3rd Degree the Podcast #341

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:00:09] Speaker A: Third Degree the Third Degree NEP Podcast. Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast. Third Degree the Third Degree Nap Podcast. [00:00:22] Speaker B: Third Degree the Third Degree. [00:00:26] Speaker B: Third Degree the podcast is brought to you by people just like you. The wonderful supporters and listeners of this podcast that support us on Patreon patreon.com thirddegree if you like what we do on the Internet, whether it be this podcast, whether it be our website covering professional soccer, nfc, Dallas, even our work on social media, why not come join us to come support us? 3rd degree.net is the website patreon.com thirddegree which is where you can support us. Thanks for listening, Enjoy the show. [00:00:52] Speaker A: Well, hello there, DFW area soccer curious person. You welcome to another episode of third degree, the podcast. No, he's not here, so you may just turn it off now. You know it's not as fun without Dan, but. No, there is no Dan Crook today. It's just me and your hero, my hero, everybody's hero. Editor, founder of thirddegree.net and the original soccer influencer himself, Buzz Carrick. Come in, Buzz. [00:01:22] Speaker B: You're right. Peter is more fun with Dan's here. I don't know where he is today. I usually. I know where he's doing today. I don't have no idea what he's doing. I just know he's not here. [00:01:29] Speaker A: I'm sure he's working diligently on somebody's marketing plan. Yeah, probably making it better. [00:01:35] Speaker B: That's a good guess. [00:01:36] Speaker A: Yeah, that's my guess. I wanted to start. I had a moment today buz I have to admit not often I spot something on the inter social Webers ma jiggers and have a moment. A kind of a. [00:01:52] Speaker A: A reclmpt moment. But this happened when I saw a retweet of an FC Dallas video of a youth game, right? And some young man hitting a nice little side volley banger to win a game and all the celebration. But that's not what caught my eye. What caught my eye, and I was unaware this was a thing was that they were wearing the Dallas Byrne throwback kits and I just thought that was Chef's Kiss. I thought that was great. [00:02:27] Speaker B: I was not aware they were wearing those kits either. So far. You know, this is the, this is the time when they're transitioning and usually they. Well, I know they've already had the old blue and red afterburner kit and they've started wearing the, the. [00:02:42] Speaker B: Whatever this current powder bluey sort of thingy is called. [00:02:46] Speaker A: Not white. [00:02:46] Speaker B: The not white one. They've been wearing that, so it was a surprise to me to see the burn kit too. By the way, when you first tweeted, I thought you were getting hyped because that's Eric Quill's son. [00:02:56] Speaker A: No, I got. I got excited because it dawned on me that as day oners, back in the day, the Burn didn't have a youth team or an academy team. I mean, kids didn't wear burn kits back in the 90s and early aughts. It wasn't until after the Hunts had bought the team and launched the FC Dallas youth team did we ever have that kind of thing here. So to see modern kids in 2025 wearing burn throwback kits, I don't know. Just warms my. [00:03:27] Speaker A: Hard, cold, cold heart, man. You know, I just think that's kind of cool, man. I don't know. [00:03:32] Speaker B: Did your heart grow three sizes that day? [00:03:35] Speaker A: It kind of did this morning. Yeah. I was like, okay, this pleases me greatly. [00:03:40] Speaker B: So that's cool. It's fun. Yeah. [00:03:42] Speaker A: I wanted to share that with everybody. I will also share that I just finished off a my trial of a something called the Trader Joe's calzone Meatball calzone. [00:03:52] Speaker B: How was that? [00:03:54] Speaker A: I think I'm going to regret eating all of it. [00:03:57] Speaker B: Oh, did you eat it all? Because it was good. [00:04:01] Speaker A: I don't know why I ate it. I think I was hungry. And I kept eating it, tasting it going. I don't know how good this this is. Feels very doughy and now and weird and I ate the whole damn thing. And now I have a feeling. [00:04:14] Speaker A: Tomorrow I'm going to regret it. [00:04:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:16] Speaker A: So that's my day, Buzz. How about yours? [00:04:21] Speaker B: I made a run to the dump. [00:04:24] Speaker A: I don't even want to know what that means. [00:04:26] Speaker B: The dump. The city dump. [00:04:27] Speaker A: Oh, you took garbage out to the trap. [00:04:29] Speaker B: Well, not garbage, but I have a humongously amazing, gigantic century tree in my backyard. Giant oak. It drops a lot of limbs. And so about once a year, I have to load the truck up with tree limbs and haul them off the dump. So that was today. [00:04:43] Speaker A: Look at Buzz doing physical labor around the house. [00:04:45] Speaker B: Well, you know, it's not that physical. Just pick them up and put them in the truck. [00:04:52] Speaker A: Well, very good. There's small talk on Third Degree, the podcast. Since we don't have Dan, we'll just. [00:04:58] Speaker B: Yeah. I'll have you know that when I was pushing all the limbs out of the truck, a guy that had been obviously was a professional tree trimmer of some kind pulled up next to me and we were Talking. He was like, oh, you're down here doing this on your own. Look at you. Good job. How old are you? 55. He goes, oh, I'm almost 70. I was like, oh my God. Reflects. I was like, man, get out of here. I got punked by a 70 year old. [00:05:21] Speaker A: I think his original plan was to try to talk you into letting you pay him to do what you didn't want to do. [00:05:27] Speaker B: Probably it ended with him figuring out. [00:05:30] Speaker A: You'Re never going to pay him so he's going to flex on you. [00:05:32] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I definitely felt like I got dunked on for sure. [00:05:39] Speaker A: Well, very good. Well, but big thing to talk about today here on the podcast as it relates to Football Club Dallas is last week's press conference and. [00:05:52] Speaker A: I as you know, Buzz, I decided to go ahead and dial in via the Zoom. I was kindly after I talked about and asked the question whether or not I should go, somebody from the club actually reached out to me and said, hey, you should come ask your hard hitting questions. [00:06:06] Speaker B: Wow. [00:06:07] Speaker A: And so I joined in on the fun and I sat around for my turn, asked my question. [00:06:14] Speaker A: And then realized my question probably was the one thing nobody really wanted to talk about. All anybody else wanted to talk about was something that Eric, excuse me, Andre Zenata said that I think caught us all off guard, Buzz, which is they ain't buying no other center back for 2026. [00:06:36] Speaker B: Golly. Well, I will say that for a couple of weeks on this podcast we talked about the scenario of when they would not do that, when they would not buy a center back. And that scenario is what has played out in terms of what they're saying. And it takes two things. Well, really three. But we're going to call it two things to happen. And this is what they said and they're. And it makes it almost okay. And the first part of that is that they're staying with three at the back. They're staying three, five, two, which is or five, three, two, whatever you want to call it, whatever it is, same thing. They're staying with that. And both Nolan Norris and Shaq Moore were referenced as center backs. So we talked about for the last month probably that that was possible. [00:07:21] Speaker B: Now I think they still need another center back, Buzz. [00:07:25] Speaker A: But I think all. I hate all of that. I don't want this team playing with three in the back and I don't want them imagining whether they play 2 or 3 or 17 in the back. I don't want Shaq Moore and Nolan Norris in that mix. That's not what they were. That's what God intended them to do as soccer players. [00:07:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, sometimes, Peter, around here we have this dichotomy where this is what we think they should do and then this is what they're going to do. And can we live with the. What they're going to do in certain circumstances? And so they have sort of just barely clawed their way into. Okay, I get it. And gone forward with the ID of three in the back. Now, I agree with you that like I, I can sort of buy Norris as a center back, but I can only buy it in this back three. If you want to go to a back two, two center backs or back four overall, but at two center backs, then I don't know that Norris is the great idea. And the same thing with Shaq Moore because both of them are right around one right under and right one right over, perhaps six feet tall. But at the same time. [00:08:34] Speaker B: Shock Moore looks really good over the last couple months of the season as that center back. And Nolan Norris looked really good in the one particular game. And I think what you can go. What it comes back to is that I have talked about how last season was one of the worst goals against in club history, one of the five worst. But if you looked at before the formation change and the after the formation change, which is the same time as they got rid of Lucho Costa, so we put a lot of weight on Lucha Costa and that's gonna be a topic we're going to get to in a minute. But just looking at the defense and just looking at the goals, if you look at the goals before that change of shape and you extrapolated the continued performance out, you would get like a 63 goals against season, which is one of the worst, would have been one of the worst in all time history of the league. But if you do the same thing also with the performance after that formation change, you would end up with only 40, 40 goals against over the course of a season. Well, that's really good. That puts you tied for second in the league, you know, behind teams like LAFC and San Diego or excuse me, tie with LFC in San Diego and behind Philadelphia, Vancouver and Minnesota. Those five teams are five of the elite teams in this league. So I sort of wrap my head around why they've made this decision. Now. I don't agree. I think they should go get a center back and play back four, but this is cheaper. You don't have to go get a center back. [00:09:54] Speaker A: Well, so do you think it's a money thing? No. [00:09:57] Speaker B: I think it's, I think they looked at the, the. [00:10:01] Speaker B: Change of tactics solved the defensive issue, which was a massive, massive issue. Now I think they could be even better and that's what I want want them to do. But