CRNRSTN Collective

CRNRSTN Collective - Episode 37 | World Cup Edition

• CRNRSTN Collective • Episode 37

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 58:07

In this episode, the host, J, along with co-host, Javan, discuss all the hype, fan-fair and news leading up to the World Cup. The two look at the major success of the last one in Qatar in uniting the fans in a safe and peaceful way and compare it to the ongoing situations found in the political unrest inside the United States, Mexico, and Canada that has already begun to take shape before the tournament has even begun. They look at the riots of the Mexican teachers, the major focus on advertisement and gambling promotion in relation to the games, as well as some of the weather concerns during the warm-up games. On the bright side, the two look at the incredible surge of football players and coaches in spreading the Gospel and using their platforms as a public demonstration of their faith in Christ ahead of the World Cup, something which has never been as prevalent as it is now.

#worldcup #football #soccer #tournament #trending #podcast #opinion #fans #excitement #new #news #viral

SPEAKER_01

Hello, friends, and welcome to a special edition of the Cornerstone Collective. I'm your host, Jay Brown. With me today is Javen Brown. Hello, hello. And we make up the people who actually care about sports on this podcast. Shout out to Angus, shout out to Gage and others that are part of us, but we are thankful we're gonna talk about it a little bit as we're getting into the World Cup this week. J Bo, it starts this Thursday. Yes, sir. I'm mad excited for it. It's gonna be fun. Same. It's gonna be amazing. We want to jump off with the scripture here in Philippians three. Do you have that scripture for us?

SPEAKER_02

I do, yeah. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians three, verses thirteen through fourteen.

SPEAKER_01

Amen to that. Hey, we have seven C's that we talk about often here, and they are commitment, community, communication, competence, creativity, compassion, and celebration. In our commitment to Christ, we've been talking about what it means to live for God. We recently just finished up a series on Pentecost and started our new summer series called Letters. Letters is actually talking about Paul writing to the church, in this case, uh Thessalonica, and talking about what those things are. And it's going to be pretty amazing as the weeks progress as we have different voices speaking about it. But we've been talking about how we need to have a hunger for the word of God, and we need to be those that have a mentor or mentor others in that process of living after Christ, much as Paul's example to us and what that means is he and Silas went together later, Timothy and others. So we've been talking about that in the process. Pretty amazing. Yeah. But this week we want to focus on the World Cup, a lot of things going on. We've been talking about how a lot of people have a faith in Christ. And J, but we've been talking about like the latest footballers, especially PG PSG players, Arsenal players, a lot of them. Man, they're they're playing in the World Cup. Yeah, these are guys of faith.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's been awesome. Especially, um, I know for like Desiree Duet, he's been someone of like extreme faith. And even during the UCL, I think he was one of the first people to be interviewed after PSG won. And the thing he said first and foremost, he was like, um, or he just said, first and foremost, I'd like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And he even said it in English, which is like super cool to me because I thought he would have done it in French, but he was just extremely adamant with everything. And he's been somebody that I pretty much every day I always see him post like either a scripture or something about his faith, especially in the captions for everything related to football. He always posts like something in his bio. I know the Brazil national team has been huge on it. They've been sharing a lot of um, a lot of scriptures from uh the gospels, especially of John, in the descriptions for when they get called up to the World Cup and like Neymar, people like that, which has been super cool. And yeah, man, like we've seen a lot of uh testimony and um glory be given to Jesus within this process, and I think it's super cool that footballers are taking that adamant step of faith. That's been something that kind of during this World Cup has been blown up, other unlike a lot of ones before, where it's been more focused about like political tensions, which it still kind of is, but for this, we've definitely seen that huge surge in people giving their testimony that way.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I love it. You know, and people using that testimony for God and talking about that's why they have this momentum. It's a powerful thing to see really exactly what that means and how that would work. And uh people getting involved and using their testimony, encouraged by others that are to testifying, and so they're they're telling their story too. Which that's part of what we talk about as being stewards for God. We talk about our time, our talent, our treasury, and our testimony. So using each one of those elements and being those that are good stewards of all those things. So pretty powerful. Yes, sir. So the World Cup is kicking off, and the nations that are hosting are the US of A. Shout out, got the got running running a new kit today. There you go. Uh a little US of A, uh, as well as our brothers and sisters in Mexico to our south and those to the north in Canada. So we're gonna be hosting all these games kind of collectively. Yeah, it's a different feeling, this World Cup, than the than Qatar. Definitely is, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know how exactly I feel about it yet because I don't like the disunity between kind of the way that everything's ran. I feel like Mexico, as far as the way that they're treating it, is very much still like to the heart of the fans and trying to keep that atmosphere around. It honestly just feels like we're treating this as a cash grab. I don't think the US really has any historical like respect for the history behind football and the way that South America or that Europe does. And because of it, like ticket prices and things are through the roof, the way that certain national teams and like fans are getting treated is like it's super strange. And like it's it all just seems really corporate, and like it's more about the advertisements and everything running like that versus even in Qatar, people were more concerned because of like everything going around with um with like the way stadiums were built and like political things around it. But for this, it's a lot more about the fact that like everything is so in your face with advertisements around like gambling or around like um ticket sales that are like at given at like insanely inflated prices, right? So everything just kind of feels really like a monopoly that's pushed in your face. And I hope that doesn't translate to the way the actual tournament runs and feels um because a bunch of people like had or didn't have high hopes for Qatar, and then it ended up being the best World Cup of all time, which is super cool. Amazing. So I hope that the football is at least at least decent this year for it.

SPEAKER_01

That's true. We we had the ability and uh and opportunity to go and be in Qatar for World Cup, got a chance to go see a few games and matches that were played out, which so we got to see a lot of different countries. Um man, we you and I we saw France play, we saw US play, saw England play, yeah, um Japan played, Japan, Germany, yeah, Germany, uh England, Iran, yeah, yeah. So we saw a bunch of good good teams. Uh uh, we talked about Japan, Germany, all those. And so the big upset was Japan, Germany. It was crazy. We decided to cheer Germany from the start because there was like they were underdogs in a crazy way, and then they pulled out a win, which was crazy. Japan, what do you say? Uh you said Germany, you're good though. Against Germany. I was like, we not cheer for the German kids. No, no, no. We were cheering for Japan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But pretty crazy. You're running, you're running the Egyptian kitchen kit back in the mix. Yeah, there you go. Yellow Master. Yeah. So we lived in Egypt for four years. Uh, big fan of the team. I want to want to support them as well as France for our time in France. Uh, I'm America first, and then uh we chair for these other teams as well.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But I'm a fan too. I just want good football. I want there to be something great.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01

I will say this though, you know, it's interesting because you and I were in we were in Qatar. We were there with a bunch of friends and colleagues. We were reaching out to people and uh sharing the story with people when we were there, as well as going to some matches, going to the fan zone down by the Corniche. Yeah. Man, such a cool vibe. Being there for the kick off for the whole start of the thing and the fireworks and the whole nine yards. 100%. Loose sale going off. Yeah. Uh all the drones in the air. Oh, that was so sweet. First big drone show I ever saw. Amazing. It was dope. And I'll say, like, it was pretty rad. Like, we ended up on all these different news stations because we were American fans and they were we were pretty limited. Yeah. Uh but until the American USA matches started kicking off, and then we were kind of a group together. But um, man, it was pretty crazy. So we ended up on like TV in Iran, TV in Turkey, TV in different places of people interviewing us, our like Dustin, Danny, uh, because you know, people spoke different languages. Danny ended up on all sorts of news in Spanish, like from Spain, for Mexico, for because he's from Paraguay. And uh just we recently were just chatting with Dan Danny about this very thing about about going and connecting up, watching some matches. So pretty fun. Yeah, it was so fun, man.

