July 14, 2026 • 37 mins
In the first hour, Dick Fain, Hugh Millen and Jackson Felts react to Spain dominating the favorites from France in the World Cup semi final including a breakdown of why Spain’s midfield was able to control the game against the French attackers, then Hugh does a deep-dive into a correlation between quarterbacks in the NFL and United States soccer.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jackson is he has fired up. We'll find out in
just a moment. I want to kind of give us
an overview of what we're going to be doing for
the next three and a half hours before what's it
called the World Championship Soccer postgame show, recap show, recamp
clasps so close the World Championship Soccer recap show because
he can't say World Cup on the air or something
(00:21):
like that. So we will do that at six o'clock today.
So we got a big show for you. We've got
really all three of the major sports in Seattle covered.
We're going to talk sonics because Adam Silver is speaking today.
Adam Silver is speaking in the four o'clock hour, where
you don't exactly know when it's schedule per four, but
(00:41):
you know how that goes. So while Hugh and I
are talking to John Wilner at four o'clock, Jackson is
going to be feverishly monitoring the Adam Silver press conference
for anything expansion really related.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And if something.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Amazing happens, which I don't think it's going to happen today,
but if something amazing happens, then you will get Jackson
Feltz breaking into our conversation with John Wilner. If it's
kind of what we anticipate that will happen, which is, hey,
we're we're gonna move forward to a vote, and a
vote will be done in the fall. Then we will
(01:18):
talk about that as soon as the Wilner conversation's over,
and you will hear from Adam Silver with that announcement.
So that's what's going to be going on in the
four o'clock hour. So that's gonna be kind of the
meat and potatoes of the show. But up until then, guys,
we've got a lot of football to talk. The rankings
are starting to come out. I think they're being They're
very interesting, much talked about rankings by both NFL players
(01:38):
and also by the general managers and front office staff
of teams. How did they rank the Seattle Seahawks players
coming off a Super Bowl championship? Was Seattle given the
respect as individual players the way they're given respect as
a football team. We will talk about that coming up
(02:01):
at three o'clock with Hugh. But first and foremost, Jackson,
the floor is yours. You are excited about the Spain
upset of France. I just read where it is the
biggest underdog Spain has been in a World Cup match
in thirty two years and they ended up winning so
the game. The times they have been knocked out of
(02:22):
World Cups in the past, they were not as big
an underdog as they were today to France, and.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Spain coming into this tournament, for my money, had the
best midfield.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
In the world.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
All they do is control, control, control, and sometimes that
means even you know, the other team may have possession,
but we are going to be so compact and so
organized that we are not going to let you give
get anything. They've given up one goal this entire tournament.
They've now had six shutouts, which yes, is the first
(02:53):
time that has ever happened in the history of the
World Cup. It's the lean of soccer, it really is,
and it is you know, it's funny because Spain is
good defensively Yukucku Rea, Pedro Poro, Kubarci Laporte good back
for but what runs Spain is their midfield and their control.
They don't let teams score because they don't let teams
(03:15):
do much with the ball. And as good as France
is and they have probably the best attacking top level
group since we've seen in maybe twenty four years with
Brazil in two thousand and two, Spain just said, cool,
you got all that talent, You're not going to get
anything dangerous. Spain ran that game. They just dogged walk
(03:35):
the entire midfield.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Now incredible, Hugh. I know you got to watch all
the game.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I was busy taking kids places and driving up here
to the station, so I caught it in bits and pieces.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
But what were some of your observations of what you said?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
I would have three observations. And let me stress again,
I know basically nothing about soccer other than just what
a common sense person would observe watching it.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
But my.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Observations are threefold. First of all, when you talk about
and I really focused on the United States when they
played Belgium, and the completion percentages, the instantaneous decisions that
a soccer player has to make with all of these passes.
Hey do I hold the ball? Do I dribble it
(04:24):
once and then pass it? What angle to whom? And
what angle do I pass it? The United States had
four hund and eighty seven attempts per game, which is
relatively low actually coming into the game of this to
the teams that are in the top sixteen. The team
that had the highest completion percentage was Spain at exactly
(04:48):
ninety two percent, and the United States was tenth, by
the way, And so I just running the correlation number
on that. If you run for all games now, it's
it's dwindled down to about six thirty five. It was
up closer to seven o two. If you just go
the top the first five games for every team in
(05:09):
the sixteen, does that make sense? So we're just taking
total wins. And by the way, the teams that have
advanced the farthest, they have more wins because they're playing
more right right, And and I get so I give
a uh and and and Jackson police shoot down my
methodology on this.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Jackson that he went Nerd machine on the World Cup
is freaking awesome, Like you can't.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Jackson's got his clothes off right now, So keep going here.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
So I'm getting so we and one one column, we're
doing total wins, uh and and a draw is a
half a wink. And so obviously the teams that advance further, right,
they're gonna have more wins, yes, And then we're and
then and then in the other column, it's just completion percentage.
And and you know, for example, Spain they uh even
(05:57):
updated through this France they have forty ninety passes attempted, right,
so they have six hundred and thirteen per game. So
now they are at they sit at ninety one point
three percent. And I think we can talk about kind
of what goes to the end of completion percentage. But
the idea then that you would say you're in the
(06:20):
depending on what games you want to include, you're at
about six fifty and win percentage that is strong, you know,
moderate to high correlations. So this completion percentage does factor.
And you just saw the beautiful passing number two, the
first goal by Spain. The balls up in the air,
(06:40):
a French defender goes to kick it, a Spanish dude
is there. He ends up getting kicked. I think that
penalties are too punitive, Like I think of a fifteen
yard penalty in football penalties, you know that that seemed
too hard to give a penalty kick in a sport
that by the way, if you say correlate points in
(07:03):
in goals rather in soccer and World Cup soccer in
this century, touchdown with with with with points scored in
all NFL playoff games in this century, one goal is
equal to seventeen point two points in football. So you're
by one guy just like thinking looking up at the
ball kicking it. Uh, you know, not aware. You know,
(07:26):
it's not really impacting whether or not the a goal
is going to be scored to then say, okay, now
we're going to go a PK when a goal is
so scarce right in soccer, I think that's immensely too pionitive.
That's my point number two, My last point, guys, Jackson,
if I was trying to scy to describe the second
(07:47):
goal by Spain in terms with somebody like me who
doesn't know soccer, I would say, and Dickie, I don't.
I don't know if you saw it. So your basketball guy,
it was like a give and go. So that at
the free yeah, and and and then and then but
the guy given go, it's like you get you're going
almost back door. And Jackson, my, when I look at that,
(08:11):
France had three or four defenders. They're playing like it
was a preseason game, like like they're going to give
and go to the middle of the field, essentially the
center of the free throw line. And then we're uh,
uh uh, and and we're on a back door cut.
And every France defender was standing tall, was looking at
the ball. It was like they had no awareness that
(08:34):
they were vulnerable to a back door cut. And so
I was like, dudes, are you guys playing for the
freaking World Cup championship because that does not look like
World Cup intensity and and and from my view, certainly
on that play, they deserve to go down to nothing.
And of course when you see the stranglehold, the freaking
Spain's goalie only had three stops the entire game, and
(08:58):
two of them were in the last two minutes and
they were shots right at his face. So obviously Spain,
in ways that I could never describe, has a you know,
a stranglehold defense. So that too nothing lead was game over.
