3rd Degree the Podcast #318

[00:00:00] Speaker A: This episode of Third Degree, the podcast is dedicated to Christine Gardner, the Inferno mom from the early days of the Dallas Burn. Rest in peace. [00:00:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Third Degree, the Third Degree Nerd Podcast. Third Degree, the Third Degree NE Podcast. Third Degree NE Podcast. Third Degree Degree. Well, hello there, DFW area soccer curious fan. You welcome to another episode of three Degree podcast. He's always ready. It's Dan Crook. Howdy, Dan. [00:00:48] Speaker C: That is an absolute bold faced lie. [00:00:52] Speaker B: Buzz said you were always ready. [00:00:55] Speaker A: No, I didn't. [00:00:58] Speaker B: And your hero, my hero, Everybody's Hero. Editor, founder, third degree.net and the orig soccer influencer himself, Buzz Carrot. Coming, Buzz. [00:01:07] Speaker A: Hey, fellas. I'm glad y' all are here because we have a lot of time to fill. I don't. There's nothing really to talk about. [00:01:13] Speaker B: Holy crackers, Buzz. Did you. [00:01:16] Speaker A: Did you. [00:01:16] Speaker B: Did you burn through an entire red crayon and then keep going by slicing your finger open and finishing off the run sheet in Buzz blood. [00:01:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I had to go back to the store twice to get another red crayon. It was incredible. [00:01:28] Speaker B: Still mighty. There's no way. I'm just forewarning the curious listener. This will not be an hour long podcast. [00:01:36] Speaker A: Well, I mean, there are times in the past where we've done like 32 minutes on just the MLS PA salary drop, and that came out in a week when there was two games. And like every. It's like we're just. Some of this stuff may get talked about again in the future because it'll be hard to do some justice on some of it because we're gonna have to go. There's so much of it today. [00:01:56] Speaker B: Crikeys. It is a lot. It is too much. It's like soccer in general right here. There's too much damn soccer right now. [00:02:03] Speaker A: Oh, did you see that thing about the goaltend cup intendants being slowed down across the board? Yeah. Just ridiculous. We warned everybody about it. [00:02:11] Speaker B: We were. The Mexico game at AT&T was like the second lowest attended Mexico national team game in the United States for What, the last 10, 15 years? [00:02:20] Speaker C: Yeah, it was the second worst at AT&T ever. [00:02:24] Speaker B: Yeah, it was ridiculous. [00:02:24] Speaker C: And that was at the time, the second best attended game at the Gold Cup. [00:02:29] Speaker A: Yeah, and the low key takeaway is all the players talk about how ridiculous hot it is and how terrible the fields are. So, like, this World cup could be terrible. Yes. [00:02:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think any of the fields are actually World cup installations though, so. [00:02:43] Speaker A: Man, I hope not. But it's causing panic. People are worried about it. [00:02:46] Speaker B: I'm sure they are. They're always worried about Fields. All right. Yes. So let's get into all of this because it has been one super historically, and I'm just going to say it, shitty week for football club Dallas. When we last spoke, we looked at the schedule and said, oh, two home games. [00:03:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:07] Speaker B: Against teams that are on road trips themselves. You know, back to. I think it was both teams on back to back road trips or multiple. Multiple road trip stretches. Yeah. I mean, it just felt like this was a really good opportunity to collect points. Until you remember FC Dallas sucks at home this season in the most curious and bizarre of ways and in two very, very different ways. Both to San Jose last Wednesday and then San Diego on Saturday night. Dallas ends up the weekend with exactly zero points. Buzz. [00:03:41] Speaker A: Yeah. On a macro level, San Jose is a breakdown. That happens because you played kids. And as we've always talked about, as important as it is to play kids, they are going to make mistakes. That's the point in playing them, is that they make mistakes and they learn and you put them under pressure and hopefully they get better. So some of that's just the pain of how that's going to be. San Diego, on the other hand, was what happens when you play a team that's really, really good and it's in first place and they have their DPS come in and make huge impact even when they're coming off injuries and tiny little mistakes make the difference between a Dallas team that played relatively well, but in the tiny moments when they needed a DP to win the game, he didn't. The tiny moments when they needed a player to come up on defense, he didn't. And their guys got it done. And that's the difference in the game. One goal difference. I mean, like there's a domination in possession. Yes. But one of these teams want. They both want it that way. San Diego wants the ball and Dallas doesn't. So that's like that doesn't matter. What matters was the goal. Creating chances and the goals that were scored and they had a guy who came through and Dallas didn't. [00:04:40] Speaker B: Is there anything to the idea that in the last two games alone they've given up seven goals? In the last three games, which does include a win, they've given up nine goals. And in the last five games, which includes a nil, nil draw against Philly, but in the Cincinnati game, they gave up another three goals. So was it 12 goals in five games? [00:05:05] Speaker A: Yeah. This team is not good enough to be good on Offense and defense at the same time. Okay, stop. [00:05:15] Speaker B: Just stop right there. That's a real problem, Buzz. I know. It's like trying to, you know, do one thing with your left hand and something different with your right foot or whatever it is. It's like being a drummer. But for a soccer team, being able to play both offense and defense is kind of a fundamental soccer for Dummies concept, I think. [00:05:37] Speaker A: Look, we can talk about the last three or four games. You can go all the way back to Kansas City game, right? When they did not have Romero, they did not have Kaik. Generally speaking, over this run, you're playing a bunch of eights in midfield, right? Possession through the middle is better. Transition game is better. Dallas is scoring three, four goals a game. Looks great, but the defense is crap, right? The guys are missing. You don't have any sixes. So you're giving up the same amount of games. If you want to go back to when you're holding Philadelphia to 00 draw, you're playing two or three sixes. Remember when it was. It was show, Romero and Kaik, it was like triple six. Like those games. They were able to shut people out or hold them to one. Held Seattle to one goal, right? You can't do both with this team. It's not good enough to do both. You can pick one or you can pick the other. Mainly through the midfield is the issue because your front has got a couple of guys that are good. If everybody's healthy, your defense has got a couple of guys that are all right. The midfield is either all defense or all offense, and there's nothing in between. [00:06:29] Speaker B: Dan, several weeks ago, when this season got off to its super crappy start, I asked you how you were feeling. You're like, you know what? I really don't care. I'm having fun. These games are. The team's a little more exciting. The games are kind of fun. I don't care. I'm just wondering at this point, are you still having fun? [00:06:47] Speaker C: Saturday was fun. The San Jose game was dog shit. [00:06:53] Speaker B: But you. But aren't. See, I think both of those losses for different reasons are frustrating, angering, and makes you want to throw something at the television. Because giving up that goal in the 90s cabillionth minute to lose 32 at home against a San Diego B team, it's pretty maddening, man. That's not. Is that. Is that really fun? Does that qualify as fun in the. [00:07:23] Speaker C: Quality of the overall game? It was. It was a game where FC Dallas was actually in it. They were you know, they, they did look the. More likely to get the winner very late on up until the gut punch. Um, yeah, I mean, it was, it was enjoyable enough. [00:07:41] Speaker B: I really feel like this entire first seven minutes of this episode are us just justifying our misery. [00:07:48] Speaker C: I mean, here's the thing. You're either, you know, you either like watching soccer or you just really want to watch the absolute elite. And you don't really care about the sport itself. You know, you take what you can out of games at any level, whether it's watching a player develop, whether it's, you know, kind of picking up things tactically. It's, you know, it's all entertainment value of some kind. [00:08:15] Speaker B: I, I mean, this very genuinely, this is why I love Dan's perspective on this, because Dan comes from watching a club really, really, really struggle and almost go out of business and get relegated multiple times and go way up the chain, make it all the way to the Premier League and then fall back down, two straight relegations. I mean, the man has skins on the wall. So if you can find fun in it, Dan, I need to learn to find fun in it. And that's my lesson and inspiration I get from you. [00:08:46] Speaker C: Well, I mean, it's not even, it's not even looting. It's, you know, if you enjoy watching the game enough and you, you know, on a Saturday, I feel like, oh, you know, I'll go watch McKinney, I'll go watch Denton, Teximer, whoever. It's, you know, you're doing it because you want to watch it. You enjoy watching it. It's not, you know, the frustration kind of goes out the window at that point. [00:09:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:07] Speaker A: Peter, you and I have been questioned many times is like, why do you guys still do this, like, after 27 years now or 28th season? And the answer, and like, haven't you lost faith or haven't you given up completely? Well, the answer is because we grew up with nothing. We didn't have pro soccer. We had indoor, but that's not the same game. [00:09:23] Speaker B: Sir Tornadoes would like to speak with you. [00:09:25] Speaker A: Well, yeah, but I was 12 when that went away, dude. So I know, you know, like, I spent like, 12 is when I was really only just becoming aware of the idea that there was a professional game at all and that it was really good. And then we had this humongous gap of, like, by the time I was in college, I was like, oh, yeah, outdoor professional soccer is an actual thing. And then, you know, at like 25 ish or 26, here comes the professional league. And so having had a team to like, Dan says, like, the enjoyment for me is just having Division 1 professional soccer to get to watch all the time. Like, the fact that they never win anything doesn't bother me because I get to watch now as we go forward and more professional teams are coming to this market. You know, it's possible that my fandom might be up for grabs because one team might deliver more, like, of the kind of product I like or the kind of fandom that I like or whatever it is. But in the meantime, like, it's still, it's the Division 1 game that we have. And so we'll be, I'll be watching. [00:10:21] Speaker B: Yeah, it has been interesting in the last couple of weeks because obviously, not to make this about me, but here I go. I'm pretty famous for being pessimistic about the fate of the state, all things football club Dallas. [00:10:36] Speaker A: Come on. [00:10:37] Speaker B: And I try to defend myself. That that is based on 30 years of just watching this team kind of fall on its face and blow it and just never get to that pinnacle of winning MLS cup, which is the only thing I care about. I don't care about anything else other than. And that's just me. I'm not saying everybody, anybody else should have the same wants out of this club that I do, but it has been interesting to watch a younger, newer generation of fans who by and large have made fun of me for being pessimistic now suddenly all starting to show their age themselves after cycle after, you know, now that we're in cycle number three of a recent rebuild and things like that, and just kind of perpetual levels of disappointment. [00:11:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I think there have been times when we've had new fans coming in and finding this team and we say to them, go read the list first. Find out what you're in for. Get yourself a foundational understanding of this club and then go forth. [00:11:39] Speaker B: I, I, somebody asked me this over the weekend, like, where are you with this season? And I, I mean, you've continued the last couple of weeks to put out this kind of running chart of where we are in the season. 