SPEAKER_02

Like, I I I think that's what I'm gonna miss the most about that World Cup environment, is just because I think there was an influx of like half a million people inside this super small country that's basically just limited to the size of like a metro city. Yeah, metro city, yeah. Yeah, basically, like it's almost as if you had a country the size of Cairo and everybody's just coming in to all watch football, but they're all represented from every avenue of the world. Right. And it was so cool because people were just like they came together, it was super chill, super positive. Like everybody was super cordial around each other. There was no real like fights or riots or anything like that. It was it was awesome, man. Like Qatar for as much slack as they got at the beginning were fantastic hosts. And the people that went, dude, it was it was sick because the availability was there, because the the prices were lower and things like that, and it's just in the middle of the world, so people actually had access to go to it. But man, it was so fun. I'm gonna miss, I'm gonna miss that so much.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I'll I'll say the global south, man, they showed up big time for the for the World Cup in Qatar, maybe because it's proximity to Africa and Asia uh as well as man, we took we took flights obviously from the US, we're out of Phoenix. Yeah, so we're taking flights from from here to the UK, UK across to Qatar. Uh, and it was it was fast, it was amazing. Uh it was amazing because we're flying out of Phoenix. Half the fans are US, half are Mexico. Yeah, so many Mexican fans, dude. It's just so fun. It's a battle, like whatever we're talking about, it because like every time that we cheer, we go watch uh USA versus Mexico, they're like our rival, man. No, yeah, yeah. They're the ones that are gonna beat us and we're gonna beat them. And so we battle back and forth. Occasionally another one might jump in there, but it's pretty much us, the two. Basically, for Concord Cafe, yeah. So everyone's always like, you know, like US fans are like dos acero, like from a big game we won over them, you know, uh stuff like that. But then they'll be the other way or back and do the same thing. But when we were going to World Cup and Guitar, like we're not playing them. Like we both made it. So we were actually cheering for them whenever they were playing, and everybody was cool on the plane. A hundred, yeah. The Spanish, the the Spanish, the I was gonna say the fans, the Mexican fans aren't just Spanish speakers, they speak English, they speak Spanish, whatever. But they were amazing because they were wearing, they brought the massive, like the huge hats, the sombreros on the plane, the big, like, the big um mariachi version.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and people decked out on ponchos and things like that was so so sick to watch for like a 10-hour flight or something. I was like, dude, y'all got it, man. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01

People were cheering on the on the plane, like it started in Phoenix. It was fire. And then because it was going to Qatar, as soon as we got from England across, it was another plane, man, full of people. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, all the Argentinians and Brazilians that showed up. There was like, I think a hundred thousand Brazilian fans that showed up, and like I think it was close to the same for Argentina because when we were at Lucille and we watched them play Serbia, there was pretty much like I think the seating capacity was like 82,000 or whatever, but it was pretty much like 79,000 Brazilian fans and like the one small park.

SPEAKER_01

So shout out Serbia, man, for representing. But yeah, we're I mean, I mean, we're cheering Brazil, man. That's like some of our favorite players. We we support PSG, Paris Central Man as one of our teams with them at Barcelona. And so we support them. We have a ton of Brazilian players. Yeah, Marquinhos is our captain, and he's uh he's a fullback for them. We had also had you know Neymar, who was on PSG at the time, and and Messi, who was on PSG at the time, even come to the World Cup and Thiago Silva. Yeah, we had Taco Silva, so we had Argentina, we had we had them as well as French players like like at the time, Mbappe and different ones, and now a different set. But it was super cool to go and support all of our players and see all these guys and cheer USA. And we were there with a bunch of people, we kind of indoctrinated them, and they're from all sorts of countries. Friends of ours from Europe and South America, everywhere else, were like, no, you're cheering US. So we're trying to get a cheer for America. Yeah, that's great, which is pretty fun, man. Pretty crazy. Yeah. Um, but I will say the change here, your point is is valid. The fact that the way that they're handling it now uh with this World Cup is really different. Yeah. And so, you know, it feels a little disjointed. And and it feels kind of the way culture feels right now in America, where it's like, man, kind of a fight between the haves and the have nots, from the left to the right, from all those things. And so it's weird because we are hosting, but you know, instead of like putting it in our biggest, best cities, like having it be in New York and having it be like in Chicago and LA. I mean, yeah, they have like some adjacent stuff in Jersey, they have some adjacent they have in LA. Uh but it's not like a ton of matches. They should have had it been like really hubbed around. I mean, like I mean Houston, yeah. Some of these really big ones that it's like really been amazing. It would have been amazing to host here. Huge soccer culture. Yeah. So it'd have been amazing to host here. But you don't have that because it's so spread out and there's so many different venues, you don't have the same feeling as you did, like if it would have been just a three or four three cities in America or four cities in America where everybody goes there, watches a ton of matches, like matches happening all day, different venues.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I'm totally with you because like we we're playing matches in Kansas City. That's like the nearest airport is like I think an hour and a half away or something ridiculous like that from going to Arrowhead. So I'm like, it uh to me, it just doesn't make sense why they have it. I I understand that it's supposed to be like the best stadiums as far as the way that the atmosphere feels and like the way that we treat it for American sports, but in terms of actual availability for people to fly in from everywhere, it just doesn't make practical sense. I'm with you. It should have been like mostly in Texas, could have been here, could have been in California, along like LA and a bunch of spots, um, New York as well. If for I know they're playing in MetLife and that's where the final is here. Yeah, yeah. They should have had a ton in Florida. I think it might be because like of uh just like heat warnings and things like that, because of already how many players are coming over and how many water breaks we need in terms of.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but you could do it indoors. I mean, you can play you uh you can play our our stadium indoors. We've had we've been to matches with you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

The Dolphins stadium too. They can I think it can or no, that actually might be one that they're not playing.

SPEAKER_01

But I mean uh Tampa Bay, the new version, I think. Actually, I think Tampa's also outdoors, but either way, it's winter when they play, that's why they should be playing all all season. Yeah, 100%. Because they're not having it here, we got Ed Sharon showing up this week to Phoenix, man. That's who's over at our stadium. So they're playing the whole deal and doing it, but FIFA goes on, it's gonna be going.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01

Along that side, though, it's unfortunate because they have a hundred and eighty thousand reported unsold tickets. Yeah, I mean, that's all their fault though. They should have had lower prices because these tickets, I'll tell you from us going, you know, I bought tickets for me and Javen, and uh, and we were going, we went on the trip. You know, I got selected because we did go to the last World Cup and I put in for them early, got first round selection for tickets. The tickets they offered me were in LA, which was great. It's close-ish for us, but the tickets were two thousand dollars a piece. Yeah. Plus travel, plus food, everything's gonna be elevated. Like we were just in LA a week ago for a different thing for Spanish consulate for you for school. But in being in LA, even then, it's like normal price, it's high. Yeah, yeah. And it's not even World Cup yet.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and that's $2K for what nosebleeds or something or the case.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it wasn't even that great of seats. Yeah, yeah. So need to say, we're gonna be watching with you guys on the couch. So that's what's going on with that situation.

