Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are you sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Friday, live in Los Angeles. It is the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one. Joy Taylor's off today. Alex Curry is back here on a Friday. As we got some NFL games. I had a lot of NFL games last night, a lot of NFL action, had some baseball stuff going on poward things. It felt like fall last night. There is there's so much going on on TV. And then also being e to full out here in La. Yeah, it was wonder I'm I'm starting to go to like a ten day forecast around the country and you can see in mountain communities cooling down at night. So I'll start with this. So before the draft, this was not this previous draft was not a good quarterback draft. There were two or three quarterbacks. The kid I liked was Malik Willis, and I just said, you know, you can see the special. You know, who knows if these guys hit or not. But I thought, you know, that's a bottom of the first round pick. Well, we didn't go into like the third round. He did go to a good franchise, The Tennessee's a very very good franchise. They draft, they developed, they won a lot of games. But you know, it's really funny. He's got a huge arm. He's a special athlete. But he went to a small college. A lot of people did. Soda Cooper, cop best receiver in the NFL, went to a small college. So all I heard about Malik Willis before the draft was what he can't do. He can't do this, he can't do that. But what I saw last night, what is what he can do make other pro athletes look really slow. So haven't we learned enough from Josh Allen who went to a small college, nobody recruited, amount of high school goes to Wyoming, nobody watched his games. Stop nitpicking the can't and look at what they can do. Josh Allen six six. He can leap over other human beings. He's got a huge arm. Mike Tomlin talked about this one time. We nitpick all these athletes what they can't do, but if you watch somebody and go wow, Malik Willis can make pro athletes look slow and can throw sixty five yards off the wrong foot. And Mike Tomlin talked about this recently. I love coaches that resist the responsibility of coaches that talk negatively about a dude that can't learn and Bubba man, if everybody can learn, we need less coaches. Yeah, right, if the group didn't need management, then we wouldn't make as much. I love reading draft vows and somebody's talking about anything other than pedigree, talking about how poor somebody's hand usage is, Well, that's coaching. It all is in line with that, not seeking comfort, because when you're a coach that's talking about somebody can't learn, you're seeking comfort because you're teaching the struggling people confuse unique and different for can't. Let's stop boxing people in. That's why so many kids suffer from depression. We've boxed them in. Well, you've got to go to this class and you've got to do it this way. Some kids learn online. Some kids are very social. Some kids during the pandemic went into their computer and just loved life. Other kids. You know, he's a football player, she's a volleyball player, and you took that away from him. Not everybody fits into a box. People confuse unique and different for can't I heard this about my home. You can't be that ratic. You can't be this loose. I don't know what. And I watch I watch Patrick Mahomes. I see a lot of can I'll figure out coaching the rest. So you know when I watched this kid last night, and by the way, Malik willis after the game, all the kid wants to be is coached. Yeah, I miss some things probably, and I just made up for him, Miles. I can't continue to, like you know, rely on that though, But that's what the preseason is for. So you just see those things against a lot of defense and one we hadn't played before. Like you said, you just gotta look at the film. Take you for what it's worth. Fin continue to work. So let's segue to Daniel Jones and The Giant. So I watched the first couple series of that last night. So is Daniel Jones franchise quarterback. Maybe maybe he has a second act after New York like a Ryan Tannehill and succeeds. But what Daniel Jones isn't is special, and what he isn't is good enough to elevate this very mediocre roster. So he's in a incredibly ordinary quarterback. There's no real it there. There's no special there. And the Giants are a bad franchise. Now, they've been rebuilding since Eli left for four years. They're still not good. So that's institutional, that's ownership, that's executive, that's scouting. Four years in a rebuild. Really good teams in this league. I saw Bill Parcels at one point take a one win Miami team and win eleven the next year. And they weren't great, but they were good. So a thirteen play drive at home to get a field goal against New England's second team. There's no special there. But isn't this interesting? When Daniel Jones came out, all I heard was can he can be coached? He went to Duke, he can learn, he is big enough. There's a lot of Eli. He can but there's no special to it. I mean, Zach Wilson struggled last year, but I see special. Trevor Lawrence struggled last year. I see special. Trey Lance only had two starts. Oh, you can see special. You can absolutely see why they drafted Trey Lance. I watched Daniel Jones. You know what, he looks like a guy that played football at Duke. It's Division one, but it's like, get good grades, not recruited at all, but the top fifteen programs not a shot at Duke basketball, they get the best. He looks like, yeah, that guy he played? Oh really where Duke? You ever talk about Duke in January and college football? So if you're gonna convince me that Jimmy Garoppolo would not make a difference for the next two years for this losing franchise, you're out of your mind. I went today and I got the Giant schedule, and I looked at the New York Giant schedule. Play along with me as far as I can tell, So ask yourself this they opened with Tennessee. Is Daniel Jones as good as Ryan Tannehill? No? Is he as good in Week two as Baker Mayfield. He's not. He's not as talent as Baker Mayfield. Is he as good