Nashville Sports Report

Nashville SC vs Orlando Preview | Titans Training Camp Begins & Parkins Gillespie Joins the Show

• Russell Ries • Season 1 • Episode 13

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0:00 | 44:13

On this week's episode of the Nashville Sports Report, host Russell Ries recaps another busy week across Middle Tennessee sports, highlighted by Nashville SC's return to winning ways, the start of Tennessee Titans training camp, and an in-depth conversation with Nashville SC supporter and commentator Parkins Gillespie.

⚽ Nashville SC
The Boys in Gold defeated CF Montréal 1-0 on Wednesday thanks to a Sam Surridge penalty, despite continuing injury concerns following the MLS World Cup break. Russell previews tonight's matchup against Orlando City, now featuring French star Antoine Griezmann and returning Orlando striker Daryl Dike, and discusses what lies ahead for Nashville SC.

🏈 Tennessee Titans
Titans rookies have reported for training camp, with veterans arriving next week. Russell breaks down the early storylines, including injuries to JC Latham and Amani Hooker and what they could mean for an offensive line already facing important questions entering the season.

⚓ Vanderbilt Athletics
Vanderbilt announces SRM Concrete as the first all-sports jersey patch sponsor in school history, while details for the annual Dore Jam fan event are revealed. Plus, former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia is waived by the Baltimore Ravens.

⚾ Nashville Sounds
The Sounds continue their road trip in Sugar Land as they battle to stay in the International League playoff race before returning home next week.

🎙️ Featured Interview: Parkins Gillespie (@parkinsgillespie.bsky.social)
This week's guest is Nashville native, Nashville SC season ticket holder, and BlueSky contributor Parkins Gillespie. Russell and Parkins discuss Nashville SC's season, the MLS World Cup break, injury concerns, roster questions, and the current state of soccer in Nashville.

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SPEAKER_00

Hi Vijay, congratulations for another victory. Uh uh, I just uh have a curious do you have any update on the injury on Christian Espinoza and Warren? And do you know maybe when they be back to walk to to play?

SPEAKER_01

I don't have specific timelines on the guys. I mean they're obviously both out, and both of them, as you can kind of see across the whole team right now, uh we've got a bunch of different guys in different phases of returning back to play, whether that's in team training or you know, limited minutes. And so it's just when you have that many players out in the beginning, you're you're gonna be a little everyone's gonna have their own unique timeline.

SPEAKER_04

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you, wherever you're listening from. It's Saturday, July 25th. I'm Russell Reese, and this is the Nashville Sports Report. All right, well, we started today's show with a clip from BJ Callahan speaking about the team's attrition coming out of the World Cup break during his press conference following Nashville SC's 1-0 win over CF Montreal on Wednesday night. Sam Serge was able to draw a somewhat questionable call in the box and scored on the subsequent penalty shot. The Boys in Gold are on the road tonight to face a new look Orlando City squad featuring French superstar Anton Griezmann and their former striker who has now returned Daryl DK. Orlando is fresh off a 4-0 road victory over San Jose on Wednesday night and should present a much stiffer test than when NSC defeated them 5-0 earlier in the year. We've got a lot more Nashville SC talk with this week's guest, Parkins Gillespie, later in the show. But first, here's the rest of the week in Nashville Sports. Titans rookies reported for training camp on Thursday, coaches report on Monday, and the Vets will be reporting on Tuesday. Also on Thursday, the Titans placed tackle JC Latham and safety Amani Hooker on the team's physically unable to perform list. Not having Latham to start training camp is a tough blow to the offensive line, a unit which already begins the season with questions at center and right guard. Now their concerns about the right tackle spot as well. The state of the offensive line will be an interesting storyline to follow as trading camp progresses. This week Vanderbilt announced that SRM Concrete will be the first all-sports jersey patch sponsor in their athletics history. The SRM Concrete logo will appear in some form or fashion on all Vandy team uniforms. Vandy also announced that Door Jam, their yearly celebration for the kickoff of the new athletic season, will take place at Memorial Gym from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 29th. This is a free event and will be immediately followed by a Vanderbilt volleyball game at four. All attendees of DoorJam will be given a complimentary ticket to the volleyball game as well. Also in Vanderbilt News this week, the Baltimore Ravens announced that they have waived former Van DQB Diego Pavia. Despite his success at Vanderbilt, Pavia was always a long shot to make the Ravens regular season roster, given his short stature, perceived attitude issues, and the four other quarterbacks signed by Baltimore. If he doesn't catch on with another NFL franchise, perhaps Pavia will next head to Canada or the Arena League to prolong his football career. Finally, the Nashville Sounds have had a rough week, falling to 54 and 45 on this season, now four and a half games back of the Memphis Redbirds and third in the division. They have three games left in Sugarland, Texas, including a doubleheader today, before they return home to Nashville for a six-game series against Charlotte starting on Tuesday. My guest this week, post on Blue Sky under the name Parkins Gillespie. Parkins is a Nashville native and an NSC ticket holder. He and I often converse online about the state of the team, and I thought it'd be fun to have him on the show to do the same thing. So I connected with Parkinson on Thursday afternoon and we discussed Nashville sports, the World Cup, and of course Nashville SC. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Parkinson Gillespie. Alright, Parkins, thanks for coming on the show today. Yeah, thanks for having me. Except to be here. Talk uh talk a little Nashville Soccer Club. Before we get into that, I am gonna make you run the gauntlet of questions that I ask everyone when they come on the show, starting with what is your favorite sport to play?

