Jason Anderson, formerly of Black and Red United but current with Pro Soccer Wire, joined us to give us some insight into D.C. United, a team that appears to be a lot better than their record would indicate. Not only do they have one of the league's top scorers in Christian Benteke, but they also have the most active defense. Should be interesting!

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Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

The mailbag was not full of rainbows and unicorns this week, but that didn't stop Jeremiah and Aaron from answering questions to the best of their abilities.

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Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

With their 2-0 loss to the Whitecaps, the Sounders are officially off to their worst-ever start. They’ve never before failed to win at least two of their first eight games and their six points are now two fewer than the eight they had at this point in 2018.

Their latest loss is probably their worst of the season. Not only was it their first multi-goal loss, but it also showcased some shocking mistakes and even more surprising loss of composure. On top of all that, felt an awful like a must-win game and yet, it was maybe their worst performance of the season.

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Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

To help us get a better idea of what the Sounders should be expecting when they host the Vancouver Whitecaps, we reached out to Sam Rowan of The Third Sub, which was built from the ashes of 86 Forever. Sam explains how the Whitecaps have become one of the funnest teams to watch this year, but also shares some of their areas of struggle.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

In this week's mailbag episode, Jeremiah and Aaron dig into the Cody Baker vs. Nouhou debate, try to assess the general mood around the team and give suggestions how to better close the gap with Liga MX.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

If the 5-0 win over CF Montreal felt like the breaking of the dam, the 0-0 tie at FC Dallas suggests there wasn't all that much water stored in the first place. Jeremiah and Aaron try to make sense of what we can make of the Sounders.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

The Sounders are finally in the win column for the 2024 season following their dominant, which finally gave us a reason to do a happy podcast - but we're still not ready to get ahead of ourselves.

After an awful start, the Sounders finally gave us something to cheer about - in a big way - in their 5-0 blowout of the Montreal Impact. Jeremiah's in Hawaiʻi this week, so Aaron is joined by Mark Kastner to break down the Sounders big win, how excited we ought to be about it, and what it might mean for a very rough stretch of games ahead.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

We're back with our good friend Will Bruin, who we found out is busy updating his resume. We also found out that he was recruited to play on Sacha Kljestan's Des Moines Menace, although he's not quite ready to lace up the boots again. We're going to try to make this a monthly feature for as long as Will is otherwise unoccupied. 

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

We're back with another full mailbag episode. This week we address questions about Brian Schmetzer's willingness to change his preferred lineup, speculate on the impact of new fatherhood on Jordan Morris' performance, and dig into some of the stats to determine how worried we should really be about the Sounders' performance.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

What’s left to say about the Sounders’ start?

After falling 1-0 to the LA Galaxy, they are now 0-3-2 and sitting in last place in the Western Conference and just one point ahead of the New England Revolution in the Wooden Spoon race.

They’ve now tied their franchise record for worst-ever start.

I think they looked better on Saturday than they in possibly any other game, but that’s as much of an indictment of how bad they’ve been this year than a genuinely positive statement about their play.

I’m not going to sit here and say I think that the team is broken or won’t improve, but I also don’t think we can simply take that as a given.

They’re in the midst of what seems like a pretty soft part of their schedule and it’s concerning that they can’t pull out better results, regardless of how many injured players they have.

That’s really the most frustrating thing. This team has enough talent on the field to be a better team, but right now they’re undeniably bad.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

The last time the Sounders visited the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park -- almost exactly one year ago -- there was a fullblown fan protest over the team's refusal to fire president Chris Klein. The stands weren't quite empty, but they were eerily quiet.

The scene the Sounders should expect on Saturday should be entirely different. Ryan Rosenblatt -- our resident Galaxy expert -- says that since Klein's firing that fans feel like they can enjoy themselves again. It probably helps that the Galaxy are a lot of fun to watch as well.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Yep, we're kinda in the dumps just like you. Jeremiah and Aaron went light on recap and focused more on some of the bigger-picture frustrations that are making the Sounders so little fun to watch. Consider this a venting session.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Jamon Moore of Quakes Epicenter and The Aftershock joins the podcast to share some insight on the San Jose Earthquakes, a team that is off to an even worse start than the Sounders. 