if you want to spend your money other places, this allows you to do that because now you. According to what their philosophy is, they don't have to go get a center back for this back three. And they brought back Iaga. I would have liked to have seen them replace Iaga, but they brought back Aba on that crazy number that he's on to be a backup. Like the idea isn't that he's going to start. The idea is that Norris and Moore are going to start. Maybe depending on injuries that might won't be the case. But Ibiaga, like you said, was a red flag for the insurance purposes of needing six center backs for this shape because when you play three at the back for the course of the whole season, you need six center backs, you two at every spot, you know, just for health and competition. So Alvaro Abubakar, Ibiaga, probably your backups on paper anyway. Norris, Moore and three starters. Now right wing back will cause a little bit of a kerfuffle there because. [00:11:05] Speaker B: You know what, we'll say that right wing back talk when we get to Giovanni just a little bit. [00:11:09] Speaker A: Okay, well I first off, I'm going to harken back and lean on something that you have preached many times on this podcast, which is whatever comes out of the front office's mouth is probably a lie. And I do wonder or spin or spin. And I do wonder if if Andre just so blazingly and bold, boldly stating, no, we like who we've got, we're not going to add any more center backs is just bravado or just a bit like he's just, you know, they're working a deal and they don't want to goof it up or raise the price or whatever. All that, yeah, football manager cliche stuff is that's what I'm running on because I just, I can't foresee, I mean this is one. And let me also say the same time, this is exactly what I was worried about when they signed resigned Ibiaga, which was, wait a second, we're going to end up with the same group of knuckleheads in the back line that we already had and they're going to try to pass that off as a good idea. [00:12:11] Speaker B: Well, you were right. I mean that's the thing is once they brought back Ibia that was a pretty big sign that they weren't going to sign a center back. [00:12:18] Speaker A: I did say that last week or two weeks ago, didn't I? [00:12:20] Speaker B: Send it multiple times? Yeah. Zenata does not like to talk about signings at all. He doesn't like to admit they're after people. So. Which is rather, really remarkable that he mentioned that they were close on some mids and forwards. Two of them he said in the press conference. But here's the thing is like. [00:12:38] Speaker B: What the difference in the goals against when they, once they change formations, it dropped from like 1.8 to like 1.1. So that's, you know, almost the whole goal of game difference. So that's what they're pointing to is like we don't need to go get a center back because these knuckleheads, as you call them, threw down a, just barely over one goal a game allowed. Well, that's pretty good defense. You know, that's, that's enough to get you competing at the very top of the league. I'm not saying that you're not right to think that they should go get a center back. I agree with you. [00:13:06] Speaker A: But, but, but that's their thing. My problem with all of this is, is that the, the knock on effect of the guys they have in the back line isn't just a function of defending the goal. It's also there are critical components to building the ball forward. And Ibiaga and Lawless Abubakar both are just not good on the ball. Uruguay really, really good. And I think he's like the model in which they should try to be looking for in terms of skill sets. But I mean Nolan I suppose is probably. Well, I know Norland is better at that, but I don't know. I really honestly can't tell you how well Nolan's going to play as a center back over the course of a season. I also don't really know that about Shaq Moore either because that's not his primary position and he's a little too small for that position, so. [00:13:57] Speaker B: Well, more did it for two months after they changed shapes. Nolan we only know from based on the limited times he did it for the youth national team and then the one incredible game when he came back. So it definitely is a question mark in Nolan for sure. Yeah, they're rolling the dice. Yeah. [00:14:11] Speaker A: If they, if they wanted to tell me that Shaq and Nolan were backups or fill ins for center backs or subs or whatever, but that's just, that's not the starting three center backs That I, I want to find out this team has next year. But I'm worried that maybe that's the case or maybe he's lying and they end up buying and you know. [00:14:30] Speaker B: Yeah, Osaze Jr. Yeah, well, they got, they got six. So like obviously a lot of that depends on how you classify Norris and you classify more. If you classify Norris as a left back and more as a right back, then you don't have six, they only have four. So you know, it's entirely possible that yes, they are after center back. We did hear all the year they were scouting them, but I, I think at the end of the day they just, they probably decided what, how much would it cost us to get something actually better than Shaq Moore? He played really well as a center back the last month and a half. Now remember, Quill is a big competition guy. So I don't. It's. It's more me penciling in more on Norris than it is them. For all we know he's, it's going to be wide open and it could just as easily be Abubakar or Alvaro or Ibiaga could be some of the starters as well. So like, I don't think we should make any locked in assumptions about Norris and more other than I, I think those are the better choices in my head. But I'm not Quill, so it's not, it's not great. And if we want to move on to the next topic just to sort of include in this conversation is that Zenata said that Giovanni Jesus will be healthy, is healthy, has been healthy for two months and we'll be there at the start of the camp and that gets involved in your right wing back discussion. Which is why if he really is ready, you can move Shaq Moore into the middle. Or for that matter, you may not remember this. Giovanna Jesus played right center back in the back three quite a bit before he came to Sedal. So he's capable of that too. So, you know, that's another guy. They love this flexibility garbage. [00:15:55] Speaker A: Right. [00:15:55] Speaker B: Which came up again in this press conference. So those two guys could factor it right wing back or right center back, either one. So there's lots of possibilities on the back line for Quill. [00:16:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess my, my concern is, is. Is what we talked about a lot in the last few weeks is the concern that the 2026 Dallas roster looks an awfully lot like the team that squeaked into the playoffs in 2025. [00:16:20] Speaker B: Yes, it looks almost. Well, right now it looks exactly like it. [00:16:23] Speaker A: Well, it is right. But I'm saying by the time we actually get To February of 2026, the number of moves this team makes is going to be relatively minor and they're not going to, not going to make any big changes. Now here's the thing. Let me just, also let me. Because this is the exact same conversation we were having at the end of 24 leading into 25, and then they blew us away with a Osaze signing. And then of course, the whole Lucho Acosta thing happened and we all were giddy and super excited and not looking. [00:16:57] Speaker A: Not really thinking about it because it all very much played itself out exactly as it probably would have had we put it two minutes of thought into how well he actually fit this system. But that's an old story. So I, I, I'm gonna, I'm, I'm concerned at this moment, but I'm also going to hold out the fact that we've been through this before and I, you know, I think it would, I think it'd be fair to say if we get to the start of 26 and this roster is essentially the same group of guys, especially in the back line, there's a reason to be disappointed in the front office's efforts. [00:17:32] Speaker B: Yeah, if you sit still, you're going to get passed. They're not going to be back in the playoffs if they don't make any additions. [00:17:37] Speaker A: But, but I think it's a function of, not of, of not just sitting still. It's not good enough. Now, I don't think this got this group of guys is good enough. And I also don't think playing a back three is the right idea in this league. [00:17:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't either. But you know that at this point this is what they're doing. So we have to deal in that reality. It doesn't help, of course, that Abubakar is 30 and Ibiaga is 34 going into the season. Now, to be 100 transparent in terms of this, they do have six open roster spots, they do have an open DP spot, they do have Lucho Casa's open salary, you know, and in terms of the internal budget, not even just the cap. So, you know, it does behoove them, since they are in this 2, 4 model, to go spend that money, salary and go get a banger, some whatever with your DP, probably a 10. Keep in mind too that by keeping the 2, 4 model, which is another piece of news from this press conference, they're keeping the 2DP4U22 model, they will pick up an extra $2 million in GAM. So that's an extra bunch of chunk of money that you could use to go get a guy or buy a guy down. So, yeah, like right now, absolutely. You would look at this team and say, if you don't, don't do anything, it's going to stink. That's always true. If you do nothing, it's going to stink. You're going to get passed. Now we have to give them a little bit of a chance. They got the six spots, they got boatloads of Tamagam. You know, from a conversation with Arman, we think it's like roughly about $5.5 million in available spend after all the models and all that crap's done. They got one open international roster spot right now. Maybe you can make another one or two. Get a green card, get a guy off the roster you don't want, like in a Soli maybe. So they have the flexibility to do some stuff. I haven't looked up when the window opens, but the window actually isn't even open yet. Probably won't open until January. So. [00:19:26] Speaker B: Okay, you got a little time. But at some point we're going to want to expect to see some moves. You know, they got to put the money in this DP, you know, because to be on the 2.4model is. And to say that you're here to win trophies and then not go get a DP and leave an open DP spot would be ridiculous. You know, so, you know, they showed last year a willingness to spend money at the 10 and to go get a Lucho Costa. Hopefully that hasn't snake bit them completely, that they will still feel that's the need and