All Episodes

July 23, 2023 15 mins
Messi makes American Soccer apointment TV
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Thank you for tuning in. However, you may be tuning in on a
beautiful sunny Sunday. You know whatmakes it more beautiful is that I got
my co host here, Zach witha K running the board today. How
are you feeling? Oh boy,oh man, that's good. He's the
captain and he gave me the wheeland told me to steer. As long

(00:21):
as you listen to me, wecan't go wrong, right, That's what
we hope, at least that's whymy wife tells me. Anyways. All
right, so one of the bigthings that came about this weekend was Lionel
Messi making his huge debut for Miami, which my wife asked me, what
does this mean? Why are wewatching soccer? Because normally football soccer,

(00:42):
we don't really watch it that muchin our household. I go, think
of it this way. Instead ofMichael Jordan going to play for the Washington
Wizards later in his career, imagineif he played overseas for the CBA,
Chinese Basketball Association or one of thoseleagues overseas. That's basically what this means

(01:03):
for here in America. This isa huge goat status type player. You
know, you can argue with me, whether it's Christian Rinaldo Lionel Messi.
These two are two of the premiersoccer players in the world, and one
of them chose to come over herein America sign a huge deal with Miami,
which happens to be owned by noneother than David Beckham. Yeah,

(01:26):
which is pretty cool. And youwe love our Hollywood scripts, We love
our Hollywood movies. You cannot writeit any better then it going into extra
time and getting a free kick withLionel Messi lining it up. Let's tune

(01:47):
in and see how it turned out. In front of over twenty two,
in front of Lebron, James SerenaWilliams, Kim Kardassian and Messy provide another

(02:07):
magical moment. Well, what isthe greatest career in the history of this
sport? So intense, so muchsuspense, paradise, Messy right in the

(02:50):
top left corner, basically what youwould consider a walk off goal. A
walk off goal. Now, thereason that I bring us about is because
here in America we don't care aboutfootball. We care about football, But
having a guy like him who comesover and plays for Miami owned by David
Beckham, you've seen. Kim Kardashianwas there, Tristan Thompson was there,

(03:14):
Serena Williams, as they mentioned,Lebron James was there. There was a
lot of famous people there. Now, the stadium only fits about twenty two
thousand people, but they filled itto the max. Oh yeah. Are
you more intrigued by Lionel Messi comingto Miami where you might tune into soccer
just a little bit more? Oh? Absolutely. And I talked to you

(03:37):
about this before the show, andthe way I equivalated it was, for
instance, in professional sports entertainment asthey call it with the WWE, they
always have the reference of putting someoneover where you have a big star come
in and that draws attention, andwhen you pair them up with another person,
it draws attention to that other person. And that's kind of what I
said about Messi coming into the league. Was the fact of Messy being there

(04:00):
immediately makes it a headline. Itimmediately gets people watching. All these celebrities
are there, making it a topheadline story. Now all of a sudden,
American football, which has never madetop headlines since its creation, has
now reached that height because Messi isinvolved. Messi is the headline, which
is also why I brought up thepoint of you need to start building on

(04:21):
that brand. You need to startpairing people up with Messi in those headlines.
You need to start making it's Messyversus this, Messi versus that,
so people know what's actually happening inthe league by just using that sheer attention
holder. It's the way of usinga name to grow another name exactly.
So you're establishing what you have nowwhile providing a fan base something to root

(04:46):
for in the future, so you'regrowing the sport now. I don't think
soccer here in America will ever reachthe status that it has overseas, because
overseas, soccer is what football isto americ and our narrow minded minds can't
often get past to the fact thatsoccer has reached well passed. Football will

(05:10):
ever here in America. Yes,but that being the point of having a
guy like Lionel Messi coming here who'sthirty three, thirty four years old,
still you know, towards the endof his prime of his career, but
still smack dab in his prime cominghere to America is pretty spectacular, and
I think that cannot be understated tothe fact where I had my wife.