SPEAKER_05

Favorite sport to play is probably at my you know at my advanced age, it's probably golf. When I was a kid, I liked to play, I like to throw the football around. Me and me and my cousin would play home run derby in the backyard, but these days it's golf. Of course, favorite is pushing it too. It kind of implies I enjoy it, but you know golf is.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. I always say if I get one good drive, one good chip, and one good putt, that's me for the day. Do you have a favorite sports?

SPEAKER_05

Indian Hills out here in Murfreesboro where I live. I wouldn't say I'm new to golf, but I'm still definitely like at that beginner level, and so I haven't played a whole lot of Chris's. But Indian Hills is kind of the winner by default, but it's a nice course. They have trouble with the greens, but yeah, that's uh that's a Tennessee wide thing with the way we've been having weird gold snaps and stuff. Tears the greens up.

SPEAKER_04

They and I have trouble with the greens, and I will say, as somebody who has been hitting golf balls for most of my life and am still at the very beginning of the hockey stick learning curve, it's hard to get out of that stage. Oh, yeah. Okay, then I think I might know the answer to this, but what is your favorite sport to watch?

SPEAKER_05

Well, if you're thinking soccer, you are correct. It's definitely soccer. I've definitely gone through phases, I get obsessive, you know. I'm a little neurospicy or whatever, and so for a while it's it's football, and then I was really into the grizzlies back in like the grit and grind era, Zach Randolph, Marcus Hall, those guys never missed a grizzlies game, which meant a lot of sports south. But yeah, it's been it's been soccer for a while now. How did you get onto soccer? The first time that I really, really got into soccer, uh, there was like a little a little inkling of it during the 2006 World Cup was the first time because all my friends at school were really into it, and then I tried it and I was like, like I watched it, but I was like, I don't get it. So then the first time it really like got me got me was Confederations Cup when US beat Spain and almost beat Brazil. That was like, oh, okay, now I get it. And then a buddy of mine on the internet who was from England, he recommended Football Manager to me, which back then it was still called soccer manager here. They were still trying to pitch it to us Americans, which you know a lot of us Americans are into it, but I'm glad they dropped the soccer man and it's it's just football manager. But I got into it through that, and I've been off and on ever since.

SPEAKER_04

Did you pick up an EPL team or championship team, somebody in England to follow around that time?

SPEAKER_05

So it started kind of with with Newcastle. That was who he recommended I manage on the game. They had like Michael Owen and like Oba Famy Martins, ML MLS Legend. There you go. Oba Fame Martins. So I managed them and I was like, oh, well, I'll just root for them, and then they got relegated. This would have been 2010 or 2011, and that back then there wasn't a way for a broke held with a I guess I would have been like 20 or 21. There was no way for me to watch them. So I picked a different team, and I was like, well, I don't want to root for like a really good team, like uh United at the time or Chelsea, Arsenal, those guys. So I was like, I'll pick Spurs, they'll never get relegated. We came this close, but I've kind of stepped away from following that kind of the like the European soccer just because like I love MLS, but there's definitely like levels to it, you know. And if you watch too much Premier League and then you go back and you watch Alex and Wheel or whoever, it's like okay.

SPEAKER_04

I I do think there was a bit of a culture shock for people going into that NSC Atlanta game last Friday night, coming in between some World Cup games.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, lots of new faces for sure. Very Wednesday, too, yesterday. Montreal was very crowded for a Wednesday night. Usually that's a ghost town, you know.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, really cool. Okay. What is your earliest sports memory?

