3rd Degree the Podcast #349

[00:00:27] Speaker A: Third Degree, the podcast tonight is brought to you by the Dallas Beer Guardians. That's right, the tradition continues. Get ready for the legendary beer guardians 24 hour tailgate beginning Friday, February 20th at 7pm at the Red lot up at the big stadium. It transforms into the ultimate soccer party ahead of this year's FC Dallas home opener. You can expect food all 24 hours. Pizza, breakfast, chili, and of course, hot dogs. A live DJ spinning tracks, more vendors, games and activities, and of course, free beer from everybody from Pensacola. Of course, you have to be 21 or over. Free beer. Let me just say that one more time. So please, whether you're a longtime supporter or just an FC Dallas curious, this event, you do not want to miss it. Please go up there, find the big tent and the red light, and join the tradition. Welcome to a very special episode of Third degree, the podcast live from Pedicolas in the design district in Dallas. Yes. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Please do not distract the host. That is rule number one, because I get easily distracted. First off, he's here. Look at him with his beard and his Luton shirt. It's Dan Crook. Howdy, Dan. [00:01:55] Speaker B: Hey. [00:01:58] Speaker C: Where did we find all these crisis actors? I know that we're really distraught about Buzz moving, but this is ridiculous. [00:02:04] Speaker A: And your hero, my hero, everybody's hero, editor, founder of thirddegree.net and the original effing soccer influencer himself, Buzz Carrick, everybody. [00:02:20] Speaker B: I might be getting a over here. I apologize. [00:02:23] Speaker A: Oh, and a whole bunch of the effing curious are here today, too. Thank you for being here tonight, guys. We're going to have a lot of fun. First off, let me just say Pedicolas normally is closed on Mondays. And in this scramble to put this event together, Michael Pedicolas, Scooter, our host tonight, everybody, a big Hank round at the Scooter. They very kindly opened the place up to us at no cost. And so the money that you paid, the five bucks plus whatever beer you bought are going to cover his, you know, pay for him, pay for the electricity and everything else like that. So thank you very much to Michael Pedicolas. Thank you, Scooter. You've been here all day, so I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. So thank you, thank you, thank you. The raffle tickets that you guys have, did everybody have a raffle ticket? So Eddie has been taking raffle tickets, and one thing we're going to give away is one of the very sweet pedicolas, 2026 World cup jerseys that are on the display board down there. So one raffle ticket will go to that. The second raffle ticket. Earlier today I got a phone call from our good friends at football club Dallas and they asked, hey, what could we do? Can we help in any way, shape or form? And I said, you know what, I appreciate it, but I don't know what that would be. And they said, what if we gave you one of our new 2026 home kits that are coming out? God, I love that. [00:03:56] Speaker B: Yeah, that's fun. [00:03:57] Speaker A: Oh, so the other raffle ticket, you, that person, lucky person, will win. Yes. A brand new 2026 home kit, courtesy of FC Dallas. And that's the nicest thing they possibly could have done. So thank you to them and thank you to Michael. Thank you so very much. So the way the show is going to go down today, we're going to talk a little bit about the team. Yes, we're going to talk some kit talk. We'll get into the other teams here in the area. We got some big news brewing with one team in particular and then we're going to close with the part that I hope I would make through it. It's a little bit of buzz love for everybody. We'll have a microphone here for everybody. Give an opportunity to come up and tell Buzz how you feel about him. Say something. Tell a story about how you discovered this club through third degree. Whatever rings your bell, please feel free to do it. All right, let's get started with the talk. Let's get to the most important thing and matter at hand. Dan Crooks sneak peek, mock up hint preview of the new Jersey Buzz. Am I, am I at all incorrect in saying this essentially lives up to our dream FC Dallas shirt? [00:05:09] Speaker B: Yeah, unquestionably. This is actually the jersey that we were talking about in 2002, 2003, 2004, when we were discussing a branding, a rebranding of the team and I suggested hoops. So if you hate hoops, I'm sorry, it's my fault. This is what we suggested. It was red and blue because we knew at that point already the team was going to be red and blue. I had hoped for black because we specifically showed Justin Flamingo as a prototype for what we were talking about. And then if once we knew the team was going to be blue, we said, let's do it, let's see him do it with red and blue with the white accents, the white numbers. And we have been calling for white shorts since then and never going to get it. I know, but this is the dream for what we wanted the branding of this club in terms of kit to be. The idea being that hoops could be part of your brand. So maybe they haven't stuck with it like we wanted, but yeah, 100% dead on the idea. The concept that we've been talking about for 20, more than 20 years. [00:06:11] Speaker A: All right, I just want a round of. I want a reaction from the crowd about the new shirt. Go ahead. One, two, three. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. [00:06:23] Speaker C: After that reaction, watch me be completely wrong because it's happened before. [00:06:29] Speaker B: Not completely wrong. [00:06:31] Speaker C: The deconstructed Texas flag. [00:06:34] Speaker A: You're not wrong. [00:06:35] Speaker C: Okay, okay. Yeah, we, we heard pretty early on. Blue and red hoops. Awesome. Amazing. Last time around there was a real concern, hey, this has turned into a blue team. We don't want a blue team. This is a red team. You went through a whole thing of like ditching hoops and going, hey, red for 90. All this bollocks. We've been told very clearly, hey, whoa, Sorry. We've been told very clearly that no, it's not a blue team. There's definitely going to be a more. [00:07:02] Speaker A: Of a red balance. [00:07:03] Speaker C: And then we saw in MLS media day some blue shorts and that was a bit more blue, but we've been reliably informed. Red socks, red sleeves, red, all the fun stuff. But talking to Tim Henning, when I did the story on the Burn jersey, I was talking to him about the, the next jersey and he said, you know, this is, this is the best one. This is, this is the one I think is better than the Burn jersey. This is going to have a great reaction and it tells a story. It finishes the story across a bunch of different jerseys. Well, you remember how the story started with 2014 going away from the hoops. It became those red on red hoops. You know, raise your red red for 90 or the, you know, Red Friday Frisco or whatever else they wanted to do. Then you've got those little pin hoops that came back. FC Dallas did the double, conveniently 10 year anniversary coming up. There's pretty clearly a story going on there. There's, there's elements of the 2016 jersey, 2014 jersey. You could even look at 2012 jersey. And I don't know, I really like it. I hope I'm right. [00:08:09] Speaker B: There's little details. [00:08:10] Speaker C: I don't know for sure, but I hope I'm right. [00:08:13] Speaker A: I think it's near perfect. I mean, obviously Buzz and I would love it to be paired with white shorts, but I realize that's not a Thing but man, it's, it is easily the best jersey since the Hunts took over and rebranded the club. I mean, without question. I mean I've got my original. Kevin actually outdid me and wore the long sleeve Santel jersey version. But I got, you know, my original, this one's my favorite of all time. But I think this is really good looking and it's exactly the things that we've been wanting for quite some time now. The trick is buzz, stick with it. [00:08:46] Speaker B: Well, the thing we've been harping on, or I've been harping on I guess really it's just my me is the idea of consistency of branding. And when we suggested hoops in the first place, the idea was that you could take pattern as part of your branding and you could reinforce that pattern. And you can look at some of the big humongous key brands in any sport around the world and you can recognize their jersey without a logo on it. If you see a Celtic jersey, it's green and white hoops, AC Milan with their vertical stripes. You can even do little things like what's the difference between a Newcastle kit and a Juventus kit if you don't have a logo on it? The difference is the shorts. Like UV wears white shorts and Newcastle wears black shorts. Like those ideas can are part of your brand. Yankee pinstripes, any sport you can think about classic uniforms. And so we wanted them to, I wanted them to pick a pattern and stick with it like the humongous clubs can do around the world year after year after year. Now you can tweak it, you can change it, you can space it differently, you can add a highlight in there. You can do things to make people rebuy your kit but at the same time you want people to recognize it and clearly say that's an SE Dallas kit. From behind, from the side can't see the logo. And if you would ask the general fan now what's an FC Dallas kit look like? They would tell you, well, it's red and blue. And then what? And then what? Well, it's got white highlights instead of yellow. So it's not an RSL kit because it would have yellow highlights instead of white. But otherwise what's the difference between RSL kit and SE Dallas kit? Nothing. That's it. So they haven't owned that branding. I hope that this kit will lead them to reinforcing the pen hoops. Even the red and white when they had it could have been better with white shorts instead of red so it would have been less like A candy cane and more like just a highlight on white. But I, I, I'm so excited about this kit. Now, whether you like it more than these amazing Burn throwback kits which we see here tonight, so many beautiful people. I mean, It's a gorgeous kit. [00:10:42] Speaker D: 2. [00:10:43] Speaker B: So which one you like better might be 10 on whether you like the Burn brand better or the black versus the blue. But they're both spectacular. They're both in the top two, three, five kits of all time, I think, for sure. [00:10:53] Speaker A: Well, we, we've really struggled for a while to feel satisfied with the options for the team and so now we're finally at a point where we're doing really good and, and feel like we got a great selection. Now all you do is got to get rid of that away kit that they put out last year. God, I hate that thing. [00:11:10] Speaker C: All right. You own one of