as Dak that's game three. No, he is as good we think this morning is justin fields. I'm not sure, but it's an argument. After that, he follows Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Trevor Lawrence. It's not as talented as them. He is better than Drew locke By and he could be as good as the kid in Houston. He's not as good as Jared Goff who met his Super Bowl, or Dak or Wentz or Jalen Hurts or Wentz or Kirk Cousins or Matt Ryan or Jalen Hurts. So in three games all year for the Giants, three, you arguably have the better quarterback. It's not a definitive. At this point. You can't tell me he's better than Baker Mayfield. He is not better than Baker Mayfield. If you think that, if that's one of your better arguments, you lost three games all year of seventeen, you arguably have the better quarterback, and you're telling me you start putting Jimmy Garoppolo against those got Jimmy Garoppolo. Goff, that's an argument. Jimmy Garoffolo, Wentz, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jalen Hurts, Jimmy Garoppolo. You know, I mean, I think Dak's better than Garoppolo, but you know, I've I've seen him match up. Jimmy can make some plays. Jimmy wins playoff games. Dad doesn't have a lot of those. Jimmy Garoppolo gives you a shot in half your games eight or nine, you have the better quarterback. Arguably, it's a pretty convincing argument if wins matter. So it just it's funny watching Malik Willis. We knitpick what he can't, but what he can do. You can't coach sixty yard throws, wrong foot, make pro athletes look slow. All I heard about Daniel Jones what he can do, But what he can't do is ever make anybody look mediocre as a pro athlete. I mean, he had some slant passes, he completed thirteen play drive at home, three points against the second team. And it's not only the Giants don't have talent. Saquon Barkley's talent look good last night. Kenny Galdy's got talent. They have players. I mean that, don't tell me that Johns don't have some talent. I think I actually think they have a couple of good defensive linemen. I think they have a couple of weapons are pretty good. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app. It is interesting how hard we are on our football players. You know, in baseball, it's understood that umpires get like a two week vacation in the middle of a baseball season. I know guys who have broadcasted, current broadcasters in Major League Baseball, they take two and three weeks off during the season. Right, they'll take breaks, right, Not all, but some. NBA Anthony Davis has played about thirty five percent of the game since he was a Laker, and yet Laker fans will defend him to the end. That's just the way the I mean. John Wall hasn't played for two years. He hasn't lost a single fan. Tom Brady decided here in preseason, I'm gonna take about ten days off, and it's kind of fuzzy. Nobody knows exactly why. Here's Todd Bowles discussing the reportedly pre planned break by Tom Brady. Mine is pretty high. Obviously, there's always gonna be doubt, but I have a pretty high level of confidence. Yes, this is something we talked about before training camp started. We alloted this time because he wanted to get in and get chemistry with the guys and go through two weeks of training camp knowing he wasn't going to play the first two games. So yesterday, my guest was there was a family emergency, some health his mother. It's not that you know, it's I have no idea what it is. I just found out about two weeks ago that Tom Brady was talking about being an owner for the Dolphins while he was a Patriot. So I'm not going to try to guess Tom Brady did a lot of stuff and doesn't have to tell us. But Brady's literally been the guy that won't miss a snap, and so he decides, you know, I got pretty planned ten day break. My guest total guest is he retired, and he made certain promises to his family, and he's got six or seven homes all over the country. One's up in Montana, and he said, let's go on a two week vacation in August in Montana. And he didn't want to break the promise because he retired and then he unretired and everybody was like, yeah, more Dad. And then Dad said, hey, I'm not I can't retire lawsuit in Miami. I gotta go play. And so I said, I'm gonna take a two week break. I don't think it matters. Aaron Rodgers never plays in preseason. I don't think chemistry is an issue. This is his third year. With all the guys, it's a terrible division. They're gonna win it going away. Most great athletes, I mean this is almost all of them all time. Brady's a total exception. Most great athletes at the end, and I'm talking great athletes at the end, they're old, they're injured, they're not as productive. None of that's true with Brady. Brady's got a guilt issue. He feels like, you know, I've taken too much time away from my family, and he's talked about it publicly. My kids deserve more, why my wife deserves more. Brady's issue is a family guilt issue. It's not an old, beat up productivity issue. Even Lebron, the best body probably in NBA history, even now, he struggles to get to sixty games in a regular season. I would not have a problem at all. If Brady the Buccaneers have a buy in week eleven, and I mean, let's be honest, Tom was retired, the Bucks got a break, he comes back. They got a break. Is that in week ten they go to Germany to play the Seahawks. They could probably beat the Seahawks without Tom Brady. I'd have no problem. If Tom Brady after a week nine said I'm not going in Germany in week ten. I'm gonna take the buy off and I'll see in week twelve and he got fifteen days off, I'd have absolutely no problem. I mean, they've they've got several games in this division, Atlanta twice they could win with a backup. But I mean, I look at this and I think to myself, Seattle, Germany, buy take two weeks off. But it is interesting how we hold our football players accountable. In baseball, it's understood umpires take vacations, announcers take vacations. I mean, Clayton Kershaw has some back spasms. Everybody understands they're just gonna shelf him for like a month and a half. They'll bring him back at the end of the