SPEAKER_01 0:48

This is just a thing. Lands on the other side of the flux. Oh my gosh, that was incredible.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you wherever you are listening from. It's Saturday, June 27th. I'm Russell Reese, and this is the Nashville Sports Report. All right, to celebrate the announcement that he has been elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame, I started this week's show with uh one of my favorite clips from Pekarina's career. That was his goalie goal against the Chicago Blackhawks about a year and a half before he retired. The announcement came on Monday that Pecca will join the Hall as part of the 2026 class. He is the first full-time predator to make the hall. This is a historic moment, not just for Pekka and the Preds organization, but for the city of Nashville as it represents a major milestone in the modern professional sports era here in Nashville. For the first time ever, one of our players, someone who never wore another jersey for another professional team, is going to be enshrined into a Hall of Fame. We all know what he means to the city and organization, as evidenced by the fact that there is a statue of him outside of Bridgestone Arena. Not to mention that every single guest who has appeared on this show has named him to their Mount Rushmore of Nashville Sports, but to see that he is also receiving that level of recognition from the broader hockey world is truly special and validates what we've known here in town for a long time now. Pekka was one of the greatest to ever do it. But that exciting news was just one part of what was a very busy week for the Predators. Also on Monday, the team announced that they had made yet another trade with the Colorado Avalanche, this time acquiring center Jack Drury, Prospect Chase Bradley, and a 2029 third round pick in exchange for Zachary LaRue and Fetter Sketch Off, their two first round picks from 2021. Ultimately, GM Chris McFarlane gave up two older prospects who had failed to crack the Nashville roster in exchange for Drury, a bottom six center with great face-off numbers, a prospect, and a pick. And it seems like the Aves moved on from Drury in order to make salary cap room, not because they didn't like the player. I know a lot of people will point to this trade and the Ross Colton trade last week and say that McFarlane is only bringing in Aves guys that he already knows, but I think what is actually happening is that he is using his relationship with Joe Sakick and his intimate understanding of Colorado's pain points to help improve the Predators roster. On the balance, I doubt we will see this frequency of trades with the Aves in the future, but McFarlane was literally on the other side just three weeks ago. He knows what Colorado thinks of these guys and who they've been considering moving on from. It's almost unheard of for a rival GM to have that level of insight into another team's thought process and plans. And frankly, it would be stupid of McFarlane to not take advantage of that knowledge. But the Pred's busy week was not done there. Last night at the NHL draft, the Predators selected Wyatt Cullen, 10th overall. Cullen, the son of former Predators player Matt Cullen, is one of the youngest players in the draft at 17 years old. He is a forward with dynamic offensive skills who is committed to the University of Minnesota for next season. Then, later in the evening, McFarlane traded back into the first round, sending two second round picks to the Carolina Hurricanes for the 31st overall pick, which the Preds used to select defenseman Thomas Blyle. Blyle is an elite skater with potential to one day quarterback the Preds power play. Here's what McFarlane had to say about the two picks at the end of round one.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

