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This soccer fan is very upset with casuals
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00:00A lot of people want to talk about what happened in the soccer game last night.
00:04World Cup action, United States, winners over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
00:092-0, or as they say in the world of soccer or football, 2-0.
00:15It was 2-0.
00:18But I was actually entertained.
00:20Someone who's not a soccer fan, I was entertained by it.
00:22I particularly liked that the second half was intriguing because you had the red card,
00:26which put the United States down a man.
00:28So they're literally playing shorthanded for a long stretch of time.
00:33The goal that Malik Tillman, didn't even have to consult my notes there, Kang.
00:37Malik Tillman scored on the free kick was spectacular.
00:42Just the whole thing of being able to control a kick like that when you've got a wall of humanity
00:48in front of you
00:49and you kick the ball six inches above their heads, their collective heads, have spin on it,
00:55have it going right to left in such a manner that the goalie can't handle it.
01:01It goes off his fingertips and ricochets into the net.
01:03It's great.
01:05And when you watch these, another soccer term, the pitch, when you watch the fields that they're playing on,
01:11they're meticulous in how tight they keep that grass.
01:17So it's almost, it looks like an artificial surface, even though it's grass and the ball just skips all over
01:23it.
01:23It's not like playing on a normal grass soccer field.
01:26This is different.
01:27And the speed really shows up.
01:30It was impressive.
01:31I enjoyed it last night.
01:32Not to the point where I'm going to become a soccer fan, but I...
01:35Yeah, hold your horses, right?
01:36Yeah, let's slow down.
01:37Slow down.
01:38But to the point where I'll look forward to the next World Cup.
01:41All right.
01:41All right.
01:41That's good.
01:42That's not bad.
01:42Yeah.
01:43Four years from now?
01:44Can I get you to commit to Monday?
01:47Oh, what time's the game?
01:49I think it's an afternoon game.
01:50What time's the pitch?
01:51At the double...
01:51No, they play on the pitch.
01:53Because I'm going to be in the West Coast time, so I just want to...
01:55Oh, is it Vegas time?
01:57Yeah, yeah.
01:57It's Vegas time.
01:58You...
01:58And you definitely...
01:59Oh, you in a sports book?
02:00Yeah.
02:00While this is going on?
02:01I should go to the book.
02:02You're right.
02:02And see how that goes.
02:03Yeah, that would be fun.
02:05Yeah, I don't know if they set a time for it yet.
02:06I thought I heard somebody would be like in the afternoon, but we'll have to double check.
02:108 p.m.
02:118 p.m.
02:12Oh, it's 8 p.m.
02:12That's not in the afternoon.
02:13Okay, so that's 5 p.m.
02:14That's in the evening.
02:15For me, where I'll be at.
02:16I can make it happen.
02:17You could make that happen.
02:19There you go.
02:21Let's see what's on the agenda, man.
02:22I'm not going to hold you to it.
02:23Don't.
02:24Don't.
02:24No.
02:26Don't.
02:26You'll be sadly disappointed if you do.
02:29Jason is next up here at 97.1.
02:30Hey, Jason.
02:32Hey, Gator.
02:34Oh, Gator.
02:35Where do I start, man?
02:37It's so...
02:38You know, I don't want to speak for the soccer elite, and I just want to say a couple of
02:42things.
02:42I love your show.
02:43I love when you guys talk about, you know, traditional Big Four sports, and you have knowledge base
02:48and whatnot.
02:49But one of the things when the World Cup comes around, when it's World Cup time for soccer
02:53fans, and soccer is the third most popular sport now in America.
02:59Fans identify behind football and basketball, above baseball and hockey.
03:03So when you listen to traditional sports radio, and you're a soccer fan, and the World Cup
03:08comes around, and you guys start talking about it like it's underwater basket weaving, or
03:14it's some fringe thing, or...
03:16You know, and I get you don't understand it or whatnot, but, man, it's like if you take
03:20your wife to a baseball game, and she's asking all kinds of weird questions about, well, why
03:26do they hold the glove on that hand, or why do they...
03:29It kind of makes me mental with traditional sports radio in America.
03:34And you guys really, at this point, you need to have someone on staff, one of the shows...
03:39Hold on.
03:40Let me ask you this.
03:41Let me ask you this, Jason.
03:42Let me ask you this.
03:43Have we been that bad about it?
03:45I mean, I can understand...
03:46Jader, you're like Jason's wife, man.
03:47I can understand being a soccer lead on this, all right?
03:49I don't have a problem.
03:50When I admit it, right, I'm not the biggest fan in the world, I played the game when I
03:54was younger, I have a basic understanding of the rules, but what is it that we've said
03:58so far today that has you compelled the call-in to the point where, like, you've almost lost
04:04it with us?
