Coach Matt E121 @MikeMillerFC

New Premier Podcast: Mike Miller and Coach Matt talk about Minneapolis City SC, Messi, the Olympics, the Gold Cup and more! #CityToTheMoon #Tokyo2020

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Welcome to the Premier Podcast. Youcan catch'alls on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

(00:30):
at Mike Miller FC. Ladies andgentlemen from Montreal, Quebec Michael Miller,
Hello everyone, and welcome to thisepisode of the Premiere Podcast. With you,
as always, straight from Montreal,Quebec, your host, Michael Miller,

(00:53):
and with me today I have avery special guest. He's a great
friend of the show. Actually,people in the great state of Minnesota know
him as coach Matt. He isactually the manager of my favorite team and
the whole United States. Please welcomeMatt Van Ben Shilton. How are you,
my friend. I'm doing well.How are you doing? Man,

(01:15):
I'm all right, I'm all right. I'm on fire. Actually I'm feeling
really really good. I love it. Yeah, man, I mean,
you know, we're talking about ita little bit off air. But I
haven't recorded a long time because,as a lot of people know, I've
been recovering from two two knee surgeries, and you know, the recovery was

(01:38):
long and I had put on alot of weight. And I'm glad to
say that ever since I started walkingagain, and you know, I stopped
walking for four months, so ever, since, yeah, that's a long
time, especially during especially during thepandemic, while a curfew is being enforced,
and nobody can visit that you reallyoutside of outside of those hours unless

(02:04):
you're part of your quote unquote bubble. But yeah, sure, I I
had put on I had put onlike thirty five pounds and I lost it
all. And now I'm working onlosing another ten pounds that I had gained
between the injury and UH and uhand the surgery. But I'm a leading
mean money making machine again and I'mgonna keep working on it. But I'm

(02:28):
running, I'm swimming, I'm doingall kinds of things. And uh,
by by this fall, i'll beable to play soccer with with my team
with my club, the club runout of Montreal, and uh yeah man,
we're already signing up for the forthe fall season. So if you,
if you want to catch me onthe field, you'll probably see a
couple of videos and pictures out there. Yeah, man, I love it.

(02:51):
And since since your audience can't seeyou and I can't over zoo,
I will just verify that you lookterrific. You look great, You do
look very healthy, So it isnot a lot by any means. Thank
you so much, Matt, verymuch appreciated. Check is on the mill.
Check is on its way. Actually, you know, I thought about

(03:13):
you today, but I wanted toI wanted to tell you this on the
airth to preserve some sort of asurprise factor. Um. I printed the
new premier podcast t shirts and thereis one which your name on it.
I'm gonna ship it to you.I'm gonna ship it to you in Minnesota
is as soon as we finished therecording. Just give me your mailing address
and I'm gonna ship it to you. Deal. And I told you last

(03:35):
podcast and I would send you inJersey. I never did so. Well,
it'll be a sort of a shirtexchange if you will. If you
want to send me your address,so we'll send it. Be a mail
of course, of course. Anddude, congratulations are in order. Man,
You're your club is doing amazing.I mean, I know, I
know that you guys already have atradition down there, and you have like

(03:58):
a winning tradition, and you've beenraking up the trophies over the years.
But still it's always it's always amazing. It's always impressive to see that you
guys are able to keep it goingwith the trophies year in and year out,
and it's a testament to the qualityof your program and of course the
quality of the the man who's incharge of the program. I know,

(04:20):
I appreciate it. Man. It'sit was a really good season. And
you know, I wish I couldtake all the credit. I really can't.
I honestly, I think one ofthe big reasons we were successful this
year is this is kind of themore most professional staff we've ever had,
And like you said, it's atestament to the club. It's a testament
to what everybody is doing because moreand more people want to be part of

(04:42):
it. And it's not just moreand more people like it's more and more
really good people. So you knowAdam who was a former head coach and
general manager. He's been my assistantnow for a couple of years that I've
been the head coach. We're fortunateto add Tory Burnett, who was a
standout at the university Soda Division oneplayer really good players. She's gotten into
coaching and she's been a phenomenal additionto the staff. We're lucky for MC

(05:09):
two to find a guy but thenthey can by the name of Michael Prunzie,
who has done some collegiate coaching,and then Kevin Lavon, who's done
some collegiate coaching, was an assistant. They did a fantastic job JJ and
Eli and Brendon and Derek who Derek'sour goalie coach another three year ran the
Futureist program. And so you know, it's talking to Adam even before the

(05:30):
seasons started and we'd had our firstcoaches meeting and there's like eleven people on
this the zoom call. I'm likeAdam, normally it's like you, Me
and Derek like it. It wasso different this year and and honestly like
it really was a huge piece ofour success where we could just do so
much more as a club because wehad so many fantastic people involved. So

(05:53):
you know, it's I'm a partof it, but I'm certainly not all
of it by any means. I'mjust fortunate to be around so famili good
people, good stuff. Now,obviously Minneapolis City SC is uh, I
mean, it's a semi pro teamby by by all means. But you
did you did mention on our laston our last podcast that you guys focused

(06:16):
on recruiting nca players. Is thatstill your policy? So we've it's been
interesting to kind of see how theevolution has been. So when we first
started in year one, it wasa lot of college guys, and that
that still is sort of our targetdemographic. But what's been interesting, and
I think really one of the reasonswe've been successful the last few years is

(06:40):
it's not just been bringing in newguys, it's been being able to retain
the old guys. So you lookat kind of the core that we had
this year, we had, youknow, Matt Elder who has been our
goalkeeper. He's been with us sinceyear one. Um Aaron Olson, one
of our captain's been with us sinceyere one will kid you know, same
thing year one. M Max Stegerwho was another one of our captains.

(07:01):
You know, he graduated two yearsago from the University of Central Florida.
But so to have guys who havebeen around, have that veteran leadership,
have the experience, and can stillplay at a high level has been huge
for us. And then we wereable to supplement that this year with returning
guys like Lionel Vang who played forUS had took a year off last year

(07:23):
to play at the different club.And then we got Kevin Andrews back who's
now going to Central Florida, withEli Goldman who's playing at New Hampshire.
We have another guy named Stevie Lamarwho plays at Creighton University. So all
really high level college players, whichhas been great. So when we've had
that really unique blend of veteran guyswho have graduated and those current guys who

(07:44):
are still in college, it's it'sbeen really successful for us. So I
would attribute a lot of our successto that piece. Two. We've had
that really nice blend of veteran butalso kind of the young guns as well.
Now to keep to keep our listenersup to date, Um, your
program was founded in twenty sixteen,so it's you. It's your sixth season,

(08:07):
six six year, fifth season technicallybecause it's twenty twenty got wiped out
by COVID, but yeah, wedon't count that year. Yeah, of
course, of course. UM,all that to say, you guys are
an extremely young club, yet youhad a tremendous amount of success in a
fairly high level in the pyramid.I mean we're talking for division. Uh

(08:28):
and sosigh as you can go beforeturning before turning professional. I mean third
division is like a mix between proand semi pro, right, so it's
a go for for for a nonprofessional team. Um, what are your
ambitions? I mean you can youcan keep winning trophies every single year,

