Latest / Your Dark Companion Podcast / Raising Her Game | Rush Olson & Ashley Dozier | Ep 237

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Raising Her Game | Rush Olson & Ashley Dozier | Ep 237 · Your Dark Companion Podcast

• Nobody would have thought that I would be the one. Ryder, sports talk. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Oh, with a big mic. Oh, okay. Alright. Yeah. Okay. Now I get it. We got a lightning strike, boys. What happened over there, Grego? We had a little lightning strike right outside the window. Win the world series. Alright. Alright. Here's a tip for all these Americano League teams. Don't what? You said tip. Yeah. Tip. Okay. The p. I would Keep jamming. The ticket the ticket colon. Nothing but a big Gen X jerk off the safe. Is this a cool night or what? I thought somebody would hear that and go, bullshit. I'm back, bitches. I hope we can do this. Don't think you can't be serious. Oh my gosh. We're live. We're really gonna do this. Is this really happening? Y'all can't hear me yet. Oh, man. Really? Really, man? You may see the Dusty May press conference today? No. Was it awesome? I don't know how awesome it was. For some reason, I was expecting him to be a little bit different. Like a little wacky? Not not a little wacky. Just a little bit more of a edgy northerner. Oh. And he's not really edgy northerner, at least he wasn't today. He was very squared away, very even keel, very soft spoken, very professional, knew where he was and was doing his very best not to piss off anybody, which is probably what you should do if you're in an introductory press conference. Yeah. If you're making the leap from college and all that. Yeah. I mean, he was acting like, okay. I've done this before. I've been here. I know how to do this. And yes, he does. Besides, he had his boss up there next to him. So of course, he had to tighten up. Masai was up there. And I don't know. It was a typical introductory press conference. You know? How did you wind up here? What do you think about this opportunity? What's your vision for the team? And his answer to all of those questions was pretty much to win games. That's a good philosophy. Yeah. That is a good philosophy. As these things go, it was very, very garden variety, but he's here, and he's got that out of the way. And now we go on with this thing. Did he win the press conference? I'd say he did. Okay. I would imagine that not too many people who were there in the leering press came out of it with any real strong objections to the guy. But time will tell. Training camp is not that far away. It's true. That's when the rubber meets the road, Shoopy, as you I'm fully aware. Yeah. Alright. Today, I don't know if you guys know this, but they have this thing called the World Cup, and it's some kind of soccer tournament, and it's going on, and a lot of it's happening here in our Fairburg. And I don't like it because we got a lot of people here in our Fairburg that don't are not normally here. I never liked that too much. It's kind of crowded out there and everybody's thinking about soccer. So I can scarcely think of anything better to do than get with the program and think about soccer ourselves. Yes. To that, I have with me today or we have with us today. It's you. No. It's not me. It's you. It's you, Shuby. It's Mike Reiner's dark companion. We have a couple of people who have been involved in the game and have a better handle of what this thing is about than I possibly could. Now I will tell you this. I have been watching, and I'll get to that momentarily. But first, let's introduce Rush Olson. Yay. Hi, Rush. Well, hi, Mike. It's great to see you. Good to see you, Mike. Good to see you, Grooves. No one calls me Mike. Yeah. No one called me Grooves. How you doing? I'm fantastic. I couldn't be better. It's a lot to here and talk about soccer. It's very good. Is this the part where I talk about the documentary? No. Or are we gonna do that later? No. We're gonna do that later. I'm great. That's that's what the audience should know. I wasn't sure if that was a lead in, like a tease or something. Dozier, Ashley. Hey, Ashley Dozier. That's right. I should have written that down. I'm very unprofessional. You got a pen now. But see, in in this thing, I don't have to be professional. That's the best part. Yeah. It is. Now what's your situation here and what's your connection with all this? So I'm Ashley Dozier, and I'm a female professional soccer player. So this is an amazing opportunity to meet you guys and say hi and, of course, talk about soccer. Any day is a good day to talk about soccer no matter what opinions are next to me. But I have the opportune I've had the opportunity to play overseas and both, nationally for the Kansas City and WSL two team, which is just fantastic to be able to part of the inaugural team. As well, I've I've played overseas in Puerto Rico, Cesia, and Argentina. I was the first American to play in the professional league in Argentina, and I was the first American to play on my team in Prague for Dukla. So I've had amazing experiences. And then in Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico, Sol, we broke the world record for most wins. And it was just awesome to be able on such great teams and be able to travel the world and, of course, play soccer. Are you a striker? No. I'm a center back. Ah. Okay. What is that? I stop the people from scoring. I body girls off the ball, and I say, you're not gonna score. You body girls off the ball? Yeah. You can't push him. That's a foul, but you can kinda chicken find him a little bit. Are you are you a pretty good chicken fighter? I like to believe so. I have a younger brother, so I've had some good practice. Do any of the girls ever try to punk you? Like these girls are doing Caitlin Clark? Overseas. I mean, Prague, I knew that I was never gonna get a foul called against me. I just. But if there was a controversial tackle, I knew it was gonna be me. So I feel for Caitlin Clark. Again, she's had much more than I've had. But overseas She sure has. Oh, yes. Oh, the recent that, oh my, that's been going on, on Instagram was what I saw. Oh my gosh. But for me, I knew that I couldn't play as aggressively as I wanted to. I knew that I was gonna always get called for a foul. I just had to be smart and don't do it in the box cause that's a PK. And if you get a PK called against you, you know, the coach is gonna blame it on you. So it's like, whatever you do. Yeah. Coaches don't like that. No. No. Alright. Now, Rush, what is your situation these days? Well, first of all, let me just say how happy I am that Mike has said he's been watching games because it means we're not having to start at the beginning. I thought we might I thought Ashley and were gonna be like, okay. You can't touch it with your hands. You can only play with your feet or your head. That much I've got. But Great. Let me tell you what my experience in in this is is like, the way I'm viewing this. I don't know anything about the structure of this. I don't know anything about your knockout round or whatever this round round one, whatever it is. You know? I don't know anything about the way the tournament is set up. The group play. The group yeah. Your group play. I don't know anything about that. I'm just watching it as an unabashed viewer of the game to and, you know, I've seen it before and I know know what's I I have an idea of what's going on out there most of the time, but I can't tell you anything about strategy. I can't tell you anything about why whatever just happened did. I can't tell you anything about any players. So I'm watching this from a very, very unvarnished point of view, I guess you might say. And you are exactly why FIFA wanted to have the World Cup here in The United States. They're trying to win me over on They are. They're trying to get you to be interested in this because you you're a