Speaker 1: Are you telling me that for the first time in
Speaker 1: the history of this show, we allowed Gerald, we allowed
Speaker 1: Trey to pick his walk up song, and he actually
Speaker 1: picked the song that we used to make fun of him.
Speaker 2: That is correct. That's really weird. Hello Trey, Happy Wednesday?
Speaker 3: How are you happy Wednesday? Spence?
Speaker 2: So I gave you the gave you I'm good.
Speaker 1: I gave you the opportunity to pick your walk up
Speaker 1: song and you go with limpiskit anyway?
Speaker 3: I mean, Barbie, it for me to ruin a bit?
Speaker 2: Well is it a bit? Or is it now just
Speaker 2: a real thing?
Speaker 1: Because I do believe you said on this radio program
Speaker 1: the olymp biscuit got you through your second divorce?
Speaker 3: That was the first divorce. But yes, thank you, I
Speaker 3: did say that once.
Speaker 2: Who got you through your second divorce?
Speaker 3: Rihanna?
Speaker 1: Do you have somebody on deck that will get you
Speaker 1: through your third? Hey, I'm not one to talk, man
Speaker 1: to talk.
Speaker 3: Hopefully there is not a third.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, just don't get me married.
Speaker 3: The very loving and healthy relationship that I am in
Speaker 3: now prospers for the remainder of my days on this earth.
Speaker 2: How does she feel about is the golf that you play?
Speaker 3: I think it depends on time and place, and she
Speaker 3: also prefers I play golf with others not named Sensor
Speaker 3: check it.
Speaker 1: That's hurtful. And as a fan of mine. And if
Speaker 1: you're listening, don't listen to him. You know what, Trey,
Speaker 1: Before we get to the RSL stuff, You've been in
Speaker 1: the ecosystem in the world of professional sports for you know,
Speaker 1: thirty thirty five years. I am stunned that the head
Speaker 1: basketball coach you're your favorite basketball team was relieved of
Speaker 1: his duties three with three games left in the season.
Speaker 1: You're plugged into that Denver Nugget ecosystem once upon a time,
Speaker 1: you're an intern down there's what's the reaction been after
Speaker 1: a decade of really high level basketball to Michael Malone
Speaker 1: losing his job?
Speaker 3: I mean, my my personal reaction feels like I'm still
Speaker 3: mourning this loss. It makes absolutely zero sense. It is
Speaker 3: devastating on a number of levels. I think the fan
Speaker 3: basees reaction, the Denver media reaction is one of shock,
Speaker 3: partly because he's less than two years removed from winning
Speaker 3: a championship, and look, that does not make him unique
Speaker 3: amongst recent NBA championship coaches, but he has two years
Speaker 3: left on his contract. The Kronkys are so cheap that
Speaker 3: they are not known to pay people not to work
Speaker 3: for them. Look, I do think the GM deserve to
Speaker 3: be fired more than the coach, partly because of the
Speaker 3: lack of effective roster building around the greatest player in
Speaker 3: the NBA and in the world. But the Kronkis deserves
Speaker 3: some of that blame too. They didn't exactly give him
Speaker 3: part blaunch to go surround Joker with shooting and defense
Speaker 3: and maybe some veterans. It's a team without a middle class.
Speaker 3: They have four max contracts and a bunch of rookies
Speaker 3: that are on guaranteed deals. They should be on two ways,
Speaker 3: and it's it's been it's been broken for a little bit.
Speaker 3: The word is that there was a power struggle and
Speaker 3: the two guys made each other so miserable that it
Speaker 3: affected everybody else. And that's why the Kranti's got rid
Speaker 3: of both of them. But man, I'll always love Michael Malone,
Speaker 3: not just because he's like my dad's doppelganger. But this
Speaker 3: one hurts, man, and I don't. I mean, I guess
Speaker 3: we'll find out how they respond tonight against Sacramento, and
Speaker 3: if they can figure out a way to stay out
Speaker 3: of the play in and not continue to implode over
Speaker 3: the course of the next month.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Gerald Fitzgerald the second the Deuce. May
Speaker 1: he rest in peace. Good drop in there today, Treg.
