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Hello, everyone, Welcome to another SDH network one v one.
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I had the opportunity to catch up with former Atlanta
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United player and MLS legend in Dax McCarty. We talked
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everything about him starting out in his new job with
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MLS season past this season, as well as the transition
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from going from being a player to then being a
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part of the media and what that transition is like.
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And then we also talked a little bit about this
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upcoming thirtieth season for MLS.
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Without further ado, here's Dax McCarty.
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Dax, I think my first question is, you know, how's
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retirement life been for you.
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It's been great. Retirement life is awesome. You don't have
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to run fitness with the other guys. You don't have
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to chase around a bunch of teenagers. You know, the
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aches and pains are more muted. I'll say, you know
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how aging is. You still wake up with a sore
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back every now and then, but now you don't have
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to to put that sore back and those sore legs
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through like rigorous workouts every day. I'll still try my
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best to stay in good shape, but it's been really nice.
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Been able to spend a lot of time with the family.
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Just got back from a quick little ski trip where
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I was teaching my five year old how to ski.
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I mean, just little things like that where you can't
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you can't ever really do that, you know, in preseason
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or during the season. Definitely things that I'm very grateful for.
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And I think my next one is, so, how did
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the offer come up for you to do Apple and
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MLS season pass?
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Well, I mean that's a long winding road with how
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we got there, but I'll try to give you the
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cliff notes version. It's essentially just I started thinking about
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post what post retirement life looks like, you know, years ago.
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And it wasn't ever because I thought I would have
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to retire in my early thirties. It was just because
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I didn't want to be one of those athletes who,
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you know, older age and retirement sneaks up on you
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and then you're kind of just left not knowing exactly
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what direction you want to go. So towards the latter
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stages of my career, when I was in Nashville and Atlanta,
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I really started to be intentional about the different things
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that I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to
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stay involved in the game. That was always priority number
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one for me. I mean, I love soccer and I
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love being involved with it, so I knew that it
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would be something in the game. And I explored both,
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you know, coaching media, potentially you know, joining a front office.
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And when I added everything up, the media stuff really
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called to me more in terms of what my heart
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was telling me to do. Coaching. The coaching life is
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a difficult life. And if you're a player and you
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do become a coach, then you know, your schedule it
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pretty much doesn't change, and then it actually gets significantly
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worse with the time commitment that you have to be
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prepared for. And that's not for everybody. And you know,
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I just decided, with a young family with two boys,
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my wife being super supportive and following me everywhere I went,
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that instead of living that nomadic coaching lifestyle that sometimes
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coaches have to live, I wanted to have a home base.
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I wanted to be settled. I wanted to be able
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to say that my kids can grow up in one
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house for the most part. And so that's what I
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decided to commit to the media because you have a
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little bit more flexibility in terms of, you know, how
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you work where you work, the travel schedule, and so yeah,
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the conversations with MLS went pretty fast. You know, I'd
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been in contact with them a few times throughout the
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last couple of years, just kind of picking. They were
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picking my brain. I was telling them my interests and
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that I wanted to keep playing. But everything kind of
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came together in Atlanta when I knew in the summer
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that it was going to be my last year. You know,
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we didn't speak officially until after the season ended, but
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we got a deal done pretty quickly because they knew
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it was what I wanted and I think they wanted
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the same thing. And then, you know, I'm on a
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flight out to MLS Cup as my first official gig,
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which is pretty cool if you really think about it.
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You know, being able to say that your first official
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job as a member of the media is covering the
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final game of the season you just retired from. So
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definitely a surreal experience and I'm just very grateful for
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the opportunity and i feel like a rookie all over again.
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I'm really excited.
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I was actually going to ask you about the MLS Cup,
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you know, just how quickly it was. What was that experience,
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like you know, getting your first taste of being on
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camera with MLS Season pass.
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Well, it was a wonderful experience, if not a little
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bit stressful. I literally agreed to my deal with MLS
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and my contract on the Friday before MLS Cup on
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the Saturday, and so I flew out on the last
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flight out of Atlanta. I got into LA at about midnight,
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and it was all a whirlwind from there. You know,
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I woke up at seven in the morning, get to
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the stadium to prepare for the game and meet everyone.