To get a guy like Wyatt Cullen, you know, he's obviously super, you know, he's got good skill. He's got good, he's a good skater, which I think is something we that excites me. I think it'll cite our our group in general. And looks like he's he's just scratching the surface of of what he can be. I think he's one of the youngest players in this draft and super, you know, excited about where he's going and what his his path might look like, you know, over the next year or two. And and again, and then you know, Jeff again and and his guys were were really high on on Tommy. And you know, we we were we were trying to get back into it for you know a couple of couple of picks there before and just weren't able to find the sweet spot and and we did with Carolina and you know to add a another guy that can skate. That's a really good skater that's gonna, you know, maybe add a little bit of a dynamic offensive component from the back end, I think is really important. So we're it's uh been a good night.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Based on those comments, it sounds like the Preds are hoping both players can add some high-end offensive production to their prospect pool, which is the one thing that is missing from their current deep crop of players. The NHL draft resumes this morning at 10 a.m. However, having traded away their two second round picks, the Preds are not scheduled to pick again until pick 70 in the third round. And speaking of draft picks, congratulations to Vanderbilt Guard Tyler Nickel, who was selected by the reigning NBA champion New York Knicks in the second round of the NBA draft earlier this week. Between him being drafted and Tyler Harris transferring to UNLV, Vanderbilt is down to just one Tyler on their roster, Tyler Tanner. No offense to those other two, but at least Fandy has held on to the best Tyler of the bunch. This week, the Tennessee Titans announced their training camp dates. Rookies will be reporting on July 23rd, and veterans will report on the 28th. So we are already less than a month from the start of the 2026 NFL preseason. For those who can't wait that long and need an NFL fix in the meantime, this week Netflix released the first official trailer for the upcoming season of their show Quarterback. The show, which features Titans QB Cam Ward, will release in full on July 14th. That will probably be the most Titans-related content we will see between now and the start of training camp. The U.S. men's national team played their third and final match of the group stages on Thursday night, losing 3-2 to Turkey on a last second goal. Since the U.S. has already secured the top spot in their group and Turkey had already been eliminated, the result will not affect the U.S. positioning in the round of 32, but it did mean that the U.S. could play their backup players, most of whom had yet to see the field during this World Cup. Given that it was the USB team against a desperate Turkey team who were playing for their pride in an otherwise meaningless game, the 3-2 result should not concern anyone as the U.S. moves into the knockout stages. And we now know that the United States will play Bosnia and Herzegovina on the evening of July 1st. With their starters back in the lineup and all yellow cards from the group stage wiped away, we should see a well-rested, full force U.S. squad ready to overpower an opponent who, on paper, appeared to be overmatched. That game will be available on Fox with kickoff at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening. Finally, the Nashville Sounds are 45 and 34 and three games back of the Memphis Redbirds for the division lead. They are currently in the middle of a six-game home series against the Gwinnett Snappers with the series split 2-2. They finish up today and tomorrow before welcoming the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp to town next week for a six-game series over the holiday weekend. My guest this week is my cousin Will Dossett. Will is a Nashville guy and a big Titans fan who is currently living and working in Senegal. Given their participation in the World Cup, I thought it'd be fun to talk to Will about his experience following the tournament in Senegal and how people there have responded to their early struggles in the group of death. We recorded this conversation on Wednesday afternoon before Senegal had been confirmed to advance, and the United States team's round of 32 opponent was solidified. Since then, Senegal has defeated Iraq 5-0 and will now for sure be playing in the next round. Please enjoy my conversation with Will Dawsett. Alright, Will, well thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate you making the time to come on. Yeah, I'm stoked to be here. You are a cousin of mine, which I feel like I should probably just mention on the front end.

SPEAKER_05 9:03

A little transparency.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

That being said, a Nashville guy who is now in Senegal, and I thought it would be really interesting to kind of talk to you about your experience there, particularly with the World Cup going on with Senegal in the group of death. But before we get into that, as I think you're aware, I have a litany of questions that I ask everyone who comes on the show, starting with what is your favorite sport to play?

SPEAKER_05 9:26

So I'm not a big, I'm not very a very athletic person. I played tennis when I was younger and still enjoy doing that from time to time. But rock climbing has really been the thing that I've gotten into the most. Again, have not really just because I've been moving around and stuff, haven't been able to do a lot of climbing, but that's definitely my favorite sport.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Nice. Yeah. One thing I find about rocks is they have them everywhere.

SPEAKER_05 9:47

So that that uh You know, you'd think, but actually you come out sometimes and it's it's not the kind of rocks you can climb. It's real flat out here in Senegal, frankly.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

I guess you do need a specific type of rock. It's not just any rock. Fair enough. Yeah. So moving right along, what is your favorite sport to watch?

SPEAKER_05 10:03

Definitely football, no doubt about it. But I will give a special shout out to curling. I don't know if you've ever sat down and watched a curling match at the Winter Olympics, but it is one of the best TV sports out there because you can get really into it and it's it's easy to understand the strategy. And so you can have really in-depth conversations and then yell at the television while they're trying to aim the rocks and whatnot. Plus, you get to like scream sweep, you know, sweep for your lives. It's a great time. So football for sure, but curling as a close second.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

I dig that. Yeah, I I love every four years becoming an expert in a few sports and exactly talking like I know. And I really I also appreciate curling for the fact that I could theoretically perform at that level, you know. Like I'm I'm in my early 40s and I'm not in super shape, but I I can convince myself while watching that yeah, I could do that.

SPEAKER_05 10:53

So yeah, you know, just the the if you're just sliding the rock, that doesn't require a lot of you you gotta be really precise, but it doesn't require a lot of athleticism.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Yeah, I think anything that theoretically you could play while smoking a cigarette, that's where I'm like, okay, I could I could probably do this.

SPEAKER_05 11:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

So what is your earliest sports memory?