sports guy. You like sports. You like competition. And so to the extent that they can convince you that the the beautiful game is in fact beautiful, they've won. And it sounds like they're doing pretty well, actually. Yeah. I mean, I'm enjoying this. Like I say, I don't always know why whatever just happened did, but still that has not deterred me from watching or anything like that. And then if if a game is on, then I really don't care if it's Uganda or Chile or Argentina or Belgium or who. I'll watch it. I think the next step, the next thing FIFA would like you to do, Mike, is at some point during the game go, that was not offside. When we can get to that point Okay. Now we've really got something. How many games do we have to get him there? We've we've still got a few weeks. We're we're good. Okay. Alright. I'm gonna have to learn what offside is. Baby steps. Baby steps. I know what offside is in football. I have some idea of the way it works in hockey, and I do see similarities between the game of soccer and the game of hockey. And I suspect that in the game of soccer, it's somewhat similar to the way it is in hockey. Yes. Kind of. Kinda. There are some similarities. Yeah. I actually like the hockey offside rule better. I I I do realize they're not playing with a puck, so there's that. You know? I got that. That's the main part. Well, if you think so I'll I'll give you my my quick hockey to to soccer comparison here. If you think of the blue line in hockey, that's the the thing that marks the offside. And if and it's really same in American football where you have a the line of scrimmage. Mhmm. And offside is determined by where you are in relation to that line. Same same in rugby. But in soccer, that line is the last defender. So the center back who has come up to defend, you go behind her, you're offside. You stay on the the non goal side of her, you're not. Okay. Slight there's some nuance to that, but that's the basics. Okay. So she's the line. Okay. Okay. Now how do I find the center back? Is the center back wearing a marked jersey or anything? No. But this is good. We are the ones typically, like, when you look at defense. Right? It's the goalkeeper, then you have a back line, either three or four. And the three, it's easiest because it's the one in the middle. And then the four, it's two. So there's two in the middle. So it's always the one in the middle. Then there's players in front. Those are midfielders forwards. But if you go from goalkeeper up, the center backs are always typically in the middle. Yeah. Okay. Alright. That'll give me a little bit, more to keep an eye out for as I watch these games. Now I did see, an offsides, I believe it was a day or two ago, that looked like it was they they used, what is it, var to, like, replay it, and it was, like, a millimeter offside. Like and I just don't get how with soccer, you can be that precise. Maybe that's a weird way to put it. But Well And you're you're not very precise. You're not really alone there. The bar has definitely changed the game. I mean, we I never played overseas where we had the VAR. So now I knew I wasn't gonna get calls for me, and off sites was one of them. So we typically played in a four back. So I had another girl was with me, and I always made sure we were on the same line because she would get the foul called for her, not me. Smart. So you had two center backs? Typical in the way that we played, we normally had two center backs. See there? See there? How you like that? Very. Yeah. And they mostly that shoopy. They mostly stay in the center of the field, Mike, which is a good way to to kinda to kinda help you pick them out. Usually kind of in the back. Mhmm. Yep. And in the back. Right. Typically. Typically. And then the VAR has changed it so much to where I think it's actually slowed the game down. Like, soccer is a continuous sport. And when you get free kicks such as off sides, it does change the game. You can either slow the game down, momentum shifts for team to team. Like, if you were on a breakaway and you were a millimeter offsides, that gives the other team now time to regroup, reset, and momentum builds the opposite way. But they're still not stopping the clock at all. Right? No. Now see, that's another That's crazy to me. That's another thing that blows my mind too because that's something I knew about the game of soccer. But when you go for a long time without paying any attention to it like I did, you lose sight of these things. And, man, that old clock never stops. It's yeah. And if you remember in the women the last women's World Cup, they made a huge effort to try to be to to improve the accuracy of that timing because it's all kept by the the referee. The head referee keeps that. And so they made a big effort to try to make sure that that stoppage time, as they call it, was gonna be accurate, and that has has kinda continued. Is it? Is it accurate? Are they doing this right? Only the referee knows, Mike. Only the referee knows. Because that's something that I really don't get is the stoppage time thing. Well, clock says zero except all all of a sudden you got seven and a half minutes left. Well, it's interesting because in college soccer, they don't do it that way. So Ashley played at Saint Mary's and Evelyn Christian. And in college soccer, they actually count it down to zero like they do, and they actually do stoppage time or they stop the clock when there's an injury and things like that. Mhmm. And so and when Major League Soccer first started in this country, they did it that way. They said we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna Americanize this. And a lot of people didn't like it because the other way was traditional, they changed it. Wow. Well, that's that's my World Cup experience so far. But all that said, I'm I am liking this thing. Well, as you should because it's not just what's happening on the field. Certainly, have amazing skill out there, and that's awesome. But it's also sort of the atmosphere that soccer brings, and it's the culture and, you know, the the going and watching thousands of people all wearing orange marching to AT and T Stadium as or Dallas Stadium as they're preferring we call it for the till July and things like that. So it's there's there's such an amazing just sort of culture around soccer that brings you in even if you're not necessarily familiar even if you don't have Ashley as a resource to explain what a center back But and thanks to social media, you're also seeing, you know, Boston is selling out a beer because of the Scottish fans. And I respect the hell out of that. That's impressive, man. It's Boston. Right. It's not some Yeah. They don't run out of beer in Boston. But when the Scotts are there, they apparently do. Another thing I got a kick out of a few weeks ago was it was, I think, the, like, the first week of the World Cup. And in fact, the first few days of the World Cup and things hadn't really rolled out as of yet. And the rangers were in Miami. Oh, yeah. And I was watching the game, and I was expecting it to be like a normal baseball game. But I started hearing all these chants and stuff, you know? And sort of think, man, those fans are really getting into this, you know? And come to find out, there are a lot of soccer people at the game that night, and they were were getting it on and stuff. And I believe also a couple nights before those fans were in Arlington. Oh, they were? At a rangers game. So they essentially traveled either with the rangers. It might have been because the team they were supporting was It was it was actually Boston. Okay. I'm sorry. So so the Scottish team had played in Boston. Yes. Okay. And the red sox had a game on a on a night when there was not a soccer game. So a whole bunch of the the Scotland fans went there, and it happened to be the rangers playing. Then the next game for Scotland was in Miami. So now