SPEAKER_05

I think my earliest sports memory has to be so I'm no older than five watching the Pro Bowl with my father. So he was a Cowboys fan at the time because he just liked whoever was good. And so he saddled me with the Cowboys curse for the rest of my life because I didn't know you could just change teams like he did. Uh so I'm watching the Pro Bowl. I'm old enough to know that Troy Aikman is number eight. He's got the silver helmet with the blue star. And I am also old enough to know that we do not like the 49ers. I was not old enough to know that Steve Young, the quarterback for the 49ers, also wore number eight. So I'm watching the Pro Bowl, and there's Troy Aikman, and then all of a sudden, Troy Aikman is wearing a 49ers helmet. Oh so so to me, to me, it was like wrestling or something, like he was turning heel, by God, Troy Aikman, damn you to hell! You know, like he had just switched in the middle of the game. It was definitely a lot for a little five-year-old me to take. But dad was like, no, that's a different guy. Fortunately, I didn't dwell on that too long. Yeah, Troy Aikman's healed is my my first sports memory. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_04

All right, so how did you end up in Nashville?

SPEAKER_05

I was born here. I was uh born in at Southern Hills Medical Center and grew up in Antioch first, like five years, six years, then we moved to Hendersonville, finished high school in Hendersonville, moved down to Murfreesboro for college, which it would be more accurate to say that I paid to live in the dorms, attendance not so much, but I was enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University, go Raiders, and now I'm here.

SPEAKER_04

Right on. All right, again, I think I may know, but which is your favorite Nashville sports team?

SPEAKER_05

Again, you are probably correct. It is Nashville Soccer Club. Nashville Soccer Club is the only one I follow really, really closely. Second favorite to go to is probably the sounds. You know, you get go catch a sounds game on a Tuesday night or something, wiener dog night or whatever, and they're you know, it's just a good time. Minor league baseball is one of one of the peak sporting experiences, in my opinion. Prizes are fair, and there's always something goofy going on. Watch the country stars race, root for George Jones. If he shows up, that's half a win, right?

SPEAKER_04

Right, yeah. Fair. What is your favorite national sports memory or moment?

SPEAKER_05

For for the soccer club, it would be uh Leaks Cup final. That was just you know, messy in the building for the first time, packed to the rafters. The energy in that place was unbelievable. I don't know if you were there that, but anyone who anyone who was there that night will remember that that I mean that was crazy. You had the Nashville fans, and then you had like five Miami fans, and then you just had everyone in Nashville who's been within a hundred miles of Argentina was there, right? But it well, I mean, it was just I was behind the South Goal, which is the same general area I sit now. So if there weren't a net on the goal, Messi's goal would have hit me in the and that was the one where I was like, I never want to miss another one of these again.

SPEAKER_04

Makes sense. Okay, so who would you put on your Mount Rushmore of Nashville sports?

SPEAKER_05

Well, so I kinda I kind of came up with two. I have a for Nashville and a from Nashville. For Nashville, I think it's Steve McNair, definitely. He's George Washington, he's like the first Nashville sports star. Steve for sure, warrior, taught me what a sternum was. Remember, he had that broken sternum that he kept. Sure. Peck Arena, of course. You could go Shea Weber, you could go like Jordan 2-2. Peck's is in the Hall of Fame. He's, I mean, his resume speaks for itself. Well, you know, I don't have to I don't have to tell you he's good. I don't have to tell anyone he's good. So I think don't I think Peck is the safe choice. Hani Muptar, 100 goals for the club. First trophy, again, resume speaks for itself. He's the man. I think a lot of people in Nashville would not put him on their Nashville sports Mount Rushmore just because they don't consider the soccer club to be that important. But you know, that's not a problem here. And yeah, he's definitely on there. And then kind of an out there one, but Don Mattingley played for the sounds. Got my I've got my Don Mattingley shirsey that uh uh wear pretty often. But yeah, I'm putting and then from Nashville, Mookie Betts, time multiple league MVP, I think, both ALNO, multiple World Series, one of the greatest players of all time. Went to Overton with a few of my friends, actually. He's around my age. Golden Tate, not really Nashville, but Hendersonville, but greater Nashville. Funny story about that. He's also around my age, and he went to high, he went to JP2. He's from Gallanton. I think JP2 is closer to like Rivergate kind of area. So me and my friends used to go to Chili's all the time because that's what you do when you're 17, right? And he he was our waiter. He comes up and he's like, Hey, my name is Golden. How can I help you? You know, big football star, but you know, you gotta have a job, right? And he walks off, and one of my friends is like, Do you think that was Golden Tate? And I was like, No, man, it's probably one of the other enormous black dudes in Hendersonville named Golden. Like, yeah, I was yeah, it was him. Like the for anyone who is not familiar with Hendersonville, the uh the demographics are very skewed toward the Caucasian persuasion, very, very much so. And they like it that way. Me not so much, but you know, that's it's their town. I don't live there, they do what they want with it. So what have I done here? Mookie Mookie Betts, Golden Tate, Jalen Ramsey, and then I was kind of looking for kind of looking for another name for my list, and we're really gonna have to go out there because this is really more like Clarksville. Wilma Rudolph will claim her, and I think that's a nice, a nice way to round out.