Speaker 1: Before I ask you the next question, do you agree
Speaker 1: to drop any biases that you have?
Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like I generally bring an unfiltered,
Speaker 3: unbiased view in all of our interactions on air.
Speaker 2: Off allow me to repeat.
Speaker 1: Before I ask you this next question, do you agree
Speaker 1: to drop any biases you have?
Speaker 3: Yes, I will drop the ones that don't exist.
Speaker 2: Who is the MVP in Pro basketball this year?
Speaker 3: It should be Nicola Yoki?
Speaker 2: All right, all right, all right?
Speaker 1: You know what, I gave him a chance?
Speaker 2: Yes? Do that? Do that?
Speaker 3: They're a lottery team without him, and they're gonna win
Speaker 3: the championship with him?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 3: Chance?
Speaker 2: And you did just.
Speaker 1: Say they're going to win the championship with him? Did
Speaker 1: you just say that?
Speaker 3: Okay, a little book.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, gave him a chance. We wanted to
Speaker 1: give our guy a chance. But now we got to
Speaker 1: move on. All right, Trey, you know you're a pro
Speaker 1: here you're good with this, So I'm just gonna ask
Speaker 1: you questions here. And look, it's been reported by Sportco
Speaker 1: and others in the Tribune that there is this iminent
Speaker 1: shift in ownership with the club, and and of course
Speaker 1: I know you need to be careful with what you discussed,
Speaker 1: and so you handle this the way you need to
Speaker 1: handle it. But what I'm gonna ask is I swear man,
Speaker 1: And you know, every week it's either Kurt, it's Jason,
Speaker 1: it's Pablo, it's Tony, it's whoever that you guys allow
Speaker 1: us to interview on the show. And it's been the
Speaker 1: same thing, man for months and months and months, where
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, we want to get two players across
Speaker 1: the line. Pablo hopped on like three weeks ago, he
Speaker 1: said we're four or five days away. Then it's Kurt,
Speaker 1: and then Kurt yesterday said yeah, we think we're going
Speaker 1: to get one for sure, and we hope to get two.
Speaker 1: But it did not sound all that optimistic. So I'll
Speaker 1: start with what sort of, if any delay or distraction
Speaker 1: has the impending ownership transition cause for the guys trying
Speaker 1: to get this stuff done.
Speaker 3: I think the two discussions are actually unrelated. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 3: I could be wrong, but I don't believe one has
Speaker 3: affected the other. I do have the fortune of being
Speaker 3: around Pablo, Kurt, Jason, Tony, John Kimball quite regularly, and
Speaker 3: the striker issue is something that we collectively have been
Speaker 3: working on for multiple months. And I, you know, I
Speaker 3: don't think anybody has ever been disingenuous with you when
Speaker 3: they've described our pursuit of multiple players every day from
Speaker 3: December fifteenth, when we traded for Elias Manoel December twentieth,
Speaker 3: actually to Kurt being on with you yesterday. I think,
Speaker 3: you know, Kurt did describe it, or maybe it was
Speaker 3: Pablo last week, that there are an immense number of
Speaker 3: needles to thread to get these deals done. And I
Speaker 3: do think multiple junctures. We've thought we were very very close,
Speaker 3: and for different reasons. Either, Like Kurt said yesterday, we
Speaker 3: control one out of the three remain relationships to getting
Speaker 3: these deals done. And I still think we're close. I
Speaker 3: still think, like Kurt told you yesterday, that we'll get
Speaker 3: at least one, probably two could be more guys across
Speaker 3: the line by April twenty third. And it's you know, look,
Speaker 3: it's probably later then we wanted. Ideally we would have
Speaker 3: gotten our DP striker in the door prior to Conca Calf,
Speaker 3: but that clearly didn't happen, and the key is now
Speaker 3: to get it done before April twenty third, so we
Speaker 3: have whoever we add for twenty something games as opposed
Speaker 3: to you know, the end of the summer window, and
Speaker 3: I think there's only nine league games remaining in September
Speaker 3: or October.