go get one. Because if you're going to ride the practicing Delgado, I don't think you're going to get very far. You know, he was decent back into the season, but he wasn't electric by any means. [00:20:04] Speaker A: No. And I, Yeah, I think those are the. Clearly the two biggest hits out of the press conference. The. The decision to stick with the Ford U22s and the two DBs, and the fact that he almost unsolicitedly asked, said, hey, we're just not going to go get a center back, and kind of blew all our hair out when he said it. [00:20:29] Speaker B: Probably because we even talk about it so much. It's just like. [00:20:32] Speaker A: Well, it just seems to me the most obvious and glaring issue on the team. [00:20:35] Speaker B: I don't. I don't. I don't get it. Yeah, I mean, like, you know, Shock Moore is a good right wing back. You know, you, when you actually play him as a wing back instead of a right back, you remove some of his defensive responsibility and I think he becomes a much better player. And it's a shame that you just were like, now we're leaving as a center back and not go get a center back. So I, I mean I don't, you know, right now that's by far the most number one glaring need in my opinion is that center back and they're just not going to do it. They're just going to spend their money. Other places they're going to get a 10, maybe they're gonna go get a wing, you know, maybe they'll, maybe they'll go get a six, I don't know, something like that. So they got some spots. They're gonna have two first round draft picks that'll eat up some spots on your roster. Probably have some more homegrowns. You know, it's hard to argue with playing the kids. I don't mind some of that. I don't mind a little bit of that. Going young, nothing wrong with that. But they're gonna need another keeper probably. [00:21:25] Speaker B: So it bums me out that and the minute they picked up Ibiaga, I was like, oh, you're right Peter, no center back. So. [00:21:34] Speaker A: Well, maybe, like I said, maybe they're bluffing. [00:21:37] Speaker B: And one is, yeah, I don't think so though because they picked up ibiaga, that's a 700, that's an $800,000 bluff. If they, yeah, they, they ain't trading. [00:21:46] Speaker A: Him to anybody in the league on that salary. [00:21:48] Speaker B: Well, somebody said to me like, oh, you can just like if you go get a center back now, you just buy out one of these other guys. What, just waste four or five hundred thousand, eight hundred thousand dollars, just throw it down the tube. That doesn't sound like the Hunts to me. Once they activate a guy, they're not going to do that. They're going to buy him out a month later. It's ridiculous. [00:22:04] Speaker A: The other thing that I really caught my ear is this continued suggestion that they are essentially counting on Paxton, Palm McCall being a starting player next season. [00:22:16] Speaker B: I know. [00:22:18] Speaker B: It makes me very nervous. Well, you know, at the same time, you know there are, there are. The way they're playing. Paxton's not a 10 right now. They only need, they're going to need two guys in that midfield and they've got Capis, they've got Paxton, they've got Ramiro, who that, you know, they Want to keep on the field, maybe at wing back, maybe in the middle. They like, they got Kaik running around who they paid a lot of money to get. They got Diego Garcia, who Quill loves. You know, they got Patricia Nagata who might need to try and get on the field in that same spot too. Know there's lots of bodies in there. So while they keep talking about Paxton maybe being a starter, it's like, I wonder if that's as much for Paxton as it is for us, you know, to make Paxton feel good. [00:22:59] Speaker A: Well, I, I wonder if Paxton thinks he's a starter on this team. [00:23:05] Speaker B: Is a starter. [00:23:06] Speaker A: He's got one year left on his deal. [00:23:08] Speaker B: Yeah, 100% healthy. Paxton is a starter. There's no question. Healthy Paxton is better than anyone else they have in the midfield. [00:23:17] Speaker A: I guess my question is, is even if he's healthy, Paxton hasn't played regularly in over two years. [00:23:23] Speaker B: I know. [00:23:24] Speaker A: I mean there's a whole issue about form and game shape and you know, you know, you don't walk away from essentially the game for two years and suddenly just because your hamstrings better, you start playing exactly as you used to. It's a different thing. [00:23:39] Speaker B: I know. Like he didn't look anywhere near the same player when those, the couple curtain calls he got there at the end of the season. And I also thought, I was also worried that Sonata set up Giovanni, that he was going to come back and be a huge contributor because he had the same surgery that just like Paxton did. Well, what are you talking about? Paxton has to come back and been a huge contributor. I was like, I don't know. It's like, come on, man. [00:24:00] Speaker A: I really marvel at this team's optimism over player injuries and the players abilities to come back from really significant injuries. ACLs, meniscus, replacement surgery, all of that stuff. Stuff. And, and the idea that they appear to have Giovanni Jesus, like in Sharpie on right wing back. [00:24:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:23] Speaker A: Just seems ridiculous to me. And they. Because they don't. It's not like they've got an option. They've got a ton of options as replacement. I guess they could move Shaq more but then that completely goofs up the. [00:24:32] Speaker B: Center back plan at least. [00:24:35] Speaker B: I guess. Yeah. Do you remember the. I think it was the, the season after Nico had his good season. I think it was a season after that we went into the season, we were like, they made six moves that are all high risk and like if every one of them hits, it's going to be great. But if everyone. But they didn't every one of them missed. This feels like that. This feels like there's a lot of high risk being bets being made. You're betting that Giovanni is going to be good again. You're betting that Paxton's being going to be good again. You're betting that Ibiaga will be solid at 34. You're betting that Norris is ready to start 34 games. You're ready that Shaq Moore is ready to be a center back full time. You know, you're ready to bet on Collode apparently, you know, or a pauses recovery, rebounding, whatever. You're betting on a Musa Farrington combo with no backup strikers really of any state or form or whatever at all. You know, you're betting on Capis to carry the midfield by himself. You know at some. You're betting on Bernie Camingo to be a great wing back for 34 games without the backup being a 17 year old or now 18 year old homegrown. You know, it's like there's just a lot of bets that are happening again and maybe when you're a team that's in the middle of the pack that doesn't want to spend crazy money, maybe that's just the way it is that you're going to be risky and big bets. So. [00:25:45] Speaker A: So trying to be positive and, and look on the bright side of things. What? Was there anything out of the press conference that you saw that made you hopeful or feel better about the situation or thinking they're on the right track? [00:25:59] Speaker B: No. Well, I like, I like Eric Coyle's mentality and the way Eric will talks. That was my only takeaway. I liked. [00:26:07] Speaker A: Yeah. What was the crazy weird thing that he said he was. [00:26:10] Speaker B: Well he talked, he talked about how great Lucho Costa was and I was like man, that's not what I saw, you know, and how awesome he was and what a great locker room guy he was. [00:26:19] Speaker A: Glad handing and yeah, trash your, your. [00:26:23] Speaker B: Big time money player. I get all that. That's the only that kind of worry about other than that Cole's mentality about like we're a bunch of warriors. We compete like last year they could have given up and they didn't like all that stuff. I like that. [00:26:34] Speaker A: No, no, no. I know what it was and I wish I had written it down and I've forgotten it. He had like. He had an acronym. Damn good player. [00:26:41] Speaker B: Oh yeah. [00:26:42] Speaker A: Dgp. [00:26:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Dgp. Yeah. Damn good player. [00:26:45] Speaker A: He goes what kind of players are you looking for? And he was like I'm Looking for dgp. Damn good player. [00:26:50] Speaker B: Yeah, it's like, I like that kind of thing. I like that intensity of that competition. Like, you know, and when, when I look around now at players, I think to myself, okay, does that guy have a Quill mentality? You know, Will likes Quill, likes guys that can play ball, but also have power and pace and then mentality, like so those three things. Lots of people say they like that stuff. Quill really does like that stuff. He really. It's not always like, you know, rondo, Rondo, Rondo. Sometimes it's like, I'm just going to smash you, you know, and I'm going to have this mentality that we're going to smash you. You know, look at the way they fought against Vancouver, right? The physicality they brought to the table. Like, you know, that stuff's all good. So like that makes me positive. But there was so much, Honestly, Peter, when I was watching that press conference, it just made my head so tired because I was like, it was the same mediocrity that they've been saying and dressing up in a bow for years. And it just, it's just, it makes me tired, man. You know, flexibility. We're here to win trophies, man. You sure don't act like it. I mean, like the next sentence after somebody said, we're here to win trophies, Dan Hunt said they want to increase the amount of money they make from player sales. Well, man, that doesn't sound like you're here to win trophies then, does it? If you're gonna sell all your best stuff, you know, staying 24 on your model, not really being that upset that you're not in the Open cup, that you're in the league's cup, you know, just not adding a center back. [00:28:12] Speaker B: Whatever, you know. [00:28:15] Speaker B: Makes me tired. [00:28:16] Speaker A: Yeah, it was, I, I, by and large, I was a bit surprised by the whole way everything was presented. I mean, obviously Dan's proud that they made it to the playoffs after such a struggle. And I think they're all kind of like wiping their brow because they got out from underneath the mistake they had made in Lucho Acosta, both in terms of how this season ended and financially full credit for all that stuff. And they all seem to be very self congratulatory over that. And I, you know, find, I guess the season did end up excitingly and Quill deserves a ton of credit for deciding he's not going to put up with it