But I thought France's focus looked really lacking in that
(09:18):
second goal. That's probably about the extent of what I
can give you.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Dick, Well, that was a first that was great. That
was absolutely great, Hugh, And everybody has a take on
penalty kicks, so that's that's absolutely fair, I think. And
that was so poorly defended by France. On the Pedro
Poro goal, by the way, go Tottenham Hotspur. That was
great for him. I will say a lot of what
France messed up on and the lack of I think
(09:43):
really interest and energy, especially in the second half. You
really got a credit Spain to that because Spain wore
them the hell out and I think the possession at
the end of the first half was only something like
fifty six to forty four. It wasn't that far away,
but it's the way Spain in plays that just takes
the life out of you. It's death by a million cuts.
(10:05):
And you could see the way that they're midfield controlled
in this game. France just got worn down mentally. So
by the time we hit the you know, would the
second goal come right around the sixtieth minute. By the
time we got to that point, France is just done mentally.
They're like, clearly a their midfield is so much better
than ours. We don't have the control. We don't have
(10:26):
based basically the pace of this game the way we
want it to go, and then when we have the ball,
Spain gets so compact we can't get anything dangerous on them.
We I mean, Frans had a few mistakes in the
first half too, but that mentally drains you so much
over the course of sixty minutes that when that moment comes,
they're defenders all. I mean, it's more than just one player,
(10:48):
about three different guys make mistakes on that Poro goal
and ultimately hold on you. Ultimately, what you look at
is a France team that once they go down to nothing,
they know they're they're they're done. That final half hour
was about as boring of a half hour as you
will get in a semi final game of a World Cup,
because France mentally knew that, oh god, not only do
(11:11):
we have the worst midfield. Not only were we down
to nothing, but we know we're not even going to
score a goal. They tried, but they never really even
came close to setting well. Because Spain just had such
a tight grip on that entire game that France was
so mentally defeated. The last half hour was pure celebrations
in Madrid, I bet no doubt.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
And now when you say the midfield for Spain is
so strong, what I'm hearing obviously I would think of
the midfield first of all, that that that's a sector
of the actual field itself, the pitch, right which is
I would think in the middle of the field, right,
I'm talking more about that, but I know, but I
was gonna say, I know there's forwards and strikers, and
(11:55):
then I assume there's defensemen. For for somebody would have
no idea what you're you're saying. The midfield I assume
they're the guys that are neither the fords and the
strikers nor the defenseman there. They're kind of in between.
But but from a personnel standpoint, maybe just give a
point to somebody who doesn't know soccer, like, what what
(12:16):
the midfielders? What's unique about a midfielder and how how
were they strangling at that at those positions.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
I'll be really quick on this.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
The combination of Fabian Ruiz, Rodri and Danny Olmo, the
three of them are so tight and quick. Hugh, you
talked about it a minute ago that the instantaneous I
know where this but in it's pinpoint passing, it's one touch,
clean touches, ball comes to their foot. They instantly know
where Yamal is up on the right side, where Bayan
(12:44):
is up on the left side, and their ability to
find those guys around the middle of the park. And
maybe it isn't a dangerous ball into the box to
Oyers is all up top, but it's finding and just
instinctively knowing where that next pass needs to go so
you don't need an extra touch to get to it.
And it just keeps France off balance. It keeps France
(13:04):
having to chase the ball, It wears them out more,
It mentally drains them and the job by those especially Rodery,
who is a Player of the Year a couple of
years ago, of all the blown doors is what they
call it. But it's just how brilliant and how quick
they are with those with that passing.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
We're gonna take a quick time out. We'll wrap things
up with this game. He's got an interesting comparison, Jackson,
between soccer players and.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Quarterbacks that we're going to hear in the next segment
as well. Caught up on ninety three point three g RFM.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
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Speaker 1 (13:57):
Tying up some loose ends on this World Cup match
with Spain the winner over France two nothing in the
first World Cup semi final.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Just listening to your points they're Hugh and Jackson one.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I mean the penalty. It was a terrible lack.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Of awareness by the French defender.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I mean he literally just spins around and blindly kicks
at the air and the Spaniard was right there and
he just freaking hammered him right right in the box.
Now to Hugh's point on penalties being too putitive in soccer,
I would totally like mathematics. I don't even know how
mathematically you can disagree with that. I mean, when when
(14:36):
soccer goals are as few and far between as they are,
I I don't mind if there's a penalty right in front.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Of the goal like that.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I don't mind a call like that. Where I have
a problem Jackson and Hugh is when a ball is
going down down, it's still in the box, but it's
basically parallel to the end line right and there's a
foul we called in a spot where there's no way
you can possibly score a goal from that angle, and
they still get a penalty.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Kick.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
But the thing about the specifically the spot you're talking
about is it's what's called the prime assist zone, and
when you get just to the right or the left
of that goal, you can feed to the mint. It's
so easy to feed a ball back to a runner
and put a ball and a lot of goals happen
from that zone. So that's like I think, honestly, the
better thing is is sort of what happened in the
(15:30):
position today, because it's near the corner of the box,
it's certainly right on the edge of it where the
kick happens. Is he accurately was talking about. That's that's
not going to be a goal. No way is that
going to be goal dangerous. The bottom of the line
is the fact that it is a foul and it
happened in the box, and by rule, a foul in
the box, it's a penalty kick. And La Meana mal
(15:54):
did a good job to jump in front of that kick.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
He saw what was coming. You have two issues here.
I'm not dispute. I don't think dick is disputed. I
don't think most people are disputing that. By the rule,
oh yeah, it's a penalty and it's in the box.
That's a separate discussion from should it be a penalty
kick because or is there some other way to have
(16:17):
a sliding scale of penalties Because I mean, if you
just say, I've already done the calculations, one goal in
World Cup soccer is seventeen point two points in play
NFL playoff football. So if you've got about a seventy
five to eighty percent chance of hitting a PK, then
one penalty is about the equivalent of twelve thirteen points
(16:41):
that you're giving an NFL team for one penalty, which
wasn't going.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
To There's no penalty in any supports that are.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Like that, So.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Jackson, the question isn't, Yeah, let's just stipulate that everybody
agrees that that was a violation as the rule is written,
not not in neither Spain, nor France, nor any player coach.
Nobody's disputing that the the then the question is is
that too punitive? And and should the soccer rules of
(17:11):
soccer had been been written differently or should they be
amended so that there's some other more echable way of
enforcing that penalty.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
It's a good question.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
I mean, ultimately, I think you know it's funny because
sometimes you have like direct free kicks and you know,
indirect free kicks, those are very you know, various different
kinds of things that you can rule via a foul.
I just think that for me, like I am definitely
more on the soccer purist side. So it's very simply
when you're in your own box, you just have to
(17:43):
if you're a defender or a midfielder and you're you're
all the way back right there, you have to just
be so careful. And it was kind of the wild
jump kick that that the France I forget who the
defender was for France to kick Lamal, but but overall,
like you know, you just got to be so careful
in that moment and as the ball comes down. I
(18:05):
also think that you know, you can let you can
let that drop or go up with your head. If
he had gone up rather than kicking it, if he
had gone to head that ball instead of kicking it,
then I don't think that they call foul.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
He's gonna get it before Lamine does, So that's what
I say.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
I mean, the most punitive penalty in football can be
a long pass interference correct right right, you know, balls
in the air sixty yards, and then you could say, well,
the corner has just got to know what the penalty is.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
But in theory, if we just as a thought experiment,
we could say that a teammate drives down in football
down to the five yard line and then gets a
holding call. Instead of ten yard holding call, where you're
back from the five to the fifteen, we could have
we could have a fifty or an eighty yard holding call,
(18:54):
and and and then all of a sudden you say, well,
wait a minute. Then then by logic, you could say, well,
that offensive tackle, he's just got to know that he
can't take an eighty yard penalty. There, Yes, that's true.
