Latest / Tectonic Takes / Episode 179: Aftermath (W/ Zion Caplan)
Transcript
- Tectonic Takes: What's up Quicks fans? We're back with another episode of Tectonic Takes. I'm joined by a very special guest today. I'm joined by Zion Kaplan. Zion, how you doing? I'm doing well. I'm happy to be here. Not so happy about the game, but ⁓ we can move on and hopefully we can get some more results. Yeah, I mean ⁓ I'm glad to have you here so I can have someone to commiserate with about how that performance went. That was, you know, an awful match. But ⁓ for the people who don't know you, ⁓ who people that like, you know, aren't intri aren't up to date with your content. How old are you? I am fifteen, almost sixteen. I bet you get asked that a lot, don't you? Yeah. Yeah, I I saw you at the game. We met at the Stanford game actually. ⁓ another disappointing result, unfortunately. ⁓ but ⁓ how was that experience? 'Cause for me Stanford is like one of the best press boxes that I've been in. ⁓ well it was great. I mean, yeah, the media room it really it's big and it shows like all the people and it feels like you get like a more vast experience of the game and obviously with the big attendance and it being one of the biggest games of the day, it just has the energy of the big game feel, the rivalry feel, which was a great first game in the media box for me. Right. I actually went to my first Danford game when I was eleven or twelve. ⁓ much closer to your age and ⁓ I wasn't in the press box unfortunately, but ⁓ that was when ⁓ Wondolovsky scored and Gordon scored and we did a big comeback. It's a very big game in Quake's history. But ⁓ Leon, you you cover all sports or is just you mainly focus on soccer? ⁓ generally I do soccer 'cause I report on soccer games, ⁓ as well as like events going on in the world and then I also Run a soccer nonprofit called Soccer for World Peace, so I also promote that within my page. Okay, can you tell us about ⁓ your nonprofit and what ⁓ the goal is? Basically, we started it three years ago, and the goal is to give balls to underprivileged kids around the world because obviously soccer is a game that's meant for everyone. That's how it is. It's like a culture to some people, so there's no reason not everyone should be able to play. A hundred percent agree. And what kind of inspired that? Like you know, 'cause that's not something that you just think of, you know, one day randomly. ⁓ so from when I was young, my mom's passion has always been traveling and with me playing my whole life, we always brought a ball and we always had like one ball that we would play with the kids with. So eventually it just felt like there was more we could do with it. So we tried to expand it and we came to Soccer for World Peace and it's now been something we really enjoy and I really enjoy have fun doing with other people. That I think that's a very noble pursuit. ⁓ we hear about Roussey Buda who came from Burkina Faso and the stories he would tell us about like they just kinda had to get some trash bags and wrap it in rubber bands, you know. And hey, I I grew up in Mexico for a little bit and we literally just used the Gatorade bottles. Like if we didn't have a ball, we just kicked the bottle and it it didn't roll or anything, but you know, we we did our best. ⁓ but yeah, ⁓ so You you you mentioned that you travel a lot. D have you been like a a at a lot of soccer games abroad or? ⁓ I have. It's like one of those things. That's that's one of the things I love. Like we go to a country or wherever we are, and I'm just like on the internet, where is the local game? Where can I get to? What what can I find? Yeah. So I've been to games I've been ⁓ I think one of my favorite games is we went to like a Jamaica Haiti game in Kingstown in like twenty sixteen and the vibe was absolutely great. That sounds amazing. ⁓ I was gonna ask you, What's your favorite stadium, would you say? Do you have one? Ooh. Okay, so if we leave the MLS, I am a Manchester United fan. All right. But ⁓ it I don't have any local connection to the club or anything, but I've seen a million pictures of the Monterey Stadium in Mexico and with the mountains in the background it just looks really beautiful. No, yeah, I I definitely see that stadium. I haven't actually ⁓ gotten the chance to go there. I lived in ⁓ Jalisco when I when I lived in Mexico but ⁓ no that definitely ⁓ a goal of mine 'cause that you can't you can't make that happen, right? It is that's ⁓ a natural thing. ⁓ for me, ⁓ I don't know if you've been to to Italy. I know that you you travel a lot, but ⁓ San Ciro is on my bucket list of of stadiums I wanna see before I I have not been there yet, but it's also on mine. And aren't they gonna tear it down at some point, which is unfortunate but Yeah, I I heard and I'm like, I need to get over there. Like ⁓ fortunately my job isn't, you know, letting me but one day, one day. see here. So ⁓ when did you start ⁓ your content creation journey? More recently. I mean so with Soccer for Old Peace I've been making the videos and doing that part for around two years. But my own account basically just started with I was it would think it was in February and I just was like, ⁓ I have my own account. I should post the Soccer of World Peace video and what do you know? It got like four hundred thousand views and I was like, This is pretty fun. So it's basically been from February to the current and it's just kind of got up so quickly that I've can consistent and I'm really enjoying it. No that that's it's it's absolutely insane. So I So the way that your first ⁓ I guess impression. Like th what I got of you I like, ⁓ there's a there's a kid in the press box. You know, that's that's not not abnormal. But then ⁓ a bunch of like Paula Maruti, y you know, her and then ⁓ Marco Ukolovic, they went over to you and I was like, Okay, so this guy's ⁓ part of ⁓ you know, he he's working here too And then you're you're down by the press conference, ready to ask questions and I'm like, Who is this kid? Like I need to know more and then and then, you know, we we exchange social medias and then I see you have twenty thousand followers on on your Instagram. I don't know about any of the ⁓ of your other platforms. But how has that rise been? 