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And there's probably I mean, I don't know if people
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actually realize this. I certainly didn't, but putting together a
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big production is a lot more than just a couple
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of camera operators and some talent and one producer. There's
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like fifty sixty people involved in a big production, maybe
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even more, maybe one hundred, And you know, just meeting everyone,
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trying to remember names, going over the show and the
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rundown of how you know everything is going to go,
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just coming up with storylines and for the game, and
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you know, being available, and it was just a and
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it was a really great experience, and it was kind
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of like something I've been hearing a lot is you
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know on this in this job, you kind of drink
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out of a fire hose, and that's kind of what
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it's like. You just take on board all this information
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and you try to articulate that to the viewer, to
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the audience as quickly and succinctly as you possibly can.
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So really cool experience and definitely one I'll never forget.
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That's something I'm gonna have to use because that's really
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really accurate with what you have to.
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Do, especially being on air and stuff like.
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It's it's crazy, like the stuff you have to know
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and like what you have to see you out and
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it's nuts.
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I've never heard that one before.
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I'm mighty, it's a good one.
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Take that one for me, Take it, steal it.
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When looking back, I mean being a player and now
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being on air, what were some of the biggest challenges
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for you when you made that transition or for you.
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Was it a little bit easier because it's different for everyone.
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Right, I'd say that the transition hasn't been too bad
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at all. I was, like I said before, I was
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very intentional in the way I went about preparing to
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go into the media world. I said yes to almost
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every media obligation that was offered me to myself when
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I was in Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta, even New York. Going
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back to my New York days, I just really wanted
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to make good relationships and show my personality a little bit,
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because I feel like in this day and age, especially,
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you know, when you're a player, you can get your
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voice out there in a number of different ways. You
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can show people who you are off the field in
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a number of different ways, and so I wanted to
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make sure that, you know, my face was out there,
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my voice was out there. How I spoke about the
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game with my teammates, was how I spoke about the
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game with the media, because I think there's too many
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athletes who, you know, and this is not a slight
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on these athletes, but there are a lot of athletes
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out there that just don't really care and they just
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don't really want to give, you know, media members the
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time of day when it comes to trying to answer
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questions or you know, break games down. And so that's fine,
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you know, some people are like that. That's that's some
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people's personality, But that was never mine. I was always
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an open book for better or worse, and I think
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that really, you know, translates well when you're trying to
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transition from playing to then talking about the game. And
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so I started my own podcast. Obviously that's been a
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great help with trying to get me prepared for what's
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to come. And so just being in front of the
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camera as much as possible, speaking about the game as
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much as I can and having fun. I feel like, honestly,
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like I'm not just saying this, I feel like, other
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than playing the game, being able to talk about the
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game with smart, like minded people is the second best
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job in sports. And so I'm just, like I said before,
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really grateful. I know I'm gonna make mistakes. I know
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it's not going to be you know, smooth sailing the
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whole time. Like I said, I'm a rookie all over again,
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and so I've got to ask questions, I've got to learn,
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I've got to be open minded, and I'm just going
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to do my best to make sure that I'm authentic.
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That's the one thing that I think keeps popping up
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in conversations I have is just be yourself, be authentic,
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and I think that'll translate to the viewer.
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And you got some good good names to help you
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out with that. You got Kevin Egan, you got Sasha Question,
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you got all of them. We've been doing it for
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a little bit.
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Oh yeah, great.
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We know Kevin.
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He's a friend of the network.
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He helped me actually in my early years of doing this.
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I met him in twenty twenty one.
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So I'm not just saying this, but they the entire
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MLS three sixty crew is brilliant. Obviously, I know Sasha
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Question and Bradley Wright Phillips very well, so that transition
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has been pretty seamless. Obviously, we you know, we have
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a great rapport right off the bat. I think k
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and Kyle is one of the best in the business.
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She can host, she can be an analyst, She's very
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knowledgeable about the game. And then Kevin, like you said,
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for me, I knew Kevin just because we cross paths
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before and randomly in the soccer world, but also, you know,
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living in Atlanta and being able to see him and
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be around him a little bit. I didn't realize how
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great at his job he actually is until you see
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how he prepares, you see how he treats everyone. He
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treats everyone with the utmost respect, whether it's the top
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producer or his coworkers or a showrunner or you know,
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the person who's setting up our mics. Like he's just
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he's a great He's been a great influence for me
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for the last two months and just asking questions, helping
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me through with different things, picking his brain on different
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ways to you know, articulate things. He's just been wonderful.