04:05Well, I mean, it's just the way you talk about it.
04:08I mean, you wouldn't talk about, you know, football or basketball with the same, you know,
04:12like, well, you know, why do they stop outside of that arc and shoot the three-pointer?
04:18Why don't they just throw it under the bench?
04:19Well, again, what have I said?
04:21I don't have a problem with you being upset, but what was it that I said that upset you?
04:26Well, you know, I mean, just not understand...
04:29So the flopping thing, and lookit, there is...
04:32I'm not going to deny some of that that goes on, but they're trying to draw fouls, like,
04:37to get a competitive...
04:38And you see that in any sport, like basketball or whatnot, you know, where they're...
04:42Now, and also, I will say that people sometimes underestimate in terms of...
04:48Have you ever been kicked in the shin, you know, really hard?
04:51I mean, you know, it'll bring you to your knees.
04:53You know, now, I'm not saying, like, you know, there's...
04:55Yeah, when that happens, I totally get it.
04:57Yeah, when that happens.
04:58You know, so, but, like, you know, just not understanding, you know, the fouls or, again,
05:04like, the offsides.
05:05You know, the offsides, it's just like in hockey, you know, it's designed to prevent competitive...
05:09And they do, you know, they've tried to adjust a little bit, but, you know, there is, if
05:14you're a little bit body part of in front of the line when the ball is kicked, it is
05:19offsides, but it's just like some of those elements are when you're talking about, you
05:24know, the pace of the game, right?
05:26Well, come on, baseball, has that got a great pace of the game?
05:30You know what I'm saying?
05:30Yeah, I know, I hear you, but I feel like you're projecting all that on me in our show,
05:36and I don't think I've said any of these things.
05:38Well, it's not on you.
05:38I mean, it's just that traditional sports radio in America, when you're listening to, like,
05:43your 97 ones or that type of thing, you know, it's always talked about, like, it's some
05:49fringe sport or that...
05:50Yeah, it's not a...
05:51No, but I understand it.
05:52...there's not many people interested in it.
05:54When the youth in America, man, it's like the number one...
05:58Yeah.
05:58...generationally, like, I understand you're, like, what, 50 or in your...
06:02Like, so I get, but generationally, you're talking to a lot of...
06:06...20-somethings and whatnot who are going to be like, what are these guys?
06:09No, I hear you, I hear you.
06:10You know the way they're talking about this?
06:11At some point, and everybody went through this, and thanks for the call, Jason, I appreciate
06:14it.
06:15I really do.
06:15I don't mind calling it out, but it's kind of weird because I didn't think we did any
06:18of that, but when I was a kid, the same thing happened.
06:23Like, we had the North American Soccer League came around, we had the Detroit Express were
06:29playing in the Silverdome, we had one of the most exciting players in the world in Trevor
06:32Francis, and soccer was booming in the late 70s.
06:37Every kid played soccer, yours truly included.
06:41I played soccer from the time I could play, it was first grade, and I played through seventh
06:46grade.
06:47And then when it got to seventh, once it got past seventh grade, you had to make a decision,
06:51do I want to play soccer or do I want to play football?
06:54And there were still plenty of kids that went on and played soccer.
06:57Soccer was always a youth sport, and it has slowly gotten bigger and bigger, and I'll
07:02grant right now it's experiencing a boom, and it will as long as, and there is, I think,
07:09a direct correlation to how good the national team is to how popular the sport's going to
07:13be.
07:14And the sport is gaining in popularity for sure.
07:18And yes, we all recognize, internationally, it's a sensation.
07:22Here in this country, not so much.
07:24It's behind the Big Four, but right now it's experiencing a popularity boom because it's
07:32being played here in this country.
07:33We're talking about exactly at this moment.
07:35Yeah, exactly at this moment.
07:36It's going nuts right now because the World Cup is here.
07:40You get to see the passion from the fans around the world actually coming here to the States.
07:44We've done shows about, you know, the Scots taking over the bars in Boston and drinking
07:50them out of beer.
07:51You know, the Norwegian fans have been unbelievable.
07:55You've got the...
07:55But those are foreign fans.
07:57They're not American fans.
07:57No, I know, but my point is that because they're all coming here, it gets, it even brings
08:01more attention to it.
08:02I get that.
08:03But I'll say this.
08:04I probably, Jason, didn't like the fact that you asked, why aren't they using their
08:07hands?
08:08That probably pissed them off.
08:09I didn't say that.
08:09I know, I'm kidding.
08:10It sounded like he was...
08:11I didn't say any of the things.
08:12I literally didn't say any of the things he said.
08:15But I will say this.
08:16I know he loves his sport.
08:17I don't think he did any favors trying to help his sport with that call.
08:21Like, I don't know if you know what he realizes that or not, but I think he actually turned
08:23more people off.