'Cause you you mentioned that you just started recently. Does it what's the change between when you started and now having such a a a big rapid ⁓ change in ⁓ you know fan base? ⁓ well it also it almost feels like it's just like so quick that like I can't take in every moment like of like I just I I think it's honestly been really fun, but it's just like from moment to moment it's like I try to keep posting instead of like admiring what I've done, which is probably not great, but ⁓ it's more just like hustling and I wanna get back in the media box and I just wanna keep working. It but yeah, it's been quicker than I could have ever imagined. Honestly I didn't even imagine it. So it's just been like something I've always wanted to do and something I'm growing into doing. Yeah, it's like you set out you you want volors, you know, you want people to see the stuff you make, but then when it actually happens, you're like, ⁓ god, ⁓ what's going on here? ⁓ but what would you say is the the biggest key ⁓ to to you know cultivating an an audience and and you know continuing to make content that people want to see? For me, it's like just like connecting to people. For 'cause like for example, the first video I was telling you about, it was just like a team in Ghana and the one of the kids of the team owner had just made a video about them and it just seemed like it was just a video that connected with people. Like they were happy to see that that was happening. And I think that was really what g made me grow because after that i I posted something from the World Cup and it was live. And it was just something that like people wanted to see in the moment and everyone was like excited together to see it. Yeah, definitely. And I think that's a very good way to look at it. Like you wanna make stuff that people want to see and then and obviously it's where you're But it's like in the sense of like like if I see this video and I'm like I wanna show it to my friend, it's like we ev it's like a video that everyone wants to see together. Yeah, no, of course. And how many press conferences have you been a part of before the one at Stanford? ⁓ zero. Zero. So that was your free first one. Yeah, I mean I've I've done different types of stuff. Like I've given talks for n my non profit and stuff, but in terms of an actual press conference with players, zero. Yeah. I've watched a lot. And hey, so I have a reputation here of being the guy that gets yelled at by Bruce Arena. ⁓ so he could be a scary guy. ⁓ and and I've I've seen that firsthand. ⁓ What was the feeling like before, you know, you asked him a question, especially with it being your first press conference, you don't really know how it's gonna go. Well, I was I think I got a little lucky. I did not know that, and I even though he gave me a full answer, I did kinda get that vibe of just not the most interested in press conferences. But I think after the first question I gave, I got a little confidence. So I think also it was just a question that like somebody can't like really say no response to because I mean it's not a great question but it's like just trying to do my first time and get a good reaction. No, I mean to be honest with you and I'm not just saying this because we're on a show and then you're my guest, but I thought it was a a very good question because so a a thing that happens a lot when when you're in the press conferences is you hear the same question over and over and over and over. Like to the extent that ⁓ y are you familiar with the football manager game? Yep. So they got a lot of ⁓ slack on on social media because the fans were like, Hey, why do you guys make like every press conference have the same questions? And then they're like, No, that's just how press conferences are. Like you just hear the same thing every time. Like that's actually realistic. And what you asked I felt was y 'cause you asked like what what does it take to change the team's fortune at halftime, right? Like what do you what do you say and then, you know, having to to have that responsibility on How you motivate? How do you change people's mentality? Exactly. And and you know, it's a big game. They're probably in their head. It i I thought it was good question. So I give full props to you on that. and I I've spent so much time that sitting there like, what am I gonna ask him? ⁓ my God, like what am I gonna ask him? ⁓ did you know about like ⁓ Bruce Bruce is like ⁓ I guess his pedigree beforehand or or is to you is he just a regular guy. Okay. I did. ⁓ basically my whole life, what I've d ⁓ I can go more into this, but all I really do in my life it's not even playing soccer. I just watch, I study tactics, I look at players, I look at where they're from, I look at how they play. My actual personal goal is to get a degree in sporting sciences to be a coach myself. So ⁓ I just loved my whole life doing that. So I had known in him and I known a lot of coaches in the US, so yeah. Yeah, that's that's sick. ⁓ you know, I I'd I coached a team ⁓ a long time ago. ⁓ god, it'd be like four years ago now. ⁓ you know, I just my my nephew needed a coach for his team and I was like, Sure, I'll do it. And ⁓ had a had a really good time but I realized like I know all these tactics, I know all these things and I know how I could tell them to win the game. But how am I gonna tell them in a way that they understand it? You know what I mean? And that was always the hardest thing for me 'cause like I could I can't teach they're like seven years old. So I can't be like I can't teach them off sides right now. Like they're not gonna get it. ⁓ so that was always the biggest struggle and you know, like you said in the question for for Bruce, like having the responsibility actually tell them in a way that they get it. You know, that's always gonna be the hardest thing. ⁓ but another question I had for you was why soccer? I know that you traveled the world so that makes sense that like the beautiful game that's played worldwide. But ⁓ do you have a more like specific reason? I so I lived in Maine for a while, but I grew up in this area and honestly when I was two, I don't know how or where, but I ended up on a local team ⁓ where it was just kids and it was just about kicking the ball. And I guess it was like the main sport that really stuck with me. Everything that ever happened in my life that had to do with soccer was just good and it was positive. So it kind of when it keeps building like that, it's just what I ended up loving. Yeah, I I I definitely relate to that. I I don't I'm not a sports guy, which is really weird, right? Like I love the Quake so much. ⁓ but like people ask me like, ⁓ you like you see the game last night, the Super Bowl? I'm like Like I I I I understand it and I think it like I obviously I understand the passion for for all sports because I feel it but it's like only soccer really brings that out of me. ⁓ do you do you feel any like ⁓ 'cause you know, you have a platform, you could probably apply for credentials in in in a lot of places and and probably get in. Like, you know, you you ⁓ got into the the Stanford game, which is pretty prestigious. ⁓ you could probably, you know Forty Niners next or are you looking to say it's just soccer? honestly, ⁓ for now I will probably just try to keep focusing on the quakes and whatever soccer opportunities