Somehow you have managed to live a charmed life without any deadheads trying to lure you into the cult. Which means you've never met my ex. Lucky you!
Hah, I was once lured to a dead concert by a friend from work. I think it was in Berkeley so I got the full on deadhead / hippie experience. A couple things that I remember besides the haze of cannabis: the deadhead way of dancing which is kind of freeform and arrhythmic. And also how attuned everyone was to what Jerry Garcia was doing. If he threw is head back during a solo, everyone got excited, and there were immediate cheers in the crowd. “Jerry’s getting into it! The magic is happening again!” That said the music is fine and I appreciate the “jam band” aspect of their performances. But I don’t know their music very well and I’m nothing close to a deadhead.
I went to my one and only concert in Berkeley as well, six months pregnant. After a few hours, I was ready to leave. "After this next song," he said. Of course, each piece lasted 90 minutes, so it was a long night. The music itself is pretty good, but the whole collecting/trading live tapes and compiling all kinds of statistics and obsessiveness -- that I don't get.
CD 1 of 2 currently in my car’s CD player. Been to a dozen live shows before Jerry Garcia passed. Which means I’m far from a Deadhead.
You are our official resident Deadhead. I went once in ‘80. Highly memorable first concert lol. It was Bob Weir who I really keyed in on - amazing. Hampton Coliseum, Va.
During the late 70s/early 80s I was both a punk and a Deadhead. Neither group had any issue with that.
I was a big fan of Minor Threat in high school and then Fugazi later on... Ian Mackaye and Jeff Nelson's original band they started when they were lil teens in DC and the reason they first started Dischord Records did have this one song about Deadheads lol Obligatory posting of the best video on Youtube after Fugazi mention
In the late 80s, I was in a new band and we had an emergency request fill in for a show the next night at the old Mabuhay Gardens in S.F. We needed a name quickly so my drummer looked toward his closest for inspiration, which was glowing underneath the closed door. Closet Greenery was born that night.
Great thread on social media by our former senior VP of marketing - Tutul Rahman. His Quakes analysis is much better than Doyle's, and he does stuff on multiple teams, not just the Quakes, just casually in social media posts while serving as senior VP of Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He's talking about how the pundits are buying the "addition by subtraction" line (though he doesn't use that phrase) and why the fans aren't buying it. He seems to side mostly with the pundits. The problem with "addition by subtraction" is that, OK, let's assume you get similar or even better production from Judd and Bouda (a big assumption). Both those players got significant minutes last year. What happens when they're not available this year? :thinkingemoji There is no "addition by subtraction". Only subtraction by subtraction. That said, we can have addition by subtraction and then addition by a greater number (as Timo might be relative to Chicho). But, at least 2 more big spots to fill. And if Bruce gets better results with this roster as it stands (possible) I would say not that it's a better roster but that he's done a great coaching job, and hats off to him. Anyway, I've unrolled Tutul's thread here: There's something interesting happening with perception of the Quakes before the season starts. Normally, fans of teams feel more optimistic about their team than the league writers. With the Quakes it's the opposite & very stark. Here's a thread breakdown on why. First, on why the optimism from league writers. 1) SJ's underlyings last year was of a team that should've finished 5th in the West & not missed the playoffs. It was an elite offense & poor defense 2) A lot of the non-DP players showed to be better than average MLS players. The obvious is Leroux, who broke out last year & should get better. Less obvious is Judd, who's underlyings would suggest he's an upgrade over Josef, with improvements in defense & passing & movement. Munie also showed to be better than league average CB. Bouda actually has the same G+/90 as Espinoza (not a passing threat like Cristian, who's elite there, but much higher threat and more active defensively. And Tsakiris in about 500 minutes showed a lot of progressive passing ability that's sorely needed. Finally Viera has shown to be solid in his half season. 3) Most writers are high on Werner (which is a risk). The assumption will be Werner will have the same offense positive as Chicho while being much much much better on defense. And his numbers in his last season played would match that assumption. 4) Add all that up, it points to a slightly worse attack (specifically Espinoza's chance creation that can't be made up with Tsakiris) but a much better defense. If you get even average keeping that points to a 47-50 pt season. It's just math. So why the pessimism in the fan base? First, the manner of Espinoza's departure (someone who's the second best player in the team's 50 year history) was ... poor. That would outrage any fan base, but especially one that has had the longest streak of not hosting a playoff match in the league .. even stretching further than their 11 yr old stadium. Second, a lack of number of new signings to match the outgoings doesn't feel great. At best, it means the squad is thin. Werner takes a while to get up to speed means all that math falls apart. A single injury can spiral the team quickly. At worst, if you don't buy that the squad players were actually better than average MLS players, then you believe the squad simply doesn't have the talent. This would be validated by current Transfermarkt squad values where SJ is dead last at about $20m, and less than a quarter of league leaders in Miami. That would point to a wooden spoon season. Both are logical takes to be honest. I obviously am biased towards the Quakes in my time working there. I'm also an optimist & a believer in underlying numbers. But moreso, I'm a believer in Niko & Bouda, who've I've watched for years in MLS Next Pro where they'd dominate everyone else on the field. (I watched a lot of Arfsten then too, and didn't see how good he'd become then, so take that with a grain of salt). But that's why I think I side with the league writers here ... As long as Daniel stays healthy in goal. Which is probably the biggest if of them all. Anyways, it's fascinating to see.
