Drive Time with Travis WingfieldWhat is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and on today's show, so pretty big news came down across the wire today as the Dolphins will play the first ever NFL game in Madrid at the San Diego Bernabeo, a stadium that I have played many many FIFA games in but never been too personally. We're gonna welcome in Alex Mattrel from Dolphins Espanya Dolphins Club Aspanna, I should say, to talk about that game when football overseas in the country of Spain plus Divisional Weekend on Tap will pick the games there and we'll also introduce a new segment called you produced the show where I talk about things that you talked about on social media and I agree or disagree from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is the Drift Time Podcast.
Before I get into anything here quick, I just want to get this off the top because we're gonna slowly get to all the position groups in the offseason review, in the draft preview and free agency and all that stuff. But cornerbacks are a long way away. And I did a segment on the show was that Monday or maybe last Friday. I forget when it was where I talked about young impact players that you're not quite privy to yet, Guys that were either practice squad all year or someone like Andrew Meyer who spent really the entire year inactive but on the active roster, Guys that could afford you cheap contributions with regards to their rookie contracts or their contracts in general, that could give you contributions on the roster next year. And two of the guys that I omitted, and I don't know why I did this because I think they're both going to be NFL players, are Jason Maytrie and Isaiah Johnson, and I believe that they have a really good chance to not just be NFL players at some point, but impact twenty twenty five team. And since the cornerback spot is so far away in our primers, I felt like we had to get it off there. Jason Matri was a late UDFA edition, not part of the original core of udfas, which full transparency gave me a bit of an influenced perception of him. I thought like, oh, he was number eighteen on their list. I'm not going to pay much attention. And again, the udfas that you do get off the top, their odds are pretty long, right, Like three percent of udfa's make rosters. So he's not a player that I'm locked in on early at all because I put him out of my mind. And that's a lesson that I have to learn. But then Day one comes and goes, and he makes a play, Day two, another play, Day three, a few more plays, Day four. He's making all kinds of plays, showing up all over training camp. Then he gets into the preseason and just starts shutting down screens, winning one on ones against three way goes in the slot. Very very impressed by what he put on tape. And I thought he had a chance to make the club out of training camp last year, but he didn't. And not one for bold predictions here, but if I'm making one here today on this show, I think Matreal plays snaps for this team in twenty twenty five.
I believe in his game that much.
And guess what, he might not even be the rookie UDFA futures contract cornerback. Say that twelve times fast, that I believe in the most. That's because I watched Isaiah Johnson's step up and have quality reps against our ones in training camp. I saw him shut down Tyreek Hill on a couple of fade routes, which mismatch because he's six foot three in Tyrek is five foot nine. But I saw him have quality reps and joint practices in the preseason. And then there's the Syracuse tape that was really good. This dude can play. And oh hey, by the way, how about a ten foot nine broad, a thirty nine inch vertical, a one to five to five to ten split and doing all of this at six foot three two oh five. I think this next part is why he didn't get drafted. He ran a four to six four that is sundial measurement speed in as far as cornerbacks go. But then again, Terry and Arnold, what did he mean to the lines this year? Four point five forty time? How about Ronaldo Green for the forty nine ers clocking a four to four to nine, which is basically a four to five right and going on to be an impact starter as a rookie there or tarheb Still who basically won that Falcons game for the Chargers, the game that I talk about every damn day on the show here he ran a four or five two. So yeah, four or five is better than four to six four. But I just don't think that it's a non negotiable at that speed to be a four to four guy, or you know, from four to four to four to six four something else entirely different. And this is the segment I wanted to get into here with you guys. And look, Kyle Krabs and I talk every single day. I know that our ven diagram is vast. If that's how you say that, I would venture to guest that ninety percent of you listening to this show today probably listen to Kyle either regularly or at least periodically, So I do apologize for this, but look, Kyle and I discuss prospects and a lot of thoughts, so you probably get some decent amount of carry over there. And we talk about Dolphin's roster building again literally every single day, so you'll get some of the same stuff there, right, And I'll probably get him back on here soon to do more of this. But I just want to get into this, and it actually curtails perfectly into a new segment idea. I had the return of scanning the sosh who remembers that segment looking at the old Talleader and the new and regressed version of X. You can't even find anything when you search on there anymore.
Man, it sucks.