SPEAKER_02

100%.

SPEAKER_01

But um, but you know, 180,000. I think a lot of it is is these countries that aren't as popular, don't have as big a following, and you know, it's hard to get here. So the stays for them, many of them or if they're able to come, because we have pretty pretty big restrictions, much like Europe, on people coming here. They have to, you know, has to be a certain level, a certain money. Obviously, they have to have that money to come. Yeah, but it doesn't make it preventable for other people. Maybe they already live here and that's their heritage, they would want to go support. It makes it hard for them to go and be a part, whereas they could bring their family if it was cheaper, maybe a sub a hundred or right at a hundred bucks. That's a little different than eight hundred, a thousand. Yeah, it's ridiculous, dude. Um I'm with you there.

SPEAKER_02

Um, do you know if they're doing this thing that they did for us in Qatar where you get like your FIFA visa or something like that?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I'm not sure if how the process is. It's it's definitely complicated and convoluted. They're trying to keep scalpers from scalping. It's not gonna work. It didn't work last time. No, not at all. So they're trying to make some stipulation where you have to go in. I I didn't get all of that. So I was trying to figure that out because I was looking to see if these prices have gone down? Could we snag something last minute? I would love to go watch Paraguay US. That's happening tomorrow. He says, like we're recording this on Wednesday, right before the World Cup kicks off on Thursday. And so, man, it'd been so sick to go and to be a part of like the opening match for the US and Paraguay. We have good friends in Paraguay, we're just in Paraguay last year. Yeah, and so you know, thinking of like Alberto and Danny and everybody that are like diehard fans, it'd be super fun to to be there and just get a chance, you know, getting a chance to FaceTime them and be like, ah, Garazo!

SPEAKER_03

Garazo.

SPEAKER_01

No, it's just really fun. Uh, but it is pretty crazy to think about how how high those prices are. I do think that they're gonna miss out on on a lot of participation and excitement that you know if you go, then you're you're bought in. Like it drives other sales, it drives other things, it drives another family coming in and eating food. It's it's more people moving, you know, going to the games. So I think they really missed out here trying to do this price gouge and this grab. It's like stupid because they should have had it priced according to what the most popular stuff was and just left it a little a lot lower for the for the others. Because even if let's say we couldn't go to Ford to go to a thousand dollars or two thousand dollars to take it to the US game, what if we wanted to go to something else? Yeah, and we happen to f it's like finding a cheap flight and we get over there for a couple hundred bucks and it's like that's not cheap, but it's cheaper and maybe still have that adventure.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think like in Philly, I think I saw games going for at as cheap as we just had to say, it's like 360 if you go to some of like the the lower uh it's like the lower ranked teams for some of like the groups that are just gonna be dominated primarily by one team. It's like mostly, I think a bunch of island teams playing other island teams, and then they're like, yeah, it's like one in Philly. I think there's another one in it might be Kansas, something like that. But either way to me, I'm like, dude, it's still you're paying like $400 per ticket just to go watch a team that you probably can't name a single player up, which is so sad.

SPEAKER_01

To get to those stadiums is a lot more expensive because they're smaller places, so it's not as popular. You can't just get like a cheap ticket to LA or a cheap ticket to New New York City, which you can get across the country for sometimes a couple hundred bucks. Yeah, exactly. So yeah, it's unfortunate, man. Yeah, you wish it was a little bit different than that, making a little bit of a bigger of a change. Yeah. But I will say this about World Cup. There are a hundred and four games that are gonna be played in the World Cup this time. Ah, dude, it's gonna be crazy.

SPEAKER_02

I remember even just being in Qatar, you would have uh it was like three or four games every day that you could actually watch consecutively if you made your way around Qatar strategically. It was like if you watched the first 60 minutes of this game and then took a tram over, you would get the second, yeah, get to the second game and then do the same thing for the last one, and then you'd actually get to the last game, which was super fun.

SPEAKER_01

We watched two in the same day a couple times. Yeah, the first and the last one. But but it was one of those things where it's like, man, it was real tricky to try, even do that. There's thousands of people dumped on the subway at the same time, just trying to get their through. Remember with Duckle Dick hanging out like in the metro? So brand new metro guitar, all of us are just just packed to the gills in there.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, dude. And then the dudes that would always they were just tired of saying it, so they would like record themselves saying it on a megaphone and then have a speaker connected to it, and it'd be like three station this way. Just keep playing it over and over. Yeah, and then they would just point every time I said it. And I was like, that's awesome, bro.

SPEAKER_01

So I will say it's one of those things where you know we're excited about the World Cup and we're excited about what it means of the world coming together. You know, from a Christian perspective, that's always our heart, man. We want to see the world connected, we want to see them connected in Christ. We have brothers and sisters in Christ across the world that we value very much. And so that's all a piece for us is that we want to participate with them from that perspective. So it is excited, it's exciting as we get to be a part of the World Cup and see what's gonna go on. And our heart is that you know, that people as they're searching and they're celebrating and things like this, that it starts to spark something in their heart for something more. And that's my real heart for them that they would encounter the living God. Absolutely. And we're back. What we're talking about with the World Cup is how many visitors are coming to America. And I have been loving social media, man, as people have been dropping their experiences in America. America firsthand. Um, man, we've seen people talking about their experience at the Waffle House, Taco Bell, Walmart, 7-Eleven, Chili's, Wendy's, Buckies, eating American breakfast, having too many choices for soda at the at the soda fountain.

SPEAKER_02

What do you think has been your favorite one, man? Uh, I saw the German national team. It was like one player from there that was just tweeting about every experience that they'd had in Atlanta, and it was so funny because it was like the most normal stuff to us Americans. Like he had been to a Walmart, but it's like a superstore in comparison to maybe like a carrefour that they might have in France or like the western part of Europe. Right. Um or something. Yeah, something like that. And they also had, or he went, or I think they just took a drive through like the I forget what side of Atlanta it was, but he was like, it's so green over here. Like there was so much there were so many uh trees and like just a lot of forestry around. And then they also went to the Waffle House, which I thought was really funny. It's like at 1 a.m. Yeah, he was like, the people here are so nice and whatever. I was like, dude, Waffle House is notorious for being the exact opposite for most people, so that's really funny.

SPEAKER_00

He said five out of five stars, we'll try again. Which is really pretty great. I love his he said he's in the promised land, in the promised land of his Taco Bell. I was like, what? That's so funny. Bro, I I forget there's a Taco Bell right by us, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, literally it's all the time. What dice are in?

SPEAKER_01

No, we have one here by the office. Like, do we really? Yeah, it's a hundred and seventh and eighth, but it's like down the block. I didn't even know that. That's like the one I grew up going to. Yeah, hilarious. Like, you know, you forget if it's not part of your regular life, man. Shout out Taco Bell late night. But um, one of these things that made me laugh. Uh, I think out of this, okay, Taco Bell is pretty good. Walmart, I understand.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

If we talk about jokingly, when we lived in France, we're wearing the France kit. We changed them magically into the France kit, uh, representing. Um, but uh one one World Cup two two years ago or two World Cups ago, they won. They were in the final last time. So polling for them as well as for US and for Egypt. But as we were talking about that, thinking about how Europeans come here, they do have Carrefour, which is a really big kind of box store in France, very popular, it's around the world. But even then, Carrefour is not the same size as a Super Walmart. No, no, no. Super Walmart is like next level, man.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, even in Egypt. I mean, they had a pretty big Carrefour, but yeah, like a super Walmart is crazy. You'll walk for I want to say two minutes and still not hit the back of the store, which is pretty, pretty crazy. That's true. Yeah, and that's just I mean, walking through aisles here.