I can get. But ⁓ with content I it's more just like wherever it takes me wherever I can get the opportunities. But yeah, for now I wanna center my platform around soccer analysis and reporting and just overall content. And speaking of analysis, ⁓ the quakes ⁓ just lost three one to ⁓ Saint Louis. ⁓ you're laughing, but it's no laughing matters now 'cause they it was an abysmal performance. ⁓ we heard after in the press conference ⁓ coach said that they dominated us physically and tactically. ⁓ was does that ring true to you? ⁓ yeah, especially when you say physically, 'cause a lot of games that I watch, your team might be dominated in terms of size and strength, but the way they make up for that is like the smart passes, not giving the ball up, keeping possession, and like slowly building across the field, which was not what was happening, 'cause even though they were getting dominated physically, the amount of mistakes and the amount of ways that they were just getting opened up with those two things combined is kind of felt like how the Saint Louis just dominated the game. Yeah, it was like we're trying to pass out from the back and Saint Louis is known for having a really high press. And we can't really find a way out 'cause our midfield is like kind of disjointed. Our attack is like, where are you guys? You know, like the we couldn't find each other when trying to bid off in the back. And Saint Louis is just gonna take full advantage of that. what where do you think that ⁓ the Quake need to start to, you know, start actually getting points again? Well, first of all, I don't know the specific answer, but when the team goes up, they leave like no cover they either leave no cover on the wing or in the center. So the they're trying to put support in the box, but they're leaving bad counterattacks, which also which kinda makes me feel like there's a little too much the midfield needs to be shaken up because there was so many moments where there was ⁓ Ricketts driving down the wing, nobody in the box besides Preston Judd, who was covered by three people, and then somehow when they were coming back They were still able to get a good counter attack, which shows to me there's something wrong within the midfield and trying to keep the s line centered. No, I I fully agree with that now. Pain soul, you know, on the breakaway. And like we we've relied on ⁓ a lot of pace from Daniel Muni ⁓ And ⁓ from Medica Canovich, but at some point, you know, not enough. ⁓ do you have a a specific player in mind that you would like to see more from? ⁓ in general, I mean this is kind of the obvious answer, but especially from the St. Louis game. ⁓ when like the team is not playing well, there's supposed to be one player that like brings imagination, like revives the team, kinda we how we were talking with the coach. And to me that has to be Timo Werner. And I think I counted seven or eight times. He lost the ball dribbling, just a bad touch. He stood there for like five seconds. Br and he is supposed to be the imaginative player. He's supposed to be the one that everyone rallies around. Right. So if he's just giving up on balls, there's nothing that we're gonna be able to do and there's no inspiration within the team. No, i it is really frustrating to watch like the heliocentric like center of our team. ⁓ he might play wide but he's still like how we wanna build up through him and we we put it to him most of the time. And then he he's not that creative a lot of times recently. ⁓ you know, he had ⁓ really good link up with Buddha in in the beginning of the season. But lately it's just like he he gets the ball, cuts inside and he looks up and then if it's not like immediately on, he c he'll he'll keep trying to dribble and then he loses it. It's like Do you do you think that there's any ⁓ choose to maybe his teammates need to step up and get on the same wavelength? Or is it just, you know, him being a diva at this point? Well, I mean, I will like no matter the amount of mistakes that I say that he makes, so when I watch him play, it is clear in the sense that he is, whether how much it is, he is a level above everyone else. So I mean, in that sense, the team as a whole I it feels not more like they have to step up their game. They have to more like help he's sh they have to help him like rally around them, but to do that he does have to not make mistakes and play with the team. It's not like upping the level, it's just like everyone coming together and doing what they need to do to support everyone else. I I think you're a hundred percent right in that. It's like the chemistry is very off right now. ⁓ is there anyone you know, it's hard to say I I don't even know who my answer would be. But is there anyone that kind of shines through to you that's like still playing well despite the results? I would say well, I think Bo La LaRue never really has a bad game. I think he might have been playing better in the start of the season, but I don't really see a bad game from him. And even though the defense is somehow conceding almost as many goals in the last four games as they ha had like the whole start of the season, Daniel Mooney is not playing very bad. It still feels like he's carrying that defense. Feels like the like lack of quality in the defence might be coming from other players not playing at his level. Which obviously is an all star is pretty hard, but No, I I definitely agree with that. I think that ⁓ you know, Muni in in a back four, it's difficult ⁓ when everyone else is playing bad. him being the leader kinda he takes the onus of the the performance because even though he he's literally like he starts attacks by himself, he gets the ball and he brings it forward. He he snuffs out all the attacks by just being faster than everyone somehow. ⁓ but still we can see it and it's like, ⁓ man, this whole defense, you know, sucks. It's like well, Nuni's like doing his best, but ⁓ Benji has had a really tough time since I guess after the break. Like I don't know what happened ⁓ but for me, you know, he we have to look at how he's doing. He he was one of the most consistent players at the beginning of the year, but he's really fallen off. ⁓ Ricketts is getting caught out very often. I don't know if you you want to mention that 'cause ⁓ there's kind of a tandem ⁓ situation where Vitor Vittor Costa you don't really want to bring him on 'cause he's not playing well, but then Ricketts doesn't look super suited to the left back position. ⁓ what do you think? Well ⁓ it's not really a player, but what I will mention is like the World Cup break has kind of added what it felt like a twelfth player to the other team. And just in the sense of we have Reed Roberts and Ricketts and even Mooney, they're all so young that like it feels like with young and like talented players it's often like momentum that keeps them going and like the mentality of that. So with this break it I mean I think he plays often more like a left wing back, as I would say in FIFA. ⁓ which is kind of problematic if the rest of the defense is not holding down, especially like how I'm saying if if they're like not having the same momentum they did. So kind of him getting caught out is to me likely due to that and him pressing forward. Not too much, just too much for how the rest of the defense might be playing. Yeah, and and we saw the break as something when you know, going into the break, ⁓ you know, we got a win at Portland and ⁓ a lot of guys were limping off the field and we were like, Okay, this break is gonna be great for us, right? 