they all travel down the coast, and they go to play there. And, there's baseball going on, and so they, you know, clearly this is probably playing out in reverse of the way it is for Mike because they're soccer fans. They may not know much about baseball, but, hey, there's a sporting event on. This Yeah. Yeah. This is fun. Let's go check it out. I would be the same way. Here's what I wondered about that, and I haven't read anything about this to see if it's the case. So the Scotland fans happened to see the Texas Rangers twice. And here's what I'm curious about is in Glasgow, there are two big teams. Their Celtic is one of them. They just won the league. But the other big team in Glasgow is called Rangers. And so I was quite curious as to whether these Scottish fans might actually be rooting for us, at least the ones from Glasgow who, you know, aren't Celtics fans. I wanna believe that they are. Yeah. What I would wonder about is after seeing the rangers play two or three games, if the Scotts didn't walk out and look at each other and go, man, this team sucks. I hope that they were more nuanced than that. Go, wow. They've got some starting pitching. The bullpen is coming around. If they just get the bats going and get healthy, they'll be fine. That's what I'm hoping the Scottish game Today. They came out of today. Place. They're in first place. They're 500, but they are in first place. They can't take that away from us. That's right. They are the first place Texas Rangers. I was at the front office when we started remember, we answer we had the receptionist answer the phone, first place Texas Rangers. Yep. I worked for the Rangers at the time, And we got so much abuse for that on from people like him. We called from the on the ticket, we called y'all on air and Yes. Made that into a drop of So some lady saying, first place Texas Drangers. I knew her. She was nice, and y'all did sound to her. She's She did sound sweet. I feel nice. I gotta tell you, I feel bad about that. Yeah. And I tried to talk them out of doing that. Yeah. What? I was there. You didn't. Yeah. Well, anyway, she was very nice. And by the way, we were in first place at the time. Now it was the mid two thousands, so we didn't stay there terribly long. Yeah. But I did I supported that decision. I supported the decision, Nancy. You gotta take what you got. Right? Indeed. Just like I'm seeing that this is the latest end of the season. The rangers have been first place since the world series season. Whoo. Pew pee. It's all coming together. Better look out, man. Guys are starting to get hot. Guys are starting to get healthy. We have the support of the Scotts. Yep. We got support of the Scotts. Who, unfortunately, are now out of the World Cup. Oh, they are? They they did. They did not make it out of group stage. What they can do is follow the rangers around and drink a lot of beer at the games and make a lot of racket There you go. And pretend that they are still in the World Cup. Favor of that. So so are all the baseball people. Right? Yeah. Besides, it's nobody's business but the Turks anyway. Who are also out, unfortunately. Oh, man. So it's not really their business either anymore. It's tough all around for everybody. Yep. Well, who is in? Who's gonna win this thing? The Dodgers? I hope not the Dodgers, but I think Argentina's gonna win. I mean, I'm biased because I played there for six months, but just I think they got a good go. It's Messi's last World Cup, so he has something personal in this game. So I feel like they got a good push for this one. This is his last World Cup? Yes. He's unfortunately getting up there. The goat is getting up there in age, so this is his last World Cup. 29? He's 38. Nine. Yeah. 39? Not as old as me. Okay. 39. That's, you know Yeah. I guess for a soccer player. It's getting up there. It's getting up there. Well and one of the things that's that's evolved in soccer is guys are able to be effective later than they ever were before because of improved nutrition, training, things like that. I mean, if you were especially if you were a, you know, a upfront player like Messi, your legs were shot by the time you were in your early thirties. Now But Messi is unique. I've never seen him run-in a game. He always I think he's definitely learned how to train his body well, and if I can play longer if I don't run. So but he's he's messy. Messi is messy. And then he shows up in the right place, gets some service in the box, and the ball's in the net. That's the way he works. Magic. Because he's been scoring this World Cup. Right? Yeah. He is. Is it Ronaldo that's kinda been struggling? Or is I feel like there's another older player, forget my ignorance, that is up there in age and still playing pretty much every minute, but not really contributing much. Ronaldo is the one that has come under criticism. Okay. But the dude had a two goal game. Right. And I actually I was actually at the game they played against the Democratic Republic Of The Congo, and they drew, and he came under a lot of criticism. But I'm watching that game. We actually the seats that we had were really good. They were right above the goal that Portugal shot at in the second half. And look, as you do with a star player, they were marking him so closely. Mhmm. And he was not getting good service in the box. So Ashley can explain what good service means. Guys, can get open in the box? Kind of. It's like so when service is like a ball played to you. So like in basketball, when they pass you a ball, but in soccer, we call that pass to service. So if you get a bad pass or service to you, it's extremely hard to do something with either score a goal, assist, or make a forward or offensive play after it. Why has that phrase not made its way into American sports yet? That's a good question. I think we should start using it more now and see. Spread the word. Yeah. Now, where's Donaldo in all this? Because if you don't have Ronaldo, you can't have Ronaldo, can you? That's right. You're thinking of Ronaldinho and Donald Dino. Yeah. But, you know, with Ronaldo and Ronaldo and Donaldo. Alright. Never mind. You guys don't have to understand. Yeah. It's an old it's an old bit from your side. Did you pass through all you there, Mike? Yep. Sorry. No. That that's okay. I was amused by it. That's all that matters. It's his show. We've established that. It's your show. God, no, it isn't. Alright. So people have something that they want to promote, something they're doing, and something they want to tell us about. Was not a subtle that was not a subtle lead in at all, but obviously, I'll take it. Not. But but that's what I want you to do. Well, what's I mean, okay. So the the this is the whole reason to justify having me on because Ashley is an actual professional soccer player. She actually knows stuff. But what I did is I made a documentary about soccer. So it it's called Raising Her Game, and the reason we're doing this press tour, obviously, kind of for us starting at the top here with y'all, and then we'll hopefully have some more things, you know, and then from lesser outlets. We're we're talking about this docuseries. You got that completely reversed, but that's okay. We're gonna try to get on the zoo radio station later that if they'll have us. If you do, let me know. Yeah. We'll we'll have a story there. Yeah. We will. The so it's called Raising Her Game, and the big news in our world is that it is going to be live on Tubi Oh. On Thursday, July 2. And Tubi, obviously, is the the big free streaming service owned by Fox. They have a World Cup hub. If you go to to Duby's interface, they have a World Cup hub, and Raising Her Game is gonna be there starting on Thursday. Nice. And so what Raising Her Game is is it's a three part docuseries, and it charts the rise of soccer in this country alongside the rise of women's sports generally because they happen on roughly the same