3rd Degree the Podcast #275

[00:00:00] Speaker A: You are cute when you're all shaved up. [00:00:02] Speaker B: I'm at a loss for words. [00:00:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:00:07] Speaker C: Ooh, ooh. [00:00:13] Speaker B: Third degree the third degree Nap podcast. [00:00:17] Speaker A: Third degree the third degree nerve podcast. Third degree the third degree nepot. Third degree. Third degree nap, I guess. [00:00:29] Speaker C: Third degree the podcast is brought to you by the Lindstrom law firm. For Wills trust, probate and business law. Call 469-515-2559 that's 469-515-2559 or visit lindstromlawfirm.com for a free consultation. [00:00:45] Speaker A: Well, hello there, FC Dallas. Curious fan. Welcome to another episode of Third Degree, the podcast. And this one would be number 275, kind of a milestone episode of Third Degree, the podcast. Look who's here. It's Dan Crook. Howdy, Dan. [00:01:03] Speaker B: Hey, I hope you're ready to roll into the MLS transfer window like an australian breakdancer. [00:01:11] Speaker A: I got the moves, brother. And your hero. My hero, everybody's hero. Editor, founder of Thirddegree.net, and the original soccer influencer himself, the good buzz carrot. Come in, Buzz. [00:01:23] Speaker C: Hey, fellas. How are y'all doing on this lovely Wednesday evening? As the trade window screeches to a. [00:01:30] Speaker A: Close, I am draw. I am. I am distracted by what appears to be the breaking news that the next us men's national team head coach will be Mauricio Pochettino. [00:01:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Is that gone? I saw the one report. Has it gone wide? More than that. [00:01:47] Speaker A: Starting to get out. More and more people are starting to claim that this is actually confirmed and happening. By the time people listen to this, maybe it'll be true, maybe not. But I already have people sending me messages asking me what I think about it. [00:02:01] Speaker C: Oh, so this is not that kind of podcast. But what do you think about it? [00:02:05] Speaker A: I think it checks a lot of boxes. I think it'll be good for calming a lot of very nervous people that thought that trundle, oh, was the shoe in hire for the job. But I'm. I'm also pretty sure this is going to be the watershed moment where everybody gets a harsh reality check that maybe the roster of the us men's national team ain't quite as good as everybody thinks it is. [00:02:30] Speaker C: Yeah, I 100% agree with that last little bit. I would have been okay with Toronto or Nancy Wilford, Nancy or Jim Curtin. I would have been fine with all those guys. Pocket Chino is a okay for me about on the same par. I do like the freshness of it in the sense that he won't really have much of an opinion about a lot of the players coming in. So it'll be a clean slate for the most part, I think. I mean, there's a couple of guys, obviously we're in the Premier League, but for the most part, I love a clean slate. And so the thing I am adamant about in terms of my one cycle only fanaticism, which had nothing to do with Greg, it's about complacency and not carrying over because people that carry over almost always become sort of stagnant with who is their guys. And so I'm ready for a fresh guy. And so this certainly checks all those boxes. [00:03:18] Speaker A: Yeah. I think we've learned in the last couple of weeks that if people will bitch about Emma Hayes, they'll bitch about anybody. [00:03:26] Speaker C: She looks real good after ten games, doesn't she? Or whatever it is. [00:03:30] Speaker A: I would. I think there's a. An interesting idea to be thrown out there that after the World cup, maybe they should consider hiring her for the next men's national team gig. [00:03:39] Speaker C: I would not hate that idea. And if she, if she does the Olympics, double, by all means. Yeah. [00:03:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Very good. What's up with you, Dan? What do you think of Pochettino is for the Yank gig. [00:03:55] Speaker B: Satisfy some of the Euro snobs? Does he know the playapore? Does he know his way around international management? Because it's, it's a different skill set. Who knows? I mean, Alex Ferguson couldn't succeed as an international coach, a national team coach, rather. [00:04:14] Speaker C: It is quite different. [00:04:16] Speaker B: But it will be fun to watch and have popcorn for. [00:04:21] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, I've been a big advocate for them hiring somebody with international experience, but, you know, who doesn't or didn't have any international experience? Emma Hayes. Yeah, lots of people, actually, but she immediately turned around. But that the problem is in making that point is that the women's roster situation and the men's roster situation could not be further and more different from each other. So she's walking into the best pool of players available on the planet. He's walking into a pretty mid tier pool of players. [00:04:53] Speaker B: She has Man City, he has FC Dallas. [00:04:57] Speaker C: Yeah. I give her a lot of credit for finally moving on to the new guard. The women's national team went way too long with a lot of the old pieces, which is, again, complacency. Right. It's the same thing. And she came in and just totally started over and that's what you have to do every cycle in my opinion, so. [00:05:14] Speaker A: Well, Buzz, I think Dan has given us a good opportunity to segue into the hot topic of tonight, which is the, as you mentioned, the closing transfer window, and it appears that Dallas is pretty much maybe only vaguely, slightly better in a position than it was before the window opened. [00:05:35] Speaker C: Yeah, they maybe have added a little depth at the holding mid spot, and they have maybe brought in a write back. And both of these are short term. That will make them a little bit better in the short term. Okay. I think we should talk about each one of those in general. But you're right that, like, the big issue was what they didn't do, which I think also we should talk about is the big need that didn't get filled. They didn't really make themselves markably better. Maybe that's actually okay given the fact that they have an interim coach. Remember, that was the first thing I asked at the press conference when they changed coaches. Was you really going to go through this window with an interim coach, given his 100% input? And they were like, yes, absolutely. So those are all talking points. [00:06:20] Speaker A: So if they're gonna take off the rest of the season, can we take off the rest of the season? [00:06:24] Speaker C: I suppose you can't if you want. [00:06:26] Speaker A: Because what's the point? Like, I've just the idea that they are gonna go through this transfer window and not fill the, and not do the things that everybody on God's green earth knows they need to get done is inexcusable and unacceptable in my book. [00:06:46] Speaker C: Well, all I can think of in that regard is that they have an NRM coach who's trying to win a job, and he probably went in there and said, you're telling me to win this job, and yet you're not giving me pieces to win this job. So you have to give me this and this for the rest of this season so I can show you that I can get this team in the playoffs and win this job, and then we'll worry about the big pieces. You know, I think Dan has some stuff for us that shows that they did attempt some other things as well. But the moves they got done to me scream Peter Lucene knocking on the door down to Zenada's office and going, you're giving me this and you're giving me that or else. This is ridiculous. [00:07:25] Speaker A: But the two moves in show and Ruan, are simply band aids for flat tires that appeared out of nowhere that they weren't prepared for. [00:07:35] Speaker C: Exactly. I mean, that's, that's why they call them, that's why we call them rental players and why I think Lucene's Luxane, excuse me, hands are all over them in the sense that like one of them is a body to replace Paxton in some capacity and Frazier in some capacity and the other one, Delgado and Delgado in some, well, he, remember the end, we decided he was a ten anyway, but in the central of midfield, you know, free up legit to play a little higher. Yara Mindy is 34 and can only play like every other game apparently, you know, so a lot of stuff going on there and then since Giovanni is not back and insanely seems to be behind Velasco in his return, even though his injury came two or three months earlier, which just again shows you how hard it is to judge these ACLL things, which is a whole other topic about that and whether you who you should have irred for the year, et cetera, et cetera, you know, and trying to show up a position where all the options are either unproven projects who haven't come through or they're veteran guys that just are constantly banged up or out or playing out of position. [00:08:33] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, I'm not a baseball fan, but I always am marveled at that point of the season where the tread trade deadline happens and a team just realizes they're going to be total crap, so they just start selling all the players just to make up, you know, draft picks or get in prospects or whatever that is in a baseball. And I always think, I watch that as a non baseball fan and I go, that must be the most depressing moment as a fan for when their team just goes, yeah, we're done for the season, and there's still like a hundred games left or something. That's what this feels like to me. It feels like Dan Hunt and Andre Zenada just said, call it. We're not, we don't need, we just need to wait till the next time and figure out we're going to hire maybe. Well, and I think that's. And I think that's a real crime. [00:09:18] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:09:18] Speaker A: And, and I, and I hope people voice their displeasure. [00:09:22] Speaker C: Well, for one thing, baseball people are a lot better at math, you know, and a lot less teams make the playoffs. So they, they are able to figure that out really quickly, that they're out of it. Um, you know, that's, that's one thing we've talked about from the get go when they made this change, when they said there's still enough time to do this and we're like, but is