19 games the season. Was it 22 points? Is that what it is? 19 games? 21. 22 points. And, and then you're trying to make comparisons to other bad, historically bad seasons where the manager got fired. And this is the first one that I can think of where Dallas has a guy who literally is 19 games into his tenure, and this is where we're at. And I honestly, I honestly don't know where The Hunts are going to go with this. But between that and the stadium rebuild, is this the perfect time to have a really down run with a new manager? Because you can only fill the stadium with 11,000 people and maybe only 80% of that shows up for games. I don't know the difference. [00:12:36] Speaker A: The difference is that with Quill and all these other people that we're comparing is that it is the first season, what we assume is a multi year contract. So just for reference, people don't know. They don't follow me on Twitter. Like it is week 19 and Quill has 21 points. 2024, which was when Nika was fired through week 19 was 20 points. 2021, which is when Luigi was fired through week 19 was 21 points. And then go back to 2003 which is the debacle of all debacles. They only had. They only had 13 points at this point right after week 19 which shows how bad that was. But like the only reason we do that is because these are the seasons that through four other coach Morrows, the other one, 2008 had 25 points points but he was long fired by them. Is the point is, is that Quill is putting up numbers that got four coaches fired. So people ask me all the time is he going to get fired? It's a valid question when you have the same sort of points that got people fired, is he going to get fired? And the bottom line is like I think in the first year of a contract, not likely. But the other difference is that so far his team has not quit on him. [00:13:38] Speaker B: Right. [00:13:38] Speaker A: There's this ray of light of the road record makes you think that there is performance capability in this team and then you watch the games and it's not a give up. Those guys are still fighting and give up is a big, big sign of what gets people fired. That and when the Clarks got embarrassed about Morrow that time, like can him earlier in the season. [00:13:54] Speaker B: So Dan, you were at both the last two games, you saw this in person for yourself. Where, where, where do you think the team is and where is your head as far as this season has gone? [00:14:10] Speaker C: I mean in terms of progression, they are arguably making more individual errors now than earlier in the season. There's obviously been an issue with some kind of load fitness with the number of injuries that are popping up. You know, you can't put them all down to contact injury. Yeah, I'm struggling to see progression. [00:14:42] Speaker B: And do you put that on Quill? [00:14:45] Speaker C: Not entirely. I mean, you know, obviously he wasn't Given a roster to succeed. He was given a first year rebuild. Missing many parts and then throwing a spanner in the works of being given Lucho to then have to figure out how he fits in, which then moves, you know, half the team around out of. Out of positions that they can actually play in. Yeah, I mean, you know, there, there have been too many times where there's talk about mentality and not switching on. You know, the San Jose game. Right. Eric said the game was lost in the first 10 minutes of the second half. That's the first 10 minutes after you gave a team talk. That's when they should really be switched on. So yeah, there's. There's obviously some, you know, some kind of. Some coaching teething problems there. Substitutions on Saturday, it. That felt a little odd, kind of shoehorning Bernie in when he just isn't doing anything. I mean, it was unfortunate to lose Nolan in addition to, you know, everyone else who has been injured, but there's a little bit of second guessing towards the end. Those didn't go back to the bench late on. Pushing for a winner. Can totally see why you wouldn't want to necessarily rock the boat, but you know, you then go on to lose and it's the immediate question of, of tired legs. Delgado was walking around the entire game. Lucho's walking around half the game. You know, there's just a cluster between Zenata not delivering a good team and then maybe the team not being used to the best of their capabilities for, for whatever reason, whether that's ownership, whether that's management, whatever. [00:16:48] Speaker B: Buzz. So I think this is a good point because, you know, obviously most fans of this club are aware that part of this is the roster construction. We've talked endlessly about Zenata's performance in this role and you know, when it became pretty clear that building a roster and going out and making additions versus selling and doing subtractions and making money, which clearly he's good at. And that's a big part of this. Right? That's part of the entire business model. FC Dallas is that component of. So it is very important and I don't want to reduce that in any way, but when it feels like he was. It was becoming clear that he just maybe this wasn't his strength, which was going out scouting, finding new additions and building a roster. He was allowed to go out and hire people to help him do that. Now this is the first year of that, but I'm having a really, really hard time looking at what has happened so far this year. And maybe, maybe part of this is, maybe the real problem is, is the club just wasn't honest about what kind of rebuild this was because they wanted to sell tickets. You know, I mean, I get that, like they can't come out and go, sorry, season, this is going to suck because we're in the middle of a rebuild. [00:18:02] Speaker A: Yeah, never saying that. [00:18:04] Speaker B: They never, they never say that. So I guess really what I'm trying to help answer is the question I get a lot of how much is this is Quill and how much of this is the front office in a bad roster construction? I think the answer is it's big parts of both and a giant dose of Dan Hunt, who's the one that decided all of those things together. [00:18:24] Speaker A: Yeah, the thing that, the thing you have to. [00:18:27] Speaker B: I just want to note in the background that Dan is nodding furiously in my, in my, in support of my statement. [00:18:33] Speaker C: So there you go. [00:18:34] Speaker A: Yeah. The thing you have to remember about Quill in general is that he is a first year at MLS coach, you know, and he'd only been a head coach in New Mexico for what, two seasons. So like any first year MLS coach is going to have growing pains. You have to accept that in a first year coach. And so you, if you don't want those things, you have to go hire a veteran coach that's been around the league. And the Hunts don't do that. Is it because of the pay? Is it because of whatever else you can think of, Any of the reasons you want to. But they haven't done that since Oscar, basically. And even Oscar, they would have grabbed themselves. It's just that they already had a coach when Oscar was ready to be a coach. Or else they would have been Oscar. Right? It really would have. You can look at Shell, Simon, no experience in the pro game. Lots of recent college, but none in the pro game. Morrow, no head coach experience. Colin Clark, no head coach experience. Jeffries, no head coach experience. If you're picking up on a theme at home, this is what they do. So like you, you have to expect there's going to be a certain amount of growing pains with the coach. So like, you can't blame Quill for occasionally making a mistake. It's going to happen just like when you play kids, it's going to happen now. Does he learn from the mistakes? It's improved. That's what you care about. So for me, most of this season is on the absolute awful roster construction. When you build a team without a cohesive plan for how you're going to play to what the players are for and how they're going to fit into a system. You're just going to get a pile of junk and then you're asking. It's like dumping out a bag of Legos that aren't designed with one of those little booklets. It's like, here's a bunch of Legos. Make a winning team out of it. And there's no instructions, there's no plan, there's no idea. It's like, okay, I'll do what I can, but you know, I'm a first year coach out of the usl. It's like, what do you want? So like the roster is the problem. You know, it doesn't have a third dp, number one, right. It has some guys that are really old, that carry a lot of weight. They've made some poor choices in terms of who they dropped, in terms of who they brought in. It's just not an elite roster with incredibly massive imbalance. So the fact that Quill has managed to win some road games, which is incredible to me, is it's almost a minor miracle that he's even got as many points as he has, right? When you look at the way this team plays, the way they've collapsed at home. So like yeah, the dude occasionally make mistakes, but most of the time this season I feel like when Quills made a mistake, he's gone. Nope, that one was me. And he, and he learns and he goes ahead. Now he's not, he's still not flawless. He's a far away from flawless. But like I, I saw a lot of people talking about like Alvaro makes a mistake against San Jose. Man, Quill sucks. He should be fired. What are you talking about? He this the last center back he had left and the guy's 20. And we told you he was a disaster at North Texas. Well that's a little strong. We told you that he would make mistakes at North Texas exactly like he made in the San Jose game. Who else is he supposed to play at center back? It's not Quill's fault that he ran out of center backs, right? It's not Quill's fault he has nobody in the midfield that can play a two way game. It's not Quill's fault that Acosta doesn't play any defense at all. So he has to play this screwy lopsided formation because you don't have a second wing, you don't have a real six that can play a two way game and you don't have a starting center Back. There's no backups on the outside on either side. I mean, nor. That's not fair. Nor we've decided Norris can actually play left back. I. It's just they haven't been since. Since Marco came back. They haven't used him. So I keep forgetting. But, you know, for the most part, like, the roster is a disaster. And so, like, I think it's a minor miracle Quill's even done what he has. Like, to me, it's an endorsement for. The guy actually has potential, not like, oh, cool sucks. It's like, dude, no one, Bruce arena wouldn't win with this roster. He would get rid of 80% of the players and then he would win. [00:22:09] Speaker C: One thing I heard someone say that kind of really rang true was, you know, obviously you see some social media noise about. About Quill, which unjustified, had someone say the other day, well, you know, with the success he had in. At USL League one, USL Championship, you know, obviously, you know, some