timeline through the eyes of the University of Texas Longhorn's women's soccer team. And we shot this throughout 2023 in the fall. And, basically, they they did us a solid by winning the big 12 that year in the last their last year in the conference. And they they had a very compelling team. They had a couple of all Americans on that team. Their their coach at the time was a lady named Ange Kelly, who's a former World Cup player for Canada. She's in the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame. And, anyway, so they there are a lot of good story lines there. And so then we we delve into the history because there are some interesting story lines with that. One of the star players, Lexi Misimo, was her she's one of the All Americans. Well, her dad played. He's still the all time leading goal scorer at the University of North Carolina. He played back in the eighties. Her mom played at TCU. And so the contrast between what what what the game was like for them back then and what it was like for her now and the opportunities that a women's soccer player has versus what even a men's soccer player had back in the late eighties, because keep in mind, MLS didn't start till 1996. Anyway, that was a lot of the storytelling around that. And then the other thing that was sort of a catalyst was in 1992, there was so 1972, Title IX passed. And so we tell a little bit of the story of that. We interviewed Jodi Conrad, the basketball coach for UT, who was you know, came came to there in the seventies. Very successful hall of famer. Had a lot of good historical perspective. But what was interesting is we we talked to her, Chris Plonsky, who's the assistant AD down there, and we talked about how UT implemented their women's programs. And one of the things that you will interest because another code of football that you do like or know about, tackle football, There were a bunch of football coaches that didn't want title nine passed or they didn't want it to apply to football. And Darrell Royal was the head of the American Football Coaches Association at the time. They actually went to Washington and talked met with president Ford to try to say, look. This Title IX stuff needs to not apply to football. And we actually got the Gerald Ford presidential library tracked down photos of those meetings. And so those are in the documentary. Oh, really? They think they think there's a chance those may have never been seen before. Oh, wow. There's also film that hasn't been seen probably of him addressing the NCA convention that year, Gerald Ford. So, anyway, fascinating stuff. So I like things that have never been seen before. This. You've you you you'll like this. You've got you've got That's good. President Ford, Darrell Royal on one side of him, Barry Switzer on the other, Bo Schenbeckler next to them. Golly. Lot cloud in That was the heavy exactly. So that that was and Eddie Robinson was in there as well. So, I mean, like, just the, you know, the the heavy hitters of college football. That's the scrambling head coach, not the former rangers general manager. Right? Fair point. Yeah. Fair point. I do not know if president Ford and the former any former rangers general manager had a relationship, though certainly future presidents did. Yes. Right. So the other thing that was was crucial was in 1992 so Texas quickly adopted women's sports, became one of the leaders then as they are now. Well, in 1992, a lawsuit was filed against the University of Texas for violating title nine. Because as much as UT had done with their women's sports, they still because of football, the numbers weren't equal as they were supposed to be under the legislation. And so what was innovative about this lawsuit is it didn't just say, hey. You can't drop a program because there had been some suits like that. They said, you're out of compliance. You've gotta add programs. And so the university perhaps saw the writing on the wall, they settled that suit. And the result of the suit was they were gonna establish a soccer program, which they did in '93. And then that also established softball, which, of course, won national championship Mhmm. And the rowing team. So what was important about this from a soccer perspective was UT was this leader in women's sports. Other schools looked at that and go, wow. If they can get sued, we can get sued. And so what you see over the course of the nineties, in 1992 when that suit was filed about a little over 30% of of division one schools had women's soccer programs. By 1998, more than 80% did. Woah. All the SEC schools added them. All So they looked at this and said, we better get the house in order here. Yes. And so here's what that did for the sport. So there had been some early adopters, like the University of North Carolina was the powerhouse. There were some other schools that fed women's soccer talent. K? We think of Mia Hamm, who was a teammate of Ange Kelly's. And so The US was already pretty good in soccer, and they won the ninety six Olympics behind that group. They won the ninety nine World Cup, which was a huge catalyst for the sport. And then you get into the two thousands, and all of a sudden, you've got all of these big soccer programs with d one facilities, and you are starting to produce players. Well, other countries didn't have that. Other countries didn't have title nine. They many of them, when we cover this in the documentary, had actually banned women from playing the game for several decades. Their football associations, like in England, were like, nope. We're not gonna have any women's leagues. They don't get to play on any official grounds. Jeez. So The US, because we had time line, wasn't thinking like that. And now all of a sudden, we had all these players. So when you look at the dominance of the US women's team in those two thousands, you see what that produced. And Were there players from those other countries who didn't have it coming over here to play? There sure were. You and so you started to see that as well, which helped the development of the game generally. Coach Kelly brought up a teammate of hers in North Carolina, Serena Wiegman, who's now the head coach of the England national women's team. Played a year at North Carolina, went back overseas, coached The Netherlands, and now coaches England. So there were plenty of players there. So that then continued to fuel the the game. And so now once you saw especially once it got into the Olympics, because that was crucial, because governments like their sports teams to win the Olympics no matter what the sport is. Yeah. So now all of a sudden, okay, there's resources being put into it. The other effect this had you have a question? No. No. Go go ahead. Go ahead. The other effect this had Just paying rapt attention. Was it helped it helped soccer generally. Because and and we talked to Eric Wijnalda, who a lot of y'all will have heard of. He played on the ninety four men's team, and he actually has a daughter that's in the NWSL now. But Eric Wijnalda played in the ninety four men's World Cup team. His comment about the ninety nine women's team is like, they did more for the sport than our team ever did because they won. We we all like to win. And all of a sudden, we saw this US team wearing the stars and stripes being this dominant force. And so one thing that Dave Simeone, who was an assistant coach on that team, also told us, he's like, what made people do is, gosh, if the women can do it, why can't the men do it? You know, why not? There's there's a path here clearly. And so it and plus, now you had all of these women playing sports and playing soccer. You know? Well, the brothers are gonna play too. There's anyway, so there was just a ton of momentum that the women's game helped. And a lot of what we're seeing now, all the things we talked about about the the the the men's the momentum behind the men's game right now, women's