And I really missed the community of like live sporting events on there. What happened to my ski you? So I do want to do that, but I want to change the name of the segment. So this is our first dive into you produce the show. Maybe I'll do a sound drop without some point, but not right now. You produce the show. And I'm going to take a take from another one of my confidants here, one of my friends that does this as well, my man Chris Kaufman c K. Parrott on social you know, in the three yards per Carry podcast. Great information on that show. And to continue my disclaimer, you know, I talked to him on the regular and I finally got a chance to meet Chris in Tampa this summer. Huge, huge fan, not just of you know, the football takes that he has, but for what he stands for and who he is.
I really like Chris. He's a good dude.
And usually you do all that buttering out before you tear someone down right, So, Chris, I guess you're probably gonna hear this at some point, but let's go ahead and get into it. I am going to disagree with him, but just want to make it abundantly clear that I respect the hell of him and think that you should consume all of his content.
This is like, you know it's coming. I'm setting him up for the jab here.
And to bring it back to Kyle, he and I were discussing how much wiggle room we should have this year, and Kyle was able to get us to forty one million dollars in available cap space by simply executing basic restructures. That's not even touching the big contracts like to a tongue of by loa. Also, he brought back the internal free agents that he likes, which is probably pretty close to what I think, maybe two or three names different here or there, at a price higher than what they played for last year. So you're not like taking short cuts and you know, finagling this exercise to get yourself that forty one million dollars. He also had to cut Jake Bailey, Channing, Tyndall, Raheem, Moster, Durham Smyth traded tyreek Hill pre June one, and then Tron arms E retires in the scenario again didn't touch the two a tongue of bi looa contract. So that's at least four young free agents that you can sign to multi year deals, true priority free agents, right, not talking about like Tray Smith, who I think that if you buy into Tray Smith, his value at twenty million dollars decreases significantly. Probably the same player, but when he's four million dollars versus twenty million dollars, you now have a player who's worth five times less. That's how it goes, right, Like the impact is great, but you're not doing yourself any favors for team building by signing a contract like that. Like the Panthers Robert Hunt, they don't have enough players to pay money to, so it makes sense to pay that much. But if you're like a contending team that has no wiggle room because you have big players that you have to pay for, you can't afford players like that, You just can't do it. So that's kind of where I get at this with the four priority of free agents. In terms of guys like a Jordan Brooks for instance, like and This is where I come after Ck a little bit here. I don't really look and he had the post talking about all the misses. I don't look at like Robbie Chosen or Braxton Barrios as some fire or bowl offense now using them as much as you did, maybe, but like signing those guys to one year, one million dollar contracts, whatever it was, like their depth pieces, and you're going to get at least half of those wrong. That's just how it goes, because well, you signed like twenty five of those guys, and if you hit twelve of them, that's awesome.
That's just how it goes.
And in fact, I would say the one year investments here, especially offensively, are tough because of how tough the system is to grasp. And again other issues, not going to debate that those can be issues of their own, but on the surface, for what it is, it's tough to come in here and pick up this offense right away, as we've learned from being in it for three years. But then you look at the hits, and Chris laid this out in his post too, what do you have in common.
Across those guys?
Literally all of them were actual investments, like substantial investments, multi year contracts, guarantees, guys that hit right away, and you're counting on that production for this season. Kalaius Campbell notwithstanding, although I personally believe, not news, just my gut that he will come back this year.
That's how I feel about that.
And to go further on this, the Dolphins made a successful pivot after the twenty twenty class when that really flamed out when you signed Eric Klowers and Shaq Lawson and Byron Jones. Was good for like a year and a half, but after that, not so much to these top of market contracts, which is not the area of free agent you want to be playing in right. Mike Vrabel has a really good SoundBite on a show that he just did where he talks about two classes of free agents, guys that are in search of the right fit in situation and guys that are trying to maximize the dollar amount. Christian Wilkins the latter, John Who Smith the former. And when I look at this year's free agent class the Dolphins needs and disposition, I think you can add four or five of those guys, Guys in their mid twenties hungry for a chance to earn a raise and prove they are better players and what they showed you in their first four or five years of of NFL football, Like Andrew Van Ginkle for instance, Right, I know that's the name that's sour for a lot of us. Or an Aaron Brewer who was not a great player in Tennessee or thought of that way but now he is.
Or Jordan Brooks the same thing.