SPEAKER_04

I included Wilma Rudolph in my personal Nashville Mount Rushmore as well, just because I mean she was at Tennessee State, and you know, yeah, TSU, yeah, achieved all that there, so I I think we can claim her. But yeah, I love those answers. Those are both uh I like the from and for. Those are great distinctions and and very good answers. Thank you, thank you. Okay. Do you have any Nashville sports conspiracy theories or hot takes you want to share?

SPEAKER_05

National sports conspiracy theories are hot takes, and I've been thinking about this one since you sent me the list of questions, and I'm I'm honestly not sure. Uh, here's a hot take. I think Derek Henry kind of did more harm than good to the Titans kind of chances of winning when he was here. Like he won us a lot of games and he put up a lot of numbers. It definitely kind of felt like if the other team went up, Derek's whole thing was you gave him 40 carries, and by the 20th or 25th carry, they're tired of tackling him, and then he starts moving the pile and getting the the numbers and stuff. So if the if the other team got up two or three scores, it was like, okay, well, hold on a minute. We gotta we gotta give it to Derek because Tannehill was very serviceable, better than serviceable. That's not fair to Tannehill. He was a good quarterback, right? But it definitely felt like that was kind of it was a lot like the grit and grind grizzlies, where it's like we're playing the high-low post-game, meanwhile, the Spurs are shooting 33s a game when three's more than two. But yeah, that's that that'd be my hot take, is that Derek Henry, not to badmouth and Nashville legend, but I think they maybe could have moved on from him a little sooner or found found a different way to work him into the offense. Again, people smarter than me tried that. Not a good pass catcher, so that yeah, that's an element that you can't use him in. That's my take. Yeah, it's a great one.

SPEAKER_04

No, I think you're right. And there was sort of the element of like Derek will fix it. It's a little bit like Argentina with Messi, like, yeah, we got some other players, but like uh get the ball up there and let him figure it out.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, definitely. You can have that happen with Hani Muptar. The first few years of of Nashville's existence was it's okay, we'll just defend like crazy, and then when we get the ball, give it to Hani. Yeah, and he'll do something. That worked really well for for a long time.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, but oh man, I'm so glad. No offense to Gary Smith, but I'm glad to Gary ball is over. And but uh, we'll get into soccer in just a second. Before that, I want to ask, and I guess you can expand this to Murfreesboro too, but this is my non-sports question. What is your favorite restaurant in Nashville or Murfreesboro? Or both? There are nuggets in Murfreesboro.

SPEAKER_05

I'll just go ahead and that I mean that's not true, but it's it's a lot of like chains and a lot of and Thai food. There's really good Thai food. So uh my favorite restaurant in Nashville, and there's a lot of incredible food in Nashville, there's a lot of haute cuisine. Well, I'm I gotta go get this. This is just a burger, a beer. If you're of the beer persuasion, I'm not. I get the liquid death or whatever. But I just think I love me a dive bar. I love me a dive bar burger. It's got it's got like waffle house energy in the well, just with the fact that you can see into the kitchen, not like you know, people aren't like fight air, not that kind of waffle house energy. But uh, it's just it's good every time, it's popular without being like too crowded or without like them pricing it accordingly. For me, it for me it's dinos.

SPEAKER_04

Great answer. Right on. All right, well, thank you for answering those questions. We will pivot now into the world of soccer. I haven't really done much of a recap or or coverage of the World Cup because this is primarily a Nashville-based sports show. But as a big soccer fan, I did want to get kind of your thoughts on the World Cup now that it's over. Did you have any favorite matches? I'm assuming you're a US fan. You don't have to be. I am, but I also support many other teams.