game had a lot to do with with helping that along. Fascinating. This sounds like something definitely worth watching. Well, thank you for saying that. To be, Thursday. Did I mention that? Yes. You did mention it. Yeah. Okay. What time? Well, it's on demand, so you can watch it whenever it's convenient for you. Oh, yes. That crazy little thing called on demand, which I've not mastered as of yet. It is Nevertheless There there and so there's three total episodes. Four total is hours of content. And then we also on the so my company is Mint Farm Films. We also have some little shorter offshoots on our YouTube channel, Mint Farm Films YouTube, that we're gonna be rolling out over the next little while, including an interview I did a couple weeks ago, two interviews actually. I did them up at Toka Social, which is a new soccer themed bar owned by a guy named Eddie Lewis. Eddie Lewis played on two men's World Cup teams for The US. We interviewed him. We also interviewed one of his investors, Brandon Aubrey. Oh, that's a name I know. Yeah. It is. Brandon Aubrey was a pro soccer player Yes. Before he became a football player. He's an investor in Toka Social. He went to Notre Dame, won a natty there, actually, as a freshman, played playing soccer. Eddie Lewis played at UCLA and went into and went into pro soccer after that, played in Europe, was a great player. So we I've got exclusive interviews with them that we're gonna roll out later this week talking about it and really talking about the college game. And I'm gonna pause for a moment with that because we should let Ashley talk a little bit about her experience in the college game and how it helped feed into her becoming a pro player. Yes. I was just about to turn the attention to you here. Oh, no. Alright. Don't be scared. Let's hear it. Pick up where he left off and In the college sector, we all like, we have title nine. This is we just discussed. And at Saint Mary's where I graduated from, we didn't have a men's football team. We had a men's soccer team. So that was pretty cool to be like, Kayla, we're soccer's kinda split. We had a good turnout for both. And I graduated in 2020, and then I went straight to Puerto Rico. And that was such an awesome experience because it was flipped. You hear all those horror stories about women, you know, they have to fight for all this stuff, and and then they should. They still do. I've had that experience myself. But in Puerto Rico, we won everything. Right? We had the record for the most consecutive wins. And winning solves everything, or at least it starts to bring light to the situation. So we got the new dry fit tank tops. We got the best times for, training. We practiced in the Pan American Stadium down in Puerto Rico, so we had the better locker room. We had everything, but we won. We were the undisputed champions five times in a row. Like, we we were the top dogs. They had a really good center back. Really good center back. I don't know who she is, but she's amazing. Now we know what they I'm sitting next to her. Oh. Oh, okay. And then after Puerto Rico, I went and played in Prague. So I went from sunny, sunshine, Jimmy Buffett, like, island girl to I'm in a beautiful city, but I'm freezing. I was in I came there in February and I left in May, so I got the cold months. And it was the complete opposite, culture shock. We had a different field. We the men played on this beautiful nice covered stadium. We had concrete bleachers on a field next to that field. We had the the youth men's hand me downs. We had to fight for a spot in, the dome because it was so cold they used the dome. And I was like, wait, what? Like, what is the difference? And I would like tell the coach and the girls, like, Ashley, like, we're girls. I'm like, what what does that mean? Like, we're first division. The men are second division. So just by us being in the first division, we should have the bigger stadium. We should have the covered seats. We should have the nice dome. Like, they need to earn the first division spot. And the girls were floored. They were like, this doesn't happen. Like like, what are you saying? Like, this is not normal. And I was the first American to be on that team. So they were like, what are you talking about? Like, why does it need to be even? Like So this isn't well, not an American team you were on? No. This is like and they, again This is in Prague. This is in Prague. So most of the girls spoke English, which so nice that they did. And they were all just like, what do you mean? Were you there by yourself? I was. I lived in myself in a flat in Prague. It was gorgeous. My parents came to visit me. It was so much fun, like, outside of, like, the practice and stuff. I we always had one day off. And once I figured out the train system, I was gone. Figured that out. Google Maps was my best friend. When the train system is amazing. It when it says it's gonna be there at 12:30, it's gonna be there. Nice. And then I went to Argentina, and I'm thinking, okay. The Prague was one off. Their main sport is hockey. Right? Like, alright. So it's gonna be no closer to Puerto Rico standards. We're gonna be the same. Wrong. The soccer culture, of course, is is the culture of Argentina. Argentina is soccer. And it was so cool to, like, see Maradona, Messi on every street corner. There are arguments of my when I first got off the airplane, the technical director that picked me up was like, alright. Messi on Maradona. I was like, oh, hi. Nice to meet you too. Maradona. It was cool to, again, have that experience in culture just like we're here. Was that what you thought, or was that what he wanted to hear? Or maybe both? I think it was both, but I really like have you ever seen Maradona, like, warm up? If you ever, like, Google YouTube and go to Maradona's pregame warm up, it is the crazy thing. Time. So Oh my I have to enlighten you on Maradona. Small steps. Baby steps. Baby steps. But in Argentina, it was it was actually worse. They had, like, the beautiful, like, n c the men's had the beautiful NCAA, like, field. They the nice beautiful grass. Their weight room was just it looked like it belonged in America. Us, we had a turf field that's ten years outdated. Our weight room was a concrete block with squares cut out of it for a window. And again, I was at the coaches and the girls were, like, in my broken Spanglish because no one really spoke English in Argentina. So it was cool to learn Spanish, but it was kinda sometimes hard to communicate. But it would be like, why? Like, they're first division. We're first division. I would like you to tell me the difference. And all the girls are like, Ashley, you're so silly. It's because they're men. I'm like, this is not an argument. This is we're the same. Why? Like, yes, they might get paid more, but that's a whole another conversation. But we're the same. We're in first division. They're in first division. I would like for you to point out the difference, and there are none. So it was crazy to have a platform of Title nine going into it, if things are even. You have an equal opportunity to be great and to perform. And now it's like, I have to fight for a locker room that is not inside of a cinder block. Yeah. You went back fifty years. I know. Was like, what the it was crazy. And and it's in a lot of ways, it isn't even fifty years in that women's professional soccer here has really only been fully professional with staying power since the NWSL came in. And one of the guys we interviewed That was how far how long ago? 2015. Okay. Wow. And one of the guys we interview in the in the documentary is a guy named Randy Waldrum, and he now runs the women's program at Pittsburgh. But he is he at the time, he had been at Notre Dame, won a women's national championship there, actually, and then he goes to coach the Houston dash of the new NWSL. And he's like, the facilities were it was like just night