Softy & Dick 5-19 Hour 3: Gregg Bell, NFL Rule, Farhan Lalji, Sounders

In the third hour, Gregg Bell and Jackson Felts talk about new NFL language regarding the tush push plus answer some Seahawks questions, then Farhan Lali of TSN up in Vancouver joins the show to talk about the NHL playoffs before some Sounders chatter.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you miss last hour. We talked to Hugh mill
In about many things, as hu Milon can, and one
of them was about the tush push and his strong
belief they should outlaw. But he had a little more
nuanced argument than I expected from him. He said, let's
just go back to what it was eighty four years
for eighty four years until two thousand and four, which
was no aiding the runner at all. It used to

(00:20):
be a five and sometimes ten yard penalty to aid
the runner anywhere on the field, and then once they
got away for that rule, nobody really thought much of
it until the Eagle has exploited that rule here in
the last five years or so with this toush push.
I've always thought, well, if you want to get better
at if you don't like the toushpush, get better at
defending it. But it does make sense to go back
to what the rule had always been. It's what I

(00:41):
used to referee in high school football in the Bay Area.
You just don't aid the runner. Well, the Green Bay
Packers are the team that is sponsoring the rule change
that would outlaw the toushbush. They were going to propose
a change in March in the league meetings, they tabled that,
and now they're coming back in the league meetings next

(01:03):
week in Minneapolis, when this presumably we'll get voted on.
Jason Jones' NFL reporter for CBS Sports is reporting that
the Packers have changed the language on what they want
to change the rule for to outlaw the touch push,
and the change is immediately after the snap, any push
or throw of the body against the teammate, body of

(01:25):
the runner against the teammate. Who excuse me when we
get this straight, immediately at the snap, push or throw
his body against the runner who was lined up directly
behind the snapper and received a snap to aid him
to attempt to gain yardage would be illegal. So that
makes it clear that this is a touch push immediately
at the snap, pushing against a teammate who was lined

(01:46):
up directly behind the center. So there you go. I mean,
that's the quarterback and that's pushing from behind. And that
is more clear this precise language than it was previously.
It had been don't pull a runner in any direction,
don't you who's interlocking interference, grasp a teammate, don't use
your hands or arms to push or throw the body
against a teammate. But now they're saying, if he's lined

(02:07):
up under center and you push him from behind, it's illegal.
That's the change in the language the Packers are proposing
in the league is supposedly going to vote on this
league owners at the league meetings next week in Minneapolis.
So this is gonna be submitted by Green Bay. And
the reason is player safety and pace of play is

(02:28):
what they're saying. Of course, the reason is they can't
stop it. Yeah, right, that's the reason four nine, four
to five. I want to tell him where to text line?
You do you agree with the Packers this should be outlawed.
We're going to open up the phone line, something we
are kJ R told we never do. I used to
do it all the time with Chris Kid and I
on the Show in the morning two six, two eight
six ninety five ninety five. Do you think that toush

(02:49):
push should be outlawed? And why? I don't think it
should be. I think teams should get better at doing
it or go back to what the rule was for
eighty four years. As you and I talked about last hour,
what do you think, Jackson?

Speaker 2 (02:58):
I mean, it's it's so wide because I'm not sure
the last time, if ever, we've seen a play and
maybe in any sport. I mean, the the hook shot
was kind of the revolution, or the alley oop was
a revolution, but like a play that one team dominates
so heavily. And then what we saw was, you know,
the Bills with Josh Allen would try it and it
didn't work nearly as well. And you know, even even

(03:21):
like you know, you thought, okay, well Allen is a big,
strong quarterback that's gonna work. It doesn't work nearly as
well as the Eagles. They switch out Jason Kelcey for
a new center, it still works. So it's definitely a
fundamental thing that the Eagles just dominate and the rest
of the teams are okay at And I'm not sure
if we've seen a single play where one team is

(03:42):
just overwhelmingly so much better than the rest. So by
that regard, there's the idea of yeah, get better at it.
But it's it's kind of a funny thing when we've
seen it for now for I don't know how many years,
Like it feels like half a.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Decade now, it's about four or five years. Yeah, where
it just it it.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Obviously there are teams who try it, and obviously only
the Eagles can do it with that much success.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
And I've asked the Seahawks offensive coaches head coaches going
Pete Carroll ann Mike McDonald about the pushbision specifically, why
don't you do it? Basically? And I always get the
same version from both coaches and from both offensive coordinators.
Three three they've had the last two years. They get
the same type of answer, hammadahammada, hummada. And there's going
be not any substantial response other than we just don't

(04:28):
do it well. Because they don't do it well. The
Eagles have committed to it obviously schematically, personnel wise, mentality wise.
And what of course it does is you have four
downs to get ten yards instead of three, right, everyone
else has three downs to get ten and you got
four because you know if you get it within two
yards on a third or fourth down, that's what you're
gonna do. And it allows you to run different plays

(04:49):
on third and two and third and one than other
teams because you know you're going forward on fourth down
no matter where it is on the field, because you're
not going to get stopped with It's like eighty ninety
percent of successful. Yeah, and so it's the old if
you can't beat them, don't join them. If you can't
beat them out law, And that's really what the Packers
are doing here.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
I guess I would ask for the rest of the NFL,
there's the concept and I specifically voting people on voting
on this is the owners, I would think.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Or is a competition committee. But okay, yeah, but first, yeah,
as I understand that the mechanism is it gets so
for a vote for the owners or whether it wants
to be considered.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
So for coaches and for people who are you know,
advising the owners on how to vote on this thing.
You clearly, rest of the thirty one NFL franchises who
aren't the Philadelphia Eagles are not nearly as good at
this as them. And clearly, I think to the point
you just made, there hasn't been a significant investment in
time and mentality and energy into being as good as

(05:45):
the Eagles. So if if that's just the case, and
if you're if you're Mike McDonald, or if you're somebody
else and you're saying, we're just you know, ready for
the pot for the just the understanding that the Eagles
are going to be way better at this than the
rest of us, Then why not tell the owner screw it?
You know exactly that if we can't beat them, then
outline because because we're not gonna let one team just

(06:06):
be this dominant when the other thirty one teams. If
you know, Mike McDonald's talking to Kyle Shanahan and they're
talking to each other and saying, screw this, man, I'm
tired of getting I'm tired of giving it up when
it's one team that's just killing the rest of us.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
And I think that's what's gonna happen. Yeah, I think
it's going to get voted out for the reason you
just said, and then coaches don't have to deal with
it anymore, and their owners will do them a favor
by problem to deal with. This isn't the only thing
the owners are going to vote on next week, by
the way, They're also going to vote on the Olympics
and flag football, and they have the NFL put out
last week a statement or guidelines of what they think

