Day off AMA

After finally settling into a routine of publishing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, of course there was no soccer this weekend so my “How To Watch” post for next weekend wouldn’t be the same. I felt a little guilty not doing a Substack this Friday so I took to Twitter and solicited questions from you, my friends.

I always give the caveat that I will give answers to any question, however I make no promises to the quality of the answer I give.

Cesar starting off with a tough one. If I’m sticking just with players in the league now, I’d go with Rebeca Bernal. She’s only 25, a proven veteran leader, and a world-class defender. Of course it would be difficult to pry her from Monterrey, but I feel like she’s a player you could easily build around. If I’m starting a brand-new team, have an unlimited amount of money to spend, and can get anyone, I’m gonna grab Asisat Oshoala. I feel like she’s the best on the planet right now, and with even a somewhat decent team behind her would be an instant contender.

From NGL, someone said “yo stop leaving me on read”

Sorry. I’ve been doing a ton of different things and I think I respond when someone messages me but I actually don’t, then I feel too embarrassed to message them. If you message me and I don’t get back to you, it’s nothing personal I’m just dumb. Message me again!

I’m old enough to have missed the Pokémon craze of the late 90’s-early 00’s, so my knowledge is severely limited. I’ll say Electrode, because it reminds me of the cover art of The Bouncing Souls How I Spent My Summer Vacation album. Great band, great tunes on that one.

Also from NGL, someone asked what the last thing I googled was.

Besides a list of Pokémon to look at which one looked like the Bouncing Souls cover?

The answer is I was looking for a recipe for dal and rice, an Indian dish that Nikita Taparia recommended to me when I asked a group chat what went well with some berry gunda pickles and/or carrot pickles. I’m gonna try and make some either this weekend or next week, time permitting.

Another one from NGL where someone asked “why doesn’t my crush like me back 😭”

It could be for a number of reasons, but I want to remind you that you’re awesome as you are. Crushes come and go. Sometimes people aren’t compatible, and that doesn’t make either one of them less awesome. For now, focus on making yourself and those around you happy. You’ll find your person.

More from NGL: “what was ur worst day ever”

My mother died of cancer when I was 19. I miss her every day.

Someone else on NGL asked “do u like anyone atm”

My wife. We’ve been together for 12 years and will celebrate our eighth wedding anniversary in September, and every day I think about how truly lucky I am to have found my person.

More from NGL, someone asked “Have they cleared up how relegation will affect women’s liga mx teams if their male counterparts go down?”

I think it’s very much still up in the air, but ideally the men’s and women’s teams would go up and down independently of one another. This would require a second division to go down to and for teams to come up from, which would be good for the game but difficult I’m sure for some teams, at least in the immediate term. Speaking of…

Great three-tweet question from pinetastic, the full text of which reads:

I think Liga MX Femenil and the FMF have done a fantastic job in starting a league from scratch and turning it in to what we see today in just six years. I think there were some mis-steps early on, like having groups instead of single table and not allowing dual-nationals to play, but those are relics of the past and the league may be stronger for having had those learning experiences.

In terms of having teams owned by men’s clubs versus the NWSL model which is a hybrid of independently run clubs (like Chicago, Gotham, and Kansas City for instance) and clubs co-owned by MLS clubs (Orlando and Portland) and a USL club (North Carolina), I think it was easier to start by having all clubs owned and operated by existing men’s clubs that had built-in fan bases and infrastructure. That said, I think there should be room for independently run clubs in Liga MX Femenil, and with the proposed de-coupling of promotion and relegation from men’s clubs, it’s a distinct possibility we see an independent club come in, especially if they’re able to create a sustainable second division.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this! If you want to ask a question, pass something along, or just talk, please reach out to me via twitter or email me at [email protected].