and day. Like, he he said, I loved coaching the players because obviously very high level players, but the facilities were nothing. And so even in The US, it has really been a ramp up. And what you're starting to see now is a lot of these NWSL teams start to build their own training centers and start to really sort of build out even their their academy system below it, like what FC Dallas has, one of the most robust academies. They like to talk about how a number of the players on the US men's team right now came through the FC Dallas system. Well, the NWSL is starting to establish some of those systems too, which is a whole another debate about what that would you know, how that will affect the college game and stuff like that. But it is. I mean and so even The US is catching up. But what we're seeing is people are willing to watch the NWSL game. They're willing to pay. They're willing buy tickets. They're willing to watch on TV. And so those TV ratings have now justified large contracts. But there are some countries where that haven't thought that far ahead in terms of the business plan. Don't be there. Will you say from the standpoint of how it will affect the game, does that mean mean that they just might get out of high school and and jump in then instead of going to college or anything like that? That that's what you're talking about. Right? That's exactly what I'm talking about. Okay. Oh, yes. It's it's crazy how the pathway it's kind of that in a form is like the European soccer. So European, like, they have universities there, but that's strictly for academics. Right? You test into it. It's really rigorous. It's hard to get into these universities. But the players that are like, I don't really think the university is for me. They'll go through the club route, and the club route is the pathway from straight through club their high school essentially to the pros. And so this is now kind of what we're seeing in The US, especially for girls. Girls are going straight from high school to playing in the NWSL, which is, again, amazing that they can accomplish that, and that is so cool to see. But it's kind of like, well, how is how is the college game? What what does that do for the college game? Because we have NIL involved, and it's it's events. It's it and so yeah. So on the men's side, there's always been this debate of we will never win the World Cup until we have a a developmental system like the one they have in Europe. Because in Europe, you get into a club at a young age, and when I say young, I mean, like, 12. Yeah. And and you're now within that club, you are trained, you're developed. And if you get good enough, you either move into the first team with that club or you might get sold to another club. And so there is no sort of, as she noted, university athletics that you would go into. Well, here, on the men's side, they've really started to develop a pipeline kind of like that, and that's where we talk about the FC Dallas. One of the things I talked about with Eddie Lewis actually was about and and actually Brandon Aubrey as well, about how, you know, is that how different it is. So when Eddie Lewis came in, I I did a little research. His the teams he played in the World Cup on, 75% of the players had been to college, men's. On this year's World Cup roster, eight of the 23 played in college. So that tells you about how different the developmental is for the men. Now on the women's side, in the last World Cup twenty twenty three, 20 of the 23 players played in college. So on the women's side, it's still college is still the pathway. We still go to college. But we'll see if that changes with all these things. And your experience last year actually speaks to this with within the NWSL two. Yes. The NWSL two, the majority of the girls were 15 through 17. So they were younger girls, and it was, you know, awesome to be like, wow. Like, this is how far the game has grown, and it's so cool to see that. But then I was like, well, I'm 29, and there are other girls who are same age as me, and there is a large age gap. There is large maturity gap as well. And so it it's kind of like we're finding our footing. But, again, I feel like the girls are special. We are different. Like, we I think that the college game excels us. Like, we have an opportunity to learn and to develop and get challenged and pushed before we go to NWSL or before we go overseas. And overseas, they just don't have that pipeline. So I feel like it prepares us more to be better and to be great. Randy Waldrum, guy we interviewed, in addition to coaching Pitt, he also coached the Nigerian national team. And he told a story too about because this is an important consideration about a player that played for him for Nigeria. Name is, Deborah Abiodun. She's property of the Washington spirit now. She played a season here in in Dallas for Dallas Trinity FC. And she said to him, look, can you please help me get to United States and go to college? Because she had the she would have had the option to go into a lower level club in Africa and develop that way. And she's like, you know, that is a hard route. And she's like, if I come over here and I go to college, you know, I'll get good coaching, but I'm also gonna get this education. Yeah. A little better future. And that's the thing that really wrestles with with all of this of okay. If you take the non college route, is there a chance that develops a better national team? Maybe. Is there a chance it doesn't develop like a better citizenry? There there there's that chance. And and, again, just to bring Eddie Lewis up again because he was really insightful on all this, he he had played overseas. And he had seen kids at 16, 17 years old. Okay. You know what? They're not gonna be good enough to make the first team, '18, 19. Now what do they do? They they got nothing. You know? They they they can't go play in college even in The United States because they've played pro. You know? And so it's it's he really wishes the college system were a bigger part of of the development pathway. Do you think we're ever gonna see a day where a guy can and this applies to other sports too. A guy can go pro, wash out there, and then come back and play in college? I actually hope so. I mean, we've seen jokes about it again on social media platforms of teams recruiting washed up NBA players that are just phenomenal in their prime. They're like, oh, getting recruited to x school. But I think, honestly, I think it would be an amazing opportunity. Girls that have, skipped the university route have been like, well, I didn't play. I'm kinda past my prime, so why not college? And what if there is something left in the tank? And it's like, well, now I can go back. I know I can do it. So because so my my dad was for many years, the athletic director at Texas Wesleyan in '4. That's how I got into sports. Loved all of that. And so he his big belief was that in that that the athletics were a big part were part of the educational system, not necessarily separate from it. Like, the things you learn playing sports are gonna help you in life. And so with with that in mind, you know, if you're gonna go back to school, why does it really matter what you did before? If if you if the point is that you're going to school to get an education and sports can be a valuable part of that education, should it really matter if you also played sports at some higher level? I don't know. I've I've always questioned that, but the idea was so preposterous that I didn't dare bring it up to anybody. You know? I always I would be laughed out of the gym like Shoopy's laughing at me now. I would never laugh at you. My best example was that that I always used to laugh to myself about because it seemed impossible was Charles Barkley. Barkley left Auburn at a with a year left of eligibility, and he loves Auburn. Think how much fun that would be to have had 40 