(08:50):
or you could think about different things. And I'm talking about the club obviously.
Yeah, yes, are you guysthinking about, I don't all the
US Open Cup perhaps, or tryingto move up a division if it's even
possible to do that within the Pyramids? Yeah, what's the next thing?
No, it's it's all on thetable for us, I think, you

(09:13):
know. So, our our hashtagthis year was City to the Moon and
it was just something that one ofour guys brought up organically last year and
it was kind of a joke.But then of course we turned it into
a scarf and made it our campaignslogan for the year, and we really
didn't define like what that was.And the idea is like, hey,
let's just keep going with this andsee where this gets us. And you

(09:35):
know, I think ultimately we comeback to, like the goal has always
been from Neapolis City, can wemake Minnesota soccer better? In some capacity,
and I think we've done that,and I think that's always sort of
our guiding, like, like,how are we doing this? Is it
making Minnesota soccer better? And youknow, I think all those things you

(09:56):
mentioned, whether it's Open Cup,moving up, you know, playing pro
at nissa USL one, Sure,yeah, why not. We got to
find some money first, or maybea couple investors. But you know,
I think the really cool thing withcity has been just every single year there's
been so much growth in trajectory,just keeps going up and up and up.
And I you know, I hadlunch with our chairman last weekend or

(10:20):
actually a week from Monday, andwe're talking about it, and you know,
obviously with the way this season ended, are we're a little bit disappointed.
We had hoped to go on whenthe National Championship fell a little bit
short in the Midwest Regional final andso but even Dan's point was like,
you know, five years ago,He's like, I never would have imagined

(10:41):
this, Like, you know,and so people are asked like, what's
what's next, What's in five years? I have no idea, Like I
really don't, because I think there'sso much potential. I see the club
continue to grow, and it's notjust in terms of the players or the
wins and losses. Like this year, we absolutely shattered our attendance records in

(11:01):
subsequent years because I think we hadfour of our games were easily over a
thousand people, our last two homegames and especially the playoff one of which
was the playoff game, the overtwelve hundred people, Like that's that's crazy
for lower level soccer, lower tiersoccer. So what it tells me is
that people people are buying into MinneapolisCity. And I think, you know,

(11:24):
aside from the goofy branding and youknow, the the twitter FC that
we've been labeled at times, youknow, honestly, I think what the
club continues to do is just reallybuild that authentic community that I think a
lot of clubs miss out on.And and I equate it back to and
I said this on a different podcast, but it's it's like watching if you've

(11:46):
ever watched Sunderland till I die,that city lives and breathes the success of
that team. And you know,we want to represent Minneapolis and I think
that we do that pretty well.And it's not just on the field,
like we try to go off thefield and build relationships with different communities and
different nonprofits and people who are reallypassionate about soccer and and you know,

(12:11):
it's easy to see through some ofthat stuff if it's not genuine. But
it's why I was drawn to City, and I think why so many people
are drawn to City is it isreally authentic and we're really about, like,
hey, the two things you needto make a successful soccer club or
a community and passion, and thatthose two ingredients seem to be growing every
single year, which is awesome.Yeah, And as you know, I

(12:35):
keep tabs on what you guys aredoing. I follow. I follow from
Afar. I can't make it tothe stadium for obvious reasons, but you
know, pandemic at all, butI follow you guys a lot. And
I'm a big fan of your Futuristprogram. You guys are building bridges within
your your community, not just atthe senior level, but at all levels.

(12:56):
And I want to give you achance to talk about the Futurist program
is obviously not everybody's aware of it, but it's something that I find very
special. Yeah, absolutely, no, I appreciate that, and I will
all of the credit really goes toJeremiah Johnson, who is a director of
that program. So we had initiallyas a club, talked about doing a

(13:20):
uniteteen team, and everything that wedo is always found it out of filling
some sort of gap or filling somesort of need. And so even when
we were founded five years ago,six years ago, there was a need
for just a higher level amateur teamto kind of bring all the best players
together. And then when I cameon in twenty eighteen, it was because
we needed a U twenty three team. We just had more players, wanted

(13:43):
to get more and more, youknow, kind of build that sort of
second team. That was great,but there was all there was always this
gap between players who are kind ofseventeen eighteen years old and their senior year
of high school looking to go playcollege soccer. As the vast majority of
soccer players don't go on to playcollegiately, they don't go on to play
past high school. But for theones that do, that year or two

(14:05):
years is so important because you're jumpingfrom a youth or high school level into
an arena or an environment where you'replaying against grown men, you know,
who are twenty twenty one, twentytwo and you might be only eighteen years
old. And so, you know, one of the things that that we
identify was just there was this reallybig need for it, and from a

(14:28):
youth club perspective, a lot ofclubs are left with you have maybe two
to three players on you know,let's say it's this really good premier team
that you've played on, only afew of them might go on to play
college soccer, and so you're tryingto field a competitive team, but you
can't make it overly competitive and youhave a huge commitment because a lot of
guys it's their senior year. Theywant to go out and do stuff and

(14:48):
you know, all these different thingsand soccer just isn't the priority. So
what we said was, look again, can we make Minnesota soccer better?
Can we try to be work collaboratively, collaboratively with these clubs and say,
look, we're not going to comein and start start our own youth team,
like we're not going to compete againstyou. What we're going to do

(15:09):
is try to take the players whowant it, who kind of fit that
mold, bring them into what we'redoing, put them in an environment that's
more challenging that's more competitive with theintent of we're going to try to make
these players better, not only obviouslyfor the players, but for you as
the clubs. And then you know, the self interest on our part is,

(15:31):
hey, now this is a recruitingmethod for us for our second team,
for our first team, and howcan we find that kind of next
generation of players that are going towear the Minneapolis City shirt? And so,
you know, I think that thatwas a big thing for us because
I don't know if this is theway it is in Canada, but especially
here in the United States and herein Minnesota, youth soccer is so divisive

(15:52):
and you almost have to come inand pick side sometimes, and that's sort
of been one of the cool thingswith City has been We're not here to
pick sides. We're not here toyou know, do any of that stuff.
And so if we can kind ofagain collaboratively work with clubs and fine
opportunities for these players who want itand need it, awesome we can provide
that. So it was a supercool initiative. JJ and Brennan, the

(16:15):
ELI did a fantastic job. Youknow, the kids who were a part
of it, I think got alot out of it. There was a
number of them that got called upto our second team. I don't know,
actually, I guess technically Ben Schliemanngot our one of our goalkeepers got
called up to the first team.We one of our goalkeepers couldn't make it,

(16:36):
and the funny thing was, sowe needed a backup for the first
team, so so Ben came andwe didn't have any more subs. So
Ben actually made his debut for thefirst team, not as a goalkeeper,
but as a fuel players. Soyou actually played up top for ten minutes
just because we needed somebody to helpkill out the game. So but you
know, the cool thing with thatwas we got to see some of those