SPEAKER_05 11:10

I was vaguely aware of the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. I was born in '94, but just didn't grow up in a big sports household. But when I was a kid, we lived in France, in Paris. And so my first kind of real sports event was the 2006 World Cup, which was in Germany, and France unexpectedly went to the finals. I don't even know if we were watching the games, but you know, they beat, I want to say Portugal in the quarterfinals and then Brazil in the semifinals or something like that. And after every match, the entire city would just go out in the streets and have a massive party. And so, you know, I was 12 years old, and suddenly that you just hear this entire city scream when they score a goal. And so we went out on the Etoile, so around the uh Arc de Triomphe. And I remember we we must have walked there because you couldn't drive anywhere. It was just every street was a parking lot. The Etoile, literally, people like parked their cars and locked them and just walked away and were like dancing on top of cars and waving these huge flags, and everybody was screaming, and it was an unbelievable experience. And then we actually moved to the US in between the semifinals and the finals. That was when we left. So I watched the semifinals, like was out in the street partying with all of France for the semifinals, and then watched the finals at my grandma's house in Ohio. And obviously, this was the final where Zidane headbutted Madurazi and then they lost in penalties, and it was a disaster. But that experience of being out in the streets of Paris with the entire nation was unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

That sounds incredible. And what a memorable final, too. You guys got out right at the right moment. Do you still kind of root for France a little?

SPEAKER_05 12:45

Or yeah, I do. I do. I've kind of added that was definitely my primary rooting interest at the time. I've sort of added teams, obviously the US, now Senegal, and and some others. But I've never forgiven the Italian team either.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Well, they've paid the price here lately. That's true.

SPEAKER_05 13:00

I mean, what is it, three World Cups in a row now that they failed to qualify for? I that that made me giggle. I really enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

That's so funny. I feel like, particularly in the World Cup, it's good to have a handful of teams. We went on honeymoon in France, and I bought myself a France jersey. Well, actually, I expect my wife to get one and she got me one later, but it came out of that trip. And so, like, I'm a coattail riding France fan, and then my wife lived in England for years, so love to cheer for them too. It's good to have a handful of teams. I used to work with a bunch of Croatians, so like I keep track of their teams. It's like people play fantasy football, or a lot of people gamble to have like an elevated rooting interest in things. I think adopting teams like that helps in the same way.

SPEAKER_05 13:43

Sure, yeah. I mean, it's just kind of part of I've moved around so much in my life, so it just kind of comes with the territory.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Yeah, you've actually earned it, but I want to give free reign to anyone out there to uh pick random teams, even if you've never been there and go for it. Having said that, and with all the moving around, how did you end up in Nashville?

SPEAKER_05 14:00

So my dad is from Tennessee originally, and I was born in Florida, then lived in Europe for a while, and so like I was saying, summer 2006, we moved to Tennessee. And honestly, it was just dad got a job. I think my parents had looked at Nashville, looked at Charlotte, maybe a couple other places, and just decided that Nashville was the way to go. So I I obviously didn't have any say in the matter, but was pretty happy with how things turned out.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

He picked well, no shade to Charlotte, but Nashville was and is the way to go. All right. What is your favorite Nashville sports team?

SPEAKER_05 14:32

Definitely the Titans. Like I was saying, I didn't really have any kind of sports background when I moved to Nashville. I also didn't have any friends, and I was like the weird French kid. So I made one good friend, shout out to Will Katitsky, my dude, who was super into the Titans. And so I immediately just also became super into the Titans and have never gotten off that particular bandwagon, and I'm not planning on it.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Awesome. And how do you feel about the new rebrand?

SPEAKER_05 14:56

I like it. You know, I think I'm not thrilled about the logo, but I like that they have reclaimed the Oilers' colors because I saw a number of takes from national media people after the rebrand that basically said something along the lines of those colors shouldn't belong to the Titans, they should belong to Houston, to the Texans. We don't need to relitigate all that drama between the Adams family and the city of Houston and whatnot, but I like that the Titans are laying claim to that. And a year or two from now, no one's ever gonna say that again, right? Because Titan, the Titans have now kind of, you could say the franchise has closed a chapter in a sense and has gone back to their roots with the love you blue. And while I obviously love and cherish all the memories in the two-tone blue uniforms, when I think about it kind of on a historical level, I really like that they're leaning into that and reclaiming that. So I was really into it. I think the uniforms look fresh as hell. No notes.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

I'm right there with you. I'm so glad. The old colors were fine, but the new colors are spectacular and a throwback. The one thing I'll say for the logo, I feel like the simplicity is nice and the sort of the balance of it. So I'm right there with you. I'm excited about that and excited about sort of the direction of the team, Cam Ward, Carnell Tate. I can't say enough about another guy who hasn't played it down yet, but you know, we've been desperate for a number one receiver for Big Jeff.