Speaker 1: All right, let's bottom line this, because you know, I
Speaker 1: have a unique prism with which I tried to do
Speaker 1: this show, understanding inner workings of front offices in a
Speaker 1: way that I don't think mostsels do. And I'm just
Speaker 1: saying that because I do get the complication and watching
Speaker 1: Garth for years masterfully quite frankly in a lot of
Speaker 1: ways traverse spaces that seemed really tough. I understand why
Speaker 1: there are hold ups. I understand why these things aren't easy.
Speaker 1: But Colorado, Atlanta, Toronto, Seattle, Chicago, San Diego, over the
Speaker 1: past week ten days have been able to get transfers
Speaker 1: and trades across the line.
Speaker 2: And it just sounds like we have a lot of.
Speaker 1: Excuses from RSL as to why you guys have been
Speaker 1: have been unable to get this done. So if we
Speaker 1: remove the ownership conversation from the equation, what gives man?
Speaker 1: Because the decisions for you know, Anddress was last year,
Speaker 1: Chicho before the season, Matt Crooks before the season, and
Speaker 1: Anderson juliocho like you guys moved on from a lot
Speaker 1: of talented attacking pieces, and you did not expedite the
Speaker 1: process by having something in place unless the Elias kid
Speaker 1: was the solution that didn't go the way you had
Speaker 1: planned because apparently he didn't want to live here the
Speaker 1: contract stuff or whatever. So I'm just gonna bottom line it.
Speaker 1: Why the delay? Why is this taking so long?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, I think it's a number of things. Elias
Speaker 3: was supposed to be the Anderson Julio replacement. I think
Speaker 3: he took more issue with being traded period out of
Speaker 3: New York than anything having to do with our club
Speaker 3: or our community. But that's neither here nor there. I
Speaker 3: think Look, Pablo is very particular about who fits in
Speaker 3: that locker room. I think Kurt and Jason and Tony
Speaker 3: would tell you that. Last August when we brought in
Speaker 3: Dominic Marchuk and Lachlan Brook and Diego gonsolves that that
Speaker 3: was some of the buying in anticipation of losing perhaps
Speaker 3: a Crooks or Julio or whoever you know, So it's
Speaker 3: not the timing doesn't always line up for who's replacing who.
Speaker 3: And then again there are excuses that have to do
Speaker 3: with the immigration process. There's always agents that say, hey,
Speaker 3: I can deliver this guy to you for this amount
Speaker 3: of money, and then at the eleventh hour they say, hey,
Speaker 3: where's the two hundred and fifty grand that I get
Speaker 3: to put in my pocket? And that often kills deals.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of scenarios. I agree with you,
Speaker 3: it all sounds like excuses. You know as well as anybody.
Speaker 3: Everybody in this building is a fan, and everybody in
Speaker 3: this building wants RSL to be the best it can
Speaker 3: be and the deepest it can be. I think we
Speaker 3: feel like we've got a really good core young group.
Speaker 3: But you know, Forster and Piehl, who we think will
Speaker 3: have successful professional careers, they need some mentorship, and so
Speaker 3: I think that's what you're going to see when these
Speaker 3: deals do get across the line, even if it's a
Speaker 3: month or two months later than the we all would
Speaker 3: have desired. There there is something, and I think Pablo
Speaker 3: has said this to you on multiple occasions. There's something
Speaker 3: about a deadline that inspires people to get deals done
Speaker 3: despite the efforts to try to be two months, eight weeks,
Speaker 3: six weeks whatever ahead of the curve.
Speaker 1: Reference everyone in that building being a fan of the club.
Speaker 1: Follow up, do you think that you think too much
Speaker 1: like a fan?
Speaker 3: I've been accused of that inta that only means my
Speaker 3: heart's in the right place.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, so let's bottom line this.