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So I truly feel like I couldn't be a part
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of a better crew, in a better cast. I'm just,
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you know, gonna try my best to keep up with
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all of them, because they're all really really good at
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their jobs.
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Yeah, everything that they do over there up in MLS
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three sixty and Apple, they've done a phenomenal job, and
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especially with promoting the game and everything.
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And this season's going to be fun.
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And speaking of this season, we'll go ahead and talk
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about kind of what you're expecting from this season.
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What are some of the.
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Biggest things that you're excited to see about from this
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season from all over MLS.
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Oh Man, there's too much to talk about. I will
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I will try to keep it fairly brief for me.
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The biggest this might be slightly biased, and I admit
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that The biggest storyline for me is easily a Landa United,
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the amount of money that they've spent in this transfer window.
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You know, Garth Loggerway is putting his money where his
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mouth is or Arthur's money where their mouth is, and
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so they said they would spend and they did. Obviously,
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Miguel al Maron's return is a major major talking point
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for me. I'm absolutely fascinated to see how he does
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in the sequel because obviously the original with him and
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Joseph was it was must ce TV, and so at
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Lanti and Nighted's attack obviously adding Emmanuel Latte lot as
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the number nine, the most expensive transfer fee and MLS history,
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it's gonna be box office stuff, and there's gonna be pressure,
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you know, Landy and Night it always comes with pressure,
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But now I think that's ramped up and the expectations
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are high with a new coach and some very very
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good players, and so I think at Lanti and Night
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it's going to be a fascinating watch in the you know,
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in the season into Miami, how do they how do
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they recover from a very disappointing end to their year.
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Obviously the best team at Regular Sea team in MLS history,
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setting the points record and then you know, kind of
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floundering in the playoffs and losing to an Atlanta United
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team that was quite frankly, probably overmatched in a lot
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of ways, but managed to get the upset. And so
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I think that they have a bitter taste in their
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mouth with how the season ended. Be fascinated to see
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if the new players that they brought in, some younger
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players that maybe are a little bit less experienced, can
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come in and make a big difference for them. And
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then how do Messi, Suarez and Busquetes hold up. You know,
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they're all a little bit older. You know, Messi had
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a pretty bad injury last year with Argentina and he
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missed a significant amount of time. If Messi stays healthy
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for twenty five to thirty games, I think it's realistic
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to imagine him winning MVP again and setting lots and
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lots of records in the league. That's how good I
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think he still is so fascinated to watch inter Miami
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and then out West. I'm fascinated with with with two
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teams that were very bad last year, San Jose Earthquakes
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and Austin FC. I think both of those teams are
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going to make the playoffs and be much much better
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than they were. Obviously, Bruce Arena coming back int MLS.
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I think it's a great thing for the league. I
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think that he will want to end his career on
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a high note, and so I'm fascinated to see how
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San Jose does. And then Austin spending ten million dollars
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on Brandon Vasquez to be your number nine. I think
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that's a great acquisition. But the transfer fee, again, it
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comes with a lot of pressure, and so I think
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Austin will be better. I expect them to be better,
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but there's a lot of pressure on Brandon Vasquez the shoulders.
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And then the La Galaxy are the defending champions. They
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have so many question marks going into the season. I mean,
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I think they lost four or five starters. They lost
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the MLS Cup MVP. You know, obviously Ricky Pooge one
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of the best players in the league. He's not going
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to be back for a number of months. So there's
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a lot of questions surrounding the Galaxy at this moment
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in time. And they were the rightful champions of MLS
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last year. They were brilliant pretty much all season, played
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a really exciting, aesthetically pleasing brand of soccer. I think
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it's going to be a challenging year for Greg Vanny
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to try to make the pieces fit together and navigate
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through these injuries. Joseph painTill is out for the beginning
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of the season, and so I think Greg Vanny is
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one of the top three coaches in MLS, so I
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think he will be able to navigate that. I still
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think the Galaxy are going to be one of the
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top five or six teams in the West. But again,
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you know there's a lot of question marks surrounding that team,
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so those for me are the big storylines. And of
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course season thirty in MLS, San Diego thirtieth team coming
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into the league. How do they fare. I, obviously as
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an expansion team, know what it's like. I have San
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Diego last in the West. I hope they proved me wrong.