regular season for like three starts. Get back in the groove. Then they'll play him in the postseason. Could Kershaw come before that. It's understood in baseball when you have an older pitcher, you just give him time off, take July off. If there's any back spasm, soreness, tenderness in the elbow, you just give him like six eight weeks off. In football. Were much tougher on our players. We want them to play hurt. We can't believe it. And my guess is this is just family time and go for it. Take another two week vacation in the middle of this season. I haven't absolutely no problem. I said this when Kyler Murray's contract came up, or Lamar Jackson, and we always talk about those guys run around and they get hurt, and have always made this argument. Let's say Kyler Murray is a smaller athlete and over the next five years he averaged playing fourteen year seventeen games, he'd missed three games. I wouldn't I wouldn't sign him. I mean that would mean in fourteen games, I either have the best quarterback or a quarterback capable of beating somebody that's slightly better at quarterback. I'll take that seventeen games now, you've extended the season. I don't need my starting quarterback there every week. In fact, the players have argued they want a second bye in the season. I don't think it's a bad idea. I'd have no problem with a buy in week six and a buy in week twelve. I mean, people get buys now after the season. The teams are awarded for a bye right when they excellent teams you win your division. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific. Greg Popovich is obviously a Hall of Fame coach. He's in his seventies, and so Greg Popovitch is sort of going the opposite of the rest of the NBA. Whereas he doesn't get along with stars. You know, everybody kind of pamper stars in the NBA, right like you just kind of deal with it. Popovich is the op Kawhi Leonard wouldn't listen to him. He's out of town. They just uh Dante Murray's another word. They got rid of him, it didn't work, and want to pay him big money. And it's kind of the opposite of where the league is going. But san Antonio's a one Horsetown. The Spurs are projected the San Antonio Spurs are projected in Vegas to be the worst team in the league, and they've been bad for like four years. They're like, they're they're off, you know, they're they're off the map. Nobody talks about him off the grid, and uh, you know, Greg Popovitch would be fired if he was not called Greg Popovitch. And he has a great legacy. But I always think there is a balance of Okay, you were great and gave us this, but we're going to move you into a consulting role because you're seventy. Nobody's at their best when the first number on their age is seven. We all know that, right Like we all kind of peak. I think cognitively maybe we peak at about fifty eight to sixty four or something like that. You can work longer, but NBA's a grind, especially the coach and so. But Popovich because of his resume, respectfully, you feel like, you know, Tony Larus has a job because of his resume. In Chicago, he feels outdated. Popovich to meet smart guy feels a little outdated. The culture is now a little more pro player than it's ever been in the NBA. Whether you agree with it or not, that's the reality of the league. So you know, I watched the Patriots. Now what the top teams in the league are doing. The league has moved to offense. I mean, if I said, who are the best teams to win a Super Bowl this year? Almost all of them are offensively driven. Right. You think of Tampa with Tommy and Aaron, and Green Bay and the Rams and the Niners. They almost all have top quarterbacks or at least they have really an offensive sensibility as a franchise, Andy Reid play designer draft that developed a Kansas City's an offensive juggernaut. That's that organization years ago, lean heavy offense. Miami Dolphins, to their credit, have gone from defense pivoted totally defense. And then there's the Greg Popovich of the NFL, Bill Belichick, who remains rigid, grumpy, and their play calling is all defensive guys, special teams guys. But again, how do you balance the resume? So I watched them last night. There's just nothing there. And then James White retires an incredibly valuable, versatile player, and so Belichick, they don't know who's calling the plays. I have two stories this morning that Matt Patricia called him, and then Joe Judge is now calling him. I don't know who's calling the plays. Belichick was on the headset and afterwards Bill spoke with the press about it. Do you know if one will call plays when the regular season rise? Yeah, well, don't worry about that. We'll work it out. So have you decided. We're going through a process, just like everything else on this team. What do you need to see to make a final decision. We're going through a process as simple as that. Okay, it's just a little bit of an unusual situation for us that have watched you guys before, And so what do you want me to do? I guess we're just looking for a little clarity as to great But you know, there was a time Bill Walsh retired it was inconceivable there would have been a coach better than Bill Walsh. Like people still use Bill Walsh's West Coast offense today, right, And there's this idea that Belichick's the best coach ever. That's it. We thought that about Michael Jordan. Then Lebron happened, and I look at Belichick and I say to myself, when he was fired in Cleveland, and this is a disaster and he can't win without Tom Like Andy Reid has won everywhere, two owners, two conferences, two divisions, six quarterbacks, got two different quarterbacks to a Super Bowl. I said it yesterday. If Andy Reid coaches seven more years and wins three more Super Bowls and has a great last ten years of his career and a really good first twenty years of his career, are we sure Belichick's the best coach? Ever? It was inconceivable that somebody could be argued better than Jordan, or a football coach would be better than Bill Walsh. This thing is, you know, it's hard to have a great legacy when your final several chapters are awful. It's hard to have a great movie with