those? [00:11:12] Speaker A: Well, they g, you know, that's not the point. I didn't buy it. [00:11:15] Speaker C: Yeah, true. [00:11:17] Speaker B: By the way, should we tell everybody we've since seen the kit that got cancelled and. [00:11:22] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Oh, the, the, the murder shirt. Yeah, yeah. So they were right story behind that last year. [00:11:27] Speaker B: It looks like a murder shirt. [00:11:29] Speaker C: So I like it better than the one they went with. [00:11:31] Speaker B: Yeah, well, sure. But I understand why they got rid of it. You know, and I will give the Hunts credit to this. That kit was so far developed that they had to pay a lot of money to get out of it and to go with the generic one. Thank you. But I understand why they did it, having finally seen it. It's not good. [00:11:50] Speaker A: Yeah, it looks like something Dexter would have used to promote the TV show. [00:11:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Like the tarpy puts up behind the. Yeah, yeah. [00:11:57] Speaker A: So it looks like it's pretty bad. Yeah, I, I was thinking about this the other day. It is. I, I don't know if I remember a moment in time where has been like, oh, no, my bank account's in trouble because there are so many nice jerseys that are coming out for the World Cup. A lot of the other MLS shirts are looking really nice and then even some of the other club stuff that's coming out in the other leagues. It's really a good time to be somebody who wants to collect or buy or whatever. It's fantastic. So lots of good stuff and I, I hope everybody else, everybody else is into it. Right. [00:12:31] Speaker B: We're wrong. [00:12:31] Speaker A: We're not wrong here. [00:12:33] Speaker C: Okay. [00:12:34] Speaker A: This is an audible medium. We would love to hear from you. [00:12:36] Speaker E: Go ahead. [00:12:37] Speaker A: All right, good. [00:12:38] Speaker B: Nice. [00:12:39] Speaker A: All right, now, first off, we've never done this before. We've never been in front of a live audience. This is really weird. We're usually in three completely different places on Zoom or Riverside or whatever we do this on. So this is strange. Now, for years since we've been doing this, we have had a running bit about Buzz's infamous red crayon run sheet. Well, I made 20 copies and if you would like one as a commemorative value of $0, there are copies of the actual run sheet from tonight here for people who would like one. So just come grab one up at the bar if you would like one. So that's actually the actual run sheet. [00:13:26] Speaker D: There you go. Tada. [00:13:28] Speaker A: All right, let's talk about what Buzz got to see on Saturday up at the stadium as FC Dallas played. Played Red Bull, right? [00:13:37] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:13:38] Speaker A: We are this close to another MLS season. It seems way too soon, but it is happening. Eric Quill. Another season and some parts that hopefully are incoming. We'll talk about here in a little bit. Buzz, what did you notice in getting to see the team win in the scrimmage with hockey periods? Three hockey periods. [00:13:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, at this point, let's be fair, Peder Musa was held out because he missed some training. He's not hurt. It was personal stuff. He's missed a couple of days, so they kept him out. Johansson was. I was picking up his visa so he wasn't there. You know, some of the pieces that are going to be nice pieces for the scene were not there. But nonetheless, it was like watching last year's team when it was just a bunch of dudes and in particular the dull parts of the season where we're looking at basically a 5, 3, 2 all the time. And they're sitting back in this terrible formation, terribly boring formation. And they're Getting dominated in 80 of all phases of play. It's absolutely awful. Michael Collode kept them in it. Thankfully, the build out was atrocious. It was almost non existent. And yet when they would turn somebody over, Cabis would spring him or maybe Ramiro would spring him out of midfield. Patrickson Delgado did not start. There was a. It was a ten list formation. And because Bernie's Bernie and sound good, by the way, Logan's Logan. It's three nothing after 60 minutes. [00:15:10] Speaker A: Oh, that sounds good. [00:15:11] Speaker B: So it's. It's awful to watch. It's really boring and you're. You want to yell at them all the time like, why can't you pass? Because we're winning three nothing. That's why we can't pass. So you Know the modern game, possession is not a big deal. We want to be able to play out of the back. Sure. I'm Quill definitely wants to play out of the back. Collode is the starter because they want to play out of the back. His feet are amazing, but, you know, at times you're like, this is really, really awful to watch. But Logan Farrington, I mean, that dude was the clear man of the match. He's in regular season form. I was talking about him on Peter's radio show. As a guy to look forward, I think is going to have a massive breakout season because this is the first time he's been the guy coming into the season. Even last year, start of the year, they were in a 4, 3, 3. And he's not really a wing. So he was on the bench for like the first, I don't know, maybe 10 games or so before he got in there and much at all. And it wasn't until they changed the formation to fit a system to fit him. And so he was phenomenal in this one. Anderson Julio, exactly the same as last year. Should have had a hat trick instead only had one goal. [00:16:15] Speaker C: I shouldn't have had that goal. He was a mile offside. [00:16:18] Speaker B: Yeah, fair. But he should have had the other two, you know, so it looks. [00:16:23] Speaker A: So he got the one he shouldn't have. Yeah, but he missed the dude that. [00:16:26] Speaker C: He should screwed up. [00:16:28] Speaker B: It looks exactly like it did Anderson Julio at the worst parts of last year, except that the five guys in defense with three guys in front of him are locking it down. Capis is vaguely the 10 because the other two guys are Ramiro sitting at home and Kaik, who's well, whatever. So, like there were times where they would pass it to where Capis was supposed to have made this run and he wasn't there. He'd be like, oh, my bad. So they're playing a 4, 3, 3 without a 10, like a single pivot, or as Matt Dole would call it back in the day, a triple pivot where all three guys are sitting in deep. So just be ready for that, like until. Unless Quill decides that he needs a playmaker like a Delgado, or until they sign some of these other guys they've been talking to. You're going to be looking at a Ramiro Kaik Capus triple midfield, triple holding sixes, if you will. And you know, they got two more games left, so we'll see. Maybe it could change. [00:17:19] Speaker C: But did I know you had to run off to go on the kick around? Did you get to watch the magical third period. [00:17:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I was, I watched the whole. [00:17:28] Speaker C: Okay, so you saw that they switched the midfield, had Caleb Swan 6 with Ben Binyamin and. [00:17:33] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Swan surprisingly played six. He's not a six, but he did a really nice job. He looked really good. At some point we're going to have to try and figure out how. He already is the head of Diego Garcia. Ben Yaman's engine is just absolutely phenomenal. He obviously has not played with his team hardly at all because he was really like looking around like, where am I supposed to be? Who's this guy? Who are you? You know, so. But some nice tools are there and he's obviously quite young. Um, so like, you know, they kind of had more of a tennis vibe there because Delgado was in the game. Right. So like Delgado is the only guy right now that can really be a 10. So that'll be. The question is like, is Quill at this point with this is the third three games left of the season, Delgado's not starting. So. [00:18:15] Speaker C: But if you're set on a front two, do you really want a 10? [00:18:20] Speaker B: Maybe. It just depends on how much. That's another reason why I think Logan Fergus is going to have a huge season because Logan can assist, you know, and, and Johansson specifically is a wing back who can assist and can shoot. We've seen them experiment with a switch foot wing back to maybe when we're coming side and become a 10, just like capis could become a 10. Like if you watch any high level Premier League, you'll see this idea, an outside back or a wing back inverting into the midfield, becoming a 10 playmaker. You know, the switch foot idea means you come in like Ryan Holly said, onto your good foot. So they're obviously still tweaking some stuff and. But right now it really feels like this 10 less shape may be a thing. [00:19:01] Speaker C: I think availability doesn't help either. You, you haven't had a single game whether it was in Portugal or here where they've had the. What we think is going to be the starting five all together. Yeah, they haven't. Just haven't been available. You had Musa out. So Ricky Lewis, who's had a great preseason so far at wing back was. Sorry, was kind of thrust into a nine, which I mean he was more of a winger in college. So I wasn't overly thrilled. I thought Nick Simmons did a great job up front, but I really wanted to see Ricky Lewis continue at wing back. [00:19:36] Speaker B: Yeah, they have a lot of players that in traditional Sense would be wings. There was Dietzen, Sarver, Bernie Lewis, you know, but they're playing a shape that doesn't have wings. So they're forcing some of these guys into wing back to see what they've got. Obviously, we think Johansson is going to be starting. You know, maybe Bernie is, but maybe he's not. If he doesn't contribute assists and contribute going forward. If you're going to play this 10 less shape. [00:20:02] Speaker C: I think there was a discussion in the, in the press box with some of the, some of the PR folks, FC Dallas, and they came to the conclusion that there's something stupid like 10 players that could play right wing back feasibly. [00:20:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:15] Speaker C: And based on that game, maybe Deedson isn't one of them because Ruval Kalba killed him a couple of times. [00:20:23] Speaker B: Yeah, it was not great. [00:20:25] Speaker A: You said Ben Yamin. I'm curious as to what your review on him as after you got to see him in person. [00:20:31] Speaker B: Same as when we saw the pirated game from Portugal. The. The engine is phenomenal. You know, like Zenata. Zenoda, excuse me, talked about how they had all these numbers on him and all these metrics on like his work rate and energy and it, it pops off the page when you watch him play. You