SPEAKER_05 16:14

No one has ever earned a hundred million dollars more.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Yeah, absolutely. Oh, he's gonna be a beast this year, too. Did you hear the clip of him talking about the attacking defense with Salah?

SPEAKER_05 16:23

I saw the quote, but I didn't hear the clip.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Yeah, he it's like you can see the sacks in his eyes already.

SPEAKER_05 16:29

He's just I hope so.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

All right, what is your favorite Nashville sports memory or moment?

SPEAKER_05 16:35

This is a tricky one. So I I think like some of your past guests, the 99-yard run by Derrick Henry, when he absolutely decleated what's his name, the the commanders, the Washington cornerback, what was this? Norman, Josh Norman. Oh, yeah. The the first big Derrick Henry stiff arm, the Preds run to the finals. That was an unbelievable summer. The game against the Ravens in January 2020. The pr the Pats game was also great, but when they beat the Ravens, that was the one that was really special to me. But the the like personal one that is in my heart, maybe if it's not as important to everybody else, is when Rob Coronis kicked that 60 yarder to beat the Colts, I think in 2006. Because that was my first year watching the Titans. And I remember we were watching that game. I was with my family at Logan's Roadhouse after church. And I think there was just something about it, it was a big comeback and then that big kick to win back in the good old days when kicking 60 yards still meant something. I feel like it was a kind of watershed moment, not just for me, but for my whole family to get into the Titans and be excited about the Titans. And so I that one really stands out to me.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Spending off on that, who do you have on your Mount Rushmore of Nashville sports?

SPEAKER_05 17:44

This is another one where there's like the objectively correct answer, which is I think Steve McNair, Eddie George, Pecarine. And then for me personally, having kind of gotten on board in 2006, the players who are most meaningful to me personally, definitely still Peccarina, but for sure Derek Henry, for sure CJ2K. And then I spent a good chunk of time earlier today when I should have been working trying to decide between Kevin Byard and Big Jeff, and I can't, but they're both equally acceptable.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

I love that. The mayor of Murfreesboro is obviously a great choice, and Big Jeff is as well. You know, Pekka getting the call to the Hall of Fame this week, becoming the first Nashville player to only wear a Nashville uniform all the way through. I think hopefully the Titans are on track to keep Big Jeff locked down for the rest of his career, and then we can see number two there.

SPEAKER_05 18:32

If he can survive the last few years without getting traded, I feel like it would take an act of God to get him out of Nashville.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

I really hope he's yeah, he's foundational. I think he's gonna be a lot of fun to watch this year. Yeah, absolutely. All right. So do you have any Nashville sports conspiracy theories or hot takes you want to share?

SPEAKER_05 18:51

I don't. I I have a sports take in general. I don't even know if it's hot. I feel like every reasonable person should agree with me. I think that private ownership of sports teams should be illegal. Every team should be structured like the Green Bay Packers, where it's owned by the community. There's a board, and you have to actually perform in order to keep your job. I think that Packers fans are the luckiest fans in sports because their team is the only one that is run rationally like a company, and they only have to compete up against a bunch of like ego maniacal owners who are either Nepo babies or hedge fund managers. And hedge fund managers obviously are skilled at certain things, but running NFL teams is usually not one of them. So personally, I would love to see the Titans go public, and I think every sports team should go public, but I know that's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

I love that take though, and I would absolutely invest in Titans stock, predator stock, Nash B C stock. I'd invest in a lot if I could. It definitely removes that layer ownership being you know what we've seen with the Titans for the last few years. Right itchy trigger finger.

SPEAKER_05 19:54

It's hard for me to imagine that a team with like a good fan base couldn't raise just as much money through an IPO as they can by selling the team, you know?

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Oh yeah. I mean, we see it in college football already with NIL.

SPEAKER_05 20:06

You'd think, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:07

Look at the vols. Yeah, there's some big donors there, but there's a lot of small contributions too. Sure. And I think Vanderbilt, just given their alumni base and whatnot, I think they are a sleeping giant who's beginning to awake. Just they've got the funds now. So yeah, I don't see why not. I love that take. That's great. All right. So this one might be a little bit of a moot point, but you know Nashville and and you can give me give me your opinion. What is your favorite restaurant in Nashville or or historically what has been?