SPEAKER_05

I'm not so much of a US fan. I'm a fan of the country. I I'm I'm not so high on this group of players. I don't like Pulisic. I don't like Tim Weia. I don't like how they're seemingly, and I don't I don't really pay close enough attention either to like I know everything, everything there is to hate about this team. The I just it seems to me like like what Tim Wea said about how other like Landon Donovan and Tim Howard and them are the the word he used was evil. I don't know if you saw that quote, he said that they are evil for criticizing. I can't get behind. There, there are players I do like. I like Balligan, Weston McKinney is a is an absolute is an absolute baller. Yeah. Alex Freeman, who as an Orlando alum, I can't root for him too hard. And as the son of a Packer, that's another knock against him. But I mean, I love a marauding right back. That's probably my favorite position to like so having Andy has really like been awesome because that that's what I like to see is like a fullback that gets forward and contributes on office. And so yeah, Alex Freeman, obviously, he's a he's a great player who hopefully he's gonna achieve. He's very young, so hopefully he goes on to like bigger and better things. Sky's the limit. For sure for that kid, I think. As for as for favorite matches, Argentina played a lot of exciting matches. Cabo Verde, obviously, is the one that stands out. That was an incredible game. England and France, third place game. Neither of them wanted to be there, and so somehow it turned into a shootout. That was that was really exciting. Cabo Verde in Spain, nil-nil with the eventual champs. Yeah, I those those stand out to me, especially. There was some Brazil-Norway was a good game. Brazil-Japan was a good game. Yeah, I think those are the ones that stand out to me. I wish I had watched, I don't think I watched a single Tunisia match, and I wish I had, because I, you know, then I'd have something to say about uh Elias Saad. Some to go off more than just YouTube highlights, which can make anyone look like the GOAT, right? Right.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I I'm I'm right there with you. I didn't I don't think I saw any Tunisia games either, but um you know I I don't know that we would have gotten much much knowledge out of it anyways, given that they were getting their careers handed to them day in, day out. So you know, I mean it's like Ahmad Qasim starting for Iraq, but they were just getting blown out.

SPEAKER_05

Right. He yeah, he he didn't get much they didn't have the ball for for him to do anything with it.

SPEAKER_04

Alright, well, speaking of National SC player Ahmad Qasim, we're back. MLS is back. They have I think failed to capitalize on the moment of the World Cup, in my opinion. This weird condescending, thank you, world, we'll take it from here thing that showed up right at the end was I think too little too late personally, but it sounds like people are showing up, more people are showing up to NSC games so far.

SPEAKER_05

It definitely seems so. Just you know, two games, the Atlanta game is always busy because that's a big rival, and because so many Atlanta people that come from Atlanta and people that are already here from Atlanta come come to the game. So that that one is always crowded. But for that for that kind of crowd on a Wednesday night against Montreal, because you know they're not traveling. I didn't I didn't see a lot of away fans. Definitely buzz around the World Cup, buzz around the team. like I even have friends who were into Nashville Soccer Club before I was who were like oh crap we're in first and it's like yeah we're yeah we are in first so I think people are starting to catch on you know Nashville loves a winner when the Titans are good that building's packed too but yeah I definitely think the momentum for the club kind of because we were winning with with Gary but we weren't it wasn't fun right it was fun to go to the games but it was like Gary ball like you touched was not an enjoyable experience haram ball as they call it you know on the internet like kind of definitely and then definitely towards the end of Gary's tenure that turned a lot of people off because then we weren't even winning anymore we were playing this awful turgid caveman soccer and then the the big thing on Instagram was art schoolfc right because we were always drawing so the the in every every post by the club the Instagram comments would just be lit up with our own fans you know talking the most heinous trash it's like all right guys but yeah so I I definitely feel like that tie just momentum the vibes are at an all-time high.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah I think the vibes are feeling good right now and you know this whole Burrhalter sale today I got to thinking like I really enjoy the way they've constructed her I think we've got a lot of quality players but I don't think there's anyone that's going to get snatched up in the middle of the action you know mid season as it is right. Right. And then I'm glad we're moving to uh the the fall to spring model after the whatever they're calling the sprint season next spring. Yeah the sprint season. My only complaint about that is that my birthday is in August and uh having grown up in Nashville sports fan we've never really had other than the sounds sports games around my birthday and right and this year actually I'm gonna go to the League Cup game against Leon that night. It's the night of my birthday I'm forcing my wife to go oh nice yeah but I was like oh man I'm gonna lose that but then I thought well maybe maybe they'll still be doing League Cup and then maybe I can still kind of get get a few games around my birthday but that's my one complaint about moving to that new new schedule.