know, the biggest thing right now is he clearly has no idea what anyone else on the field is doing. And so he's running around like chicken, spinning his head, trying to figure out what he's supposed to do with the ball. But you love the potential there. For me, he reminds me of Paxton at 19, where, you know, when Paxton's first starting to get minutes, he's like, I don't know what to do. But yet the energy's there, the movement's there, the skill is there. So, you know, we need to see some time and some development before he's A, comfortable and B, like knows what to do at a higher level of play than where he was at. But it's an exciting piece and if you can, later in the thing, I want to talk about U22s again before we move on. [00:21:30] Speaker A: Well, that we may get into that from this, which is I'm sitting here listening to you talk about how it was boring, yet they scored goals. Yeah, once upon a time I said something that I caught a lot of crap for, which I said my greatest fear in life is that FC Dallas will finally win MLS cup, but they'll do it playing like the Rapids did the year they beat us. Which just means they sit back, they don't really play the Game. It's an ugly game, but they do just enough to get it over the line. And, you know, I get it. People are like, wouldn't you take an MLS cup no matter what, no matter how they played? But I guess. I guess the answer probably should be yes, but that's my cross to bear. The question is, as we get into this season, one, what you saw on Saturday, how much do you think this is actually an omen for what's made to come? Or do we think that they're waiting for this 10 that they may or may not sign? Or do you think he has other tricks up his sleeve and it means. Or does it mean that we've got a boring team to watch this year, but probably will grind out a lot of points? [00:22:37] Speaker B: I think it'll start the season boring. You know, to me, it looks like a guy who's trying to solidify the problem of last year that he solved with the formation, the heavy defensive formation. And they're running super low possession game and trying to. Trying to keep the other team out of the net and then get vertical on them like. Like teams do when you don't have as much talent as the other teams. I think Quill would know, like, if I'm trying to build towards an actual cup, I would need to get better. Like, he's talked about, I don't want to play this way right now. I have to play this way. Like, you know, you watch them try to build out. They want to build out. They're just not very good at it yet. Because Shaq Moore is not a particularly great possession player. Is. Right. But Iaga not collode is. But then you got in front of him. [00:23:31] Speaker A: You're not just saying that because his parents are here? [00:23:34] Speaker B: No, no. So much so that they got rid of Martin Paz. So, yeah, you know, RAMIRO probably, maybe 10 years ago, might have been a possession player, but he's not now. It's all side and back. Kaik's not a possession player. Capus can be, but not enough by himself. So they're trying to build out with eight guys who can't build out and play possession, but they still want to. [00:23:59] Speaker A: Right. So one of the conversations that was going on pretty heated in your discord earlier this week was this whole conversation about getting a 10 and whether you sign one now or you wait till the summer and how much of what they may be doing in terms of planning or strategizing is the status of Musa and the likelihood or the chance that Musa makes the Czech national team hits A few bangers in the World cup and suddenly now he's a $45 million striker or whatever the number is, right? It doesn't really make any difference. It's more than they paid for him number and it's a big enough number that they feel like they have to sell him because he wants to go. So where do you, Dan, I'll go to you first because I love it when Dan chimes in. What, what do you think is happening in the front office in terms of this 10 signing and when it'll happen? And do you think it, the Musa piece of it is the hinge that's making that happen or not? [00:24:54] Speaker C: The first question, Chaos, just sheer chaos. They've been so committed to it, whether it's a DP10, they're at least bringing in someone. There's enough rumors going around, enough people talking that something's happening. Just how good that something is, right? We don't know, Buzz. [00:25:18] Speaker B: Well, there's enough smoke around Musa that you have to consider that there's a good chance you could lose them. There's too many reports now of people looking at him from these high level European teams and thinking, oh, 20 million star striker, that's a bargain. 25 million, that's a bargain. Well, for FC Dallas is a selling team, that's cash cow. So, you know, if they, they have an internal evaluation, if somebody hits the valuation, they're going to sell them. Does that mean they will? You know, if he doesn't make the World cup team for his country, the odds of him being sold probably goes down. Because even though you should have done your due diligence and scout a guy, you still want to see him in that window, that high profile window, because that adds something to his value as well. So I think you, you absolutely have to be considering the chance that you're going to lose him and you have to take that into account of the move you're making. At the same time, when they sold Lucho Costa, that was six months ago, a whole window ago, and they didn't really seem to be ready for this window for that. So you should be planning ahead to sell Peter Musa and in some ways they are because they have Logan Ferington and they continue to use a two striker system and develop the guy who's the most likely internal candidate to actually be a real nine. So you probably should be thinking about, if I sell Musa, maybe I'm not going back into the market for another 10 million dollar guy. Maybe Farrington's my guy and now I Need a couple of playmakers or I'm going back to a 4, 3. 3, which we know quill wants to play. I got all these wingers, right? So maybe, maybe I need to think about it in that capacity. So you could be waiting because of that. Because you might be changing everything if you're selling Musa versus like staying in two striker system if you don't sell them. [00:27:04] Speaker A: All right, so as a fan, everything you just said leads me to this question. Can Logan Farrington be the. The nine on this team if they sell Musa, Is he good enough to be an MLS top level? Oh yeah, nine. [00:27:19] Speaker B: Unquestionably. Yeah. And he has a lot of similar qualities to Musa. They're both decent in the air but not dominant in the air. But they both capitalize on loose balls and tight play and getting into traffic. They're very similar players. So they actually really lines up for me in terms of a replacement strategy, you know, and they're, they're. You saw, we saw him out there in this game with Anderson, Julio and Logan still did everything he always does with PETA. You know, Anderson, Julio is not Peter Musa. So it still worked though. You know, Julio brings a vertical component, but so does Bernie. You know, Deon tried to. They at least had to pay attention to him even though nothing really came of it. But you know, I think you could absolutely go with Logan. You know, he's got a. And if he were to become the guy and be really successful, I think he would have a couple years run here too before someone will come for him. And that's just the nature of being an MLS team, particularly one that sells. [00:28:13] Speaker A: The other thing that happened this week is there were. There was and Buzz alluded to this a little while ago, there were some hints or some leaks about potential signings of a 10 by FC Dallas in the media. One was a guy named Tony Fruke. I have no idea how to pronounce the club he's coming from. Riika, he's a 24 year old Croatian. Interesting. That's interesting about a 10 million dollar price. Now Tom, Tommy B says that's not untrue. But he does report that Dallas is in talks to sign a uruguayan attacking mid a 10. A 24 year old Joaquin Valiente from Defensor SC. So he would not be a DP. And that was the other interesting piece of the Bogart news was that they would sign a guy who would be there 10, but he wouldn't be a DP signing. So now we're back into this thing that you Wanted to talk about which is the, you, you know, the underage, you know, what do you do? Do you have three DPS or do you have two DPS and four U22s? What it is. And right now, everybody, we only have one DP and we may only have one DP to start the season. And I don't know how I feel about that. [00:29:21] Speaker B: Yeah, this guy's 24. The, the kid from Defensor who's a club that Dallas has done business with before. I believe Ken Jonas was the, the center backy guy from a few years ago was from that club. So obviously that's a pre existing relationship. So, you know, there's some validity to that. The Croatian guy obviously has some validity because of the idea that. Not the idea, because Peter Moose is also from there. So. But Bogart's sources are almost certainly going to be under soda. So if he says it's a no, then I'm sure at this point it's a no. You know, 10 million is probably not what they wanted to spend for a 10 when they've got a Musa who's probably at this point like 13 million. I don't hate the idea of a 24 year old playmaker that, you know, he would not be a U22 initiative because he's too old for that. You know, is that, is that the answer? Man, I don't know if he's good. [00:30:14] Speaker A: Yes. [00:30:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:15] Speaker A: If he sucks. No. [00:30:16] Speaker B: It just depends on pretty much how. [00:30:18] Speaker A: It goes, you know. [00:30:18] Speaker B: And we look at tape like, you know, we sometimes we look at this tape. Yes. Amazing. But you know, you have to get them into lmls, which is a very vertical league, very fast league and it doesn't always translate so. [00:30:29] Speaker A: And a solid. No. [00:30:31] Speaker B: Well, the thing I want to Talk about with U22 initiatives is somebody people have asked me lately is like how come we're not seeing as many homegrowns come through anymore? And it's been an epiphany of mine lately that from the club's perspective you are. They just call them U22 players. If you think about Delgado came here when he was 20, I believe that's when Paxton first played. Most of these homegrowns that sign at 18 take two or three seasons. Nolan Norris Now 20, Paxton broke in at 20. Jesus broke in at 18, but didn't play significantly until he was more like 20. Brian Reynolds, same thing. The club thinks of those two things as the same. I'm getting a 22 year old, 21 year old. I'm going to play him a bit and then I'm going to sell