If that's how the rule is written, then the offensive
tackle better No, I cannot commit an eighty yard penalty. Uh.
(19:16):
That still doesn't change the debate or the question of
whether or not that's a fair penalty.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, I think I think it's a fair question.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
And it's sort of you know, there are lots of
issues that even soccer fans have with soccer.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I mean, I don't like penalty kicks like I hate that.
I mean, it was great.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
In twenty twenty two, the final was Argentina Franz three
to three. After one hundred and twenty minutes, we get
a penalty kick shootout to decide it.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It was great drama.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
I just and I think you you had that great
kind of idea of taking guys off the field or
shrinking the field that half a field and make it
five on five.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Like, there's a lot of different things.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Shrink the field.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
I know that that was just another thing I was
throwing out there.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Open the field by taking fewer players off.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, yeah, it's too much running there, so you can
My thought is you can shrink the field and perhaps
eliminate that either way. My point is is that there's
lots of things in soccer that would be better fixed
if you can just do X, Y Z, just with
all sports, right, I mean, wouldn't it be great in
Major League Baseball if a actual computer said, oh that's
a ball, that's a strike, and.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
You weren't limited to challenge the game In football?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Wouldn't it be great if you know, penalties were the
same way you're talking about, you divided amongst different levels
and okay, not all holding calls are equal calls exactly right.
There are things with soccer like there are things with
baseball and football that we are obviously saying are very
wrong and need to change.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
But the way of the game is the way of
the game right here you.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Think it should be. But it sounds like you're you
said you're a soccer purist and you seem to uphold
the current view that penalty that that that hurt France today.
You're saying if you were the tzar of soccer and
you could change that rule, you Jackson Feltz are saying
you would not change that rule. It would have gone
(21:11):
down exactly the way it did today if you had
the unilateral power to change it.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Correct Because where does it end?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I mean, because you got to think about if that happens,
if that same kick against Leminium, all the Spanish attacker,
if that kick happens, let's just say it happens six
yards in front of the goal, and again clearly the
guy's just trying to clear the ball away few yards
from his own net. But the fact that that kick
happens right there at the edge of the box as
(21:40):
opposed to six yards, where's the line, hue, Because at
some point you got to set the line and say, well,
that's inside of this areo so actually that is going
to be a penalty, and the where that line is
is the penalty box.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Couldn't you have couldn't you have two dots on the
field instead of one, and there's a closer PK and
then there's a further peak.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
That's not I don't like that penalty is a penalty
for line money. You could well fifty and.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Then every penalty in football would be there wouldn't be five,
ten and fifteen yard penalties and and every every every
penalty would be the exact same number of yards.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Well, yeah, but every holding call on every offensive lineman,
holding call is worth the same amount of yards, every
defensive I mean college ball, every defensive passager.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
It's the same.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
There where you can't you can't say, well, that's a
holding call of five yards, that's a holding call of
ten yards.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
They say that if they've experimented around with like face masks,
they've had they've had we've had five yards five in
the fifteen yards, where so it's it's the same thing.
One is more egregious, So you could it wouldn't be hard.
The three of us drunk with a napkin could could derive,
you know, in sword order certain certain sliding. You know,
(22:51):
a couple two or three different levels of most punitive,
moderately punitive, least punity.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Jackson, would you say, would you say soccer is much
more against change than most sports?
Speaker 5 (23:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I would. I would say that. I mean that it
just might be.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
I mean they welcome technology. I'll say that they really
welcome technology, but it just might.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Be in the DNA of the sports.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
So Spain goes on, they'll face either Argentina or excuse me, yeah,
Argentina or England coming up.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
That will be tomorrow Argentina and England. We come back.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
We'll start the show in earnest top of the hour headlines.
It'll be the real Softyan Dick Show with Jackson and Hugh,
and Hugh will give us this comparison between soccer players
and quarterbacks. And we've got a lot of Seahawks news
to get to. And should Dan Wilson be fired, we'll
get a Hughes take on that in three o'clock hour
as well on ninety three point three KJFM.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I'm in teasing and promising and teasing and promising. Our
friend Hugh Millan has.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Got a little as we transitioned from soccer to football.
He's got a little comparison for US between soccer players
and quarterbacks. I have not been briefed on this, Jackson.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I have no idea. I can't wait for this.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I have no idea of this is an analytical breakdown.
I have no idea of this is opinion based, fact based,
or nothing.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
So fire away, Hugh.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
Well, first of all, this is gonna be there's gonna
be some numbers involved here, But let me point to
the direction I'm trying to get to it. It occurred
to me I was I was watching United States versus
Belgium in Earnest where I thought, as a non soccer guy,
(24:29):
where I thought the United States was lacking, and as
I really kind of looked at it, I thought, a
lot of that is similarities to what I observe in quarterbacks.
And let me see if I can make the connection,
and you can decide whether it carries any water. So
let me first go to the part that I'm more
(24:50):
familiar with, and that's quarterbacking. And and I'm gonna structure
it like this. If you take the US Census and
take all American men age twenty two to thirty seven,
which is about the years that the in the NFL.
Course you can play beyond that. But there's thirty three
point eight million. We'll just say thirty four million men,
(25:12):
all right, So so and would you say in the
United States that just about I don't want to use
an absolute turn like everybody, but just about everybody knows
whether they can throw a football in this country. Like
you may not know if you can play squash because
you may never have had a squash racket in your hand,
but you know if you can throw a football, yes.
(25:34):
And so as we start to peel down, there's thirty
four million American men who might be NFL quarterbacks. They're
certainly throwing requirements. There's size requirements. But at the end,
as we pare it down, all Roger Goodell really needs,
if you got it, if you put him in a
true serum, he would say, all we need is thirty
(25:56):
two thirty two quarterbacks, one for each team that every
fan base can believe that their quarterback can play. That's
all he needs, right, he said. And he's looking at
America and he's saying, we got thirty We got that
like less than one in a million. Because we have
thirty four million, we only need thirty two and so,
(26:18):
and yet only about fifteen guys play the position well
at the NFL. Correct, Yes, right, because the other if
you're not in the top fifteen, you got a fan
base and probably a general manager in front office that
are trying to replace you.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
Correct.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
So can we agree now? And if you want to
say there's twenty, you want to say there's ten, I'm
not I'm not going to quibble with the details. I'm
just talking philosophy right now, right, So, so that gives
you an idea of how difficult it is to play
NFL quarterback. Right, So now let me let me go
to the second postulate that there are a lot more
than fifteen guys in this country that have the SI
(27:00):
and the ability to throw the ball sufficient to play
in the NFL. Now, I'm not saying there's millions, but
there's certainly call it a couple hundred, okay, which is
a lot more than fifteen. Meaning just like I'll making
an analogy if we went to the NCAA Golf Finals,
(27:21):
the Championship, Golf Championship, and we went early, and we said, well,
let's go watch those kids out on the range, and
we saw, you know, fifty guys on the range, they'd
be striping that we're talking about the NCAA Golf Championships. Beautiful,
they would look beautiful, right like, like you'd say, man,
those guys they can kill it. You know, they got
touched the whole thing. But how many of them can
(27:42):
score sixty six in a tournament?
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Right?
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Right?