So if I tell you that we can get our key internals back and then go sign Tevin Jenkins Beier starting and left guard next year and bring some nasty and physicality and scheme diversity and Mackai Beckton, why not do them both at right tackle and be a power team that can run outside zone. And then you give me Diami Brown. He's gonna have the best year of his career in this offense. Our Darius Washington becomes one of the best post safeties in the league in this system, like he's become for the Ravens. And then I signed Levi On Woozlrique to be my defensive tackle alongside Seler and Campbell. And then we can draft Tyler Warren and that fixes the most issues of any player available this entire offseason can for the Miami Dolphins, Carson Schweschinger, who becomes a ninety percent snap taker alongside Jordan Brooks and Lathan Ransom, who is now my new Rashad Jones. Well, that's a much better team than what you had in twenty twenty four. And that's all very very much on the table inconceivable with what the resources they have not to diminish, you know, one year contracts for guys like tier Tart, you know, and tier Tart played well for the Chargers, and I like tier Tart, but like, I just am not going to bemoan moves like that because I don't think it adds up at all anywhere close to what you got from Jordan Brooks, from Kendall Fuller, from John new Smith, from Isaiah Win last year.
Guys like that. So again, all hope is not lost.
Listing out some minimum one year contract players as a referendum on the roster building for me, dog that ain't doing it, first, break right there, come back on the other side and pick the games in Divisional Round football the best weekend of the year for the general football fan. Hopefully the Dolphins get here. One year it's been twenty five years. Well to do that next year. In the Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. And then there were eight football teams remaining for the twenty twenty four season, not us, but it is four games. There's probably like two games here that'll be good. Right, Let's go ahead and talk about Divisional round weekend. I was five and one over wild Card weekend. Had to adjust the bracket just a little bit because I had the Packers winning.
That was the game I got wrong.
Going to the Lions and the Commanders going to the Rams obviously not the matchups we have. It'll be Commanders at Lions on Saturday night and the Rams will travel to the Eagles for a two o'clock kickoff. That's the first year they've done that, right, It's usually been the same old one o'clock Do they make it?
Man? Did they make it one o'clock and eight o'clock last year? Like? I forget?
Because Conference Championship weekend is three and six thirty, right, And then, yeah, I don't know, it's different this year.
I know that much.
So I'm taking the Chiefs over the Texans on the Saturday four o'clock four to thirty kickoff. I thought the Texans looked pretty probably their best they've looked in the entire second half of the season in that Kansas City game last time around, and that was with the benefit of some of the better calls, you know, going for the Chiefs that might have stolen the win.
From the Texans in that game.
Now, they also had Tank Dell in that game, who made the biggest catch of the game for them for a touchdown in that game on the play where he blew up his entire knee and obviously he's down, and for a line that's not played well for a quarterback that hasn't seen it as clear as he did as a rookie against a rested Steve Spagnolo defense. Without Tank Dell or Stefan Diggs, that's a lot to ask man this Divisional round game at Case, he has kind of become what the old Patriots divisional round games were, double digit dogs going into the game like lamps to the slaughter. And I think the Chiefs are about to, you know, wake up as it were, which is so funny you say for a fifteen to one team that they're going to wake up with Hollywood brown back in action, everyone getting two full weeks to get healthy, Andy Reid having all that time for a game plan to cook up his voodoo magic from something we haven't seen since like the nineteen twenty five Rose Bowl or something like that. I think the Chiefs are going to win this one going away. And we go into conference Championship weekend where the season officially begins for the Chiefs and everybody has finally realized at sixteen to one, oh yeah, the Chiefs are pretty good. And then we pivot to the game in the NFC on Saturday, and I stand corrected on the biggest spread of the weekend, which belongs to the Detroit Lions. I'm not sure so sure that I see it that way quite frankly. Yes, the Lions have gotten some help back from injury, particularly Alex Anzeloni, but I don't know, man, like, they're really banged up. And I think Jayden Daniels has everything he needs from a skill set standpoint to how he can dissect and attack coverage to the weapons that he has. I think the Lions don't have a good answer for my money for Terry McLaurin or Zach Ertz for that matter, to the play caller, to everything around them to be able to go after the Lions and they're zero coverage, their cover one, their press man heavy, get underneath you and try to disrupt you from all that. Ball will come out quick in this game, and I think they'll score. The problem is Ben Johnson off a bye with a fully healthy offense against a Washington defense that has been the Achilles Hill at times this year. Yeah, the Lions might have yet another forty burger in them. By the way, the hell's Ben Johnson thinking? If the stuff is true about Vegas? The hell you doing, dude? There's so many better jobs, Like there's no quarterback You're not going to get a quarterback because you're picking eighth because Antonio Pierce is the best coach in the world at winning late games to ruin draft picks and your roster's not good.