coaches can hit a level, but those are the fundamentals of it that you can obviously see he has and will take into mls, whether that's this season or another season. I really just keep going back to this whole, like you say, the roster construction. You know, there is that kind of. It's not mutually exclusive to say that they had a great transfer window, but it was. It was window one of a. Of a, you know, fairly long build. And then like, happened with Frank o' Hara, oh, there's a shiny toy. Let me drop them in. And suddenly, hey, you have to win now with this. Nothing. [00:23:18] Speaker B: See, I. I think we're going to get to a point by the end of the season where we're going to ask this question. Should they have signed Lucho Acosta? [00:23:27] Speaker A: I'm already at that point. [00:23:27] Speaker B: Well, okay, fair. And I think you and I and Dan probably are, but I think the, you know, but I also think there's an argument to be made, Buzz, that if you were to rewind and go back to January or February of this year, and you found out that they passed on Lucho Acosta. [00:23:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:46] Speaker B: The fan base. And you and I and Dan would probably be going, what the f are you doing? He's an MLS vp. I mean, I don't think there's a. A reasonable way around that. If you had him at your disposal and you could have signed him for what you signed him for, you do. [00:24:01] Speaker C: It 10 times out of 10. [00:24:02] Speaker B: I think. Yeah, you would. Yeah. [00:24:04] Speaker A: If you. If you can go back to the winner, if someone wants to, and Listen to the podcast and the. The froster problems that are on in this team. We laid out for you three guys sitting on a sofa. Yep. We laid out for you that they were clear and obvious. [00:24:17] Speaker B: Sir, I'm in a chair. [00:24:19] Speaker A: Yeah, okay. You know what I mean? So am I, metaphorically with a pillow. [00:24:23] Speaker B: Behind me because my back hurts. [00:24:24] Speaker C: We're actually on the same sofa, which is making it really weird, really uncomfortable. [00:24:28] Speaker A: Stop touching money. So then when the idea of Lucho Acosta came out, we all who had seen Lucha's highlights were like, hey, that doesn't sound like a terrible idea. That's a guy who's a 10 that you can build a team around for three or four seasons. And then he got here and you're like, oh, he's like an off striker 10. He's not. He's not going to sit in like Maru Diaz and sit in zone 14 and pull strings. And so you can. We all thought, okay, you're going to get a bump. We talked about it. We were like wooden spoon until they got him. They were like, oh, getting him pushes them to where they should be able to compete for the bottom of the playoffs. We had them at 6, 7 through 7 through 9, I think is where we predicted they would be post Acosta. But here's the thing. You can think that that's a great decision. And then you get into this season, it's okay to reevaluate and say, you know what, he's not a perfect match for the coach we have and the way the coach wants to play. And so you'll need to make a decision. And honestly, someone the club needs to make this decision. Who is more important. It's not like Quill and Akasa are fighting with each other or anything like that. But, like, there's a little bit of a disconnect there in which way you want to go, which way you want to play. And it may be necessary to reevaluate Acosta or Quill and say, do I want to build around a closer for three years, not need a different coach or I need a different system or I need a different group of players around him. Or maybe Acosa is not the guy. I need to be the point guy in a 4, 2, 3, one that Quill wants to play. You cannot play Acosta as the point in the triangle in your 4, 2, 3, 1. You just can't do it. So what do you do? Which way do you go? Like, you can re evaluate what you thought was a good idea and later on decide, oh, you know what? It's not working. [00:26:12] Speaker B: Well, I know people listening in the POD probably wanted us to get into specifics about each of the San Jose and San Diego games, but I also feel like that's just beating a dead horse. [00:26:23] Speaker A: Well, speaking of dead horses, we should mention that Elgato was absolute trash against San Diego, which is unfortunate because he had two or three good games leading into that. But. [00:26:31] Speaker B: Well, I mean, I guess. Is there anything about either game in particular that you guys wanted to pick on or talk about or, you know, dig into? I. I can' Both of them are incredibly frustrating for very different reasons. [00:26:46] Speaker A: Well, the most important takeaway for me is there's a couple of them. One is that if you can live with some Alvaro mistakes for a bit, he actually has a lot of potential, you know, that we would have seen payoff in a couple of seasons, maybe. But, like, the fact that he's getting some play now is fine. You know, in terms of the context of where the team is. Number two, Anderson. Julio is just massive. Without him, this team is just garbage. Which is weird because he's not a dp, he's not Musa, he's not Acosta, but yet when he's gone, it fell apart completely in both games. [00:27:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:20] Speaker A: And then, you know, some guys that, like adding guys in midfield who could transition play and link through, made this team so much better offensively, but yet not having a real six that can protect your back line, particularly when it was in pieces, really showed. So, like, you know, some of these things are really obvious on a macro sense. And, and you know, like, you're like, well, how can they fix that? Well, just because they just don't have the people. You got to get people healthy. You got to make more additions. There's a new, another window coming up. They're going to have a chance to do some things. You know, maybe they can get things right enough that they compete for that last spot in the playoffs. But, you know, it's going to take, as Dan said, a couple of more windows. And so, like, the, the, the nitpicking of these two games doesn't really accomplish anything. You know, we've known Bernie can't isn't bringing it right now. We know Leo Chu is not going to play. No idea why. You know, we knew Kaik and Romero were going to be out. We knew that legit coming back was going to help them offensively get better. We knew show was going to be gone. You know, there's nothing without Irgude. They're a mess. You know, there's nobody organizing so far. Fans wandering all over the field with no concept of team defense. You know, just. I yelled at the TV 10 times, Farfan, where the hell are you going in that last game? So that's, That's a lot. But you know, those are. [00:28:38] Speaker B: They'll all go back to. They can't play offense and defense at the same time. Is this team gonna make the playoffs? [00:28:50] Speaker A: Not like it is right now. If you don't change. You have to change something in midfield to make the playoffs. It's not good enough in there. Now in the long term, this is the problem. What's more important? If you're talking about like a two through three season build towards we want to compete, then you need a center back, number one. But if you're talking about make the playoffs this season, you need something in the central midfield because Paxton's not gonna. It's not Paxton and Ramiro Kaik, whatever. Neither one of those guys is good enough yet to be like your standalone six. So like, you've got to do something in the midfield if, if playoffs this year is the number one priority. It should not be, but it will be. It will be. [00:29:31] Speaker B: And also the news that we found out officially today, that show is no mo. [00:29:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that was going to be the case, you know, if he would have played this year like he played last year, maybe they would have done something. But after he came back from his illness, it's like there's no way, you know, and the bottom line is like the, the transfer, the loan fee they paid for him is low enough. He was just a emergency replacement for losing Paxton, like grab a body and get him in here and like once Paxton wasn't coming back, you know, and then like, okay, shore it together, you know. [00:30:02] Speaker B: So is that a, Is that a. A Zenata signing that we hold against him or we give him a pass on? [00:30:08] Speaker A: No, I actually think it's okay, you know, like for the, for what he cost. I think that like the way he played last year, I think he would have been fine up until this point. The team actually would have been better. You know, he. He was not anywhere near the player he was before he got sick. So like, you can't blame Zenata for that, for him getting sick like that. So like, I actually think it's a relatively bargain buy of a relatively quality player that was a short term. The guys we were counting on never made it back healthy sort of signing. So I'm okay with that. [00:30:37] Speaker B: So as we head into the transfer Window. Are we all working on the premise that Dallas is going to make additions to this team? [00:30:46] Speaker A: Of course. [00:30:49] Speaker C: Choice. [00:30:51] Speaker B: I don't know. They're in a rebuild. I mean. [00:30:54] Speaker C: Yeah, but rebuild means you're going to continue to build. [00:30:58] Speaker A: Yeah, you. This is. This is the next window of your build. So you. You. They already have, by my math, three senior open roster spots and two open international spots. And you're probably going to sell Leo Chu in the next window. So like that'll be four and a U22 spot. So you could actually switch to another DP. Like, this is that they should have a boatload of Gamma Tam laying around. Remember, they had so much stuff to begin the year, there's no way they use it all. They should have. [00:31:21] Speaker C: They had like 2 million left at the Ruster Pro. Ruster profiles. [00:31:26] Speaker A: Yeah, something like that. But you know, they. That was those 2 million of the stuff for just this year. They have other. Remember they changed the rule where stuff doesn't expire. So that was just the expiring stuff. They got other crap. I mean, I. I only have access to their books, but they should have other crap laying around that they can do stuff with. You know, that plenty of ability to make moves. And as near as I can tell, you know, 28 years of watching this crap, adding it up on a napkin, I'm pretty sure they got time, they got the ability to make some moves. They certainly are positioning themselves. They're moving pieces out and creating space. So you don't do that unless you're bringing in something. [00:31:57] Speaker B: Okay. [00:31:58] Speaker A: You know, like. And just to follow that up really quickly, if a guy's a free agent right now, you can sign them to in show spot right now. You don't have to wait for the window. The window is about transfers, not free agents. So I'm not saying this is happening, but hypothetically, you could sign Yara Mindy tomorrow if you wanted to, because it's a free agent. So I'm not saying they will. I'm just saying that, like, they don't have to wait to July 27th to add players. [00:32:28] Speaker B: I think he's very busy over in Europe Road racing. [00:32:31] Speaker A: Well, the last clip he posted was him doing soccer drills like he was getting ready to play. So I was like, oh, I'm sure he's just trying to show teams that he still can play. But, you know, and I'm not saying that that would be the answer. I don't know that I want to give him two or three more years of. Or whatever money he wants. I told. I get it. There's. There's complications. I'm just saying that non specifically they are. Mindy, if there's some other player that's a free agent, as if. As of the. The window, like the last window, like