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It's just hard to know with expansion teams, it's just
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hard to know how they're going to do because these
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are a group of players that have never been together.
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So I'd love nothing more for them to prove me
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wrong and make the playoffs and make a big splash.
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But that remains to be seen.
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That's the biggest question mark for me too, is definitely
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what San Diego is going to bring, because you know,
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they brought in these players and you look at it
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and you say, oh, well, this is this seems like
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it could work. But expansion teams, it's so all over
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the place, because you know, we've had experiences where expansion
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teams are bottom of the table. Then we have expansion
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teams who make it all the way to the top
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and they win MLS Cup and like they're able to
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do it in their second year. Like it's very, very
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It could be interesting to see how it fares.
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Anyone who says that they can accurately predict an MLS
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season before it starts is a fool. It's not possible.
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I don't care what anyone says. You can come up with,
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you know, a couple of teams who you think are
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going to be great, the usual suspects that have great
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coaches and that spend a lot of money typically are
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very good. And then the rest of the conferences it's
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a crapshoot. I mean, every team I think feels like
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they can the playoffs, right, and when you feel that way,
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that is what MLS wants. It's parody, and it's just
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a very difficult thing to do to ask people to
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accurately predict in the preseason where things are going to
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shake out. So fascinated to see how San Diego does.
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Like I said, I would be I would be the
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happiest guy in the room if they prove me wrong.
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Well, Dax, I wanted to say thank you so much
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again for coming on to the network to chat about
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the thirty season. You making your first ever appearance, not
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ever you did MLS Cup, but sure.
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Started this MLS three sixty.
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Sixty first run.
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I know that everyone here in Atlanta's looking forward to
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seeing you on there and looking forward to seeing your
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journey with it, and it's going to be a ton
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of fun.
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Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
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I'm actually kind of bummed that I'm not going to
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be in Atlanta for that. For that first game, it's
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going to be electric. I mean, someone need I mean,
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I'm sure I'll see it on Twitter, but someone needs
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to record, you know, when they introduce Miguel al Moron
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to the crowd again and just hear the roar, it's
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going to be an electric atmosphere. I'm excited to watch
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that game.
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Don't worry, I'll send a video to you.
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Don't worry.
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Hello, everyone, Welcome to another SDH network one v one.
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I had the opportunity to catch up with former Atlanta
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United player and MLS legend in Dax McCarty. We talked
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everything about him starting out in his new job with
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MLS season past this season, as well as the transition
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from going from being a player to then being a
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part of the media and what that transition is like.
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And then we also talked a little bit about this
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upcoming thirtieth season for MLS.
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Without further ado, here's Dax McCarty.
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Dax, I think my first question is, you know, how's
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retirement life been for you.
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It's been great. Retirement life is awesome. You don't have
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to run fitness with the other guys. You don't have
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to chase around a bunch of teenagers. You know, the
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aches and pains are more muted. I'll say, you know
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how aging is. You still wake up with a sore
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back every now and then, but now you don't have
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to to put that sore back and those sore legs
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through like rigorous workouts every day. I'll still try my
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best to stay in good shape, but it's been really nice.
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Been able to spend a lot of time with the family.
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Just got back from a quick little ski trip where
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I was teaching my five year old how to ski.
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I mean, just little things like that where you can't
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you can't ever really do that, you know, in preseason
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or during the season. Definitely things that I'm very grateful for.
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And I think my next one is, so, how did
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the offer come up for you to do Apple and
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MLS season pass?
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Well, I mean that's a long winding road with how
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we got there, but I'll try to give you the
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cliff notes version. It's essentially just I started thinking about
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post what post retirement life looks like, you know, years ago.
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And it wasn't ever because I thought I would have
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to retire in my early thirties. It was just because
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I didn't want to be one of those athletes who,
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you know, older age and retirement sneaks up on you
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and then you're kind of just left not knowing exactly
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what direction you want to go. So towards the latter
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stages of my career, when I was in Nashville and Atlanta,
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I really started to be intentional about the different things
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that I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to
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stay involved in the game. That was always priority number
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one for me. I mean, I love soccer and I
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love being involved with it, so I knew that it
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would be something in the game. And I explored both,
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you know, coaching media, potentially you know, joining a front office.