there, though? Because the math on the points you were going to need was so bad. But, you know, they did a bit on it. You know, they tried to rally and then obviously they just got in this window and like, these, these moves feel like Band Aids, you know? And again, there's kind of a dis, dichotomy here because I'm actually okay with that because I would have hated to see them invest, like three or four year contracts and dudes, when you didn't have a locked in coach. I mean, what if Lucene's putting in half the input on should I get these guys? And then in a month and a half he's going to be gone. [00:10:12] Speaker A: Hypothetically, yeah. And I guess, again, it just proves out that they had no backup plan when they decided they needed to get rid of Estevez. They just, they're just, they're doing this on the fly, and it just is more proof of what we've known forever, which is this is just a horribly, horribly, horribly run organization. [00:10:31] Speaker C: That's maybe a little harsh, but it's definitely not a first class organization. [00:10:35] Speaker A: Is this not a horrible times three organization buzz? Look where they are. This is the third coach in a row that they've hired and they've had to fire before their con, their first contract was up and they've gotten nothing out of it. Look at where this team was in 2016 and look where it is eight years later. [00:10:54] Speaker C: Well, I think, um, and you're like, I don't, I don't want to necessarily be all defending them and stuff, but I think that your and my idea about a well run organization and what's important are different than theirs. You know, you and I, and probably Dan, I'm sure to look at results and trophies and things like that and quality of players, quality of roster, you know, manipulation of the cap, you know, are you doing a good job? I think they consider more. How close are we to selling out every game? How much money are the sales from, you know, making us, are you buying and selling as the academy making us money? Are we, are we losing money hand over fist? You know, for the hunts for a long time, we believe, and based on people we know, didn't make a lot of money with FC Dallas, they pretty much broke even or lost a little pretty much every year until they figured out you could sell peppy for $20 million. So in my mind, that that's what matters to them is the business model and making the thing survive and make money. It's all they care about or not all is the main thing they care about, in my opinion, you know, based on their behavior. And so, like, their, their judgment that they're doing pretty good is based on the fact that they've sold out every home game this year. [00:12:07] Speaker A: Um, I. Yeah, but you and I both know that that is a. A business trick. [00:12:14] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:12:14] Speaker A: In terms of how they define ticket sales, it's not that they're selling them themselves. I mean, that's way too much. [00:12:20] Speaker C: Well, it was way better than any of this season. [00:12:23] Speaker A: It is. But they're also running a tremendous, tremendous risk of putting a pretty crappy product on the field. And those stands as the season has gone on, the butts in seat metric that we all really know is, is the atmosphere and everything has changed for the worse dramatically since it was really good at the beginning of the Estevez, you know, run. [00:12:45] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I just. I just. I don't want to go to. I think there are worse run franchises in this league, and so I think there are also way better run franchises in this league. So while I think that they're. I think they're not doing a particularly good job with the roster and the player personnel and in the academy these days, I do think that it could be a lot worse. You know, we see some teams that are way worse off. So I mostly agree with you. I just don't want to quite go that it's the most horrific run franchise. [00:13:13] Speaker A: I didn't say it was the worst. I'm just saying it's horrific times three. It is. It's bad, it's frustrating. And if I'm a fan of the if for anybody out there listening, that's frustrated by the lack of anything going on here, you have every right to be upset about this. I mean, you know, we've been fans of this club since day one, going almost 30 years now. And, you know, at some point, it's okay to be frustrated with the lack of positive movement in this thing. [00:13:39] Speaker C: Well, Dan. Dan and I were talking before we started recording, and we. I remarked that it was a second class franchise. And he said, dan, not to out you, but I think you would agree that you said it wasn't. You might not even be second class. You are. So are you with Peter more than I am? [00:13:53] Speaker B: Yeah. I think there are some really wonderfully talented and pushing in the right people. Pushing in the right direction. I think there are some people who are not pushing in the right direction for what, you know, what I perceive to be a good, functioning organization. You know, the same names have been banded around for many years and still knocking about. The people who seem to come and go seem to be, you know, talented, find something better. Talented, find something better. It is what it is. I don't want to overreact or anything, but do you think the blog should be more burgundy or gold next week? [00:14:42] Speaker C: More burgundy, of course. Maroon. [00:14:47] Speaker B: Whatever the green is that the Dallas Trinity are planning to use as well. [00:14:51] Speaker C: Oh, they got a green in the mix. I missed that. [00:14:52] Speaker B: There is a green. Yeah, we've never seen it, but it exists. [00:14:56] Speaker A: I think I missed the joke. [00:14:59] Speaker C: He's suggesting that we might be changing the colors of the website third degree to Burgundy and gold of the Dallas Trinity because now we're just going to. [00:15:06] Speaker A: Become a podcast about our professional women's team. [00:15:09] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [00:15:10] Speaker A: I. Yeah. Hey, look, here's the thing. I. We're at a point where I do believe, and I, and I've tried hard to push this along and nobody seems to pick up on it. But I'm hoping that after this window goes by and nothing of consequence takes place, that the rank and file fan of this club or media member who spends any time paying attention to this club begins to loudly start asking questions. What in the world Andre Zanada does and his role as built as a roster builder, because it is very clear to me at this point. Now I. Let me also say this. Let me have the caveat because we're recording this at like 09:00 p.m. on Wednesday and the window doesn't close for another 4 hours, he may pull some magic rabbit out of his ass. And I'll feel silly for saying this, but if the window goes by and they haven't hired a center back for this team after all this time, I'm going to wonder how long it's going to take Dan Hunt to fire him because he needs to hire somebody that knows what they're doing because this is unacceptable. [00:16:17] Speaker C: Well, it'll be a while because they just gave him a promotion and a raise. But you're right, because Nico Steves started telling me back in February or maybe a couple weeks in the season that they were going to get a Senate back next window, which is probably a good time. Dan, do you want to give your center back news bit here? [00:16:36] Speaker A: Wait, there's center back news? [00:16:38] Speaker C: Well, it's bad news. You know about it, I think. [00:16:41] Speaker A: I don't know if I do. Go ahead. [00:16:43] Speaker B: What's the story so heard a few weeks ago, I randomly had a second person independently tell me today, and that was the FC Dallas was very close to assigning. Agreed a transfer in principle. Agreed a contract with the player. Player was. Was here, the player was ready to sign and the player failed a medical. Now if you are aware of my love of my hometown team, Luton Town, and our wonderful injury crises, missing nine players for Saturday's absolute bumming by Burnley. Sorry, Monday. Sorry about that, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. I mean, I haven't watched a soccer game in a few weeks, and then I get that shit. But a certain mystic, Gabriel Osho, missed half the season, came back, I think, against Man United, maybe put in some great performances, and then at the end of his contract, kind of wanted to chase the money a little bit. Um, I've heard from a couple people now that money was coming from FC Dallas, but his lingering knee issues prevented that, so he scampered off to France instead. [00:18:06] Speaker A: Okay, and if that story is true, and they attempted to, you know, get Gabriel Osho on a free and pay him some money, that's, I suppose, a good thing. I think it's probably also a better thing that the doctor said, you know what? Your knee isn't good enough for us to pay that level of money and whatever that story turns out to be, uh, one way or the other is fine. But here's the next question I have for you. Is there, is there, is he the only center back on the planet earth? How do you not have, like, a line of, like, five people to choose from for this role? You've had a year plus to fight a center back for this team. [00:18:44] Speaker B: That's the hard part, right? On the one hand, you're like, oh, yeah, went for a Premier League center back. Good move. A guy on this cusp of the nigerian national team. Awesome. A lot of other teams are signing centre backs and we're kind of sitting with our thumbs up our ass here. [00:18:59] Speaker A: So whose fault is this? Is this. Is this Zenada's fault? Is this Dan hunt's fault? Is it both their faults? [00:19:07] Speaker B: It's. It's got to be, right? I mean, remember when that transfer, those transfer target board was leaked a few years ago and they're all kind of crappy options, but there were many options teams, you know, I've never known a team kind of put all their eggs in one basket. I assume they haven't here, but to kind of, you know, that they're batting at zero right now. [00:19:29] Speaker C: Yeah. To be fair, Zenada does have a technical director under him. He does have a head of scouting. They do have that european scout that allegedly is responsible for