(06:41):
the NFL team should participate in. The twenty twenty eight
Olympics in Los Angeles gonna have flag football for the
first time, and there are some NFL players who want
to play in it and represent their country. The NFL
has said right now the guideline is no more than
one player per team could potentially participate thirty two players,
one for each team. There have to be minimum standards

(07:03):
for medical personnel and care and field conditions. And it's
the field conditions one that they think is the one
that they could. NFL could say sorry, we can't play
because the fields aren't up to NFL stuff, which is
somewhat hypocritical when the players want to play on grass
universally all thirty two stadiums and the NFL owners will

(07:23):
not do the grass because they want to have tractor
pools and concerts and Taylor Swift shows in their stadium
when they don't have football games, because they only have
ten dates to make money in their football games in
their stadiums, so they want to have art This is
the whole reason, by the way, that you don't this
weather and all this other stuff. The reason there's artificial
turf in so many NFL stadiums is so they can
have tractor pools and concerts to make more money. It's

(07:44):
money period. They don't and not to mention they don't
want to spend the money on seating and watering grass
and having to resid Trust me on this money. Trust me,
it's a money thing. It has nothing to do with
the fact that Seattle's wet. No, it is the fact.
That's a byproduct argument. But the primary argument is one,
it costs money, more money to maintain grass. And two

(08:07):
I can have tractor pools and monster trucks and Taylor
Swift shows if as easily if I have it on grass,
because then I have to replace the grass after eighty
thousand people are trampling all over it and a giant
concerts with video boards. Don't fool yourself. That is why
the NFL owners won't. NFL owners didn't get me billionaires
billionaires by accident. They do stuff like this all the time,

(08:32):
all the time. So don't get me started on the
whole grass thing. So now they're going to do this
whole field conditions thing as part of the reason why
the Olympics and blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Anyway, this is an interesting I'm not sure if you're
going back to the whole flag football and the Olympics thing,
That in itself is also an interesting topic.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Playoff seating is another one, and whether they're going to
just blump like the NBA does and NHL used to
is where the conference has seatings one through seven in
the NFL's case, and division winners wouldn't matter, So you
can't get the seven and nine Seahawks hosting the eleven
and five New Orleans Saint It would be in these
playoffs though they would be in the playoffs, but they
would be the lower seat and have to go to

(09:09):
an eleven and five former wildcard team. If you were
a seven and nine division champion, to use one example,
I hate that it would. A lot of owners are traditional,
like the Roonies, and people have been in the league
long time, are against that because they want to preserve
the sanctity and importance of the division rivalries in the
division titles. Yeah, so I'm not as confident that that
is going to pass as I am. The toushbush next

(09:31):
week in the league meetings. But this Olympics thing, if
you want to talk about it.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Frankly, they're both worthy of being talked about. But I mean,
so while while we're on that, then you lose these
great moments like the defending champion Saints at the seven
and nine Seahawks and oh my gosh, it's David Goliath.
You lose the magic of those moments, like do you
really NFL?

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Do you really want to lose.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Something that you have like that that can be You know,
there will be people that are angry about a seven
and nine team making the playoffs, hosting a playoff game.
They're gonna be mad regardless hosting or playing period. So
the bottom line is why not create the magic by
making them the home team? Keep the sanctity if you're good.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
Enough to if you're an eleven and five team, you
should beat a seven and nine team and win on
the road. Or yeah, exactly, so that I feels Saints.
By the way, Yeah, by the way. This hour's keyword
for one thousand dollars Grand Slaps give you away is cash.
Enter cash c ash at nine three three KJR dot
comtent want to forget about that two six, two eight
six ninety five ninety five opening the phone lines. I'm

(10:31):
gonna put Jackson to work and monitoring that. If you
want to do that. The text line is still to
be named. Can't believe we don't have a sponsor yet.
Text line If you want to bid on that. Go
ahead and do that at four nine, four five one
or your Seahawks questions and Jackson, I think we wanted
to first start. You wanted to talk about wide receivers.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
I did because I wanted to get we were just
talking out in the sports but and I wanted to
gauge your two cents on the confidence in. I mean,
you lose Tyler Lockett, you lose DK Metcalf, and we
bring in you know mvs, and we bring in you know,
Cooper Cup and they're not Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf
can be honest. I'm interested in hearing from yours, from
your side of things, the confidence level that this wide

(11:08):
receiver group can be an adequate group for Sam.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Darnold, Well, let me say this, Cooper Cup was better
than Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf put together until he
started getting hurt. He was an NFL MVP and Super
Bowl MVP and All Pro who now, all of a sudden,
once he turned thirty years old, can't stay on the field.
It's been a minute. And so if he is, if
let's just hypothetically throw out there, if he's on the

(11:33):
field for seventeen games, they've got the best sought receiver
in the NFL. It's a big if. It is big,
and that if is why the Rams gave up on
him two years into his massive contract. If the Rams
thought that that if could happened, they wouldn't have ever
gotten rid of him, right, So that is the rub.
The if is the rub. But the Seahawks are trying
to bank on a relatively it's a three year deal

(11:56):
and it's worth a good bit of change, but it's
relatively less if he gives in the production over seventeen
games the last time he had a full season. So
that's the Seahawks thinking is, if we can keep him
healthy and he can get to be seventeen games, we
have the best slot receiver in league. So what's that
leave Jackson Smith and jigbub Well. He played more outside
and more varied roles than he did as a rookie

(12:17):
than he did last year when he had one hundred
catch season, but he still primarily was a slot receiver.
Win Metcalf and Locker weren't here, but they aren't here anymore,
so he's gonna play outside more now. He's not the
true body X. You wouldn't think of him as an
X receiver, a Metcalf type receiver. But that's what Valdez
Scantling was early in his career. Now he's been on
four teams in three years. There's a reason for that too.