anymore and just kind of making it happen under his own willpower, his Quill power. [00:29:01] Speaker B: As I Like, I mean, we. We sit there and we hear the same things every single season. But here is the Andre zenada era of FC Dallas starting in 2019. Right? Here's where they finished in the West. 7th, 6th, 11th. They fired Lucci. Great start for. For Nico. 3rd and then 7th and then 11th and then 7th. So I didn't add it up, but that's an average finish of about seventh or eighth. And the. [00:29:34] Speaker A: It's probably closer to eighth. One. Yeah, the three throws it out and. But you've got two eleven, so. [00:29:38] Speaker B: Yeah, two elevens and you got one three. So you're probably slightly. You're somewhere between seven and eight place on average. [00:29:46] Speaker B: And they seem to be like, yay, we're awesome. I'm like, man. No, it's just. [00:29:52] Speaker A: Well, yeah, but I also think that's just indicative of the club in general based on the way that it's managed. And, you know, and look up watching MLS cup the other day. They're so far behind, both of those teams so far. And I'm not even talking about spending. I'm just talking about in the. The quality and the way that they play it. It's just. There's a. There's a significant gap between them. The other playoff games that I watched with other teams from both. From both conferences and, you know, but Buzz, you and I both know we've been doing this now, officially 30 seasons. This is what it is. And that's part of what we have to. I think that's what fans of this club have to accept, is that you. You fall in love with this club, understanding that it comes with these limitations. And at some point the stars will align and they'll. It'll probably after I die, but the stars will align and things will work itself out and they'll win an MLS Cup. [00:30:47] Speaker B: Yeah, but here's the thing. Here's. Here's Oscar and Clavijo. Fourth. First. First. Seventh. Fourth. [00:30:54] Speaker A: I. Yes, but I agree. I fundamentally agree. The league is significantly different today than it was in that. In that period of time. [00:31:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:06] Speaker A: And Oscar, you know, Oscar's done well in Orlando, but he hasn't won MLS cup in Orlando. [00:31:14] Speaker B: No, I don't think they're doing a good enough job, player personnel wise. I think Clavio and with Muzi working with him, to be fair, you know, compared with Oscar, that combination really worked. Like, whatever reason, those guys were all on the same page. That was also when nephew got started in the academy and they got a leg up from that, you know, so there's lots of factors. Nothing happens in a vacuum. There's always context. [00:31:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I just. I think that if. I think if you want to be a fan of FC Dallas, you. You. You do it with the understanding of, you know, look, this is just what the club is, and you learn to enjoy the experience for what it is. It's not. It's okay to get frustrated that they don't go out and do this or that. I don't even think this is a function of them being cheap. I honestly don't. Because I don't even know if I want my club to run the inner Miami model or the Toronto FC model, you know? [00:32:03] Speaker B: I see. [00:32:04] Speaker A: Yeah, well, no, Toronto, you know, Toronto goes out and blows out all kinds of money and they suck all the time, you know, so I'm not. I don't have a big issue with the spending part of it. My issues are all over the map in other areas. Yeah, I do wish. You know, I'm sure internally they feel really ambitious. It just doesn't look that way to us on the outside. And maybe we're missing it because we're not on the inside, you know? [00:32:31] Speaker B: Well, you know, at the end of the day, like, we talk about this all the time. It's like people say all kinds of things, but your behavior shows that you don't actually mean that, what you said. And I think that idea, like that expression of we're here to win trophies and then you do things like, you know, selling players for big profit. Those two things are not necessarily, you know, working together. Those things are counterintuitive in a lot of ways. You're not Ix. You can't sell people for billions of dollars and win trophies. Yeah, they. They're not that good. Well, so, like, the fact that you want to increase your money for sales is counterintuitive to me that you are here to win trophies. And also, like, the fact that you think that you express this desire to win the Open Cup. That's a huge deal. It's super important to you and your family because your father's name on it. And then when you're not in it, you're just like, oh, it stinks. But you don't do anything about it. You don't fight for it or get an exemption or say, the league never put us in the league's cup, put us in the Open Cup. Every time. Just take the next best team, put them in some sort of exemption for Lamar's name. The league owes you that at least. Right. I just. That's not even a Conversation about the greater desire of MLS to destroy the MLS Cup. Sorry, destroy the Open Cup. This is just for me, about the Hunt's expression that. That they think the Open cup is crazy important because Lamar's name on it, and then they don't do anything about making sure that they're in it, so, you know, at least not that we're aware of. Maybe there's some secret conversation behind doors where they're smashing people in the face trying to get it done, and then they just pretend like they'll just do it. Don't do it, because the lease says this is what the rules are. You know, it goes along the same for me. The same thing with this idea that you're winning here to win trophies, man. You don't act like it. You don't act like you're here to win trophies. You just say you are. You don't do things to prove that you are here to win trophies. Keeping Iaga is not a move to win trophies. Keeping it is a move not to finish last. [00:34:20] Speaker A: Well, I agree. Yeah. I 100% agree. [00:34:23] Speaker B: Act like you want to win. Don't tell me you want to win. Act like you want to win. [00:34:26] Speaker A: Well, see, I think the problem that you and I run into is at the beginning of this last season, everything got thrown out of whack because we thought, oh, no, this is. This is not going to be a good season. We got a new coach. We've got some weird roster things going on. [00:34:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:41] Speaker A: And then they go out and they get Lucho Acosta, a guy that was the MLS MVP two seasons prior, and Dan Hunt decides to go pull 5 million bucks out of his pocket to pay for it. And suddenly I was like, okay, that feels very ambitious. [00:34:56] Speaker B: Out of his pocket. [00:34:57] Speaker A: Well, you know what I mean, right? [00:34:59] Speaker B: Velasco money. [00:35:01] Speaker A: Well, sure, yeah. But it still was money that went in his pocket that he took out of his pocket to pay for it. I mean, it was his money at that point, so. [00:35:08] Speaker B: Well, he does. They do say that they. They don't take money out of the club, so I will give them credit for that. So, like, it wasn't money that he was gonna pocket, but at the same time, you're right. Like, that. You. We were right. We went into last year like, oh, my gosh, this team's gonna be terrible. And they went and got Lucho. We're like, great. Look at that. Ambushing. Love it. Ambition. We love it. Okay, where's that? Bring it back. [00:35:27] Speaker A: But here's the problem. I think it. That is the the, the, the complication of this scenario is, is, yes, it feels ambitious, but it also was a terrible move. Like, it was fundamentally a really bad move to make because it was a guy with a track record, a personality issue. You had a brand new coach who had a system that really didn't fit that particular player and all of it turned out to be a bad fit. Again, we've been through this a thousand times. We would have been pissed to no end if we had found out that they didn't get him. If they had had the chance, yeah, 100%. But you understand where I'm coming from. There's like this weird. I want them to be ambitious, but I want them to be ambitious and good at their jobs, at, at, at maximizing their ambition. And that's the part where I think they're falling apart. [00:36:15] Speaker B: The hit rate on signings is far too low, it feels like to me. Particularly like, if you're going to try and be a team that's going to operate on value and not be like, I'm not going to go spend crazy money. I'm going to find good targets at more normal money. And like, we're going to show you that we can do it without. We're going to be more like Philly, where we're going to win it with our homegrowns and some smart signings and not win it like Miami when we're going to pay Messi $50 million. Okay, you've sold me on that idea. But then you, then you go out with your U22s, for example, and you have a hit rate of like barely 50%. And up until Delgado actually started playing a little bit this last year, it was 25 or 0% until Kai came here and played more than you expected him to too. So the hit rate on signings, like, look at this last season, right? Quill went out and got his guy Capus. Awesome. The guy that the, the club had been scouting for two or three years and got Deon, as you say. Who the hell's that? We, I mean, the guy's been, from all the people we know that have seen him in scrimmages, the dude is terrible. Now he looks decent for Haiti, but whatever, that ain't translating right for Quill. He looks like ass. So, you know, I. The hit rate on signings is just still really bad. As good as Ira is a Wallace Abubakar was a wash up, you know what I mean? So it's like there's just too often that like the signings, the Quality of the signings is not there to win the way you're professing you can win, you know, like unless you get better at it. And that, that brings us to me, for me, Peter, to the most recent linked player, the guy that was linked today. Did you catch all that? [00:37:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, but that is. [00:38:01] Speaker A: Learning that FC Dallas has been tied by Tom Bogart, by the way. That's who the source is. Or at least the one reporter. [00:38:07] Speaker B: He was second, but. Yeah, he was second. [00:38:09] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Who? Yeah, some guy I never heard of. [00:38:12] Speaker B: It was first. [00:38:12] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. A player that Dallas is tied to is a player playing in the Israeli second league and he's on the Israel U21 team. [00:38:22] Speaker B: It was second last year. He was in the first team this first division this