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And when I added everything up, the media stuff really
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called to me more in terms of what my heart
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was telling me to do. Coaching. The coaching life is
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a difficult life. And if you're a player and you
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do become a coach, then you know, your schedule it
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pretty much doesn't change, and then it actually gets significantly
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worse with the time commitment that you have to be
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prepared for. And that's not for everybody. And you know,
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I just decided, with a young family with two boys,
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my wife being super supportive and following me everywhere I went,
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that instead of living that nomadic coaching lifestyle that sometimes
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coaches have to live, I wanted to have a home base.
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I wanted to be settled. I wanted to be able
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to say that my kids can grow up in one
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house for the most part. And so that's what I
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decided to commit to the media because you have a
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little bit more flexibility in terms of, you know, how
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you work where you work, the travel schedule, and so yeah,
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the conversations with MLS went pretty fast. You know, I'd
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been in contact with them a few times throughout the
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last couple of years, just kind of picking. They were
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picking my brain. I was telling them my interests and
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that I wanted to keep playing. But everything kind of
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came together in Atlanta when I knew in the summer
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that it was going to be my last year. You know,
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we didn't speak officially until after the season ended, but
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we got a deal done pretty quickly because they knew
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it was what I wanted and I think they wanted
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the same thing. And then, you know, I'm on a
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flight out to MLS Cup as my first official gig,
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which is pretty cool if you really think about it.
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You know, being able to say that your first official
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job as a member of the media is covering the
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final game of the season you just retired from. So
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definitely a surreal experience and I'm just very grateful for
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the opportunity and i feel like a rookie all over again.
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I'm really excited.
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I was actually going to ask you about the MLS Cup,
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you know, just how quickly it was. What was that experience,
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like you know, getting your first taste of being on
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camera with MLS Season pass.
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Well, it was a wonderful experience, if not a little
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bit stressful. I literally agreed to my deal with MLS
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and my contract on the Friday before MLS Cup on
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the Saturday, and so I flew out on the last
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flight out of Atlanta. I got into LA at about midnight,
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and it was all a whirlwind from there. You know,
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I woke up at seven in the morning, get to
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the stadium to prepare for the game and meet everyone.
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And there's probably I mean, I don't know if people
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actually realize this. I certainly didn't, but putting together a
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big production is a lot more than just a couple
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of camera operators and some talent and one producer. There's
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like fifty sixty people involved in a big production, maybe
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even more, maybe one hundred, And you know, just meeting everyone,
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trying to remember names, going over the show and the
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rundown of how you know everything is going to go,
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just coming up with storylines and for the game, and
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you know, being available, and it was just a and
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it was a really great experience, and it was kind
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of like something I've been hearing a lot is you
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know on this in this job, you kind of drink
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out of a fire hose, and that's kind of what
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it's like. You just take on board all this information
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and you try to articulate that to the viewer, to
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the audience as quickly and succinctly as you possibly can.
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So really cool experience and definitely one I'll never forget.
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That's something I'm gonna have to use because that's really
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really accurate with what you have to.
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Do, especially being on air and stuff like.
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It's it's crazy, like the stuff you have to know
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and like what you have to see you out and
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it's nuts.
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I've never heard that one before.
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I'm mighty, it's a good one.
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Take that one for me, Take it, steal it.
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When looking back, I mean being a player and now
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being on air, what were some of the biggest challenges
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for you when you made that transition or for you.
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Was it a little bit easier because it's different for everyone.
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Right, I'd say that the transition hasn't been too bad
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at all. I was, like I said before, I was
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very intentional in the way I went about preparing to
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go into the media world. I said yes to almost
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every media obligation that was offered me to myself when
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I was in Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta, even New York. Going
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back to my New York days, I just really wanted
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to make good relationships and show my personality a little bit,
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because I feel like in this day and age, especially,
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you know, when you're a player, you can get your
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voice out there in a number of different ways. You
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can show people who you are off the field in
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a number of different ways, and so I wanted to
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make sure that, you know, my face was out there,
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my voice was out there. How I spoke about the
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game with my teammates, was how I spoke about the
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game with the media, because I think there's too many
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athletes who, you know, and this is not a slight
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on these athletes, but there are a lot of athletes
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out there that just don't really care and they just
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don't really want to give, you know, media members the
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time of day when it comes to trying to answer
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questions or you know, break games down. And so that's fine,
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you know, some people are like that. That's that's some
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people's personality, But that was never mine. I was always
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an open book for better or worse, and I think
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that really, you know, translates well when you're trying to
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transition from playing to then talking about the game. And
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so I started my own podcast. Obviously that's been a
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great help with trying to get me prepared for what's
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to come. And so just being in front of the
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camera as much as possible, speaking about the game as
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much as I can and having fun. I feel like, honestly,
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like I'm not just saying this, I feel like, other
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than playing the game, being able to talk about the
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game with smart, like minded people is the second best
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job in sports. And so I'm just, like I said before,
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really grateful. I know I'm gonna make mistakes. I know
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it's not going to be you know, smooth sailing the
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whole time. Like I said, I'm a rookie all over again,
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and so I've got to ask questions, I've got to learn,
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I've got to be open minded, and I'm just going
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to do my best to make sure that I'm authentic.