Musa, but also in a soli, you know, they, they have a group. So, like, it's actually the. And the funny part is that, like, it seems to be getting worse, even though they now have a group like they did better when it was just Klavijo and poppy, it seems like than they have lately, you know, or even the guy that went off to Orlando with Poppy who's namelessly gal member. Yeah, thank you. You know, between him and Zonata. So, you know, it certainly in the end of the day, like, what matters is what you deliver. And right now they're not delivering players to make this team any better. And it's one thing that, the problem here, I think for all of us is that it's one thing to say, look, we brought in some guys, but like if the guys you're bringing in are guys that are going to make your team, as you put it, Peter, just like, you know, maybe markedly better. And that's about it. These are not guys that are going to help you compete at the top of this league. So what is the goal here? Are you trying to win championships? Are you trying to just get into the playoffs? Because these moves are just get into the playoffs. [00:20:47] Speaker A: Well, I'm not even sure, Buzz, I'm not even sure the two people they bought and literally rented for the rest of the season because both of those contracts are lined up for them to cut them at the end of the season. One guy's out of contract and the other guy is literally here on a loan. For anyone here on a loan, it's a year loan. [00:21:05] Speaker C: So it could, it could carry the middle of next season, but you could also just void it and he could be gone. [00:21:09] Speaker A: Right. And so that to me screams, hey, we're just filling a couple of holes until the end of the season. [00:21:14] Speaker C: No, no, that's, that's right. But I actually think Ruan makes them better. But whether you keep it or not, it's a totally different question. So, you know, I totally agree with you that like at best you've kind of slapped a band aid on some things that made this team a tiny bit better. You've done nothing to like actually try and compete and like turn this team into a team that can not even forget about even winning something. Just get into the top half of the west again. Right. You're just holding it. How many years now have we said this in a row? If you stand pat, you get past, and we've said that for like five or six years and look where this team has gone from. You know, when they had, when Oscar was here, they were competing, they were winning supporter Shields and tying for supporter Shields. And now six or seven years later, they've been doing a whole lot of standing pat or going backwards and look where they are. It's like, it's, you know, we write about that. You know, it's easy for us on the outside to say that and have it be true, because it is, you know, but it's, it's where we are. [00:22:08] Speaker A: Well, I hope that if, in fact, this window goes by and they don't make any other moves, I would like to think that Dan Hunt has the courage to publicly come out and explain why this has played out the way it's played out. And if, if they've just decided, look, the cards have fallen. With all the injuries and our choice to change managers and find a new manager, here's how the season's going to play out. It is what it is, guys. Just stick with us. It's going to get better next season. We've got big plans and dreams and hopes, but the best way for us, the best path for us to do that was to manage the rest of the season this way. And if he does that, then I think a lot of. A lot of grace will be given in it. But, you know, I guess Tom will tell how, how they decide to communicate. [00:22:58] Speaker C: I hope that's true, because it is true that neither one of these moves that they have done have handcuffed them past the end of the season. And so there is credit to that. You know, it's just, it would have, it just. It's funny to me that they sat in that press conference on how they talked about the next window that Luke look saying was 100% gonna be involved and they were gonna be doing this, that, or whatever. You know, maybe. Maybe in hindsight, they did not promise that they're gonna be making big time moves in this next window. But, you know, they obviously have just made short term moves, and thank goodness they haven't handcuffed the team and made it any worse, because it'd be, it'd be worse if you went out and signed a guy for six years. That stunk. [00:23:33] Speaker A: All right, but didn't that also make the Gabriel Osho rumor really confusing? Like, if, in fact, the point to all this is just to get through the end of the season, then why did they even try to get Gabriel Osho in the first place? [00:23:45] Speaker C: Well. [00:23:46] Speaker A: Cause that's not a guy you signed for six months. [00:23:48] Speaker C: Well, that's true. [00:23:49] Speaker B: I mean, that would be, at that point, fixing a structural issue that goes beyond which coach you have. [00:23:57] Speaker A: Oh, no, I agree. But you see my point, Dan, which is if, if the lack of other moves is just them deciding to close up shop for the rest of the season and just patch the tire with two people. Why would you go through the hassle of trying to hire, like, a legitimate center back just because you think he's so good that no matter who you hire, they'll be happy to have him? Is that the answer to that? Like, you have an opportunity to hire, like, a legitimately good, top tier MLS center back? Is that what that is? [00:24:27] Speaker B: I'd hope so, because ultimately, looks on or not, we've still been talking about the need for a centre back, a starting centre back for two years. [00:24:37] Speaker A: No, I agree. I'm just trying to, I'm trying to, I'm trying to piece all this together. What I'm trying to do, I think all three of us are trying to do is I'm trying to get a semblance of what the effing plan is here. [00:24:47] Speaker C: Well, I think it's okay to have a two frontal approach. You can have a band aid approach for a couple of emergencies that you need to solve for the rest of this season. And you can also be thinking long term, like a problem we've had for a long time, we need to fix for the long term. Those, those can be two different things and you can do them both at the same time. I'm glad that the band aids aren't going to cost them past the end of the season. I would have also been glad if they could have finally realized the problem they've had since Reto Ziegler left, which is they needed a center back. So, you know, it's, it's okay if they would have done both of those things, and I'm glad that the short term one is not going to handcuff them. And I would have been, if that guy would have cleared his physical, I would have been very happy with that level of signing. You know, the guy's not 34. You know, he's only 26. And so you would have, theoretically, you would have had a guy in with a, with a pedigree, from a club that, you know, was from the Championship getting into the Premier League and a guy that would have been 26 through 30. So four, five years of prime of his career. I would have been okay with all that. You know, they would have not been upsetting. [00:26:01] Speaker A: It is also curious to wonder why one medical team says, yeah, your knees not good enough for us to sign you? But then a french club goes, oh, yeah, no, it's good enough. [00:26:10] Speaker C: Well, the salary cap changes a lot of things. You know, if you're in a club in a league that doesn't have salary caps, you can afford to pay guys to sit around and rehab, you can afford to miss. You know, you can afford to have backups that make $5 million. [00:26:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:25] Speaker C: If you're in a league with a cab, you can't afford any of those things. You can't miss on a DP period. You can't miss on a guy making a million dollars, which this kind of court center back almost certainly would have been. You know, you can't. It's, it's, it's completely different when you're in a salary cap league. [00:26:40] Speaker A: Well, the good news is we can all just kind of keep a weekly check in on how Gabriel Osho season is going in Lagoon starting this week. Yep. Wow. Well, and there's also this weird world, if you think about it, that if Giovanni Jesus was coming back from his knee injury and Frazier, for example, hadn't gotten injured, maybe they don't make any moves this window, because they try to get Osho and don't sign him and we don't have nothing. [00:27:09] Speaker C: I think that's true. I think if Frazier hadn't gotten hurt, and, you know, you can say this about anybody with the overload in midfield injuries, whether you want to click Delgado, Paxton, you know, legit was out a little bit, but now he's back, your money's out for a couple of games. All those things piled up and kept him, you know, made them have a need. If those guys would have been all unhealthy, a, you wouldn't have needed this guy, but b, you probably would be in a playoff picture. And the same thing with Giovanni, you know, if he'd have been healthy all year also, same sort of thing. Or if he'd come back middle of season, same thing. So it's, you know, those are impossible to. [00:27:43] Speaker B: I've got a question, and I'm sure this is going to also extend to discord when people listen, taking into account last two windows before this, the last two midseason windows, I should say we got, I remind, and Fraser, who contributed way more than you should have season before that, Martin Parrs and Sebastian Leggett. The last time there was a coaching change, the summer window consisted of facundo Quinon and the promise of significant reinforcements. No, wait, sorry, let me rephrase that. Reinforcements, and I mean significant reinforcements. As Dan Hunt said to the television before, that inevitably didn't happen. Is this better or worse than then? Strictly the window and the activity within it. [00:28:34] Speaker A: I'm not sure I understand. [00:28:35] Speaker B: Your question was this a more or less successful summer window than 2021 when Lucci got fired and all they managed to do was bring in Fakun do Kenyan. [00:28:50] Speaker A: Well, I don't know yet because I have no idea what qualities this guy's show has. I'm interested in hearing more from buzz about Ruan because my impression is he play. His forte as a player is a position that they don't use a lot, I think. Yeah, but we'll get into that in a second. [00:29:09] Speaker B: I was really hoping for a knee jerk reaction then. [00:29:14] Speaker A: Sorry. [00:29:15] Speaker C: Well, I think Fukundo was always terrible, so I think it's already better. [00:29:20] Speaker B: I think. I think you just had it out from him from day one. [00:29:24] Speaker C: Yeah, because he scored against Houston and. [00:29:26] Speaker B: You'Re there like, boo. That guy sucks. [00:29:29] Speaker C: Yeah, he's slow, man. [00:29:32] Speaker A: I barely remember him. [00:29:34] Speaker C: Fukundo. I mean, at some point he was being outplayed by. [00:29:38] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, no, that's right. Fakundo, the scent, the holding bid. That's right. Now I remember who you're talking. Yeah, fuck you. [00:29:43] Speaker B: Now I remember the Tiago Santos, late replacement. [00:29:47] Speaker C: Wow. [00:29:47] Speaker A: Way late replacement. Holy cow. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, Fukundo put a lot of miles in on this for this club, not necessarily high quality ones. I guess it's to be determined if. If these two guys, I mean, I. I don't even know if either one of them are going to be with this club next season. [00:30:04] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a fair question. Let's talk about what we, the player, we know something about, which is Ruan. This guy show, I couldn't tell you anything. I know he's played in this railway league, but that means nothing to me. You know, I don't think that league's as good as MLS. So maybe at the top end it. [00:30:20] Speaker B: Might be as good as USL championship. [00:30:23] Speaker C: Yeah, there you go. [00:30:24] Speaker A: Well, then what it. Let me ask a question. Is he leaving that team on his own accord or did he ask, do we know what the, his backstory is and why he's being sold? Did he want to leave? [00:30:38] Speaker C: I think he wanted to leave once he had this opportunity. [00:30:41] Speaker A: Okay, meaning like, is the team trying to get unload him, I guess is the question. [00:30:46] Speaker C: I don't, I think. I don't think so. I think. I think they agreed to let him out of his deal once he sort of had this, if I remember correctly, opportunity. I didn't dig deep into what his conduct situation was, to be honest. [00:30:58] Speaker A: Anybody looking to get out of having to apply their trade in Israel right now, I totally understand maybe wanting to relocate your life situation. [00:31:07] Speaker C: It is a loan. So I'm sure that Dallas is paying them a certain amount of money to get him. His market value is nothing is less than a million bucks. So, you know, it's like what they're paying for the loan. [00:31:20] Speaker A: I don't know. Let me ask the question a little bit more simply. Are we getting a guy that their club doesn't want anymore because he sucks? Or are we getting a guy that's trying to get out of a bad situation? And we really don't know what we're getting in terms of quality player. [00:31:32] Speaker C: I mean, we don't have any clue what kind of player we're getting. I think we're getting a player, though, that when Dallas called, he said, oh, I would love to do that. And then club's like, okay, go ahead. And it's like when I would equate it to when Mario Diaz got the $3 million contract, when he was on a million dollar contract, and Dallas is like, well, good luck, have fun. You know, I kind of feel good that this is like, that they were, they're like, oh, well, shit, go. This is what it feels like to me. But I don't, you know, I don't know anywhere near enough about this, really to say so I just. [00:32:00] Speaker A: Okay. [00:32:00] Speaker C: That's all just vibe. So Ruan, on the other hand, is actually pretty good. He's, I think he's better as a wing back than an outside back. But if you remember when Montreal played Dallas earlier in the year, he absolutely just destroyed Dallas on the outside. And that was the game. In fact, we were very clear on this podcast. Remember, like, that was a game where they showed you what a wingback should play like, and Dallas's guys weren't playing like that. And he annihilated Dallas on his side the whole game. He is a, you know, relatively good player getting forward. I believe they said he's got more assists this season than anyone else on Dallas does, for example. So he gets forward and he can get crosses in and lose a look, saying, if you watch the post game press conference from the Juarez game, he talked about the failure to get crosses into the box a bunch. So to me, this screams like a guy who, a player that would fit exactly what Luxain wants to do. Now, remember, Luxaine runs this flexible tactic where it shifts in and out of a back three to a back four. And if this guy on the right back spot is a perfect player to be able to flex in and out of a from a wing back or wide midfielder to back to a fullback. So he definitely fits exactly what Luxaine is trying to do. Now, again, we've talked about how his contract's up. You know, they only paid $50,000 for him in gam. Now, just to put that in perspective, $50,000 in gam is what you pay, for example, to get someone's homegrown rights or to get like a mid to late, like a late first round, second or third round draft pick. These are not what you pay. Like an international slot goes for 250. So even if he hits the metrics, which is probably him resigning with Dallas, and it goes to 150, that's still Jack squad. In gam, this is basically a free player. So why Montreal wanted to dump a player? This, like, consider that when Edwin Cerrillo got refused to sign a contract, Dallas traded him to the LA galaxy for like, what ended up being with all the metrics, hit like 600k in gam. So this is way, way off. What, somebody even valued that one cereal. So why in the world is Montreal adopting Trump in this guy for free? Well, either he's impossible in the locker room, I have no idea. He's been an MLS for a fair time, though, so that probably isn't true. Or he just told them flat out, I refuse to resign here. You might as well get what you can for me because I'm not staying here. And that's probably more than likely what the case is. And then Dallas was the only one that was willing to give anything for them, for a guy, because this is not a guy that's going to make you into a superstar team. This is just a guy. This is a dude. Plus, you know, he's not a straight dude. He's got a little bit more than that, but he's also 29 going on 30 next year. So I think this is a player that right this minute, really fits what the coach wants to do. He seems to be pretty damn healthy. He's very physical, very fast from watching him play, just tearing up and down, can run the full field, can play the real wing back if that's what you want. And we've seen luxe and do that quite a bit. So I think that's a piece that actually works in all the ways that matter. Now, for the price you paid, you're great, great value. Is it going to make the team long term better? Man, they're. They now have five or maybe even six right backs if you count Paul Areola. So there is an added bonus, but, like, because your front line has also got some injuries in it, and this now lets you move Areola back to the front line full time if that's something that interests you. So, um, you know, it. There's a lot of band aid at that right back spot right now. And, and this is going to get them through the season. And they'll give us as a reviewers and them plenty of time to decide if this is the guy they want to keep and what it'll cost. Right now, he's on 440 as a base. Ema's like on 370, far fans like on 500. So his money is right in line with what should be a starting. [00:35:56] Speaker A: What's Jayvoni Jesus getting? [00:35:59] Speaker C: Well, his is lower. Remember, he's a U 22 initiative guy, so he was, he would have had a high buy price, but then a lower contract and a lower cap hit, you know, so he's an unusual situation with different kind of metrics. But, you know, his, his, his salary is not equivalent to what a starting outside back would get in this league. Whereas far, like junka, for example, is on 250. Okay. That's a more of a reserved number that's closer to what Giovanni has because he's on the U 22 initiative versus far fans. Five. Whatever it is. Ema's kind of in the middle. Like, Ema's contract happened when he came off of like a 20 game start season and was becoming the full time guy. And so his contract started it 200 something. I can't remember exactly what it was. And it's gone up every year since, like three years since then. So he's now on like 380 or, I don't have it in front of me, something like that, under 400. And then his contract is going into. This is the end of his last contract year, so Ima is an option next season, so. And then they also have endale, of course, who's on like 70 because he's on like that rookie, you know, or first or second year draft pick, kind of really low number, you know, lots of pieces, you know, so they, they got some choices this winter, which is a topic for a different day. They're going to have to make some choices about the. And if you count the home, the guy they've got on what we think is a hybrid contract in north Texas, they've got six right backs, including Areola, so they got some decisions to make in this position. [00:37:22] Speaker B: Don't forget Jesus Ferreira. He's a right back. [00:37:24] Speaker C: Yeah, right, Jesus, right back. Fair Sam joker, switch foot outside back. He loves that, you know, they got, oh, ibiyagas are right back now, apparently. [00:37:33] Speaker A: Holy Christ, that's a lot, Buzz. [00:37:35] Speaker C: Well, Ibiyaga's. We're joking about the worst game. [00:37:38] Speaker B: I'm just saying that, look, they're hiring Jurgen Klinsman. [00:37:42] Speaker C: I'm just saying that, like, this is obviously a position that has a great deal of flux in it over the next, you know, the back end of this season and going again the next season. I can't believe, you know, so the money is about appropriate. It didn't cost him nothing to get him, relatively speaking, you know, so I'm. I actually think this is a really good value move for a guy who, if he does do well here, could really be a good