if they came out of that window a free agent, you can sign them as a free agent now. [00:33:00] Speaker B: All right. Well, that would lead us into. And I apologize for anybody who's frustrated or disappointed we didn't really dig into either one of those games. But Christ almighty, what a beating. And we got way too much other stuff to talk about. So let's just real move in. Let's just do it. Let's dump into the salary reveal that happened this week. Now the biannual MLS Players association reveal of the salaries and estimated salaries. Again, I think I always feel like we need to qualify this. That this. The way that this gets posted gets a. Generally gets some pushback from the clubs as to the. Its accuracy. But it always feels like a fair barrier or barometer. Excuse me. To just to kind of take player by player, club by club measurements. [00:33:48] Speaker A: Yeah. The most important thing to understand is that these are not the same as cap numbers and they don't show transfer fees and things like that. But it's still interesting to see because you can easily quickly see players that are overpaid or underpaid. You know, you can really quickly see slots in which people belong. The fact that Dennis Solly's on 400k is a problem. Obviously irrigate on about 580 is an absolute steal. Like when you combine what we think his transfer fee was with what he's getting paid. It seems very clear that they weren't 100 sure that Irgide was going to be a starter because Ibiaga and Abubakar both get paid starter money for a non DP center back, which is like 700k. And so Irigidi is getting paid like 200 below that. Just so I tell you, like where they really thought of him when they got him. Leo Chu on his money is obviously a serious problem, but we've talked about how that was going to go in terms of like that's why they left him as a U22, so they could sell. [00:34:45] Speaker B: Is there a backstory as to what happened to him this year that anybody's can talk about or has talked about. [00:34:50] Speaker A: Other than he got hurt? No. And now I honestly think they're just. They don't want to play him because they don't want him to get hurt again and because they Want to try and move them. So I don't have any information other than that. [00:34:59] Speaker B: Okay. [00:35:00] Speaker A: Ramiro on 500k is fine. That's like the, er, amending money. That's like a backup reserve money. That's not starter money, you know. Well, jets on a million, that's starter money. Ramirez on backup money. The fact that he has to start is the problem, not what he's getting paid. So the ones that really raise red flags obviously are. And I, I'm. I hate this, but Paxton pamical on a mill. [00:35:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:22] Speaker A: And 1.15. Like, that's going to go up next year. Like, and they have them under contract. It's not an option. So that's going to be like 1.2. That clearly is an issue one way or the other. [00:35:33] Speaker B: Can they buy him out this year? [00:35:35] Speaker A: No, they. They had to. My understanding is they had to use the buyout in the Paul Areola move to get him off the books to Seattle. It's possible that's wrong, but I'm pretty sure that that's accurate. But. So I don't think you can do Paxton, but you can next winter. You know, whether you'd have to do it. Technicality of it being an injury buyout versus a regular buyout. I don't know if that matters anymore. It used to matter, but I don't know if it matters anymore. It was a different sort of mechanic and obviously legit on like, you know, 800, it'll pop up probably to like 900 next year. @ his age, that's an issue. Julio's fine. Shack Moore is a little overpaid. Kaik is fine. He's super cheap, like 150k. I mean, that's. That just shows you, again, like, where they value him as an actual player. You can ignore, like the 4 million says they're gonna play him, but the150,000 shows that they didn't think he was going to be a starter. Like, people get paid what they think they're going to be worth. Delgado on 200 something. That's backup money. You know, Siggy's on backup money. Everybody makes a lot of sense. Martin Paz is a steal at 450. Really? That's crazy far. Fan's probably a little overpaid, but not by a lot. Just a little. So, you know, when you Compare him to Shackmore 700, that tells you again what they think of the players specifically. [00:37:01] Speaker B: So, Dan, do you know where Dallas falls overall salary wage, bill and rank? Is it still kind of dead in the middle as it has been the last few years. [00:37:09] Speaker A: It's 12. [00:37:09] Speaker C: 12. 12. [00:37:11] Speaker B: Highest out of 30. [00:37:14] Speaker A: It's remarkable. Well, a lot of it's a Costa 3 million base and 4.2 guaranteed. Sure. [00:37:20] Speaker B: But I also feel like we've also been pretty clear that we don't feel like our frustration with the Hunt brothers is spending of late. It's how they spend it. [00:37:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, they have. They have been willing to spend more on players lately. So you had to give them credit for that. [00:37:33] Speaker B: That for sure. [00:37:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:37:35] Speaker B: 100. [00:37:35] Speaker A: I think we. The problem is, is the Mrs. Overpaying some guys. [00:37:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:39] Speaker A: Who they pay the money to is the issue, not how much it is. [00:37:42] Speaker B: All right, well, anything else about the salary? [00:37:46] Speaker A: Anything in the euphor there that was crazy that you really. [00:37:49] Speaker C: Nothing. [00:37:49] Speaker B: You. [00:37:50] Speaker C: You kind of got it all there. You know, obviously with Far fun, he's kind of a little further down the line in a contract. So you do get those escalators, which then that gets us into that discussion of when's the right time to cut loose on him. [00:38:07] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, 5 million base and acosta and Musa together. I mean, that tells you where they think it all is. [00:38:12] Speaker B: And what's Augusto on? [00:38:15] Speaker A: Nothing. Super cheap. [00:38:16] Speaker B: A bag of Chick Fil A. Yep. [00:38:18] Speaker C: Yeah, he's on minimum. [00:38:19] Speaker A: He's on the part of the roster that doesn't count on the cap. And since there was a transfer there, like, there probably is a fee that was tammed or gammed out that he. That he only shows up as like 80k, you know, because otherwise you'd have to combine that into his this and that. [00:38:34] Speaker B: Would you say Anderson? [00:38:36] Speaker A: Julio's at 700, which is appropriate for his. [00:38:41] Speaker B: Okay. [00:38:42] Speaker A: Ability, I think. You know, there were people that thought he wasn't a starter coming here. I thought he was for sure. So that's starter money. I don't have a complaint about that. That's fine. That's bottom and starter money. Really? [00:38:52] Speaker B: I think. Well, I. I think the question on him was exactly where we're at right now, which is because he's never really been a starter. Can his body hold up starting? [00:39:01] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. That's a fair question. [00:39:03] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that. I think that's still up in the air for. I think we'll have to wait till we get to the end of the season to find out if we know the answer. The other thing, 34 games is rare, and I. And I want to let the. The curious know Buzz really beat himself up after literally minutes, maybe less than 30 minutes. After the recording of last week's pod because he realized he had forgotten to write in crayon on the run sheet. The sale of Antonio Carrera. [00:39:31] Speaker C: It was in the invisible crown. [00:39:34] Speaker A: Yeah, we did a disservice Antonio like that. You know, he's a bright young goalkeeper with a future and they sold him to Tigris, like they sold Richard Santa's a Tigris, so. Or not Tigris to somebody in Mexo. You know, the. I think it's quite fair that Mexican clubs really value a really strong keeper that they've gotten from America that can play for Mexico and play for those clubs, because they don't necessarily have great keepers in my estimation, coming out of their systems down there for whatever reason. So somebody wanted him. And Dallas, he was now third here and he wasn't really going to play. So good deal all the way around. I just felt like he deserved a comment. [00:40:08] Speaker B: How much of this is a reflection of the Collode vs Carrera value either short and. Or long term, and the fact that somebody said, hey, we'll pay you whatever they're willing to pay was more than they could pass up for Carrera. [00:40:25] Speaker A: Well, I think it's multifaceted because I think. Pause sort of being happy here and committing to Indonesia and like, we know that no one's going to come in for him at a higher level because of his feet, you know, so they're probably fairly content he's going to stay for a bit. Collodi is a very reliable number two. Like, you don't have to worry about that, really. And also you have things like Nico Mantoya, who's the latest academy. Homegrown, not homegrown. Excuse me. Goalkeeper that they've signed has looked relatively solid. JT Harms down there, he's looked relatively solid. So, like, you only need a third keeper if you're in trouble and then you could just do an emergency deal. So, like the back end of the season, no big deal. You worry about a third keeper in the future. If somebody comes in and says, hey, we value the guy that you're not playing, here's a certain amount of money and they've. They've met the club's valuation, then you make the deal like every deal is considered on its own merits. And I think, honestly, like, I think Tigrest has been tracking him for a bit based on some people I talked to. So I think, I think they, they've wanted him and, you know, once he fell to third here and once, like he wasn't going to get minutes. Like, even when they put him down in North Texas, it was like, why are you putting him down there? That doesn't really help him much. Much. So it's kind of a no brainer at this point. [00:41:38] Speaker B: I'm sorry, if you said this, do we know how much the transfer fee was? [00:41:41] Speaker A: Nope. [00:41:42] Speaker B: Okay. [00:41:42] Speaker A: No. Nobody knows. I've asked around. Nobody knows. So do you people that know aren't saying. [00:41:46] Speaker B: Do you secretly know and you just can't say it out loud? [00:41:49] Speaker A: No. [00:41:49] Speaker B: Can you hold it up with fingers on the camera and just let us know? [00:41:52] Speaker A: I honestly have no idea on this one. There's other guys that I do know, but I don't know this one. [00:41:56] Speaker B: Is it this many? [00:41:57] Speaker A: No. [00:41:58] Speaker B: Millions? [00:41:59] Speaker A: I don't know. Yeah, it's 15 million. [00:42:01] Speaker B: Is it this many millions? [00:42:03] Speaker A: No, I don't know. Okay, you can stop. I really don't know. [00:42:06] Speaker B: That's half a million. [00:42:07] Speaker C: Oh, I don't know. That's Captain Hook to me. [00:42:15] Speaker B: Hey. [00:42:16] Speaker A: Yeah, Two. I was just saying two. Oh, I don't know how much it is. Stop asking. I don't know. [00:42:22] Speaker B: Dan. I think he knows and he just doesn't want to tell us. [00:42:24] Speaker A: If you turn the mic off, I will tell you the same thing. I don't know. [00:42:29] Speaker C: But he will say that in between saying a number. [00:42:32] Speaker A: No. [00:42:34] Speaker B: 11 teen pennies, I found out why. [00:42:38] Speaker A: Kaik is 4 million. It turns out, I'm told that they had him lined up at a lower number and right before they were going to get him, a European club came in and offered more money. And so basically they panic bought because