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That's the one thing that I think keeps popping up
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in conversations I have is just be yourself, be authentic,
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and I think that'll translate to the viewer.
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And you got some good good names to help you
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out with that. You got Kevin Egan, you got Sasha Question,
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you got all of them. We've been doing it for
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a little bit.
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Oh yeah, great.
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We know Kevin.
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He's a friend of the network.
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He helped me actually in my early years of doing this.
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I met him in twenty twenty one.
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So I'm not just saying this, but they the entire
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MLS three sixty crew is brilliant. Obviously, I know Sasha
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Question and Bradley Wright Phillips very well, so that transition
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has been pretty seamless. Obviously, we you know, we have
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a great rapport right off the bat. I think k
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and Kyle is one of the best in the business.
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She can host, she can be an analyst, She's very
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knowledgeable about the game. And then Kevin, like you said,
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for me, I knew Kevin just because we cross paths
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before and randomly in the soccer world, but also, you know,
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living in Atlanta and being able to see him and
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be around him a little bit. I didn't realize how
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great at his job he actually is until you see
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how he prepares, you see how he treats everyone. He
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treats everyone with the utmost respect, whether it's the top
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producer or his coworkers or a showrunner or you know,
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the person who's setting up our mics. Like he's just
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he's a great He's been a great influence for me
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for the last two months and just asking questions, helping
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me through with different things, picking his brain on different
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ways to you know, articulate things. He's just been wonderful.
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So I truly feel like I couldn't be a part
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of a better crew, in a better cast. I'm just,
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you know, gonna try my best to keep up with
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all of them, because they're all really really good at
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their jobs.
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Yeah, everything that they do over there up in MLS
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three sixty and Apple, they've done a phenomenal job, and
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especially with promoting the game and everything.
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And this season's going to be fun.
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And speaking of this season, we'll go ahead and talk
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about kind of what you're expecting from this season.
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What are some of the.
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Biggest things that you're excited to see about from this
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season from all over MLS.
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Oh Man, there's too much to talk about. I will
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I will try to keep it fairly brief for me.
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The biggest this might be slightly biased, and I admit
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that The biggest storyline for me is easily a Landa United,
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the amount of money that they've spent in this transfer window.
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You know, Garth Loggerway is putting his money where his
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mouth is or Arthur's money where their mouth is, and
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so they said they would spend and they did. Obviously,
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Miguel al Maron's return is a major major talking point
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for me. I'm absolutely fascinated to see how he does
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in the sequel because obviously the original with him and
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Joseph was it was must ce TV, and so at
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Lanti and Nighted's attack obviously adding Emmanuel Latte lot as
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the number nine, the most expensive transfer fee and MLS history,
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it's gonna be box office stuff, and there's gonna be pressure,
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you know, Landy and Night it always comes with pressure,
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But now I think that's ramped up and the expectations
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are high with a new coach and some very very
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good players, and so I think at Lanti and Night
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it's going to be a fascinating watch in the you know,
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in the season into Miami, how do they how do
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they recover from a very disappointing end to their year.