year old Charles Barkley coming back and playing in the SEC. I'd watch that. I'd watch that too. See? I mean, that honestly, when you think about it, that can only do the college game good. You would think. They might get some NIL money too. Yeah. And well, and he you you wouldn't necessarily need NIL money for somebody like that. Now the other but still. On the on the other hand Bartlett could be the NIL sugar daddy for the other guys. Who was it that did that former NBA player that went back and played golf in college? Because you can do that if you played pro in one sport And he shoot. Why am I Deshaun Oh, Stevenson? Stevenson? Yes. Yeah. Went back and played golf at an HBCU and and financed a bunch of the program and and, you know, gave these other athletes a chance to do it. And and then he played golf on the team. No. Sorry. It was JR Smith. JR Smith. There we go. It was JR Smith? Yeah. Your your favorite. Woah. Yes. Yeah. That is one of the edgiest players to ever play in the NBA. Apparently, he likes golf. 2021. Walked on. Yes. Walked on and earned his degree. Yeah. So all of sudden, I'm thinking of JR Smith in a completely different way, and I don't know if I wanna do that. People will surprise you, Shoopee. You you should. You should revise your opinion. Yeah. JR Smith, golfer and a proponent of college golf. Yeah. And getting degrees. And getting degrees. Who knew? Certainly not me. But it is it is interesting too that you bring up other sports. And so one of the things we talk about in the the the documentary is football. UT, as you know, has a football program. I've heard that. And some of this and and so it's interesting because there's this sort of, you know, thing between the soccer players of and and one of the people we interviewed who Ashley knows was Abby Smith. So she's a goalkeeper, really good one for the Denver Summit in the NWSL right now, and she went to University of Texas. And she talked about the contrast. So on one hand, football gets all the attention. Right? And how, you know, how do we square that with we're just the soccer team, and they're football near this. But on the other hand, because football is so popular and brings in revenue, that has a positive effect on some of the things they can get in the soccer program, like facilities and dining halls and things like that. Plus, you really enjoy that part of the university experience like maybe we all do. I still like going back to my alma mater and watching a football game. Right? And so, you know, there there there's sort of of that. Yeah. For years, we've been taught that that's the way it works in college. You know? Football and basketball support all the others. But, yeah, I guess that's that could be a tangential benefit from something like that. It's and and Abby's super smart, of course, and so she she saw that. There are Hell Yeah. We have little visitors. Well, we're, yeah, making fans over there. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Listen to your dark companion just as often as you possibly can. Yes. Follow raising her raising her game one on Instagram. There we go. You might be a little young for Instagram. They probably are. Yeah. But perhaps but I'll I'll tell you what they are observing. All the soccer imagery around here. I mean, if I you know, I don't know if they're if they're into sports yet, but if they are, soccer is definitely gonna be in the conversation. For sure. For sure. So do you think that with all this that's going on here right now, this is going to change the place of soccer and the sports culture of this great land of ours? I I think yes. I think that, again, having all these different, like, soccer countries, like Argentina, The Netherlands come in and play here. I think it's going to inspire, like, again, the men's system, like, the youth system are already trying to have the European pathway. And I think just the the cultural mix is going to inspire others. Like, okay. Like, they can do it. Again, why not us? Why not me? And so I think it is gonna have a positive effect. Now to what degree, I'm not sure, but I know there will be some sort of positive effect that will be happening in growth from soccer. Well, now the you know, we've seen soccer have its moments before. And previously, every time it's had one of these moments, that's what people thought the major tangential effect would be, and it really doesn't didn't take. Do you think it might now rush? I think it is taking. I think we're seeing it being taken. Not sure if that was the right sentence construction. But the We're seeing it taking. I taking. Taking. So yeah. It's a verb. It's all being took Yeah. Is what's happening. It's gun took it. Yeah. So the I think we're seeing I think that is actually what we're seeing. I think this I think it's gonna remain I think it's gonna gonna stick around. And and so some of that, of course, is some grassroots investment that happens out of this. But I think a lot of it is people just saying, wow. Okay. Yeah. This sport is kinda interesting. And I I'm working on a project with Craig James, former SMU running back. Mhmm. And he not a soccer guy. Well and we've talked about this. And then the other day, I'm I'm on a call with him and he says, you know what? I watched blah blah blah game. And I didn't know what's going I was all into it. It was fascinating. And it was a nil nil tie. Yeah. And he and and he So see, I'm not the only one here. You're not the only one. Converting. And I think so now what what happens with that? Right? So now next time soccer is on in your you know, let's say you've let's say Mike has mastered the the on demand interface. Alright? And he sees That'll be the day. Pop up there a NWSL game or Green Bridge Super League game or an MLS game. He is a lot more likely to go ahead and click and say, I'll check this out. I'll see what's going on. And maybe he'll get lucky and tune in right at the moment of a bicycle kick. Great play by the center back or something like that with a header in the box off a corner. Exactly. A four goal or a center back stopping it. Yeah. Goal line saves from a center back. All exciting. Those are very exciting plays. They are. They are. And so I I I I think that is where we're at, and I think that will be the the thing. Here's the other thing I think that we that will will I'm gonna be fascinating to see, and that is 2031. 2031, we are likely to host the Women's World Cup. And so we're gonna see in 2031, we're gonna see a bunch of the same stuff we saw here. You mean The US is or We're down. Fairburg We or both. It will the we're I am fairly certain that our Fairburg will host games. There is a far greater than zero chance it will host the final. Woah. Every time you listen to Dan Hunt talk in some of these press availabilities, he's like, we're gonna push for the final in 2031. And so okay. We just talked about all the momentum the women's game has. We talked about how it's now starting to be seen, especially in this country and some of the other big countries, maybe not Argentina, but some of the other soccer playing countries, about how it's being seen as legitimate and resources are being put into it. I think if 2031 is like 2026, and I kinda think it will be, I think that's really gonna tell you that that soccer has arrived. And, obviously, I hope the men's team makes as long a run as they possibly can here for The US. But in '20 They have it in them? Yeah. But I know in 2031, the women's team will. Exactly. Winning solves everything. We know the women will dominate and go far and you have of course, in your home country wins it. Are you kidding me? Like, can you imagine? And they're gonna fill football stadiums. Exactly. Yeah. Why are the women so far ahead of the curve as opposed to men's when it comes to soccer? I personally think just because the college route. We have an extra four years compared to other countries to