they had, they had sort of committed to Quill that they would go out and get like a six that plays a certain way. He wants to play. And like, so the last second they. The other club was like, grammy. I was like, hey, price just went up threefold. They were like. And they paid it. So it was like a panic buy. That's the story I heard today. So here's the thing we'll see about. [00:43:09] Speaker B: I, I both at the same time, do not want that to be true and want it to be true all at the same time. For a weird set of reasons based. [00:43:19] Speaker A: On what I see on the field, I would have walked away. I would have not paid the 4 million. I mean, I like the kid, but 4 million? [00:43:24] Speaker B: 4 million for a kid that had played one pro game his entire life. I mean, it just seems ridiculous. [00:43:30] Speaker A: Seems ridiculous to me. [00:43:31] Speaker B: And I. And again, I'm working under the assumption that all of these guys that Zenata brought in from his brotherhood of friends in Brazil, all know stuff that the rest of us don't know because they're from down there and they've seen this guy come up through the system, and guy's got a lot of promise. Four million. [00:43:48] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, he needs work. Like in his soccer brain, like, in two or three years, the kid could be great. But, like, right this minute, four millions and over overpay. So it's. The story I heard today is, tells me that that was a bit of a panic buy, and hopefully it all pays off in the long run because that's a lot of money for that kid. A lot of money. [00:44:07] Speaker B: That's a lot of Dan Hunt money right there. [00:44:10] Speaker A: Yeah, we said they're willing to spend now more than they ever have been before, but maybe still just be smart about it. Don't just do it because you can. [00:44:17] Speaker B: Well, crikey. We're essentially halfway to the point, halfway through the season, and it's not gone well. And I. And I honestly don't have any real sense that there's an opportunity for this to get better. I. I mean, they're going to have to have a stunningly good summer window for this team to get exponentially better. Because it's not like there are pieces sitting on the sideline hurt that are. I mean, other than the center back. Right. Other than Ira Gede, which is a big one. I'm not. Don't. I'm not discounting that. And I'm assuming he's probably out for at least another two or three games, and they got some schedule issues. I mean, they've got another road home trip or a home trip coming up, and that you're like, okay, well, they suck at home. [00:45:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Rather go on the road. [00:45:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:45:02] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, the problem with the thing like the window, you go, oh, well, that two, three players will be fine. Well, so will everybody else. [00:45:08] Speaker B: Right? [00:45:08] Speaker A: So it's like. But, you know, there are definitely some very. I'm gonna do a thing on it at some point before the window. There's definitely these two or three specific holes that they can fill that will let Quill better able to play the way he wants to play, and some. Some very significant issues that they can solve. The. The bottom line is, though, is, are you playing for this year or are you playing for three years? Because you got to make a decision about which one it is. Because if you go for very different players, depending on which one of those two things you're doing. [00:45:35] Speaker B: Right. [00:45:35] Speaker A: You know, and I don't know if they know. [00:45:37] Speaker B: And I also think part of our job is just to remind everybody, especially people who are relatively new, that summer editions very rarely make significantly positive impacts. Not just in Dallas, but in, you know, across mls. Very rarely does a team in MLS sign a player in the summer, and that player just turns out to be, you know, a baller, game changer for them or a season changer at the second half of the season. Just doesn't happen. [00:46:02] Speaker A: Yep. [00:46:04] Speaker B: Or it doesn't happen off. I should say it doesn't happen. It has happened in the past, but it doesn't happen very. Especially if it's a player that comes in from overseas. Sometimes within the league, it can have a good effect or. But somebody coming in from England or South America very rarely has that kind of effect. So. [00:46:19] Speaker A: Yep. [00:46:20] Speaker B: Buckle up, kids. And yes, before we forget, because I did forget, Dallas does have a game this weekend. I don't know if we really want to talk about it because it feels like such a bummer, but Dallas does have a game this weekend, and. And again, it's a home game, so I don't know what to tell anybody. Minnesota doesn't suck, you know, they've only lost one game in their last seven. So what do you think, buzzard? What's gonna happen? Who's he gonna play? [00:46:49] Speaker A: Well, Anderson, Julio won't play. Irigida took part in training, but I don't think he'll play. [00:46:55] Speaker B: Hey, wait, by the way, have we heard how long Anderson Julio's out for? Have we heard any kind of. [00:46:59] Speaker A: Not yet, no. Yeah, not yet. Not anything sort of official, but based on kind of what my vibe would be was I'd put like a month, you know, probably when you have that kind of muscle to be worried about. But that's just pure speculation. But Irigidde was back in training, but he's not necessarily in line to play this week. Ramiro, however, came back to training last week, so he'll be available. Kaik off of red card is available. Ibiaga off of red card is available. So I think it makes perfect sense that Ibiaga's back in. Then you just have to decide, like, okay, do we. Was that enough of Alvaro or do we like that enough that we put him in there with Ibiaga, See what happens. It probably depends on how important making the playoffs is again. So, you know, you can decide yourself whether you think it'll be Aubicar or Alvaro. I think Ramiro comes back in the midfield for sure because they tried. They played Nolan and They're so desperate for a six. They played Nolan. Great job by him in the first half of the game. So I got hurt, so he's probably out too. Legit will be in there. And then the question is like, was Delgado so bad that you bring back Kaik or do you think that okay with Ramiro as a real six, then Delgado will be more free to be a decent game and otherwise it doesn't. You know, Bernie came up injured too, so there's a. I found out today he missed training for a knock. I'm assuming Bernie will be out this weekend also, so, you know, maybe we'll actually see Farrington get a shot. Maybe Leo Chu would get a shot. Although for Leo Chu to not play in the last like three weeks since he's bagging off injury is really weird. So probably Farrington. So, you know, got some guys back, but you still don't have a whole lot of choices. Not a lot of options out there because you got more guys that got hurt. [00:48:40] Speaker B: It's a home game, so there is no hope. I forgot. The other big news here in the Dallas soccer scene is the fact that after their first season, Dallas Trinity has sacked its manager, Pauline McDonald and her assistant, Gavin Beath. Is it pronounced? I believe. Dan, are you surprised by this news? [00:49:00] Speaker C: Surprised by the timing of it? Yeah, it's a bit difficult. Obviously they had a struggle getting her into the country. I don't know if that was a visa overhang from a playing days or what, but Chris Pritchard, Sully, had the team started pretty well. Came in a little bit of a slow introduction. I think towards the end of the season that that regular season title was half one, half lost in injuries in the back line and half just in weird substitutions. Weird decisions sometimes. Yeah, I mean, I feel like if you were going to cut loose, you cut loose a little bit sooner after the playoff loss. But no, I mean, to a degree, if you go from first to basically backing into the playoffs because of another team losing in the other side of the country, you kind of ask him for a little bit of trouble. [00:50:14] Speaker B: Do we feel like she got hard done by after the Lexi Missimo injury and how much they put in to making such a big deal out of his addition and how important she was going to be to their success? [00:50:28] Speaker C: I think she ever really fully gelled in the team and like cemented her place. Obviously they were trying to build everything around her, but they had sufficient time to either change the system or to, you know, really commit to, I mean, end up being Cameron Lancaster, that was kind of her de facto replacement. They were playing, you know, they had fine games. It wasn't like, you know, if Miami lost Messi, not, not now they've got the other superstars, but, you know, and suddenly they're just left with a bunch of spares. That certainly wasn't the case there. They had, you still had Amber Brooks, you still had Ali Thornton leading the Golden Boot. You had Chamber Uber, who was second in assists and first in key passes at the time. I think you, you had a solid core of players. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, I don't think you can really put. It's easy to say lost star player, but when the star player hadn't really got into the role of being the star player. [00:51:36] Speaker B: I'm going to ask this question, acknowledging the, that I am away from this from quite a distance, but I have this weird sense that Petrotelli, Petrocelli is just going to end up managing this thing himself. [00:51:48] Speaker C: I don't think he wants to. [00:51:49] Speaker B: I know. I don't think he wants to. But if they can't find the right person to do it and with his track record and resume, wouldn't it kind of make sense for him to, to take it over? I mean, he ran it for what, the first six, eight weeks of the season. [00:52:08] Speaker A: I talked to him after they made this change and he talked about that and he said no. Part of it too was the idea that they have a lot of ambition. And I asked him about this. Was this coach change, performance related, like the record, like winning games? They said, well, in a sense. And like, it's not necessarily wins and losses, performance related. It's performance related in the sense that, like, how is the team progressing? How is the team playing? Are you making adjustments? So, like, response to the thing? Things are happening, yes. Mesa going down to Misimo, who a long term, I think Missimo is an upgrade, but short term it's not. And then she gets hurt. It's like, how do you adapt to that? Is anyone else getting better? Are we finding players that can fit certain roles? So, like, that was all related to performance. And so then I specifically asked him, I was like, you know, you guys say you're getting a coach search right away, but why aren't you just going to coach? He's like, oh, I don't, I, I don't want to be the coach. They don't want me to be the coach. You know, we're going to go out and try and find a coach that's got hopefully one that's got pro experience. But we know the market's tough right now because there's other teams in our league and in NWSL looking for a coach. So we're going to do our best. And they're probably less panicked about it because they know that I can he. Chris. I'm paraphrasing that I can coach if we have to to get it started. So like they were not worried about the fact that their camp opens July 14th. They're not panicking about that because Chris can handle that. That you know they're gonna get the higher right they hope. But the short, the short to medium to long term play is not for Petrocella to be coaching. They don't want that and he doesn't. [00:53:33] Speaker B: Want that, which means he'll end up coaching. [00:53:35] Speaker