(12:39):
But he's still the deep threat. He's not I'm not
trying to say his DK Metcalf, but as far as
filling that role, he could be the X receiver running
straight down the field. Then you move Kobi X role
Kuby X. Challenge, I should say, will be to fit
Cup and Jackson Smith and Jigbeit into what essentially seems
to be the same role. And how you're going to

(13:01):
have is is he gonna be a Z receiver? He's
going to be opposite of Scantling. How much is scanting
actions gonna be on the field. They're going to go
a lot of two tight ends and by the way,
they're going to go a lot of two backs. Yeah, fullback,
a real life fullback and high formation. So they're not
going to have as many three wide receiver four wide
receiver formations as they've had in Seattle in decades. Go
back to Mike Holmgren to find the last time they

(13:23):
had a fullback on the field that's strong. So if
you put a fullback on the field, you're not going
to have a lot of multiple wide receive as many
I should say multiple wide receiver things. So how did
all this come about the DK Metcalf trade. Well, John
Schneider was the general manager, was on the Rich Eigens
Show on Friday this past week in the beginning of
the weekend, and a couple of interesting things to say,

(13:45):
including answering a question of whether it was about money
or not.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
DK and I had very open conversations the last couple
of years and about his future and what that looked
like and what he wanted, and you know, we all said,
do what's best for the organization first and foremost. That's
what that's what drives us, everybody, everybody that throughout the
National FOOTBA League that that does what we do. And

(14:10):
it was a parent that he wanted to he wanted
to move on, and uh so when we got back
to the combine, we had some some real, uh you know,
clear direct conversations and at that point decided it was
probably best for both of us to move forward.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Was it a salary related thing, John, No, No, it really.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
Wasn't It wasn't.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
It was interesting because it wasn't like animosity either. It
was like, you know, somebody is really really uh you know,
we really really wanted a fresh start, and uh, you know,
it's not like you know, we went into the off
season thinking this would be a possibility. But he was
just uh, he was pretty he was pretty dugging on it.
So ended up working out for both clubs, working out

(14:51):
for US, working out for Pittsburgh, and we wishing the best.
He's a great guy and obviously a high end competitor.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
All right, as soon as the general manager says it's
not about the money, it's about the money, I was
wondering if he was going to play for free, he'd
still be with the Seahawks. Of course, it's about the money.
The Seahawks were probably looking at a hundred million dollars
probably what was their ceiling, given the production and the
fact that he had been somewhat of a penalty case,
and although that went less so in his last year
with Seattle, but they weren't going to go much north

(15:21):
of a million one hundred million dollars. The Steelers gave
him a hundred and thirty two million, and oh, by
the way, the Steelers gave the Seahawks a second round
draft pick. Go back and look at Stefan Diggs and
some of the other all pro wide receivers who've been
traded in the last four or five years. I was
talking with Dick Fane about this in crosstalk. Look at
those trade the trade returns on. We're talking conditional fifth round,

(15:45):
fourth round. The Steelers gave them a second round pick.
So we all know how much John Schneider loves comp picks,
and he loves running out free agents to the end
of their deals and then letting them leave his free agents.
He does this all the time. With the end of
rookie deals. You have to barely be a rookie, a
proven rookie, or somebody a real need position like left

(16:07):
tackle with Charles Cross to get a second contract after
you get drafted by the Seahawks. And a lot of
that is because if a guy has performed well enough,
you're gonna get a third or fourth round pick as
a comppick. So the Seahawks were thinking third round pick,
if we just keep Metcalf, keep even if he's unhappy,
keep them, and if he doesn't want a hundred million dollars,
we'll take the third round pick. Well, the Steelers solved

(16:27):
that dilemma for the Seahawks. And two things. They gave
him a second round pick, and they gave Metcalf one
hundred and thirty two millions. So of course Nider traded
him after Metcalf. And here's the other thing. Mike McDonald
doesn't owe or no DK Metcalf at all compared to
Pete Carroll. Pete Carroll is best friends with DK Metcaf.
The whole take your shirts off of the combine all

(16:49):
of that. When Pete Carroll traded back into the second round,
John Schneider made the trade, but Pete Carroll directed it.
Pete Carroll traded back into the second round to draft
f DK Metcalf Jackson. People forget Metcalf was four months
removed from a broken neck. He was in a hospital
bed in Memphis, Tennessee, being told by a surgeon he'll

(17:10):
never play football game. He cried, he said, I will.
I can't believe my career ended on a kickoff return
at Ole Miss, playing in my final college season. And
then four months later, not even that three months later
is when Pete Carroll's taking his shirt off and treating
him like a member of the family, and then they
draft him, and then they make him this superstar and

(17:31):
they make him this sixty million dollar wide receiver that's
now at one hundred and thirty two. Exactly. Pete Carroll
started all that. There was a round. There were two
rounds of NFL teams who didn't want anything to do
with DK Metcalf. So don't forget that. Mike McDonald wasn't
any of that. So when Mike McDonald heard the DK
Metcalf didn't want to play with the Seahawks and want
to be traded, see you, McDonald doesn't play those games.

(17:54):
He's not into the touchy feely kumbaya take off your shirt.
He's into ah You don't want to play for us.
I want guys who play for us results. See you
and any other Seahawks player who says they want traded,
he'll they'll find the first trade they can find for
him too. That's McDonald compared to Pete Carroll in a nutshell. Anyway,
we go on and on about this, but four nine,

(18:15):
four to five, I want to tell him we'll do
text sign and we read back your text or any
questions you have about the Seahawks. But up next my
man Farhan Logy. I spent Friday night with him at
the Westy and Roosevelt, and then Saturday night he covered
a very dramatic NHL playoff game the end of the
series between the Stars and the Winnipeg Jets. Far On
Lolgy is going to join us from North of the
Border on TSN Vancouver next on ninety three point three

(18:37):
kJ RFMAD.

Speaker 5 (18:39):
Casting live from the R and R Foundation Specialist broadcast Studio.
Now back to Softie and Dig powered by Emerald Queen Casino,
the Vetty and capital of the Northwest on Sports Radio
nineties three point three kJ r FM.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
Sorry, this is not Softie or Dick Bild the News
Tribune with Jackson Felts with you and shitting softies in
Greece somewhere after some trek across Europe to get there,
and Dick Fane's covering broadcasting play by play for the
Storm in Dallas Knight for their second game of the
WNBA season against Page Wreckers down in Dallas ninety If

(19:18):
you're going three, KJRFM wants to remind you that May
is Military Appreciation Month. It cause near and dear to
my heart and former career and all of that we
will hear, we want to hear, and I hope we
will hear from those who have served our country in
the military as well as their families and their loved
ones throughout this week as we p approach Memorial Day
on Monday, we want to invite those who have served
to share your names and where you serve so we

(19:40):
can shout you out all week long. We invite you
to head the iHeartRadio app downloaded for free where we
get your apps, and go to nine three three KGr
dot com. Either one hit well in the app, you
hit the little microphone the red button at the bottom right,
leave a thirty second voicemail. Tell us where you served,
when you served, what's branch's service? Go Army beat Navy

(20:01):
all day Friday. We're going to recognize those in the
community have served our country and that's a really cool cause.
Ninety three point three kJ RIFM does online waiting for
me to quit talking on hold is far Hunt Logy,
great friend of mine TSN Vancouver national hockey and football
reporter and host for TSN, the ESPN of Canada. He

(20:25):
was with me at the Westy my wife and I
had dinner with far Han. He wins the Dad of
the Month award Jackson and listeners. Friday afternoon, he went
from his home down to Bellingham to see his son
and attract me a district track meet. His son is
a very good high school quarterback, very good district track runner.
Two hundred meters what'd you say, far on twenty two something?