year. [00:38:25] Speaker A: Oh, okay. So it is this. They got promoted. Okay, so. Or he got moved up to a bigger Club. [00:38:30] Speaker B: He's really U21. You. Yeah. [00:38:32] Speaker A: I mean that just feels like a very Andre Zenada, FC Dallas kind of move. I don't know why that would surprise anybody. [00:38:39] Speaker B: Yeah, and not to mention that like, hey, they don't have an open U22 slot, they have one open international slot. And you're going to burn it on a 20 year old kid who may or may not be good. But the problem for me is that by all evidence I can find on the Internet, he's an 8, which is not what the problem. They need a 10, not an 8. They got lots of eights. They got eights coming out of their ears. The academy produces eights every year, like just boatloads of them. That's the position they create more than any other. It's like that's not where you need to go spend your money. [00:39:08] Speaker A: Yeah, but Buzz, I think it's predictable that every move this team makes is tied to bringing, using Dallas, using the club as a stepping stone for moving that player on and selling them. I mean even Peter Musa was purchased at that very high number because it just felt like an obvious home run that he would bag a ton of goals in MLS and they will be able to turn around and sell him for a lot more than they paid for him. Same thing with Velasco. Same thing with that Ennisali kid that nobody ever sees. Kaik is the same model, Giovanni Jesus the same model. Pacterson Delgado is the same idea. All of these purchases. Dietzen is very much that same thing. This is, this is all about the business of FC Dallas. [00:39:54] Speaker B: Well, this is why like when, when he was like, we're here to win trophies And I went low. And the next sentence, Dan's like, and we want to make more money from sales. Oh, now that I believe. [00:40:01] Speaker A: Right. [00:40:02] Speaker B: Because that's one where your actions back up what you're saying. Because, yes, you do behave like you would like to make more money in player sales. That's what I believe. [00:40:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:40:10] Speaker B: That's where your actions match. [00:40:11] Speaker A: Many years ago, I don't even. Well, I shouldn't say many some years ago, Dan Hunt tried to make some sort of self analogy to his club and Iax and these European clubs that are successful at growing talent or bringing talent in and growing it and selling it on. And I thought that's a really cool idea. The problem is, is that your model for you at least to be competitive and consistent at trying to compete for championships is that you got to have this. You got to have a funnel of it so that when you squirt one out, you got the next guy up who's just as good, if not better. And that's the part that they have been unable to do dating back to, you know, however many, you know, the last several years of youth players that they've moved on. [00:40:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:56] Speaker A: I mean, the funny thing is I was having this conversation with somebody about the number, about the significance of the fact that Dan and Clark Hunt could probably be. Really end up being very proud of the U.S. men's National Team this year and how much of a mark their club will have on this team between Weston McKinney and Chris Richards and Tanner Testman and Ricardo Pepe. And the reality is, is that a lot of those guys never wore the shirt for the team. [00:41:25] Speaker B: Not for very long. [00:41:26] Speaker A: Well, they never wore the senior shirt, Weston, ever. Okay. Pepe did and Tanner did. Chris. Chris Richards didn't Chris Richardson and neither did Weston. So, you know, Richards was signed for five minutes, but they came through the system, quote, unquote. So I do think there's some value in that. But it's not like. It's not like a bunch of guys spent a lot of time playing in MLS for the club and moved on. Maybe even Tanner was here. Was Tanner even here a full season before he got sold? [00:41:54] Speaker B: I'd have to look, but I don't think so. It might have been maybe just. Just over that. Possibly. [00:41:58] Speaker A: I think he got moved. When was that? He. No. Did he play a full season? He came in as a six and they signed him out of the blue because they needed a six. And the, the whole thing about an eight, I'm sorry, is an eight. And they needed and they didn't want him to sign that deal with Clemson to go kick in college. So I think he was here a full season and got moved his second season. [00:42:22] Speaker B: I'm looking. He. Yeah, they actually were going to let him go to Clemson and it was because somebody got hurt in the midfield field and they needed a body in camp and they were like, well, Tanner's our best kid. We'll bring him in. And you know, he then he just blew up and was gangbusters. Like, holy crap. I got signed this guy. Which is weird because I don't know how you don't sign him when he's D A playoffs mvp. [00:42:43] Speaker A: Right. [00:42:44] Speaker B: And carrying your team like it's ridiculous to me. But you know, well, it is what it is. At this point, I'm trying to look up how long the Testman was in MLS and it's not. The MLS website keeps giving me national team stats, which doesn't help me at all. [00:42:59] Speaker B: Senior career, FC Dallas. Yeah. 26 games to 2020 to 2021. So sometime during the 2021 season. [00:43:06] Speaker A: Yeah, so he was here a season and left his. His second season. So my point is, is that is what everybody should know and recognize is that the purchases they're going to make, by and large are going to be with the idea of. Of moving players on. Like we're buying a guy because we want to help him advance his career and maybe if we're lucky, he'll help us play well in the season. [00:43:34] Speaker A: It always just feels like they're buying guys more about the business of soccer and less about trying to turn the. Make the team competitive 100%. [00:43:43] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I come back to. The idea of your actions versus what you said. [00:43:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:47] Speaker B: You know, the other side of the coin though, is that I have enough belief in Quill that I think if you give him the DP10 that he needs what Lucho wasn't, that he'll have this team in the top three or four of the Western Conference. Because I think the defense even. Even with his three at the back, which I don't like, I think that he can keep it. The defense good enough with those guys and with, you know, your. Your capis and. Or your Kaik Ramiro, whatever the combination is going to be in front of him. I think that holds together enough, you know. You know, and that you have enough in Moussa and Farrington with a playmaker that you would be. You would have a goal differential swing of like 10 to 15 goals in terms of added and lost from offense and defense. And that would put you in the top three or four in the West. [00:44:30] Speaker A: My issue with that system, at least how he was playing it was when you do that, you're taking a midfielder out of rotation and replacing it with a center back. Two, the way they played a lot of the season left them underhanded in the midfield. [00:44:48] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah. [00:44:49] Speaker A: And three, the guys that they did having in those, playing in those positions weren't exactly ball progressors. And so they really struggled to. I mean, yeah, you know, you know where I'm going with all this. [00:45:01] Speaker B: And so, yeah, it's same that we broke down for months this year. Yeah. [00:45:04] Speaker A: And so that's what worries me about trying to a continuation of this into the new season. And it bums me out that Eric isn't going to get to play the system that made him successful with North Texas, which made him successful in New Mexico. And that I think he's probably most comfortable with. And I also think they've got the players to play that system. [00:45:27] Speaker B: Minus the center back. [00:45:28] Speaker A: Yeah, well, minus the center back, obviously. That's the point to all of this. [00:45:32] Speaker B: No, I agree. I mean, that's the way I thought it was the most logical sense to go. You know, it's like instead they're moving ahead with like, like, like I said, sticking with a 3, 5, 2 takes less additions, takes less turnover because you can do it in their minds, you can do it without adding the center back. So like it's easier just to do what, what's already working for you now. I, I think it's not necessarily the best idea. [00:45:58] Speaker A: Wait, hold on a second. But, but hold on a second. Let's, let's, let's work through this. So if Eric goes to his system, which is a four, three, a four, two, three, one. [00:46:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:46:09] Speaker A: Okay, so let's play that out with the players they have now minus the center back. So you got. [00:46:16] Speaker A: Eric Day is one center back. You got question mark as center back number two. [00:46:21] Speaker B: Right. [00:46:22] Speaker A: You're going to put Nolan Norris on the left. You're going to put Shackmore on the right as a fullback or Giovanni Jesus. Jesus, one of the two. And you're holding positions, your double pivot positions. You're going to put Kaik as one. You could put, you've got some options there as the other. Romero could be one of them potentially. Chris Capus could play that position healthy. [00:46:44] Speaker B: Paxton. [00:46:44] Speaker A: Yeah, maybe Paxton could play that position now in front of them. That's where I think the team is also maybe continues to be a Little light. That could be a mixture of Delgado, Paxton, Diego. Who's the. [00:47:00] Speaker A: Isn't there an academy kid on the verge? [00:47:02] Speaker B: Ramirez. But they cut him. They let him go. [00:47:03] Speaker A: Oh, right. Okay. So maybe that's a position of weakness that you would also need to buy. But you, you know, you got Bernie that could play on one side. You got Julio Anderson that can play one side. Now you've got. Maybe you're maximizing Farrington a little better along with. Yeah, Musa, like I, I, it's, I. So when you tell me it's cheaper to Sarver. Yeah. So when you say maybe it's easier to stay with the three in the back and it doesn't require as much change, I'm not convinced that that's the case. You could probably just go out and get yourself a really good Ira Gide equitable center back and really fundamentally change how this team plays and how well they play. [00:47:47] Speaker B: You still need the DP10, but you. [00:47:48] Speaker A: Still need a DP10 if you're playing in the three in the back anyway. [00:47:52] Speaker B: Right? So