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Jeremiah and Aaron are joined by friend of the show Susie Rantz to answer a whole lot of kinda depressing questions. Among the topics they tackles are the mailaise around the team, why they aren't spending more money and what needs to change in order to start winning. Fun times!

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

It's only been three games, but we're already getting antsy over here after the Sounders dropped two very winnable points at home against the Colorado Rapids. Jeremiah and Aaron break it down with a little help from our friend Susie Rantz. 

Susie also sticks around for a second segment where we talk about the imminent sale of the Seattle Reign to a group that includes the Sounders.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

If you've been following MLS at all in recent years, you've probably encountered Joe Lowery's content. He's one of the most prolific and articulate analysts covering MLS these days, appearing everywhere from The Athletic, MLSSoccer.com, and the Total Soccer Show. He also has his own budding site, Backheeled.com, where he's collected some of the most interesting voices in American soccer. As you've probably heard, we recently created a partnership with him that gives Advocate members of Sounder at Heart free access to Backheeled.com. Joe and Jeremiah talked a bit about the partnership.

They also discussed this week's Sounders opponent, the Colorado Rapids and how they're offseason transformation is going.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Jonathan Tannenwald (aka @TheGoalkeeper) joins us on the podcast to give us a preview of the Philadelphia Union match on Saturday while also digging into some of the issues surrounding the referee labor dispute.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

The Seattle Sounders are coming off a second straight frustrating result and our listeners are feeling spicy. Jeremiah and Aaron answered questions about the proper rotation of players, whether or not the Sounders are particularly prone to muscle injuries and why it's so hard to develop at Homegrown offensive player.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

The Seattle Sounders are winless after two games and have not yet scored from open play. There's an overall sense that the vibes are off, at least among fans. Jeremiah and Aaron dig in.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Just a few weeks after announcing his retirement as a player, Will Bruin is ready to start dabbling in pundritry. We were thrilled to bring him back for what may be the first of a revived series (that's still very TBD). In the meantime, we talked about how his post-playing career looks and he gave us some insight and impressions of Saturday's opponent Austin FC.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Tim Foss joins Jeremiah to answer reader questions this week. Among the pressing issues are the Sounders' seeming propensity for injury, how much we should expect to pay for World Cup tickets and the concept of "trap games."

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

It's not the sexiest or most interesting position to have, but Jeremiah and Aaron remain at least cautiously optimistic about the Sounders following their season-opening loss to LAFC. Given that the Sounders were missing five likely starters, there just wasn't much to read into the result.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Trebor Tracy has been running Angels on Parade ever since they left SB Nation last year. He joined us to talk about LAFC, how they felt about last season, what they thought of all the offseason turnover and where expectations are now.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

We came roaring back into the public feed with a live show that we recorded at Project 9 Brewery in the Maple Leaf neighborhood of Seattle. Jeremiah and Aaron do a bit of a season preview before turning it over to Sounders Director of Development Wade Webber, who regaled us with some stories about his fascinating journey to becoming a pro soccer player and told us about some of the top prospects working their way up the organization's depth chart.

Among other things, Webber told us about a conspicuous blank spot in his Wikipedia page, what he looks for in a karaoke song and some harrowing tales of training with the legendary Clive Charles.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

We don't typically devote entire episodes to new kits, but Jeremiah and Tim both really liked what the Sounders put together and had a lot to say about it. While it might not be universally loved, it is an impressive campaign that has a lot to unpack.

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Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Following a 45-minute press conference introducing Sounders fans to Pedro de la Vega, GM Craig Waibel sat down with Jeremiah Oshan and Niko Moreno to discuss the signing. Waibel explains what he liked so much about the Argentine, gives some insight into the process behind securing his signature and what this could mean for the Sounders going forward.

There is also an extended version of this interview that's available to paid subscribers of the podcast on our private RSS feed.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

With preseason set to begin next week, now seemed like a good time to get some our very full mailbag out of the way. Joining Jeremiah on the show is Tim Foss. They discuss what Raúl Ruidíaz needs to do in order to stick around; share when they think Longacres will be open to the public; explain when it's time to panic about the Pedro de la Vega transfer and so much else.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/

You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.