SPEAKER_05

That's uh which uh I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum because uh my uh my birthday's in November and so the only way I was going to get a November Nashville SC game is if we went to MLS Cup. So now I'm not guaranteed one but uh my odds are a lot better. Yeah they get get one around there at least yeah something like that in the neighborhood. And if you uh they put a little sticker on your seat if you're a season ticket member and you the game's on your birthday you get a little happy birthday sticker on your seat. So that's a that's a a hashtag goals I love that you know during COVID the predators played playoff game on on my birthday and I was like well this is the only game they're ever going to play on my birthday I need them to win it and of course they lost so the Preds will forever be 0-1 on my birthday the the Russell curse that's right that's a shame to touch on what you were saying about about guys being snatched up I think that we had a chance of that because I think he was the the only guy that was really turned some heads and because he he was this close to playing at the World Cup for Australia right before he and I know you want to touch on the injury thing later but before whatever happened to him happened to him I I'm assuming it's like a quadricep or a hamstring for him to still not even be close because like the 615 guys say said that BJ said that he's on a a longer timeline which you know BJ is from the the Bill Belichick school of uh so like a longer timeline for all we know Patrick Yazbek is dead they're just trying not to tell us except people have seen right we have witnesses a little better in a Mitch McConnell situation but yeah yeah Patrick McConnell's a good one he they've got pictures of him with the newspaper Patrick Yazbeck like weekend at Bernie's no he was at the he was at the meet the team thing I didn't get to go see him the lines got a little too long but he was there he was he was up there on it was funny there was that picture they posted at 615 again of like injury row up in the deck of the stadium they had like all the injured guys and sod too yeah well and that makes me wonder what happened over the break I mean look we had Eddie we had Patrick and um Sam had just come back and I think Andy Andy yeah and then I'm thinking okay great like you know we're gonna get healed up full force come back strong and they came back what's it Reed Baker Whiting Christian Espinosa and back now Madrigal and I got questions about whatever happened with Madrigal down in Costa Rica.

SPEAKER_04

You know that story popped up briefly he got kicked off their national team and then we didn't hear anything about it. I don't know what happened there.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah I'm not I don't know what happened there and I I don't want to speculate too much on a situation like that. I I do know that it seems like no news is good because the other guys got dropped from their club too. Yeah but those guys seem like it seems like they have a history kind of being troublemakers and so this was more of a last straw like it's not what they did was so bad that it warranted dismissal but rather that uh that okay well that's enough we're sick of your yeah we're sick of your stuff so I I think on Madrigal I think you know no news is good news there was that article that came out because like here he's on his best behavior right uh if it was uh Claudio Villalobos who put out that article talking about and we kind of talked about that sky at the time where it was like oh yeah everyone in Costa Rica knows Warren Madrigal is a bad dude so I I didn't know that I mean I'm not in Costa Rica either but that seemed kind of it's you would think that would have come up sooner. But yeah I don't know what happened there and I I guess we never will yeah but hopefully you know hopefully it was like a like a learning experience for him he's really young so you know that can be the kind of thing put the fear of God in him kind of and like okay like it you know you could lose this yeah this opportunity that you have like so hopefully but as far as the injury thing my theory with it is because you know we play a very like intense game very high pressing high energy and I could definitely like coming back from the break you know you're a professional athlete you get into you prepare for like you you have like an offseason and then you get to where you're peaking athletically around the perfect time and then it's kind of like when there's like a big thunderstorm in the middle of a game and then someone someone pulls their hamstring after the break because you're not supposed to take a two hour break in the middle of your game I think that's kind of what happened there is we just came back a little too intense probably and you know like Christian Espinoza is not young. Andy not young and he also has like a a history of it being injury prone and we were actually a little fortuitous last year to have him as long as we did. Yeah but yeah that that's kind of like you know for us it's like well though that was whether it's like oh man two months off and then everyone's gonna be golden that's what that was what we all thought and then we came back with more injuries than we had when we left. So that's definitely definitely curious I would say but it doesn't seem like it's too too bad. Except for like Yazbek of course is long term but I think it's it's just like bumps and bruises and knocks and I think a little of it is BJ kind of kind of learning his lesson from last year where he wasn't rotating enough right it was like okay well let's win he was trying to win every game and which is great except they're humans and get August is hot and with I mean we have a busy August we have a game every three days for the entire month. Yeah because we've got league we got League's cup and then like this is a three match week where Atlanta and then Montreal and then in Orlando Saturday which that's a big game that's always a big game because it's Orlando but Antoine Griezmann is suddenly hot whooped up on San Jose last night. Whooped San Jose for sure who that they're supposed you know they're the talk of the league San Jose. So that's definitely a statement win for Orlando you hate to see it.