Speaker 1: Our guy Tommy Boger today with a name that was
Speaker 1: dropped earlier, he is a DP as a Ski Slovakian
Speaker 1: international Robert Buznick.
Speaker 2: I don't know, man, That's the best I got.
Speaker 1: And then Matthew Doyle with MLS dot com outlined a
Speaker 1: bunch of different options.
Speaker 2: Three I believe are all domestic players.
Speaker 1: Kurt actually did let something slide yesterday which he never does,
Speaker 1: and that is he is trying to acclimate to European
Speaker 1: time when he's making his phone calls, which indicates maybe
Speaker 1: our guy Tommy Scoops is onto something. Can you shed
Speaker 1: some light on these rumors and do you have a
Speaker 1: timeline for oursel fans to expect these reinforcements to land
Speaker 1: on the ground.
Speaker 3: I don't have a timeline whin they'll land on the ground,
Speaker 3: simply because getting work pieces and green cards and all
Speaker 3: that stuff is more difficult now than it has been
Speaker 3: in the previous four plus years. Clearly, everybody in MLS
Speaker 3: and at RSL is working tirelessly to get them on
Speaker 3: the ground. Bozenek is a name obviously we've been linked
Speaker 3: with my understanding, he's Hurt's got five, six, seven irons
Speaker 3: in the fire. It almost kind of feels like maybe
Speaker 3: the first two that get done get across the line. Clearly,
Speaker 3: the domestic options could be expedited just because if they're
Speaker 3: already in the league means they already have the right
Speaker 3: work visa and it's a much more simple process of
Speaker 3: relocating them and their family and integrating them into our
Speaker 3: system international players, and clearly Kurt has international targets based
Speaker 3: on his comments to you yesterday. It's just, you know,
Speaker 3: it's a few more moving pieces. But with the April
Speaker 3: twenty third deadline, I think we'll try to have people signed, sealed,
Speaker 3: and maybe not quite delivered by the deadline, because it
Speaker 3: could take who knows how long to get the visa,
Speaker 3: to get the international transfer certificate in some of the
Speaker 3: other paperwork that happens federation to federation when a guy
Speaker 3: changes countries.
Speaker 1: So all of the reports are all these guys are nines, right,
Speaker 1: So I would imagine the number one target is striker.
Speaker 1: Are there secondary targets that play in different spots?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I think, you know, talking to Pablo Kurt both
Speaker 3: publicly and privately, I think you know, nine that can
Speaker 3: also play on the wing is a good thing, and
Speaker 3: nine that can also play underneath as a ten. And
Speaker 3: I think you know, we feel like between Dominic Marchuk Ripel,
Speaker 3: Jesus Brea that those guys can play multiple positions. Tyler Wolf,
Speaker 3: we've seen playing multiple positions, so, you know, versatility so
Speaker 3: that we can stay true to our game model, but
Speaker 3: evolved as a particular ninety minute period may dictate, is
Speaker 3: a good thing. Got you know, I think Pablo just
Speaker 3: wants guys he can plug and play, and then it's
Speaker 3: figuring out the combinations and who gaels well with who
Speaker 3: and who can mentor who else and keep it rolling.
Speaker 2: One of the interesting things.
Speaker 1: You know, I think all of the attention on the
Speaker 1: lack of attacking prowess has distracted from the fact that
Speaker 1: RSL is second worst in the West and goals allowed
Speaker 1: to you know, it's not just scoring those you guys
Speaker 1: have allowed eleven and that is second to only the Galaxy.
Speaker 2: Wait, it's actually Kansas City is lab twelve.
Speaker 1: So are there issues defensively that we haven't really discussed
Speaker 1: because all the attention has been on the lack of
Speaker 1: you know, juice in the attack.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I heard you address this with Kurt yesterday. I
Speaker 3: think that number might be a little artificially inflated by
Speaker 3: a horrible four nothing season opening loss at San Jose
Speaker 3: when we were still in the middle of Conca calf
Speaker 3: and kind of going, you know, swapping elevens, and then
Speaker 3: you know, we did give up two of the three
Speaker 3: goals against San Diego happened in stoppage time when we
Speaker 3: were pressing forward. So I still think it's a small
Speaker 3: sample size. You know, I'm biased, clearly, But if you
Speaker 3: look at Rafael Cabral's performance, he and Justin Glad are
Speaker 3: the only two to have played every single minute of
Speaker 3: all seven MLS games this year. I wouldn't blame either
Speaker 3: one of them, you know, for some of the concessions,
Speaker 3: So I think that sample size as we play more games.