what's less in the three in the back, you don't have to get the center back. Well, don't they? [00:47:57] Speaker A: But, but, but with three in the back, they still need something else. They need another. They need somebody else to be able to play left wing. They need somebody else to play 10, no wings. [00:48:07] Speaker B: They just need the 10 because the 352 has two strikers, has Moose and Fairyton, and all you need is a 10 underneath. Both shapes. Need 10 underneath. If you stay three at the back, you don't have to buy the mind. [00:48:17] Speaker A: Okay? They need two center backs if they're going to play three in the back. That's my argument. They, they, they can't play three in the back and, and not buy. Well, I mean, am I wrong? [00:48:29] Speaker B: They don't. [00:48:30] Speaker A: Well, I know what their argument is, but I'm saying for them to be successful with three in the back, they need, they need two more center backs that are equitable in quality to Iraq. [00:48:41] Speaker B: They don't disagree with that. I don't disagree with that, but they do. [00:48:45] Speaker A: My point is, is that they could buy one center back and a 10, the 10 they need anyway in either system and they'll be better off. And I think it's a better system for the league. [00:48:56] Speaker B: I agree with you, but that's not obviously how they see it. Yeah, well, like on their mind, they said they're. [00:49:03] Speaker A: I didn't grow up in Brazil. [00:49:04] Speaker B: Direct quote is that they're very happy with their six center backs. They have now. I heard it. [00:49:10] Speaker A: Yes. [00:49:11] Speaker B: So when I say that it takes less moves. It's in their mind. It takes less. They just gotta go get the 10. I mean, I think that's not all they're gonna do. They'll do something else too, but they're just gonna go get the 10. They're not gonna do anything. [00:49:21] Speaker A: Yes. Luckily I had muted my microphone on the zoom when I spit my water out when I heard him say it. Nobody heard that happen. [00:49:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:49:29] Speaker A: All right. We beat this to death. We beat it to death. I will mention the question that I asked that turned out to be completely. [00:49:40] Speaker A: What, what are these questions? Doesn't fit. All the others was my question to Dan Hunt about the stadium project. And, and just some background. So what happened was, is I had an idea of how I wanted to ask this question with follow ups and different parts to it. But we were asked at the beginning of the meeting in the zoom. Those of us using coming in through zoom to type out our questions in the chat. And from that I thought because the mention was we're not sure they're going to be able to hear you, so please write out the question. So I wrote I had to reframe my question and write it out and it turned out to be a little lengthy and then they came to me and asked me to read it. So unfortunately, Dan hears my question and he thinks it's like a 20 part question and it isn't. And I wish in retrospect that what I had asked the question should have been more like, hey, what are the big lessons you learned from this season about trying to play in a stadium while it's in the middle of being reconstructed? And what changes will you make for the fan experience and the game day experience and your team in terms of the roster budget spend in the upcoming season? That's. I wish I had asked the question that way. [00:50:57] Speaker B: Well, that, that's a good way to ask it. But I, and you're right, that would have been a really good way to ask it. But I think the way you asked it was not unfair and not a poorly asked question. I thought it was a really good question. The way you did it. Dan Hunt gave you five minute answer. Maybe he didn't quite get to the part that you wanted to get by the end, but he did get a pretty good five minute. [00:51:15] Speaker A: Well, he gave, well, he gave me a five minute promotional speech about the stadium. He didn't really answer any of the questions. [00:51:22] Speaker B: Always talks, right? [00:51:23] Speaker A: No, I, we just got talking points about, you know what. But we didn't get any answer. A real answer about a, you know, the game day experience and changing and B, more importantly, does it affect how they spend money while the project's ongoing? [00:51:39] Speaker B: I think the only way you get a real answer on that would you never get it from Zenata. It would be from Dan Hunt. And you would have to have it. You would have to get him to agree to a conversation and not one that's recorded or like over a beer, sort of as a joke where like you could just have a conversation with him and try and draw him out. [00:51:56] Speaker A: Well, that's never gonna happen. [00:51:57] Speaker B: That's the only way you would get that answer out of Dan Hunt that you're looking for. [00:52:00] Speaker A: Well, I can't even get him on my stupid radio show, so I, I doubt I'm ever going to be sitting down having a beer with Dan Hunt. [00:52:06] Speaker B: No. But I just wanted to, you know, forewarn you in a way that you're never going to get an answer. [00:52:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. I recognize that Zenata would be this. [00:52:14] Speaker B: Way worse, so that would. You'd never get an answer. [00:52:16] Speaker A: So I appreciate the front office reaching out to me and asking me to participate. And I'm glad I, I got brave enough to do it and I thought I was doing it the right way, but it didn't come out the way I wanted it to. And ultimately it was a low light of the, of this. The other thing was, is I felt a little rushed. You know, these guys don't come out and talk to the public very often and I, you know, they, they seemed very hurried to try to get this thing over with. And it didn't even last an hour. I think it finished up in like just like 50 minutes. And I was a bit surprised by that. [00:52:52] Speaker B: Yeah, they, they don't, they don't. When they get to the stage where they feel like they're getting questions that are not like about the, the season that just ended, like the exact moment that we're in, that's what they want to start winding it up. You know, you got into a question that was a bigger picture, like, long run kind of question, and that's like a key to them of like, okay, now we can shut it down. [00:53:11] Speaker A: But if I'm correct, I think, if I'm remembering correctly, my question wasn't the last one. And I think the really good question about the center back thing came out was after my question. [00:53:21] Speaker B: Well, Zenata said right out of the gate early on that they weren't getting a Center back. But our man Sam from our Discord. [00:53:28] Speaker A: Oh, is that who it was? [00:53:29] Speaker B: Yeah, he is a writer too, but he's also in our Discord. He. He asked a really good center back question. After you. Yeah, that was Sam. [00:53:37] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and then as I was listening to Sam ask that question, I thought, I wish I had asked that question because it was much better. It was much more applicable question and probably is going to get a much more interesting answer than the jibber jabber Dan just gave me. [00:53:52] Speaker B: For five, it was actually Garrett Meltzer that triggered the initial answer about center backs. I believe one of like the third question of the whole thing early on. [00:54:00] Speaker A: Yeah. All right. [00:54:02] Speaker B: Two people. I was not expecting you to come in with banger questions, but we did good for Garrett. [00:54:09] Speaker A: So I guess we. So we don't know how legit this rumor about the Israeli kid is. [00:54:14] Speaker B: Well, if Bogart puts it out there, it's legit. He said they're in late stages of negotiation. So like, you know, that means it's at the finish line. You know, initial report came out of Europe somewhere. So. [00:54:25] Speaker A: Is that just a North Texas signing? [00:54:28] Speaker B: No, it's a U22 initiative signing for FC Dallas. That means they have to get rid of one of their four, probably. And it's solely if I had to guess, but because they'll need an international spot for this kid too. He's not going to have, you know, the green card or whatever. You know, given that Solly is not really ever played and probably in two years and likely it's not going to ever play, you might as well do something. So. Okay. I mean, the other answer is they're not going to get rid of Delgado or Kaik, and they're not. And so it's either Giovanni or in a solid. But they just talked about how great Giovanni looks. So, you know, you do the math. I'm sure it's in a side that'll be on the way out if the kid's coming again. I don't know why you bother with an 8. I don't understand that part. The guy's just going to take playing time from Diego Garcia. I don't understand that. So it's not the guy I'd be after, but maybe he's more of a 10. Maybe. Maybe the stuff I found on the Internet maybe has just met misled me. Maybe he's a 10. Maybe he's a playmaker. I don't know. I just. He's. He has played some at that spot, but he's also played 6 and 8. So that makes me think that he's more of a box to box guy. The fact that he's done all three, you know, so we'll see. Maybe he'll be great. Who knows? [00:55:36] Speaker A: Well, we've meandered, bitched and whined for almost an hour about all this. Just real quick buzz, because I know we've been anticipating with great anticipation. That's a stupid sentence. What the new home shirt's going to look like. And the cocktails and cleats invitation came out and there was a graphical element to it that got us all triggered. [00:56:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:01] Speaker A: Which is a navy blue background with a single red horizontal line buffered by a white line on either side of it. [00:56:11] Speaker A: You think there's any, anything to that, to the new shirt? [00:56:15] Speaker B: There's probably a little. I mean, it looks bang on for lack of the, the, you know, what year was that US national team jersey. [00:56:22] Speaker A: From if it was just a single line? [00:56:25] Speaker B: Right? It's the single line. Yeah. It's like dead on for that. I had to put it on Twitter. I think this probably is just some. I wouldn't read too much into it because usually those graphics don't have all that much to do with. With what the kid ends up looking like. But, you know, at the same time, we still, we usually end up seeing some themes and sneaking into the social media that are leading us towards the kit. So I think you can take a little bit with it, but not much. [00:56:48] Speaker A: And yet another year of MLS being ridiculous and not selling shirts just before the