SPEAKER_04

Sure do well it's that's a great point about sort of the break and and how they could have ramped up and whatnot and kind of jumping back to one thing I do think we've got some younger guys who are starting to come on a little like honestly I I think Shaq Mohammed last night had a few touches a few little flicks where he's starting to really and maybe he's just vibing with Hani and and some of the attack but like I think he's feeling himself right now and I think if they can continue to build that confidence for him one it speaks well to the depth of it like that's the kind of team you need like in any sport you gotta have good depth and contributions but I think he could be somebody in a year or so that could be going elsewhere maybe and I'm no talent scout but I I just see I feel like he with the goal on Friday and then last night just really seemed to be comfortable and confident and you know and not everything worked out but he was trying things and exciting to see that and I hope we can see more more of the young youth revolution with the team yeah that's definitely that's definitely one of the best things about BJ is bring these young people through the Corcoran and like back towards the beginning of the year Thomas Williams was getting a lot of run out.

SPEAKER_05

I was kind of hoping like it's always great to see great to see the milkman in action Captain Jack Mayer but I was kind of hoping to see a little some Thomas Williams maybe and you know there's still I bet League's cup that's what I'm really hoping for League's Cup is that it did the youth revolution and the kids play and like Charles Emil and guys like that. I don't want to focus too hard on League's Cup. It's a trophy it is sure a lot of money a lot of money and you know they maybe the word has come down from like Ian or whatever like I want that money like so we're gonna go we're gonna go hard but I'd like to see it like have the kids get us out of the group stage and then let the big guys take over for the knockouts. It came to that but yeah Shaq Muhammad he he's definitely like raw you can tell right it's a lot of a lot of what he does is just off sheer energy but he's yeah he's got some cool he's got some good touches obviously has good chemistry with honey that's his brother as he says which you know that's fine because he grew up with Max but he's like oh yeah honey that's my brother but the which that's and I think that's insane that uh Max and Shaq grew up in in Ghana together and then wound up here.

SPEAKER_04

That is pretty incredible. Speaks to the Right to Dream Academy I guess and what they're doing over there. That's definitely big uh big win for the Right to Dream for African soccer and finding the guys that can play and finding them someplace to play I was gonna say in you know there've been reports of my new favorite name on the team Kamara Famara Senegalese guy Famara Kamara I can never remember is it Famara Kamara or Kamara it's it's it's Famara Kamara. Famara Kamara all right well apologies Famara Mr.

SPEAKER_05

Kamara yeah all world name I'm encouraged by the fact that he's coming out of Norway we seem to have had a lot of success mining those depths yeah our nor Norwegian pipeline yeah so exciting to see yeah that's another guy that uh you know he looks like the goat on youtube uh the goat of the Norwegian second division i'm I'm wondering what the holdup is on them announcing that because you know bogert came out with that at the same time as the Elias Saad news that all dropped at the same time but I don't know if that's like I don't know how all this works you know the inner workings of soccer signings and all that I I don't know how a lot of this works but I especially don't know that all seems kind of because you'll see like okay well this is confirmed and then like they announce them the next day and it's like okay well this is confirmed and they'll sit for a month and a half I it's something to do with his club like is the Norwegian season still going right now I think that I know some of the Scandinavian leagues are on our schedule because the winters are so harsh. I think the Swedish league is like March to October or something I could be wrong.

SPEAKER_04

That's happened before I it's you're right though I I feel like like when they signed Jonder Cadiz back in the day like that that kind of that Bogart or somebody announced that or reported it I want to say like a month before the signing actually happened and we're all sort of like where's Cadiz where's Cadiz and then you know it turns out you turns out we didn't even want him he didn't really even show up so yeah but yeah right all that weight anticipation for nothing. I think that did him a disservice actually like I think if he had just kind of been announced and come over and there wasn't that sort of build up of like oh we're getting this guy from Portugal you know like I think there about the hype. Yeah there could have been something different there. But you know hopefully they'll announce Famara Kamara thank you for continuing to educate me on these things sometime soon because I can't tell for sure but he sort of looks like that good D man with line breaking passes that like D midfielder six yeah seems to be what I'm missing.