a bad last twenty five minutes. John Elway last game as a pro won the Super Bowl and walked off and could have played for two more years, two three more years. People forget this about John Elway. John Elway was blown out in three Super Bowls, he got a coach fired. He never really could win big games, right, That was always the knock. But he really ended well in the last three years. His legacy is unbelievable. Brett Farve he got a Super Bowl too, but at the end he went to the Jets. It was a mass that last throw in Minnesota before he retired. Oh guy, it was just a mass. And he's been kind of since he retired. He's said a bunch of weird stuff. Nobody talks about Brett Farr. Peyton Manning ends in Denver last couple of years. He's in Denver for three or four years. He's great most of the time. He wins a Super Bowl, right, and then he's funny on television. His business stuff is doing great. We hold Peyton Manning to a higher esteem than Brett Farve. But when Farv played, he was more popular than Peyton Manning. I mean far literally until his last days in Green Bay was number one in the NFL in Jersey sales. He played in green Bay forever. Everybody had his jersey. Aaron Rodgers similarly in Green Bay for fifteen years. He's twentieth in Jersey sales. People loved Farv And now you don't think it's just he's not in the conversation, So how you end does matter? Now? Now Michael Jordan went six for six the Wizards was a mess. He was only there a couple of years. It's almost like the tape disappeared. But I look at I look at sort of Belichick in the way it's going. It's not just losing. It feels like rigid and stubborn and it's so bad. Or maybe he's smarter than all of us that the new way to do things is anybody can call plays, defensive coordinator, cornerback, coach, special teams coach. I don't think that's true. But how this is ending and there's a convergence here of Josh Allen ascending and Belichick going more defense than offense. And I don't think it's gonna play out well, I don't think it's gonna And I just the AFC now Mac Jones maybe the tenth best quarterback, and Belichick was fired before New England, and it's gonna end poorly. I don't I'm not saying we're not going to consider Bill really bright, but it's I don't think it's a hot take. If you if Andy Reid, if I knew he was gonna coach ten more years with Mahomes and his last from today and his last fourteen years or three or four super bowls, kept up with the league, pivoted with the league, draft and developed well, and Belichick stays six more. And this is what I get. Stuff that that that feels inconceivable. I mean, Bill Walsh was We thought Lombardi was it, and then we thought Walsh was it, and now we think Belichick was it. Man, this ain't pretty. This is not pretty. I'm fascinated by New England. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they're win eleven games. Maybe they they they literally they have really no week to week game. All the stuff he was great about early, Bill was always known as every week he kept he was updated. He was constantly preparing for the opponent with a different game plan. They seem so outdated, so out of sorts. I don't even know it. To me, I watched it last night. I'm like, I don't get it. I give up. I don't I don't get it. The whole world's going left, Heard going right. I don't get it one more. Heard The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like, any time in life that you are a disruptor or. You take a strong stance on something, a strong action, you have to be prepared for the reaction. So when the Live when the golfers from the PGA tour joined the Live Tour, I support that and I still do. Our government has a relationship with Saudi Arabia, in my opinion, way too cozy. But it's a toxic region. We feel we need an ally in that region. So there it is. We just signed a new deal with them that is nobody talks about yet. We're outraged with golfers, but I will also defend the PGA and traditionalists in golf with this. They have a right to react, to defend their turf and their business to those who disrupted it. And so and I tell people this all the time. When I left ESPN and I had a great ten year run, ten eleven year run, great people, right. But when I when I told them I was going to go to Fox, their arrival. This is something I had planned for six months. What are they going to do? They wouldn't let me. They still don't let me bring ESPN people on Fox. Now, we have great people here, so I don't need to. But I as I was building up my guest list for the first eighteen months at Fox. It was difficult, but I had planned for it. I knew my strong move would get a strong reaction from their management. So they shut off anybody there. Doesn't mean they're bad people. It's business. I get it. But I was prepared for it. I was building up every day after work, trying to build up our guest list, and thank god, we had a lot of people here and still do that can talk in no sports, So strong reaction or action, get ready for a reaction. So one of the things the NFL is a huge advantage in the Deshaun Watson situation is the NFL is saying We're going to suspend you for a year and find you twenty million dollars. It's a strong action that's like unprecedented. There's no pushback. There is no support group for creepyim in Army Hammer in Hollywood was a star. He now sells time shares. Trevor Bauer two years baseball out. Nobody cares, so they can do the leverage. Here is all the NFL. Go google how many times the nflp has sued the NFL and one let's start with zero. The weakest, by far, the weakest union in all of pro sports is the players union in the NFL. I mean baseball umpires arguably have a stronger union than NFL players. NFL coaches have a better union a better pension than NFL players. So the bottom line here is Roger Goodell. What's the pushback? The media is on Roger Goodell's side and anti creepy men. Thirty massuses is creepy. And and by the way, the other owners they don't like Haslam because they guaranteed a contract they rewarded creepy behavior. So NFL owners are on Roger Goodell. So Roger Goodell's in a rare situation. He