Crazy crazy.
If that happens, we'll see, But that's not what we're talking about today. So I think this game will go tight into the third quarter, but the Lions pull away late and win it like thirty eight to twenty seven.
Something like that.
Eagles and Rams is pretty intriguing. A rematch of primetime games from earlier that was won by the Eagles, and in fact, the Rams only lost in a game where they played starters after they lost to US was this game they lost to the Seahawks in the finale, which they didn't play their starters in.
But I think about that real quick.
They beat Vegas, Minnesota, Seattle, lost to US, beat New England, lost to Philly, then beat No. Orleans, Buffalo, San Francisco, the Jets, and the Cardinals. They lost to the Seahawks that Jimmy G starred in that game, and they just beat Minnesota again. So I'm just saying, pretty damn good qualifying win for the good guys there. Now, I love this matchup because, in many respects, the funt the Fangio plan in twenty eighteen with the Bears that the Patriots famously caught beat in the Super Bowl to hold the Rams to just three points in that game basically inspired Sean McVeigh into a philosophical approach one that I think the Dolphins need to figure need to think about making. But ma'am, I trust the old man here as crotchy as he is in this game, and I don't think the Rams have the guns yet on defense to contend with what is just a very very good Eagles offense. I mean their protection, their physicality, the weapons they have on the outside. I think Jalen Hurts catches a bad rap. I don't think he's as good as his production necessarily says that he is. But I don't think he's as bad as all the you know, everyone that thinks that all the quarterbacks in the league besides two guys suck. I don't think the Rams are ready for what they're going to get here on Sunday. So I'm taking Philly in like a thirty one to twenty four game where it's like thirty one seventeen late, the Eagles take the air out of the ball and the Rams maybe score a late touchdown to make it look closer than it was then the big one, man, this is the best game of the entire year. Going to be an absolute movie, as the kids say, a total scene. Please Baltimore, Please. If there's one thing that can be salvaged about this season, it's keeping the Buffalo Bills ringless, you know, keeping them Steve Carrell, they have never been to the finish line, as it were. He made a move back in two thousand and five called the forty year old Virgion. That's we're making a joke of there. I think the Ravens will get this one. I think their run game mixed with what Lamar does as a passer and as a decoy in the running game is a very dangerous proposition. The Buffalo defense has struggled against teams that feature that kind of balanced the Rams game, the game that we damn near took off of their hands up in Buffalo. I think Baltimore can score, and then I think their defense can make the winning play in what will play out as a game of the year, where we get like a turnover or a stop late that wins you the game. So I have one semi close game this weekend, but then this one saves what is otherwise a bad weekend of football in terms of competitiveness, as the Ravens win thirty two to thirty. All Right, we are going to have our tight end recap on Monday Day, or our review of our roster as well as the free agency and draft picks on Monday. We're gonna bump that back one more day. We're gonna go ahead and come back on the other side of this break with my guest from Dolphins Club Aspania, Alex Mattrell. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by AutoNation. The big news on this Friday announced as the Dolphins will be the first ever team to play a regular season game in the country of Spain. We're gonna head out to Madrid for a football game and NFL regular season football game. Of course, we have played in London, we've played in Germany, and now we broach the Spanish territory here as one of our six global markets that we are active in here with the Miami Dolphins, one of two teams that have six global markets like that. And to help us get acquainted to football overseas and not just you know, in England and in Germany, but now into a new country, is Alex matt Morell. He is part of the Dolphins Club, a Spanya and a former Homestead native, moved to Spain recently. Man, you're kind of the perfect guy for this, Alex, Welcome into the show and thanks for joining me.
Man Hey, Travis, thank you very much for inviting me. Super excited to be here. This is definitely for someone like me who recently. You know, I've been here since twenty twenty one in Spain. This is kind of like a dream come true. So I can't wait to for the Dolphins to get over here.
So I have to imagine you've been to Dolphins games at hard Rock Stadium.
I'm guessing so.