(20:47):
Then he comes through seattlesa I'm coming through when we
grab a bite. Then he goes to the Red Eye
to Sea Tac to get a red Eye to cover
to fight to Dallas to cover the Winnipeg Jets in
Game six against the Dallas Stars. Then he gets back
on a plane, I have no doubt, left the arena
at like two am, got back like a six or
seven am plane out of Dallas Fort Worth to get
back to see his daughter is basketball or volleyball in Lakewood,

(21:11):
some club competition in Lakewood. That's Dad of the month
right there, maybe of the year. Good job, far Harm, lollie,
It's good to hear you again, far Han.

Speaker 4 (21:20):
Oh, dude. And then I'm in Victoria right now for
a CFL preseason game. So I'm just getting on the
ferry to go back to back to the mainland and
eventually drive down to Linden, Washington year. So, yeah, I'm
running on fume and money. I'm going to be sleeping
early tonight, let me tell.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
You, yeah, I can imagine.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
Thanks. Thanks for chronicling all of that.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
You're welcome. I thought that people should know what's behind
the scenes. My wife, this is the only segment of
the show. This is the only segment of the show.
My wife wants to hear. She heard you're going to
be on. She goes, I'm listening, So she's listening right now,
gonna be.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
Oh, Wendy was an absolute delight to me. That it
was long overdue. And you know she is mom and
wife of the the decade for putting up with your
act as long as she has. I am so impressed
with her.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
You're right about that. Well, thank you, sir checks in
the mail for that vron you at in Dallas on
Saturday night, more than I think you bargained for. I
know you were going to be covering. First of all,
try to set the scene of the whole thing. Mark
Shifley wakes up thinking he's about to prepare for elimination
game in Dallas, with his Winnipeg Jets, and he finds

(22:25):
out his father dies overnight Friday night into Saturday morning,
unexpectedly of an illness in his early sixties. And then
take us through what happened. Shafley scores the first goal,
then the penalty, and he's in the penalty box when
the Stars hit the overtime game winner that ends the
Jets season. Adam Lowery we saw here, and if you're
watching CBC sports Net watching Adam Lowery go into the

(22:47):
penalty box to console the leading scorer who penalty eventually
caused the game and season to end for Winnipeg. But
just the whole tableau of what you thought you were
going to be covering the versus what you.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
Did, Yeah, just entirely different, you know. And you know
you described it right in terms of just that morning announcement.
And I've covered athletes as you have before who've lost
a parent and potentially lost a parent and continued to
play in a game, you know, that day or the
next day. But you know, I think the word that
really hit is unexpected, right, and this was not somebody

(23:20):
who was expected to pass this way the way this
has happened, right, And you know I remember when Brock Besser,
who's another Vancouver Canuck hockey player, you know, his dad
had been dealing with cancer and had been dealing with
other conditions before that, and you know eventually he passed.
And this was not that I mean, Brad Schifely was
with this team during the previous series when Winnipeg played

(23:43):
King Lewis, who was there in town and you're talking
to the players and laughing in the locker room. And
I first covered Mark Sifeley when he was playing for
Canada the World Junior Hockey Championships, and that was the
first time I had a chance to meet Brad. And
you know, it's not like I've stayed in touch with
him ever since, but just anybody you talk to, this
was a guy that didn't necessarily just impact Mark Shafe.

(24:04):
He impacted that entire Winnipeg team. All the players felt
like they knew him. They had the dad trips that
NHL teams are known to do, and you know, they
bring him on the road and just gregarious individual and
so this hit everybody hard. And Scott Arneil, the coach,
was at the arena expecting to take his team on
the ice for the morning skate and he just got
into a vehicle and went right back to the hotel

(24:25):
to be with Mark when everybody found the news, and
you know, not really a surprise that he played, because
you know this this is kind of what professional athletes
do and what hockey players doing, what his dad would
have wanted him to do. And she made clear and
Scott O'Neil had been through this three years earlier when
his dad passed away in season, so you know, this

(24:45):
hit a lot of people, and you know, you talk
about the game, and twenty seconds into the game, Mark
Seifeley's on the ice and just gave away a really
bad you know, got stripped behind the end. It was
a turnover and that almost led to a Dallas goal.
And you could tell that he was kind of feeling
his way in this one, because you don't know how
you're supposed to feel. I can't sit here and say
you can only imagine, because you can't, or you'd have

(25:06):
to imagine. We hadn't been through this. And then he
got better as the game went scored the goal, and
then I thought in the third period there were moments
where he was just doing everything to will his team
to a win. You know, creating and driving play by himself,
didn't score and then turns the puck over at the
blue line in the dying seconds of regulation. You know,
turnover goes the other way. He dives back trying to

(25:27):
break it up.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Had to do it.

Speaker 4 (25:28):
It's almost a penalty shot. I thought it was gonna bealt.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
I did too, And I think if there had been
no penalty, if they had not been no penalties called
up util that point in Parby would have been right.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
Yeah, there was absolutely there was not a single penalty
called in that game. And now with fifteen seconds left,
you take that penalty, and now you're in the box
and when you talk to the players you mentioned Adam
Lowry went into the penalty box to pull him out
of there because the shot of Shifey as soon as
that goal goes in and his head is just down.
And Adam Lowry said after the game, we just wanted

(25:58):
to get that kill so bad, just for him, regardless
of what happened in the game. They just did not
want that to be his memory, his moment right, for
it to be defined like that. And then you go
into the locker room and or not in the locker room,
sorting handshake lines, because that happens at the end of
a hockey game or at the end of a series.
They should say in the playoffs where the team shake line,

(26:19):
shake hands, and whether it was Mac dushane or our
Mason Marshman who lost his father, and there were other
players that had these long, long they weren't handshakes, they
were embraces, they were messages. They just wanted him to
know that they were thinking of him. And even the
players you talk after the game, they were emotional. They
weren't emotional about seeing their season come to it end.
They were emotional about what their teammate was going through.