'Cause it's gonna eat up a lot of the time where Nico's gonna be out. and a lot of the players who are like banged up, they're gonna have time to recover. ⁓ and then we play six friendlies, ⁓ in the in the break. I don't know if you're aware. Do you think that has a a big impact on on you know Players not being able to actually get back to fitness. I personally I did not ⁓ attend or watch all of ⁓ I was there for the Tijuana game and just in that game particular, I know it was at the end, but it I can see what you're saying. It's just like everyone did not feel like they're fully there, and obviously it's the World Cup, so even though you're not playing, you could still kinda be in that mentality for your country, which means that you're not fully like relaxing and getting in the mindset for the rest of the season. Cause when I asked Buddha that question after the LA Galaxy game, it was really about the mindset. Yeah. And I thought his answer was good. It was like keep going, but it doesn't feel like that's kind of what's happening. It felt like there wasn't necessarily a break. And ⁓ I don't know, this isn't like to blame anything, but it just felt like other teams might have gish like cut came together more and kind of put more towards the rest of the season because obviously the idea of the friendlies is staying sharp, staying ready. But maybe you're right, and maybe a few less friendlies would have favored us a lot more in these games. Yeah, and and and like you said, it's not just ⁓ the physical aspect of it, but like mentally we don't look there. So maybe they checked out during the break and the momentum that we had, ⁓ any momentum that we had, you know kind of dissipates o over that time of of not playing competitive matches, I guess, even if we are playing closed doors friendlies, you know. ⁓ but ⁓ a big ⁓ you know thing that happened at at the game against St. Louis was Nico Shakaris ⁓ got the start and he was somebody that we really missed ⁓ during the start of the year. ⁓ how long do you think it's gonna take for him to really get back into the swing of things? Not just physically but also like get back on the same page as everyone and also everyone like, Okay, we're w we should play like Nico's back and and, you know, have to readjust to that because he was gone for so long. ⁓ well, obviously I can't give you an exact time frame, but it doesn't fully feel like it will be up to him how he've been talking the last like five minutes. It might more be up to how the team and if the team is able to adapt and just adapt to being around him and knowing that He might be better on the ball in the current situation than one of our other players. So feels like it will be up to him. Maybe he'll be back physically in three or four weeks f fully, but it might not be the fully same him if the team isn't able to get him in the right situations that they were at the beginning of the season, which is kind of worrying 'cause we're in a really important stretch right now. No, that that's a great answer. And ⁓ 'cause it it kind of shows I didn't think he played ⁓ poorly. I thought Nico looked fine. but we're definitely not like 'cause at the beginning of the year he was like making everything happen, right? He was pulling the strings. ⁓ he was our main guy. Even though we have Timo Werner, I felt that that, you know, Nico was the the most important player that we had. and he looked okay. I'm gonna ask you ⁓ how you thought about his ⁓ forty five minutes ⁓ you know on on Saturday. But ⁓ it didn't you know, really obviously w if the rest of the team isn't performing at at top capacity and Saint Louis is on such good form, it's not gonna make a huge difference. But what did you make of his ⁓ you know, first half? I mean, I thought that it was as good as it could have been, like for how the rest of the team was playing. I thought that yes. I mean everyone on the team could have made a few more passes, some like There could have been there was a few opportunities, a few balls that weren't seen. So I thought his performance, if you were to ask me versus the rest of the team, was a lot better. But I would say there's still room to grow because like you were saying at the beginning of the season, for me was especially him and LaRue were just connecting the field and playing those like not even the through ball, but the ball before that and like letting the wingers get into the sides and just let like letting Timo Werner Do what he does best and Buddha and everyone. A hundred percent. ⁓ well, Zion, thank you very much for ⁓ giving us your analysis. I was I wanted to test you a little bit to see if you knew your stuff 'cause ⁓ we've had like full grown ups who who, you know, are on the show and then they they're like, Yeah, they they just gotta try harder, right? And it's like, no, it's it's a lot deeper than that. So I'm glad that you were actually able to provide some deep analysis. I'm very impressed by that. ⁓ but what's that QR code that you have right next to you? ⁓ this is my Instagram which you can also find the nonprofit from. ⁓ it's just where I post most of my content. I'm trying to eventually grow into Facebook and TikTok, but for now I'm just focusing on growing my main audience on Instagram. And we'll make sure to ⁓ put the link to your nonprofit in the ⁓ description of this video. So anyone who is interested in that, ⁓ Go ahead and check down there. Diane, can you give us a refresher on on what the nonprofit is about? ⁓ so it's centralized basically on the idea of not ⁓ the game of soccer is like what people feel in many different countries, not always in the US, but as a culture. And if for whether it's a culture, whether it's a game, whether it's things somebody rallies on, there's no reason not every person should be able to play. So we're especially looking at some of like the most underprivileged countries and people that really could use it to lift them up 'cause as well, soccer is often used as like a tool to how some people say, make it out. So I think just giving everyone the opportunity if they want it. And then it's also just centralized as within the nonprofit we have a page called the Global Gallery, which is basically ⁓ a bunch of messages of peace. 