A: I mean he may have to by the time the season starts, but I'm sure at some point they'll, they'll hire somebody. You know, if you're going to be a Division one organization, you don't need your G, your TD to be your, your gm, whichever one is technically his title, to be your coach. You know, this is not sporting Kansas City. [00:53:51] Speaker C: There's also enough, there's enough college coaches that kind of do double duty. So I mean it wouldn't be beyond reason. Isn't. There's a decent number of women's programs in the area that then brings in extra contacts in the local soccer scene. Something that Pauline didn't have. Which second half of the season you. [00:54:11] Speaker B: Really. [00:54:13] Speaker C: Compared to the first half of the season. The, the, the whole use of the academy players was such a, such a wonderful thing to see. Second half of the season it was, it was Celi Strawn and you know, Natalie Wagner's on the bench, nothing else. [00:54:30] Speaker A: Yeah. And to be fair, Chris has been at the higher ends of women's soccer for quite a while. He knows lots of people. So I, I don't think that they'll have trouble between the ambition that the club has and, and what a good job I think Chris does. I think hiring a coach is going to be easy. Like Trinity's issues are the club, the greater club around the team that needs to be built up and needs structure. Not the coaching, the ability for Chris to find a coach, I think that'll be for him. I think that's not going to be a problem. [00:55:00] Speaker B: Well, the other thing is, is they're going to have a, essentially at least half of a brand new team because along with all the other pieces they've lost over the course of the season due to moving back to NWSL or graduation or whatever prom, they just, they cut nine players today. [00:55:20] Speaker A: Yeah, parted with, you know, whether they actually cut them or whether their conducts ran out. I mean they were on one year deals or their loans ran out. Like every one of these players is different. The one that surprised me was Julia Dorsey. I thought Dorsey had been fantastic all season on the right side. Like she was originally on loan from Charlotte. Dan, I don't remember but like North Carolina. [00:55:39] Speaker C: Wait, no, no, no. That was. [00:55:42] Speaker A: It doesn't matter. They let her go. They released her in middle of the loan and so Dallas just immediately signed her. And I actually thought she was a very solid, reliable piece coming out of right back or right center back if they were playing in the back three, you know. So I don't know why they parted from her. All the rest of these players, I can understand why they parted from them. You know, in terms of trying. Like I said, they're ambitious. They want to try and get better. It's not like they cut Thornton or Brooks, you know, they got bricks for one more year probably and that's about it. So they got to worry about six behind her. But you know, none of Dorsey is the only one of these moves that made me pause. [00:56:17] Speaker C: It was North Carolina Courage, by the way. [00:56:19] Speaker A: There you go. Yeah, yeah. [00:56:21] Speaker B: Hi, Bobby. [00:56:22] Speaker C: It's, it's funny in women's soccer because you see these things that you don't necessarily see in a month. Less, you know, Julia Dorsey went to Ureni, she played for, she went to North Carolina Courage. There's always a possibility of, hey, I'm not from Dallas, I have no ties to Dallas. I don't want to be in Dallas. The one always kind of stuck out for me was Julie James who was on the FC Dallas WPS old team. Really good midfielder. She played for the US under 23s, got drafted to the team that's now Gotham. I guess they were sky blue at the time, had this amazing rookie season and then she disappeared. Turned out she disappeared because her fiance was in the, it was in the Navy. She had a reason that she had to move to Norfolk, Virginia. They got married, you know, and ultimately that, that with the, the comparative salaries and everything in women's soccer, professional soccer just wasn't on the cards at that point. So sometimes it's not always just, you know, were they good enough? [00:57:41] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. [00:57:43] Speaker B: And last Trinity note, congratulations to one of the Neil family members, Charlie, who was named Steven Super League Executive of the Year. I Bet that is going to be a very Tiffany crystal plaque of some sort for him to display on his shelf for all the rest of his life. [00:58:01] Speaker A: Well, I, I asked him to give me some, you know, a rundown of like some of his accomplishments to you know that got him this award. And I will give him some credit for a few that I was not aware of. And they finished first in the league in season tickets, first in the league in consumer products, which I assume means merch and first in the league in viewership if you include the Barcelona friendly. So you know, on top of all the usual things of like first women's team, first friendly for blah blah, all this commercial stuff like those three things actually for them to have done that. Well, in terms of the sales and tickets side, I think those are the things that probably pushed them over the top because I didn't know that about this club. I mean I knew they were sort of in the top sort of ish of the league. But to finish first in those three categories is actually I think he probably favor that he got. [00:58:48] Speaker B: I think Charlie owes you and Dan both one of those really effing expensive hoodies for all the coverage and promotion and work that you've put into helping. [00:59:00] Speaker A: I will say that inform the population. [00:59:04] Speaker C: I've been told many times by the PR company that we make them look good. [00:59:09] Speaker B: Well, you do. You guys have put a tremendous amount of effort into making sure that the curious are told about Trinity, which is what the whole point to this thing. Right. It's just getting harder because there's too many clubs to talk about. People are going to get shorted and people are going to. Yes, I can already tell this is going to become a problem. [00:59:28] Speaker A: We had two more, we got three more coming. [00:59:31] Speaker B: I know man. Retirement is coming up fast for me, man. And it's probably at the perfect time. We could pass this off to some younger generation. Let them handle it from here on. Remember back when we only had one club to talk about? [00:59:43] Speaker A: I know back in the days you wouldn't believe there was one team around here. [00:59:48] Speaker B: That's right. [00:59:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:59:50] Speaker B: North Texas have. So North Texas hasn't played since like in the last few weeks and they play Thursday. [00:59:57] Speaker A: They play Thursday. Well, the reason they haven't played in the last few weeks I think is because they align. The North Texas is. Sorry, the MLS next pro schedule with the fact that the MLS next, which is the Academy playoffs were like last week. So I think nobody in the league hardly played to be fair, you know, not that Dallas once Dallas sort of elevates a kid full time. They don't go back and forth a lot, but there were a couple that did. So like, I think that's why. So they have a game basically Thursday and I don't really have a lot to say about them at this time. They're not, they. They've had some players pulled up to FC Dallas that kind of really hurt them in terms of their ability to win. And that really is the overall takeaway. It's like what do you care about? Is it, is it winning in North Texas or is it developing in North Texas? And I think there's a greater conversation that has to be had about which one they seem to care about. And I think it's winning that they care about. And I'm not sure if that's not upside down. So I have some things to say about that. I think going forward in the future, maybe not today's the day, not for it. But there's some guys that should be playing that are not playing. It really confuses the tar out of me until you bring into the calculation that John Gall has to thinks he needs to win games. [01:01:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, that sounds like a good burn, Buzz. [01:01:05] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a top sort of burn. [01:01:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:01:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:01:07] Speaker B: All right. Moving down the list, Texoma. Good Lord. Break up the Birds. Birdie Birds, Red River Birds. Texomo. Six straight in a row. How fantastic. Four, zero and two. And then they lost finally a game, but it wasn't in the league. It was in the cup, that cool USL cup tournament. They lost five of four to Phoenix Rising, which is a championship team. So. [01:01:37] Speaker C: With a heavily rotated team. [01:01:40] Speaker B: Yeah. And then there's this whole weird story about their CEO getting fired. [01:01:46] Speaker A: Yeah, they parted ways with their co founding owner and CEO. So he's off out as CEO. He's out of the board. You know, money's money. So he's still a minority owner, but he will not be involved. He's just, you know, cash his check. So I don't have a whole lot of details. I don't have a lot to report. But I, I think what I can say is that it's not like, hey, I just don't want to do this anymore. I'll see you guys later. It's not that kind of movement. Like there's a reason why this happened. I don't have any details on what that reason is, but I don't think it's a something that ever anyone's going to want to talk about. So I don't think we'll ever really have much reportable beyond the fact that they just ousted their co owner, which ought to tell you something, right. That that doesn't happen without cause. [01:02:40] Speaker C: I think I've got some insight into that. [01:02:43] Speaker B: Oh, hit me. [01:02:43] Speaker C: It's because he, like myself, is from Luton, Bedfordshire. [01:02:49] Speaker A: So's the coach, though. [01:02:51] Speaker C: Well, he's not from Luton. He just played and played there. [01:02:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Had to purge the Luton. Yes. [01:02:57] Speaker B: As a fellow Lutonian, what kind of shenanigans would you like to speculate he has gotten himself into? Dan Crook? [01:03:04] Speaker C: Oh, I don't know. But anytime I'm in the TSA line, especially in Atlanta, I'm always pulled into that little room for the whole second search. Like. [01:03:12] Speaker B: Right, okay. All right. [01:03:14] Speaker C: They see looting on that passport, like. [01:03:15] Speaker A: Yeah, occupation only dance.com and they get. They ask questions. [01:03:21] Speaker C: I will never understand that joke. [01:03:25] Speaker B: It's very funny, actually. Yeah, it's very, very funny. Chupacabras announced that they are doing now. So is this an existing training facility at Craig's Ranch? Are they building their own thing there's. In partnership with Craig's Ranch? [01:03:40] Speaker A: They currently train at Craig's ranch in McKen. And the city is putting forward, like, this investment into making that a nicer, fancier training complex for them. So that's a good win. And through their first five home games, they had 16,000 vans come into their gates, which is incredible for that level of play. It's ridiculous. And they have one more home game to go. So, like, I mean, it's not a level we cover extensively, but that is remarkable and I think it's worthy of notice that. That for whatever reason, Hitch has got something figured out because he's not just there that he's doing it. They're doing good things in Lubbock. They're doing things at Annapolis, they're doing things down at Appalachia. Like, he's having this kind of success everywhere. But for it to happen in McKinney, like, 