Speaker 4 (27:46):
So what I think separates there are many more probably
ten times or more, maybe one hundred times, but certainly
ten times as many American men that can throw the
ball and have the requens as side a size to
play NFL quarterback, but they're not good quarterbacks. There's only
fifteen what in my opinion, you know, my first year
(28:10):
playing tackle football is in nineteen seventy three, like well
over fifty years ago. What been studying this bish of
my whole life? Backed up three Hall of famers in
my opinion, let me stress in my opinion what separates
what's difficult about the position is you have to see
the movie before it plays that when you look out
(28:31):
as a court, you look out and you see where
the defenders are, you have to make instantaneous judgments about
how much the defenders are going to change. For example,
let's let Pat Mahomes is he drops back from the
twenty yard line back and he's going to throw the
(28:52):
ball at his own fourteen The tight end is going
to be right over the ball fifteen yards from alion scrimmage,
so it's a twenty one yard three. He's gonna throw
it at fifty five miles an hour. His time to
release is zero point two four seconds. He has one
of the fastest in the NFL. So I'm being I'm
(29:13):
giving the best scenario for the meaning a quarterback with
the slower release would these numbers would have even be
more amplified. So the ballflight time at fifty five miles
an hour after it took him point twenty four seconds
to release, whereas his brain neurologically said throw it there,
(29:34):
and then he got the ball out of his hand,
the ball flight time point seven eight seconds, So the
total play windows one point h two seconds. The speed
cover up. If a defender who can run twenty two
miles an hour, that's about the top end of a
full but guys aren't running full speed of that. If
they're only running ten miles an hour, they cover essentially
(29:56):
exactly five hours four point nine to nine. That if
if they're running fifteen miles an hour, they cover seven
and a half yards. So Mahomes is trying to anticipate
in the window when he decided to throw, where are
the defenders versus where are the defenders when the ball
gets there? And I'm just giving the count. Defenders running
(30:17):
fifteen miles an hour are covering seven and a half yards.
The second and last scenario, Now you say, well, let's
throw it a little bit farther. Let's have Mahomes take
a seven step drop. He's gonna throw it not straight
over the middle. He's gonna throw a wide receiver out
on the hatch from the dead middle of the field.
He's throwing at twenty six yards. Now I've ramped it
up to sixty miles an hour. That's as hard as
Josh Allen or anybody can throw a ball. And I
(30:39):
still got the quick point two four seconds. The ball
flight time now is point eighty nine seconds, the total
play window one point one three seconds. How are defenders moving?
A defender at ten yard at ten miles an hours
is going five and a half yards. At fifteen miles
an hour is going is moving eight point three yards.
(31:00):
And if he's running twenty miles an hour. If let's
say he's sprinting from the top down free safety, he's
covering eleven yards. So you're looking out in this window,
and neurologically you take this instantaneous snapshot of where the
defenders are, like, I got three guys that could four
sometimes for it. Let's say let's say the corner could
make a play on the ball, the free safety could play.
(31:21):
Those are top down, the hooks, one defender could drop
underneath it, and the coral flat could wheel and he
could get underneath.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I got four guys.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
You take that snapshot and then you try and throw
it in there, and all of those guys are reacting
in the manner that said, the picture is changing a lot, right,
And when you compare it to soccer now, I watch
Belgium in the United States and it just seems like
the United States doesn't make those instantaneous decisions about where
(31:50):
the ball should go the way the other elite teams
in the World Cup are. They are making. They are
making decisions all these passes, and Spain averages six hundred
and thirteen passes per game. The United States averaged four
hundred and eighty seven in the World Cup. We're talking
let's call it about over five you know, five hundred
ish passes and every one of those guys. You could
(32:13):
tell me that America has more athletic dudes on their
soccer team that they that if they ran a cone
real and we tied them in a cone Reil, we'd say, hey,
we're faster than we were four years ago or twenty
years ago. But the skill number one, you know, can
they tended the ball to themselves? But then also what's
their soccer IQ? Are they seeing the movie before it happens,
(32:38):
because I don't see the elite level passing and the
decision making. I certainly didn't see that Belgium was clearly
better than the United States in these areas. And then
you know the and Spain is superior to Belgium in
these areas, and blah blah blah.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
H Really, let me tell you really quick, the United
States if the if global soccer is the NFL, the
United States are the New York Jets, and you have
the I guess Seattle Sea extuper Bowl champions is Spain
the like. And like we're talking about the ability, the
mental ability, the quickness to read to see the movie
(33:12):
before it happens like Spain with Rodri and Paedrie and
port Cloud include as a great midfield. Those are the
quarterbacks of you know, of the Togo homes. They're the
mahomes where the United States are the New York Jets.
And I'm sorry, like Christian Polis, like Tyler Adams, Weston McKinnon.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Geno Smith, they're Geno Smith.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
I got I've got a theory, guys, I got a
theory behind this because I'm visualizing what these kids in
these other countries are doing when they're five, six, seven,
eight years old. They're working on exactly what he was
talking about on a dirt patch with each other. They're
not they're not playing AAU games two hundred and fifty
(33:55):
times a year. They're actually training on their own. And
then they're getting training in practice.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Well and then and then clubs like Barcelona picked them
up when they're eight years old.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Correct, And for example, I can only use I can
only use basketballs as an example.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Because of my coaching experience.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
My teams get far better from November fifteenth, when practice
starts to Christmas, when the games really start revving up.
Then they do when they're playing games three times a
week and we're only practicing two or three times a week.
And I think that might be an American problem across
(34:40):
the board in sports is we're just playing too many games,
and we're focused on too much travel and this circuit
and that circuit and this circuit instead of getting in
the gym and getting on the field and freaking grinding you.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Yeah, And I think that that there's more just like
three soccer on a dirt patcher or in the street
or what have you. And these kids are you know,
they're playing it. If you take time on task, how
many minutes, how many hours of their life they have
on it? Now you tell me that a United States
soccer player in the World Cup, Uh, he probably has
(35:17):
a lot of time on task, But does he have
as much as as those those other kids? And then
the other part of it is is that as we
evaluate if if anything that I've said has any merit
to it, it's we we can't just say, oh, well,
we got some fast guys, we got some quick guys.
We're getting better athletically. You know the skill that's unique
(35:41):
to soccer, you know, the the the ability to have
the ball tethered to your foot like messy and I
understand Messi is the greatest of all times. So so
we can't compare anybody to Messy. But but we're all
you know, every player in that in that tournament is
a is a percentage of Messy. Maybe a really good player,
maybe imbape Is is you know, ninety six percent of
(36:03):
Messy in terms of his ball control, and then other
guys are ninety three percent and then eighty eight.
Speaker 5 (36:07):
You know.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
So it's the ball control, but it's also the vision
and the field that what makes quarterbacking different is an
element that I saw. We were clearly inferior to Belgium
on a pass by pass basis, which as I mentioned,
we're talking well into the hundreds of passes. They're just
(36:28):
we don't see the field. We don't have that instincts
that the other players in the in the rest of
the world have. And so so I think that as
as Jackson, as we evaluate the players, it's not just
you know, how fast can he guy run around a comb,
it's it's if we don't have that ability to see
the movie before it's happened with our players, we're going
(36:48):
to continue to be hand ringing every four years. Say yep,
another disappointing. Oh, we got a bunch of fast guys.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Why we? Why we?