him or whatever. So the one reason, in my opinion, that you're seeing less and less homegrowns coming through is that the U22s are taking that playing time. And you can look at, with Nolan specifically, you know, you can look at the fact that Alvaro Augusto is on the team, slightly different position. Josh Torcato is on the team, more of a left back. So that's why some of these, it's becoming, as the league gets better and better, the gap between the academy and the first team is also becoming bigger and bigger. So you're really going to have to be something special now to come straight through it, like 18 to 20 into the first team. You'll see, I think a little bit more like a slade starnes at 22 coming out of four years of college. That might happen a little bit more. I just think that the U22 initiative, you have to think of it just like you think of homegrowns. If you want to understand why a club that was all in on all the homegrowns all the time all of a sudden has less of them. And that's a big contribution. Why? [00:32:03] Speaker C: I mean, a development club develops at any age. It doesn't have to be, hey, we got this kid at 12 years old. [00:32:09] Speaker B: Yeah. And it doesn't have to be your academy. It could be somebody else's academy. [00:32:13] Speaker A: So the schedule has gotten. [00:32:15] Speaker E: I. [00:32:15] Speaker A: Well, first off, can I read that you think the source is Andre? Am I not supposed to read that? [00:32:20] Speaker B: No, I just said that. [00:32:20] Speaker A: Oh, okay. I didn't hear you said it. Wasn't listening. [00:32:23] Speaker E: Thanks. [00:32:24] Speaker B: Typical. [00:32:26] Speaker A: The schedule has gotten goofed up. I don't. I think we can say this. I was told today that they're supposed to play a closed media game or a closed door game against the Dynamo on Wednesday. [00:32:36] Speaker B: Yep. [00:32:37] Speaker A: But now that has changed. So remember when they played, who did they play in Portugal that showed up with the U19 team? [00:32:45] Speaker C: That would be Brumby. [00:32:46] Speaker A: Brumby. So you remember they had a big game against BR and it turned out that they brought their U19 team and let their senior team play Houston instead. [00:32:53] Speaker B: RSL. [00:32:54] Speaker A: RSL. Excuse me? Well, Dallas is going to do that to Houston on Wednesday and they're going to end up playing essentially North Texas against Houston on Wednesday. So that game has completely flipped due to some scheduling thing. And then they've got another game at the stadium on Saturday against Atlanta, Correct? [00:33:12] Speaker B: Yes. [00:33:12] Speaker A: All right. [00:33:13] Speaker C: I asked Quill about the bronby game last week and he was. He was still pissed about it a little bit. [00:33:20] Speaker A: Switch his giant hat kind of float off his head from the. [00:33:22] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:33:23] Speaker C: He said it was supposed to be mixed teams for. For both games, and then it just got there. I'm like, oh, yeah. [00:33:29] Speaker B: Now on the website, Flat Bill. [00:33:31] Speaker A: Oh, okay. [00:33:33] Speaker B: Yeah, you should. [00:33:33] Speaker A: Oh, by the way, very funny. I don't remember who it was. Somebody very kind came and gave Bud Buzz the gift. The most hilarious gift of one of the upside down Dallas hats signed by Lucho Acosta. Talk about a treasure. [00:33:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:52] Speaker A: Fabulous, awesome stuff. [00:33:54] Speaker B: It's going on the list, by the way, if it's not already. [00:33:56] Speaker A: Yeah, it absolutely needs to. [00:33:58] Speaker C: New segment. The burn pile. [00:33:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:05] Speaker A: And then I also found out that Tuesday morning, 11:30, the preseason press conference is taking place up at the stadium on Tuesday. So one of us, I'm sure, will go and attend that and just ask them really hard questions. No softballs, everybody. All right. Any other FC Dallas stuff you want to get into before we move on to other matters at hand? [00:34:29] Speaker B: Three kids from the U16 team got called into the next camp. That's kind of nice for them. [00:34:34] Speaker A: All right, go FC Dallas. Kind of tied to that is we were kind of working through what we wanted to talk today about today, and then Joe Lowry gave us a giant nugget because he leaked out, you know, as, you know, coming up later this week. Or is it. What day are they supposed to announce tomorrow? Atletico Dallas is making a big deal out of announcing their first manager, which is a big deal. And it turns out. Wait, do we ever figure out which way. Remember which way we're supposed to pronounce his last name? [00:35:06] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:35:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:08] Speaker A: Peter Luxon is going to be the first Atletico Dallas manager. And that's actually. Yeah. What's Yalls reaction to that? [00:35:19] Speaker B: The thing about the name is that we call him Peter Lucine to his face for like a decade, not give a. [00:35:25] Speaker A: He didn't give two squirts. No, he did not. And I'm still going to call him Peter Lucine until somebody tells me otherwise. From Athletico Dallas. So I was stunned by this leak because that is not a name I had on my bingo card. [00:35:39] Speaker B: He's on mine. Really? Yeah. [00:35:41] Speaker A: It didn't even dawn on me that he would be up for that. And I think that's a really interesting signing in a mixture of, you know, ambition and a guy that's probably his pedigree, his resume, the fact that he, you know, he managed an MLS club for a very short period. [00:35:57] Speaker B: Of time. [00:35:58] Speaker A: I think that's a really interesting signing. [00:36:00] Speaker B: It's a really great hire. Like, we joke, joked around a bit about Caleb Porter because he knows Brian Cochran, their head of soccer. We talked about Ugo Perez as an idea if you were chasing the particular market, they were chasing quite aggressively. But then after that I was, I was thinking about guys that would have a local splash, might even live here. You know, I was thinking of names like Jason Christ is not coaching right now. He doesn't live here, but Jeff Cassar coached RSL and runs Dallas Hornets right now. Oh, yeah, Peter looks on. I, you know, I had this short list of those. Now, I would not get a claim that I thought it was going to be Peter Luxon, but he was on my list of names. That was Zarko. We tossed around a little bit, you and I, I think at one point. So I, I didn't have any definitive action and I would not have bet that it was Peter looks on, but it doesn't make sense. And because he does speak obviously French, but he also speaks Spanish. I've seen him talking to Brazilian players and what I assume is Portuguese. Perhaps they also speak Spanish. [00:36:57] Speaker A: Well, the promo video they put out today, that's. We're pretty sure that's him narrating. [00:37:01] Speaker B: Pretty sure it's definitely him. We don't, we can't say 100 confirm that it's Pulu song. We don't know that. But Lowry's knows what he's doing. And obviously that video today. [00:37:12] Speaker C: We also don't know anyone else that speaks Spanish with a French accent. [00:37:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it's clearly, it's clearly Peter on the video. So. And I do know, like I have talked to Corcoran a bit about their philosophy and they, they wanted an aggressive attacking coach. They want to play aggressive attacking soccer. You guys watch Peter coach FC Dallas. That's what he does, right? He adds a. If we want to use the word pathway, that's a bit of a cliche. But he adds a legitimacy to that. Having coached in the academy, having been there when guys have come through, he's. He coached some of the best guys we've seen come through. He won Dallas cup with Nolan of all in that group. He had Javier Morales kid, I believe was one of his kids. So like, you know, he's coached some really nice kids that have progressed through. So he adds a legitimacy to that idea that they're trying to develop. So it's a hire that makes a lot of sense for them in a lot of ways. [00:38:08] Speaker C: I'd be really interested to see. Obviously we kind of saw his back up against the wall trying to grind out result style with FC Dallas in the youth teams, we saw much more of the sexy football of his generation of French players with, you know, his old buddies Thierry Henry and and co. Can he, you know, does he want to translate that or does he want to translate more of what we saw with FC Dallas when it was like just hey, we're kind of get us in the playoffs. [00:38:35] Speaker B: Well, he did try and open it up, you remember. He did, yeah. Compared to the, to the super mega defensive that was happening before he took over. He did open it up as best as he go. [00:38:44] Speaker C: Yeah, but he didn't have Emmanuel Petigo. [00:38:49] Speaker B: Not the same town as the Champions League playing for Dallas Athletico. No. I think he's the kind of guy like we've seen him when he has control, which is mostly with the academy teams and he's always working on those kinds of things and playing that kind of way. Even on when Dallas is dictating, at the time they were dictating four through three through the whole academy, he still played a more opened up and more aggressive version of soccer with his teams. And so I think he would revert to that like you revert to what he did when he's playing with those best teams in the world in Europe. [00:39:18] Speaker C: I will say one of the legitimately most appealing, visually appealing games of football I've seen was his under 13 team. The way he had them playing was unreal. These three foot nothing kids that could pass the ball like Zidane. [00:39:36] Speaker A: 13 year olds passing like Zidane. That sounds like a good idea. [00:39:39] Speaker C: It was a really tiny field, but still it worked. [00:39:42] Speaker A: Tiny little Zidanes all over the field. [00:39:44] Speaker E: I love it. [00:39:45] Speaker A: All right, now I'm not one to stir the pot. [00:39:52] Speaker C: The you on. [00:39:53] Speaker A: Okay, But I gotta, I just want to throw this out here. Does it add anything to the idea? Because I have no idea how this is going to play out when AD starts next year. In terms of the rivalry between FC Dallas and Atletico, does it add anything or is there any intent there at all? Do you think Buzz, in terms of hiring a guy that was kind of a big FCD guy and then let go by the club when he clearly wanted the job, etc. [00:40:19] Speaker B: Etc. Well, I think there's a value to the local angle. Local enough. The knowledge of the youth systems in the area, the fact that you've got kids that are playing in those youth systems, the