Back pro player days, I had, know the earliest memories of you know, this torrential downpour of a game Monday night football. I think it was like two thousand and two against the Bears that we won. And then I was there for the first ever Orange Jersey game against the Washington which I think was like a Sunday night game where we kind of did a bit of a comeback. So that, you know, those two games have will forever be with some of my earliest memory raise. But yeah, going to games with my dad, going into games with the fam and stuff like that. So my stepdad is a Jets fan, so that makes it, you know, super fun sometimes, well for.
Us, especially recently, it's been fair last years.
I would say it's been great.
Maybe not so much before that, but yeah, so but yeah, you know, it's it's always great fun. And I did get a chance to go to the game here in Germany last year, so that will you know, not let this past seas, but last last year that was an absolute fantastic of a time. And I'm super excited for this Madrid one. So it's gonna be a It's gonna be a great one.
It's funny you mentioned the Bears and well formerly a different team name, but the Commander's game back from those days, because I'll never forget the Bears game. They wore the aqua on aqua that I was obsessed with and still am obsessed with, and Ricky Williams had two hundred yards for a second executive game. You're preaching to the choir on that one, and then the Washington game, I will never forget. Going to school the next day and I had a sports marketing class that was my favorite clas of all time, obviously, and the teacher would talk to us about the weekend in the NFL h on the following Monday and he was like, Jay, Fieeddler, save your guys this season, Like I'll never forget that, so really good remember what I.
They would like, I mean, I remember this like the back of my hand. Was as soon as they announced Fieedler going to the game. You saw all the no.
The the frustrated fans like oh man, and then he did absolutely phenomenal and he led us to that comeback, you know, with that final I think I think Ricky Williams did that final touchdown and then we were like, oh.
No, he's the man.
Such as life as a football fan.
Man, yeah, so it was, it was great and then so yeah, I you know, it's those are some of my top memories of going to those games and uh, you know, seeing the old you know, baseball dirt patches on the field and stuff like that.
So great.
So okay, well that's that's a really good introduction into your life as a football fan because I want to kind of have an intersection here of you know, following this team from from South Florida, but also the global impact because you know, back then, I think the first game I think was our game against the Giants in two thousand and seven in London, the first overseas game, part of the international series that we now know as it is today. But now look at us, man, we're in so many countries. It's multiple weeks across the season and here we go into Spain. You know, I always knew that England had that big following that was yearning for American football games live on their soil. Tell us about how this is going to impact the country of Spain, the city of Madrid. How how pumped up are folks Dolphins fans are otherwise just to see football in their backyard.
So it's been pretty pretty phenomenal to see the growth and the fans throughout I mean throughout Europe. I mean when I went to that Germany game, not only do we have the Dolphins Fan Club, official fan club from London and from the UK come over, but I met the French fan club, I met the German fan club, and then of course part of the here that was there supporting from the Spain Fan club, and it was just like, you know, people who never communicated, don't speak the same language, but you know, the one love that connects them all is the Dolphins, and it was pretty fantastic. Spain is still growing, They're they're you know, they're not as big as maybe Germany and England in terms of American football, but they do have a huge passion for flag football. There's a huge flag football community over here, especially in the south of Spain. All throughout, especially uh the Barcelona Dragons, which is like the American football team for Barcelona, they're a nonstought powerhouse. Madrid, I think it's getting an American football team for their league. So it is growing, and I mean, you know, fans were spread out between different teams because of how international. Also Barcelona and Madrid are with people from all over the world, you know, living there. You know, you've got fans that have moved from Mexico, fans from South America, Brazilian fans and stuff like that, and you see these small little pop ups starting to get bigger and bigger. So you know, we're hoping to kind of peak that interest. Obviously, you know, football or soccer will never you know, that will always dominate Spain, of course, but if you can just kind of peak that interest and show that you know, this game is also a great game to follow, you know, we're getting more eyes and more.
Eyes, so that's what we're trying to do here.
And uh, yeah, we've got fans in terms of the Dolphins football club, We've got fans from Madrid to Barcelona to all the way. I'm in Seville, so it's all the way in the south. So Seville, Malaga, all this whole covering the pretty much the whole region. So and it's it's it's it's constantly growing.
We're getting more.
I'm trying to get you know, people in there and just kind of watch a game. Uh, the super Bowl is actually a pretty big people tend to kind of watch. So as soon as the super Bowl comes, though, it is a little tough because I think it starts like at midnight for us and goes all the way to four o'clock in the morning, so you know, time change a little struggle. But still, I mean, you know, it's still a great time come with your mates and stuff like that, and you kind of just kind of have that experience.