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Obviously the best team at Regular Sea team in MLS history,
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setting the points record and then you know, kind of
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floundering in the playoffs and losing to an Atlanta United
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team that was quite frankly, probably overmatched in a lot
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of ways, but managed to get the upset. And so
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I think that they have a bitter taste in their
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mouth with how the season ended. Be fascinated to see
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if the new players that they brought in, some younger
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players that maybe are a little bit less experienced, can
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come in and make a big difference for them. And
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then how do Messi, Suarez and Busquetes hold up. You know,
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they're all a little bit older. You know, Messi had
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a pretty bad injury last year with Argentina and he
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missed a significant amount of time. If Messi stays healthy
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for twenty five to thirty games, I think it's realistic
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to imagine him winning MVP again and setting lots and
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lots of records in the league. That's how good I
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think he still is so fascinated to watch inter Miami
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and then out West. I'm fascinated with with with two
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teams that were very bad last year, San Jose Earthquakes
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and Austin FC. I think both of those teams are
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going to make the playoffs and be much much better
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than they were. Obviously, Bruce Arena coming back int MLS.
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I think it's a great thing for the league. I
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think that he will want to end his career on
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a high note, and so I'm fascinated to see how
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San Jose does. And then Austin spending ten million dollars
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on Brandon Vasquez to be your number nine. I think
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that's a great acquisition. But the transfer fee, again, it
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comes with a lot of pressure, and so I think
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Austin will be better. I expect them to be better,
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but there's a lot of pressure on Brandon Vasquez the shoulders.
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And then the La Galaxy are the defending champions. They
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have so many question marks going into the season. I mean,
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I think they lost four or five starters. They lost
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the MLS Cup MVP. You know, obviously Ricky Pooge one
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of the best players in the league. He's not going
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to be back for a number of months. So there's
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a lot of questions surrounding the Galaxy at this moment
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in time. And they were the rightful champions of MLS
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last year. They were brilliant pretty much all season, played
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a really exciting, aesthetically pleasing brand of soccer. I think
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it's going to be a challenging year for Greg Vanny
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to try to make the pieces fit together and navigate
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through these injuries. Joseph painTill is out for the beginning
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of the season, and so I think Greg Vanny is
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one of the top three coaches in MLS, so I
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think he will be able to navigate that. I still
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think the Galaxy are going to be one of the
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top five or six teams in the West. But again,
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you know there's a lot of question marks surrounding that team,
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so those for me are the big storylines. And of
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course season thirty in MLS, San Diego thirtieth team coming
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into the league. How do they fare. I, obviously as
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an expansion team, know what it's like. I have San
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Diego last in the West. I hope they proved me wrong.
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It's just hard to know with expansion teams, it's just
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hard to know how they're going to do because these
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are a group of players that have never been together.
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So I'd love nothing more for them to prove me
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wrong and make the playoffs and make a big splash.
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But that remains to be seen.
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That's the biggest question mark for me too, is definitely
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what San Diego is going to bring, because you know,
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they brought in these players and you look at it
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and you say, oh, well, this is this seems like
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it could work. But expansion teams, it's so all over
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the place, because you know, we've had experiences where expansion
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teams are bottom of the table. Then we have expansion
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teams who make it all the way to the top
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and they win MLS Cup and like they're able to
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do it in their second year. Like it's very, very
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It could be interesting to see how it fares.
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Anyone who says that they can accurately predict an MLS
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season before it starts is a fool. It's not possible.
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I don't care what anyone says. You can come up with,
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you know, a couple of teams who you think are
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going to be great, the usual suspects that have great
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coaches and that spend a lot of money typically are
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very good. And then the rest of the conferences it's
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a crapshoot. I mean, every team I think feels like
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they can the playoffs, right, and when you feel that way,
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that is what MLS wants. It's parody, and it's just
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a very difficult thing to do to ask people to
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accurately predict in the preseason where things are going to
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shake out. So fascinated to see how San Diego does.
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Like I said, I would be I would be the
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happiest guy in the room if they prove me wrong.
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Well, Dax, I wanted to say thank you so much
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again for coming on to the network to chat about
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the thirty season. You making your first ever appearance, not
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ever you did MLS Cup, but sure.
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Started this MLS three sixty.
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Sixty first run.
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I know that everyone here in Atlanta's looking forward to
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seeing you on there and looking forward to seeing your
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journey with it, and it's going to be a ton
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of fun.
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Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
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I'm actually kind of bummed that I'm not going to
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be in Atlanta for that. For that first game, it's
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going to be electric. I mean, someone need I mean,
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I'm sure I'll see it on Twitter, but someone needs
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to record, you know, when they introduce Miguel al Moron
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to the crowd again and just hear the roar, it's
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going to be an electric atmosphere. I'm excited to watch
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that game.
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Don't worry, I'll send a video to you.
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Don't worry.