SPEAKER_05 20:33

That's an important distinction because I don't know much about the Nashville restaurant scene since I'm not around that often. I do try to hit Hattie B's at least once when I'm in town. I've done the shut the cluck up, but I don't need that on a regular basis, you know, so I usually stick with the damn hot. As far as historic restaurants, I mean mafiosas on 12 South. I was shocked last time I was home and saw that it was closed. I thought that thing was gonna go on until the end of time. It was unbelievable. Great, great pizza. Yeah, and it's it's brutal that they're gone.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Oh man, yeah, I remember fondly the Wednesday night deals that they used to run back in the day. For sure.

SPEAKER_05 21:12

I've never seen so much grease drip off a slice of pizza.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

That's a real great call. And that whole area, every time I drive over there, it's like, where am I?

SPEAKER_05 21:20

Yeah, I can't really enjoy that that much. I don't know, maybe I've just been away for too long, but it feels kind of disorienting to be down there now.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

Yeah, you know, they've got locust is over there, and that is an incredible restaurant. If and when you're back, there's a lot of great restaurants. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:35

But just navigating, just driving down 12th South right now is just like you gotta dodge like six bachelorette parties and four people walking dogs and twenty-seven pairs of yoga pants.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

Yeah, people crossing the street looking at their phone, all that sort of stuff.

SPEAKER_05 21:51

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

All right. Well, that I think that's a great answer. And yeah, yeah, RIP to a real one, mafiosos. Okay, so as I mentioned. At the beginning of this, you are now in Senegal and experiencing the World Cup, I presume. But before we get into that, I want to get a little bit of background. How did you end up in Senegal?

SPEAKER_05 22:09

I joined the Peace Corps about a year out of college, and they sent me to the Gambia. For anyone who's not familiar with the geography of West Africa, Senegal is like Pac-Man, and the Gambia is like the thing that Pac-Man is eating. Like that's kind of what it looks like. So they're kind of the same country. Like of all the dumb colonial borders in the world, there is no border dumber or more colonial than the one between Senegal and the Gambia. So did two years in the Gambia, loved it, came back to the US. It was COVID, didn't love that. And so I got a job offer in Senegal. And I was like, well, I speak French. Senegal's basically the Gambia. I'm gonna go. And so I did. That was in January 21. And yeah, so I was there for three and a half, almost four years in Senegal. And in September 2024, I moved to Italy to start a master's program. Just as part of that program, you know, I needed to write a thesis. And I had met this guy who works at reforestation company that operates in Senegal. Um, so I asked him, I was like, hey, do you guys have any kind of research questions or stuff you want to figure out that I could do my thesis on? So, you know, my thesis can be useful to someone and not just sit on a shelf and collect dust. So we worked out a research plan together. So in the spring, I came down, did a couple months of field research here, and then they offered me a contract to work another project this summer. So that's what I'm doing now. It's just a temporary contract, but you know, Lord works in mysterious ways. We'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

That's awesome. So you'll be there through the end of August or something like that.

SPEAKER_05 23:37

End of July, yeah. So I think I come back right after the World Cup final, actually. The uh Senegal versus US World Cup final. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

All right, this segues well into my next question, which is since the Cub started down there, have there been a lot of big sort of civic watch events and sort of stuff going on? How's the excitement down there?

SPEAKER_05 23:56

So I am not in Dakar, right? Dakar is the capital. It's on the west coast of Senegal, and there are definitely big watch parties and all sorts of stuff there. I'm in Bakel, which is way on the eastern side, right on the Senegal River across from Mauritania. And there have not that I have seen been any kind of big watch parties out here, which is not surprising given kind of the size of the town. But people are definitely still into it and and excited about the matches. And unfortunately, frankly, the Senegal team has not given people a ton to cheer for, which is also part of the part of the issue.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Well, that speaks to a question I was gonna ask is you know, they're in what I think a lot of people are calling the group of death, France, Senegal, Norway, and then Iraq. But I'd say 3-1 to France and 3-2 to Norway, those are those are really decent results, all things considered. But do you think that sort of uh enthusiasm is waning because of that?

