A New Home For The Soccer Eagle

The Soccer Eagle is back, baby.

The name, I mean. Once upon a time, a listener to my now-dead SiriusXMFC show "The United States of Soccer" dubbed me the "Soccer Eagle" because of my love of big picture discussions about American soccer.

We had a sound drop (which wasn't actually an eagle because eagles don't screech) and I leaned into the bit, for awhile, at least. I'll never forget Rob Stone doing a guest hit on USS and demanding "an eagle scream". Eventually the show moved on, I moved on, and we dropped the joke.

That doesn't mean I stopped being the Soccer Eagle, in spirit.

I love thinking and talking about big picture American soccer stories. It's probably not wrong to say my career is built on a foundation of unpacking why American soccer is the way it is and how we might be able to change it.

I said "thinking" and "talking" up there because "writing" hasn't been part of my brand for quite some time. Not on topics like ones a guy semi-ironically calling himself "The Soccer Eagle" might care about, anyway. At some point, writing became a chore I only engaged with because I could generate a little bit of income to augment my pay from doing the radio (Did you know I had a radio show?). I didn't take a ton of joy from it.

But any writer will tell you that once a writer always a writer and that if there's one universal trait all writers share it's that writers want to write. With no professional writing obligations at this point, I want to write. Mainly for me, but also for you, and because I think I have things to say with the written word that tend to just disappear into the ether when I say them with my mouth.

What will those things be? I'm not exactly sure yet. I'm going to let inspiration guide me and I'm certain it will, because things are happening. Messi's impact on MLS (or lack thereof). The Apple TV deal. USL stirring the pot with big announcements. The state of the USMNT and what that means for the buildup to the World Cup. That's just a few from the top of my head.

I'm also going to use this space to drop info on my other projects. There's the radio show, of course, but I'm also doing a morning show a la Soccer Morning (R.I.P.) called "Morning Kickaround" that's running on YouTube every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9:30 AM Eastern. MK is turning into my replacement for USS, meaning it's a show where I can cover the the type of American soccer stories (lower division stuff, Open Cup stuff, etc.) that will never make into the show I'm doing with Eric Wynalda in drive time.

Morning Kickaround is also now a podcast, so if you don't want to look at my jowly face for an hour, you can just listen to it. Dale.

Oh, and I'm still doing The Best Soccer Show with my buddy Jared DuBois on a semi-regular basis. When we're both available, BSS goes down on Thursday nights live (always our bread-and-butter) and remains the mix of jokes, pop culture, and soccer that isn't really like any other podcast out there. It's on YouTube and the live show is always fun. The podcast version usually drops early Friday morning.

I talked this week about the fading fighting mentality of the USMNT player pool, which prompted an unplanned appearance by the inimitable Jonathan Tannenwald. We went so far as to identify a group of players who have something to prove and could bring some of the spirit back into the national team.

Better to lose with a bunch of lesser-rated guys giving every ounce of themselves to the cause than fall flat with the Champions League crew holding back.

Anyway, that's an intro. If you're reading this, thanks for that. Be on the lookout for more to come and subscribe to get the newsletter in your inbox. And if you know someone who's liked anything I've ever made, or might be into following me now, let them know.