fact that you know the lay of the land around here. I don't think that Athletico is trying to make a rivalry with FC Dallas. Any rivalry that happened has almost been by a stumble on someone's part or by someone else's actions. If you want to point to Moneygram for example, the city of Dallas was mad at FC Dallas. The city of Dallas did that and Athletico almost was just sitting there and then Moneygram landed in their lap. You know, they. They didn't go out seeing to wreck Moneygram and take it away from FC Dallas. That's not what they were trying to do. The Sea of Dallas said, hey, do you want this? They were like, sure. So, like I don't think, like it doesn't do the. The athletical guys any business, a good business to get in a pissing contest with billionaires. Those guys don't have that kind of money like the Hunts. Can money whip them right out of the game in a hurry if they want to? And that. So that doesn't Athletico. Dallas is after a totally different market and a totally different section of this gigantic metropolis that is dfw. So I don't. I don't think there's any intent there. I think it's all just the idea of a good coach who's local and has the connections and fits the profile of what you were looking for. [00:41:37] Speaker C: Football is all about connections. And it's exactly that. He knows all of the North Texas SC players, all of the academy players that have come and gone. [00:41:47] Speaker B: He. [00:41:47] Speaker C: If you knew need to build a roster and you need, whether it's top of the roster or bottom of the roster, talent. You need someone that knows the local landscape. And he's. He's been through all the age groups. He knows it. [00:41:59] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm fascinated by the hire and that also gets me excited as we begin this adventure of a giant, you know, of a new club coming here, playing at that level. I assume they'll end up in the premier division as soon as it gets launched, but. But now we're at the point where they've got a manager. Now they're going to start signing players and that becomes exciting. Like we get to live through this entire thing again. And I'm really, really jazzed about that. [00:42:22] Speaker B: I think if you look at Peter lan, you can actually think that he would help your relationship with FC Dallas because even though they didn't hire him, they didn't fire him either. His kids still play for the club. [00:42:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:33] Speaker B: So like there's a positive relationship there that might even help bridge that on in football. Terms maybe not in. I own that I should. That should be my complex terms of. Maybe in football terms it does. [00:42:44] Speaker C: They had the very. They had a very clear expectation of, hey, I've managed the first team. If I don't get the first team job, I'm out. Love the place, but I'm not taking a step backwards. [00:42:55] Speaker B: Yes. [00:42:55] Speaker C: You know, there's a respect there. [00:42:56] Speaker A: My hope is that FC Dallas and Atletico Dallas find some sort of friendship between the two, a nice rivalry. If they end up playing in an open cup game or a scrimmage or something, it would. What I want to see in the rivalry is whatever this Fort Worth thing is, because if Atletico Dallas has a legitimate rival playing in the same division in the USL, you know, 45 minutes down, I20. That I think is just makes for fantastic for all of us here in the Metroplex. I just think that. And that needs to be like angry and pissy and all the stuff that we love. [00:43:33] Speaker B: Yeah. That rivalry will take all the rivalry energy that Athletico Dallas has. Like there won't be any leftover energy to send FC Dallas when Athletica is on the deal with Fort Worth. [00:43:42] Speaker C: Not only that, you have to look at the realistic expectations of a new league. USL Premier will be a Division one league. Will it be the same quality on the field as mls? No, not for the first at least five years. [00:43:54] Speaker B: Just like the Super League. [00:43:55] Speaker C: Yeah, Super League. You know, Dallas Trinity borrows so many players from Washington spirit. It gets them game time. It gets them ready for to play at the higher level. It helps raise the game of the Super Super League. And then you end up playing with players like Bethany Boss and Heather Steinbrook on loan and. And everyone else. That it would benefit everyone if the two Dallas teams would play nice. [00:44:17] Speaker B: I was just talking to somebody today about the idea that there needs to be something still between North Texas and FC Dallas. Diego Garcia was why this conversation came up. And if. If either athletic or a footwork team or rodeo can help provide some of those bridges, se Dallas should take care advantage of all of them. [00:44:35] Speaker C: Anthony Ramirez. Yeah, like he's. He's not playing for FC Dallas now, but it's like, could he have. Could he have made that standard and made the step up to mls? [00:44:44] Speaker B: Yep. [00:44:47] Speaker A: Very good. Well, let's see. There's the Athletico part I wanted to talk about. Oh, that's what it was in the Dallas Morning News today. There's actually a really interesting article written about the fact, the thing that we've been talking about now for the last year or so is this influx of new soccer clubs that are coming. If you haven't found it, I'm sure Buzz has retweeted it or something or put it up on Social. It's actually pretty. They talked to Michael Hitchcock, they talked to the guys from Atletico. No mention of the Fort Worth thing, which I continued to feel like we're gonna. We're the only ones look like idiots at some point, but I hope not. Hope not. [00:45:22] Speaker G: All right. [00:45:22] Speaker A: Now, the other big news that happened this week in. In DFW soccer, and I think this is a significant piece of news, is that Dallas Trinity announced that they cut a broadcast deal with Tegna, meaning that all Trinity games moving forward, it started last weekend, will be either streamed on WFAA Plus. In fact, all the games for the rest of the season will be on WFAA plus. And then I think every other game will also be broadcast on channel 29, which is Tegna's channel that they use and they created to show Maverick games. So I think that's a huge move for them and I hope. Man, I just thought that was a really good piece. That was a great move by everybody. [00:46:07] Speaker B: Yeah. A few years ago, you remember when FC Dallas managed to piece together like a little broadcast network where they got on, like five stations around North Texas. That was a really great idea. It tended to fall apart over time, and then Apple TV killed it. But execution of it could have been better. As all FC House good ideas are, the execution is never as good as the idea, but the concept was awesome. And this is a perfect example of that. When you're trying to build a sport, you need to put your team in front of more eyeballs. Dfw. And you know, this is one of the worst cable penetration markets in the United States. For decades. It was. It's. It's less than 60%. It's one of the worst markets in the United States. Now, obviously, things are different in the streaming world, but it's a. It's a. It's an area that always has way underachieved than anything else. But over the air. We watched the Rangers for years on over the air. We've watched the Mavericks over the air. So getting over the air gets you in front of humongous chunks of the Dallas market that are not on streaming. [00:47:06] Speaker C: Oh, sorry. I was going to go get a beer. [00:47:08] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Somebody get Dan a beer. What beer would you like, Dan? You should have said it into the microphone. [00:47:16] Speaker B: It's an audible podcast. [00:47:18] Speaker A: No, no, he doesn't want anybody to know what Beer he's having. [00:47:22] Speaker C: It's the grand crew. It's a great anniversary beer. I was here one time where someone won the. The Giant, whatever the size, bigger than a Magnum is, where they just sat on the bar and popped it off and they're like, yep, I spent a bunch of money on this and I'm giving it out. And everyone loved it. It was great. Thank you so much. [00:47:38] Speaker A: Thank you, Scooter. All right, so the other eyeballs are great, right? Eyeballs are great. Yes. Thank you. The interesting part was for their first WFAA plus game, they went out and won a road game and they won it heavily. Damn. [00:47:53] Speaker C: Yeah. Fort Lauderdale have kind of had their number to. So to go there and win 4 nil was pretty, pretty impressive. [00:48:00] Speaker A: That great result. [00:48:01] Speaker C: Nathan Thackery Scott playing like a really nice aggressive style. Plays really nicely with what Chris Pretiselli wanted. The new sightings really came into play. I mean, if you. Even if you take it back to the new season. Winnie Balata had a goal and an assist. Heather Steinbrook was incredible. Best player on the field by a country mile. They didn't really have a great control of the midfield, but every time the ball came through, just spread it out wide, you know. Dallas Trinity didn't exactly have a speed advantage, but getting in those wide areas, they were really able to control the, you know, parts of the game. [00:48:41] Speaker B: Yeah, you mentioned Balata. That was her best game of the year. And because we talked about at the beginning of the season, Peter, you might remember this, that losing Deb Avidun was a massive, massive blow. Well, staying back finally replaced her. Floyd has come in and looks fantastic as a center back. She can also slide out. When they do the hints and flex, she slides out. It works great. It's like all the additions they've made have looked really good in their new roles. The new striker they've signed Bethany Boss, who comes out of former NWSL Rookie of the Year. [00:49:10] Speaker C: Second score of the season. [00:49:12] Speaker B: I thought it was. She scored like 30 goals in the last three years or something like that. Just a phenomenal pickup. It looks like she hasn't started yet, but we'll see what happens. So this is a comprehensive win for a team that has been. Was in the first half of the season, was flat this half of the season. They look fantastic. They're playing a possession game that leads into Misimo's town. Lancaster also fits into this paradigm. Strawn came in, looked right at home. You know, obviously Uber Gagu looks tremendous as she always does at 97 years old. Or whatever she is. [00:49:42] Speaker C: So 32, it's not that bad. [00:49:46] Speaker B: 38. Story 44. [00:49:48] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:49:48] Speaker B: Whatever it is, she's ancient. [00:49:50] Speaker C: So one thing that occurred to me while watching the game, we