Speaker 4 (36:55):
Why'd we get dominated? Because we don't have the other
The elite players are seeing the movie before it happens,
and they show it and at any rate, that would
be my my thesis, and and and and whether or
not the United States can improve all that. I think
it's going to be central to whether or not they
can advance for them.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
You know who's pretty good at seeing a movie before
it happens, Hugh, Your friend, my friend, Sam Donald, is
pretty good at that.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Some people don't think it's very good at that, but
you and I do.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
And we'll talk up a little bit about the general
consensus of what the league thinks of Sam Donald next
Jackson is he has fired up. We'll find out in
just a moment. I want to kind of give us
an overview of what we're going to be doing for
the next three and a half hours before what's it
called the World Championship Soccer postgame show, recap show, recamp
clasps so close the World Championship Soccer recap show because
he can't say World Cup on the air or something
(00:21):
like that. So we will do that at six o'clock today.
So we got a big show for you. We've got
really all three of the major sports in Seattle covered.
We're going to talk sonics because Adam Silver is speaking today.
Adam Silver is speaking in the four o'clock hour, where
you don't exactly know when it's schedule per four, but
(00:41):
you know how that goes. So while Hugh and I
are talking to John Wilner at four o'clock, Jackson is
going to be feverishly monitoring the Adam Silver press conference
for anything expansion really related.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And if something.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Amazing happens, which I don't think it's going to happen today,
but if something amazing happens, then you will get Jackson
Feltz breaking into our conversation with John Wilner. If it's
kind of what we anticipate that will happen, which is, hey,
we're we're gonna move forward to a vote, and a
vote will be done in the fall. Then we will
(01:18):
talk about that as soon as the Wilner conversation's over,
and you will hear from Adam Silver with that announcement.
So that's what's going to be going on in the
four o'clock hour. So that's gonna be kind of the
meat and potatoes of the show. But up until then, guys,
we've got a lot of football to talk. The rankings
are starting to come out. I think they're being They're
very interesting, much talked about rankings by both NFL players
(01:38):
and also by the general managers and front office staff
of teams. How did they rank the Seattle Seahawks players
coming off a Super Bowl championship? Was Seattle given the
respect as individual players the way they're given respect as
a football team. We will talk about that coming up
(02:01):
at three o'clock with Hugh. But first and foremost, Jackson,
the floor is yours. You are excited about the Spain
upset of France. I just read where it is the
biggest underdog Spain has been in a World Cup match
in thirty two years and they ended up winning so
the game. The times they have been knocked out of
(02:22):
World Cups in the past, they were not as big
an underdog as they were today to France, and.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Spain coming into this tournament, for my money, had the
best midfield.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
In the world.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
All they do is control, control, control, and sometimes that
means even you know, the other team may have possession,
but we are going to be so compact and so
organized that we are not going to let you give
get anything. They've given up one goal this entire tournament.
They've now had six shutouts, which yes, is the first
(02:53):
time that has ever happened in the history of the
World Cup. It's the lean of soccer, it really is,
and it is you know, it's funny because Spain is
good defensively Yukucku Rea, Pedro Poro, Kubarci Laporte good back
for but what runs Spain is their midfield and their control.
They don't let teams score because they don't let teams
(03:15):
do much with the ball. And as good as France
is and they have probably the best attacking top level
group since we've seen in maybe twenty four years with
Brazil in two thousand and two, Spain just said, cool,
you got all that talent, You're not going to get
anything dangerous. Spain ran that game. They just dogged walk
(03:35):
the entire midfield.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Now incredible, Hugh. I know you got to watch all
the game.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I was busy taking kids places and driving up here
to the station, so I caught it in bits and pieces.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
But what were some of your observations of what you said?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
I would have three observations. And let me stress again,
I know basically nothing about soccer other than just what
a common sense person would observe watching it.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
But my.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Observations are threefold. First of all, when you talk about
and I really focused on the United States when they
played Belgium, and the completion percentages, the instantaneous decisions that
a soccer player has to make with all of these passes.
Hey do I hold the ball? Do I dribble it
(04:24):
once and then pass it? What angle to whom? And
what angle do I pass it? The United States had
four hund and eighty seven attempts per game, which is
relatively low actually coming into the game of this to
the teams that are in the top sixteen. The team
that had the highest completion percentage was Spain at exactly
(04:48):
ninety two percent, and the United States was tenth, by
the way, And so I just running the correlation number
on that. If you run for all games now, it's
it's dwindled down to about six thirty five. It was
up closer to seven o two. If you just go
the top the first five games for every team in
(05:09):
the sixteen, does that make sense? So we're just taking
total wins. And by the way, the teams that have
advanced the farthest, they have more wins because they're playing
more right right, And and I get so I give
a uh and and and Jackson police shoot down my
methodology on this.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Jackson that he went Nerd machine on the World Cup
is freaking awesome, Like you can't.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Jackson's got his clothes off right now, So keep going here.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
So I'm getting so we and one one column, we're
doing total wins, uh and and a draw is a
half a wink. And so obviously the teams that advance further, right,
they're gonna have more wins, yes, And then we're and
then and then in the other column, it's just completion percentage.
And and you know, for example, Spain they uh even
(05:57):
updated through this France they have forty ninety passes attempted, right,
so they have six hundred and thirteen per game. So
now they are at they sit at ninety one point
three percent. And I think we can talk about kind
of what goes to the end of completion percentage. But
the idea then that you would say you're in the
(06:20):
depending on what games you want to include, you're at
about six fifty and win percentage that is strong, you know,
moderate to high correlations. So this completion percentage does factor.
And you just saw the beautiful passing number two, the
first goal by Spain. The balls up in the air,
(06:40):
a French defender goes to kick it, a Spanish dude
is there. He ends up getting kicked. I think that
penalties are too punitive, Like I think of a fifteen
yard penalty in football penalties, you know that that seemed
too hard to give a penalty kick in a sport
that by the way, if you say correlate points in
(07:03):
in goals rather in soccer and World Cup soccer in
this century, touchdown with with with with points scored in
all NFL playoff games in this century, one goal is
equal to seventeen point two points in football. So you're
by one guy just like thinking looking up at the
ball kicking it. Uh, you know, not aware. You know,
(07:26):
it's not really impacting whether or not the a goal
is going to be scored to then say, okay, now
we're going to go a PK when a goal is
so scarce right in soccer, I think that's immensely too pionitive.
That's my point number two, My last point, guys, Jackson,
if I was trying to scy to describe the second
(07:47):
goal by Spain in terms with somebody like me who
doesn't know soccer, I would say, and Dickie, I don't.
I don't know if you saw it. So your basketball guy,
it was like a give and go. So that at
the free yeah, and and and then and then but
the guy given go, it's like you get you're going
almost back door. And Jackson, my, when I look at that,
(08:11):
France had three or four defenders. They're playing like it
was a preseason game, like like they're going to give
and go to the middle of the field, essentially the
center of the free throw line. And then we're uh,
uh uh, and and we're on a back door cut.
And every France defender was standing tall, was looking at
the ball. It was like they had no awareness that
(08:34):
they were vulnerable to a back door cut. And so
I was like, dudes, are you guys playing for the
freaking World Cup championship because that does not look like
World Cup intensity and and and from my view, certainly
on that play, they deserve to go down to nothing.
And of course when you see the stranglehold, the freaking
Spain's goalie only had three stops the entire game, and
(08:58):
two of them were in the last two minutes and
they were shots right at his face. So obviously Spain,
in ways that I could never describe, has a you know,
a stranglehold defense. So that too nothing lead was game over.