(16:56):
future players actually start to integrate intothe second and first teams, which is
great because that's you know, ifyou're doing kind of your your funnel in
your system, right, that's whatyou want to do. So yeah,
it was. It was a supercool thing. And I think there's definitely
areas we're going to continue to growand improve for next year. But overall,
it was absolutely a great year.And I'll say this too, I'll

(17:19):
probably be kissing some people off.But the other cool thing that the futures
did was They did do some scrimmagesthroughout the year, and so they would
play different They played a couple ofcommunity colleges. They scrimmage our second team
and they scrimmage our first team.But actually the two kind of marquee victories

(17:40):
they got this year were against ShattuckSaint Mary's, who was a private school,
very big hockey school, but they'realso like a soccer boarding schools.
Well, they're very good. Theygot a victory against them early on,
and then just to follow it up, they actually went out and they beat
Minnesota United's Unite Tea and Academy teamthree to two, which which was again
like I'm I'm the eternal optimist,but and I know that our futures players

(18:04):
are good, but I was like, man, like this is this is
a different level. But when whenwe got the news that they beat Minnis
United, like everybody was super psychedabout it, even in our in our
first team, you know group chat, like, guys were super pumped.
So it was cool to see thesuccess not just the program, but even
from a competitive level, to seehow well they could do just as a

(18:29):
group. And again, they onlytrained together once a week, So the
fact that they're con ginning against thesereally really good teams and programs. Is
incredible, So really good first season. You know, it's like it's like,
you guess what my next question wasgoing to do? It? Um,
what is your club's relationship with UHMinnesota United? Like do you guys,

(18:52):
are you guys in touch? Doyou share best practices? Uh?
What is it like to to coexistwith a club like that which is literally
in your hometown? Yeah, yeah, it's it's different because I think they're
obviously they're MLS, we're NPSL,so there's obviously a gap between, you
know, what what we do andwhat they do. I think, first
and foremost, like we share alot of the same supporters. I think

(19:15):
many Minnesota United was built out ofthe Minnesota United old NASL days, and
I think a lot of people continuinglike to root for Minnesoter United have come
and really enjoyed what we've done becauseit feels kind of like those old NSL
days, thinking it to know us, the players all that, and that's
been really cool. So we actuallyintentionally when we do our schedule, try

(19:41):
to not schedule our home games thesame night as minnesot United, and that's
just a you know, hopefully asmart business practice on our end because we'll
get more fans. Um we do. You know, it's it's it's I
don't want to say it's been tough, it's it could be better, but
I think it's been decent with them. Like we actually this fall season aregna
scrimmage their reserve team a couple oftimes this fall, which is great,

(20:04):
and we've done that in years past. We didn't do it in twenty nineteen
or twenty twenty. So the factthat we're able to kind of go and
hopefully give them a competitive game andsee some of their reserve players or guys
coming back from injury, like that'salways fun. Um. You know.
They when they shut down the academyin twenty twenty because of COVID, we
we really didn't have any relationships orany really good relationships with any of those

(20:29):
coaches there. I knew a coupleof the guys, but not not great.
And you know, the thing thatI give United credit for is they
started this new academy and their newdirector was very much trying to be much
more you know, inclusive and transparentwith what they were doing. And so
he actually invited us in for thefirst um a couple tryout sessions that they

(20:49):
were doing for their academies, whichis great, and we actually saw some
of our futures players there, whichis great. And so so there was
a dialogue between us and their directorin terms of like, hey, you
know, if you've got some goodplayers, you know that you think could
make it at an MLS level,you know, send them to us vice
versa. There's some players who justyou know, are not at quite the
level that we're at, you know, recommended the futures and whatnot. So

(21:14):
you know, I think it's Ithink it's getting better. I think there's
definitely a space where we're going tocoexist and do things well. And again,
if the intention is to make Minnesotasoccer better, there's really not a
great there's really not a better wayto do it in that kind of sense.
So you know, it's I'm optimistictoo for what we can continue to
do with them. Yeah, andactually, like when you see that things

(21:36):
are working well at the community level, it gives you a good idea of
how far the game has gone,especially especially if if we look back at
the ninety four World Cup, whichis a childhood memory for me, but
I could definitely remember soccer fields howthey looked back then, and you know,
how the game was organized back thenand how it is now. I

(21:59):
mean, we're talking about a wholedifferent world and crazy. As as as
great as the MLS is, mypersonal opinion is that the way that the
game is organized, that the communitylevel is perhaps even more important. I
would. I mean, I'm obviouslyvery biased working in a lower league club,
but no, I absolutely agree withthat because I think, you know,

(22:22):
money is always going to get youso far, but but you can't
buy passion, you can't buy authenticity, and that those two things are are
hard to cultivate. It takes time, it takes trust, it takes relationships,
and I think one of the bestways you're going to get that is
through grassroots soccer. Not not thatit can't be done at an MLS level.
I think clearly there are teams whoare doing it. I think you

(22:45):
know the you know, you knowminnesot United has two great supporters groups actually
probably have even more, but youknow those there's a history there. I
was fortunate a few years ago togo out to Portland and watch a game
at Providence Park and that was sanity, so like it does exist. But
I think the cool thing with thesegrassroots, lower level clubs is that they

(23:07):
can really tap into the community ona much more intimate and personal basis.
And I think that's really where youstart to drop people in. Even if
they're they're casual soccer fans, theyget pulled into the fact that they really
get to belong to something which isreally unique and really special exactly. And
you know, even though there's aborder between US, I feel like the

(23:30):
game in Canada and the United Statessort of has evolved kind of at around
the same time. Obviously, youguys are so much bigger than us in
terms of demographics and even financial resources. I'll go as far as saying as
saying that, however, I feellike the game has kind of grown hand

(23:52):
in hand between between Canada and theUS, especially compared to the rest of
the world. And considering that weare sports nations, soccer was kind of
like the last the last sport thatwe didn't quite master. Maybe like yeah,
I'll go like thirty years ago,let's say, like as not even
that far back, and now notonly are we well organized and we're producing

(24:18):
talent but we're actually winning stuff.And you know, the United States won
the CONCA Gold Cup and Canada haswon the Olympic gold medal. I mean,
I know that we're sharing a WorldCup, we're hosting a World Cup
together in twenty twenty six, andwe keep thinking about how twenty twenty six
is the be all end all.I think that twenty twenty one was quite

(24:41):
a good year for North American soccer. I couldn't agree more. Like you
said, I mean, but yeah, I mean, even if you look
twenty thirty years ago, the ideaof the US winning a Gold Cup,
which in ludicrous, like they're justway better teams, they weren't at that
level, you know, being ableto see the women when the gold Cup
or gold got Gold Cup, goldmedal this year, Um was not an

(25:04):
accident. They're good team, likethey they took it to a very dominant
what has been a very dominant USteam, And so you know, you
see, like you said, yousee that evolution, and it makes you
a lot a lot more optimistic forthe future and what can be because,
as you know, soccer has alwaysplayed second field, little to hockey or
you know here it's been all theother four major sports, basketball, baseball,