Christmas season. [00:56:54] Speaker B: New shirts, I know they're not like the biggest buying holiday of the year. You don't have the new kits available to me. [00:56:59] Speaker A: All right. [00:56:59] Speaker B: I don't understand it. [00:57:00] Speaker A: There's all your burn talk for the, for the day. Moving on. Trinity played a big game and lots happened over at the Cotton Ball as they won a game. [00:57:11] Speaker B: Yeah, Missimo's back, which is nice. She looked good. She doesn't look 100, like peak midseason form, but she looks good. She can do stuff that nobody else on that team can do. I was sort of watching them play and I kind of had a. I kind of felt like I had a little bit of an epiphany about like the way they play this season, what their issues have been. You know, we talked a lot about losing Deb Avedon in the preseason and then Mismo, of course, was out hurt and they, they keep having to put Amber Wisner back at center back, so like their big three midfielders were gone and basically they, they didn't have anybody, didn't have the ability to play any possession game. Basically they had to become a really vertical game like, and play actually like Quill wants to play, which is this verticality, this running. And the problem is, is that their, their golden boot winner, Allie Thornton is not a sprint up and down the field striker, she's a post up striker, you know, back to goal. She plays like Blas Perez kind of in a sense. So like there's been a bit of a disconnect between that because in this game in particular, they put. [00:58:14] Speaker B: Bolt Tomorrow, Bolt at 9, who is a runner and can sprint and can run past everybody in the league. And it actually really worked. They put Thornton out on the wing who, you know, and so the ability for Bolt to stretch the field, you know, all of a sudden it opened the field up and they looked a lot better. So now that Misimo's back, if they can get a center back healthy and allow Wisner to come back in midfield, you know, I think the way forward is they'll be able to sort of go back to a little more possession now that Missimo's there and eventually move forward back up front. And I think if they can get her going in terms of goals, it'll really do a lot for them. Currently they're in fifth and they play Carolina assist sent this Saturday at 2:30 and they're in third place type on my sheet. So it was a really good game for Trinity and you can see lots of sparks about how they could go forward and get as a team, as a collective and play in a couple different ways and really be able to change it up and really get at people. [00:59:04] Speaker A: So yeah, I saw Thorton's goal to open the game and I thought her, her run and finish was really top notch quality. That was, that was fun. All right, so they play as you said, Saturday at the Cotton bowl at 2:30. [00:59:23] Speaker A: Nothing about North Texas. [00:59:26] Speaker B: One tiny little thing about North Texas is that they did a habit Habitat for Humanity house thing down in Mansfield. It's not important news item, but it's cool. So okay on them for that. [00:59:36] Speaker A: And Rodeo? [00:59:38] Speaker B: Nothing yet. Nothing on Fort Worth yet and nothing on Tacoma. Well, Tacoma's dropped down to the next. [00:59:45] Speaker A: Level and you know, I was testing you, Buzz. [00:59:49] Speaker B: Oh, you said Tacoma too? I just went with you. I didn't even register. I've gotten so used to saying it, you saying it wrong, that it didn't really bother me. You know, they're down now on the same level with McKinney. And Denton. So unless they do something like a kit launch or sign some player, they always surprise us. We won't be talking about them quite so much. They're the team that's above them. Their bigger team, Salina, is not playing for a year and they're kind of in the go to community events and shake hands phase of their existence. So until they drop a logo, the next thing from them we expect is their official logo drop, which might happen in the next month or so. We'll probably talk about that. [01:00:23] Speaker A: And where are the Vegas odds on the Salina Rodeo Soccer Club logo somehow comprising rope. Rope as a font? [01:00:34] Speaker B: The rope font, I mean, you can think of. Their colors are brown. Brown. You can think of all kinds of things with, you know, cowboys or cowboy hats or. [01:00:42] Speaker A: I'm excited about brown, by the way. [01:00:44] Speaker B: Rodeo clown. I mean, the brown and tan is a unique color scheme. I'll give them that. That's fun, you know. So we'll see what happens on the logo. [01:00:52] Speaker A: Very good. And this Atletico Dallas has a promotional event coming up. [01:00:56] Speaker B: Oh yeah? Yeah. Big block party from 4 to 10 Saturday at the Expo park in Dallas. They're gonna have Patrice Everett, for those of you EPL fans, and Kyle Martino out there. That's, that's confirmed. And they're gonna have a couple of announcements. So if Trinity is your team, you want to get out there for that and enjoy the street fest. They'll have. [01:01:14] Speaker A: Not Trinity Atletico, you mean. [01:01:17] Speaker B: Did I say Trinity? [01:01:18] Speaker A: You did, man. [01:01:20] Speaker B: Well, I, I probably said that because a lot of people I know are going to the Trinity game and then going to the athletical thing afterwards. [01:01:25] Speaker A: Ah. [01:01:26] Speaker B: Which is a, which is a good. Because The Trinity's at 2:30. So you get out there, get out there at 4:30, go down to the athletical thing and get yourself some food and drink and get an autograph from Ezra or Evra or Martino or whatever you're into and maybe see what Trinity, what athletico Dallas has got up their sleeve in terms of an announcement. They said they got a couple of cool ones. They're saying. So you know, maybe it'll be a practice thing or, or, or something cool. So we'll see. So fans should be hyped. [01:01:51] Speaker A: I'm about to embarrass myself. [01:01:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:01:54] Speaker A: Where's Expo Park? [01:01:57] Speaker B: Isn't that the strip above on the north side of downtown? Isn't that the strip that's above the highway? [01:02:03] Speaker A: No, that's, that's. Oh, they named that after a kid. What is that? Expo park is. [01:02:11] Speaker B: Well Good, I'm glad you said something because I would have gone right down there to that, thinking that was it. And then. [01:02:17] Speaker A: Hold on, I'm looking. [01:02:18] Speaker B: Exposition park is Exposition Park. [01:02:21] Speaker A: Hold on, I'm going to tell you where it is. No, I can. [01:02:24] Speaker B: I'm looking right at it. It's. [01:02:26] Speaker A: It's off of 67. Oh, it's down in South Dallas. [01:02:29] Speaker B: Exposition Avenue second near Canton. [01:02:32] Speaker A: Is it near the zoo? Oh, no, it's down in deep. Oh, no, no, I'm looking at the map. It's okay, so. Oh, it's down to the very. It's in the area in between. That's right, yeah. So it's in between the area of Deep Ellum and Fair Park. That's why people are saying they're going to the game and they're walking over. [01:02:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, there you go. It's perfect alignment. Then if it's right there. [01:02:52] Speaker A: Yeah, it's right here. Yeah, it's that little area. The, I think the, the, the volleyball court now surfing place is not far from there. And I also think. [01:03:02] Speaker A: City Footsall is in that same area down there. [01:03:05] Speaker B: This is 100 conjecture on my part. Then you know Kyle Martino's bit. Is this the urban fields? That sounds like a great place for them to be doing a project with them to do an urban soccer field kind of situation. I mean, that sounds exactly like the right kind of position for one. [01:03:21] Speaker A: Yes, that is right there under the. [01:03:23] Speaker B: Highway like you talked about, Cage. Yeah, right. That all's coming in alignment. That'd be cool. [01:03:29] Speaker A: Right on. Okay. All right, There's. [01:03:31] Speaker B: I know nothing. That's just a guess. [01:03:33] Speaker A: Another edition of Peter Sounds Stupid brought to you on the Third Degree podcast too. [01:03:38] Speaker B: Man, I would have. I would have been right over there on north side downtown going, where is everybody? [01:03:42] Speaker A: Gosh darn it. What is the name of that deck park over by the Perot Museum? What is that? That's the Kyle. [01:03:50] Speaker B: Kyle Warren Park. [01:03:51] Speaker A: Kyle Warren, Warren park, yeah. The rich guy named it after his kid. Kyle Warren is the kid of the rich guy who gave him the money. [01:03:59] Speaker B: Perhaps stupidly, that's where the Dallas Trinity thing was. So I just assumed in my head, oh yes, Dallas Trinity was there. That's the perfect environment for this downtown Dallas, all that stuff. [01:04:10] Speaker A: No, Exposition park is a little area off to the east of Deep Ellum. But I never call it that. It all just considers. I always just consider all of that Deep Ellum. But I know exactly where it is. [01:04:22] Speaker B: I see, I see city foots all right there too. I see that. [01:04:25] Speaker A: Yeah. So I'm sure it's. Yeah, it's right there where City Footsall is and so all of that. Okay, very cool. All right. I don't got nothing else. You got anything else? [01:04:37] Speaker B: Well, you want to talk World cup draw, we can do that. But I just want to shout out my man Diego Hernandez, who's led firm into the College Cup. Oh, Final Four. That's coming up this weekend, I believe. So. [01:04:48] Speaker A: Did I see that the longtime coach there is leaving, retiring after this year? [01:04:54] Speaker B: Furman? [01:04:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. Because I think I saw the Aggies coach resign. [01:04:59] Speaker B: Retired. I don't know. [01:05:01] Speaker A: I swear I either read that somewhere or Clint Dempsey was tweeting about it or something. That was his club, his. His university. [01:05:09] Speaker B: So. Yeah. [01:05:11] Speaker A: All right, very good. [01:05:14] Speaker B: All right. Did you want to talk World Cup? [01:05:15] Speaker A: If you want to. That's all I've been thinking of for the last 72 hours, so I know. [01:05:19] Speaker B: For you it's a big, much bigger deal than it's for me. What you want to talk about about it? [01:05:23] Speaker A: Well, I was just curious what your reaction was. I mean, if you. I don't even know if you've paid any attention to it. [01:05:27] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, no, I watched the whole draw. I thought it was an hour and 50 minutes of wasting my time and 10 minutes that I cared about. So. [01:05:35] Speaker A: Yeah, well. [01:05:38] Speaker B: I thought the. The