SPEAKER_05 24:49

Well, I understand where you're coming from when you say they're decent results, but I think people here, and I'm gonna include myself in that, had higher expectations. There's a really classic kind of great World Cup upset from 2002 where Senegal beat France. A lot of people anticipated them being a lot more competitive in both games and potentially being able to beat Norway. And I don't know if you watched those two matches, but there were really clear errors and some, in my opinion, some serious coaching malpractice. So the coach, the Senegalese coach, his name is Pap Chao, and there's a defender on for Senegal named Kaliru Kulibaly, who is, you know, one of the great central defenders of the last 10 years worldwide, I would say, but at this point is really past his prime. And he hasn't played a lot for his club team in the last few months, but has been starting and playing a lot of minutes for Senegal at this tournament. And he's just not up to snuff. I mean, I think he gave away two goals to France and all three goals to Norway. And you can tell that he just doesn't have the juice, whether it's because he's old or because he hasn't played enough recently, he just doesn't have the juice to keep up with players like Holland and Mbappe. And the coach just stands there frozen and doesn't do anything about it. And so it's very deeply frustrating to watch like this team with a lot of really talented youngsters, but the talented youngsters are not getting on the field. And these old guys who admittedly are heroes of Senegalese football. I mean, this is a team that's won two of the last three Africa Cup of Nations. Like these are big, big stars who played in Europe for years, but it's that transition from a golden generation to the young kids, and it's hard to get it right. And it seems like Pop Chow is really screwing it up right now. So people don't look at 3-1 to France and 3-2 to Norway and think, wow, we like fought hard. This is, you know, we're good, plucky underdogs. Like, no, this is a good team. This is a good team with big stars and top players who play in the best leagues in Europe, and it's not getting it done for these kind of like really frustrating reasons. So I think people are very, very focused on the team, but not necessarily happy with the way things are going.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

Interesting. I think that maybe exposes some of my American mentality of like, oh, that's a great result, you know, for a plucky little team. But I it's a great point that they're used to and have a long tradition of really good football.

SPEAKER_05 27:02

Well, it's not a long tradition, honestly, but it's a recent tradition. I mean, two out of the last three AFCons, they've really been one of the top, probably the top team on the continent over the last five or ten years. And just a lot of really exciting young players. I mean, Ibrahim Mbai, who plays for PSG, which is my club team, is awesome. And he scored an incredible goal against France and then just didn't get enough time against Norway. And when he came on, he looked good. You know, like it's just kind of come on, pop, you gotta do stuff. You gotta be a little bit more aggressive with the with the subs here.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Well, it's hard to let go. It's sort of the Ronaldo effect, seeing that with Portugal. It's like, why are you hanging on?

SPEAKER_05 27:38

Uh-huh. I was talking to some of my colleagues, and they're just like, there has to be an explanation. Like, there's no footballing reason to leave these obviously ailing players on the field. What is going on? I don't know what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

I mean, and you know, to play devil's advocate, I think that anyone could be made to look foolish against Holland and Mbappe, like two of the greatest players on the the world stage these days. I mean, that left-footed curler Mbappe did against Iraq.

SPEAKER_05 28:03

Yeah, that was unbelievable. He snuck through what, like seven different limbs or something. It was crazy.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Yeah. I kind of feel that way about Tim Ream with the US team. Like he's leadership, he's captain, but you can tell that and it maybe it's just our lack of good center backs. We've got Chris Richards, and then we've got, I don't know. I'm 42 years old, so for me to say throwing out the 38-year-old old man is highly hypocritical. And and to be fair, I think he's quitted himself well. But I thought going into this thing, like, what are we doing here?

SPEAKER_05 28:33

Imagine if Tim Ream had his physical limitations, but then also just two or three times a game would completely miss a tackle or miss a pass that goes straight to the opposing team or something like that. Like, that's what's been happening with Goulibelli. And again, this is one of the all-time great Senegal players. So it's brutal to watch. And I'm putting it on the coach. It's just like this team could be so good. This team could have beaten both France and Norway if the reaction had been a little bit better from the coach or with a little bit more luck, and it's just not happening.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Well, that is a shame. So have you been able to watch? I guess you've watched these games. Have you just watched them at home or have you gone out?

SPEAKER_05 29:09

I've watched both of them at home. So the first one, I was in Kidira, which is a town south of Bakel where I'm at now, right on the Mali border. And I was there for like a field mission for a couple weeks. And so I watched it in like my hotel room with a couple colleagues. And then what was it Monday night here? So the game started at midnight. I watched it here in the office where staying in Bakel with some colleagues as well.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

What's the domestic league like in Senegal? You mentioned most of their national team players are playing in Europe and whatnot, but do they have a pretty strong domestic league?