(25:27):
football, hockey. So to seeit kind of come up on a
more international level, see the theyou know, the game progressing in both
Canada United States, and that bothcountries are able to compete is is awesome.
It's been It's been a lot offun to watch, definitely, And
uh, you know, when Iwatched the Gold Cup, obviously Canada came

(25:48):
really really close with Mexico. Ittook a took a last minute goal to
to to basically a sealed a dealin this game. And yet you know,
if you go back you said twentythirty years, If I go back
just five years, I would havenever thought that we were that close to
beating Mexico. And it makes merealize, you know what, maybe we're

(26:08):
a year away. We're two yearsaway from being able to beat Mexico.
And you know, even even onthe women's side, beating beating the United
States was quite a deal. Imean, Megan Rappino has said it,
like very arrogantly, but she wasright anyway. She said, you know,
like beating being beaten by Canada.I don't even think I've ever gotten

(26:29):
beaten by Canada in my entire career, and goes to show you like she's
had a long career and she's sureher saying that is significant, right,
She's been She's been gapped pretty muchon every single on every single match,
definitely every single major competition by theUS ever since she started. So you
know, we're we're on our way. And yeah, absolutely the days of

(26:52):
unattached FC are far, far,far behind, hopefully hopefully. But yeah,
I I do agree with you,and it's uh, yeah, it's
been and I think too, Likeanother litmus test is you know, obviously
the US, you know, likeyou're you're going back to the men's side.
You see some of these players playingover in Europe and not just playing,

(27:15):
but having a big impact, whetherit's holistic, whether it's Weston McKinney,
dance. I mean, Alfonso Davisis phenomenal, Like that guy is
so good. I during the pandemic, I I got into playing FIFA a
little bit and that was the firstguy I picked up on my fut team.
Was like, I gotta get thisguy. He's so good. And
to see them, you know,you know, we've had North Americans overseas

(27:38):
before and they've had a little bitof impact, but you know, when
Poulistic is winning Champions League, whenum Alfonso Davis is winning Bundesligue and all
these different things, like it's itreally isn't a fluke, and it really
is kind of showing that, hey, like we're we're closing that gap on
these perennial international powerhouses. And youknow, like you said, I'm optimistic

(28:02):
that the best days are in frontof us for both countries. And you
know, I'm a numbers guy,right, and I can't help but think
I feel like money has been betterinvested as of late compared to how it
was invested in the past. Um, the infrast obviously, we I mean
we have quality infrastructure now, Imean our infrastructures are I have nothing to

(28:26):
like. If you compare what wehave in North America to what they have
in Europe, I mean we're doinggreat, like and I'm not even talking
about professional infrastructures like just use sportsNC double A. You know, when
you look at those programs, they'reset up like they're set up the way
professional clubs are. Some professional clubsare set up in Europe. So it's

(28:47):
it's gonna take a bit of timefor us to consistently produce talent that go
to the best leagues. But notonly are we almost there, we're we're
at a point where the best athletesare now going to truth soccer as a
sport. Yeah, hopefully. Andit's interesting too. Um. Maybe I
might have even mentioned in this thelast time I was on with you.

(29:11):
But what's really telling to me toois when I go coach my players now
at nine, ten and eleven,they know who the best players in the
world are. So for a longtime I was on the boys side and
they'd show up and they'd argue,you know, we're in there Chelsea or
Arsenal or Barcelona kids, and Massy'sbetter than Ronaldo, now Roal, those

(29:32):
better than MESSI. You know allof these different things. And even now
on the girl's side, you knowthey're they're wearing Rapino jerseys and and and
and it's not and and actually therewas a girl who was wearing UM an
Olympic uh, the French team theOlympic. I think it's fine. I

(29:52):
might be wrong on that, um, but she was legitimately wearing like a
French professional team jersey. Now,so that's awesome. And she knew all
about it and was telling me.And so just the fact, like to
your point that more and more kidsare are I think really getting that exposure
to soccer from both of the men'sand women's perspective is gigantic because you know,

(30:14):
for me growing up, it wasall hockey, but that's all we
watched in Minnesota, and you know, we'd watch I would watch one soccer
game every four years because it wouldbe the World Cup Final. I'd be
on ABC. That was literally theonly game we could watch. But now
you can turn on ESPN, Plus, you can turn on be In,
you can turn on you know,all NBC Sports and just get massive amounts

(30:34):
of games and from all these differentleagues. And that's I think has been
a huge key to the growth ofthe sport both you know in Canada and
the United States, is just theexposure and like they can watch it and
see it be a part of it, which is fantastic. Yeah, definitely,
and uh, you know here herethey can be to the next subject.

(30:55):
Actually, ESPN, I wouldn't vI wouldn't be in there. I
wouldn't want to be in their shoes. Right now, they signed a deal
with La Liga and losing now it'sit's like, here's my question to you,
and I'm not to take your jobas interviewer, but is La Liga
the new Farmers League now that Ronaldoand Messier and this top talent is all

(31:18):
leaving. Yeah, well, goodthing that they're leaving at the tail end
of their career. I'll tell youthat much, because if they had left
in their mid twenties, we wouldhave been talking about something completely different.
But you know, I've been followingI've been following La Liga for many,
many many years. Like I was. You know, my uncle was a

(31:38):
professional soccer player in Morocco and heintroduced me to Johann Krou's dream team in
the late eighties early nineties. SoLa Liga I'm very familiar with. And
every time that a superstar leaves andyou think that the world is about to
come to an end, a newstar emerges. Like I'll give you the
best, the best example, theone that I remember the most is when

(32:01):
Ronaldo Nasario left after just one seasonwith Barcelona and he left and then we
were able to get Zdan for RealMadrid, and you know, Figal stuck
around for a very long time,and Ronald Nio just a few years later.
There are always superstars. Rivaldo camelike the very next year. There

(32:23):
are always superstars in Spain. Andthe one advantage that Spain has, uh
institutionally that other leagues don't have,is that it's super easy to become a
permanent resident in Spain and it's supereasy to become a citizen. So when
South Americans want to move to Spain, uh, there's like a bridge,

(32:46):
there's like a special law over therethat you know, when South Americans moved
to Spain, they could become naturalizedafter only two years. So when yeah,
so when your marginal talent in Brazilor in Argentina, or you know,
you're extremely extremely young diamond and therough type of talent likelike not fully

(33:08):
developed yet, moves to Spain.He could complete his development with a Spanish
club and then emerge as a superstarand make his name in Spain. And
you won't have that advantage in Englandor in France, where immigrations are a
lot tougher. So I'm guessing,like I'm hoping, and you know,

(33:30):
history past history certainly emphasizes my point, and I hope that the future will
prove me right. I feel like, yeah, losing MESSI and Ronaldo and
name are in the past four yearshas been detrimental to La Liga as well
as their partners, their sponsors andfans above all else. However, I'm

(33:51):
hopeful that perhaps the stars of tomorroware either are either making a name for
themselves as we peak, or theyhaven't been discovered yet. And I'll give
you an example math because I knowthat you probably watched the Olympics, if
not, if not the entire clubseason last year, but I'll throw a
name at you. Guys like bedThey who played the seventy five games and