slate of games that Dallas got is pretty exciting. I thought the USA group was just about as positive as it can be. There's no stinker teams in there. It doesn't look like depending on who the fourth team is, you know, all those teams are pretty solid. Should make for some good games. It is a winnable group. You know, you would expect Dallas to win that group of Dallas, the US national team to win that group. If they don't, I think everyone will be very disappointed. But the game should all be quality. I think that the. While I love dogs very much, the announcement of the dog as a mascot for the U. S. National team is stupid when you have the eagle available. But whatever, I'm not in charge, I guess. Even though dogs are awesome, my issue. [01:06:20] Speaker A: With the mascot isn't as much the dog. It is the most off the rack generic dog mascot I have ever seen in the history of mascots. [01:06:31] Speaker B: Yeah, okay. [01:06:33] Speaker A: I mean, it's just a brown square headed dog. It doesn't have any pattern or spots or anything unique about it. It's just a brown dog. [01:06:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I could. I. I just can't get past the fact that it's not An Eagle. It's like it's our national team. It's not. You know that. That was weird. Anyway, that's my take. I'm looking forward to England, Croatia. That's gonna be a fun game. [01:06:55] Speaker A: Not that we're getting into the stadium for the game. [01:06:59] Speaker B: Well, no, I'm gonna watch it on tv. That's not a game I'll be able to get tickets for. [01:07:03] Speaker A: Well, I don't think I'm getting tickets to any of these games. [01:07:07] Speaker B: Ah, that's. There'll be. There'll be matchups that'll. Where tickets will hit the market. That's a huge stadium. Like for. For Japan versus Poland. There won't be tickets on the market. Probably. [01:07:19] Speaker A: Yes. And that game actually will end up being an important game because Japan probably will be squeezing for a third place slot. 100. All the games Dallas got isn't. It's an amazing. I mean, no. No other host city got a schedule of group games anywhere close to Dallas. I mean, it's like go look at San Francisco's list of games they got hosed. Go look at Houston's. Houston's isn't very good. Now they got. I guess if you're a Ronaldo fan, it's great because they get Portugal twice. But Houston's list of games isn't very good. You know, the only one that's even close to Dallas is New Jersey. [01:07:55] Speaker A: So. [01:07:56] Speaker B: Well, and there's some real. There's a potential for some really exciting advancing round games too for Dallas. Oh, Dallas. [01:08:02] Speaker A: 100. [01:08:02] Speaker B: Yes. Bank bangers. Yeah. [01:08:05] Speaker A: I was, I was telling the story on the show the other day because I was running through the math and there is a scenario where if the US wins their group in San Francisco, their opponent in the round of 32 could be Canada. Because if Canada ends up third in their group and if Italy ends up becoming the fourth team in that group, you could see Canada coming in third behind Switzerland and the Italians. [01:08:33] Speaker B: Yeah, easily. [01:08:34] Speaker A: If that is the case, depending on a bunch of other permutations, a bunch of other things have to happen for this to. To be the case. If there's four, this is so. This is so mind bending. [01:08:45] Speaker B: I'd be disappointed by that matchup, but. [01:08:47] Speaker A: Oh, I would. Wait, no, no, no, no. U.S. canada in a round of 32 with Jesse Marsh in San Francisco. That would be an amazing World cup game. Buzz. [01:08:58] Speaker B: They play Canada all the time. I'd rather get somebody, but not with. [01:09:01] Speaker A: Anything with the stakes on the line like this. Especially with all the BS that Jesse Marsh has been Blowing out his ass for the last year. [01:09:09] Speaker B: I love, I love Jesse Marsh, man. [01:09:10] Speaker A: Bitterness. [01:09:12] Speaker B: I love Jesse. I take him as a pro coach so fast. Oh yeah. [01:09:16] Speaker A: So anyway, that was one of my favorite little quirks I found in the schedule. So that's a fun one. [01:09:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean I love the World Cup. It's going to be so much fun. You know, even before to go to any games, I'm just going to sit there there enjoying myself on the sofa. It's been great. [01:09:32] Speaker A: Well, the crazy part is you will be able to watch games starting as early in Dallas time, as early as 10 o' clock in the morning and as late as 11pm that's crazy. There are literally three games kicking off at 11pm Dallas time on the west coast. [01:09:51] Speaker B: Be impossible to watch them all. [01:09:52] Speaker A: The. In fact there's a, there's a game at AT&T Stadium that will not kick off until 9pm See that? [01:09:59] Speaker B: There you go. You'll be able to get some tickets somewhere. You know people. You'll be fine. [01:10:05] Speaker A: I don't know people. [01:10:08] Speaker B: You know, people that work for the committee. What are you talking about? [01:10:10] Speaker A: Andy doesn't get any tickets. [01:10:12] Speaker B: Well, doesn't right now. [01:10:14] Speaker A: We'll see. [01:10:16] Speaker B: You'll be fine. [01:10:18] Speaker A: We'll see. [01:10:18] Speaker B: You're rich. You'll be fine. [01:10:19] Speaker A: I'm not rich. Just, I'm doing this podcast for free. I'm not rich. [01:10:25] Speaker B: You know what? I'll double your socks. [01:10:27] Speaker A: Thank you. [01:10:28] Speaker B: My brother sent me a link to the hospital sideline hospitality suites going for like 45000 per game. [01:10:34] Speaker A: Ridiculous. [01:10:35] Speaker B: Like who the, who does that? [01:10:37] Speaker A: Businesses. [01:10:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess. Saudis. [01:10:41] Speaker A: Well, no, businesses buy, then they use it, you know, they do it as a business write off and they take clients to that stuff. [01:10:46] Speaker B: I guess. That better be a big client. 40 grand a ticket. [01:10:49] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you know, when you're at and T or American Airlines or you know, or. Yeah, Sewell Auto dealerships, you know, that stuff doesn't, that doesn't affect you. Anyway. All right, well see, this is what happens when Dan isn't part of the podcast. We just kind of prattle on and meander and lose our way and. [01:11:11] Speaker B: How about a teaser, old farts? I think this week I'm gonna drop my college homegrown list and I'm gonna have three players on there that I think Seattle should sign out of college. Okay, so it's a little teaser for you. [01:11:26] Speaker A: When you say a college homegrown list, you mean kids from the area that are playing in college? [01:11:32] Speaker B: No. Well, call to be a Homegrown. You have to play for FC Houses Academy. [01:11:36] Speaker A: So they're kids from the academy that have gone on to college, are playing. [01:11:40] Speaker B: In college right now. [01:11:43] Speaker A: So like Julian Eyestone a few years ago go. [01:11:46] Speaker B: No, Julian did not. Well, if you would have could have signed him as out of Duke. Yes, yes, that would have been. [01:11:51] Speaker A: Yeah, well, that's what they intended to do until. [01:11:55] Speaker A: Somebody else came calling. [01:11:57] Speaker B: Yeah, that was the plan. [01:11:59] Speaker A: Yes. [01:11:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Or if you. What they were planning to do with Wesson McKinney, what they did do with Reggie Cannon, but what they did do with Jordan Kano as a four year senior. It all depends on whether they're underclassmen or seniors. But in there are various kinds of them. But I have three this year that I think they should sign. [01:12:14] Speaker A: All right, that'll be good fun. [01:12:16] Speaker B: We'll look forward to it. Cool. [01:12:19] Speaker A: All right. Well, I got nothing else. [01:12:21] Speaker B: Well, that's a lot. I mean, we, you know, as usual, we went well over an hour talking good soccer, good Dallas soccer. [01:12:26] Speaker A: Just another 50 minutes of whining and complaining about our team. [01:12:33] Speaker B: Like I said, I was in that press conference. I just sat there. I literally was just at one point, I was just like the. This tired head. Were you in the room facing hands? No, no, no. Watching on YouTube. You remember I told you I had a family thing? [01:12:43] Speaker A: Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:12:46] Speaker B: I can't remember whether I was watching on my phone or at a computer, but it just was like, you know, just gave me. It's the same stuff every year, just repeating themselves all the time. Maybe tired. I'm getting old, man. Running out of time. [01:12:58] Speaker A: Oh, well, what you going to do? [01:13:01] Speaker B: C Third degree. The podcast is brought to you by people just like you, the wonderful supporters and listeners of this podcast and support us on Patreon. Patreon.com thirddegree if you like what we do on the Internet, whether it be this podcast, whether it be our website covering professional soccer, nfc, Dallas. Even though I work on social media, why not come join us to come support us? Thirdegree.net is the website patreon.com thirddegree which is where you can support us. Thanks for listening. [01:13:29] Speaker A: Beautiful. All right, Buzz. Thank you, sir. And hopefully Dan's back next week to provide humor and entertainment. [01:13:35] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you. Hopefully he is. I mean, I know he says he will be. So tune in for that. Tune in for Dan. All right, very good. [01:13:42] Speaker A: We won't have a press conference to whine about. [01:13:45] Speaker B: He'll probably have notes from this one that he want to talk over again. [01:13:48] Speaker A: Okay. [01:13:50] Speaker A: We'Ll let him do that. [01:13:52] Speaker B: All right, bud. That's it. That's it. [01:13:54] Speaker A: All right. Thank you, DFW Curious soccer fan. We appreciate you, and we will speak to you next week on another episode. Oh, don't forget. Don't forget to go buy a third degree stuff for Christmas. It's all in Buzz's store. [01:14:07] Speaker B: It is. [01:14:08] Speaker A: Or. Or up your subscription to the Patreon. Or do something like that. Buzz needs to buy Amy a Christmas present. We'll speak to you next week on another episode of third degree, the podcast. [01:14:18] Speaker B: Buzz needs to be pay for the stuff. He already bought her Third degree. [01:14:22] Speaker A: The third degree podcast. Third degree. The third degree. NE podcast. Third degree. The third degree. NE podcast. Third degree. [01:14:35] Speaker B: The third degree. [01:14:45] Speaker B: Sam.