SPEAKER_01

That's crazy. We're getting built out right here in Arizona, one of the first Bucky's that's in Arizona. It's actually right down a mile from our house, and so they're building it right now. It's about to unveil in about 12 days from time of recording. So, but they're talking about being at Bucky's and they're like all posing, you know, posing outside with Bucky the Beaver.

SPEAKER_02

I do Bucky's is crazy. When I first went in um in Texas, I was like genuinely blown away at how much stuff they had. They had their own gift like section at the front of the store. I didn't realize Bucky's was like that notorious for being that big, like towards Texas in the South. Sure. Then the fact that there's one being built literally right off the freeway turn. Oh, dude, our neighborhood's about to be so packed all the time. At least that turn, dude, off of uh off of what is it? Diet or yeah, Bowler and I yeah, 9-10, dude. It's gonna be crazy.

SPEAKER_01

It's it's gonna be wild. I will say, you know, did you have like the the beaver nuggets, like the chicken nuggets, or did you have like any of the the brisket or any of that?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I had um they got a chorizo bowl and like a burrito in the morning that were literally freshly prepared, and I was so surprised at the quantity of stuff they had. Or yeah, it was a brisket burrito, I think. And then I also bought um.

SPEAKER_01

Did you get the Bucky outfit?

SPEAKER_02

I did. I bought the Bucky Beaver like onesie. It was so cheap. It was like 20 bucks. I was genuinely blown away. I was like, uh, yes, please, I'll take one. They're just they're not making any money on that. They just want people to wear the outfit. They don't care, man. It was it was dope, but it was so hot because it was still like we went in September, so it was still around like 90 degrees or so. So man, we were just like, we tried to put it on. I think Patrick tried to put it on first and he was just baking, dude. I was like, I was like, yeah, I'm not wearing this, man. That's when you guys went to go visit your buddy Costin at Wake Baylor. Yeah, that's crazy that that was almost September last year. That's almost a full year ago. That's ridiculous to think about, dude. That's oh my gosh. Yeah, rapid, rapid. Yeah, 1040.

SPEAKER_01

It is pretty fun watching these guys though, because uh their choices and their pictures were hilarious. The the Thirstbuster at 7-Eleven, yeah. They were like, it was like from a British guy who's like so pumped on the size of it. Because you know, in the States we have these ridiculous size, like 44 ounce, 32 ounce drinks. It's just not a thing in the UK in the UK or the U or Europe. And that's why, like back in the day, uh Bloomberg uh Bloomberg, whenever he was mayor of uh NYC, was trying to make it illegal for small drinks, and so all these like Americans are like coming with these mega gigantic thirstbuster things that are you know that's like a small trash can full of soda. Yeah, basically it's crazy. So I think that's why is they're just seeing the size portions, and the portions are crazy on our food compared to a lot of the world. Oh, yeah. And so they're looking, they're at Chili's, like, dude, I can't believe it. Like, there's just so much food, and they're they're getting everything on the Wendy's menu. They just buy the whole menu. Yeah, I mean have everything, of course, dude.

SPEAKER_02

And like people that go to LA for like in and out and stuff like that, it's like that's the only time they're really ever gonna get to try it. And dude, I can only imagine the teams that are going to all you can eat buffets like for the first time in their life. That's it's gotta be crazy for them, dude. Because we have a golden corral like five minutes from our house. Sure. But we will pretty much never go. And to us, it's like if you go to a buffet, you're like, okay, yeah, it's just normal. But to them, that's like literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So wild.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that they don't have those things. No, not at all. Not other places. I will say though, you know, a lot of these guys obviously watching their their health and their intake and all this. It just says, This is like, you know, and they have their day off, they're running over and doing windy.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and she day is is them going to American fast food. What if one of the guys said it's a fan, he's been traveling around to the US since his first time, and he's like, uh, he's like, I've eaten fast food for five days in a row. I was like, what? It's hilarious, dude. I was like, is this what this is our what we're giving as a culture to America?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, this situation.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, pretty crazy, man. My hope is that they run into some really rad Americans that love on them and are nice to them as foreigners. Yeah. Because we lived as foreigners in Europe, we lived as foreigners in the Middle East, we've traveled around the world and had the blessing of being being in a lot of countries. I'm I'm in the 70 on my country count. Where are you at? Um 50 something. 51, I think. Yeah. So it means you know, it's pretty amazing on on with the ability to be able to go and and the blessing of that. But I will say we've had mixed bag, you know, but it most of it really great. Like people are just very kind and genuine, especially as we interact with church people and faith people of faith. But many times people that are not of faith, we get an opportunity to share our faith, which is awesome. So my hope is that as people come from the world to us in America, in Mexico, in Canada, that we're good hosts and that we we put our best face forward, and also that they encounter some some Christians, man. Yeah, for sure. It'd be pretty amazing. I was also thinking about one of the things about World Cup I was thinking about was how some of these big uh teams, these massive fans, they're actually staying in very interesting places. Like Spain is in Tennessee. Oh, I hope and like Argentina is in Alabama. Yeah, it's so bizarre. And I mean, which I mean, Atlanta's huge, but it's like so still super funny to think about like these guys being in these places. Like, you wouldn't put them there, you put them in LA or you know, like somewhere that speaks Spanish, you know, Miami or some jazz.

SPEAKER_02

No, 100%. It's it's so funny because in theory, where they're staying is actually like the best spot for their teaming at a deal, especially around those areas and stuff like that. But it's it's just like as an American thinking about being in Europe and like the fact that you can go to so many different cultural hubs that are to what is us like a very normal drive, like three or four hours away. It's so funny that they're staying at these places that most Americans would never really think about twice as far as going to. Right. And then that's like where their team is. So it's it's just really funny to me. Like it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

We have we had Turkey here uh in Metro Phoenix in Mesa. And so one of our friends actually she just went to it, our friend Bella. Shout out to them. Uh, and her and her and her friend got the chance to go and and cheer for the team just a few days ago as they were having like a practice, an open practice. Uh, but I mean, what a cool thing for that for the access to people to be a be a part of it and connected to it. But it is very funny. It goes back to the thing we were talking about, like why these guys are everywhere. I will say it's funny because like they showed like the different levels of different teams, so like a really bougie country, like put their put them up at like you know, the four seasons, other people were like at private schools, like very expensive private school where it's like all encompassing, they have the sports, everything, they have everything there. So that's pretty cool. So they've been doing some of that, so they're definitely safe and away from other people, and then other teams are like at the Hampton Inn. Yeah. For real. Yeah, like just like a normal chain place, like where we could go and be their neighbor across the hall. Yeah, just chilling, man. Which is pretty funny, pretty wild to think about uh from that perspective. But I'm like, man, you know, it'd be it'd be cool to come across one of these people and like the teams because most people don't know them, they're not famous. So to go across somebody who would be like one of our art, you know, would be famous around the rest of the world, it'd be like so cool to lock it up with them.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that'd be so cool. I think it'd be so funny if you were like just staying at like a random Super 8 or something in Tennessee or Alabama. You like open your door, you're like, what the heck? You're like, is that the Argentina national team, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Where's France at? Do you remember where they're where they're hosted?