piece for you. [00:38:07] Speaker A: What is Emma Tuamasi's injury, by the way? [00:38:11] Speaker C: It's been a couple of different things. Like, he, I think the first one was something like a quad, and then he came back and there was an ankle. You know, he's just having trouble getting 100%. And then for, when he first came back, he wasn't fit because he'd been out for two months or whatever it was. So he's just, he's having trouble getting back to 100% fit and 100% comfortable. And some games you can see in some games you can't, like, he's Dallas's best one on one outside defender. He's the fastest player on the team in terms of in game running, I have no idea. What if you put him on a track, would it look like? But in game, he has the fastest sprint time. So, like, if you have a guy on the outside who's trying to take you to the in line, he's the best guy to stop that. Now, his team conceptual defense can sometimes be a little bit weak, and he used to be really good offensive player, but Nico, Steve has coached that out of him. So, you know, he, you know, he's keeps on giving. Yeah, he's like, I don't remember what he's now 27, 28. I mean, he's a, you know, a six or seven year MLS veteran with 100 games under his belt. So, like, if Dallas decides they don't want to pick up his option, which I'll probably be like 400 something at this point, which, again, that's a normal outside back starting number, you know, someone else will pick him up, he'll have some options, but he needs. He needs to get healthy and stay healthy, you know, and Roan seems to be really good at that. As much as we complain about having people hurt all the time, ruan when I looked at his numbers, look pretty consistently, like he's pretty healthy most of the time. Knock on wood. And we don't reckon now, so, you know, you can buy into that. [00:39:36] Speaker A: I want to ask actually the most important question, which is with this other guy, show, do we potentially have a candidate for the infamous list? Because he is the same player who on his instagram page, posted a photo of himself in an FC Dallas trading shirt with not one, not two, but three emojis of batteries out of. Out of charge, meaning I have three batteries that need recharging. Hello, Dallas fans. I'm out of battery. [00:40:17] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:40:18] Speaker A: What does that mean? [00:40:19] Speaker C: And some of the pictures are hysterical. Like, he looks like his face is like, oh, my lord, or what have I done? You know? [00:40:25] Speaker A: You know what? I really appreciate a player that proactively sets fan expectations. [00:40:32] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I think actually in the middle of an injury crisis that the center back target failed a medical. Was that was more list appropriate than. Yeah, yeah. You know, show. Because I have no clue what we're getting to. I'm willing to reserve judgment. You know, if he can, he can out. If he can outplay Carl Sante, who I don't think should have been on an MLS roster as a six, I think he should have been signed as a center back project, and yet he's been forced to play six or seven games now, including like three straight starts as a six. Well, if he can outplay that guy or if he can outplay frazier, that's a win, you know, I mean, I have no idea what his salary is, but, like, you know, if you can get that out of him, you know, and not just for the rest of this season, like, if. If that's a level he has and you can keep him as a backup or like a sometimes like, 1012 game starter next year, that's an okay piece. If. If he's a good, good, good in sitting in that spot, you know, playing in a double or playing in a single and letting double eight in front of him or doubling up with Eri Mindy and letting your Armini not have to, you know, work so hard, you know, Ari consistently runs more than anybody else. If you could have that not happen, that'd be great for a 34, 35 year old, you know? [00:41:45] Speaker A: Sure, I'm. Look, I don't want anybody to think I'm not going to give him a chance to prove himself. History tells me I think I know what to expect based on the level and where he's coming from and the pedigree and all of that, but he may end up being a completely solid MLS dude type, which may need next season. I don't know, I just. [00:42:06] Speaker C: You need. Sorry, Peter. Go ahead, speaker zero. [00:42:09] Speaker A: I was just saying it's just not a signing that's going to excite anybody. And history tells us he's not going to come in here and burn up the world and make this suddenly a playoff contender. He's just here to patch a hole. [00:42:21] Speaker C: Yeah, you need a certain amount of dudes, unfortunately, you know, Eugene Ansa has not set the high bar for players from the israeli league to make us feel really good about that. [00:42:32] Speaker A: Guy's terrible. [00:42:34] Speaker C: You know, he's just a dude also, but not. [00:42:36] Speaker A: I don't even think Ansa deserved has qualified as dude status. [00:42:40] Speaker C: I mean, he's losing out to Farrington and to Comugo, who's having just an absolutely horrific second season. You know, the signs are not good there. That again, that's another guy that is going to be out of contract. You know, in a way one of the positives of the situation right now. As much as we don't like what's happening, there are a good chunk of contracts that are coming off the books at the end of the season, you know, and as much as, like, Niko Estevez wanted to add those pieces at the bottom of the roster, those veteran pieces, like, none of those pieces, I think are really handcuffing them other than, bizarrely, Paul Ariel's contract, you know, so it's like, they don't, they're relatively unencumbered in that sense. The worries are the, are the areolas, the pax and Paumacol contract, the. How long does legit have at that contract? You know, those are the things that you have to really worry about, which will all get to later in the year. [00:43:33] Speaker A: Yeah. At some point I think we need to just spend more time taking accounting of Zenada's performance in this role and the time he's been here. [00:43:42] Speaker C: I think that's fair. I did a thing, I think it was last year where I looked at. I tried to look at each move he made, like in the moment, like the context of the moment. And some of them I thought were terrible and some of them I thought were pretty good, you know, like, to me, like, a lot of people hated the Edwin trade, but in the moment, like, to get 600k for a guy that basically turned down any contract offer, that's actually a pretty good move. [00:44:04] Speaker A: Oh, the Cerrillo. Edwin Cerrill. [00:44:06] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, sorry, not Edwin Jasi move. That's an f move. You know, I'll try and maybe I can try and dig that out and update it, but, you know, it certainly isn't. When we look at the overall state of the roster, certainly we can't be pleased with what that is. And it'd be interesting to see how much of that was Nico Stephens influence and how much of it was not his influence. Since they're going to be able to clear a fair bit of it this winter. I think I'll have to look into that, too, as we go forward. [00:44:29] Speaker A: Speaker two well, I mean, look, he's in the role, and people who think he might have been doing a good job are going to throw Peter Moussa out there and alarm Mendy out there and maybe Velasco out there in terms of, you know, and, hey, he was the one that went out and got legit and Areola to show up and play well for one season. Maybe those are. Maybe, maybe. If you really sit and think about it, Zenada is on the plus side in terms of overall additions to this team. I maybe. I don't know. But at this particular moment, considering that we're all the way down the road at this point and this is where we're at, it just feels like it really has trended downward for a while now. [00:45:12] Speaker C: Well, you know, that first year, and, Dan, I want to hear what you think about this, too, this trend on Zenada, because that first season under, under Niko, they went hard and got Paul, spent a lot of money to get Paul, and they went hard to get legit. And a lot of those things that first year worked really well. Jesus was on fire. And of course, they stayed really, really healthy, relatively speaking. And then the last two years, they've been absolutely devastated by injuries, and it's almost impossible to really grade. You know, you like Alan Velasco, you like Petter Moussa, you like I say, you maybe mean me, Yarmindy. You know, there's, like, a lot of pieces I like, but then there's a lot of things I don't understand. I don't understand how you didn't recognize you needed a center back for a long, long time. I don't understand some. All of these signings that are happening in the academy are confusing the crap out of me. You know, I like that they're now overloading north Texas with homegrowns because you can use that rule. I like the way they've manipulated the senior roster with this extra player. You know, the recognition that, like, you needed to put Paxton on the IR once that happened, but then I don't like to failure to recognize coming into a season that you were absolutely screwed because you had Vlasco and Giovanni on the ballot for basically the bulk of the year. So like sometimes they do moves that I'm like, oh, great move. I like that. And other times I'm like, what are you doing? You know, so I'm kind of. I'm really hit or miss on the whole thing. Dan, how do you feel about it? [00:46:29] Speaker B: Hit and misses is, yeah, completely appropriate. I just still remember that preseason press conference when you asked about putting Velasco on IR and he looked at you like you just farted. [00:46:43] Speaker C: Yeah. He could not believe that. I thought that was a. That was like, oh, like that was like, what? Why would anyone do that? I was like, oh my God, here we are with nine games left and he's not. [00:46:52] Speaker B: You could see it a mile off. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we thought that maybe Giovanni Jesus would be kind of back on the field at this point. But we also know just from, from life that unless you're Tyreke Scott, you've basically crap for the first year back from from an ACL anyway. So to have two players that you're like, yes, these are key players that the season is going to depend on. One who wasn't necessarily very good to begin with. I just don't know what they're thinking there. And yet to kind of fill roster spots with players who maybe don't need to be on an MLS roster right now to waste international spots on NSA league and a significant amount of money, even if it's off budget, there's just some baffling decisions there, some decisions that don't seem like they have a lot of method behind them. [00:47:51] Speaker A: Putting ONSA on a TAm deal, I mean, that's like one of the worst things I've ever seen in my life. [00:47:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I think there's a. Sometimes there's a lack of recognition, I think. And I don't know whose quote unquote fault this is per se, but like the idea that, that you can compete in this league without three DP's and without three good DP's and without those DP's hitting. If you're not LAFC or Miami where guys are taking less money to come play for you, then you have to have these big money players hit. And to go into a season with one of your best players, your big money players, one of your DP's, your talisman, your guy who's going to create and cause as much chaos as possible. That guy's out for the bulk of the year, and by the time he comes back, Jesus Frere has been in and out of the line. I've been injured for. And he's getting paid, what, two and a half million. And he's having able to string together ten games in two and a half years now. And Paxton being injured, how, like, that's the failure recognition that, like, you can now this roster is good enough. This roster barely can get on the field. You know, it's like, how do you expect that to compete? You know? I don't. I just don't understand that part, you know, more than anything. [00:49:01] Speaker A: Well, because I think at the beginning of the season, they all looked at each other and said, if all of these things go the way we want them to go, this could be a pretty good roster. But we've been talking about this since before the season started. This was all highly predictable in outcomes. It was, you know, almost to a man. I mean, the only. The only one that I think catches any of us off guard is Frazier getting hurt. But I don't think any of us really were hoping that Frazier was going to have to be, like, a critical component to this thing working in the first place. [00:49:33] Speaker C: No, he's, he's a dude, he's a filler. He's a backup, like six. You what, you don't, you don't want them starting more than ten games. [00:49:39] Speaker A: So everybody else that is hurt or has been hurt off and on, overdose the course of the season is, for the most part, highly. It was a high risk, highly predictable outcome. [00:49:49] Speaker C: Yeah, I'd agree with that. Maybe not Delgado, but other than that. [00:49:51] Speaker A: I would agree, or maybe I. And just giving a benefit of doubt, Emma, to Amasi. [00:49:57] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, he's been pretty consistent the last few years, but you can pretty. [00:50:00] Speaker A: Much go down the rest of the list and go, yeah, check, check. Yeah, we kind of assume that to be the case. And, and, and here, there's the other thing, is that, you know, the fact that you, to your point, they didn't buy somebody else out of their contract, whether it be Giovanni, Jesus, or Jesus or Velasco, and essentially wasted that opportunity to bring in somebody better, you know, I just. [00:50:24] Speaker C: Yeah, that was my overall point was that, you know, at the time, there was these, there was discussion that there was going to be a, possibly a fourth DP and how important DP's are and how vastly you need to. How important you need them to hit is, you know, okay, then put Alan on the IR and go get another DP to replacement. And then worry about how you solve that problem a year later when maybe you'll have a fourth DP, or maybe you have to use your one buyout. But it's such a, it's such an important piece, such a massive piece if you miss on a DP, unless the rest of your roster is just really, really well built and really healthy and they can carry you to the playoffs. But if you don't have that, all the, if everything else doesn't hit, then one bad DP, one out for the year, DP will just crush you. Because then again, cap league, you can't have, you know, those three guys get paid more than the rest of the roster combined, basically, without doing the math. I'm just saying that generally speaking. So it's like you just cannot have that much value. Remember that? Remember when they were talking when they fired Nico, Steve, what was the line they dropped about how they had like two point, and I even added it up one time, it was like $2.5 million in players that wasn't on the field or something like that. That's like your whole cap basically was not on. The, equivalently was not on the field because at one point, Paul was out, legit was out. Ariel was out, Giovanni was out. Jesus was out. It's like Paxton was out. It's like, come on. It's like, forget even one or two of those guys being out crushes you, especially your DP, you know? [00:51:52] Speaker A: Yeah, but again, of all those players, almost all of them were high risk injury likelihoods. [00:51:59] Speaker C: Foreseeable. Yeah, foreseeable. [00:52:00] Speaker A: Like, you could predict that over the. Yeah, okay. I'm beating a dead horse. Sorry. [00:52:03] Speaker C: Yeah, well, part of that, too is like, too many old guys in key positions. You can have old players that are good, but old players tend to get hurt more and they take longer to return. You know, it's like if you have a bunch of them, you're in trouble, you know, one or two. [00:52:18] Speaker A: Well, I, you know, it's. It's interesting to me that alarmy was not available for Leagues Cup. I mean, not having him available for leagues cup pretty much was the nail in the coffin for that tournament, for this team. [00:52:30] Speaker C: Yeah, 100%. [00:52:31] Speaker A: And so the decision not to play him, whether he was borderline healthy or not, is a decision to save to, for whatever reason. [00:52:41] Speaker C: I think. I think that's probably a calculation of I need. I'd rather have him for the rest of the remainder of the regular season than I would for league scope, probably. Yeah, would be my guess, you know. [00:52:51] Speaker A: All right, well, again, all of this is caveated by the fact that by the time we're done recording this, there'll be a couple of hours left before the window closes. But I think we all agree, based on what we've been told and sources and so forth, everybody left the FC Dallas offices a few hours ago. [00:53:09] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:53:11] Speaker A: Okay. So now they've got time off leading up to their next game, which is the game in DC on the 24th, so they've got ten days. Buzz, anything else about this that you want to get into? [00:53:26] Speaker C: Well, the last press conference was the. That I can find is the one that they did at the end of the Juarez game. So we don't really have any information about, you know, returning players or health of players. Thus, Dan, unless you have anything, but I think it's reasonable to expect that coming out of this time off, that we might see Jesus Ferreira, we might see Liam Frazier, perhaps. Possibly we might see Alan Velasco soon. It feels like Delgado is the one that's going to be the furthest one out. And for, bizarrely, how Giovanni Jesus, again, is behind Alan Velasco and progression is just mind boggling to me. It says something either really bad about Giovanni's rehab habits or the people that did his work on his knee versus what Allen has done, and maybe what Alan's rehab habits are like, perhaps, or just generally way those two players heal. It's just. It's inconceivable that Allen could possibly be back earlier, which is. And that does. That's the one side of the rwandan thing we didn't mention. Was it. Does it say anything about, perhaps, Giovanni not being back this year at all? I think that's a legitimate question to wonder about. So I would assume. [00:54:34] Speaker A: I would assume that means he's not coming back at all. [00:54:36] Speaker C: Yeah, that's kind of a guess. You know, I don't want to. I don't want to. [00:54:39] Speaker A: There's only nine games left. [00:54:41] Speaker C: I know, I know. That's. [00:54:43] Speaker A: Which leads me to another question, which is there are only nine games left. The odds of them making the playoffs or even making the play in game are really, really small. And therefore, should you be rushing Alan Velasco back? Should you not make sure that, uh, whatever's going on with Jesus Ferreira's bottom half is, you know, fixed, incorrect, whether that requires surgery or not. [00:55:09] Speaker C: Well, I would say. I would say to be patient, but you have a coach trying to win a job. You have front office owner and TD who said that this is a playoff roster and those guys were going to be back and they were going to be huge players for them down the stretch. So, you know, there's some. There's some impetus to win. There's some impetus to show that you were right. There's some, you know, no one likes to admit they were wrong, publicly or privately. So, you know, there's. There's pressures that those guys are going to be coming back and playing, you know, and when it probably would be better to just shut them down, honestly, for the remainder of the season, for these nine games, you know, it would probably be better for the long term future of the organization to leave Giovanni Alvlasco and Jesus Ferrer just out for the rest of the year and not bring them back. [00:55:56] Speaker A: Right. And I think that's why all of this is such mixed and confusing messaging. Because if you're going to rush Velasco back and rush Jesus back because you're trying to win a playoff position, yet you're not willing to go out and find better players for the roster, what's the point to all of this? Because if you didn't do those things and one or both of those guys get hurt again because you rushed them back to try to win a playoff spot and you ruined them for 25. [00:56:25] Speaker C: Well, I think you remember last winter trying to get