develop. We have in these universities, like division one, division two, division three, NAI, they're they're all competitive. You are training every day. You have a structure. You have a schedule. It's all soccer soccer soccer in these other countries. Yes. There's club, but it's maybe three practices a week. You know, you have a job or you're going to university or there's so many other factors. But in college, like, it's athletes student. So as I like to call it, like, are there to play soccer. And it's cool to have you have a nutritionist with you. You have a structured weight program. You have there's so many other things that make you stronger, faster, better. And then when you are in the pro level four to five years later, you're already there. In the Europeans, it's like, I'm 18, and now I'm playing against girls who are 29, and I didn't have the four extra years to develop. In in the documentary, Ange Kelly, the the coach told a story about Alan Shearer. So Alan Shearer, one of the great scores ever in the Premier League in England. He came he was doing some TV work, and he comes to Austin because they were doing something there. And he so coach Kelly is taking him around showing him the facilities there at at the University of Texas. And he's like, wow. This is better than a lot of what we have in the Premier League. And so while that, you know, was a few years ago, and so probably some of the top level Premier League sides have have brought their level up. Mhmm. On the women's side, that's not really the case yet. You have some clubs making an investment. Chelsea has made an investment. Man Manchester City has made an investment in their women's side. But even in England and and even and and other than the very top clubs at the Pyramid of Europe, not one of them has facilities anywhere near as good as maybe even a school like Saint Mary's. Okay. It's I mean, you can pair schools like University of Texas, for example, like, they're I'm I would be surprised if over in Europe, there is a facility that could match that on specifically for the women's side. Think, of course, there are, like, men's facility that can match that. But just to have a women's facility only to match the women's facility only that University of Texas has and other division one sports like North Carolina and things like that, I think it's like, wow. It's a culture shock for them to be like, wow. Like, this is just for you guys? Yeah. You don't have to share this with anybody. This is for you. So who owns these sides over there? An increasing number of Americans actually are investing. Yeah. You've got some and so yeah. It's it's an it's a Didn't I hear something about Cal Ripken junior or somebody like that investing? I think he may have. Or some maybe not him, somebody like him. Yeah. There's there well, LeBron James is a is a part owner of Liverpool. You're you're you were definitely starting to see some of the the pro athlete factor who are on board the soccer train. I think one of the interesting things about this the structure over there is you've got first of all, you've got promotion and relegation, which has its advocates and its its, you know, detractors. Mhmm. And you don't have that over here. And so one of the things that you're seeing here on the women's side is widespread investment. You're starting to see facilities being built. The Kansas City Current, which is she played for their their NWSL two side. They're building their own training facility. It was amazing. We had our own locker room. We had our own training room. We had even our own stadium. Like, it was in like, I was expecting again the European. I'm like, ugh, I'm gonna have to fight for a uniform again. Are you kidding me? And I was like, no. Like, you have a special uniform. You have a special locker room. You have your own training grounds in your own stadium. Like, you this is yours. And it was, again, so just I had no words to be like, wow. Like, just for me. It's so it's just amazing to be like, okay. Cool. Like, I made it. It looks like you're made you're made it moment. And overseas, there so there are there's a a real one of the things about the NWSL is you've got some parity. Same with the GameBird Super League, which is the other division one women's professional league here. You've got some parity. I mean, especially in the GameBird Super League, any team could win it next year. And end up yourself to a certain extent as well. Yeah. That's not as not as much the same over in Europe. So in the women's Super League, which is the top league in England, You've got Chelsea. You've got Arsenal. You've got Manchester City. Manchester United had a good year this year. Those are probably the only ones that are gonna win it. In Spain, you've got Barcelona, and then you've got Barcelona. In France, you've got Lyon, and you've got Lyon. In Germany, you've got Bayern Munich, maybe Wolfsburg, but it's very top heavy. It's it's the the depth is not there. Yeah. And so if you're and and then you get the promotion relegation thing. If you're the if you finished eighth in the league this year and you're worried you a cup you're a couple injuries away from getting relegated, are you gonna invest in a bunch of facilities? You might not. Whereas over here, you've got a little bit of that stability. You also add in the big national TV contract the NW Cell just signed, more than one of them. And so you're starting to see that that that investment. And to I think one of the points Ashley was making is that's gonna help the US national team. Now US a US national team member can go play anywhere. Any there's no club in the in the world that doesn't want somebody that's playing for the US national team, and you see that. You you see plenty of of US players go abroad to play even at the top levels, and they're playing for the Leons and the Chelsea's and the arsenals. But a lot of them stay home. Oh, the Mexican league is another viable option now for top players as well. But most of them stay home, and so, you know, they're playing really good competition. They're playing against a ton of the best players in the world every every time. There are no, you know, easy walkover games. And so I feel like that pays off too. I think that's a that trend is a good sign for the potential success of the US team in 2031. This has been quite enlightening. I feel educated today. I feel like this is definitely the most intelligent, sophisticated soccer conversation I've ever had with anybody. How how how You're laughing. How high a bar is that, though, Mike? Not saying Ashley's not smart and everything, but Look. It's it's not real high, I admit. But still, I mean, you guys have have gone next level. And I you know, I'm walking away from this seeing that there's a whole hell of a lot more to this thing than I'd ever imagined. You're gonna watch the World Cup in a whole different way, Shoopy. Yes, am. I am. I indeed am. FIFA appreciates that, Mike. Yeah. Well, Viva FIFA. How about that? Can't thank you guys enough for doing this. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, Rush, man. You. Thank you All for having right. Now, for those of you out there, what we need you to do, and we do need something from you, Cause we gotta keep this thing going somehow. And what we need from you is to get us on your social media. Okay? Just get us on there and circulate us to all your friends, get them into this thing and everybody will benefit from that. Everybody will be happy if you do that. I don't think that's too much to ask. Do you? Well, I don't. So do it. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, Shoopy. You're welcome. Thank you, Rush. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, Clyde Warren Park. Yay. To all of you by the channel out there, thank you. Bye. Alright. I'm gonna go take my pants off. You're Dark Companion is a stolen water media presentation.