SPEAKER_05 29:41

I do have a domestic league. I don't really know how strong it is. I think it's known as a really good developmental league. Senegal has this really strong team, and you know, there's a lot of teams at the World Cup where 80% of their starters were born in Europe and then decided to play for their parents' team or something. USA. The USA, for example. But I think like Morocco has a ton of players who were born in Europe. But Senegal is not in that same situation. There, there are players who were born in France, but there's actually a really decent number of players who were born and raised in Senegal, came up through some of these local teams, and then were discovered by teams in France or in Belgium or wherever, and and moved to Europe. We're talking like as teenagers, and then the rest of their career there. So in that sense, I don't know that the league, the domestic league, is really strong. You know, I don't think they're can they're contending for like the African Champions League places and that kind of thing, but pretty well known as an incubator of talent. I think Patrick Vieira started a team here, and it's like a team but also a development academy. Oh, that's true. I was reading something about that recently.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

You know, Nashville C has a couple of guys from Ghana who came out of the Right to Dream program, which I think is a very similar thing. Maxwell Walezi and Shaq Mohammed. Waleji ended up in Norway, and then we signed him from there, and Shaq Mohammed ended up with Orlando, but they actually knew each other from playing in Ghana before that.

SPEAKER_05 31:02

I mean, there's a lot of talent, just got to get the development.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

All right, got big plans for this final match. It sounds like people are a little bummed, but I think Sinegal really puts a beating on Iraq. They still have a shot at sneaking in as a third place team.

SPEAKER_05 31:14

Yeah, so it's uh the energy of desperation, you could say. I'm actually heading back to Dakar on Friday, you know, knock on wood that the bus doesn't have a breakdown or anything, should be there in time to watch the match.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

How long's that drive? I think it's like nine hours. If you're there in time, you'll go to a watch party with a friend's house.

SPEAKER_05 31:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

And uh, what time is that game in Senegal?

SPEAKER_05 31:33

I believe it's 7 p.m. Yeah, five hours ahead of national.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

2 p.m. here, yeah. I think that's right. Here's uh here's an interesting little twist. If Bosnia and Qatar were to draw and Senegal was to make it in as a third place team, they're our third most likely round of 32 opponent for the US. How would that feel for you?

SPEAKER_05 31:52

So I did not know about this, and this is extremely good news for me. I'm very excited about this possibility. I would love it. I would be so stoked. I think it would just be a win-win situation for me, you know? Like I wouldn't be upset, kind of no matter what happens. I feel like if the US wins the World Cup, like on the grand scheme of things, nothing really changes. But if Senegal won the World Cup, the world would become a better place because people would take Africa and African sport more seriously. I mean, if it really comes down to it, Senegal's playing the US, I I don't know where I would it land. You know, you just gotta follow your heart on that one. I'd probably be rooting for the States, but man, it would be so much fun. It would be so much fun to watch that game.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Do you think you'd get a hard time, or do you think it would be more like playful, sort of, hey, we're going against you guys, like with your co-works.

SPEAKER_05 32:38

I think it'd be yeah, people here are super friendly. I don't think there would be any kind of bad blood. You know, Senegal has maybe some rivalries with or or some bad blood with teams like France or Morocco, but people have been really pretty positive about the US team, honestly, about like, wow, you know, you guys have got some really good players and that kind of thing. Obviously, we played the friendly, the US Senegal friendly, just a few weeks ago. I mean, it's a friendly, you know, there were no stakes, but people were into it for sure.

SPEAKER_02 33:03

I think that game was for me, it was sort of like, oh, we might have a squad here. We look actually pretty good.

SPEAKER_05 33:09

Yeah. My thoughts coming out of that game was wow, the US looked really great, which is good, but it was just a friendly, so I'm not gonna worry about whether Senegal looks good or not. Obviously, one of those things has turned out to be true, and the other one maybe was a little overly optimistic. If they make it to 32 and Pop Chow can figure out this substitution problem, get a center back who can actually run, they could hurt some people.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

That'd be really fun to see. So you were talking about proselytizing for the Titans and Will Katitsky turning you onto the team. Have you been spreading the good word while in Senegal? Are there any American football fans over there?

SPEAKER_05 33:43

No one cares about American football here. It is all soccer, and then the local wrestling, which is called LAM, and they have kind of their own style of wrestling. So the wrestlers are big stars. It's just like massive Senegalese dudes with they usually have like some kind of grease, like these charms, and they'll do these dances and they have guys following them around with drums and kind of like show off before the matches. And I think the matches are usually very brief, kind of like sumo, but it's a whole I mean it's a whole world of smack talk, and yeah, it's I've never been to a match, but I I I've heard that they're pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

Is it more of a sort of WWE performance or is it more of a actual there's a no, it's real wrestling.