through Jesus through without surgery, led to this cascading list of injuries he's had this year. Like, none of them are, like, literally the same thing, but they're all sort of interconnected, you know, in our humble opinion of how these things work, we've seen them time and time again. So, you know, I honestly think it would be for the best to just shut all those guys down, you know? I mean, Liam Frazier, maybe I'm not so worried about it, you know? But even Delgado, like, the only reason I would try and bring Delgado back might be like that. You have a loan ending, and you probably have a buy you're trying to make a decision on, so maybe you want to see some more of him. But everybody else, I'd be like, just cut it, you know? Speaking of. Speaking of Alan Vlaska, by the way, is this the right time to bring up again that there's. Boca's circled back again trying to get him? Sure, I know we. We brought it up a couple of weeks ago, but then there were some reports of, like, literal money, like, I think it was 7.5 million, and then, like, another 1.5 in incentives for 80% of his pass. So I'm like, that's where I was, like, oh, maybe I would do that deal. [00:57:27] Speaker A: That would be the most Dan hunt outcome of all time, which is you chose not to buy out his contract or put him on a season ending ir so that you could go out and get a replacement player for the season, only to then sell him to, you know, and he ends up never playing for the club again. [00:57:44] Speaker C: Yeah, but think about, like, coming off of an ACL, if you could. Like, they. What did we decide? They paid for him, like, eight or 9 million. Right? So if you could get that money or a little bit more with incentives for 80% of his pass, I mean, I might be tempted. When you got a guy come off an ACL and you have no idea. [00:58:01] Speaker A: I agree. You did all that on the back of the decision, the active decision not to put him on season ending ir so that you bring in a better. Bring in a replacement player. [00:58:12] Speaker C: Yeah. That would for sure go on the list. [00:58:14] Speaker A: That would absolutely go on the list. [00:58:18] Speaker C: Oh, that would be rough. Gosh. [00:58:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, well. [00:58:23] Speaker B: So are we saying third or fourth tier organization? [00:58:29] Speaker C: It's third degree. [00:58:31] Speaker A: I don't know, man. It's. It's hard to be. I mean, it's not hard. It's. The Hunt family is the preeminent pro sports franchise ownership group in the country, maybe the world. I don't know. They've been doing this forever. They make money doing this. I don't. I just. All of this in this particular instance is very frustrating and maddening that they. That we've come every time it feels like they're getting somewhere with this thing, and then they just. The wheels come off. I don't know. You know. You know where I'm at. All this. [00:59:07] Speaker C: I mean, it's just par for the course. Peter, you've been here since 96. You know. [00:59:12] Speaker A: Well, I mean, it is. You know, I think back there are a lot of people that listen to this podcast that don't remember what this was like when this team had no ownership. It was essentially the redheaded stepchild of the league. And do you remember those days, Buzz? You remember? I mean, that, and. And, uh. And when Lamar decided to rescue it, there was a lot of really good will and feel good this and feel good that, and it's, um. And there have been good times with the hunts, you know, and there have been really, really good, positive things they've done for this club, the academy stuff, building the stadium for. Whatever you think about that, the 2016 season, going out in money, whipping Colorado to bring in Oscar Perea yeah. You know, all of those things are really, really good elements and things that they should be very proud of. [00:59:58] Speaker C: But almost getting Diego four land, who. [01:00:03] Speaker A: Apparently has turned out to be a really good tennis player. Do you see that story? [01:00:07] Speaker C: No. No. [01:00:08] Speaker A: Yeah, he's, like, out on some sort of, like, amateur tour or something. I read the story the other day. I don't know. Anyway. Yeah. I don't know, man. It's. It's just hard being a fan of this club on this particular day when you were kind of hoping maybe they'd surprise and delight us all by making some acquisitions, only to realize they've pretty much decided this season's a mail in. [01:00:30] Speaker C: I think in the NP, that that's what it is. It's like that they. They had. They thought they had a center back, and when that fell through. Okay, don't panic. Just don't do something stupid just because we got two days left or whatever it is. Two weeks left. Let's just go get it this winter. We got an interim coach. We're going to band aid this thing together. So you get any worse. [01:00:50] Speaker A: So you think that. So, wait. I want to make sure that you and I are. I'm understanding you correct. You think the fact that they tried to get a center back of quality and failed is good enough? [01:01:01] Speaker C: No, I don't. I think that you need to do better than that. But I think that once you get a guy and then he fails the medical, I will give credit for not panicking and doing something stupid. [01:01:14] Speaker A: But should they not have had a plan b? [01:01:17] Speaker C: Yes. Yes. No, no, no. They should have. They didn't do good enough, but then they then turned around, didn't make it worse. Like. Like, they didn't. They didn't turn around and go to plan Z and do something crazy and give a four year deal to a 35 year old center book, like, named Dan Crook. I'm just saying that, like, 37, actually. Yeah, 37. You know, like. Like, look, there's a bunch of names. Like, you see these names in Europe all the time where, like, some guy leaves a club and people are like, oh, that guy's available. You know, like, let's get him, dude, he's 37. It's like, stop. You know, it's not like he's 37. And Christian Ronaldo and I don't even have a concrete example. I just have, like, these guys that, like, here, I'll. Let's talk about yere Mindy for a minute. Right? We love that guy, but they just did when they brought him in. They did like a year and a half deal, right? That was it. They didn't risk it with like a five year deal on a 34 year old. So in a way, yes. Do better with your initial signing and that you find the right guy who's healthy and get a center back sign is 26. Awesome. But it falls apart. Doesn't pass a medical. Don't then do something moronic and sign Omar Gonzalez to a six year contract. As I'm saying, is like, don't panic. That's good. That's fine. Don't make it worse. [01:02:41] Speaker A: And I question. [01:02:43] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:02:43] Speaker A: How much must Portia suck? [01:02:47] Speaker C: He keeps. Yeah, he's not good. He keeps getting hurt all the time, and it keeps setting him back. He's not so. [01:02:53] Speaker A: Oh, so he's, it's not. They're not playing him because he's not any good. They're not playing him because he's injured. [01:02:58] Speaker C: It's both. It's both. He's. He was a, he was a winning combination. Yeah. [01:03:05] Speaker A: And a guy that you signed twice. [01:03:07] Speaker C: Right. He's like an, well, you notice that first contract was a one year thing and it's on the minimum. [01:03:12] Speaker A: And he was so good, decided to bring him back a second time. [01:03:16] Speaker C: Well, you know, you need a bottom of the body roster guy for 30 grand or whatever. 70 grand. Whatever it is, you know. And he hasn't, he hasn't progressed any because he keeps getting hurt and it keeps setting him back. Now, I will admit, the last three or four games at North Texas, he's looked a little better, but he doesn't look better than, say, Carl Santa has looked as a center back. And matter of fact, to me, Turner Humphrey and Mads Western and Nico Gordon, the other three other center backs at North Texas look, generally speaking, better. And they're all three younger. So, like, to me, Korch is out of time. He's 24 now, whereas Westergren is 22 and is the smartest of the four. Can places a six even sometimes he's the most complete soccer player, except he's half a step too slow. So Humphrey has the biggest upside. Now, we don't need to get into a deep North Texas conversation, but effectively, courses, in my opinion, is out of time. You know, 70K, bottom of the roster, 30th guy who gives a crap. That's not what the problems are. That's just a dude. It's just a body. If that guy ever plays, something else has gone seriously wrong. There's a project player, right. It's like, it's like he's not even like a homegrown. He's like. It's. He's like these second or third round draft picks. Like, if those guys are playing in MLS in their first year, you've done something seriously wrong. So, like, the only time he ever played was when they had some serious major medical problems across the back line. So who gives a shit about that guy? You know, the problems are your 35 year old Omar Gonzalez. You know, at least they managed to keep that guy on the supplemental roster. Not on the senior roster roster. You know, it's. It's guys that are eating up massive amounts of contract in international spots on the senior roster that don't play because they're hurt all the time. Those are the problems. [01:04:55] Speaker A: All right. I thought this was going to be a 20 minutes episode. [01:04:58] Speaker C: I know. Somebody went on a rant at the beginning about how shit franchise it was. You did? I kicked off the dust. We had to get into it. [01:05:05] Speaker A: You can edit all that out. [01:05:06] Speaker C: No, no, no. It's all good stuff. That's why people pay us the big bucks, Peter. [01:05:12] Speaker A: Oh, wait, we're getting. [01:05:14] Speaker B: No, by that he means someone from FC Dallas left a deer carcass on his doorstep. [01:05:20] Speaker C: Yeah, I had a dead fish on the hood of my car the other day. That's a la. Wiretapping Hollywood joke. If anyone missed that case, I was. [01:05:28] Speaker B: Gonna say, you don't live near a body of water for that to happen. [01:05:32] Speaker C: No, no. Do you remember that old. It's like a ten year old thing now, but I'm old. [01:05:39] Speaker A: Sorry. All right. Anything else we need to rant and pout and whine about? [01:05:45] Speaker C: Well, as always, I'll tell you, the North Texas art club is fantastic. And they're better than almost everybody else in the league. You should go watch it play. Their coaching staff done a great job this year. There's about ten or twelve dudes that have made progression, so they're fun to watch. And then also, I need to give a shout out to Caroline Swan. I've mentioned her before. She was. She's. She was recently a part of the USU 15 girls team that went down to the Concoct calf championships, and she was named the best player of that tournament, the MVP. The gold is at the golden Ball. They get for that. So Caroline Swan, she plays for the DKSC boys CNL team, which is remarkable. She's one of their starters for them. So that's incredible. She's a real player. Believe she's a six, usually, but a really good player. Caroline Swan, her brother plays for FC Dallas. [01:06:30] Speaker A: One of the. [01:06:30] Speaker C: Caleb Swan. [01:06:31] Speaker A: Something cool that I stumbled across today. I was doing some, uh, kick around research in the Premier League season, and I'm writing something for a Bob Sturm's blog. And I was looking at the Brentford roster and lo and behold, listed under goalkeepers is Julian Eystone on the Premier League team. And he's listed as the fifth goalkeeper. And there under with his name is a silhouette because they don't have a picture of him yet. And so I manipulated it to make it look more accurate where his head is off the. [01:07:06] Speaker C: You did that? That was. [01:07:07] Speaker A: I did that, yeah. But I just thought it was really cool to see Julian Eystone listed as a. On the Premier League roster for Brentford. I thought that was really cool. [01:07:18] Speaker C: Super cool. Yeah. [01:07:21] Speaker A: Yes. All right. There we go. There's that. And then it appears that we are nigh close to the kickoff of the first professional women's season here. Is it this weekend, Dan? [01:07:33] Speaker B: It is this weekend. On Sunday, they kick off the season in Tampa against. I don't remember what the Tampa team's called now. Tampa Bay sun. [01:07:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:07:46] Speaker B: Yeah. 05:30 p.m. kickoff on Peacock. [01:07:49] Speaker A: And is it on Saturday or Sunday? [01:07:51] Speaker B: It is on Sunday. [01:07:52] Speaker A: Okay. Now Dallas has something to prove and get some revenge because I saw that in the league. Vote for the best club logo. Tampa beat Dallas in a vote, public vote. So I hope they can. [01:08:07] Speaker C: Tampa sun or whatever. [01:08:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [01:08:08] Speaker B: I don't disagree with that. Their crest is really nice. And that's how we end. [01:08:15] Speaker A: Thought you're gonna stick up for the pregnant Pegasus. [01:08:19] Speaker B: I like the way they use it. I still don't really like it, but. [01:08:23] Speaker A: I've really warmed up to it. It's quirky. Nature has won me over. And, uh, I think I might buy a shirt with it on it. Especially the shirt that has the giant version of it on it. I think that actually kind of looks cool. [01:08:35] Speaker B: You should get the jacket with the furry one. [01:08:37] Speaker A: There's a one jacket with a furry one? I didn't know that. Okay. All right. Well, that'll be fun. We'll see what they roll out on. On Sunday. On Peacock. [01:08:49] Speaker C: Well, in the. In the nature of help wanted, we're going to do our best to cover that team. But if anyone out there considers themselves to. To be a female soccer expert, particularly if they are females persuasion themselves. Cause I think that would be a good matchup. I'd love to talk to you. I have one or two people that are gonna help us think Dan's gonna do a lot of it, too. But I would. I'd prefer to have an appropriate voice with expertise in that area to help us. I have a photographer ready to go lined up, so, you know, we're gonna try and it's division one. We're gonna try and take it as seriously as we can. Obviously, FC Dallas remains the priority, but, you know, do want to give it respect. [01:09:22] Speaker A: If somebody is listening to this, either they themselves or they know somebody that is a student that would be following the club, has an interest in writing anything like that. This is a really, really good opportunity buzz has available for somebody to really learn on the fly and get some access and stuff. So. Good. FC Dallas. Curious fan. Just keep that in the back of your mind. If you stumble across some kid that you think might be a good fit for. [01:09:50] Speaker B: For that, plus bonus, you can hang out with me and get stuck in an elevator and then bang your head on the really low ceilings at the cotton ball. [01:10:02] Speaker A: Hang out with Dan Crook is a bonus for sure. No doubt about it. You can hide stuff in his beard. [01:10:09] Speaker B: Got the summer trim going on. [01:10:11] Speaker A: Oh, do you? [01:10:11] Speaker C: Oh, nice. [01:10:12] Speaker B: I do. [01:10:12] Speaker A: Is babyface Dan back? [01:10:14] Speaker B: Oh, God, no, that, that. No, that just look weird now. [01:10:19] Speaker A: Okay. All right. You are cute when you're all shaved up, when you're all clean faced. [01:10:24] Speaker B: I'm at a loss for words. [01:10:27] Speaker C: Also, a little. A little later this month, or maybe the very first big part of next month, I'm going to have my academy rosters again. As usual. I am effort getting effort in getting the official lists, but I'll be going through those with you know who to watch. And there's been a shake up in the age brackets and the coaching is staffs and that kind of thing. So if you're into that jam, I'll have that for you soon. [01:10:47] Speaker A: All right. Well, Dan, thank you as always, sir. Good reporting on the center back news. [01:10:53] Speaker B: Good solid rant on the state of the organization. [01:10:59] Speaker A: I just love to whine and complain. [01:11:01] Speaker B: When you're right, you're right. [01:11:03] Speaker A: Thank you. And Buzz? [01:11:05] Speaker C: Yes, sir. One tiny little thing. If you're interested in the Logan shirt without mentioning what that is, it's still there. Just go look for it. Just. [01:11:15] Speaker A: You just love getting phone calls from lawyers, don't you? [01:11:19] Speaker C: No, it's still around. [01:11:23] Speaker A: Why would you even. Why would you even stick a fork in that hole, Buzz, I just don't. [01:11:30] Speaker B: Know what the controversy is over a t shirt commemorating Boston Logan airport. [01:11:36] Speaker C: Yeah, it's actually about the Logan's run movie, which is a really great movie from the eighties. [01:11:43] Speaker A: So wrong. [01:11:44] Speaker C: Yep. So good. [01:11:46] Speaker A: Okay. [01:11:46] Speaker C: Wait till you see the new curious shirt I got coming. [01:11:49] Speaker B: What are you curious about it? [01:11:53] Speaker C: Teaser. I'll show you guys. [01:11:56] Speaker A: So I got a question for you. I got a. I got. I'm gonna run a product idea by you guys, okay? Because somebody asked me this question the other day. Somebody asked me about the origins of the where did get stuck in and when your fifties come from? And I told him the story, right? And somebody said to me, do you have that on a shirt? [01:12:17] Speaker C: You should. [01:12:17] Speaker A: And I was like, no, I don't. And I thought that actually, if that was on a shirt, would anybody actually buy that? [01:12:24] Speaker C: Sure, dude. The kick arounds got a way bigger reach than third degree has. [01:12:27] Speaker A: Well, I know, but would anybody buy a shirt that has that on it? Like, there are times where I regret a ever letting that fall out of my mouth, because people on occasion, will walk up to me and say it, and I'm like, I don't know what to do now. [01:12:39] Speaker C: Yeah, well, you just slap their hand and go, all right. [01:12:41] Speaker A: Yeah. High five. [01:12:42] Speaker C: Throw a kick around logo. It's your. It's your tagline. Throw a kick around logo on it. People buy that? Of course they will. [01:12:47] Speaker A: You think, all right, maybe I'll get somebody to put some thought into the design of it. [01:12:51] Speaker B: Make that shadow. [01:12:53] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:12:53] Speaker A: What'd you say, Dan? [01:12:55] Speaker B: Make that cheddar. [01:12:56] Speaker A: Make sure. What? [01:12:57] Speaker C: Make that chatter, dude. [01:12:58] Speaker A: Oh, make that cheddar. Oh, sorry. You were talking like a Gen Z. I didn't understand what you were saying. [01:13:03] Speaker C: So out of it. [01:13:04] Speaker A: I am. I'm old. All right, boys. Well, uh, somehow we managed to crank out I don't know how many too many minutes of that. And, uh. And I hope everybody understand it's okay to be angry and pouty about the whole thing. At least that's what I'm telling. [01:13:19] Speaker C: Yeah, you're. You're the paying customer. Be as pouty and angry as you want. [01:13:21] Speaker A: That's right. Well, I don't pay for anything. I just watched. [01:13:23] Speaker C: Well, not you. I mean, the fans want to be bounty. [01:13:26] Speaker A: Right? Excellent. [01:13:27] Speaker C: Okay, you're demanding. Be demanding. It's your team. [01:13:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Get out there and say something. [01:13:33] Speaker C: Yeah. Third degree. The podcast is brought to you by the Lindstrom law firm for wills, trust, probate, and business law. Call 469-515-2559 that's 469-515-2559 or visit lindstromlaw firm.com for a free consultation. [01:13:49] Speaker A: Are we doing this again next week? [01:13:50] Speaker C: Yeah, of course. [01:13:51] Speaker A: Excellent. All right. Well, let's. We'll talk to everybody then. Thank you, FC Dallas. Curious fan. We love and adore you, and we're here standing with you proudly side by side, as we watch the rest of the season dwindle into nothingness. We'll talk to you next week on an episode of third degree, the podcast Jesus wept. Third degree. [01:14:17] Speaker B: The third degree Nepochet. [01:14:20] Speaker A: Third degree. The third degree Nepochet. Third degree, the third degree nepocare. Third degree, the third degree nap, I guess.