SPEAKER_05

I think that's what he profiles out to be and that I mean that's definitely what we're missing like you know Ben Wright and the 615 guys that like the whole roster is number eight right which is which is funny because Brian Coosa is Brian Coosa is literally number six but you know that's that's not always how it works. But I I definitely like a lot of guys it it would be nice to have like a guy who could kind of sit back and and spray passes pick out runners and stuff because like Eddie tries but pass it passing isn't his strong suit and Corcoran tries but he's a little young and he does I mean Corcoran's got a wand he's played some absolutely unbelievable balls that uh a lot of guys on the team can't do but that's I don't think I don't think that's how he's best sitting back in like what we'll call like the Gaston Brugman kind of yeah Pierlow sort of quarterback. Yeah the Dax McCartney yeah yeah yeah that kind of situation so yeah hopefully for Marokamara can do that for us he's young too he's again another young player which you love to see midfield depth you love to see it I'm excited for him I'll I'm excited for Saad too. Yeah we'll hopefully we'll see him soon ish I know he's got to get kind of blooded in get his fitness up he just played the World Cup but I I again no idea how any of that works we'll we'll see him when we see him. Alright well any other thoughts or just general Nashville SC stuff you want to get out into the world or I mean I don't know it's it's it's a good time to be a Nashville SC fan right I mean it it always is even I thought too I thought 2024 was a good time to be a Nashville SC fan maybe not so much the the on pitch element of it but I mean I still I still went to every game and I still enjoyed every game maybe not the results so much I mean definitely not the results so much because you had that that was a rough year. But I mean yeah that's what I'm gonna it's my closing thought is that it's a good time to be a SC fan and I'm very excited for what the future holds and I've really enjoyed BJ's tenure as a whole hopefully he doesn't go to the national team or at least he finishes the year because that speaking that's was the big name talk about guys getting snatched up if anyone's getting snatched up yeah that's such a good point and he has been I think consummate coach he's always on message it's always it's it's sort of the Bill Belichick onto Cincinnati kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04

Like he's just got that focus and that drive and yeah I they better keep their hands off of BJ I I hope he wants to stick around and see out at least the project of building out his team here.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah yeah that was well I was gonna say that that is really that's that's our best hope right isn't that because that's what I always is like this whole team it's all been built for him right like the like the from the top down everyone plays BJ ball huntsville plays BJ ball the gold mine plays BJ ball just I think having a situation that's tailor made for him and where he can pick the place where he's not stuck with Kim Ream and whoever you know just I don't want to bash too many USA guys. But you don't want to you get what I'm saying. Yeah the national national team coaching you get who you are yeah man maybe you get luck and and some guy some British guy was born at the airport and and he becomes your best striker. But the mostly it's it's you kind of get who you are.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah fair enough that's a great point.

SPEAKER_05

But if if if in I'm not trying to speak it into existence but if it did happen maybe at least we'd see uh Brian Schwaki goaltender number one I I think he would definitely take Schwaki with him for each I think we're gonna see Brian Schwacky number one goaltender USA goalkeeper uh sooner than later I know I know Chris Brady from Chicago is kind of in the in the ascendancy there but I I mean I think Schwaki's better than Chris Brady I agree no no bias no one of these guys has given up seven goals in a game guys has not and uh it's not Schwaki so yeah I mean he if he keeps performing like he has I don't think there's gonna be a way to deny him by the end of the year.

SPEAKER_04

I mean he's already all star and everything but I think he's what 13 shutouts so far?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah ties Joe Willis's team record in 60% of the games so that's that's something that's pretty amazing. And he I mean he some of the saves some of the saves he makes are just unbelievable. Mm-hmm that that's my soccer hot take is that I feel like a lot of like soccer keepers could be replaced by a cardboard cutout right like a like a scarecrow that just keeps people from trying to suffer that I think there are are very few keepers who who genuinely change games and I uh Schwaki is one of them we're left him yeah I agree I think we'll know he's arrived officially when he gets his chewing gum sponsorship from whoever definitely he's gotta get that I bet it's five gum you think so you know like the that well that's the ad campaign right this is what it's like to chew five gum for him to be playing like that if if the ad if the ads are true it's definitely gum right on well i'll tag I'll tag your blue sky account in the uh description of this episode and of course I will be shouting out on blue sky that you come on I really appreciate your time and thank you so much I really appreciate you having me thanks a lot for uh let me let me spray my my ill-formed opinions for a little while it's always it's always good to have another outlet so thank you yeah you're welcome all right that'll do it for us this week I want to thank my guest Parkins Gillespie I have linked to his blue sky handle in the description below a reminder I will also have links to videos and other referenced items down there there's also a way to reach out and contact us if you would like to come on the show please follow through with us on blue sky twitter at nsh sports report or down in the description there's gonna be a link somewhere down there as well I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and I'll talk to you next week.