Speaker 3: You know, again, it's not out of the realm of
Speaker 3: possibility that we do give up another three or four
Speaker 3: spot with seven of our next ten games on the road.
Speaker 3: But I'm encouraged because the best two road campaigns in
Speaker 3: our twenty year history have been the last two. So
Speaker 3: I think. I think the mentality that Pablo has instilled
Speaker 3: in this group has us poised for success even when
Speaker 3: we're not at home, despite you know, some of the
Speaker 3: early season stumbles we've had.
Speaker 1: Last thing here, you know, you're a guy that's out
Speaker 1: of front row seat to this Diego Luna story and
Speaker 1: this journey and this career arc that even at the
Speaker 1: age of twenty one has been very, very remarkable, and
Speaker 1: a big week for our guy over the past couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, the Utah Male Athlete of the Year was
Speaker 1: given to Diego Luna and grabs a brace against the
Speaker 1: gall And you know, I actually was, I guess I'll
Speaker 1: say relieved. I mean, look, I know the deal.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 1: Developmental Club, what did Jason say. We don't write checks
Speaker 1: for ten million dollar players. We find young players, develop
Speaker 1: them and sell them for ten mil all right, fine,
Speaker 1: it still is counter to everything that I've been trained
Speaker 1: to learn about how to do this stuff. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure that there is a price that will motivate you
Speaker 1: guys to say yes as it pertains to Diego. And
Speaker 1: Diego himself on my show last year when I asked
Speaker 1: him about his goals, he wants to play in Europe.
Speaker 1: He wants to prove that he can play with the
Speaker 1: best players in the world.
Speaker 2: It just would be.
Speaker 1: Really, really tough, man, to watch that kid go elsewhere,
Speaker 1: because he is He's as special as anyone I think
Speaker 1: we've had in maybe that includes Hobbyer. I don't know,
Speaker 1: how would you articulate watching this kid grow into the
Speaker 1: player in person that he is today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's so inspiring, man. Seen a guy that came
Speaker 3: here is a very quiet, introverted, maybe even nervous, you know,
Speaker 3: nineteen year old. Then he has the self awareness to
Speaker 3: take care of his mental health, to go get a
Speaker 3: job at a coffee shop to improve his social skills.
Speaker 3: He ends up becoming a father. He takes the U
Speaker 3: twenty team down to Argentina and grows, you know, on
Speaker 3: the youth international stage. He comes back, secures a starting
Speaker 3: job at RSL, it's been amazing and now, as we've
Speaker 3: seen in the last what three four months, his star
Speaker 3: is rising with a new US national team senior team
Speaker 3: set up under a legendary coach in Mauricio Puctino. He
Speaker 3: put that Olympic rejection from last June July into his
Speaker 3: back pocket responded, was named All Star in MLS, the
Speaker 3: youngest All Star in RSL history and one of the
Speaker 3: I think three youngest in MLS history. I watched him
Speaker 3: at that awards ceremony Friday night. He's got a dozen
Speaker 3: family and friends in from California and Texas. The kid
Speaker 3: was grinning ear to ear for four hours, just glowing,
Speaker 3: so excited to be able to kind of have that
Speaker 3: time with his family. Apple Slash MLS had a documentary
Speaker 3: crew kind of following him around Friday and Saturday, so
Speaker 3: that was just a lot extra with the family, the
Speaker 3: camera crew, and I watched him get up in the
Speaker 3: middle of that dinner and take pieces of cake from
Speaker 3: the banquet style setup that we've all seen before over
Speaker 3: to the camera crew, and I'm just like, what a
Speaker 3: cool guy, you know, just a real human being and