obviously talked about the new signings would be an effort to get Amber Wisner back into the midfield. We saw a pretty rough build out of the back. Not as. Not as bad as FC Dallas the other day though. But with Heather Steinbrook playing so well in that almost six role, where do you put Wesner without reducing Stainbrook's impact? [00:50:17] Speaker B: Well, you leave her as center back. And if Wisner is going to be done in three months anyway, like you had to replace her. So like if Stain Beck is the replacement, fantastic. Because Wizards retiring. There's no if, ands or buts about this. She's done. This is not something she'll waffle on and come back. She's out. So, you know, it's a perfect replacement if you can get her to stick around long enough. If she doesn't get snapped back up. [00:50:37] Speaker C: Like Aberdeen did, I mean, she definitely should. Aberdeen at least was the end of her. The natural end of a loan period. So hopefully a few months with. With Stainbrook. [00:50:48] Speaker A: Well, they got an interesting test. Up next. They play Lexington, who are in first place and have not lost the game since when? Ever, Ever, Ever, Ever, Never, ever. [00:50:58] Speaker C: Well, their record's really weird because they've won Juggernaut. They've like, it's what, 17 games in and they've drawn nine of them. [00:51:07] Speaker A: That's a tough gap. [00:51:07] Speaker C: No. Did you just give up then? [00:51:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I did. [00:51:09] Speaker C: Okay. [00:51:11] Speaker A: It'll be fun to watch the games on television. I think that's a. Like I say said, I think that's a big deal. North Texas buzz real quick. [00:51:17] Speaker B: Oh, man. Yeah, they stomped Tulsa FC3 nothing. We should run through the starters because it's important to see some of these names. Trialist. Baron. Trialist. Trialist. [00:51:28] Speaker A: What was up? [00:51:30] Speaker B: Trialist. Contrast. Trialist. Trials. Trialist. [00:51:33] Speaker A: Why even bother? [00:51:35] Speaker B: Well, it's not only that. It's like, did I see goal by. By who? [00:51:40] Speaker A: How they're trolling you. [00:51:42] Speaker B: But it's literally. It's like, this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. It's like just put their names there. We already knew one of them is adu. Nice. Who's the kid they drafted in the second round? Well, they signed him today. Like you. Well, that if they announced it today, that means you signed him a week ago. So put his name in the thing. Like, why is it at least him so it's so dumb. It's like, you know why you're blocking out a team that's going into Mansfield and needs to build audience in Mansfield and you're blacking out all the information about him. It's. Who cares about who's starting a preseason game for Northeast other than maybe the new fans. You're trying to build down a Mansfield. [00:52:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Speaking of Mansfield. Interesting. It'll be interesting to see what the front office does about FC Dallas's leagues cup situation because those games are going to happen in a period of time where the stadiums actually close and where are they going to play these games? And I think playing them in Mansfield is a hugely good idea. [00:52:37] Speaker B: Well, last time we asked, the answer was but we'll get back to you. So I just don't know either. [00:52:43] Speaker A: I think it would be a great idea to play leagues cup games down at the brand new stadium in Mansfield, introduce that. That to the. That new market because that is effectively a new market 100 so I think that would be great. [00:52:55] Speaker C: There's definitely some talk that that is the. Yeah, the plan. [00:52:59] Speaker A: All right. [00:52:59] Speaker B: I happen to know, for example, that some of the northwest United States teams are going to be playing in Spokane during the certain. [00:53:06] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:53:06] Speaker B: All right. [00:53:06] Speaker C: Don't show off. All right. [00:53:07] Speaker B: I'm just saying I know some people that know some people. [00:53:10] Speaker A: All right. As I don't want to do this too long because I have no idea how long this next segment's going to go. [00:53:15] Speaker C: So we've done enough kit talk. [00:53:18] Speaker A: Yeah, we've done enough kit talk. Now it comes for this. The reason why we're here. Everybody is here. I want to as last week. Let me just tell a quick story. So last week we're recording the podcast now. Buzz swears he told us two weeks ago he was going to do this. I would swear to you that I in fact had no clue. So we're literally on this, you know, a conference thing that we record into and suddenly the words started to come out of Buzz's mouth that he is moving, that he's leaving, he's telling the public, everybody. The thing that we've known secretly for quite some time but were held to be very quiet about it, not to. [00:53:56] Speaker C: Reveal that you ran to the bathroom very quickly on off that announcement. [00:53:59] Speaker A: I did, yes. I was very sad and I am still very sad. And so that meant, oh no, we gotta scramble and put something together. So the fact that all of you have showed up today is tremendous. And the really cool thing is what many of you don't know, because you weren't a fan of the club at the time. There are a number of people here that are original fans from 1996. There is Damian, Kevin, Jeff Chavo, all people who were part of the original Inferno supporters group. They're all here in the room with us. And Dan V. Yeah, Dan Bish is here too. And, and, and I think most of those guys made up the seven. There was a group of. There were eight fans that made it to the US Open cup final game in Indianapolis on that incredibly cold night in 1997. I flew there for business. I manufactured a business trip to be there for it. And the other guys, they literally drove up all together and they've got great stories about it. And so it's really cool that those guys made their way to be here. Other people that I've gotten to see tonight, people I have not met before, I got to meet, the fact that you. You guys are here is a tremendous testament to. To Buzz. But the person I want to bring to the microphone now is my co host of the Kick around, the great Andy Swift, everybody. He doesn't need the headphones. He can. He can. Yeah. Just right here. [00:55:37] Speaker G: Can I steal your mic? [00:55:38] Speaker A: You can steal the mic. [00:55:40] Speaker G: Thank you, Peter, first of all, for putting this together because it gave all of us a chance to see each other. I was going to mention the names. You did. You stole my thunder. So great to see you guys from a day one or MLS 1.0 days. It's great to see you guys. [00:55:55] Speaker A: Can I introduce you real quick? May not know who you are. [00:55:58] Speaker G: I thought you did. [00:55:59] Speaker A: Everybody know who Andy Swift is other than being a host of the show? Okay. [00:56:03] Speaker G: I'm Peter. [00:56:05] Speaker A: Andy Swift not only is my friend and my co host of the Kick around in a big part of the reason why that show even exists today, but Andy actually was one of the forebears of mls. He was one of the original employees of the Dallas Burn when it launched. He was the club's second general manager. He's formerly the executive director of the Dallas Cow. [00:56:25] Speaker G: This is about Buzz. This is about Buzz, dude. [00:56:27] Speaker A: He's a big deal. So I'm glad this is about Buzz. I just want. But I think that's important for the story you're about to tell. I think that context is important. [00:56:34] Speaker G: Yeah. There's no story. I just. I asked Peter if I could just. And you were on the show this weekend. This is your life. [00:56:42] Speaker B: Buzz. [00:56:43] Speaker G: But I asked him if I could say something, not even personal, more about representing the fan base and the club and the franchise, what you meant to. Because a lot of people don't know, and especially those that weren't around for 1.0 days. And back in the original MLS days and the names that we all mentioned, we didn't talk radio. Well, still doesn't happen. But we didn't have a way for fans to talk and interact and for us to disseminate news. It was listserv. It was big soccer, and it was Buzz. And for him to have done what he did for us. A lot of people don't realize how important Buzz's work was in those 1.0 days. It was my favorite part of the day as a GM to read what Buzz would write about practice because I couldn't always make it out. And I couldn't wait for Buzz to, like, remember Chris Ward or PR guy? [00:57:37] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:57:39] Speaker G: He and I would sit and read your report to find out what happened at practice. [00:57:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:43] Speaker G: This is management. This is not just fans. This is what you meant to us. And. And I told this on the show Saturday. And a lot not. I don't think anybody knows except you and I. You're the only ones that know. And then Peter found out Saturday. I guess people that were listening. All ten. [00:58:00] Speaker A: This blew my mind. [00:58:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:58:02] Speaker G: So we went to Chile for preseason training two straight years. Those that know know that my mom is Chilean and I like to go to Chile when I can. I went year one with the team for preseason training, year two. But something happens when the team goes to preseason, and if Buzz is not there back then, you couldn't get news about the team. That's how important Buzz was. [00:58:27] Speaker F: For me. [00:58:27] Speaker G: It was more important as the GM of the team to send Buzz in my seat to Chile so he could cover the team for the fans. That's how important it was, how important his coverage was for the team. So thank you, Buzz. We know what he's done. All of you guys know what he's done in recent times, obviously, but not everybody knows what he did early on. Kevin is another mention. I don't think you mentioned Kevin. [00:58:51] Speaker B: Oh, he did. [00:58:52] Speaker G: Oh, he did. Okay. Among those names. [00:58:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:58:55] Speaker G: Okay. But it's great seeing you guys, but this is about Buzz. So I just want to say thank you on behalf of. Not just me personally, but the organization, the franchise, what is FC Dallas? Dallas Byrne. Thank you for what you've done. [00:59:07] Speaker B: You're. [00:59:08] Speaker G: You're a part of where it is now. You really are. You don't realize it, but you are. That's all. Thank you. [00:59:14] Speaker F: Thank you. [00:59:15] Speaker B: Tell A real fast story related to that. When Mike Jeffries got hired the first time I met him, he goes, hey, hey, come