have on the air. I'd love to have Jaden Shaw on the show. Weston, obviously, would be a huge one. All of those, Clint, all of those. So we're hoping to have Julian on, but in the conversation, he's already begun training with Brentford, and they posted something from Brentford B. The B team posted something on socials today, making that announcement. And I think that's really cool that he's a playing with a Premier League club. [01:07:22] Speaker B: Did you see what the name of that was, that, that thing Brevard posted? It was the Brentford Buzz. Oh, I had a lot of know that. No, I had not moved to Brentford. [01:07:31] Speaker A: You didn't. You weren't part of a package deal along with the Texas, the North Texas tree here. [01:07:39] Speaker B: I tried so hard to be a partnership package deal. It did not come together. By the way, let me know if you need a couple of names for guys that have made it from FC Dallas. I got a couple for you. [01:07:48] Speaker A: Who else should we have on? [01:07:50] Speaker B: Let's talk about Johann Gomez, who's a. Plays in Germany and was a member of the most recent U 20 team. You could do Nico Carrera, who also plays in Germany, who's Antonio's older brother. Yeah, he's on Holston keel. You get him? [01:08:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I'd love to have like, Chris Richards on the show. [01:08:09] Speaker B: Chris Cappas. Chris Cappas on the show, who's in Norway right now. I think you could have. I'll just have one. Oh, Charlie. Charlie Kamen. [01:08:20] Speaker A: Kelvin. Yeah, he's back at Leighton Orient and I know actually Kent Teague, the owner of Leighton Orient, is. Has been on the show a couple times. [01:08:29] Speaker B: And JT Jonathan Tompkinson, who plays for Norwich City, he's a member of the Olympic team, the US Olympic team. He played at FC Dallas for a couple seasons. He was an ECL player. And then he went up to. They had an injury problem and he went up to the academy and was originally was on the outside. And then they started, because of all the injuries, they started playing at center back. And then when they got their other guy's healthy bat again, they were just like, you can stay here as like a reserve player if you want. He goes, no, thanks. And so he went to solar and he started for solar for like a year. And then on his own, he went to Norwich as a U 18. He went to Norwich City, Norwich City, Norwich. And then he worked his way up and now he's in their first team. I don't know how much he plays for their first team, but because he's like, he's a member of the US Olympic teams. It's time at younger, but. But he's a guy that would be successful. [01:09:12] Speaker A: Ricardo Pepe would be a good one. [01:09:13] Speaker B: Pepe would be a good one. [01:09:15] Speaker A: You know who else would be interesting, really. One I think would be fascinating to talk to is the original Frisco kid, Keaton Parks, who's up at NYC. [01:09:23] Speaker B: Yes. [01:09:23] Speaker A: Is he still within my CFC? [01:09:25] Speaker B: As far as I know, I think so. I haven't looked at their rosters lately, but you could always get Jogo, too, who got left out of the Olympic team because he's at a club that doesn't like to really these people. [01:09:35] Speaker A: Right. [01:09:35] Speaker B: But, you know, he's definitely one consider. [01:09:38] Speaker A: Well, we'll see how successful I am at this, this new mission I'm on. We'll see. All right. Very good. Anything else you want to throw in here, buzzard? [01:09:48] Speaker B: Sure. You know, we're doing a 4 July sale on our t shirts. 10% off on the shop. If you go to my twitter handle. Yeah, it's show. Go to my twitter handle, third degree that on Twitter and you'll see the code there. Third degree. The podcast has brought you by the Lindstrom law firm for wills, trust, probates and business law. Call 469-515-2559 that's 469-515-2559 or visit lindstromlaw firm.com for a free consultation. [01:10:12] Speaker A: Very good. All right, well, maybe Dan will uncover from family time for next week, but thank you, Buzz. Yeah, thank you, everybody. Have a tremendously awesome 4 July weekend. Hopefully some good comes out of it, and we will speak to you next week on another edition of Third Degree, the podcast Happy Birthday, America. Third degree the third degree Nap podcast third degree the third degree Nap podcast. Third Degree the third degree Nap podcast third degree the third degree nap. I guess.