08:25You know, like that were maybe French, like...
08:28Yeah.
08:28I mean, I think people that don't care for soccer, if you ask them, do you know that
08:33soccer is the most popular sport outside of the United States?
08:36And they'll say, yeah, we know.
08:38And?
08:40Right?
08:41Okay.
08:41It is, without question.
08:43And it'll gain in popularity.
08:44I hope it does gain in popularity here.
08:46I hope that MLS becomes a sensation here in the States.
08:50And that one day Detroit has a franchise that's going to pack 50,000 people in a stadium to
08:56watch.
08:56That'd be great.
08:58But I think we're a ways away from that.
09:00And we've been led down this road before.
09:02But I do think that there's more young people playing soccer than ever before.
09:09I don't have the numbers to back that up, but it's just a gut feeling that it's like
09:14that.
09:14Because knowing friends of mine that have kids and they're all still playing soccer, the
09:19girls' soccer has absolutely exploded.
09:21Listen, I have two young children.
09:23Well, that's probably more popular than men's soccer.
09:24I have two young children and that's, I mean, you factually and statistically, they may
09:29be correct, but also you, you bring into the fact that the business end of youth sports,
09:35well, that's soccer, you know what I'm talking about?
09:37Travel, AU.
09:39I mean, I'm not saying that's the only reason, but you can't ignore that, that maybe more
09:44people are into soccer because.
09:45Because they've got a financial commitment.
09:47Yeah, exactly.
09:48My kid's not just playing the record league.
09:50Now I actually got to pay, you know, six grand for the kid to play.
09:54I got to go to this tournament out in, you know, East Milwaukee next week.
09:58And this ain't pro bono, man.
10:00Somebody's making money off of this.
10:02You know what I'm saying?
10:02That's why they're building that soccer.
10:04Yeah.
10:05You know, talking about it.
10:06Downriver or whatever.
10:07Yeah.
10:07I mean, this is someone, there's, you know, people are getting paid.
10:11It's a business.
10:12You know, they're not doing it.
10:13You know, there's profit involved.
10:15Absolutely.
10:15There's profit involved.
10:17Nonetheless, thanks for the call, Jason.
10:18Appreciate it.
10:19And I, and I, and I did ask for it.
10:21I wanted to hear from the soccer elite and what are their thoughts of what's going on
10:25right now?
10:26And it sounded like he wasn't thrilled with the parachuting in of the sport, which if
10:32you want the sport to grow, you're going to have to appreciate the parachuting in and
10:37have to cultivate that and try to help those fans along to really respect the game.
10:43Maybe trying to defend the flopping.
10:45That doesn't, that's not going to work out too well.
10:49It's everybody can understand if there's a collision involved and players go down, if
10:53somebody goes down and they're legitimately hurt and you see their replay like, oh, and
10:57there were times last night when I, oh yeah, that's good.
10:59That's going to hurt.
11:00I understand why he's down.
11:01Those are fine.
11:02It's the ones where somebody, you know, barely brushes up against somebody and they're grabbing
11:08their knee like it just got shot off on the Zapruder film.
11:13That's the problem that people have with the flopping.
11:15And it's the same problem, by the way, that people have in the NBA.
11:18How many shows did we do about the, the foul baiting that goes on with James Harden and,
11:25and, and Shay Gilgis, Alexander and others in Jalen Brunson, all the foul baiting that goes
11:30on the flopping that happens in the NBA.
11:32We can't stand it.
11:33We call out in all the sports.
11:36You fainted.
11:37It's saying it happens in hockey too.
11:39Guy, the stick comes up on a player, gets up to his shoulder, but he'll grab his face
11:43like he just got, you know, his eye gouged out.
11:45And that's not the case.
11:47We call it out.
11:48Yeah.
11:48No one.
11:48I mean, when a quarterback gets barely touched and he flies to the ground and looking for
11:53a flag and then he holds his head and, you know, like, yeah, we don't like it in
11:57general, the over embellishment.
11:58And I get why it's there because they're trying to get an advantage for their team.
12:01Exactly.
12:01They're pushing and shoving after a play in football and then the player recognizes
12:05there's an official buy and he gets touched and he goes flying.
12:09Like he's like off a launching pad.
12:11Yeah, exactly.
12:11Like Brock Lesnar just, you know, threw him off of the, the ring.
12:15Yeah.
12:16That's, that's a little much.
12:17And we call it out.
12:18We call it out.
12:19In the meantime, last night, a lot of fun and I'm looking forward and I'm actually
12:23happy now that the game's eight o'clock on, on Monday.
12:25I thought it was good.
12:26Doug had talked about this being a, an afternoon game.
12:28Thankfully it's not.
12:30That's great.
12:31Two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
12:33This is 97.
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12:35You