'Cause when we give somebody a ball, our one requirement is that they just give us a message to the world and what they like about soccer and why they think it creates peace. So the eventual goal is to have so many things that people can communicate with each other through their messages and somebody from one country could see somebody from a different country. And that the I general idea is o all of that and coming together, which is why it's called Soccer for World Peace. Awesome. Thank you very much, Dan. ⁓ again, so where can the people find you? Just ⁓ QR code? Or soccer for the nonprofit, soccer for worldpiece dot org. Awesome. ⁓ thank you very much for for ⁓ you know joining us today and ⁓ hopefully we'll have you back on in the future. I would love that. Thank you. What's up, Quakes fans? We're back again with another episode. I'm joined as always by my co host Devin. Devin, how are you doing today? Devin ⁓ I don't know what's wrong, but ⁓ you have no voice. Yeah, lost my voice over the weekend. ⁓ no. ⁓ no today is is a pretty good day. Beautiful day out. ⁓ if you had asked me about two or three days ago, I may have had a different answer, a different story. But ⁓ yeah, the weeks albeit it's a Monday when we record, ⁓ weeks started off okay. Yeah, ⁓ I I have the same thing. I w I drove from ⁓ Newark ⁓ Fremont and to ⁓ Hercules. And now I'm back here. ⁓ so quite the ship ⁓ up and around the bay. ⁓ I spent a lot of time in Oakland. I driving in Oakland is like playing Mario Kart. It's it's a hard time. It's a lot of mental fortitude for sure. Yeah, you have to dodge all kinds of things. ⁓ anyways, ⁓ so this episode will be a different kind of episode. We had a guest Darren Kaplan on. ⁓ very smart young man. ⁓ shout out to him. He has a ⁓ ⁓ non profit that you guys should check out to ⁓ provide soccer balls to underprivileged people all across the world. ⁓ very noble pursuit. and also he had great analysis on the St. Louis game as well. So definitely check out that half of the episode, but the other half is gonna be me and Devin discussing ⁓ I guess more sinister things. ⁓ Devin, the question was asked to Bruce Arena ⁓ if he had any comment on the hiring of Gavin Wilkinson. What did you make of his response? ⁓ well first and foremost, I'm kinda glad we weren't there in retrospect. I'll get to that in a second. But on the comment itself, I just thought it was really interesting that he personally had no comment. I I will I will insert the clip right now. Bruce I wonder I don't know. Going back to that the comment by Bruce, it just makes no sense because what what does you know, he he referred back to to the president of the earthquakes. I don't see how the president really has anything to do with this, considering It's a footballing decision. Like it's a also he's the the direc like the sporting director. Right. You know? I if anyone makes the decisions, it's Bruce and why doesn't Bruce own up to these these decisions he's made in front of the media? Gavin isn't a business signing. He is a footballing signing or soccer signing. Soccering doesn't feel right, so footballing feels right. ⁓ this is a decision ⁓ like ⁓ a hiring that is meant to influence the the soccer side of things, and that's Bruce's kingdom. This is like you he's trying to move the blame over, but it's not working. It it's very obvious what he's trying to do. ⁓ Like he he's just dodging it, right? Yeah, essentially. And and you know, I I d I don't understand it. I kind of so so for background information, those who did not watch the San Jose Earthquake's official YouTube video of the press conference for Bruce Arena, ⁓ the earthquakes had left out the question from Jeff Carlisle asking about Gavin Wilson's hiring. ⁓ It's now uploaded on on Tectonic Takes and it's also on Quick's Epicenter's live stream. ⁓ you can find the full answers there, but the earthquakes did not provide it. I somewhat understand why, just for a PR decision, but also on the same time I'm not gonna I don't wanna like accept that as the reality of of deleting an entire question and answer. Yeah because I think just avoiding that entirely as a club is is a really bad idea. Right. So we know Ryan and You know, the the the PR team at the club and I don't blame them for any of this. Like we know that this happens out of their control. They don't hire anybody, right? Like that's not they didn't do this. Their job is to make the club look good, with what they have. And so, you know, from the perspective of knowing them and knowing that they have to be working, like if if they let that go like go then it kind of is a you know mark against them, I think. ⁓ like they could be reprimanded for that. I I don't know the extent of which they could be punished for that kind of thing. But I understand why they wouldn't want that up. But it also, you know, without the that context of knowing them personally and then, you know, having stake in in their jobs and stuff. You you kind of see it as like, okay, well there's a cover up happening. Like you obviously don't want this information to be talked about and ⁓ if you don't want this information to be talked about, you know that it's not good. You know that this is a bad thing that's happening and you just like trying to sweep it under the rug. And so like 'cause if if Gavin Wilkinson's hiring was a a great thing for the organization and that they felt that way, then leave the question in, right? But that's obviously not the case. That's like ⁓ Luca. When we signed Luca, you know, I'm sure anyone would be happy to answer those questions because we think it's a good signing. We needed an additional nine behind Judd, you know. Great. But with Gavin Wilkinson, we ask a question about him, everybody knows it's the wrong thing to do. Not asking the question, but just hiring Gavin. ⁓ having him on the Quakes payroll no matter what his position is, ⁓ whether it be in the front office or or outside stepped outside of the front office as just a consultant, which he is a consultant. He's not like an official member of the front office. But I don't really think that matters. No. I think he being paid by the earthquakes, hired by Bruce Arena, is still it's unacceptable. Right. And ⁓ I d I do want to address something 'cause ⁓ s there's people who thought that we asked the question. ⁓ we weren't there. We'll talk more about the segue to to kind of talking to like where the technology takes are at ⁓ right now in terms of where we wanna stand. Like where you know, how we participate in media going forward. ⁓ people thought that we had asked a question ⁓ about Gavin