10ft from FC Dallas's backyard, I think is telling. It tells you that there's a part of the marketplace that FC Dallas is not reaching, that these people are fired up to go watch McKinney Chupacabras, three divisions below FC Dallas. And whether it's price point or locality or name or whatever, it is the localness that Hitches tapping into this. This is your club here. Come to the brewery, Come hang out, have a beer. Let's go watch the game. You know, I mean, like, that. That works. [01:04:54] Speaker C: I think his approach is really like English clubs. It's not A team. It's actually, it's part of your community. [01:05:02] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. A simple example of that is letting them vote on the kits. Like, you know, that kind of voting on the name. [01:05:09] Speaker B: Say that again. [01:05:10] Speaker A: He lets the, these teams that he runs let fans vote on which kit. [01:05:14] Speaker B: Okay. [01:05:15] Speaker A: Or voting on the brand name, or come out and help us pick which beer is going to be our official beer. Like, Dan's right. Like, these clubs feel super hyper local and it works at that level. Level. They're really. [01:05:26] Speaker C: And he always does stuff like the, like the raffle for the front of shirt sponsor. So everyone puts in X amount and, you know, someone gets a great deal. But you've got all these local companies that are like, yeah, sure, I want to be involved. I'm going to throw a few dollars in. [01:05:42] Speaker B: All right. And then we'll end with some Atletico Dallas discussion, because I really, I, I wrote this and posted it on social media because some of your Discord members were posting photos of them receiving their commemorative shirt mailings, showing up at their house. And I, you know, you know me, I love a detail and I love attention to detail. And the fact that Atletico appears to have really gone beyond the call of duty in terms of bespoke packaging. Like, the actual shipping container that your shirt comes in is like a bespoke Atletico box and tape and all the little tchotchke stuff they throw in there with stickers, and the actual bag that it's in is all bespoked with the, the logo and stuff on it and the shirts themselves. I haven't seen one in person yet, but I, I, I really think that they have done a super job on this stuff. And I also want to say, because when they started and launched this whole thing, however many weeks ago it was, you know, I, I gave them a bit of a hard time about some of the imagery and language and kind of the backstory they were trying to sell us being very confusing. And I still think a lot of that was confusing back then. But some of the stuff they've put out more recently in trying to tell their story have made more sense, and I think they've gotten better at it. For example, on the shirts, naming the colors of the shirts, crude black, I think it is, and Texas Topaz, tying those things together in terms of colors and why they picked those colors and how they relate to the, to the area, all makes far more sense than kids playing in a concrete factory, but that's a different thing. So I, I dig that quite a bit, and I think that's really, really good. And I will also even admit that the logo with just the wolf and the snake, while neither one of those things make any sense to me anymore today than it did back then. [01:07:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:07:38] Speaker B: The quality of it and the fact that it doesn't say Dallas anywhere, I have to admit, it's starting to get to me. [01:07:45] Speaker A: Sorry. Gets you. [01:07:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:07:46] Speaker A: Yeah. The thing I find most interesting at this stage about this particular group is how responsive they are. How, like when they do something, the audience reaction will tweak them, they'll. They'll slide, they'll tweak, they'll work, they'll like, they'll respond to what people respond to. And like, so many times with. And not to draw direct comparisons, but so many times with FC Dallas, FC Dallas goes, we got this great idea, here it is. And everyone goes, whatever. And else goes, nope, it's great. You know what I mean? Like this club, this Athletico, guys, like, everyone's like, oh, this, that's great. Except for maybe there's one little part, they go, you're right, that one little part. Let's push that away and we'll go with this thing. You know, that, that responsiveness is fascinating. And maybe it's because they're a small group, but like, I hope they keep that responsiveness to their audience going because FC Dallas has left a hole. FC Dallas's response to the Hispanic market, the central Dallas market, the people they abandoned, abandoned in air quotes when they left the Cotton Bowl. That audience is ripe and available and Athletico could pick it up with the right game plan. And so far they seem to be really executing. I think it's impressive. [01:08:52] Speaker C: I think this is where backgrounds come into play a lot. You know, the Hunts operate a team as if they're trying to market to people in Highland park just like themselves. Sam San Martin, Atleticos from the. The advertising world, where you have to. You have to be on the button of what people actually resonate with and, and react to that. [01:09:16] Speaker A: So it's, it's a radio guy, even Peter, you should love him. [01:09:20] Speaker B: Well, there are a lot of radio guys I don't like at all. That's fair. And there are a lot of. And let me also say there are a lot of radio people who don't like me. So that's a two way street. Just because you're in radio or podcasting doesn't mean people instantly like you in the industry. [01:09:37] Speaker A: That's for sure. [01:09:39] Speaker B: I just remember Dan back in the day, and I don't know if this holds true in 2025. But part of Dallas, the Dallas Burns original problem, along with the fact that it didn't have an owner per se, it was kind of like the redheaded stepchild of the league was that it was run. You know, Andy has talked a lot about the fact that the Dallas Burn back in the day, year in and year out had the league's best walk up numbers year after year. And it wasn't even close. Like the walk up audience for the cotton ball in the Dallas burn from 96 through 99 or whatever that time period was, was really, really good. But as was told to me at the time, you can't make a business on walk up. You just can't. And that's why season ticket sales are so important. And at the same time Dallas's season ticket numbers were really abysmal and in relation to the rest of the league. And so I, that's the thing, that's what I think Atletico's, that's the calculation or the trick they've got to solve is how do you get that audience not to just be a walk up day of game audience and actually commit to the club in terms of season tickets, et cetera, et cetera. [01:10:49] Speaker A: Yeah, this, that's something that the Hunts have inherited through, you know, the NFL and the other major sports teams in the United States leagues. The United States. And the reason that is, is that being able to have predictable, reliable season sales numbers and budgeting that lasts the whole year is really, really important. And the volatility of single game walk up sales is the issue for those major clubs. And so that's why it's difficult to build a business model on a volatile walk up ticket base that the minute it's raining only 2000 people show up up. Whereas if there are people, if those 15000 people are all season ticket holders, you get the money even if they don't come. So that, that's why that happens and that's what, why Peter says, okay, how are they going to handle that? Like their core market might be a little less season ticket based and more walkout based. It'll be an interesting question to watch as they go forward. [01:11:41] Speaker C: This is partly understanding your market. You know, a lot of the whole shunning the, the Hispanic community that is, you know, that is something that's prevalent is World cup sales. Yeah, you, you don't base your season budget on World cup sales, you base it on season tickets. But if you understand and cultivate the audience then maybe that has to become part of life. Maybe it Becomes you're selling not just full season tickets, but you're selling half season tickets, six game packages, you know, whatever else it needs to be to kind of to. To get that medium term income as well. [01:12:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I do believe, and I don't want to completely say I'm 100% accurate about this because I'm gonna have to go back and talk to Andy to get the full story, but I believe that that original ballot Dallas Burn staff not only did those things, but they also had worked incredibly hard to build that community. Andy in particular. Andy obviously is bilingual. English, by the way, is his second language. Actually, I think English is his third language. It's Spanish, Portuguese and then English. And he understood that community as well as anybody in the soccer business and still does to this day in this market. And so I think what maybe be worth having him on the pod or. I'll bring it up on the kick around next time if I ever get to see him again on the show is have that conversation with him is about the difficulties of connecting with the Hispanic or Latino audience in the Dallas Fort Worth area and how Atletico can be successful. Because I do think there's an argument to be made that that particular community just isn't a season ticket buying community as a primary setup. Like, you just, you have to figure that out. And I, and I do think that's going to be part of the trick for them is how do they get, how do they balance those things together, how do they serve that community? And, and then also at the same time find the other community of soccer fans who are willing to go to the Cotton Bowl. A. That's a huge thing. Right. And I think, and again, I am very impressed by their commitment to making the Cotton bowl cool again. Like they've clearly started setting the stage for building that story as to why the Cotton bowl is cool and a place to go watch soccer. I'm all in on that. I think that's a great campaign to spearhead, but they're gonna have to turn that into a viable business if they want this to be super. Especially if USL Premiere becomes a thing and suddenly now they're competing head to head really directly with Major League Soccer and fc. [01:14:25] Speaker A: Yeah. And they don't have the strategic use of fake Lionel Alvarez anymore to. [01:14:30] Speaker B: You want to win me over? You signed Lionel Alvarez as your inaugural coach of Atletico Dallas Zarko. Well, yeah, Lionel in particular. [01:14:41] Speaker A: Lionel would be more hype. Yeah. [01:14:43] Speaker B: Right. And then his, his, his fake twin brother as his assistant coach would be pretty kick ass. Too. [01:14:50] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Interesting questions as they go forward to watch them try and deal with, you know, watch them try and figure out. That's a good question. [01:15:02] Speaker B: Well, have either one of you seen either of the blue or the black shirts in person yet? [01:15:06] Speaker A: Not in person. Mine has not come yet. [01:15:08] Speaker B: Okay. All right. [01:15:10] Speaker A: We should mention that one other news item for them, though, is that we failed to mention this last podcast is they got their training gown approved by the city of Garland. That's 70 million. [01:15:18] Speaker B: Oh, right. Yes, yes. [01:15:19] Speaker A: Offices that got approved. So, you know, second win after the Cotton Bowl Moneygram thing. The week later, they had another win of the Garland training ground. So they're moving forward with everything. So crazy. [01:15:32] Speaker B: And when are we going to find out about Fort Worth? [01:15:35] Speaker