SPEAKER_02

I don't know. I think their first game's in New York, isn't it? On the 16th.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so they're at a private school somewhere.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think they're in Jersey or something, but they also have crazy bread, because I mean it's France and they're ranked FIFA world number one right now, and they have been for a while. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That'd be that'd be pretty pretty amazing. One of the things that we found out with World Cup is that in Mexico City, actually, teachers have been boycotting the World Cup, which is an interesting thing, but they're doing so because the country's spending so much money on the event, and they're complaining that they're not getting a salary raise, they're not getting this kind of support. And and they're talking about political, you know, political people always been talking about, and these politicians saying how important education is, how important the future is, how important the young are, but then they're not putting any resources behind it. So you saw active, like these are teachers that are wearing masks and are actually like kind of rioting. Yeah, like they're tearing down specifically, nothing that had to do with like the Mexican government stuff. It was all FIFA related. Yeah, exactly. Big statues of fee soccer players, big, you know, big soccer balls, other stuff. They're tearing down all their banners. It's wild, man.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I saw like a bunch of them that were posted up with with the sign that you were saying. Um, I think right outside of where the first game's supposed to be hosted tomorrow, they had like a huge banner, and then there were just a bunch of uh teachers kind of on like this railing at the top that were holding it down, and then there was another line of teachers at the bottom that were preventing anybody from actually getting in. Yeah. And I didn't realize it was teachers. I thought it was just angry fans about the ticket prices, which I would fully understand. But that's also, yeah, but it is very interesting to see that the teachers are responding in this way. I'm honestly kind of surprised to some degree, especially with everything that's happening right now, that the same hasn't happened in the US yet. Or maybe this will trigger something like a domino effect or or something like that. But just considering the way that the political climate, at least within the entirety of North America, has been within the last six months or so, basically this entire year, I'd be interested to see if the US or Canada responded in the same way.

SPEAKER_01

That'd be very interesting to see. Uh, I think it's more likely in Canada than it is here. Yeah, probably. Just because of how things have been handled in recent days, um, with the protesters trying to do a lot of damage and do other things. But you know, the US government is not really playing that right now. So they're not dealing with that at all. They're gonna knock it down and make it be something serious. So I don't think that's gonna stand up here, but Canada has experienced a lot bigger waves of that. So it should be interesting to see. I hope that's not the case. I hope that the fans get to come and have a great experience and that those other things. But I also do hope that these teachers get addressed and that they get the kind of uh backing and support that they want from their government, yeah, and that there could be something there as well. So I don't think that there has to be a win-lose. I think there could be a win-win and something positive to come out of it. 100%. Uh one of the things that we have been seeing is lots of friendlies been happening, a lot of games have been been been scheduled. Uh, and that's been pretty interesting. Uh we've seen one of them was our playing right now, is actually England, England's playing against Costa Rica. So shout out to those guys. Funny, Celeste Celeste has been in both of these places in the last two months. That's so crazy. Because we had our anniversary down in Costa Rica for our 20th anniversary, and then she took a team to Iceland like a month later. Oh, yeah, and they went through England twice. They went through London and hung out for a few days for a day on either side. Uh, so man, what a crazy thing for her to be in both those spots. But yeah, they uh they're playing right now active live. And it's funny because some of these friendlies, um, man, it's been crazy stuff goes on. JBo, you saw the the one that was played in Hungary. Yeah. Um now these these guys, man, they were playing and that camera fell from that cable.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was so bizarre. It was like the engine on top had overheated, and then it was like slowly burning a hole through the actual rope or the line that it was running on. And then all at once you just hear the crowd like gasp because the camera starts falling, and there was a dude with a rig or like a camera. It was yeah, the camera rig, like a self-supported camera rig on the sideline that had to like quickly pull back, or else the whole thing would have fallen on him. And I was like, bro, that dude either just saved his life or at least saved himself a hospital visit that might have put him out for a few months. I think he had been gone. Yeah. Well, considering how heavy that thing is, especially. Of course.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, it's falling from a crazy height, too. Uh yeah, it was crazy. Oh man, I you know, we all watched it, and it's you know, I'm watching it with Javen, I'm watching it with our friend Jeremy. All of us have run camera gear, all of us have done the camera ops and service and stuff, and we were like, ooh, all of us kind of pulled back like goodness. That's why I have safety cables, but I guess when the safe when the cable is the safety cable and it burns, then it's toast. Oh, yeah. So it fell out of the sky. Real crazy. Real bizarre.

SPEAKER_00

Real bizarre.

SPEAKER_01

Hey, uh, one of the things that we've seen recently was like how much of commercialization, obviously, of FIFA World Cup, but it is pretty fun, actually. There's been some some pretty l legit and fun things that have gone on. Uh, it's the classic stuff with anything they do in America. We we put it to fast food, we put it to uh anything that's that's that's something you could buy. Uh so McDonald's rolled out a whole series of of cups with a lot of the fan the fans or the stars on them. Uh what do you think, man? What are you gonna try and get you a Yamal, Yamal cup from the Mac Do?

SPEAKER_02

I don't know. They did they did I think something similar for the Mexican national team for Burger King like a year ago or something. But I think that was just based around I don't know, a rollout that they were doing. We had those. Yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_01

We went camping and we you you and I had the Mexican team. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02

I forget who was on the front, but it was like I was like, oh, this is pretty cool. And then all their crowns, I think were like Mexican themed or whatever. So it's really cool. Yeah, like yeah. So I mean, if they're doing some something similar for McDonald's, it's pretty cool. It's definitely gonna become like a collector's item just because the World Cup happens every four years, and this is like pretty much the only one we're gonna have in America for the next however long.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, for sure, long time. But I will say, like, it's cool. It's like uh, you mean Yamal, it's uh Ronaldinho, it's like all these different fans. I think the Harry Kane, maybe. Yeah, I think uh and then they have Beckham is on one of the things. Yeah, that's super cool. And so Beckham, I think he shouted out on his social. You know, he's he's uh an owner for uh one of our soccer teams here in the MLS, Miami. And so he's real active here in the States as well, obviously out of the UK. It's got his knighthood and things like that, so excited for him. But he find finally made it on the cup. So he's on the McDonald's. Yeah, there you go. Which is pretty sick. So yeah, it'd be fun for for those that are doing those things. I'll say this like we had people part of our community of uh of faith here, our church, that owned a bunch of McDonald's for a long time. So they were very generous and would give us like um, they would give us happy meals for our kids to have, and so they would get to go in and have a happy meal or a combo or something. It was a blessing, man, especially when we were missionaries like early doors. So we had lots and lots of these collectors style cuffs from all the different things that are running different movies or whatever. But I would we'd save them, man. We'd use them, stack them up, you guys and knock them down, just all sorts of fun stuff. Yeah, 100%. It's good stuff, but yeah, it's always interesting to see like what's rolling out and who's trying to collect it. So shout out if you guys get one of those, you know, give a Yamal cup to Java. He's he's a fan, he's a fan of them, and we'll run it back. Uh, I think it'd be pretty cool. Yeah. Hey, one of the friendlies that we were talking about uh recently that's been played uh is also in the women's side of the game, and so they're also playing these games as well as what's happening uh with the men's game. Uh a recent match between pretty much the first one of the top teams uh that are out there, kind of the short list is kind of US, Brazil, France, Spain, but it was Brazil versus USA. There were eight red cards in the match.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that thing was crazy, dude. What is going on? Yeah, I was so surprised because just look at I only saw the actual post of the listing of all the cards, and they were all from Brazil. So I don't know if you've seen the clip, but my question is why they were all given to Brazil. Maybe it was like they were yelling at the referee at the end of the game, people were trying to get like physical or something, but because there's like anytime there's a fight in football, it usually goes both ways. Like it's a card, card, card, card. But it was like their main coach, their assistant coach. It was like their goalkeeper coach, and then it was like four of their actual players. I was like, dude, what did you do in order to get I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but it was like a yellow and a red, a yellow and a red. So they must have been like warned and then warned and then warned and then given card. Something like that. But we've ran into this a bit. I mean, you club played clut soccer forever. We had that one match that you lived through. How many, how many game red cards were in that game?