Wilkinson, but that was actually Jeff Carlisle, full credit to him. ⁓ he had actually, you know, written an article that included the Yates report. And so a lot of people know about this because of Jeff Carlisle to begin with. So, you know, big props to him. ⁓ he's always the nicest guy to talk to in the press box. ⁓ and somebody who is revered very highly in this space, you can tell that immediately when you walk into, you know, the press box. Everybody knows and respects Jeff Carlisle a lot. ⁓ that being said, ⁓ when he asked that, ⁓ because we weren't there, ⁓ I had people in the the that press room to make sure the question was asked and make sure that we got footage. ⁓ Because, you know, it was still important for those things to happen even if we decided not to be present. and those people ⁓ you know, gave me ⁓ the footage and I immediately posted Bruce Arena's ⁓ response or lack of response to the Gavin Wilkinson situation. And ⁓ I I gave credit to T J the photographer, ⁓ but I didn't ⁓ give any credit to Jeff Carlisle and that was, you know, our bad. ⁓ but that wasn't really the the focus at that time. It was more about what Bruce had, you know, omitted and not said. Yeah. I don't think Jeff would have any grudges against us for not crediting him. I think he enjoys the behind the scenes work too. Yeah, and he's also like bigger than us, so like, you know, ⁓ but obviously ⁓ I also I didn't really know who asked it. I just like I just Instincts just get it out there so people can see because the visibility on this subject is what's you know what I'm prioritizing right now. ⁓ but ⁓ regardless ⁓ that information is out there. We have the full press conferences we have the full press conference unedited on our YouTube. ⁓ I'll see if I can put that in the end screen of this video. ⁓ but anyways, Tectonic takes going forward. We want to continue being a place that provides the information, whether it's about the soccer side of the game of of the earthquakes or the everything else of it. and we spoke with our community today and we came to the decision that it's probably best for us to continue showing up at these press events because that's where we can do the most impact. ⁓ you know, I I I understood the the impact of not going, right? Like I I didn't want it to seem like we were shying away from from the situation. But I felt that going back to business as usual wasn't right. and so, you know, Devin, we we agreed at this point we should probably not go. And but I knew that we still had to have the question be asked, so I I took steps separately. I didn't actually tell you. I just sometimes I assume you know what I'm doing and that's that's my bad. ⁓ I I can read your head, Abram. ⁓ yeah. I when I take my hat off ⁓ just all the thoughts beam beam to your head. But ⁓ regardless, ⁓ you know, you had brought up to me that ⁓ you'd like to go to the these press events and so I was like I need to think about it. You know what w what do we want to do, how do we make the best impact and I guess I ⁓ I just asked the community to get the the most opinions and people that I trust and and see, you know, what they thought about it and I think that we came to the right decision of we're gonna go as much as we can. I don't know what our relationship with the Quakes is at this moment, ⁓ because of the steps that we've taken. ⁓ but I decided that if they don't let us in the press box ever again, then ⁓ I don't wanna be in the press box, right? Yeah, I mean I don't I don't think this requires any defending what we did and No, but I I do wanna be transparent because nobody sees this. I'm kinda prefacing what I'm about to say. But yes, it everything you had said is basically spot on. ⁓ you know, I I think it's a good thing we ended up not going because, you know, r Ryan tends to ask us pretty early on in the press conference and And the answers that Bruce gave to a lot of the other questions, I feel like maybe would not have been asked if we had asked that question about Gavin earlier on in the pressure. You know, we wouldn't have been able to to see Bruce stumble over the fact that there wasn't a game last weekend. even though it was a Leagues Cup break and he like, ⁓ I swear we had a game. We wouldn't have been able to see that if we had asked the question earlier. You know, I think it was good that we got those questions out of the way 'cause I like it's just it's like a a a storm in my heart. right now where it's like I I wouldn't have been able to ask anything about the game itself in and only focus on the Gavin situation just because of the severity of it and and you know not going had a multitude of factors that ended up as a positive result. I think, you know, as as someone who's still trying to protest the earthquakes in many ways possible, I had an opportunity at halftime if you guys saw me on the field to kick a ball and attempt to hit the crossbar, aka the crossbar challenge with our ⁓ good friend ⁓ Mike out there. Shout out Mike. Mike Pastor. you know, we were unfortunately unlucky not to to hit it. Although I did hit the the GW out sign, so you know, that's a statement in its own. sacrificing my attempt for the awareness of of GW out, ⁓ as I like to say. But ⁓ You know, next week I yet again get another opportunity post game to ⁓ potentially get free season tickets ⁓ to do the same thing. ⁓ they said if at ⁓ halftime, if if you miss, then you get another attempt the the very next weekend or September twelfth. And that that for me is my way of protesting the earthquakes by not giving them any money so we don't have to you know, there's less to pay Gavin essentially. So that's Some people could see this as participating in like the the Quake stuff. But I'm like, no, this is a direct way of taking money out of their pockets. ⁓ you doing this ⁓ you've already taken a bunch because you have two seasons in a row where you're not paying anything. It was so ⁓ I I can't even describe to you the emotions going through that moment because as I'm walking out, you know, they're they're the the PA person was talking about how me and and Mike had hit the crossbar and like the season before to get free season tickets this season. But they had also mentioned that I had done this two seasons in a row, so there's like additional pressure in front of tens of thousands of you know, ten plus thousand people to hit it again. And yeah, just like walking up to the ball, it's just like a I that was such a surreal experience to be standing on the field that, you know, a minute prior, our players were were potentially yeah well not potentially, but standing on They might have played on it. I don't know. It it was minutes. It's it was a l it was a long time since they had touched our offensive third side of the field. no, you guys got genuinely close. ⁓ like