But I thought France's focus looked really lacking in that
(09:18):
second goal. That's probably about the extent of what I
can give you.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Dick, Well, that was a first that was great. That
was absolutely great, Hugh, And everybody has a take on
penalty kicks, so that's that's absolutely fair, I think. And
that was so poorly defended by France. On the Pedro
Poro goal, by the way, go Tottenham Hotspur. That was
great for him. I will say a lot of what
France messed up on and the lack of I think
(09:43):
really interest and energy, especially in the second half. You
really got a credit Spain to that because Spain wore
them the hell out and I think the possession at
the end of the first half was only something like
fifty six to forty four. It wasn't that far away,
but it's the way Spain in plays that just takes
the life out of you. It's death by a million cuts.
(10:05):
And you could see the way that they're midfield controlled
in this game. France just got worn down mentally. So
by the time we hit the you know, would the
second goal come right around the sixtieth minute. By the
time we got to that point, France is just done mentally.
They're like, clearly a their midfield is so much better
than ours. We don't have the control. We don't have
(10:26):
based basically the pace of this game the way we
want it to go, and then when we have the ball,
Spain gets so compact we can't get anything dangerous on them.
We I mean, Frans had a few mistakes in the
first half too, but that mentally drains you so much
over the course of sixty minutes that when that moment comes,
they're defenders all. I mean, it's more than just one player,
(10:48):
about three different guys make mistakes on that Poro goal
and ultimately hold on you. Ultimately, what you look at
is a France team that once they go down to nothing,
they know they're they're they're done. That final half hour
was about as boring of a half hour as you
will get in a semi final game of a World Cup,
because France mentally knew that, oh god, not only do
(11:11):
we have the worst midfield. Not only were we down
to nothing, but we know we're not even going to
score a goal. They tried, but they never really even
came close to setting well. Because Spain just had such
a tight grip on that entire game that France was
so mentally defeated. The last half hour was pure celebrations
in Madrid, I bet no doubt.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
And now when you say the midfield for Spain is
so strong, what I'm hearing obviously I would think of
the midfield first of all, that that that's a sector
of the actual field itself, the pitch, right which is
I would think in the middle of the field, right,
I'm talking more about that, but I know, but I
was gonna say, I know there's forwards and strikers, and
(11:55):
then I assume there's defensemen. For for somebody would have
no idea what you're you're saying. The midfield I assume
they're the guys that are neither the fords and the
strikers nor the defenseman there. They're kind of in between.
But but from a personnel standpoint, maybe just give a
point to somebody who doesn't know soccer, like, what what
(12:16):
the midfielders? What's unique about a midfielder and how how
were they strangling at that at those positions.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
I'll be really quick on this.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
The combination of Fabian Ruiz, Rodri and Danny Olmo, the
three of them are so tight and quick. Hugh, you
talked about it a minute ago that the instantaneous I
know where this but in it's pinpoint passing, it's one touch,
clean touches, ball comes to their foot. They instantly know
where Yamal is up on the right side, where Bayan
(12:44):
is up on the left side, and their ability to
find those guys around the middle of the park. And
maybe it isn't a dangerous ball into the box to
Oyers is all up top, but it's finding and just
instinctively knowing where that next pass needs to go so
you don't need an extra touch to get to it.
And it just keeps France off balance. It keeps France
(13:04):
having to chase the ball, It wears them out more,
It mentally drains them and the job by those especially Rodery,
who is a Player of the Year a couple of
years ago, of all the blown doors is what they
call it. But it's just how brilliant and how quick
they are with those with that passing.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
We're gonna take a quick time out. We'll wrap things
up with this game. He's got an interesting comparison, Jackson,
between soccer players and.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Quarterbacks that we're going to hear in the next segment
as well. Caught up on ninety three point three g RFM.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
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Speaker 1 (13:57):
Tying up some loose ends on this World Cup match
with Spain the winner over France two nothing in the
first World Cup semi final.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Just listening to your points they're Hugh and Jackson one.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I mean the penalty. It was a terrible lack.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Of awareness by the French defender.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I mean he literally just spins around and blindly kicks
at the air and the Spaniard was right there and
he just freaking hammered him right right in the box.
Now to Hugh's point on penalties being too putitive in soccer,
I would totally like mathematics. I don't even know how
mathematically you can disagree with that. I mean, when when
(14:36):
soccer goals are as few and far between as they are,
I I don't mind if there's a penalty right in front.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Of the goal like that.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I don't mind a call like that. Where I have
a problem Jackson and Hugh is when a ball is
going down down, it's still in the box, but it's
basically parallel to the end line right and there's a
foul we called in a spot where there's no way
you can possibly score a goal from that angle, and
they still get a penalty.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Kick.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
But the thing about the specifically the spot you're talking
about is it's what's called the prime assist zone, and
when you get just to the right or the left
of that goal, you can feed to the mint. It's
so easy to feed a ball back to a runner
and put a ball and a lot of goals happen
from that zone. So that's like I think, honestly, the
better thing is is sort of what happened in the
(15:30):
position today, because it's near the corner of the box,
it's certainly right on the edge of it where the
kick happens. Is he accurately was talking about. That's that's
not going to be a goal. No way is that
going to be goal dangerous. The bottom of the line
is the fact that it is a foul and it
happened in the box, and by rule, a foul in
the box, it's a penalty kick. And La Meana mal
(15:54):
did a good job to jump in front of that kick.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
He saw what was coming. You have two issues here.
I'm not dispute. I don't think dick is disputed. I
don't think most people are disputing that. By the rule,
oh yeah, it's a penalty and it's in the box.
That's a separate discussion from should it be a penalty
kick because or is there some other way to have
(16:17):
a sliding scale of penalties Because I mean, if you
just say, I've already done the calculations, one goal in
World Cup soccer is seventeen point two points in play
NFL playoff football. So if you've got about a seventy
five to eighty percent chance of hitting a PK, then
one penalty is about the equivalent of twelve thirteen points
(16:41):
that you're giving an NFL team for one penalty, which
wasn't going.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
To There's no penalty in any supports that are.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Like that, So.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Jackson, the question isn't, Yeah, let's just stipulate that everybody
agrees that that was a violation as the rule is written,
not not in neither Spain, nor France, nor any player coach.
Nobody's disputing that the the then the question is is
that too punitive? And and should the soccer rules of
(17:11):
soccer had been been written differently or should they be
amended so that there's some other more echable way of
enforcing that penalty.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
It's a good question.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
I mean, ultimately, I think you know it's funny because
sometimes you have like direct free kicks and you know,
indirect free kicks, those are very you know, various different
kinds of things that you can rule via a foul.
I just think that for me, like I am definitely
more on the soccer purist side. So it's very simply
when you're in your own box, you just have to
(17:43):
if you're a defender or a midfielder and you're you're
all the way back right there, you have to just
be so careful. And it was kind of the wild
jump kick that that the France I forget who the
defender was for France to kick Lamal, but but overall,
like you know, you just got to be so careful
in that moment and as the ball comes down. I
(18:05):
also think that you know, you can let you can
let that drop or go up with your head. If
he had gone up rather than kicking it, if he
had gone to head that ball instead of kicking it,
then I don't think that they call foul.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
He's gonna get it before Lamine does, So that's what
I say.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
I mean, the most punitive penalty in football can be
a long pass interference correct right right, you know, balls
in the air sixty yards, and then you could say, well,
the corner has just got to know what the penalty is.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
But in theory, if we just as a thought experiment,
we could say that a teammate drives down in football
down to the five yard line and then gets a
holding call. Instead of ten yard holding call, where you're
back from the five to the fifteen, we could have
we could have a fifty or an eighty yard holding call,
(18:54):
and and and then all of a sudden you say, well,
wait a minute. Then then by logic, you could say, well,
that offensive tackle, he's just got to know that he
can't take an eighty yard penalty. There, Yes, that's true.