SPEAKER_02

It was the same kind of story. I don't know. It was I think that was closer probably to like six, five, nah, like five, because it was all the only reason it was all on the opposition side was because when the first kid got a red card, then the coach started mouthing off. He got a red card, and then he got a red card, and then the assistant got a red, and then some of the players started fighting, so then they also got red too. So it was about five or six, yeah. And that's the only way logically it would make sense for me that the Brazil team got it, is if there was like some domino effect like that. Right. Or if it was what happened with Real and Barcelona, whenever we beat them in the Supercopa, which was like um one of their players got mad at a call, so they threw ice at one of the referees, and then he got a red on the bench, and then another person got a red on the bench for doing the same thing. Right. And then their coach was like mad that their players got kicked off, so his mouthing the referee, and then he got a red. So that was like that's the only way it would make sense to me why eight players on the other team got a red card. But yeah, I I don't know, dude.

SPEAKER_01

That's ridiculous. In your story with you playing soccer, I mean, obviously, I'm a I'm a parent, I'm a dad, I'm like watching you guys play. I make sure that their kids aren't gonna like come attack you guys, which is crazy because we were sharing yelling for our team, our team to calm down and not throw hands. Uh, but it it's interesting because at the end of that, you know, all these cards get given, all this other stuff's going on, and and I remember being super heightened, everything was happening. Well, we eventually went and got the athletic director, the athletic director for the school came in and kicked the referee out of the game, which was wild. That was crazy to kick the ref out of the game. But I mean it the game ended early. You guys already had a gang of goals, so they were already really mad about that. But it the game ended early, but man, what a crazy thing. And so we we thought a lot of the cards, especially for the refs, were not I mean the players, yes, the refs no. No. I mean the sorry, the coaches, yeah. Yeah, the coaches no, so that it shouldn't have been given to them. And so they were looking at us and we're like, they shouldn't have given you a card. We just told them they shouldn't have given you a card. I'm totally with you.

SPEAKER_02

I I'm always of the opinion, usually, that refs should kind of refrain from giving anything unless something is like it like belligerently a foul or like very flagrant. Um, especially because so many people are quick to give out yellows these days, I feel like, or uh especially with reds, like they have a real hot hand to give them out if anybody starts mouthing off and I'm like, dude.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think it comes from because they're in their face and people got threatened and even like attacked. And I think they're done with that.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, it's like refs have a power trip for the most part though, because I I feel like once if that's like a very blatant occasion of like somebody literally coming in your face and like making a threat like that, that makes complete sense. But it'll be like a kid that like mutters under his breath and like as he's walking away, and then they give him a card. I'm like, dude, that's it's the most point locking I've ever seen in my bro. It's like that doesn't concern you, even if he's indirectly talking to you, it's like who really cares? Because at the end of the day, it doesn't affect anybody.

SPEAKER_01

And I'll say this like, as we're talking about this kind of thing, is like, man, you know, as a Christfather, it's a real challenge. Obviously, I'm a pastor of a local church, I'm out there yelling as a parent, you know, cheering for you to do well. Yeah, but you know, at the same time, I had to really watch it because I would escalate, escalate, you know, my fandom and you know, start to be mouthy about stuff that that's not how I should be acting. No, 100%. And we had that, you know, I I checked that kind of when you were younger. I started to check that a lot and be like, I gotta, I gotta only yell positive stuff or stuff that reinforces positive because I can't be out there like criticizing and doing all this stuff. Because I was like very mouthy.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I was like, this isn't the kind of reflection I want back on on my church or on me. And you know, we had a we had another parent that was there kind of connected to you. They're watching you play, and he was actually like at the school in a very high position. Oh, yeah. And he starts yelling some crazy stuff at the at the team, at the fans, at the rift, at the other coach. Yeah. And we our fans had to tell him to shut up. We're like, dude, what's the case? Because he's held in pretty high regard, other than that, but he was mouthy and like he came down a few pegs, and everybody that was there was like mm-mm. Yeah, 100% had a lost a lot of respect.

SPEAKER_02

I yeah, honestly, I think the more that I encounter this, it kind of just feels like something that naturally follows people in a leadership position. I mean, like, even people in the early church, you have like Peter, who literally cut a dude's ear to ear off because he tried to come at Christ. And then you have Paul, who is like, yeah, one of the most notorious people for just being extremely by the law. And both of them are pretty gangster. Yeah, exactly. I mean, yeah, you got people that literally led the church movement out of acts, and it's crazy to think like that that's just something that's naturally followed leaders. Like when you get really amped up about something, of course you're gonna respond with anger. And I think sports is like just the best example of that being an outlet. So people that are just naturally like that all the time are really high gear, of course it's gonna translate over to something you feel passionate about. So that's true. I'm not necessarily of the opinion that you can't show passion. I just feel like as soon as that starts turning into into something where you're like blatantly attacking other people, then it's uh gets a little too far. But like still, people kind of need to just rough it and tough it instead of being so like I don't know, like uh quick to I don't know, quick to just immediately start reprimanding everybody.

SPEAKER_01

Well, we've seen it. We've I mean, obviously there have been full-blown fist fights at some of these soccer matches. I mean, we're talking about like your like club soccer matches for kids, not not probe stuff. That stuff happens too. But you know, it's like something I was explaining to you. It's like, listen, man, as a parent, it's so different. Like I we cheer our big teams, we cheer France, we cheer USA, we cheer, you know, you know, obviously PSG and Barcelona, all these other clubs. We we cheer all this stuff, but I'm more passionate about you as my kid than I am about that. No, 100%. So it makes sense why parents would be amped up and be dialed up to 10 about that stuff. But yeah, the Lord help us to watch our mouth shut our mouth sometimes things that we need to say, you know, from saying and help us uh in our attitude. Uh just to come back, the US ended up winning that game, I guess, one-nil. So it's a friendly, it doesn't really count much, but what a crazy deal. Yeah, for sure. And we're back in just like that, a magical change. You know, we were talking about uh World Cup, we're talking about soccer this summer as uh we host here in America, Canada, Mexico, and all the different teams that are coming in. And it's pretty fun to see your culture through the eyes of other people and what that's like, but it is also pretty crazy because you know, all this planning, all this stuff, and it reminds me of many kind of church things that we've done where it's like we put all this effort, all these hours into it, and then you get rained out.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01

And so Argentina, man, just went through that. Um, we went through that with getting rained out for a game. They're posted up in Alabama, and man, it was like pouring rain. Did you see this the stadium?