(26:41):
So just an amazing situation on so many levels. You know,
to be in the middle of that, I mean, you're right.
When I got to the hotel, I keep the Red
Eye six Sam. I went to the hotel and slump,
and I woke up to a you know, barrage of
email saying, you know, we got to deal with this now,
and you know and rightly. So it was it was
different on many men.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
As a journal my father died March third, and it
was a long illness. I'm not unexpected, and I still
couldn't think straight and function for days and weeks, so
for Mark Schifley to play the other patty paid professional athletes,
but that was real As a journalist, Farhan, what was
your priority of trying to convey at that either before

(27:21):
when you discussed before the game, the Schifley's father's dying
in a situation after the game with how it ended
in crushing fashion, take us through your thoughts on what
you were trying to convey to the viewers of TSN.

Speaker 4 (27:34):
Well, I mean, that was the story, right ultimately, even
the players on both teams. We'll talk about the perspective
that a moment like that brings is you know, where
we're all playing a game and you and I are
covering games, and you know, yes, they're getting paid millions,
but ultimately it's still a game and real life still matters.
And I think that's what you try to convey, right,
like just the emotion of the moment before the game

(27:56):
and you know, you're you're trying to tell the story
about how he's going to play. Because there's a percentage
of Winnipeg Jets fans that are more concernedtive the gamesteller,
you know, and I'm not being critical of them, and
so this happened a d Yeah, he's going to play,
and the impact that it's having on everybody, and then
it's a real difficult moment to transition from right, Like

(28:17):
it's hard to take from there into a breakdown of
the game matchup right, right, you know, and with Shifley,
interestingly enough, like Dallas was trying at previous home games,
they were actually trying to get their best players out
against Mark stifling right at times, and you know, Scottdale
was dealing with those matchups differently and trying to support

(28:38):
his line differently, and you know, so that was going
to be a story going into the game, right, but
now really that doesn't matter. And there was a big
story about how Winnipeg hasn't won a road playoff game
in three years, and how their goaltender, who's probably going
to win the MVP of the league this season, has
really struggled on the road. And so you're you're kind
of thinking you need to tell those stories. But that's
a tough left turn right to take from what is

(29:02):
so much more important and emotional and meaningful, right, And
even after the game, it really came down to the
emotion of the moment, right, So you know, you get
a limited amount of time on Sports Center, and that's
what you tell first. And then after that, you know
you're looking ahead to a matchup between Dallas and Edmonton
in the next round, but you don't want to make
this other story an afterthought yet.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
I'm glad you were there. I watched her coverage. I
was glad you were there. And have it worked out
quickly about the Edmonton Dallas series? What do you think
happens there? Last year Edmonton beat them four games and
two get to the Cup final. You see that happening again.

Speaker 4 (29:36):
Well, you know, it depends on which team. And for Dallas,
this is a third straight year in the West Final
and they haven't been able to get through. And when
you look at this Dallas team on paper, based on
how they've played all season, they're better than Edmonton. Right.
Edmonton's got arguably the two best players in the world
in Connor McDavid and Leon dry Sidle. But if you

(29:57):
look at this roster and the way this roster has
produced all season in Dallas, you'd have to think they
were deeper. And quite frankly, I thought they were deeper
last year. I felt going into that series that they
were going to win, and I didn't see a pass
to victory for Edmonton. But this year, like five of
Dallas's best players have been non factors in the first
two rounds of the playoffs, right, whether it's Tyler Sagan

(30:20):
who did set up the winning goal, Jamie.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
Ben Robertson and Ben even on the ice Saturday night,
it was crazy.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
Yeah, entirely true, like they were invisible in that game.
And there are others who just haven't really shown up,
you know. So you've got their finished players that have
been really good, and your heiskin and the star defenseman
has now been back for three games, played over twenty
two minutes in the last game, and he's probably one
of the top three defenseman at hockey. So you know
he's now going to be like fully dialed in and

(30:49):
engaged and you know, might he bring out the best
and some of the rest potentially. But you look at
Edmonton and they're getting depth scoring and a lot of
people question their depths at this time last year, whereas
this year, you know, they got Evander Kaine back for
the playoffs. And it's not that Evander Kaine's been unbelievable,
but he's kind of allowed everybody else to get into
a comfortable spot right, and guys haven't had to play

(31:10):
higher up in the lineup or wherever because he's kind
of been in a spot and it has put everybody
in a more comfortable position in their top six, in
their top nine. Their defense has been playing really, really well.
Their goaltending has been fine, right, Like they've kind of
got into out of goaltenders with Pickard and Skinner. But
for me, if Dallas shows up with everybody going and

(31:30):
they've all been capable of going like they have this season,
and when you look at the styles of their games,
they should be built for playoff hockey. If they can
get those players awake for this series, I still think
Dallas wins. But if they keep going the way they
have been, they're not getting through this series.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Speaking of a way, go get some stress, get off
that fair and get some rest. Enjoy the football, enjoy
the track, enjoy the basketball with your kids. And thanks
a lot for Jodys. I catch up with you soon.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
I owe you one, all right, thanks buddy. Give my
luck to Wendy.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
Oh thank you, sir far On Lolgy. I got to
meet Mary. I haven't met her. His wife in person
of many, many times. Every time I go to Vancouver,
I go try to see far on Foreign LOGTSN Vancouver
was in Dallas for the Winnipeg Jets game six when
Mark Stiffley's father died in the morning and Shiffley played
that evening. We'll talk more about that and what Adam
Lowry became a hero in Canada, what he did after you.

(32:22):
I'll explain all of that next. And at six o'clock
we're talking about the Sounders coming off their derby in Portland,
finally coming home, Jackson, You finally get to watch them
persons finally a while. We'll talk about that in next
to ninety three point three kJ RFM.