can come in an incredibly harsh, punitive sentence. What what what? What the reaction is? The NFLPA sues so up, not gonna win, So it is a rare There is no value in Goodell going light on this, Go as harsh as possible. Protect your brand. This is a This is now moved into not only bad behavior being rewarded, but Roger Goodell has to protect his league, its reputation, himself, his legacy, other owners. What what what is the repercussion for coming in and even in some eyes, overpunishing the media is ninety five percent. In Goodell's corner, could be one hundred. I've yet to see anybody pushed back in the media, any reasonable person. So what you're seeing is Roger Goodell saying we're going to take the strongest action possible. You bring your best reaction, and I think it's a sixty mile an hour fastball. There's nothing Cleveland has in fact Cleveland yesterday. Did you see what happened yesterday? Six games? We won't move yesterday to Seaan Watson, okay, eight, don't give you five million dollars. I'd go to twelves and offer twenty million. I think that's where you have to go to even get Goodell to pick the phone up. Why would he need to scot that? What's the repercussion? What's the pushback? Not a lot of it. Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories about what made these people love their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way. We talked to coaches, we talked to players. We tell you stories. You download it, you listen to it. I think you like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or ever you get your podcast hundred days out. He's my friend. Fox Sports soccer analysts. Former United States men's team's middlefielder Stu Holden is joining US. Hi. I love when Stu Holden comes on my show. All right, So I was saying that this is my this is my concern. So I think this is the most skilled team we've ever had. It is the youngest United States men's national team. I think there's value to youth. They don't have any negative vibes from previous failures. You don't know what you don't know. When you're young, you can be reckless but also hyper aggressive. You don't have legacies to protect. I mean, these guys, they're all like twenty one, twenty two, twenty three. Generationally, they all like the same music, they all use the same devices. This has the potential to be an incredibly close knit team. So that's my positive. Does that make sense? Yeah? Absolutely? And it does. This team. You think about it, and if you go all the way back to the failure to qualify for the World Cup twenty eighteen, the lowest moment in US soccer history. From those ashes has come this group of players with almost that feeling, that of responsibility of hey, we need to get this program back to where it was. We're we're starting all absolutely and forming their own identity along the way. And then you think about within that there was going to be players from those past failures that Josie Altadors might Bradley's that might have been a part of this cycle. COVID came along, no games for a year for the national team, and all of a sudden, Greg Burholter has got this dilemma of what do I do here? Do I still have some of these thirty thirty two year olds or do I just roll the dice and trust this young group and let them figure it out? And that's what they did. Now. It wasn't perfect. They finished third and qualifying, they didn't win the whole group, but they go in to the World Cup with expectations of getting out of this group and leaving their mark on this tournament. Now again, soccer fans are very funny because we are. Yeah, funny, Funny is a nice word for us. I say this, I say this for years and years, and I think it's a reasonable criticism. They felt ignored, okay, so they all they kind of created their own cool like vibe. And then when we would be casuals come in and have opinions, they eat you alive on social which I think is funny and I'm here for it. But you made We talked about this before you came on the air. There is a certain vibe among soccer fans that they're very reluctant for the rest of us to love this team for three weeks like they love it all year. Yes, we stand in the corner in the shadows and we desperately scream and yell, hey, pay attention to us, look at us. And then all of a sudden, the spotlight comes on us and we want to welcome people in. But then as soon as you talk about it and you don't know the specifics about a four three three in tactical formations and positional changes, we start screaming back at you and saying you don't know it like we do. I always equate it, and I know Alex will know this very well. With we saw the indie band before they made it big, and then as soon as it went big, well, we scream at you for not knowing the songs that they knew before and how good they were before they made it big. And that's who we are. We eat our own. We want to welcome you into the conversation. Colin. I think you do a wonderful job, even for having soccer as a big part of what you do in your show. And you're pretty open and admit the fact that you don't know the minutia of the game. And that's okay. But we want people like you paying attention to us and loving the sport and the way in which we do so soccer fans, come on, man, no, what open up the team. When I watched this team esthetically, I think I think burr Halter sees the skill level. He sees the speed. It's a quick team. It's a fast team. We're athletic, we're young, a bit naive. We're not as physical at times as I like. Defensively, I have questions. We're a hands country. We've always been good in goal. This is the weakness of the team. I don't love him in goal, but I see that as a as a value proposition. We are esthetically, what I see, way more skilled than any team in my life. So that's my naive opinion. Yes, no, and it's a correct opinion because this team and this nation, the way in which we've invested in soccer, Major League soccer development academies, the amount of money that has gone into it's taken time to see the benefits of that and the development of these young players. So Greg bur Halter, when he took over early on, boy