here. I need you to change the way you do your stuff. In Chicago, we read your stuff all the time. The Fire. [00:59:26] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:59:27] Speaker G: So Mike Jeffries, the new coach of FC Dallas, was the assistant coach at the Fire. They would read buzzes. I wasn't the only one reading the reports, you guys. They, the other teams were reading his reports. That's how detailed they were and how informative they're. And he told you please don't do that anymore. [00:59:43] Speaker A: Right. [00:59:43] Speaker B: Well, he asked me to just change. [00:59:44] Speaker G: Or change the lineups a little bit, you know. [00:59:46] Speaker B: And so I. One of the things I did was I alter what day I went. So like, because I would go on Friday because that's the most telling. But he was like, well, you're telling too much. Okay, I'll go on Wednesday. So it changed up what I was doing and he was happy with the changes I made. So. [00:59:58] Speaker G: And we could ask the coaches. Chris and I would like read his report. Okay, who's going to start tomorrow? Like, we got to read Buzz's report because if we ask the coach. Well, I don't want, you know, you guys know. So anyway, gracing everybody. Thank you, Peter, for the opportunity. Thank you, Dan for the microphone and Buzz, thank you. Really, really, really. Thank you. By the way, he's just moving locate. He's still going to be doing. [01:00:20] Speaker B: Also real quickly in the names he mentioned, about five of those people were the first four or five people that wrote for third degree. Other than me. Chamo Damien, for sure you did Kevin. Kevin's coming on many times. Viking met was the first one. [01:00:36] Speaker A: All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Viking, yeah, sure. [01:00:39] Speaker G: I'm bummed Dustin can't be here as well, the original. [01:00:42] Speaker B: But yeah, Dustin Christman. I saw, I saw Damon. I saw Dana Robertson earlier. He used to work with us. [01:00:49] Speaker G: Daniel was like Daniel 3 when the burn was born. [01:00:52] Speaker B: Yeah. The point is, is that third degree would not have gone past what we used to call fanzines, where I put like two articles on it. If it weren't for those guys, it never would have continued to been something else. So if you get a chance to meet one of them, thank them too, because I. I owe them everything for where we are today. Hitman was maybe the third. Kevin, we called him. Hit me that. Guys like it. [01:01:15] Speaker A: My dumbest nickname ever. [01:01:16] Speaker B: Yeah, people back then like to use aliases. [01:01:18] Speaker G: Was he Big Soccer? Hitman on Big Soccer or still is. Do you still lurk big soccer. [01:01:23] Speaker B: Do you still write like Peter was the. Maybe the third or fourth person in on the whole deal? It's been there since then, so those guys are a big part of how we made it through the early years and why we became what we are, too. So they also deserve some credit. [01:01:34] Speaker A: It's amazing that in the course of the last seven days, the number of times I've read the story of, oh, my gosh, I found I fell in love with FC Dallas or the Burn because of third degree. I can't tell you how many times that's been said to me, that without third degree, I would never be the fan I was. I am today, 100%. Yeah. [01:01:53] Speaker C: It's a big. [01:01:53] Speaker G: It's. [01:01:54] Speaker A: And I've said for. I've said for a hundred years, if you were doing what you were doing. 100 years. Yes. In another market, if you were doing this in Atlanta, Seattle, or someplace like that, I. I just. I think you're the. [01:02:08] Speaker B: The. [01:02:08] Speaker A: You'd be a hero exponentially greater than you are. This wonderful group of people here, it just be received differently than it is in Dallas, I think so. [01:02:17] Speaker B: This is amazing. I thought there'd be five people here, so. Y' all are awesome. [01:02:19] Speaker E: We. [01:02:20] Speaker G: We got a shot, a shout out to Steve as well. The MLS 1.0 beat writer back in the day as well. So our other source of coverage, the dean. [01:02:27] Speaker A: The dean of soccer journalism, Dallas, he. [01:02:30] Speaker G: Was part of that. [01:02:31] Speaker B: That whole thing taught me everything I know. [01:02:32] Speaker G: All right, 100. Thank you, guys. [01:02:34] Speaker A: Andy, by the way, is the guy that shit can. Mike Jeffries, too, so. [01:02:37] Speaker G: So congratulations. [01:02:38] Speaker F: Good for you. [01:02:38] Speaker G: Well, I hired him, too, so work both ways. [01:02:42] Speaker B: I guess. [01:02:44] Speaker C: So. [01:02:44] Speaker G: Thank you, Buzz. Appreciate it. [01:02:45] Speaker A: Thank you, Andy. [01:02:46] Speaker E: I appreciate it. [01:02:47] Speaker G: Danny back? [01:02:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Come on back. All right, so I. I don't know. A lot of people sent me messages and asked, hey, can I come tell Buzz something? If I just take this opportunity. If anybody wants to come up and tell Buzz something. And recorded officially into posterity, into the microphone. Yeah, Kevin, please. [01:03:03] Speaker B: Come on, Kevin. We don't have two hours. [01:03:05] Speaker A: Yeah, Kevin, Be brief. Kevin is the verbal version of Big B in the discord. [01:03:12] Speaker C: Oh, wow. [01:03:12] Speaker F: Okay. [01:03:13] Speaker A: That's a joke only some people will get. [01:03:15] Speaker F: Yeah, well, I'm going to keep it real simple, but I also think I want to share something that hopefully is insightful. Journalism degree followed. The industry have taken it very seriously. It is obviously, as we're struggling today, to really be able to see good information on a regular basis. Okay, so what Andy was talking about him giving the real information. Doing it professionally is really important, but there were two things there that. That I think you should take away. One I can share is an us story, but also, Andy gave up his seat to go to his home country to watch his team prepare for the season so he could do that. Remember that kind of sacrifice. Andy is incredibly special, and I hope we never have a goodbye party for him. But let's make sure that we thank him for what he did because, oh, my gosh. But the way Buzz brought me in is, I think, very insightful as to why he was successful, because he said, I disagree with everything you say. So I want you to be a voice on my website. [01:04:16] Speaker B: That's true. Yeah. [01:04:18] Speaker F: Okay. [01:04:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:04:19] Speaker B: And. [01:04:19] Speaker A: And that your takes are stupid. [01:04:22] Speaker B: I didn't say that. I said we don't agree. [01:04:24] Speaker F: Right. [01:04:25] Speaker B: No. [01:04:25] Speaker F: And, I mean, it was a great honor to me that he wanted to have a different voice. And frankly, you know, at micro and macro levels, we need more of that. But that is definitely something that I think is the reason why people respected you wasn't just that you got the raw information, but when you were developing other people to come be a voice on your page, you weren't looking for people to go, oh, Buzz is great, which is what makes you great. [01:04:49] Speaker B: Thank you. Expand 1 Honda. Yeah. [01:04:51] Speaker A: Excellent. [01:04:52] Speaker D: Thank you. [01:04:52] Speaker A: Kevin Lindstrom, everybody. [01:04:53] Speaker B: I believe soccer. One of the great things about soccer is the fact that everyone sees the game a little bit differently, and we can all have discussions about what works or what doesn't work. And you can even watch different coaches coach the exact same set of players completely differently. [01:05:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:05:06] Speaker B: And it's true. Watching the game, too. [01:05:07] Speaker A: All right, anybody else? Come on up. Talk right into the mic. Make love to it. Oh, get close. [01:05:13] Speaker B: Beautiful. [01:05:13] Speaker A: Beautiful. So, Hubert, Tito on the discord. Whatever. Social media, really. I'm here for DBG with IFC Dallas and the Unstable, our sponsor tonight, by the way. It's true. It's true. [01:05:24] Speaker B: It's true. [01:05:25] Speaker D: Yes. [01:05:25] Speaker A: No, we just wanted to thank you for your coverage, what you've done for the team. I know effectively not a lot's going to change, but it's nice to have you around and we love you and thank you on behalf of both the Porters Group, the Unstable, and Dallas Beer Guardians. Thank you for what you're doing and hope you have a good move. [01:05:40] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. [01:05:41] Speaker A: Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, real quick. Anybody else want to say anything? Come on up. Oh, here he is. Ah, it's my favorite data nerd. In the whole world. Everybody, look, it's Armin. [01:05:52] Speaker B: Get him a stool. [01:05:52] Speaker D: I'm too short for this. Yeah, yeah, you gotta lower that down a little bit. So, I mean, I don't know if you guys know the kind of. The origin story of how I even got involved with FC Dallas was because I rambly DM Buzz. And I was like, hey, in high school, in high. Literally, I was like, wait, you slid. [01:06:06] Speaker A: Into Buzz's D before it was cool. [01:06:08] Speaker D: Before it was cool, Peter. [01:06:09] Speaker B: I get that a lot. [01:06:12] Speaker D: And when that, when that happened, it was like, I mean, my first ever opportunity, right, With a team that I grew up about like watching etc, etc and Buzz open me with open arms. We watched the US Open Cup Final together. We sat next to each other and watched that. I think we took someone's seats like we were in there. But it was still like super fantastic experience. And without Buzz, I mean, think about it, myself, I wouldn't have done any FC Dallas anything, Dan. I don't know if we had an opportunity to find you or something. Daniel Robertson as well, like the other teenager they referenced. Yeah, exactly, exactly. It's like this whole tree of FC Dallas media coverage came because of Buzz, you know, because. And without him, there isn't this community that's here. I mean, look at this. Look how many people are here. It's. It's amazing, right? Like, it's something that I think within, you know, especially with FC Dallas, where it's just like sometimes it's a little fragmented. The. The community you can all get together on Buzz's discord and talk about stuff. When I left the club in 2023, I was pretty bummed out, to be honest with you. And joining this discord, like, kind of helped to kind of get back together, you know, like just with the people that, you know, that all joined this. And again, the community that you cultivated is just amazing. I mean, again, like for those who aren't here, like, it's like what so many people up and down right now in Petty colas. It's generally impressive. And I don't think people understand the influence that you have on MLS as a whole. Like as small. That sounds like you have a big influence. And I know you're going to keep doing this, it's going to be a little bit different, but it's. It's been amazing, man. So thank you for. On behalf of me and everyone else that's been involved with this and it's been. It's been super awesome, man. So really appreciate you, man. Really Appreciate you. [01:08:09] Speaker A: Wait, wait. Come back and explain xg, please. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. [01:08:13] Speaker G: Please. [01:08:13] Speaker B: I want to bore you guys. [01:08:14] Speaker D: Damn. It's a celebration. [01:08:15] Speaker B: I'll tell you one thing about the Discord is I had no idea that that was going to work. I mean, I use it in gaming, in my nerdy gaming, and I thought, well, we could try this, see what happens. And there were like, five people in there, and Peter was like, what's Discord? [01:08:30] Speaker A: Yeah, no, it's worked out great, 100%. All right. Anybody else? Anybody has sweet nothings you'd like to say, come on over. There he is. Look at him. He's one of the original Inferno dudes. Introduce yourself to everybody. [01:08:44] Speaker E: Hello, I'm Rich Moore. I was there at the beginning and also with Inferno fc. Hey, Kevin. And that was a great time, huh? [01:08:54] Speaker B: I played for them. You did, yeah. [01:08:56] Speaker E: I remember that. That was great. So I want to explain what it meant outside of Dallas. [01:09:04] Speaker B: Oh. [01:09:06] Speaker E: So most people know that a while back, my family and I, we moved to San Antonio. Excuse me. And you're my only connection back to the team because I couldn't watch many of the games for a couple reasons. First of all, they weren't broadcast over regular air. And secondly, I was at the Scorpions games when Dallas was playing. [01:09:34] Speaker B: Right, right. [01:09:35] Speaker C: So. [01:09:38] Speaker E: I would get your report and get your feedback on how the game went, and that was my only connection back to FC Dallas. And then we moved back and life changed for me and my schedule messed around and all that, and I couldn't make very many games. And then you started the Patreon thing. I was like, it's perfect. The Patreon thing has kept me connected with what's been going on with the club and your breakdowns of on the field. You know, we're going to do a single pivot, we're going to double pivot. And I can envision that in my head because of the Patreon message you put out there. And so I just really want to thank you for keeping that going for people who just for one reason or other, had to be disconnected from being able to attend the games. [01:10:29] Speaker B: You're welcome. [01:10:30] Speaker E: So that was just so all these different aspects, the website and the Discord and all the different things, you do keep the fans connected. And so I want to tell you that I've shared this with other people who were in the league that the Scorpions were in, and they were like. [01:10:50] Speaker B: Wow, we need a. [01:10:51] Speaker E: We need a buzz in our town. I mean, that was. That was really the vibe I was getting from the other supporters groups in that league, in that old NSL NASL league. And so you really set the standard. [01:11:04] Speaker B: Thanks. [01:11:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I don't think that there's not another MLS team, certainly not another USL team, that has one independent guy that can literally run through the starting 11 down to, like, the U15s in that team's academy setup. I mean, it is remarkable the amount of work that Buzz puts into not just covering the senior team, but everything else that he delivers to you guys. And so while everything about third degree, the podcast, the social media, the website's going to stay the same, it is going to be different, Buzz. I mean, it just is. And, and so thank you, Rich, for not making me cry, because I thought you were going to make me cry, so thank you. It's good to see you. Yeah, you too. Thank you for coming. Thank you very much. You know, Armin made a comment about soccer media. I want to really quickly read you something that I received yesterday in a conversation, actually, when we put out the flyer and I put out my tweet and stuff, I actually, surprisingly got some reaction from some of the bigger names. I got a. I got a message from Tom Bogert. I got a message from. I had a phone call with Jeff Carlisle, and then Matt Doyle, the great Matt Doyle, wrote the following. He said, would you please kindly explain to Buzz, Excuse me, I got the wrong message. Oh, I almost read you one. I wasn't supposed to read you. [01:12:29] Speaker B: Oh, no. Oh, now you gotta read that one. [01:12:35] Speaker A: Please let Buzz know how much he's always been appreciated by the whole extra time gang. Wow, that Matt Doyle right there. So, yeah. [01:12:47] Speaker B: Never met him. [01:12:48] Speaker A: Yeah, so I, you know, do. Is it Bogart that's told the story about how you actually scouted him or something? [01:12:55] Speaker B: Yeah, he's mentioned that. I, I, I'm sure I haven't gotten looked, but I'm sure he was in my ranking of players, you know, somewhere down at like 50 something, whatever I'd have to go look for. [01:13:06] Speaker A: Congratulations to Tommy B. He had a. He's a new daddy now, by the way, if you guys didn't know that. All right, we're going to finish this up. Anything else? Anybody else want to come say anything? Come throw love on Buzz. Y' all ready to go home, be done with this? All right, Very good, by the way. [01:13:26] Speaker B: Thank you. [01:13:27] Speaker A: That's good. I love it. By the way, my favorite and current number one Burn fan in the whole world, Doc, is here, guys. [01:13:36] Speaker B: The great Doc. [01:13:37] Speaker A: The great Doc. Nobody loves FC Dallas. More than Doc. And how old are you, Doc? [01:13:44] Speaker D: 11. [01:13:45] Speaker A: He's the future, guys. He is absolutely the future. And he plays for the club, too. How cool is that? All right, let's give away two jerseys. First off, we're going to give away one of the pedicola's 2026 shirts. There's a few of them down there. We'll figure out how. We'll get it to you later. Everybody get your lottery tickets out, please. You should have gotten a raffle ticket. [01:14:04] Speaker B: I didn't get one. [01:14:06] Speaker A: No, no. [01:14:06] Speaker C: Eddie was being really stingy. [01:14:08] Speaker A: Yeah, apparently. By the way, thank you to Eddie for helping out. [01:14:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:14:13] Speaker A: All right, here we go. Buzz, everybody. Buzz. You reach in, pick out a ticket. [01:14:18] Speaker B: Oh. [01:14:19] Speaker C: Drum roll. [01:14:21] Speaker A: There you go. All right, read off the number, please. And if you hear your number, please come up here and introduce. [01:14:28] Speaker B: 675309. Hey. [01:14:31] Speaker A: Sorry. [01:14:32] Speaker C: You've just aged so many. [01:14:33] Speaker A: Buzz with Bits. [01:14:35] Speaker B: 7, 220-687-2272, 2, 0, 6, 8, 6, 8. [01:14:43] Speaker A: Anybody got it? We got a winner. [01:14:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Come on up. [01:14:49] Speaker A: Watch out. Let him talk. Tell everybody who you are. Cheers, guys. [01:14:54] Speaker B: William Hagen's over here. I know that name. [01:14:57] Speaker A: I love it. [01:14:58] Speaker E: I love it. [01:14:58] Speaker A: Congratulations, William. We'll get you set up and get you your shirt. All right, now the next one again, for those who may not have been here, this is a special one because it came in late from FC Dallas themselves. This is a donation from them. The person whose ticket we draw will win one of the brand new 2026 FC Dallas home shirts. They're nice that we talked about quite a bit. So when you hear your number, come up here, please. And the winner is. [01:15:28] Speaker B: 722, of course. [01:15:29] Speaker A: 051722051. Who's the winner? Did somebody leave? [01:15:39] Speaker B: Yes. [01:15:44] Speaker A: No way. Rigged tough. You won. [01:15:48] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:15:49] Speaker G: All right. [01:15:49] Speaker B: Armand is donating his back. [01:15:51] Speaker A: All right. Armand is donating back. We're gonna read back. That is sketchy. [01:15:56] Speaker B: That was so sketchy. [01:15:57] Speaker A: That's something the Dynamo would do. [01:15:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:15:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:16:01] Speaker B: All right, skipping the first three. The actual winner is 1, 5, 1. [01:16:06] Speaker C: There's one number different. [01:16:07] Speaker B: 1, 5, 1, 5, 1. Who is it? [01:16:11] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:16:14] Speaker A: Congratulations. Big winner. Come over here and tell everybody who you are, please. [01:16:20] Speaker G: Hey, I'm Chris. I'm Steve Patterson, the Discord. [01:16:23] Speaker E: Hello. [01:16:23] Speaker B: All right. [01:16:24] Speaker A: Awesome. Congratulations. [01:16:26] Speaker B: That's a nice crisp, man. [01:16:27] Speaker A: All right, thank you, everybody. That's gonna do it for another episode of Third Degree, the podcast. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. I can't believe it. I didn't Cry like a baby. Hooray me. Love you guys. Love you, love you, love you. We'll talk to you next week in another episode of Third Degree. The podcast the Buzzard has blown the goop. Ah yes. What a tremendous evening. And thank you again so much to Michael Pedicolas and his manager Scooter who was a one man show tonight. So thank you to both of them. Without them we wouldn't have been able to pull this off. So go buy some pedicolas beer 2 thank you to our sponsor tonight, the tremendous group from the Dallas Beer Guardians. Don't forget their tradition continues. Be there for the legendary Dallas Beer Guardian 24 Hour Tailgate. It starts Friday, February 20th at 7pm it's leading up to Dallas first game of the season. The next day it's the home opener and you can expect food for 24 hours of food. Pizza, breakfast, chili and hot dogs. All of it a live dj, spinning tracks, vendors, games and activities. And of course free beer from Peder Colas for everybody of course who is 21 and over. So whether you're a longtime supporter or just an FC Dallas curious, I love you guys. This is the event you don't want to miss. Just find the big tent in the red lot and join their tradition. Thank you so much again for all of you that showed up and thank you to anybody that listens to this podcast. We love and adore you and we'll talk to you next week.