(34:17):
in thirteen months, this guy haseverything that you're supposed to have to become
a superstar, probably five years beforeyou're supposed to have it. Sure,
sure, and he's not gonna knowit's messy, but you know, right,
no, I think it's it's agreat point. It really is,

(34:40):
because even you know, I don'tknow a ton about um, you know,
the immigration laws or all of that. But even in my very limited
experience with Minneapolis City, where we'vehad guys tried to go overseas and you
know, join professional ranks, evenin the lower leagues, it's it's incredible
to me how difficult it is tobreak into England or like you said,

(35:04):
to France, and so a lotof our players have ended up over in
Scandinavia, Norway, Sweden. Um, you know, we Kevin Andrews was
fortunate to get over to Portugal.But it's to your point, though it's
not, it's there really is somethingto that advantage piece of for Spain and
Maliga to be able to bring theseplayers in, especially like you said,

(35:25):
kind of that pipeline to South America, where like clearly that's where we're discovering
some of the best players. SoI think you're right, and I think
you have a good reason to beoptimistic, you know, for the next
couple of years. Obviously, youknow, losing Messi, in neymar and
Ronaldo not ideal, but but itdoes provide I think space and room for
some of these upcoming guys like likePedri to come in and kind of make

(35:45):
a name for themselves. So Ithink you're right about that for sure.
That being said, you know,I'm I'm biased. I'm a FC Barcelona
social right, I'm a member andabsolutely FC Barcelona. Just to get you
an idea, perhaps the city fanswho are listening to our episode right now,

(36:06):
believe it or not. FC Barcelonaset up exactly like Minneapolis City.
It's the same corporate structure. It'sa cooperative, but it's a multi billion
dollars cooperative, but it's still acooperative, which means that I, as
a member, am in fact legallya co owner of the of the club,
along with one hundred thousand more people. And when when the lass,

(36:34):
when the last election cycle was wasgoing on, the last campaign was going
on, Joan Laporta, who isthe president of FC Barcelona, but he
hadn't been elected yet at the time. He had promised to sign Messi to
an extension and then he failed onthat promise, and oh yeah, well

(36:54):
you know, and I I waspublicly neutral that the time. I didn't
say who I was going to votefor it because I'm the president of a
of an efficient of an official supporterclub here in Montreal, and I didn't
want people to think that I wascampaigning for for for Laporta. I I

(37:14):
chose to keep my vote secret andto stay to stay neutral publicly. But
I had this conversation with my boardof directors along with some members, and
I told him, look, theseguys are politicians. They're like high level,
high high high level politicians. Justto give you an idea, when
you're on the board of directors ofFC Barcelona, you have to give twenty

(37:37):
million yarls and guarantee and guarantees justin case, uh, just in case
you're you're the way that you managethe club puts puts it in in dire
straits. So we're talking about avery very very select group of people,
like the absolutely the top one percentof Catalan society over there. And I'm

(38:00):
like, I'm not going to supporta politician publicly for something that is supposed
to be fun. You know,it's soccer. I have the right to
vote. I'm going to vote.It's a democracy, but I'm not going
to campaign for someone who's gonna endup inevitably betraying us. And I said
that I didn't really believe it,and at the end of the day it
happened. So here we are.Yeah, yeah, yeah, but you

(38:24):
know, I believe that he wantedto stay. I believe that he wanted
to stay. What I what Idon't believe is that we did everything we
could to get him to stay,because we let him become We let him
become a free agent on June thirtieth, and we kind of like postponed that

(38:45):
extension and postponed it and at theend of the day La Liga came up
with these new rules ten days beforethe start of the competition. But these
rules weren't in place just ago,right, So Yeah, I wanted to
ask you about this because I knowthat you were very interested in that subject.

(39:06):
When that was going on. Iwas reading your your your your posts
about this um and it's a verydifficult question, but I really want to
pick your brains about this to youwhat situation? They're both detrimental to soccer,
right, there's no there's no there'sno doubt about that. But what

(39:27):
is more detrimental to soccer between asuper league or or state owned club with
unlimited financial resources buying everything every toplevel talent in the in the world.
And they're both horrible. But ifyou had to pick one, if you
had to pick a lesser evil,which one would you pick? Which one

(39:50):
would you pick? Yeah? Ithink the lesser one is a ladder,
Like I think it's the state kindof own entity that can just throw money
at you know, players and whatever. And maybe it's because it felt to
me, like the Super League whenit was happening, was so clearly what's
the word I'm looking for, Justdivisive is not even the right word.

(40:14):
It was much stronger than that,like polarizing and just monopolizing that you know,
the money piece of it. Andyou know, I think there was
a reason you saw such outcry aboutit, which is because like, hey,
this is the world's game, thisis everybody's game that's trying to be
taken over by the elite. Nowkind of what your question is is isn't

(40:35):
it already being taken over by theelite And the answer is yes, but
but there is still something to atleast having me I don't want to say
open system and not to get intopro rale, but you know there is
something. But there is something too. You know, as as a big
as a big Premier league guy likeyou would not see that story of Lester

(40:58):
going from newly promote to winning PremierLeague. That wouldn't happen. Yeah,
but yes, by billions and billionsand billions for sure of dollars. Right,
they're not not a small club,They're not no, no for sure
for sure. But but even withall of the money you know, at
their disposal, like there's still thatstoryline, there's still the you know,

(41:19):
whether it's fake, whether it's real, the kind of Cinderella piece, and
you still have to win the games. And you know, to see somebody
like a Jamie Vardy, who isone of my favorite players, like the
way he played, and to haveother those other kind of you know,
not not you know, you lookat like a James and Nasa, and
you look at some of the otherplayers who are on that team, and
they weren't superstars at the time.They were very good, but you give

(41:43):
a lot of credit to the coach, You give a lot of credit to
just kind of that piece where itwas like were they good yesterday? I've
lots of money for sure, Butto come in and challenge that status goal
of you know, man, youand Chelsea. I'm not even gonna put
Arsenal in there because it's my teamand they've been terrible for twenty years.
Uh not really, but I liketo. I like to. I like
to be dramatic, um. Butto see them come in and and kind

(42:07):
of challenge for that is is great. And actually, you know, my
my new adopted team, I'm stillan Arsenal guy threw him through. That's
never gonna change, even even ifthey get relegated, which they might just
here who knows. Um, Again, I like to be dramatic, but
um, one of my good friendsand former coaches at Minneapolis City is his
name's Ryan Nichols, and he wasactually born in Brentford, and so kind

(42:28):
of vicariously through him, I've beenfollowing Brentford and you know, two years
ago they made it to the whateverhundreds million dollar game, you know,
and and they lost. And thenthis year they made it and they won.
And so it's so I guess forme, and again this could just
be mean me being a romantic optimist, is you know, the super League

(42:49):
would have taken that away. Itfeels like where it was just you know,
and there's something special to Champions Leagueor or they're you know, the
fact of when Barcelona plays man Citylike in this league and it doesn't happen
every other weekend, there's something reallyspecial to that, Like it's a big
game, and it's a big gamefor reason. And so I think if