SPEAKER_02

I did, yeah. I I mean my I have a friend that goes to Auburn and I was like shocked that it was raining that hard. It was like three hours before the game or something like that. I think they still ended up playing it, right? Yeah, yeah. Because I was I was gonna say when I was working last night, I saw them playing the game on the TV. I don't know if it was postponed or whatever, because it was playing pretty late our time. Right. So to think that it would have started, I think it ended around like 8:30 or 930 our time. So it must have been postponed at least at least a little bit for them. Because, dude, I especially buckets of what yeah, 100%. And what we were talking about earlier, especially with the US, it's like because of how big we are and how many different essentially biomes that we have throughout the country versus being in one contained place like Qatar where the weather is pretty much equal for everybody, it's like you can plan everything, but as soon as there's inclement weather in one pocket of the country, you immediately have to start like running a bunch of logistics on what happens if you miss this game, etc. etc. So there is a bunch of stuff that could go wrong with a lot of this. So we'll just have to hope that it doesn't.

SPEAKER_01

Well, that's kind of my point about the indoor stadium from from earlier is that idea that, man, if you can try to control it, the best best chance is to do that so you don't get to have to cancel. It's different if you get rained on outside, whatever. Yeah, you're a fan, dude. But you're coming in, like, you know, it's funny. I think maybe that's the thing for from America, because like we have say stadiums that are open to the weather for for American football in the winter, it makes no sense to me. I mean we're from Phoenix, so yeah, we have a very mild version and we have we have a stadium that closes. Yeah, exactly. So we don't have to worry about it either way. But it is really funny. I think about all these like places in you know New York or these other places in the in the in the northeast where it's like dumps full of snow.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, a hundred. And even when like I think about this and we were in Columbia, it's like we were in the pouring rain for two hours. They still played the whole game. It didn't yeah that's what I'm saying. Like the I think the only thing that would be a problem is if they did like fireworks or some big show because then you have to shut it off. But even then, dude, fans if they're really passionate they don't care. They'll just be out there yeah exactly man. They were out there for two hours basically nobody moved and I was like this is exactly what football's meant to be so and I can tell you as a church pastor um yeah we don't have the same participation for church events that get rained out.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah so yeah good point it's unfortunate you know like people don't come and lock it in they're like I'm staying locked in. It's like it doesn't happen. No. You know a lot of times the Phoenix if there's any water in the sky any of it people are like nope not driving not driving yeah don't know how to drive yeah in the water you're like all right fine be that way pretty fun.

SPEAKER_02

Hey uh man of course the World Cup it brings about major major sports stars and two of the biggest brands that are out there are sports brands in Nike and in Adidas and and I'll say man pretty amazing some of the the the big marketing campaigns they've been doing bringing in actors all sorts of like pop icons music people as well as of course soccer stars yeah for sure the both of the ads they ran were super cool like um I think even the trailer for the Adidas one which came out a decent amount before the Nike one I think it was like a week or two before just seeing the cast of people that were there they had like didn't they have like Snoop and they had like Timothy Chalamet and like it was like Lamin Yamall, Leonel Messi doing everything for them. I think David Beckham did a shoot with them too I was like dude theirs is more like narrative focus so it was pretty entertaining.

SPEAKER_01

It's like a whole series of stories and series of videos.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah I was just so surprised that they got this many names for something it almost felt like they were shooting like a superstar movie with like a crazy budget but that was just like a five minute commercial I was like dude this is setting up for either a super cool World Cup or this might end up being just a bunch of ads all thrown out once you know the narrative nature of it reminded me of something that happened in the church space um which is a guy named Rob Bell.

SPEAKER_01

Rob was a pastor uh of a church and very very influential in his style his style is a more of a teaching style very deep and very um methodical but he had a really great stylistic way that they shot videos about it. It was a series called Numa and so they would use these videos and it was very much theatrical just like these where it told the story and it'd be a narrative and he'd have a like a voiceover and he'd be doing a teaching in the middle of whatever the situation was so you're following this whole story while he's doing a teaching about something that parallels it. And it reminded me about this like for these soccer these soccer um uh commercials and stuff from Adidas from Nike because they're taking all the clout from all these people and weaving them together into this like fictitious story. Yeah in the Adidas one it's about these guys who are playing street ball like pickup ball around the world and how they're like undefeated so these superstars are going to go and try to battle them yeah and and kind of pick it up. The Nike one is they're on a Nike shoot with like a director yeah and the director's like an egomaniac and then all of them are kind of like kind of like revolt against them and then they start chasing each other trying to get the ball away from each other through a series of sets and things like that. Yeah it was super cool.

SPEAKER_02

Which is pretty cool as a narrative it was so fun dude it reminded me of the um the winner stays on commercial that they had in 2014. I think that was also for the World Cup Nike and I was just like dude this is this is like flooded with nostalgia like people are going to look back in 10 years and be like oh I miss that era of football man.

SPEAKER_01

So that's true all the names all the faces and this is the last World Cup for a lot of big big manga superstars so that's that's Messi it's um Cristiano Ronaldo it's guys like that that are in that era Modric like guys likely Neymar too yeah likely Neymar uh these other guys that's considered at that age where they won't be considered going forward so pretty powerful to think about like from a perspective where you're like man I want to get in with these guys that are in my era.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah Hondra dude it's like the phasing out of literally the greatest people we've ever seen play the game to like the new generation of superstars that are rising up so it's it's gonna be exciting man. I'm I'm really really amped up for it.

SPEAKER_01

Speaking of amped up you know Yahweh energy drink we've talked about it before it's hitting the shelves hitting the stores and actually it's getting some kind of a wave because even CNN was covering it recently talking about the message with the drink and kind of I you know they weren't directly comparing it to like uh you know Monster or one of those other ones but they are saying like this one comes with a different narrative what's your thinking thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_02