(05:31):
Granted it was on my phone becauseshe had to watch Army Wives or whatever
she was watching, but she lookedover my shoulder. We were watching the
end of the game to see ifwe could get that miracle on ice or
should I say miracle on the pitch? Hey, and you got it and
I absolutely got it. That's kindof the big thing is it's about bringing

(05:53):
people into it. It's something thathadn't been recognized, It's something that hadn't
been viewed, and now you havea star and something to kind of build
that viewership around. And once you'vedone that, you can kind of start
building up more hype about the league. You can start building up the teams
around the league, and you cankind of start bringing in more American viewers

(06:14):
who view football is just a foreignconcept, who don't understand it, who
don't get the hype behind it.This kind of gives them a door to
go through to kind of understand abit more about the sport, understand a
bit more about the league, andunderstand how it is in America and eventually
what it's like abroad. Now,I would put it this way, we
all love Tiger Woods. He wasone of the greatest golfers, if you

(06:35):
want to say, the greatest golfersof all time. We tune in on
Sundays during the Masters when he isat least in contention. That doesn't mean
he's three strokes back. He mightbe six strokes back, but if he's
at least in earshot, we aretuning in. And often he gets paired
with guys like brooks Kepka, DustinJohnson, just to name a couple,

(07:00):
and that's a way to grow thesport. Now, I personally brooks Kepka
can be a little arrogant on thatside, but I am a brooks Kepka
fan. I'm not a big golfer, not a big golf fan, but
I do like brooks Kepka. Andone of the reasons was I was tuning
in to watch Tiger and I watchedthis guy in the way that he carried
himself, the way that he talked. You know, I became a fan

(07:21):
of brooks Kepka. That's the samething that they should do with Lionel Messi,
just like you're talking about, youknow, let's pair these guys.
And if you take a look atMiami they haven't beaten a good team since
probably back in May. And nowyou're talking about a big win over a
big team in a big time moment, with a big time player. You

(07:43):
cannot write it any better. Ifthey scripted it, I still wouldn't believe
it would have came out as goodas this exactly. And this was also
a thing that happened earlier in thebaseball season. This was happening with Otani.
You are saying Otani versus this pitcher, Otani with this batter. It's
you know, and that's the waykind of build it up. Aaron Judge
and Anthony Volpe. Anthony Volpe wasa rookie coming on the scene that no

(08:03):
one had heard of. But thenall of a sudden, you see Aaron
Judge Anthony Volpe taking on the Rockies. Because that's just the way that you
have to build stories. That's theway that you have to try and create
intrigue for it. And that's whatyou have to do with Messy, And
it's already started. No one hadtalked about it. Now all of a
sudden, millions are talking about it. Now. We all know Shoeyotani,
we all know Aaron Judge we knowthe big stars in baseball. But baseball

(08:28):
has become so regionabal, regional bydesign because we don't get the old school
ESPN throwback games and stuff like that, where it's like a Premier matchup of
Shoeheyotani versus you name whoever, GarrettCole, let's just say because obviously you
want to see that, that wouldbe a great matchup. We don't get

(08:52):
that anymore. We don't get thosebig time matchups. Now it's Yankees versus
Colorado. I don't want to watchthat. I don't want to watch the
Rockies. The Rockies are Yeah,So it's become so regional. I think
this is an aspect for soccer wherethey can take a page from Major League
Baseball and flip the script, like, yeah, we're regional. We've been

(09:13):
regional. You know. You gotthe Philip Philadelphia, you got Galaxy,
you got the Red Bulls, yougot these guys. Let's make it basically
a Savannah Banana tour. Yeah,let's make it national. Let's spread this
throughout and grow it. From thename of Lionel MESSI like, yeah,
it's huge that Lionel Messes here.Yes, he's the goat, but look

(09:35):
at these other players we got,yep. Start putting other players names in
the headline with Messi to turn theminto stars and start growing it further.
And I agree, take it,take it, leave the regional scene,
make it bigger, grow the wholebrand out, adding these people that can
kind of build off of Messi tostart promoting other things, create rivalry,

(09:56):
Start putting his name Messi versus whoever'sgoing to be the other captain to the
other team. You know that waywe kind of now, oh, okay,
so we do have some opposition hereand kind of again build the storylines
from there on. You build intrigue, you build interest. Millions are starting
to take notice of the American FootballLeague and that is something that was unprecedented
until now. You know, wetalk about soccer and USA women just had

(10:20):
a match against Vietnam where they wonthree nothing in over six million people tuned
into that, which was just asmuch, if not more than the men's
World Cup finals, which is prettyincredible. And the women soccer team has
been very good for a very longtime, and we were talking about it.
That girl the other day, wewere watching her on TV. She

(10:41):
scored two goals. She looked likeshe was fourteen, she was drafted when
she was eighteen. She's twenty two. So not only do they have the
Megan Rappons and everybody else, thejuwel Yards and everybody there, but they're
growing young, homemade talents, somethingthat the American men's side can't say,
but the women's can. And nowit's starting to get recognized. And it's