your your attempts both of them were like very close. ⁓ not that I could have done any better. I think that's a really awkward range. ⁓ like it's like a few yards outside of the the D. ⁓ I I don't think I would choose to shoot from there. I think I would choose like from the left. A little bit more just 'cause I'm right footed. ⁓ I don't know. ⁓ just the that ⁓ D did the range in in the spot where you have to take it from ⁓ impact your shot at all? It was pretty nice actually. I I didn't mind the range because I think a couple of years ago ⁓ Luis and I were were practicing the crossbar challenge and we had attempted it like thirty plus yards. So then, you know, the last two years attempting it much closer to goal kind of felt more reassuring that there's a better chance of hitting the the the crossbar. Yeah. ⁓ I guess 'cause the way I I hit I strike the ball I curve it like crazy. Like ⁓ I I loved I know that he's a galaxy player, but I I I loved Beckham growing up. Like just the the the aesthetic of a player who's not good at anything but kicking the ball. Like he he doesn't run fast, he's not strong, he's not like crazy like tall or anything. He's like six six one, I think. He just kicks it so good. He just kicks it and then it goes there. ⁓ you know, and and and Wando is kind of a similar thing where he's just like an average guy. He he's not. ⁓ Wando is like a very athletic person, but like compared to center backs, he's not like jumping higher than them sh you know, muscling them out or getting them for pace. He's just there. He's just right where he needs to be. People who are only good at one thing and it makes them extremely effective. That's like I I just have a a soft spot for that kind of player. ⁓ anything to add on that before we go back to Gavin Wilkinson? Yeah, I mean it it's hard it it's it's hard not to to like what what Beckham provides on the field. But ⁓ yeah, I think you know, for for a multitude of other reasons I think it was it was good that we we weren't there for that weekend and and now we can find our way back. And I like a an additional piece to that is is you know, this is my first time as or my first year as media and to represent the the journalism community here in in the Bay Area in San Jose. And I think it in like moments like these, I'm, you know, low key shitting myself because I don't necessarily have that experience to to ask such a question to Bruce Arena or to figure out how to word it right. 'Cause I don't have like, you know a a journalistic background. You know, I I love talking about the quakes. The quakes have been my my life, my my blood for for the last, you know, twenty six, twenty five years. ⁓ but to to ask the right questions is pretty difficult and and to make it such like, you know to add such pressure in such a difficult scenario. ⁓ I'm not trying to make excuses, but you know, i it's like it's hard. It's really hard. It is genuinely hard and I don't think people realise that, ⁓ at all. ⁓ being there. 'Cause you're face to face with him. Like he he's looking at you and he's not looking at you with a smile. ⁓ you know, and it's it's not really that anymore. Like I I used to feel more fear about Bruce and his reactions. Now I like I you you'll see it very often I'll snap back ⁓ at Bruce if he like pretends not to get my question, I'll like Okay, let's let's real simple now. Did this this this you know ⁓ and it's it's really frustrating to have to do 'cause y he's smart enough to get it. But anyways, ⁓ the the the more nerve wracking part is to lose the ability to come to these games as credentialed media and then we lose like basically all our impact. ⁓ we can still do this, you know, as just fans. ⁓ you know, Quakesaholic is an example of as far as I know, they don't have any kind of credentials. I don't see them in the press box or in a press room. ⁓ and they're they're fans who are just like very passionate about ⁓ making podcasts and that could be us. ⁓ but in terms of the press conferences that we deliver on a weekly basis, faster than the Quakes do, in terms of ⁓ the exclusive interviews which Who knows if that'll be allowed anymore because of you know, the PR team has to make the team look good and we're actively working against that end. But we're going to do it because that's what we have to do, and then they're gonna do what they have to do. But they're also the ones who have to let us talk to the player that we want to talk to. ⁓ and that's just being transparent about what this process is like. They're lovely people. ⁓ I I wish them the the very best at this, but we're gonna do what we have to do. Do you have any thoughts about the the, you know, juxtaposition and the the the ⁓ conflict that we're put in to, you know, potentially go against these people who we consider, you know, friends and co workers? I mean I have one. I don't want to throw any shade anyone's way in particular, but I think there was a moment that I wanted to bring up with our our podcast involving Crystal that the Mercury News had broke the news that Wilkinson was coming on, and ⁓ you know, to the earthquake's organization. They they they air quoted it like the so called Yates report. And Abram, I don't know about you, but when you see someone so calling something, what does that mean to you? ⁓ they're not super confident in the source. Like they're just like yeah, w like ⁓ allegedly, you know Yeah, they're kinda like downplaying it, almost insulting it. ⁓ which I thought was a really interesting thing to do and I I'm not really interested or nor do I care about their opinion on the eights report, really, 'cause the eights report is the eights report and I think, you know, it speaks for itself. ⁓ but I attempting to devalue that really upset me and rubbed me the wrong way. Yeah, definitely. It's it's really, you know, it's difficult to be in this spot but ⁓ We chose to do it because it was the right thing to do. ⁓ and like I said, ⁓ and you know, like has been said earlier today, ⁓ Eric Sarceno, a good friend of the podcast, he said that until Gavin Wilkinson is out, ⁓ he's not making any more Quake content. And ⁓ that's a big loss to the Quake community. ⁓ what are you pointing at? Mexico? ⁓ I'm pointing at the Mexico flag 'cause it's covering up most of the Quake stuff on the podcast, so you won't see any quake stuff in the background. I I I mean you could barely see it like that. ⁓ regardless. ⁓ I also I won't discredit you for doing that. It's just it's my personal choice. I don't have a Mexico flag, so that could change. Yeah. But I appreciate ⁓ the flag of my people there. Anyways. ⁓ you know, there there's definitely like thoughts about that, like what what is this show without quakes, right? ⁓ and ⁓ I don't know. Like it it's hard to think about 'cause we don't want to stop doing this, but we don't want to support the team that's, you know, working against the best interest of the community. ⁓ I keep saying that. The the best interest of the community is ⁓ our priority. 