SPEAKER_05 34:24

Okay, it's I think it's it's very similar to sumo in the sense that like I don't know how much sumo you've watched, but first of all, good time, give it a shot.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 34:32

And it's kind of theatrical, you know. They do the like the kicks and the like throwing dirt and all that kind of stuff. And it's massive people, you know. There's no like CM Punk little skinny dudes, no large, large men going at it.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

Cool. I will check that out and I will probably try and find a video to link into the description of this. Fun to learn about. All right. Well, I want to ask about Senegalese food since I know nothing about it.

SPEAKER_05 34:56

I love Senegalese food. It is generally like rice-based, but you also get dishes of millet, so kind of like a couscous, and then you can put various sauces on that. The classic typical Senegalese dish is called chebujin, which literally just means fish and rice. But you get this like fried rice with a bunch of vegetables. You know, you got cassava and carrot and cabbage, and then these fried fish and like a tamarind sauce. They make this really kind of tart sauce with hibiscus leaves. That is one of my favorite things in the world. And it's just all these different flavors in this big bowl. So you can kind of take a little bit of carrot and a little bit of fish and a little bit of rice and a little bit of hibiscus and mix it up however you want. It's delicious. There's a dish called mafe, which is the peanut sauce, so like a savory peanut sauce, which is actually what I had for lunch today. And it is one of my favorite foods. I love Mafe. I mean, there's so many good ones. There's so many good ones. DB is like the Senegal, like the West African barbecue, which the classic is goat or mutton, but just like flame roasted with some spicy peppers and stuff and and and onions. But you can also get it with pork, which is just unreal. So that's one of the things. Um when I get back to Dakar, I've got a couple DB restaurants that I need to hit.

SPEAKER_02 36:07

That's awesome. Sounds really good. Okay, well, let's uh let's end on that high note. You got anything else you want to say to the world or listen up, America.

SPEAKER_05 36:17

If you're into soccer, watch AFCON. The African Cup of Nations is the greatest tournament in the world. Maybe accept the World Cup. It is so chaotic. It is so crazy and ridiculous. The fan culture is amazing. Every year something absurd happens, get into AFCO. This most recent final was between Senegal and Morocco. If you haven't seen it, it's one of the craziest matches ever. My dad, who doesn't know anything about soccer or anything about Africa, was screaming at the television by the end of this match. The team walked off. There was a missed penalty. It was an unbelievable time. And every single AFCO is like that. A couple years ago, Ivory Coast was hosting the tournament. They fired their coach after the second game and then went on to win the entire tournament with their stand-in coach. Wow. It's an unbelievable time. Watch AFCON.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

Is it a yearly tournament?

SPEAKER_05 37:11

Uh so they're changing it now. It used to be every two years, and I think they're making it every four years now. But yeah, it used to be every two years just because it was such a great time. But I think, you know, something about FIFA and they ruin everything that is fun.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

All right. Well, that's awesome. I will also include a link to the AFCON final highlights from that one because I remember I didn't get to watch it, but I remember reading about it afterwards, just thinking mind-blowing stuff there.

SPEAKER_05 37:35

It really was.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

All right. Well, well, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate you. And I look forward to hopefully clashing with Senegal in the round of 32.

SPEAKER_05 37:45

And I hope so.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

That'll be a great game. Thanks, Russell. All right, thank you. And good news, Will was able to make it home in time to watch the match yesterday. So I followed up with him after Senegal's big victory over Iraq. Here's what he had to say.

SPEAKER_05 37:58

I think with the results after Senegal's game, they're confirmed, so they're going. And I don't know who they're gonna face. Probably some really, really good teams. But it looks like Bob Day finally got his head out of his ass. Absolutely somebody's so I think the rabbit was I don't think anybody's gonna be looking forward to playing them for all that means that they're definitely still in underdog mode. I think they're gonna play or something. So you're hoping that that happens, but uh you know it's still pretty it's not likely, but we we hope.

SPEAKER_02 39:18

Okay, that's our show for this week. As always, you can contact us through the link in the description. I will also be linking to all videos referenced during today's show down there, and you can find us on social media at NSH Sports Report on Blue Sky and Twitter. We would love to hear from you and of course have you on the show. If you think I'm not talking about you specifically, let me correct you. I am. I would like to have you, yes you, come on the show and share your thoughts about Nashville sports. So please reach out. In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.