(43:09):
you have the Super League and it'sjust big game after big game after big
game, like eventually that that's gonnawear off and it's no longer going to
be a big game. Like it'llstill be fun and entertaining, but it
wouldn't be like there's not that buildup, there's not that same hype.
So, like you said, arethey both destrumental one hundred percent? You

(43:31):
know, I'm sitting here watching manCity snap up Grialish and you know they
still want to try to go getgame and you know all these different things,
and you know, you know Arsenalsout here trying to get Aaron Ramsdale
for thirty million, and I'm like, what has happened? Like we're playing
We're playing two different, two differentfinancial games here. But so yeah,

(43:52):
neither one is great by any means. And again I could just be a
traditionalist and like the idea of youknow, being able to see teams,
you know, compete and fight forPremier League spots or you know, Syria
Laga spots. So but yeah,it's funny because like the sentiment today among

(44:13):
Barcelona fans is extremely pro pro superLeague right now, I'm sure, I'm
sure, And again this is thehard part. Go ahead, Yeah,
no, sorry about that. No, I was going to say, we
just got robbed are you know,are the greatest legend we've ever had,

(44:34):
the player who's been with us fortwenty one years, a state owned club
with unlimited resources, just stolen fromus because La Liga decided to implement a
new salarycap ten days before the startof the season. So now we're mad
at La Liga and we're mad atstate owned clubs, and perhaps the super

(45:00):
League doesn't sound like such a badidea now. But I understand. I
understand you feel, right because youknow, I'm a Barcelona fan, but
I'm also a soccer fan, right, and I appreciate. I appreciate Cinderella
stories just like the next guy,even though the lesser cities of this world
or the Red bull Lepsie of thisworld are not exactly the Cinderella stories that

(45:23):
we think they are. But Ilike to see small clubs doing great things,
you know, like a LITL forexample in France, when in league
are with perhaps ten percent of PSG'sbudget, probably even less. You know,
I like these storylines, but I'malso a fan, and sometimes sometimes

(45:45):
fans get bitter. For sure.No, I do not blame you one
bit for that, And if Iwere in your shoes, I would be
feeling very very similar sentiments at themoment. Yeah, but yeah, you
were going to say, because like, obviously you're you're you're a cult,
right, So I want to pickyour brains from a from a coaching perspective.

(46:07):
You have you have that roster,you have Mauricio Pacino's roster at your
disposal, at your disposal, withall these eagles and all these you know,
naggining injuries for some and you know, you still have to think about
developing new talents and giving consistent minutesto up and coming players on your roster.

(46:30):
Like, how are you supposed tomanage a roster like that throughout an
entire year without offending anyone or losingthe room altogether. Yeah, that's a
great question. And I'll say this, so, I don't know how familiar
you are with the NBA or PhilJackson. Of course, you know,

(46:52):
Michael Jordan, Okay, I figured, but didn't want to assume for a
long time. I was always kindof the ILK they you know, Phil
Jackson has been one of the best, you know, theoretically the most successful
coach of all time, right theNBA. And it's like, yeah,
but he said, Shack and Kobeand Scottie and Michael. So he's had
the best players. However, andI kind of even said this earlier.

(47:15):
You can have the best players inthe world, but like we're saying,
to get them to play together andfind success is actually a lot harder said
than done. There's a lot easiersaid than done. And I'll even say
this, and this is just kindof reflecting on, you know, my
very short time with Minneapolis City,which obviously does not even start to compare

(47:37):
to what Pachettino is going to haveto deal with, But there is something
to the fact. I think oneof the hardest job, one of the
hardest pieces of my job as MinneapolisCity coach has been that man management piece.
And it's hard because we very similarlykind of get all the best players
here in Minnesota, and these areplayers too everywhere they've gone have just been

(48:02):
kind of the best player, oneof the best players. And so you
know, when I when I lookat my roster of thirty two guys,
we can only select eighteen, andthen we can only have eleven for the
starting lineup. That means I gotto have a lot of conversations each week
with guys of this is why you'renot playing, or this is why this
guy is starting over you. Andthe one big thing you have to have

(48:23):
as a team is you have tohave that camaraderie. You have to have
that chemistry. And you know,there's so many instance of it where instances
of it where you know, oneplayer will go sour and it starts to
be a cancer in the locker roomand it starts to pull players away.
And that's that's something that happens reallyreally easily. And I and again not

(48:44):
to make this more about city,but like I truly think that was one
of the biggest reasons we were successful. And it didn't necessarily have to do
with what I was doing. Ithad to do with the fact that the
players were bought into what we weredoing and the belief that it was we
over I. And so you know, I remember vividly having conversations with Ian

(49:07):
Smith, who played Division one atGreen Bay. He's going overseas to play
pro and I would pick a playerover him, and he would even say
it is like I disagree, Idon't like it, but I get it
and I'm not gonna throw a fitand and so it's gonna be hard for
Pacatino. I mean, especially likeyou've got those egos, You've got all

(49:28):
this money that's being thrown around,and like you said, you got to
balance that. You've got to balanceinjuries. You've got to balance trying to
bring some of these, you know, younger players in as well. It's
it's gonna be hard. And nowagain, well, the talent probably inevitably
went out. Yeah, probably whenyou've got him, Bope and Naymar and
and Messi all on. You know, they're on your you get one of

(49:50):
those guys, odds are in yourfavor. If you get three of them,
you're probably good. But that's notto say though that they won't encounter,
you know, encounter some issues thatwill come up with that. So
it will be interesting, it'll beinteresting to watch. And you know,
somebody said it on Twitter and Idon't know if I agree, but there's
something to this and this is notgoing to make you happy as a Barcelona

(50:12):
fan. But but he did say, you know, we can you know,
knock on on, you know,the state owned owned clubs and all
this, but it is what itis. And at the end of the
day, there's something about the factthat we could potentially watch this maybe one
of the best teams ever and enjoyit. And I'm like, yeah,
that's that's easy if you're not aBarcelona fan. Um So I don't know

(50:35):
how I feel about that, butlike, all right, there you're trying
to find some silver lining. Iget it, but no, it'll be
interesting either way. And man,it's it's funny too, Like I you
know Pachettino back when he's with Spurs. You know, obviously I can't root
for him because an Arsenal guy,but I always respected him and and I
can't believe he got like how hewas kind of got the short end of
the stick after taking him to theChampions League final, and I'm like,

(50:58):
how is this guy not going toend up somewhere else? And so it's
funny now Pacutino is like, youknow, kind of gets the last laugh
on all this, like, hey, I'm gonna go to PSG and have
all these players and Spurs are overhere trying to, you know, just
get in the Championship again. Likeit's there's some irony to that, definitely,
definitely, like it's a it's ait's a football manager team or a

(51:21):
FIFA team, whatever you want tocall it it's a fantasy League team,
and yes, the like as aBarcelona fan, I know that a lot
of Barcelona fans are like, youknow, I really don't want Messi to
play against us, just for theprinciple like he shouldn't come and hurt us,
you know what I mean. Andthat's why a lot of people were