A: That is a good question. I. I know that sometime in the next. Whatever. I haven't looked, but the. The Fen Field thing is up for city council approval. So, you know, cross your fingers. Maybe that, like, if that gets approved, maybe we'll actually finally hear something. They seem to be perfectly content to let athletical Dallas get out there and attract a lot of the early kerfuffle and sort of wait and see what happens a little bit and manage their. Their entry. So we haven't learned anything new since the leak of the images of. On that YouTube video that got made private after we found the images of the stadium and. And found the URL with their, you know, confirming the women's team that we were kind of thinking was happening, but got confirmed. So since then, we've had nothing new, so. But we're still trying to figure it out. [01:16:20] Speaker B: Well, I. I'm pretty impressed that we got through that entire incredibly long run sheet, the longest run sheet in third degree podcast history, in an hour and 16 minutes. But I am going to throw one more thing in here real quick. I swear. A few weeks ago, this rumor started running around that both the Mesquite or Texas Outlaws and the Dallas Sidekicks were kaput. [01:16:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:16:45] Speaker B: And it was received poorly by the league itself. And the league put out a statement saying, we can neither firm nor deny this and don't believe anything until we announce anything. [01:16:58] Speaker A: Yep. [01:16:58] Speaker B: But I think we had all heard that the. In the win that it was pretty clear that neither one of these things was going to continue to exist. And I haven't heard a peep about it since then. [01:17:07] Speaker A: Yeah, well, here's what happened. Like, we've. I've been under the operating principle that Outlaws were gone, period. [01:17:12] Speaker B: Right. [01:17:12] Speaker A: That their team got absorbed by some owners and it was going to be out that side. [01:17:15] Speaker B: I was of that same impression. [01:17:17] Speaker A: Yeah. And then. So I was surprised when this story got leaked that looked like a press release that had been written. This got this press release or whatever got leaked that the Sidekicks were folding to. What happened was this. Not only did the league say, hey, if it's not from us, it's not official, they started threatening to sue the pants off of everybody. So, like, people that leaked that stuff had to retract it, you know, and pull it back and say, hey, that was. That was bad stuff. [01:17:44] Speaker B: Was it a media outlet that leaked it? [01:17:47] Speaker A: No. I don't know how it got out. I don't know how it came out. It's probably somebody that works for one of those teams gave it to somebody, a fan or something. I. I'm not involved. I don't know, and I don't want to know because I don't want to get sued. But that's the factual history of what happened. Now, we have always been convinced the outlets were coming back based on some questions I asked. I think the psychics thing is true also. I don't think the psychics are coming back. [01:18:11] Speaker B: Okay, wait, you just said you always believe the Outlaws were coming back. [01:18:14] Speaker A: We're not coming back. [01:18:15] Speaker B: Oh, we're not coming. [01:18:15] Speaker A: Say that. [01:18:16] Speaker B: Okay. [01:18:16] Speaker A: Sorry if I misspoke there. I. Since the Outlaws were. Were basically taken over by the two other teams, their owners who absorbed their players, basically, I've been convinced the Outlaws were done and we're not going to come back. It was. The side case wasn't a surprise. And some questions I have asked have led me. Led me to believe that the. That the Sidekicks are, if nothing else, on hiatus. Now, I can't prove it and I can't source anybody, but that's what I now believe to be true. So I don't think either one of those teams will be back. You know, it's just a question of time when MASL will release that and report that stuff. Probably before their next season starts, which is probably like in Danza, usually, like in January. I can't remember when it is. It's so. It's late and it's in the winter, so we'll find out eventually. But I'm. I'm pretty confident in my belief that those teams won't be back, regardless of any reporting, contrary to that. Is that fair? That's not a very good cleanup, but that's the best we got at this point. [01:19:14] Speaker B: No, I mean, all the. All the noise that I've heard is that they're both done for. But I also don't want to. I. I don't know that to be true. And I don't know if everybody's just repeating the same wrong rumor. That's what I can't figure out. [01:19:26] Speaker A: No, no, I think like my belief on that stuff is based on anecdotal evidence of like employees and players and things like that. [01:19:36] Speaker B: Okay. [01:19:36] Speaker A: Like, so I'm. I'm not just repeating a rumor, I'm adding crap up in my head and based on what I know and saying like, I don't think they're coming back. You know, it's just. We're just waiting for. I wasn't aware it was happening with the psychics. But then after that I went and asked around and I've got. Okay. Yeah, no, it's. [01:19:51] Speaker B: I wonder if there's anybody ever got a leftover long sleeve throwback Dallas Sidekicks shirt that I could never get them to sell me Leftover. [01:20:00] Speaker A: I know who you can ask, but I don't know what the answer is going to be. [01:20:03] Speaker B: I tried like four times to buy one and I was always told no. [01:20:08] Speaker A: Do you know Eddie Piscaridge? [01:20:09] Speaker B: Yeah, of course I know Eddie. [01:20:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Call it. [01:20:11] Speaker B: Okay. [01:20:11] Speaker A: I might be able to get. [01:20:12] Speaker B: All right. I don't think there's any left, but they were. [01:20:15] Speaker C: Otherwise just wait another four years until they reboot for the 15th time. [01:20:19] Speaker B: Right. Somebody else. [01:20:20] Speaker A: Yeah, the psychics brand has value. So like somebody will bring it up, somebody will pick it up eventually, you know, I mean he'll get. Use that name for an outdoor team. People know the brand. It doesn't matter what team in the router. [01:20:32] Speaker B: Right. Okay, boys, I think we've done a job well done. [01:20:36] Speaker A: Well, let me throw out a shout out to Emma Tuamasi who signed with Piast Glee Week in Poland. So he got a gig. I've never heard of that club, but it's the middle of the first division in Poland, so he's playing again. So. So good on Ema. Finally got a spot. [01:20:50] Speaker B: Good for him. [01:20:51] Speaker A: Yep. [01:20:52] Speaker B: That's. That's some work by an agent right there. [01:20:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, got a spot. So I don't think he wanted to go to the USL championship, but he probably could have easily. But he probably want to try something different. So. Hey, whatever. Have an adventure. [01:21:03] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Yes. [01:21:05] Speaker A: Get out on the field, get some tape, see who else calls, you know, whatever. Big world, lots of places to play. Yeah. [01:21:12] Speaker B: My. One of my teammates daughters just graduated from. She was the captain at UT and she's playing for a team in the Irish first division. [01:21:21] Speaker A: Awesome. Yeah. [01:21:22] Speaker B: And, you know, I don't. She's probably not making enough to pay rent, but, man, I think she's having a blast playing over there. [01:21:28] Speaker A: Yep, absolutely. [01:21:30] Speaker B: So, all right, what else? Anything else? Dan, you got anything else you want to talk about? [01:21:36] Speaker C: I do not. [01:21:37] Speaker B: Your summer trim, by the way, looks quite good. Your beard, your hair. You're looking quite tight and ready for the hot summer days. [01:21:44] Speaker C: Thank you very much. [01:21:45] Speaker B: I mean, the beard. [01:21:46] Speaker C: Aerodynamic. [01:21:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Is that what it is? [01:21:48] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:21:49] Speaker B: All right. Very good. Dan's got a lot of work to do. Buzz and I, not so much. We're boring compared to Dan. [01:21:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:21:56] Speaker B: All right, Dan. [01:21:57] Speaker C: To make adverts for Chinese magazines. Yay. [01:22:01] Speaker B: Good Lord. [01:22:02] Speaker A: They pay you, then go at it, man. [01:22:03] Speaker C: Oh, no, no. It's an American company. Don't worry. [01:22:05] Speaker B: Yeah, okay. [01:22:06] Speaker C: Money's there. [01:22:09] Speaker B: You're going to get paid in Labubus, aren't you? All right, well, thank you, Dan. I appreciate you for being here. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Buzzard, as always. You know, you asked this question at the beginning. The question we get asked, why do we continue to do this all the time? Why haven't we? And the answer to the question is, is because we love doing this. We love. One, we do love FC Dallas, whether it looks like it or not. And two, I think we have a lot of fun doing this, the three of us, world friends. [01:22:37] Speaker A: We do. [01:22:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:22:39] Speaker A: Hopefully your muses thing is going well. [01:22:41] Speaker B: Buddy, I can't talk about that publicly. [01:22:42] Speaker A: Oh, is it top secret? [01:22:43] Speaker B: No, it's not top secret. I just. No, nobody to listen to. This pod knows what you're talking about. [01:22:48] Speaker A: But can't talk about Fight Club. Okay. [01:22:50] Speaker B: No, I could talk about it. It's just I don't think anybody really be interested in it. [01:22:53] Speaker A: So that's the wrong podcast. I was just saying good luck. [01:22:55] Speaker B: Well, thank you. I appreciate it. It's. It's gone very well so far. It's been a huge hit. It. Nice. [01:23:02] Speaker A: Damn it. [01:23:03] Speaker B: Huh? [01:23:04] Speaker A: I can't afford it. If you're huge. [01:23:07] Speaker C: Just wait until Wiggle Butts take off. [01:23:09] Speaker A: I guess I gotta call Owen. [01:23:10] Speaker B: If. If Buzz's Discord member Eddie doesn't get me a cease to desist letter from. From Athletico. Have you seen what he did? [01:23:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:23:24] Speaker B: Did you see? So those who listening, Eddie, who is very enthusiastic about Wiggle Butt and has bought some product already, has begun like a marketing campaign for me, unbeknownst to me, where he's essentially taking all of Atletico's marketing and rebranding it as Wiggle Butt. I'm like, dude, you're gonna get me sued. And Sam Morton from Atletico wrote back, maybe on Twitter, maybe, maybe with a smiley face credit to him. So maybe he is a nice radio guy after all. Okay, very good. Well, thanks, guys. Yes. And don't forget to go buy some Wiggle Wiggle Butt merch before. Before I'm told I can't sell it anymore. [01:24:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Last week's pod sponsor, by the way. [01:24:13] Speaker B: Yes, by the way. I meant to tell you, Buzz, I didn't know about that until I. I listened to it the other day. Thank you for doing that. [01:24:19] Speaker A: It's a surprise for you. [01:24:20] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a bonus, a throw in. And thank you, DFW Soccer. Curious. We love and adore you and we will speak to you next week, hopefully with better FC Dallas outcomes. We'll speak to you next week on another episode of Third Degree, the podcast. [01:24:34] Speaker C: Get Stuck in and up the Bop. [01:24:36] Speaker B: Third Degree the Third Degree Ned Podcast Third Degree the Third Degree N Podcast Third Degree the Third Degree the Third Degree. [01:25:08] Speaker A: Sam.