(11:03):
great to watch that sport grow becauseit really is fun to watch when you
get into it. We all tuneinto the World Cup, but it's more
than just the World Cup. Iknow all our athletes go play baseball,
basketball, football, but imagine ifthey started dedicating themselves to soccer and we
had homegrown men heroes as I wouldlike to say, you know the show

(11:26):
Hatani's or you know the Aaron Judgesof a Soccer And I think that's what
the idea of promoting Messy to thedegree that he's been promoted and that hopefully
he will continue to be promoted,it will kind of try to inspire.
It'll try and breed competitiveness to someoneto try and to match up to that
level, try and push people further, try and inspire people to get more
involved in the soccer scene and potentiallytry and go at it in a more

(11:48):
professional route, and that way youcan actually have a basis to start building
more homegrown talent. Now, Iknow you're a little younger. I'm gonna
say a little younger. Well,let's not compare how old we are.
Do you remember the era of FreddieAdo, the fourteen year old phenom soccer
player, where everybody was just thisis much must watch TV. You know,

(12:11):
that's kind of what Lionel Messi is. We have homegrown talent. Now
it may not be Cristiano, Ronaldo, Kyle, maybe Lionel Messi, but
we have homegrown talent that does needto be recognized. And maybe this is
a turning storm where like you said, you know it's this person versus this

(12:31):
person. Yeah, you're getting LionelMessi, but look on the other side,
homegrown American talent balling out against LionelMessi. Yep. And then all
of a sudden you're starting to lookup their stat lines be like, oh
they are pretty good. Oh okay, so this is someone to keep an
eye on. And all of asudden, you start building up fan bases
for those teams. You start buildingup rapport of people knowing players, knowing
matchups, and that's how you buildinterest in a league, and that's how

(12:52):
you make it something bigger than whatit currently is. And as bad as
the USA men have been, thisis a way to get back into USA
men's soccer. Like you're learning theseguys because a Lionel Messi. Now when
they go support our country, you'regoing to support our country because that's the
one time we tune in. Nowwe'll actually know these guys outside of just

(13:13):
the World Cup. Who would haveknown it took an Argentinian. That's all
it took for the US to finallystart turning things around for soccer tend to
bring in an Argentinian. We gotit. There, you go, that's
all it took. That's all ittook. And you know, it was
pretty incredible. Like I'm not abig soccer fan, and I'm like,
David Beckham's there, and I'm like, oh, hey, I think he

(13:33):
might own a team. So Ihad to Google search it and yeah,
he did in fact own a teamwhich hasn't been that great as of late,
but obviously they were good enough tobring in a guy like Lionel Messi
and who knows maybe they can turnit around, get a little windstreak going
and you know, take out someopponents on the way. Yeah. Absolutely,
And on that you start building upa dynasty and you start building up,

(13:54):
you know, some intrigue of theleague, and that's what it's all
about. At the end of theday. It's just all about building the
sport. That's what every single sportsbrand has always tried to do. And
this is that stepping stone for soccerin America. Put it this way,
you know, hated or love it? You talk basketball, Lebron's a hot
topic. Ye, hated or loveit? Aaron Judge hot topic, yep,

(14:16):
the Yankees itself a hot topic,Leakers hot topic. There's certain hot
topics. Lionel Messi is now goingto be a hot topic. Never in
a million years would I think I'mhosting a sports show talking fifteen minutes glorified
about American soccer. Never did you, no, no shot. I was

(14:41):
like, messy America football? Whatoh oh that football? Oh right,
yeah. You cannot be understated whathe means to come to America. It
cannot be understated or undersold. Andit's it's pretty incredible to watch the Hollywood
ending. I enjoyed it. Ituned in. I actually, I'm gonna
start paying attention a little more.I'm not gonna say I'm gonna be a

(15:03):
die hard, but I'm gonna payattention a little more, at least what
Lionel Messi is doing on his sideof things, because it's pretty cool to
have a goat. Like if youwere in the China's Basketball Association and Michael
Jordan came and played basketball, Idon't care if he's fifty years old or
thirty eight years old, You're goingto tune in. You're gonna watch because
it's Michael Jordan's same thing. It'sLionel Messi. You're gonna tune in,

(15:24):
you're gonna watch. He's a goat.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.