(51:43):
hoping that he would finish his Europeancareer in two years, three years,
stops and then sign with Inter Miami, right right, right, But now
we're gonna have to compete in competein the same competitions as him, and
my person sentiment is I want toplay against him and I want to beat
him. He's a legend. Ilove him. One day there's going to

(52:05):
be a statue of him in frontof camp now, but right now he's
our rival and I want to beathim, absolutely absolutely, and that's that's
what a very good competitor wants to. Hey, the end of the day,
I can respect you, but youknow I can, and I can
be sad about the fact that youleft, But now that you're on that
side, Hey, I want togo beat you. So yeah, I
love it, especially with that bigsmile on his face. The day after

(52:29):
he was crying in front of thebars leg Oh my god, man,
I've been singing the blues for fora couple of days. I'll tell you
that much. I don't doubt itit, man. But you know,
in terms of money, here's thething, and I wanted to touch upon
that too, because a lot ofpeople are like, well, you know

(52:51):
PSG they have more revenue. Yeah, well be in sports and PSG are
under the same are led by thesame president, not Saifi. He president
of both dentities, and both dentitiesare owned by Qatar, so obviously they
have the luxury of over inflating TVrights to justify all these signings, something
that Barcelona cannot do because they're cooperative. You know, it's like there's no

(53:15):
financial fair play anymore. The gameis rigged and there's no I thought that
financial fair play was was going tobe something logical, like common sense was
supposed to prevail when they first announcedit. But now I feel like UEFA
is giving these huge corporations of freepass while traditional clubs we've been around for

(53:43):
over a hundred years are getting plucked. And it's going to get worse because
we haven't seen Manchester cities answer tothat, yet they spend one hundred pounds
on Jack Greylish and there are stillrumors that they're they're trying to go after
Harry Kane. Where is it gonnaend? Like what you're gonna have?
You're gonna have Sterling and uh andand yeahb Jesus on the bench while you

(54:07):
have a Galish and Cane And itdoesn't make sense. It's right, right,
at the end of the day,you can't have two clubs buying everything.
M So it's you're right. Andit's really interesting because so I'm gonna
say something a little bit controversial andbring it back to American soccer. Yeah,

(54:28):
it will be interesting to see howit plays out, because at the
end of the day, competition iswhat makes this entertaining, and what makes
it entertaining is what really drives thefans. Right, so if you just
have one to two super teams,it'll get born, you know at some
point. Now, how that playsout, I don't know, but it's

(54:49):
really interesting. And so this iswhere here in the United States, like
the MLS is one kind of verybig conglomerate and and you know, you
have to buy your way in andagain I don't want to go down the
prorell path. But what's been reallyinteresting to me is watching from where MLS
earned it to where they are now. Like they're bigger, I wouldn't say

(55:12):
they're better, and again I workin lower league soccer, so I'm just
up close and personal to it.But it feels like the one thing that
MLS has has not done particularly well, if they have not made it maybe
as entertaining as they could or should, and I think that's why you see

(55:34):
like more and more people gravitating towardslike a Minneapolis city or even Detroit city,
where there's just there's something about thatjust the purreness or I don't want
to say fureness, but like justsomething about that competitive piece where it's like
this is really interesting, Like there'ssome storylines here. So it'll be interesting
to see how it plays out,not only in Europe, but I think

(55:57):
even here in the US, whereI think if these grassroots club continue to
build and like who talked about withpassion and community that the MLS has,
but it doesn't feel like they're they'rereally authentically growing. They're artificially trying to
deflate it with money that's not alwaysgonna that's not always gonna win out.
Like, you can't buy passion frompeople, and so if you're killing the

(56:19):
passion because you have these super teams, you can't keep passion down forever.
It's going to go somewhere else.So that'll be really interesting to see how
that plays out. I have noidea, but it just in my very
very limited scope here, it feelslike there's a little bit of a landscape
change just in that piece. Andagain, how that continues to evolve will
be really interesting. But it's you'reright, like there's even going back to

(56:45):
the Super League. There's not agood answer to it. Like both are
very very detrimental. So like what'sthe tipping point? Are all the best
players just gonna go to Man Cityand PSG, Like are they just gonna
win every single year and then youknow, all these other clubs will buy
for in third place? I don'tknow. But my point is is I
think in Avid like you can makethese super teams, but eventually it's going

(57:08):
to take away the competitness of it, and I think people will start to
lose that interest. And when itlose the interest and entertainment, there goes
the money. There goes the passionto what extent, I don't know,
but it'll be interesting. And ifyou want to kind of like try to
wonder what could happen in the future, all you have to do is look

(57:28):
at the NBA. The NBA,I mean for the past. I mean,
I know a lot of people aregoing to say that the Chicago Bulls
of the nineteen nineties were a superteam. I don't know if I agree
with that sentiment, because you didn'thave Larry Birds and Magic john and Magic
Johnston calling Jordan and be like,you know what, We've been hating each

(57:52):
other's guts for many years, andnow we're just going to play for the
same team. And now it seemsto happen all the time. It started
with the Boston Celtics, and thenthe the LA Lakers, and now Brooklyn
and Golden State, and you know, I mean, if that's if that's
what they want to do to wintogether rather than compete against each other,

(58:14):
then they're they're really taking away,they're really taking something away from the fans.
And that's what we're that's what we'reseeing right now in soccer. It's
becoming more and more of a realitynow in soccer, Like I I wanted
to see Naymar versus Messy, andthe only time that we could have seen
it, Namar was injured and wewere robbed of that. But I want

(58:34):
to see the best play against thebest, not necessarily played together. For
sure. I think that's a reallygood way to put it, is seeing
the best play against the best,right Like, And I think you're mba
analogy is spot on, and itis really is. You know, you
probably see me joke about it onTwitter. I don't do it as much,
but I've hated the NBA for along time for that exact reason.

(58:54):
And I probably couldn't even put afinger on it until you just said it.
It is just been boring. It'sbeen stale. It's like, oh
okay, like the Cleveland Cavaliers aregonna play the Warriors or the Celtics in
the finals again, or the Lakersare gonna play the Catholic I don't care,
you know, And and and that'ssort of why it felt like,
at least this year, it feltto me like there was more interest in

(59:15):
the NBA finals because you had Milwaukeeand you had Washenix Phoenix Phoenix. Yeah,
yeah, two teams that really don'thave like they clearly are not like
the favorites, like they're good.And now again we're Minnesota's right next to
Wisconsin, and so you know there'sa lot of Milwaukee fans and even some
of the Minneapolis city but it wascool. It's just someone like Janis who

(59:39):
is like, you know, hehas been very good. But to get
over that hump kind of like earlyon when the Golden State Warriors had Steph
Curry was that same piece where itwas like, you're rooting for this guy
because he's not Lebron James, becausehe's not you know, uh whatever.
You know, Superstar has been aroundforever, and so to kind of see
them break through, like you kindof root for that, but you're not