did we take some lumps. We played Mexico, we tried to play out of the back, and I remember the game was twenty nineteen in giant stating. We got hammered three zero, just destroyed by our biggest rival. But he was come. He saw the bigger plan, the bigger scope of what he was trying to do. And this team was skilled, it was young, it was aggressive, and we could play in that way, but we had to get through ways some of these lumps on the way. I mean our teams back in twenty ten, what I think was one of the better teams. We defended deep, we wanted, we were hard working, we didn't want to concede goals. This team's like, uh, we are young, we are skilled, we can play aggressive, and we can play in the faces of some of these big countries, and that's a big change for us. No, this is the thing that jumps out to me is that I can tell what a coach thinks of his personnel by the game plan. And I do think that the Clinton Dempsey teams were and I think he's the one old school guy. This team could use a bit of a bot kicker. I don't think Weston McKenney. He's got a little bit of as an edge to him, but he's not quite I think we need a Draymond Green. We need a bouncer in the bar, a tough guy, because I think Polistic is increasingly getting picked on. People see him as the Gretzky and hockey, and Gretzky needed an ally to defend him. So but this team. When I watched this team and I watch how Burrholter is hyper aggressive, willing to concede on the back end. My takeaways, Oh, he trusts his talent. The stylistically how we play soccer. Fans would get upset when we would play Brazil or a Chili and we were conservative. And my takeaway was we have to be. We could play with Italy mostly a defensive minded history we couldn't go with you know what I mean. So here's my question, can we be aggressive against England, perhaps the deepest team they've had in two decades. So I watched Greg on your show a couple of weeks ago when he came by, and he talked about that game, the England game, and saying, hey, that might be one game we have to play a little bit differently and play a little bit more conservatively and pragmatic. And I would be okay with that. But I also see it as a situation. England's going to come into this tournament their last window, they got beat by Hungary at home. They're not looking good, they're searching for answers. They're undoubtedly the favorite in the US's group, very deep. But I see that game as a group in the world up on November twenty fifth, Black Friday. I think a large portion of this country will be interested in watching that game. That's a game that the US gets to surprise some people, and I would love to see if the US beat Wales, which I think is the most important game. You have to win your first game in the group, then you go into England. If you have a win or a point out of that first one. Go at those guys. You know, let the young guys go. They're fearless, and I think they like to play that way with a handbrake off a little bit, but still with some smarts and some savvy and understanding. This is a World Cup, this is a tournament. So don't just blow it out and you know, concede two or three goals early. But I want this young team to play aggressive because why, that's who they are. That's their identity, and the best coaches get the best out of the players that they have, and that's who those players are. In the NBA, it used to be you hated your rivals. MJ hated Isaiah, he hated the Pistons, he hated Bird. Generationally, they've all got the same agents. They all make money. They're not sharing a small pie. So NBA guys now they're all boys. They all get along. That's okay. Here's my concern about this team. There is no older player now, Weston McKinney's got a chip. I wouldn't mind if it was bigger. I worry that they're all buddies. They're again, same music, same likes. At twenty three years old, the generation I walk my generation, I battle my rivals. Are we two nice? Does this team have an edge? This team has an edge, But I would say this team does not have a outright leader. And Greg Burhalter's the best. Yes, he's the best player, but he's not a He's not the guy that is going to in moments he has. I don't know if you remember the Panama game, I know you're watching in qualifying, he scored a hat trick. He was playing with that like look in his eye that was nothing is going to stop me today. I don't know what they need to do if we can harness that for him, he's unstoppable. But Greg Burhalter is rotated. Who's the captain of each game? You've had Tyler Adams, You've had Polisic, You've had McKenney, And I think that's still trying to figure out, Hey, who's my guy? That everybody in a tough game. And I've been in these games as a player and you're kind of looking around and you're looking for somebody to look you in the eye. The Draymond Green that say, hey, you know what, this game right now it needs me to go and just smash somebody. It needs me to go and make a play. That was a dem role. That was a dem c role. One pent it was a bocanegro You know, we had Tim Howard and goal a guy that you knew would come up with a big save if you need it. I've yet to see that really emerged through qualifying, and it speaks for the fact that the biggest questions about our team and are starting eleven going into the World Cup. Goalkeeper Zack Steffanter Turner, I don't know. Center backs you're gonna have questions Zimmerman plus who I don't know. And forward we don't know who are center forward's going to be At this point, it's probably going to be Ferreira. But outside of that, I mean your midfields as steel cast you can write that in right now. Who's going to start in the first game against Wales. But outside of that, I think we're still searching for some answers forever. As an interesting player, I feel like I know what I'm gonna kind of get from. I don't like the situation that goal I'd go Turner don't love it, but again, we've been so great at that for years and it didn't pay off in the end, you gotta score goals. Yeah, nobody's shutting down England. They're gonna score. So my takeaway is we're not great at it. Can we be