I mean it is cool. I totally respect it. Like I know a lot of people had opinions about it because they were like oh you're using it as a marketing scheme and things like that. But I mean to some degree I I personally think that it's not really about using it in order to just gain money and it's like a for-profit thing. I think if they're really intentional about the way that they're doing the marketing and it is really focused around just getting the message out to people and they're just trying to put a product that they themselves may may enjoy like an energy drink out there combined with a message around Christ that people can just buy off the shelves then of course you would want something out there like that versus Monster which has historically been like questioned of whether or not their their symbols are like Hebrew for 666 or whether they have ties to Satanism, things like that. Even Pepsi like how their logo flipped might have like some connection to Illuminati and things like that. So you have all these liquid death which is like known for having witches come in and play incantation over their cans. 100% yeah so I mean now you and to have something that completely goes against that and reflects a very biblical message is something that I think all Christians should be in favor for. If you start seeing the corporation as far as like the figures behind it start leaning pretty heavily into the way that the monetization works and things like that, then that's a separate conversation. But as far as just the face forward message of it I I'm fully in support of it and I think I'm not going to judge somebody for drinking a Yahweh drink. I think it's pretty cool and as long as it tastes good I mean yeah for sure you'll go go for it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah it's an interesting mix because some people feel like if you're if you're trying to uh in any way profit off the message of the gospel then that's like the very thing that you know it talks about how Simon you know the sorcerer he comes in he obviously knows that the there's power in in in spiritual things so he goes and tries to buy the giving of the Holy Spirit off of somebody so there's a parallel that a lot of people talk about in the Christian space if you're selling something that's like Christian focused on how you're just trying to like monopolize from a different angle versus try to promote something that you believe in as a product with a positive message, which is where I feel like this is going and what we're talking about. But I understand the other perspective and why people are hesitant especially when it's Yahweh is on the can. So it's like it makes it one of these things where it's like okay but are you appropriating this or not? It's hard to say I think if if you see it on the face of it in the in the con the the thing itself is worth the money then I think why not support something you believe in which is great. You know we we drink all sorts of different energy drinks around here but I will say because of the messaging that's directly we're talking about liquid death um I think their their marketing around what they're doing as far as like making an extreme or whatever is smart. Their their thing of what they have the recyclable can with the water is a good product. But I don't like the messages connected to it. You know they would have this whole thing they'd give you a four pack of it for free if you if you sign your soul over which is like give you your name in your in your email. But it's like dude what are you doing? It's laughing in your face literally so yeah because they do they show like people who are like witches that go and do incantations over these things to essentially entice people to drink more of it. And it's just really really strange. It parallels a lot of the stuff we've seen in the music industry you're talking about people acting as a witch praying over their music paying praying over their hooks to their songs yeah their music videos and things like that. Yeah exactly so my hope is that you know it's a positive thing that has a positive message has a positive impact.

SPEAKER_02

100% I just think like even the the argument itself like from if you really want to get that technical anyway even if you sell Bibles or something if you if you're really going down that rabbit hole why not just give them out for free if all we're supposed to do is spread the spread the gospel as well as we're able to do it. Yeah if I which is why I don't understand that if you're profiting off of anything that's focused around Christian content then you're immediately at like disposal for Christ to flip your table over and then yeah et cetera et cetera yeah I I agree I think that you can you can definitely sell things that are Christian focused you know book music uh apparel whatever is fine because people want to support that they're open to it.

SPEAKER_01

It's just like us buying this kit and supporting teams and hanging out and stuff like that. We know it's going through Adidas to the team or whatever's going on but it's like the idea is like I like it. I'll something I want to give my money for so I think there's nothing wrong with that. No not at all. One of the cool things about sports and faith is dude perfect.

SPEAKER_02

Dude Perfect is one of the biggest internet uh groups that are on YouTube and and a lot of other spaces are on TV they have they've been on the outdoor channel they've been on the country music channel CMT they've had their own shows uh a lot of things they've been doing massive massive massive influencers pretty powerful yeah absolutely they talk about their faith all the time in their tour 100% yeah and it's been awesome to see the consistency that Do Perfect's had over the span of the last like 15 years that they've been in group because within recent YouTube spheres we've seen a lot of groups again and deteriorate or take different forms and kind of like veer off from their original path. Right. Especially with like the side man or with JJ leaving and things like that. Yeah and a lot of people kind of being hesitant in really understanding like why he left whether it was like a cash grab because he's talking about wanting to rival Mr Beast and things like that.

SPEAKER_01

Or like FaZe Clan which like dissolved because they all went their own way and doing all this kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah legitimately or where they they themselves were like so screwed over in their contract that they just completely left the name behind and then started their own group entirely. It's like we're just seeing things different things take form and like people kind of change as far as what they're really focused on and differ from um like the positive message that they had before whereas Dude Perfect ever since their inception has been super consistent with their uh with like being clean and with being extremely family friendly in everything they do and even with the consistency of spreading the gospel in any way that they can pretty much every form of music that they've used in their trick shot videos has been like a Toby Mac Toby Mac thing artist yeah or it's come from I think it's like royalty free music but even then most of it is from Christian artists and things like that which is super cool to me because they've really had that grounded even since they blew up back in like 2016 their most viral videos will all have those soundtracks playing in the back yeah and that's just you know one more thing that opens the door to people coming in and for them to be very upfront about it on tour has been awesome. And then the vacation Bible study thing they open is just an even greater expansion of the message that they're really trying to convey to people which is we're not doing this for our own glory. We're doing this in order to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're just doing it through the avenue that we know we've been gifted the best and that we feel like we're called to do. So it's been it's been super cool that they've been that consistent that they've really embodied that in each and every facet of their lives whether it be with their families um even like behind the scenes their prayers before they go on a tour and yeah just their consistency in living out an everyday version of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

SPEAKER_01

And that's the headline is that Dude Perfect is coming out with their own vacation Bible school curriculum called all in and it's a faith-based curriculum that's talking about using sport using a focus and using a tenacity to go all in after God and that's something that they're rolling out publicly as part of what their stuff they have all sorts of brand deals with different brands obviously Bass Pro Shops we know Nerf we know all these other big brands that they do stuff with drink companies uh coffee companies different things which is pretty amazing for them to to do those partnerships and now they're coming out with something like this for their own fans pretty cool. So cool yeah I really like that one of the things that we've also seen it was talking about commercials and about things running out for the World Cup was comes from Faithful Champions uh it's a social media initiative and group that actually put out a Christian World Cup commercial called Searching for More or the the theme is Searching for More. Uh JVO you got a chance to see it I thought it was cinematic.

SPEAKER_02

I thought it was amazing. Yeah I really liked it man I I liked how intentional they were in a kind of leaning into that aspect of what everybody internally searches for within sports which is like almost a cheering for a greater initiative than beyond the self. It's like oh yeah we're cheering for us as a collective or us as like an identity and that really is kind of what's embodied within Christ's heart for the church as a whole and I really like kind of that parallel that they had throughout their commercial which was like as soon as the individual is touched by something that's greater than them and that they realize and like really finding that love and that connection with Christ on a personal level and then they get attached to a collective as a whole then how that collective itself and cheering for the expansion of a kingdom is so much power is so powerful and so much more powerful than anything we'll have on earth because there's a real spiritual element behind it and chasing after retreats like that. So I thought it was really cool. I thought it was really well done and yeah shout out to the people that made it man it was super cool.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah it's amazing to be on an eternal team that is is pulling uh part of Christ and a part of the family of God. Yeah absolutely and belonging to something great uh man I love that I love the the initiative that's there I love the shots of like different you know different cultures different places people playing soccer on the street yeah 100% and you know playing football wherever they are and it's just amazing like to see that especially as it's targeting the World Cup targeting people that are searching for that kind of content to bring this narrative into that content I love that.

SPEAKER_02

No absolutely and because of how big football is on a global scale I think there's like 3.5 billion people that are going to tune in on the World Cup or something like that. And then the other people there's probably a good percentage of people that would if they had access to do it but then they don't because of the situation that some of their countries are in or the lack of resources that they have in in that aspect. So just to tie such a big thing that people will base their life over and then be like okay when that's all said and done what are you really grounded in and what really is your life reflecting and what do you really value as a person? What are you living for is a super powerful message and I think that's a really good way to approach missions within these next three months that we're gonna have. Amazing one word we need to leave the podcast.

SPEAKER_01

We'll go global and I'll say the testimony. Thank you so much for being a part of the collective we say let's go USA we say a la le bleu we say yala masr God bless you wherever you are in the world