So it's great. It's been growing, and.
Now I'm excited to see you know, you feel that, you know, the bene Vaile Stadium with you know, thousands and thousands of fans and it's going to be a spectacular showing.
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned the crossover between you know, obviously football being the more prominent of the two footballs, you know, American football being the second one there in terms of popularity. But like I think that as a person that appreciates both sports, Like there's a lot of crossover, Like you have to play with anticipation, you have to find soft spots in the zone. I think that people can start to appreciate the similarities in the two games and maybe, you know, I think original football. I think that they can appreciate, maybe you know, American football more than the converse because it's like, you know, Americans love like hitting in violence and physicality, so that part of the game is not there with with soccer as it were, but American football definitely is. And I think that you can kind of get some carry over there. And I'm glad you mentioned the flag football that you see around because that's the number one way, man, It's the best way to get a region of a generation into this game is playing flag football. And the Dolphins are going to be hosting flag football clinic, a flag football clinic, or they did rather back in this summer in Brazil. So cultivating stronger fan clubs through you know, these parties and activations in flag football initiatives, I think it's really cool. So do you see kids playing football around in your neighborhood and your community when you're driving down the street, do you see it often over there.
So it's maybe in Madrid and Barcelona, you might see it a little bit more.
In Seville.
Still, it's kind of like a tiny city, small you know, big town, small, small mentality type situation. There's certain parks where at nighttime, eight o'clock at night, I think that's when you see that reservation and you see the big flag football camp. And I do have to say it's a great showing for men and boys and girls, men and women. So they've got a huge women's league and the men's league as well, so you know, and I have bought an American football and you know, try to toss it around and get some interest, and you get and you get people who are interested in because you know, they've never done it before and stuff like that.
So a little little I did go.
I did participate in Spain's tryout for the Olympics for their flag football Olympic team. They had about three or four tryouts throughout the country and they came to the Sevil for their southern region one and I did go and participate. And I mean we had kids from the islands coming over from different cities coming over and stuff like that.
Yeah, it's so cool. Man, it's again.
This was always a sport that I thought was was kind of you know, domesticated to our own borders here and within the American American grounds, but it's grown so much, and it's really cool to see the interest grow, you know, nationwide. And my favorite podcast for a long time was the Around the NFL podcast until I disbanded this past summer, and they would do live shows over in the UK and they were very, very popular. So I think that there's more room for growth for not just the game but media and coverage, and it's going to continue to expand like crazy like this, And with that in mind, I have two more questions for you here, Alex Alex Mattterrell, my guest here from the Dolphins Club, Aspawnya, what does a game day look like for for you, because obviously you were a unique individual in the sense that you've had a chance to experience football games from from America where the time slots line up with your day.
We're over there not so much.
I know it's a lot of late nights, but I talked to the UK guys about this, talk to the Germany guys about this.
Tell us about what it's like in Spain for me in the South.
So you know, obviously we we here in Europe live for the one pm games. So whenever it's a one pm game, which is seven pm for us, it's fantastic great. The eight o'clock games are a little tougher, but still so if it's a one pm you know, I kind of kind of do what I got to do during the day and then I tend to find my I used to go to the hard Rock in Cevilam and then they would kind of show the games. Now in Spain we only get televised two games, two random games, so it might not always be the Dolphins, but at least you can go to the bar and kind of watch or red zone, so they might also have red zone, so depending, I think we're only really in Seville only have like two bars, which is kind of what I've been trying to do is maybe get more bars to show more American football. But you know, if they don't want to pay for the packages, who am I to tell them, But so I've been trying to incentivize them. If not, then I have a you know, bought a projector at home and kind of you know, order my favorite Tricken wing spot kind of get that whole you know, tailgating feel again. I'll invite some friends over if they want to come in, and then, you know, just make sure I just block out that time and you know, put the game on, so I'll stream the game and and and there we go.
This is why, this is why football is king man, because you know, I watched the Miami Heat.
I want.
I'm from the Pacific Northwest. I watched my Seattle Burners. But I'm watching those games like his background noise and it's like, oh they won, time, cool they lost or whatever. But like in football, it's like every every week, every game is a massive event that you get your chicken wings to get your beer for it and you enjoy, you know, never know what's going to happen exactly.