There are so many “ifs” in that article, and any one or two that fail to pass will likely result in a disastrous season…
In what universe is the attack better just because Werner is there? Who's going to get him the ball? Our attack is gutted outside of him, and we're full of depth/replacement level players that were part of a defense that shipped 63 goals last year. Most of that defensive core (outside of Lima) is back, so I guess we just expect to magically be way better on D? And a big reason is that our attackers are so much better metrics-wise at defending.... Color me not psyched going into this season. If Arena plays a lot of kids (and we don't even have that many after shipping Medina and Cowell), which would go against the grain for him, then maybe we could watch the team mature and get better over the season and sneak into the Playoffs. Otherwise, I fear this year we'll watch a lot of MLS bench/depth guys in their late 20's early 30's grind their way through a lost season without hope for the future...
If Munie and Roberts are the starting center backs, the defense is dramatically improved over last season. They're both speedy and athletic. Munie didn't start until midseason last year, and I don't recall Roberts starting there except in emergency duty. Romney, Rodriguez and Wilson were the defensive core a year ago. I'm also okay with Munie and Max at center back with Roberts at one of the fullback spots in a four-man backfield. Reduce the goals against by 20 goals and you've added the equivalent of a 20-goal striker while saving GAM and a DP slot.
Munie started 2/3's of the games last year, and I think in terms of speedy and athletic, there's not much difference between Romney and Roberts. Romney's getting a little long in the tooth but he can still close down an attacker on a sprint, and Roberts doesn't have the speed that Munie has. People are saying that Judd is just as productive as Josef was, but if you look at a little bigger sample size (2024 and 2025), Judd was only about half as productive as Josef was in terms of goals per 90. So if the defense is improved and our attack is diminished, we could be at around the same place. But I think we have to hold out the possibility that Bruce will just manage to coach the team up. Not necessarily better roster, but better playing. The team has looked pretty good in preseason. This will be a real test to see if he's still got the stuff. And I do think we need a couple more key pieces, and we will probably get them over time.
Sit the guy who's long in the tooth and play the guy who is young and able to grow into above-average MLS central defender. Munie is the team's fastest defender, so not saying much to say his center back partner is slower.
the center back pairing is crucial. I would be surprised if Munie started more than half the games there last season. Even after he became the starter (in July?) he was out with a concussion for a couple games, as I recall.
I don't see why our defense will get magically better this year. Possibly moving to a 4 line back will help... however one of the goals scored by Portland, where Benji fell (maybe brought down) in the box, showed 3 players open. Had Benji not fell, there would have still been two wide open behind him with half the goal open. These tactical errors are the norm and the current defenders don't seem to be able to adjust.
Dejuan Jones also fell down on the play, which created the danger in the 1st place. Note to defense - best not to have 2 of the 4 players on the back line fall down in an attack in the box. They are channeling Wilson and Rodrigues.
According to FotMob, Munie's first start was April 19. He didn't play six of the first eight games and subbed in two others (late). After that, it looks like he started the remaining 24 matches, and was subbed off in only one of them. But that's a quick count so may be off a game or two.