'cause this show is by the community for the community. And I think to not actively show that in what we do and the stances that we take, ⁓ would be disingenuous. ⁓ so I guess right now we're just we're maybe you're with me, Devin, maybe you're not. But the only thing I'm thinking every day when I wake up and and think about like Tectonic and and what we stand for, what we're gonna do next is hopefully they h fired Gavin today so we can go back to normal And be friends with the people that we're friends with and and talk about Quakes and and talk about Nico Shekaris again, you know, and and the more fun things. 'Cause this is not the fun thing that I signed up to talk about. I agree. It's not fun. And I and I wish it does come back to the fun you know, the fun moments because they even through tough times, you know, us Quakes fans have had a lot of fun together and and we may share experiences outside of the Quakes realm. where, you know, we go on like on vacations together or road trips or whatnot. And and I think I have a lot of fun going on road trips with you, Abram. and and other friends that we've made along the way, you know, in the last couple of years. ⁓ you know, and and and I've met a bunch of people who play video games. I play video games with a bunch of other Quakes fans now. We've made a a beautiful community. but it's unfortunate that most of those times we hang out and and talk to each other, it's it's not about the Quakes as much anymore, just because we don't know the direction of the club is going and we're pretty unhappy with ⁓ you know what we see the club is doing publicly. ⁓ but you know it's yeah, I'm also lost for words as well, Abram. I it's just ⁓ such a confusing time to not only just be a fan of the earthquakes or n or a member of the earthquake or of the media, but to support the team 'cause no one wants to support this. No, and you know, I I can't fault ⁓ Eric for making the decision that he did this morning. you know, he he said something that stuck with me where he is ⁓ a girl dad first and I'm not a father, right? ⁓ But I saw my mom yesterday and I told her about this and you know, she's not a soccer fan. ⁓ if anything she really tried to make me not be into soccer so I wouldn't be like my dad. ⁓ so she was like, I told you anyways, ⁓ it it was just I don't know, I guess we're just th that shouldn't be what it's about. ⁓ I don't think that Eric should have to worry about ⁓ his daughter at all. ⁓ at Quick Games. and she you know, his daughter I haven't I I've met her. We we both met her Golchella at Devon and ⁓ she's really into it. She she loves going to the Quick Games and ⁓ his you know whole family does. And that's just one example of ⁓ a family being affected by this ⁓ where they can't really enjoy it anymore. He said that the moment it stops being fun for him to make Quick content, he he'll stop. And because of ⁓ what the Quakes stand for, ⁓ you know, he obviously felt that way and it is you know, really sad to see. Yeah, I mean to to add more to that that statement, I I think, you know, obviously the listeners out there, whether it be through YouTube or Spotify or Apple Mus or Apple Podcast, you know, we we completely understand that, you know, most of the front office may not agree or does not agree with this decision and And that's one of the reasons why I wanna keep showing up is because I know the players don't, you know, ne s wouldn't necessarily support this decision. I think you can see it on the field. Even if it's just one game since hiring Gavin. Like we look just absolutely like i uncontrolled wild animals, ⁓ who have no cohesiveness whatsoever. And and I think you've already discussed this on with with our our guest. But ⁓ you know, just Looking at the byproduct of of this hiring, I know the front office doesn't support that and and I wanna be there with with and for the front office and and those people that that don't necessarily support this because you know, this club is by the community and for the community, as you stated earlier, Abram, and they're getting paid big bucks to represent us, the city, and and all the fans that come with it. ⁓ Yeah, I think just abandoning the club entirely, I feel like not saying that that's what we're doing or anyone is doing, I'm not calling anyone out, but I think like the the mindset for me, I'll respect, you know, everyone else's decision if they would like to boycott or just not show up to any games, that you know not against that whatsoever. I think that all the power to you. You know, I just think that there's a lot of members of this front office who are you're getting paid and should rightfully get paid to do the job that that they grew up you know, hoping and dreaming to to do and, you know, they're doing it here for the Quakes. It's just yeah. Having having Gavin and I I try not to get emotional here, but just having Gavin put a black stain, or just any stain, on that club and the reputation and what people used to know this club stood for is a real heartbreaker. Right. Yeah, and and You know, it's very clear that we, you know, bleed blue. We Devon had to put up a giant Mexico flag to cover up like a third of the Quake's things on the wall that are even visible to us just in this angle. Like the rest of his room is also covered. For me, I have this display, ⁓ which I spent hours, you know, putting up, but I don't look at it anymore. At least not the same way. ⁓ But ⁓ we had ⁓ some of our lovely ⁓ community members look up a lot of sponsors that are affiliated with the club and the plan is to ⁓ reach out to those sponsors to ⁓ be like, hey why are you ⁓ endorsing a club that does this right and so hopefully that hurts the pockets of the sponsors and the earthquakes and then they actually have to start paying attention because that's the only thing that you know actually rings with these kind of people. so once it hurts their their pocketbooks then it actually hurts them and they actually hear it. ⁓ so we will ⁓ you know put up all the ⁓ sources that we have at this time and ⁓ we'll let you guys do what you do with those. ⁓ but ⁓ we will be back next week to cover whatever other developments follow. We may talk about the game if we find it ⁓ to be worth talking about. Lately the Quakes on the field play hasn't. ⁓ we hope you guys enjoy the first ⁓ half of this podcast with Zion Kaplan. ⁓ I was very impressed with his ⁓ knowledge and energy. ⁓ he he's doing great things as a very young content creator, so go check out his content if you haven't already. ⁓ Yeah, like I said, we'll be back next week. But until then, GW out. GW out