competent? I think the answers, yes, Walkers, Zimmerman in the back, Long in the back, we'll be okay. But I think we're better upfront. My question is what does he need to be Ferrera? What does he have to be? Because I know what I get from Pulisic, I don't know what I get from him. So I would say the question about Frere's an interesting one because you could say who's the most important player to the US having some success. I could name Polisic, I could name m Kenney, I could name Tyler Adams. But Ferreira And it doesn't just have to be goals with him. This was a game he actually scored four goals in a match against Grenada. But the job of the center forward and Greg Burhalter system, and this is why you have to trust Greg Burhalter that he's doing the best that he thinks for the team with the personnel he's got that position. Oftentimes you drop a little bit deeper, you try to bring defenders with you to open up space in behind for Polisic, for Aaronson, for Tim Weya. So it doesn't always have to be about the goals in the system that we play. France won the World Cup in twenty eighteen. Do you know ho ho many goals they're striker Olivier Jeru scored in that tournament. Zero, not a single goal from the number nine position. So I know we scream and yell and we think, hey, strikers have to score goals. They can do a lot if you have the pieces around that can produce our most talented players, as you know, are in the wide areas. We have depth beyond belief. We can rotate Geo Reyna and Polisic and Aaronson, all these guys the number nine position though, you have to be effective either scoring goals or holding up the ball, linking up play. And that's why Frere's in the lineup, not because I think Greg thinks this guy's gonna score six goals. Yeah, I don't think the team's complete yet. They can tweak it up until like yeah, up until the very end of twenty six this time as well, the roster do you think, I don't think it's done yet. No, I mean September, we're gonna find out. We've got two games left. The last two games, you're gonna see the US. We have the game against Saudi Arabia, which will be their last County Arabia last two friendlies, and you're gonna get a look. I think you might see this guy Vasqueys, who scored fourteen goals in MLS. Striker is a position. If you're red hot and you got that hot hand, you might work your way into the roster. Okay, it really is amazing. So you got Polistics twenty three, played Chelsea, you got mckenney's twenty three, Juventus, Sergio Desk twenty one, Tyler Adams twenty three. He's trying to make me feel old, but it really but here here, I'll throw this at you and this. And when we went to Brazil, the conditions were daunting, and I think there's an argument to be made Qatar, it's gonna be really warm, and I do think it benefits our youth. We're gonna be young, fresher legs. I my guess is we're kind of built for these conditions. Or am I being too patriotic and boistic and the optimistic You're right. I mean, the one of the interesting things you're gonna see in guitars, these air controlled, climate controlled stadiums with these big fans that blow on the field, and it was amazing. During the summer, it was one hundred and ten degrees out. They played a game and signed the stadium. A player took a selfie with a thermometer and it showed that the temperature on the field with sixty five degrees, so it's about a forty degree difference from outside to end. Actually, during the winter, the temperature is going to be about lash in the seventies. One of I think an area where the United States can have a real edge is in sports science and the fact that we invest a lot of money in that. I went to the US practice in Kansas City, and they call them red hats or red shirts because there was the staff around. There was more staff than players. And I'm talking physiotherapist, sports science, sports scientists and tracking data and the rest and recovery for these guys. This is gonna be the first World Cup where teams do not have to travel outside of one single city. So you're gonna go to a game, you're gonna come back, You're gonna go to a practice, you're gonna go back. You be in the same hotel the entire time. So that means the US is loading up with a game room. They're gonna have, you know, all this stuff that these kids, these twenty year olds want. They have xboxes and PlayStations and rest and recovery centers, hypotheric chambers. I mean, the US is gonna throw big money at that to ensure that they can maybe find an edge that other teams don't have when it comes to an investment in that stuff. I think that's where we can find an edge. Old Cup for the uninitiated, here is a little like two tournaments. You have group stage. So our group is England, arguably the best team. I don't think they'll win it. It's England, They're gonna expect to win it, but I don't think they will. But I think they're really talent. I think they can play with anybody. And then we have Iran and then Wales. Wales is viewed as you know, the smallest, it's the weakest team. They have one great player, right, Okay, So my my feeling is this, the World Cup becomes two tournaments. There's group stage. I feel like we're the second most talent team. I think we get out of the group stage realistic, realistic, and that should be the baseline expectation every single World Cup. And I would have said that before, but then we didn't qualify for the World Cup. So you know, Greg Burrowhalter again he was talking to you, he said, we view this as two tournaments. You get through the group stage, it's kind of a slog it out and you find your way. You manage the three games. You're probably rotating lineups to get the best versus each team. Your first game is the most important, and then I think Greg and I would agree the last game against Iron is also a game you view. We need points out of that one yea England were going and we we try and run it up and that's the team that we're going to finish first or second, and it will determine who we'd get in the second match, which would be US paired with the host group which is Quitar Ecuador. And then you have