Nos Audietis

The Seattle Sounders haven’t played a match since March 7 and we have absolutely no idea when they might start playing again. Thus is the new world we’re living in.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you don’t have lots of questions. Jeremiah and Aaron do their best to answer them and hopefully provide you with a bit of a distraction.

This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)

Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.

 

The Corona virus continues to be the talk around the world, with countries essentially shutting down, as they attempt to weather the storm. It’s no different in the United states, where it appears the wave has yet to crest. The federal government has recommended that public gatherings be limited to a handful of people, while local governments in multiple states have shut down bars, restaurants, gyms and other social gathering places.

That obviously has affected all sports, as every league in the United States has suspended operations for at least thirty days. And based on the CDC guidelines recommending no large public gatherings for 8 weeks, it could be June before things start to return to normal…if we’re lucky.

To talk about how this is affecting professional soccer in the United states, I called up Jeff Reuter of the Athletic, who recently published a piece on how the MLS, NWSL and USL are dealing with the crisis. We focus in particular on the USL, who like other second division leagues around the world work on thin margins. We discuss how they’re dealing with the crisis, and what they’ll do when they return on the field.

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Former Sounders forward David Estrada spends some time talking about his path to professional soccer, his time with the Sounders and what he's been doing since. He also walks us through that magical night on March 17, 2012 when he opened the season with a hat trick.

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Well. It's been quite a week in US Soccer. The Federation has a new president in Cindy Parlow Cone, who takes over after Carlos Cordeiro resigned in the aftermath of charged legal filings in the Equal Pay lawsuit filed by the US Women's National Team. Cordeiro's fate was sealed as the backlash from media, fans and sponsors threatened to overwhelm the Federation.

The Fed has a lot of work to do to clean up this mess, and it's an open question whether Cordeiro leaving will resolve the problems. To talk about what led to Cordeiro's ouster, I called up fellow attorney Neil Blackmon and Kartik Krishnaiyer, both of whom are observers of the Men's and Women's National team, as well as the Federation.

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Jeremiah is joined by Miki and Tim to talk about the eerie situation surrounding the Sounders.

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Never have we gone deeper into an athlete’s mentality than we did in this episode with former Sounders stalwart, Patrick Ianni. As the author of On Frame and The Coaching Revolution—two books dedicated to shifting youth soccer culture—Ianni outlines how ego, anxiety, and the desire to be loved can mix in dangerous ways for many young athletes, and also how parents and coaches can provide a better path forward. He further delves into his own struggles with anxiety and depression shaping much of his career. Episode guide below.

0-8:50: Finding soccer inspiration in older brother | Moving from holding mid to center back under Sigi Schmid

8:50-16:50: Danger of kids conflating soccer with love | Intensifying anxiety throughout youth career

16:50-20:30: Walking the runway at high school fashion show to a Nelly song | Difference between internal and external confidence

20:30-29:40: Ego creating "stories" for self | Fighting for self-created identity at UCLA | Early MLS struggles and online gambling addiction in Houston

29:40-34:00: Love for Carrie Underwood and discovery of country music

34:00-41:30: Settling down in Seattle and concerts at Chateau Ste. Michelle | Friendship and footy with Seahawks kicker, Steve Hauschka

41:30-45:00: Learning from Pete Vagenas and Steve Zakuani in Seattle | Anxiety of starting or not-starting week to week

45:00-57:00: Transition to retirement | Learning from fatherhood | Danger of parents attaching their ego to their kids

57:00-65:00: How the U.S. can win a World Cup | Importance of street soccer and freedom to express | Separating personal identity from sports identity for kids

64:00-End: Ego getting in the way of center back partnership with Jhon Kennedy Hurtado | The need for youth coaches to heal and self-reflect

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We’ve only played on league game and this season already seems to be taking us on a roller-coaster. The Seattle Sounders were in prime position to come home with a lead in the Concacaf Champions League series with Olimpia, only to be forced to settle for a 2-2 tie. They then fell behind in their home leg, only to find themselves seemingly cruising to advancement only to fall in penalties.

The MLS home opener saw them fall behind the Chicago Fire, then storm back to win 2-1 on a 93rd minute goal.

In between all that, we hosted an exceptionally successful YachtCon that raised more than $10,000 for Seattle Children’s Hospital Autism Center.

This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)

Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.

 

Audio from this year's YachtCon!

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For the fifth time, we've hosted something we lovingly dubbed YachtCon. Frankly, this one is going to be tough to top (which won't stop us from trying).

Not only did we have an absolutely stellar panel of guests -- Brian Schmetzer, Jess Fishlock, Bethany Balcer, Bill Predmore, Brad Evans, Will Bruin and Garth Lagerwey -- but we finally had a venue that was all ours. Hale's Palladium felt just about perfect and we have some amazing ideas that we think at least have the potential to smooth out any rough edges.

Among the highlights were Schmetzer talking about the "hazy" days of the CISL's Seattle SeaDogs, the players all facing off in an epic game of "Line 'em Up" and Lagerwey explaining some of the intricacies of the new CBA. 

In addition to having wonderful guests, we also raised a significant amount of money. We're still going through the full accounting of everything, but it's looking very likely that when it's all said and done that we'll exceed our $10,000 fundraising goal. All of that money will go to the Seattle Children's Autism Center, which they use on buying Big Red Safety Boxes for their families. If you'd like to contribute more to the cause, you can give a tax-deductible donation here. If you act quickly, you can still contribute by placing an order for one of our jerseys by filling out this order form: men's, women's.

On a more personal note, it should be said that for all the talk of MLS's potential growth, events like this should be treasured. There might not be any teams in the world of the quality of the Seattle Sounders and Reign FC who are participating in a grassroots, fan-centric event like this. We also owe a big thank you to SB Nation, who agreed to cover most of our expenses this year and played a huge role in helping us reach our fundraising goal.

But enough talk, If you weren't able to attend and would prefer to watch the highlights, check out our YouTube page. Otherwise, you can listen to the podcast version of the show here.

 

This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)

Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.

Labor peace is here for the next five years! Somewhat surprisingly, the owners and players agreed on a new CBA well ahead of the 2020 MLS season. While neither side got everything they wanted, both sides can claim some wins in the deal. To talk about it from the player's perspective, I spoke with Ty Harden, director of player relations for the MLSPA. We discussed some of the finer points of the deal, how close they were to striking, and went over how the deal will impact players moving forward.

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