Speaker 5 (32:36):
Proad casting live from the R and R Foundation Specialist
Broadcast Studio. Now back to Softie and Dig powered by
Emerald Queen Casino, the Vetty and Capital of the Northwest
on Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ r FM.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
Welcome back, Greg Bell, the news Tribute, not Dave, Softy,
mall Er, Dick Fan help be okay with that, Softi's
and East Pick fans in the broadcast booth covering broadcasting
the storm second WNBA game of the season at Dallas
so Greg Bell and Jackson Speltzer with you from three
until seven. If you missed far Hun Lawley, a great
friend of mine, tsn out of Vancouver, just talking about

(33:16):
being in Dallas for Mark Scheifeley's father passing Saturday morning,
and then Shiffy the Jets leading score playing in an
elimination game Saturday night in Dallas. If you miss that,
go to the iHeart radio app download it for free.
You want to listen to that. It's human, It's yeah.
These players get paid millions, and they're still people. They
still have lives, they still have fathers and mothers and

(33:38):
sisters and brothers and wives and dogs, and no amount
of money can can suppress your father being dead or
the night before he was alive and a week before
he was with the team the Jets playoff run Foreign Laws.
You described that. If you missed it, go to the
iHeart Radio app, download the dold for free if we
don't already have it, and go to nine through three

(33:59):
kyard dot com, orgo to nine thy three kjar dot com.
But directly and later tonight Jackson will have the podcast
video audio up for that. So if you missed it
Saturday in Dallas, Winnipeg's leading scorer, Mark Schifley awoke for
Game six Stanley Cup playoff series. Jets have to win
Saturday night. They're going to play Saturday morning. He wakes

(34:19):
up and he finds out at his father, who's in
his sixties, died unexpectedly overnight Friday night into Saturday morning
from a brief illness. This is out of nowhere. Shifley
played hours later. He scored the first goal of the
Jets elimination game one nothing, one nothing for most of
the game. Then Dallas scores ties at one to one.

(34:39):
Late in the third period, the Stars had a break
away in one goal. Shifley dived and took a tripping
penalty from behind to save a breakaway and likely the
winning goal with like thirteen seconds left. She could have
been a penalty shot, it was so obviously he tripped
him from behind. Instead he got away with it was
the only penalty of the night called I think that's
where as it wasn't called a penalty shot. Shifully goes

(35:00):
to the box. They killed the final thirteen seconds of regulation,
but now Dallas has one hundred and minute forty seven
and to start overtime with a power play and chance
to end the Jets season. Man did the Jets want
to kill that penalty to get Shiffy back on the
ice and so that Scheiffey didn't have to wear the
fact that he took the penalty that ended the Jets season.
Eight seconds before Schiffley would have left the box and

(35:22):
the penalty was over, the Stars scored the game winner,
season ending Seiffley just about collapsed in the penalty box.
Adam Lowry became a Canadian hero. I was watching live
on CBC Sports. Then my son and I were watching it,
and the cameras immediately the candy. I don't know what
ESPN was doing or TNT because I don't watch that

(35:44):
for I told you, if you're not watching CBC Sports
that you're wrong. The Stanley Cup Playoff are the best
thing in sports and the humanity. This moment was bar none.
The cameras go straight to Schiffley in the box. It
shows Adam Lowry. The rest of the Jets are just
splayed on the ground, devastated that they lost on the ice.
Adam Lowry, the captain, doesn't go to them out on

(36:05):
the ice. He goes straight into the penalty box, not
to the penalty box into the penalty box to console Shify,
and it was that way for moments while the Stars
were celebrating and smoke going off in the arena and
people going nuts, and Lowry and Shiffley were embraced inside
the penalty box and he was wearing the fact that

(36:26):
his penalty had ended the Jets season. After the game,
so they go through the handshake line, which at the
end of a series is one of the great traditions
of hockey, and every one of the Stars, as far
I mentioned in our last segment, was hugging and consoling
Shiffy as well. Here's Adam Lowry in the postgame press conference,
the Jets captain talking about Mark Scheiffley and trying to

(36:46):
get him through that whole day, just to let him
know we're there for him.

Speaker 4 (36:52):
It's just.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
Sorry, just an awful day for him. That's uh.

Speaker 5 (37:00):
You want to give them the strength, you want to
get that killed so bad, we just couldn't do it.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
I mentioned afar, my father died March third. I couldn't
even see straight for days and let alone function and work,
and I just stopped. And he was ninety and it
was pretty he'd been sick and it wasn't quite a surprise.
Definitely not in Mark Scheifley situation. The Stanley Cup playoffs. Man,
I've talked about this. There's nothing like it, the passion

(37:32):
that these guys have, the realness of it. They are
not spoiled at millionaire athletes. They are millionaire athletes, but
they don't act like that. They don't contort themselves that way,
they don't play that way. They dive headfirst in front
of ninety five million hour frozen rubber pucks to stop shots.
Watch a dog pile in the blue paint in the

(37:53):
crease in a playoff game. It's like logs stocked on wood.
You just don't see it. Just they're stacked to the goal,
to the crossbar trying to keep the puck out. You
don't see this in the NFL and the NBA and
their load management crap in Major League Baseball with their
guaranteed contracts. The NHL Stanley Cup players are unbelievably barren.

(38:14):
Nothing like it. Two months of this goes on every
night for two months, Jackson. This isn't like one and
done or once a week NFL playoffs or Major League
Baseball playoffs or the NBA whatever the NBA playoffs are,
don't even come with me with the NBA playoffs. I
can't even watch him after watching the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Not even comparable.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Well, and I agree, And this is another reason why
I love soccer is because you have these low scoring
games where anything can turn in an instant. A one
nothing game is just as quickly going to the other
side because it all happens so fast, because they're just
so tight.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
Anyway, if you aren't watching the CBC Sports Net nightly
broadcast of the Stanley Cup playoffs, you're missing some of
the best drama, theater, passion and analysis and sports. The
sound quality, the production quality. We could hear last night,
my son and I watching the Leafs and Panthers game.
We could hear them yelling back back back behind the

(39:09):
net to swing the puck back behind the net. You
could hear it on the live feed ESPN and even
send their announced TNT and espnnit even send their announcers
to some of the games remote stuff. Yeah, it's unbelievable, terrible.
So again I said it earlier. If you're paying nine
thousand dollars a month for Comcast cable anyway, why don't
you get something out of it by turning the channel
ninety nine see but out of Vancouver and watch the

(39:30):
CBC sports Net feed. You'll thank me later. It's like
a different viewing experience. But I will tell you the
Stanley Cup playoffs are the best thing in sports. And
I covered the NFL for a living and I've covered
five Super Bowls. The Stanley Cup playoffs are the best
thing going for honology. Just described it on our last segment. Anyway,
I'll step off my soapbox and tell you that when
we come up next, we will talk about soccer, the

(39:52):
football that Jackson Feltz was about, the Sounders coming back
from their Derby and Portland your tax four nine four
y five one to be part of the show. Lots
more to come on the last hour. Greg Bell sitting
in for Dave Softy Maher and Dick Fang with Jackson
Feltz on ninety three point three KJRFM. Sounders tied one
to one and the Darby down in Rose City on Saturday.