the Netherlands in there as well, and I think Netherlands is the team you you would want to avoid out of those and maybe you get Netherlands is they're they're I think they're back this year. They didn't qualify for the last World Cup. They were in the final in twenty ten. Yeah, it should be noted we all we all get anxiety last World Cup. Who didn't get in Italy didn't make it, Netherlands didn't make it. Feel about Italy. How big soccer is. So by the way, Germany's had down swings two straight World Cups for them crazy, So this is not. I really do feel like if you're a soccer fan, or or me a casual as I would be called by you Indie rocker, then I do believe this is exciting because I feel like there was the Kyle wrote junior stage of soccer where we couldn't compete, guys didn't play internationally. Then there's the Stu Holden, Dempsey, Alexei Lawless. Some of our guys do play internationally, may not star, but they play. Now we're getting guys that go internationally and are viable scorers, stars, stars. Yeah, those are the three stages in my life now. I do not I think the next World Cup is the one where and this I sound so patriotic here, I think we're about four years away, just an experience, but I think we get out of the group stage. I think we went a game out of the group stage, and I think we're really viable. That is my hope. Um again, how does it land for you? What will you see that will concern you? If you see something early and go oh, what would it be? So the game against England is a game where we're gonna find out a lot asi Yes, the day after Thanksgiving on probably the best lineup of sports television. Sound like a company man now, but that we're gonna have the Cowboys Thursday and then Ohio State Michigan on the Saturday. So look, I think what I worry about with this team is that they are so young, they're fearless. They don't know what they don't know until they see it. And we're going to find out when those bright lights go on and you're on the World Cup and you're the big stage against the Welsh team that is competent. They had a good run at the Euros, not the twenty twenty version, but the one before that in twenty sixteen, and I just I hope and I don't believe it is going to be this way, but I hope that I see that look in those eyes that the guys that we belong here and we're not happy to be here and be happy to be back at a World Cup. And we're these young guys and we play at big clubs, but we're not expected to go far. I think this team, when you get to the knockout stages and you get rolling, you pick up some momentum. They have players that play against the best players in the world week in week out, at Barcelona, at Chelsea, at bruci Adortman, etc. So we have talented players as a team collectively, do they believe in themselves and do they not make those little fine margin mistakes at the back or at the goalkeeping position where we might have a little a bit of inexperience or guys that aren't playing regularly. That's that's the thing that concerns me a little bit. As a team ever won the World Cup with poor goaltending? Had anybody ever been bad in the net and you don't have to be great. I'm trying to think here, when France had Hugo Les, Germany had menwel Noyer twenty ten, Spain Devindhya I believe it was or Ecer Cassius. I mean two, So no, I would say no. Yeah, I think it is our primary liability, although I think Turner's capable. That's how I feel. But the problem is he's he's at a world class club in Arsenal, but he might not be playing. And Alexie and I were debating this the other he actually might benefit from the fact that he's not playing Kazak Stephen is playing and he's not playing well. So do you go with the guy who hasn't made mistakes? Probably? I don't know a lot to discuss. Huh. It's exciting. Yeah, And all you soccer fans out there, you have to just embrace the fact that you you saw the indie band before I did. You've memorized, Hey, I'm from Nirvana, grew up thirty miles out of my hometown. I knew of Nirvana before anybody else. I didn't hold it a d people pearl jam I'm a Northwest guy with all the grundraw. I didn't hold it against people. It's so great seeing you. This is an exciting time and today it's crazy to think, Yeah, here's one more thing. I have defended. Greg Burholter. A lot on the internet doesn't know us. Go well, why why do you think soccer fans are always I A I have a psychology theory on it. It is much easier to blame our coach than our players. If you blame players, that's we're not good enough, we're hopeless. If you blame a coach, it's all we have to do is fix the one guy and we're great. If I said to you, Burr Halter, what defines him? I think he's aggressive. I think he's a listener. I think by you know, the John Brooks thing, he can make tough calls. How do you define him? I would say he's authentic, And by that I mean he understands. He's a he's an American coach that has played in a World Cup for the United States, so at the forefront of that and arguably well actually our most successful run in two thousand and two. So he understands what the American player needs. And he's also a guy that's willing and able to adapt. Yeah, and a good adapter. Yes. And I think some coaches get so laser focused and the blinders are up about what they think needs to be successful. And he has changed and evolved, He's let some of his core principles go a little bit. He's let the group find their way and I think that's why he's been a good coach for this group, because he's evaluated the best players that he's got. He's gotten the most out of them, which says a lot as a coach. He's been willing and able to adapt and ultimately, look, there will always be this eurobias of hey, we need to go hire this guy because he's coached in the Premier League and this guy's done this. You know, no coach has ever won a World Cup that has not been from that nation. Wow. So you know, you think about all the different coaches going in the past, and we could go and get Pop Guardiola. He would be the first coach from a foreign nation to lead a team to a World Cup. Great seeing you. Great to see him man