If that's how the rule is written, then the offensive
tackle better No, I cannot commit an eighty yard penalty. Uh.
(19:16):
That still doesn't change the debate or the question of
whether or not that's a fair penalty.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, I think I think it's a fair question.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
And it's sort of you know, there are lots of
issues that even soccer fans have with soccer.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I mean, I don't like penalty kicks like I hate that.
I mean, it was great.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
In twenty twenty two, the final was Argentina Franz three
to three. After one hundred and twenty minutes, we get
a penalty kick shootout to decide it.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It was great drama.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
I just and I think you you had that great
kind of idea of taking guys off the field or
shrinking the field that half a field and make it
five on five.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Like, there's a lot of different things.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Shrink the field.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
I know that that was just another thing I was
throwing out there.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Open the field by taking fewer players off.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, yeah, it's too much running there, so you can
My thought is you can shrink the field and perhaps
eliminate that either way. My point is is that there's
lots of things in soccer that would be better fixed
if you can just do X, Y Z, just with
all sports, right, I mean, wouldn't it be great in
Major League Baseball if a actual computer said, oh that's
a ball, that's a strike, and.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
You weren't limited to challenge the game In football?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Wouldn't it be great if you know, penalties were the
same way you're talking about, you divided amongst different levels
and okay, not all holding calls are equal calls exactly right.
There are things with soccer like there are things with
baseball and football that we are obviously saying are very
wrong and need to change.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
But the way of the game is the way of
the game right here you.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Think it should be. But it sounds like you're you
said you're a soccer purist and you seem to uphold
the current view that penalty that that that hurt France today.
You're saying if you were the tzar of soccer and
you could change that rule, you Jackson Feltz are saying
you would not change that rule. It would have gone
(21:11):
down exactly the way it did today if you had
the unilateral power to change it.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Correct Because where does it end?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I mean, because you got to think about if that happens,
if that same kick against Leminium, all the Spanish attacker,
if that kick happens, let's just say it happens six
yards in front of the goal, and again clearly the
guy's just trying to clear the ball away few yards
from his own net. But the fact that that kick
happens right there at the edge of the box as
(21:40):
opposed to six yards, where's the line, hue, Because at
some point you got to set the line and say, well,
that's inside of this areo so actually that is going
to be a penalty, and the where that line is
is the penalty box.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Couldn't you have couldn't you have two dots on the
field instead of one, and there's a closer PK and
then there's a further peak.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
That's not I don't like that penalty is a penalty
for line money. You could well fifty and.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Then every penalty in football would be there wouldn't be five,
ten and fifteen yard penalties and and every every every
penalty would be the exact same number of yards.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Well, yeah, but every holding call on every offensive lineman,
holding call is worth the same amount of yards, every
defensive I mean college ball, every defensive passager.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
It's the same.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
There where you can't you can't say, well, that's a
holding call of five yards, that's a holding call of
ten yards.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
They say that if they've experimented around with like face masks,
they've had they've had we've had five yards five in
the fifteen yards, where so it's it's the same thing.
One is more egregious, So you could it wouldn't be hard.
The three of us drunk with a napkin could could derive,
you know, in sword order certain certain sliding. You know,
(22:51):
a couple two or three different levels of most punitive,
moderately punitive, least punity.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Jackson, would you say, would you say soccer is much
more against change than most sports?
Speaker 5 (23:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I would. I would say that. I mean that it
just might be.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
I mean they welcome technology. I'll say that they really
welcome technology, but it just might.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Be in the DNA of the sports.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
So Spain goes on, they'll face either Argentina or excuse me, yeah,
Argentina or England coming up.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
That will be tomorrow Argentina and England. We come back.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
We'll start the show in earnest top of the hour headlines.
It'll be the real Softyan Dick Show with Jackson and Hugh,
and Hugh will give us this comparison between soccer players
and quarterbacks. And we've got a lot of Seahawks news
to get to. And should Dan Wilson be fired, we'll
get a Hughes take on that in three o'clock hour
as well on ninety three point three KJFM.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I'm in teasing and promising and teasing and promising. Our
friend Hugh Millan has.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Got a little as we transitioned from soccer to football.
He's got a little comparison for US between soccer players
and quarterbacks. I have not been briefed on this, Jackson.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I have no idea. I can't wait for this.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I have no idea of this is an analytical breakdown.
I have no idea of this is opinion based, fact based,
or nothing.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
So fire away, Hugh.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
Well, first of all, this is gonna be there's gonna
be some numbers involved here, But let me point to
the direction I'm trying to get to it. It occurred
to me I was I was watching United States versus
Belgium in Earnest where I thought, as a non soccer guy,
(24:29):
where I thought the United States was lacking, and as
I really kind of looked at it, I thought, a
lot of that is similarities to what I observe in quarterbacks.
And let me see if I can make the connection,
and you can decide whether it carries any water. So
let me first go to the part that I'm more
(24:50):
familiar with, and that's quarterbacking. And and I'm gonna structure
it like this. If you take the US Census and
take all American men age twenty two to thirty seven,
which is about the years that the in the NFL.
Course you can play beyond that. But there's thirty three
point eight million. We'll just say thirty four million men,
(25:12):
all right, So so and would you say in the
United States that just about I don't want to use
an absolute turn like everybody, but just about everybody knows
whether they can throw a football in this country. Like
you may not know if you can play squash because
you may never have had a squash racket in your hand,
but you know if you can throw a football, yes.
(25:34):
And so as we start to peel down, there's thirty
four million American men who might be NFL quarterbacks. They're
certainly throwing requirements. There's size requirements. But at the end,
as we pare it down, all Roger Goodell really needs,
if you got it, if you put him in a
true serum, he would say, all we need is thirty
(25:56):
two thirty two quarterbacks, one for each team that every
fan base can believe that their quarterback can play. That's
all he needs, right, he said. And he's looking at
America and he's saying, we got thirty We got that
like less than one in a million. Because we have
thirty four million, we only need thirty two and so,
(26:18):
and yet only about fifteen guys play the position well
at the NFL. Correct, Yes, right, because the other if
you're not in the top fifteen, you got a fan
base and probably a general manager in front office that
are trying to replace you.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
Correct.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
So can we agree now? And if you want to
say there's twenty, you want to say there's ten, I'm
not I'm not going to quibble with the details. I'm
just talking philosophy right now, right, So, so that gives
you an idea of how difficult it is to play
NFL quarterback. Right, So now let me let me go
to the second postulate that there are a lot more
than fifteen guys in this country that have the SI
(27:00):
and the ability to throw the ball sufficient to play
in the NFL. Now, I'm not saying there's millions, but
there's certainly call it a couple hundred, okay, which is
a lot more than fifteen. Meaning just like I'll making
an analogy if we went to the NCAA Golf Finals,
(27:21):
the Championship, Golf Championship, and we went early, and we said, well,
let's go watch those kids out on the range, and
we saw, you know, fifty guys on the range, they'd
be striping that we're talking about the NCAA Golf Championships. Beautiful,
they would look beautiful, right like, like you'd say, man,
those guys they can kill it. You know, they got
touched the whole thing. But how many of them can
(27:42):
score sixty six in a tournament?
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Right?
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Right?