(40:14):
I'm sure you watched and heard and everything from Jackson
Feltz's point of view on ninety three point three KJR
on Saturday Night. What'd you think this is a team
that's we've for years been complaining about scoring, right, so
where are they now on a bigger picture of scoring?
And how did it go Saturday night? Yeah, like bigger picture.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
I think we're back a little bit offensively because we've
we've gotten a little bit healthier in the attacking midfield.
Jordan Morris is still heard. And if you've you know,
if you're driving around, you've heard one thing about the Sounders,
you've probably heard the name Jordan Morris. And right now,
I mean he's he's I dare say not needed because
the guy who's filled in for him, Danny Mazowski Gregy

(40:52):
scored five goals in five straight games. He's been popping
off like crazy. And then the attacking midfield is healthy
and good and you know, rocking with this new Englishman
by the name of Ryan I'm.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
Gonna tell you about him. Yes, twenty eight years old.
Sign this offseason as a club Simers have a club
option for this is just a rental. They have a
club option for him for next year. They're using them
as a winger exclusively. They are.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
It's kind of a funny story and this kind of
can translate to all sports. So imagine like the Seahawks
were to sign a huge free agent in the off
season that that no, I didn't say huge, a good
sized fore agent in the off season, and that puts
them right up against the cap. And then they that
player gets injured for the season, and suddenly the Seahaws

(41:36):
are saying, well, we have no extra money to go
and to go and get a replacement for that player.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
Uh oh, what are we gonna do?

Speaker 2 (41:42):
But in soccer, there's this little funny thing where when
if a player gets injured, what you can do is
you can put him on the season ending injury list,
and then the money you spent on that guy, you
can take that money and go spend it on another player.
All right, sorry, you know you couldn't use that money,
Go spend it on another guy.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
You know how many guys in the NFL be injured
reserve hangout, you make this much, you're done, You're done.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
So Paul Ariola and I'm going to say that Nay
last name very carefully.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Anyway, So this is it's this guy.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
They brought him from Dallas, and he cost a good
amount of money and then he tears his ACL six
games into the year and he's not, so they put
him all on this Injurier list, and that means they
get to go use the money from Paul on a
new player into Ryan Kent. That's why the Sounders signed him,
was because they had this money due to the Paul
Ariola injury. And this dude, Greg, I'm telling you, like

(42:41):
he played at a really high level with this club
called Rangers a number of years ago.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
Yep. And he came from Germany though right he was
on a second of Turkey Turkey.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Was over in Turkey. But he's bounced around a lot
of leagues. He's such a aggressive, fast winger, just put
his puts his head down and does the work. Really
determined dude, and he is a real deal. And I
don't think really maybe even the team. It's a good
question for their GM, like did you understand the player
you were getting in Ryan Kent? Because he is a

(43:12):
weapon that I was talking with reporters last week. I'm
not sure the last time the Sounders had a weapon
like this.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
When I when they signed him, I thought they signed
Roy Kent thought.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
Yeah, he's here, He's there, He's every bleeping ware that's like,
holy cow, everyone's going to watch Him's funny is he's
never seen the show. He's never seen ted Lasso is playing.

Speaker 4 (43:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
We asked him at the start, like, well do you
ever get the uh? Do you ever get the Roy
Kent or the chance? And he's like, no, what's that?

Speaker 1 (43:40):
Well, no one in England probably watches it because it's
in the US. They hate the show.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
Really, people in England hate ted Lasso because they think
that they it makes their sport look like a joke,
which I mean kind of those Let me.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
Ask you about another FC Dallas guy. You mentioned Paul
that heys just for a twenty four years old he
supposed to be the big score guy. He has just
three assists in thirteen matches. He has more yellow cards
than goals one one yellow card, which is more goals
than he scored. What have you seen or not seen
from Perero?

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Haven't seen a lot. He's been a disappointment point blank.
I mean, we brought him in to score goals, greg
and he's gotten assists and he's been you know with
the attack here and there. But he you know, he's
also little injury, but still like he just has not
acclimated to the team with the attack that we need
him to, and it's been super disappointing because it's a

(44:33):
guy who you should be able to plug in at
a couple different spots and see some output, like they
had him out on the right wing this last week
in Portland, and in the pre match show on Saturday,
I was talking about, all right, well, what I want
to see is I want to see him go into
the middle of the field and I want to see
him run towards the goal and get up and run,
get up and run, go for it, make these runs
and give these other players opportunities to get the ball

(44:56):
to you to score a goal. And didn't see enough
of those runs, didn't see good enough movement, didn't see
him integrated in the attack enough. And right now, in
a midfield that has Ryan Kent, that has some other
really good pieces Albert Rusnak, peder Dale Vega, it now
stands to say, listen, I know the Sounders went out
and invested up to two point three million dollars in
hayes U's frere in the off season, but right now

(45:18):
I don't think he deserves a starting spot really and
is right now. No, I think right now he's right
now a player that you bring on in the sixty
sixth seventieth minute off the bench. But he's just he's
not doing enough. I'm all about results. He's not doing
enough to warrant a starting spot.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
Right He's playing his former FC Dallas here Saturday night.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
I know he is, but the reality is, like I
want the best players on the field. It's like, Paul
Rothrock is a fun kid. He's from Capitol Hill. Really,
I mean, can't say enough how much you love to
watch this kid, Paul Rothrock. But sorry, Paul, as much
as we love you, Ryan Kent's a better player right
now in my opinion. So if I was Brian Schmitzer,
it's it's Ryan Kent and Pedro on the wings, Albert