Man, it's the best.
You know.
Yeah, I'm with you.
I want to I want to close on this because I have a stupid little joke for you here that I put in my notes. So I am very familiar with Santiago Bernabau. Is am I saying that?
Right?
Right? Right?
Okare you go?
So because I've played, I've scored more goals in that stadium on FIFA than anybody else in the world, but this is we're talking like twenty fourteen. So it's like Christiano Ronaldo, you know, massuit Ozil talking Luca Madrick. I've got Sergio Ramos all my corners, I'm swinging those in for him to head them into the back of the net on hald Maria. You know, I'm getting the real Madrid, the whole roster involved in my scoring there. And I was always amazed on a video game, But like that place is massive, like we have, you know, we have college football seams over here in America that you're very well aware of that are you know? One hundred plus thousand people. That's how this is. But you're telling me there's been renovations. I wasn't even aware of that. Can you tell us what's going into that stadium and what's going to look like on game? Do you think as far as atmosphere and just the overall experience.
Yeah, So if you're not familiar with the Vendaval Stadium, I think it's it's kind of like build like the Roman Colisseum in the sense where it's just you're just stacked on top of everybody and you just look up and you just see rows and rows of people.
It's not like a going outward motion, I believe. And then this renovation.
Obviously, the Vendebauer is a legendary stadium, long long time, long history and stuff, and they wanted to modernize it.
So I believe they have.
I forget what's the other stadium that does this, but the field can you can drop the field and like kind of put it away, and then they bring it back whenever they're ready to use the grass because they you know, all stadiums here in Spain need real grass, so they kind of have that removable field aspect to maintain the pitch as they call it. And then you know they've modernized it with updated technology, updated seedings. I think that stadium holds close to about ninety thousand people.
I'm not entirely sure. Don't quote me on that.
I live in Seville, so I'm more of the you know, Betty's Sevilla fan. You know, Madrid has always been kind of like the enemy. But now you know, with Mbappe there, you got you be Bellinger there. I mean, those which are guys who have been to the Dolphins, by the way, you know, they've seen the game. I know Bellinger is a big We gave him a Dolphins jersey, so I'm sure he'll have a great time going to the game and stuff like that. But but yeah, that stadium is going to be loud, it's gonna be massive, It's it's gonna be gorgeous, and you know it's gonna be hacked.
I can tell you that much.
With tons of tons of fans, not only from from Spain but from all over.
I think you have said it all here.
My friend Alex Matt Turell, he's part of Club Dolphins or Dolphins Club Aspanya. Do you have socials? Can you plug where we can find you so the fans can get at you.
Yeah, you can find me on on Instagram, you know, a Alexito with two exes. You can you know, find my journey with being a Dolphins fan around Spain, my journey through Spain.
You know.
I it's it's been a crazy time comparing you know, living in the US all my life, especially in Miami melting pot and coming to Spain and stuff like that. So and uh and yeah, so it's it's you know, that's my socials. Anybody who wants to hit me up, anybody who's in Europe, has any you know, questions about being an NFL fan, and I want having some advice. I'm always open and you know I'm over here supporting, supporting the team, and you know, bummy hint Miami. So I'll close it out with that. Thank you so much.
Oh I love it, man, and my wife and I, like I told you off the air, we're going to have like a four month old. So we're gonna see if we can make it. We really really want to make it over there. If we do, I'm going to hit you up, my friend.
So for sure, for sure we'll have h We'll have some some calamari, some nice and we'll get you a nice beer in your hands.
So as the kids say, they say less, I'm there. I am definitely there. I appreciate your time today, Alex, Alex Mature. We'll see you, you know, whenever this game happens. We don't know the exact date yet, but we'll see you when we see you. And thanks again, man, I appreciate it.
Thank you, Travis appreciate it.
And away he goes.
Really fun chat, unique interview there and looking forward to that. Man, It's gonna be a fun game and a great atmosphere over there in Madrid. In the meantime, it's gonna be my time. You all, please be sure subscribe, rate, review the show, leave us a rating and a review. Follow me on social at Wingfold NFL. The team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast with my guys Seth and Juice. The YouTube channel for a brand new episode of Dolphins HQ, media availabilities and so much more. And last button, not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, Fin's up, Caroline, Cameron, Daddy
Just coming home.
