Racing v Houston -1

Nobody needs a silent disco more than Bev Yanez. When I asked her if she ever instituted a “silent disco” with her children to get a moment’s peace she admitted that it was a good idea, but that she hadn’t thought to do so. Therefore, she was often subjected to something called the “Chicken Banana Song”. I did some investigating and identified Swedish duo Maads and Bruno as the creators. For your listening torture:

Now the US is not part of the ICC but I think another member country would be up for having these two Swedes tried for torture against parents of young children.

Moving on to Bev personally and with the full Fleur-de-lis-FC seal of approval, she mentioned that her ideal kick-off song for a silent disco would be…

That’s right in my wheelhouse by being a) British b) New Jack Swing and c) smack dab in the middle of the nineties. She also hinted that none of her friends would have wanted to dance with her to this song back in the day. My assessment…her friends sucked.

Macey Hodge and Lo also admitted that they had never done a silent disco. Macey went with “Spark Fly” by Taylor Swift (who I personally don’t find interesting in the least) and Lo picked “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N' Roses which I can’t imagine being a good song to dance to. Long story short…the fans are going to have to bring the energy to the post match Silent Disco. If said SD doesn’t include Stateside + Zara Larsson by PinkPantheress…

…I am not against reporting the DJ to The Hague as well.

Putting off actual soccer talk as long as possible…both Macey and Lo said that it was a really good week of practice and Bev agreed. Macey gave a really honest and well-thought-out answer when I ask her about maintaining a positive attitude when you aren’t getting results. She reminded us that the players really are “living our dream, so that is the coolest thing about it.” I tend to agree. I know everyone wants results, but I think I have mentioned this here before and apologize if this comes as a great shock to anyone, but I don’t “live or die” with this team. I am Arsenal ‘til I die, Racing/Lou City when convenient and fun. Therefore, I admit that it may be different for others. I want Racing to be good, but it doesn’t destroy me when they aren’t. I like seeing these women live their dream and being there to support them doing so is priority one.

FREE EMMA SEARS

So…when I think the club is getting in the way of “living the dream” I will speak up. I don’t know Brendan well enough to call him a friend, so “trusted colleague” will do for now, but his piece on the Pros and Cons of moving Sears hit all of the right notes for me on the logical side of things so I don’t need to repeat his assessment. Here is what I will add.

I think the owners are being buttheads and falling into the Sunk Cost Fallacy. To some degree, I think Emma forced their hand by reminding them (although they shouldn’t need it) that while they may get to act as “the big cheese” in their smaller social and business circles, they can’t swim with the sharks. The only reason to hold on to Emma from a financial and operational perspective is to try to save face, or worse, to be petty. The problem with Emma’s request in my opinion is not that it surprised them or couldn’t make business sense, but that it hurt their feelings. My advice as always is to “put on your big boy pants” if you want to be in the top-tier pro sports business. Some teams have to be selling clubs.

Some unsolicited advice for Emma:

I am under the assumption (with some very mild evidence) that she wants to move to another NWSL club. Her family is often in Louisville, so I think she would want to play somewhere in the States so that her family could continue to support her in person. That’s fair, but for a couple of reasons I would advise against it. First, I think Soccer Holdings might actually be more willing to listen to an offer where they didn’t have to face Emma twice a season in the future. I may be wrong on that, but I know I don’t want Racing’s back line to play a motivated Sears twice a season. The second reason and probably the more important one is that I think Emma could really benefit by moving to a European team that is playing Champions League football in the 26-27 season. That would mean moving to team, where in order to get playing time, she would have to work more on the technical aspects of her game. That is where she has the most room to improve. She could do it in the NWSL, but I think it would be quicker overseas.

This also requires a good look in the mirror from Sears. She has to decide how much work she wants to put in to ensure her place on the USWNT. If that is the primary career goal for her, then maybe a move to Europe is too risky. If she wants to be a better footballer, I can’t see a move like that being a bad one in the long run.