(45:59):
between Rusnak and then sorry to Frera you aren't producing.
Sorry to Paul Rothrock, there's somebody better.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
You still have a coach? Smetzer on the Weekly Show
Tuesday's five forty five. Yeah, ask him that you and
Dick ask him not tomorrow. I'm much longer.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
I mean, it's a it's a fair question. And then
one of those things we're like, listen, I am a
broadcaster for the Seattle Sounders, but I'm also you know,
I'm not gonna talk down to our fans. Soccer fans
are too fans, sports fans in general. There's so much
information these days. I'm too smart to get anything past.
Like the reality is we aren't getting enough from Haysus Ferrara.
He doesn't deserve to start. In my opinion right now, I.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
Think Smetzer would handle that question. Hum well. Listen, I
think Hayesus Frere.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
You know, we look at the assists and you know
he has five assists across all competitions on the year.
He's still integrating into the attack, and you know, I
think it's just about time and and him getting time
with the people.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
I mean that that's generally how he'd answered you.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
You want the positive, But listen, I mean like I'm
a I'm a commentator and I'm gonna speak my truth.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
Let me ask you something. As a fan. My son's
gonna volunteering next month at the Club World Cup. Nice, yeah,
mos Feta mentory friend of ours. Hope to set them
up on that. But I gotta ask PSG is playing
in the Champions League final on May thirty, first, the
Munich against Inter Milan, and then you're telling me that
They're gonna go on an offseason for three weeks and

(47:18):
then come twenty four days later and play the US,
play in the US against the Sounders. Who the hell
are they bringing like the academy guys. No, I think
they're gonna bring a lot of their top team because
what so those guys are gonna be two three weeks
that hungover from the Champions League final. They're gonna be tired.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
And what's funny is you look at the Club World
Cup and you're facing PSG. You're fedting Atletico Madrid, a
very very very good team as well. You're facing Boto Fogo,
the best team, maybe the best team in South America.
And these teams, though, the question is do they play
it just play backups because they're facing the Seattle Sounders.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
Maybe.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
But here's the deal, Greg, there is so much money
on the line if they get through to the next round,
Like there is tens of millions of dollars on the
line if they get.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
Through the sea. But FIFA sponsors are fun.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
This, it's just yeah exactly, and then it's going entirely
to the clubs and there's money on the line if
teams advance. So the Sounders will get money for purely
just making it. But then they'll if if they or
whoever makes it out of the group will get a
larger sum of money making out of the group stage,
winning the next, winning the next teams are bringing their
top level talent because it so directly means tens of

(48:34):
millions of dollars or more if they advance and if
they win. So you're I'm I'm a little bit worried because,
like you might see some backups to start that game
against PSG, but even their backups are pretty damn good,
and of course that's scary in its own right. But
if they're bringing their top level talent, and if they
put them on the bench.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
Then.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
Pariss a fan. I'm never paris Ain jermon is playing
the Sounders. If you don't know a lumin Field June
twenty third in the FIFA Club World Cup. If I'm
not mistaken, it's June fifteenth against that Pletico Madrid. May
be wrong in the dates June eighteenth and maybe changed.
Maybe I have it right here acause I have this
whole schedule.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
It's it's Botafogo on the fifteenth, Madrid on the nineteenth,
PSG on the twenty.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
Third Madrid and PSG. So if you're a world hot
and thanks for telling me, because now that to me
makes it even more intriguing that they're going to actually
bring in and playing their big guys, get the money involved.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
I mean, what you're gonna see. Also, is the other
team in the in the UEFA Champions League Final, as
you just mentioned, Milan, they're also playing another in their group.
They're also playing in Seattle. We have the two finalists
of the super Bowl of Global Soccer playing in Seattle
next month.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
Dang. In that case, it's a good it's a good
time to be a soccer fan. How are ticket sales
going for that? Are people not hearing about it? But
that place would be a few people in there.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
They just had to drop ticket prices heavily, so they're
not going very well.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
But the ticket prices started off.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
So expensive because I think FIFA thought like people are
gonna want to come out. But the Club World Club
is event that hasn't been well attended in the past,
so I think it was a thing of Okay, now
that we've redone the whole tournament, maybe it'll grow doing
it America, it'll grow. But I still think that they're like, no,
we need to drop tickets prices in order to get
people in the building.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
If you miss the Sounders are coming home to the Plane.
FC Dallas on Saturday night, Jackson Fielt will have the
pregame show with you. I think it's a seven seven
thirty pm.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
Kick It's actually more it's an early afternoon morning game.
Our pre match is at eleven thirty am and kickoffs
at noon for the Dallas game at Lumen.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
Do I actually get to watch it on television? A
don off to go through nine passwords and subscriptions for symbolists. Yeah,
wells season past on Apple TV, oh Man, Portland. I
got to watch it. It was great. But what did
mms do to alienate people like me? You know what
I mean? I've read where they were kind of regretting
that Apple TV deal.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
I read that Art two in The Athletic. It was
a good article and it makes it makes you wonder too,
because I know that subscriptions are good, but subscriptions are good,
and you wonder how much of that is related to
Leonel Messi, the goat of soccer, playing right now with Miami.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
Plus that's a finite set of eyes why't you buy
a subscription? Those are your people, right, Yeah, you're not
gonna get the casual fan or the person who just
happens one on one off what want to watch game?
If they?

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Yeah, exactly, you're losing the casual fan. And then what
happens when MESSI is no longer playing in MLS? What
does that subscription model look like? We might be facing
a situation where can you get out of the Apple deal?
Can you go back to the you know, the the
terrestrial TV model because we need those casual fans back.
And I think the Sounders have done a great job
with the First Match on US program where if anybody

(51:46):
has never been to a Sounders match, look up Sounders
First Match on US. You can go to a Sounders
game for free, for free. They're trying to get the
casual fan back by literally letting people who have never
gone go for free to try to build the casuals
into great fans.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
That's what we're trying to do. It's tough. That's what
the TV deal has done.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
Yeah, it's it's done. It's done a disservice, I think
to the casual fan. But you know this, this is
the Apple TV deal at the start was looked good,
but right now I think we've seen we've seen a
negative to it.

Speaker 5 (52:17):
All.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Right, is there anything worth mentioning the NBA playoffs? So
I mentioned the final four these conference finals are Nicks, Pacers.
Celtics are out the number one seed in the West. Okay,
see they won. They beat Denver blew them Ounta in
game seven.

Speaker 5 (52:28):
So we.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
Are on this show.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
Have a clip from the movie Ted with Mark Wahlberg
and uh and Seth MacFarlane who plays a Teddy Bear.
And it's somewhere on Softy's wall there. I don't know
where it is.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
Where it's basically, you know, f the thunder there you go.
So that would be all I would say. It's all
we need to mention about the NBA playoffs. That's it.
We just said it. Thank you, Jackson, you just crystallize
it for us.