Speaker 3: a person in a moment that could have easily. He
Speaker 3: made it all about him. He's taking care of those
Speaker 3: around him, and it just struck me, like, what an
Speaker 3: amazing person. And look, he doesn't love doing all the
Speaker 3: media stuff that we ask him to do, but he
Speaker 3: understands that that awareness is not just good for him,
Speaker 3: it's good for our club. And to your point, look,
Speaker 3: I don't understand why we don't have multiple clubs lining
Speaker 3: up with ten twelve million dollar offers for him right now,
Speaker 3: but it feels like, hopefully he is a pillar of
Speaker 3: this club at least through the end of next Summer's
Speaker 3: World Cup, where I think now we expect him to
Speaker 3: be one of the bright shining stars for the US
Speaker 3: national team. Cab Ramos the other day, Poachattino Dunny. Everybody
Speaker 3: agrees he's the kind of guy that the US men's
Speaker 3: national team needs. And he's a different archetype, he's a
Speaker 3: different paradigm. He's not Christian Poliitic, he's not Tyler Adams,
Speaker 3: he's not any of these guys from this so called
Speaker 3: Golden generation. And it's because he's willing to take risks,
Speaker 3: and he's dynamic and he's unpredictable and we need to
Speaker 3: enjoy him for whatever time we have. But it just
Speaker 3: feels to me like he's going to be around for
Speaker 3: a little bit, a little while, and he's still going
Speaker 3: to have all these opportunities that he wants to pursue
Speaker 3: in Europe or wherever. And I think he just he's
Speaker 3: in a really good place right now where he takes
Speaker 3: it one day at a time and he's loving life
Speaker 3: and we all get to try to maybe benefit from
Speaker 3: it a little bit, but at least enjoy it as
Speaker 3: a group that cares about this kid on and off
Speaker 3: the field.
Speaker 1: Watch watching Diego, you know, show this selfless side of
Speaker 1: him where he clearly thinks of others besides himself and
Speaker 1: he likes to take care of the people around him.
Speaker 1: Did it make you question your existence of cheap dopamine
Speaker 1: chasing and selfish pursuits as it pertains to the way
Speaker 1: you've elected to live your life?
Speaker 3: No, I mean I think about all those times at
Speaker 3: Bonavilla or Mountaine where I'm helping you find your ball,
Speaker 3: Like that is as selfless as I as I get
Speaker 3: at times, and you know, it does inspire me to
Speaker 3: be more Diego Luna, Like when I'm dealing.
Speaker 1: With you, do you feel like you'd like to take
Speaker 1: the opportunity before I set you loose to offer a
Speaker 1: public apology for the way you've treated me over the
Speaker 1: past twenty five years.
Speaker 3: I think you made me do this last year, so
Speaker 3: I'll just say this is my annual apology to you
Speaker 3: for things that I am unaware, blissfully unaware of how
Speaker 3: I've offended you. But I do appreciate all you do
Speaker 3: for me and the opportunity that the drive with Spence
Speaker 3: Checkets and Porter Larsen, who is the greatest producer to
Speaker 3: ever put up with you, although I did see JP
Speaker 3: Chunga today so they're co greatest. Why this show is
Speaker 3: amazing and I'm happy to be a part of it.
Speaker 1: I will begrudgingly accept your apology and again encourage you
Speaker 1: to do better moving forwards, right, because I'm a guy
Speaker 1: that believes in action and not words.
Speaker 3: You know, I strive to do better, even like Nicola Jokic.
Speaker 2: All right, thanks, Buddy Chatsu, All right.
Speaker 1: To Trey Fitzgerald, RSL rumored to be bringing in a
Speaker 1: striker coding. According to Tom Bogert, RSL in advanced talks
Speaker 1: for a DP forward, he's a Slovakian international. I believe
Speaker 1: it's Robert Bosnik. Don't quobe no idea not writing on
Speaker 1: Slovakian soccer tape these days,