(59:59):
necessari rooting for the team. You'rerooting for the storyline, right, and
so if there is no real storyline, if you're not seeing the best compete
against the best, and it's youknow, all these guys just on one
team, like who cares. Iknow they're gonna win, Like you know,
you know what the worst part islike these pylon teams, they always
they're always located in in the biggestmarkets, right, you could have filed

(01:00:23):
on Oklahoma City. It was actuallythey actually had like three of the pylone
artists of the day, Durant,Westburg and Abaca. And uh yeah,
I mean that, like you lookat that. That was an unbelievably good
team and they just couldn't get itdone. Yeah. So, and like

(01:00:45):
you said, they split up,and you know, all those guys,
I think other than Westbrook have goneon to win you know, stuff at
some point, but not not withOklahoma City. And and again I'm I'm
I'm a bitter Minnesota sports fan aswell because we haven't won a championship for
ever for the same reason. Butit's you know, and again same with
kind of the NBA. It's thesame thing with the Timberwolves. Like even

(01:01:06):
your best players end up just goingto bigger and better, you know,
teams in bigger metro areas. Soyeah, it's a it's a good analogy.
Do you do you I mean yousaid bitter Minnesota sports. Fine,
so I had I had, Ihave that. Yeah. In nineteen ninety
nine, how did you feel whenthe Dallas Stars had won the Stanley Cup?

(01:01:29):
Uh? You know, at thatpoint, I didn't hate the Stars
as much as I did when theyfirst left. Um. Obviously I didn't
like it, um, but therewas at least a little bit of separation
between that in like ninety two.But I will say this because I've been

(01:01:52):
a biggest, big sports fan fora long time. Just have love sports,
and my my first love ever washockey, so that meant the Minnesota
North Stars my first love. Iwas at the game that the Stanley Cup
game when the Penguins ended up beatingthe North Stars at Met Center, so
I got to see the Meu andYager, you know, skate around with
the cup. Good for them whatever, um, And then very quickly after

(01:02:15):
that they were gone. And eventhough I was seven and I didn't know
who the hell Norm Green was,like, I still hate him for like
just betraying the whole state, likethe state of hockey, Like oh my
gosh. Like I so that theStars winning didn't piss me off because it
felt like there was a little bitof a gap. But when it happened,

(01:02:36):
man like that problem with fiber sowtherapist, that was probably why I'm
such like a such a vengeful personat times. As a seven year old,
my favorite team was just taken awayfrom me in the middle of the
night, like, what the hell? Oh wait, no, I can
imagine by the way that feeling thatyou had a ninety one I just haded
this summer. I was gonna say, you could probably have the last last

(01:03:00):
few days, and I can hympathizefor sure. It's only did you know
it's the it's only the second timein history that another team wins the Stanley
Cup in Montreal. The first timewas eighty nine the Calgary Flames. Really
yeah, and now the time ofday lightning. It's never It's only happened
these two times and a hundred andtwelve years. Wow. Yeah, one

(01:03:25):
and twelve. That's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, that's that's
quite a history there, man.I could I could talk to you about
hockey all day long. I playedmyself. I still play every now and
then. I love hockey. Ilove hockey. Perhaps when I come to
Minnesota, we should we should havea pickup game. Absolutely, let's do
a pickup soccer poman. Yeah,yeah, I love it. That's what

(01:03:46):
we're all about. I just wantedthem to open up these uh these borders,
man, because seriously, Minnesota's onmy list. I love Yeah,
hiking and I love I love swimming, and you know, there are so
many things that you have over therethat I enjoy doing. I just actually,
when was it three weeks ago?I was in British Columbia, Okay,
and British Columbia. British Columbians kindof have the same lifestyles as the

(01:04:12):
same lifestyle as Minnesota's, like,you're very much into nature and uh,
for sure, you know, it'sthe complete opposite of Montreal Montreal ors man,
they go to restaurants and that's alla little bit more yeah, U
a little bit more upper class.Yeah yeah, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, we're probably a little moreblue collar. That's that's for sure.

(01:04:33):
That that's the ball. When you'resurrounded with it, you have no choice
but to enjoy it, right absolutely, the city of Lakes. Have you
enjoyed any of the lakes this summer? Is everything open in Minnesota? Yeah,
you know it has been. Umwe actually it was funny. We
actually this past weekend got up touh Brainerd, which you know, it's

(01:04:56):
kind of the one of the clicheup North places because add on, my
assistant coach general manager actually got marriedthis weekend. So my wife and I
you know, unloaded, the kidsaren't the in laws and got to go
away for a couple of nights andit was beautiful. It was awesome just
to kind of, like you said, get out on the lake and just
kind of hang out. It's youknow, there's something there is something too,
like just being able to sit outsideand you know, whether it's on

(01:05:19):
a beach or you know, ona hill with a pier and just hang
out like it's it's it's awesome,great, great. Well, you know,
I don't know about this year becausethey were talking about fastports, health,
fassports or whatever like, I don'tknow, I don't know what you
want to call it. Some peoplesay that we might have to get a
third or maybe even a Ford shot. Yeah, but once this is all

(01:05:44):
said and done, I'll definitely hopon the plane and visit you guys in
Minnesota. Want to and I wantto see. I want to see I
want to I want to see atleast one match. I want to see
the team play for sure. Man, Well, we'll give you the VIP
treatment both on and off the field. So year and your wife, whenever
you get the Chians come visit usin Montreal. Yeah, I'll thank you
to Saputo Stadium and we'll watch atIt's funny. We actually we had looked

(01:06:10):
at places to go um and Ithink a coup up for like our eighth
year university, which is a fewyears ago, and we ended up going
to New Orleans. But one ofthe places that was kind of in the
final three was Toronto. Like I'vebeen to Canada, I was gonna say,
it's uh, we I've only beenthere. I've only been to Canada
once and again it was Saskatchewan.I spent a lot of time in a

(01:06:32):
wheat field, so that's not theCanadian experience I want. So no,
well, we'll definitely take you upon it when these borders open up.
And yeah, I would love tocome to that for sure. Yeah you'll
see you'll see history before your eyes. It's like it's like a European city.
It's like an old Eurotea city inbut in North America. It's great,
that's cool, that's cool. Yeah, I love that. And you

(01:06:55):
know we're we're on an island andwe're surrounded like once you cross those bridges,
you're surrounded with nature, Like youhave so many beautiful spots like Mount
Comblanc, we can go skiing overthere if you like, if you're into
that. Lots of water, lotsof lakes, lots of lots of things
to do. Man, I tellyou I'm sure. We're there. We're

(01:07:17):
there. That's our next vacation.Perfect, Matt. Thank you so much
for accepting my invitation and catching up. And uh let's let's let's do this
more often. Man, I reallylike talking. I love it, man,
for sure, all my pleasure.I appreciate you reaching out. Good
to see you, you know,back in the flesh on your two feet
again. And uh no, it'sI agree. Let's let's make a more

(01:07:40):
regular thing and catch up sooner ratherthan later. For sure than Thank you
very much, coach Matt. Everybody, thank you for for coming on the
show. And to you all,dear listeners. Will catch you next week
for another episode of the premiere podcast.