Speaker 4 (27:46):
So what I think separates there are many more probably
ten times or more, maybe one hundred times, but certainly
ten times as many American men that can throw the
ball and have the requens as side a size to
play NFL quarterback, but they're not good quarterbacks. There's only
fifteen what in my opinion, you know, my first year
(28:10):
playing tackle football is in nineteen seventy three, like well
over fifty years ago. What been studying this bish of
my whole life? Backed up three Hall of famers in
my opinion, let me stress in my opinion what separates
what's difficult about the position is you have to see
the movie before it plays that when you look out
(28:31):
as a court, you look out and you see where
the defenders are, you have to make instantaneous judgments about
how much the defenders are going to change. For example,
let's let Pat Mahomes is he drops back from the
twenty yard line back and he's going to throw the
(28:52):
ball at his own fourteen The tight end is going
to be right over the ball fifteen yards from alion scrimmage,
so it's a twenty one yard three. He's gonna throw
it at fifty five miles an hour. His time to
release is zero point two four seconds. He has one
of the fastest in the NFL. So I'm being I'm
(29:13):
giving the best scenario for the meaning a quarterback with
the slower release would these numbers would have even be
more amplified. So the ballflight time at fifty five miles
an hour after it took him point twenty four seconds
to release, whereas his brain neurologically said throw it there,
(29:34):
and then he got the ball out of his hand,
the ball flight time point seven eight seconds, So the
total play windows one point h two seconds. The speed
cover up. If a defender who can run twenty two
miles an hour, that's about the top end of a
full but guys aren't running full speed of that. If
they're only running ten miles an hour, they cover essentially
(29:56):
exactly five hours four point nine to nine. That if
if they're running fifteen miles an hour, they cover seven
and a half yards. So Mahomes is trying to anticipate
in the window when he decided to throw, where are
the defenders versus where are the defenders when the ball
gets there? And I'm just giving the count. Defenders running
(30:17):
fifteen miles an hour are covering seven and a half yards.
The second and last scenario, Now you say, well, let's
throw it a little bit farther. Let's have Mahomes take
a seven step drop. He's gonna throw it not straight
over the middle. He's gonna throw a wide receiver out
on the hatch from the dead middle of the field.
He's throwing at twenty six yards. Now I've ramped it
up to sixty miles an hour. That's as hard as
Josh Allen or anybody can throw a ball. And I
(30:39):
still got the quick point two four seconds. The ball
flight time now is point eighty nine seconds, the total
play window one point one three seconds. How are defenders moving?
A defender at ten yard at ten miles an hours
is going five and a half yards. At fifteen miles
an hour is going is moving eight point three yards.
(31:00):
And if he's running twenty miles an hour. If let's
say he's sprinting from the top down free safety, he's
covering eleven yards. So you're looking out in this window,
and neurologically you take this instantaneous snapshot of where the
defenders are, like, I got three guys that could four
sometimes for it. Let's say let's say the corner could
make a play on the ball, the free safety could play.
(31:21):
Those are top down, the hooks, one defender could drop
underneath it, and the coral flat could wheel and he
could get underneath.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I got four guys.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
You take that snapshot and then you try and throw
it in there, and all of those guys are reacting
in the manner that said, the picture is changing a lot, right,
And when you compare it to soccer now, I watch
Belgium in the United States and it just seems like
the United States doesn't make those instantaneous decisions about where
(31:50):
the ball should go the way the other elite teams
in the World Cup are. They are making. They are
making decisions all these passes, and Spain averages six hundred
and thirteen passes per game. The United States averaged four
hundred and eighty seven in the World Cup. We're talking
let's call it about over five you know, five hundred
ish passes and every one of those guys. You could
(32:13):
tell me that America has more athletic dudes on their
soccer team that they that if they ran a cone
real and we tied them in a cone Reil, we'd say, hey,
we're faster than we were four years ago or twenty
years ago. But the skill number one, you know, can
they tended the ball to themselves? But then also what's
their soccer IQ? Are they seeing the movie before it happens,
(32:38):
because I don't see the elite level passing and the
decision making. I certainly didn't see that Belgium was clearly
better than the United States in these areas. And then
you know the and Spain is superior to Belgium in
these areas, and blah blah blah.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
H Really, let me tell you really quick, the United
States if the if global soccer is the NFL, the
United States are the New York Jets, and you have
the I guess Seattle Sea extuper Bowl champions is Spain
the like. And like we're talking about the ability, the
mental ability, the quickness to read to see the movie
(33:12):
before it happens like Spain with Rodri and Paedrie and
port Cloud include as a great midfield. Those are the
quarterbacks of you know, of the Togo homes. They're the
mahomes where the United States are the New York Jets.
And I'm sorry, like Christian Polis, like Tyler Adams, Weston McKinnon.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Geno Smith, they're Geno Smith.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
I got I've got a theory, guys, I got a
theory behind this because I'm visualizing what these kids in
these other countries are doing when they're five, six, seven,
eight years old. They're working on exactly what he was
talking about on a dirt patch with each other. They're
not they're not playing AAU games two hundred and fifty
(33:55):
times a year. They're actually training on their own. And
then they're getting training in practice.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Well and then and then clubs like Barcelona picked them
up when they're eight years old.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Correct, And for example, I can only use I can
only use basketballs as an example.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Because of my coaching experience.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
My teams get far better from November fifteenth, when practice
starts to Christmas, when the games really start revving up.
Then they do when they're playing games three times a
week and we're only practicing two or three times a week.
And I think that might be an American problem across
(34:40):
the board in sports is we're just playing too many games,
and we're focused on too much travel and this circuit
and that circuit and this circuit instead of getting in
the gym and getting on the field and freaking grinding you.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Yeah, And I think that that there's more just like
three soccer on a dirt patcher or in the street
or what have you. And these kids are you know,
they're playing it. If you take time on task, how
many minutes, how many hours of their life they have
on it? Now you tell me that a United States
soccer player in the World Cup, Uh, he probably has
(35:17):
a lot of time on task, But does he have
as much as as those those other kids? And then
the other part of it is is that as we
evaluate if if anything that I've said has any merit
to it, it's we we can't just say, oh, well,
we got some fast guys, we got some quick guys.
We're getting better athletically. You know the skill that's unique
(35:41):
to soccer, you know, the the the ability to have
the ball tethered to your foot like messy and I
understand Messi is the greatest of all times. So so
we can't compare anybody to Messy. But but we're all
you know, every player in that in that tournament is
a is a percentage of Messy. Maybe a really good player,
maybe imbape Is is you know, ninety six percent of
(36:03):
Messy in terms of his ball control, and then other
guys are ninety three percent and then eighty eight.
Speaker 5 (36:07):
You know.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
So it's the ball control, but it's also the vision
and the field that what makes quarterbacking different is an
element that I saw. We were clearly inferior to Belgium
on a pass by pass basis, which as I mentioned,
we're talking well into the hundreds of passes. They're just
(36:28):
we don't see the field. We don't have that instincts
that the other players in the in the rest of
the world have. And so so I think that as
as Jackson, as we evaluate the players, it's not just
you know, how fast can he guy run around a comb,
it's it's if we don't have that ability to see
the movie before it's happened with our players, we're going
(36:48):
to continue to be hand ringing every four years. Say yep,
another disappointing. Oh, we got a bunch of fast guys.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Why we? Why we?
Speaker 4 (36:55):
Why'd we get dominated? Because we don't have the other
The elite players are seeing the movie before it happens,
and they show it and at any rate, that would
be my my thesis, and and and and whether or
not the United States can improve all that. I think
it's going to be central to whether or not they
can advance for them.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
You know who's pretty good at seeing a movie before
it happens, Hugh, Your friend, my friend, Sam Donald, is
pretty good at that.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Some people don't think it's very good at that, but
you and I do.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
And we'll talk up a little bit about the general
consensus of what the league thinks of Sam Donald next
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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