The Official Matthew Hoppe thread

And yet I was in Cupertino making snowballs. It was very early in the morning.

 

Yeah but what about Matthew Hoppe?

 

He made no snowballs as he wasn't alive at the time. I suspect his parents were given he has 2 old siblings.

 

It snows in North Yorkshire.

 

Jimmy Conrad and Heath Pearce talked about the Quakes’ new signing and neither of them could remember Hoppe’s name. Their producer had to look it up. It’s just so hard to stay relevant...

 

It's freaking cold. I spent my teenage years up there but even I forget. You need a sweater and maybe a coat in July.

 

Hoppe’s played for the nats. He’s not that obscure. Sounds more like memory problems in advancing age for Conrad and Pearce.

 

I hope they read your post, Jazzy!

 

If they did, they know where I live (not).

 

To most people right now, perhaps including Conrad and Pearce, MLS is: "Blah blah blah Messi blah blah blah blah Messi blah blah blah yada yada...."

 

It annoys me to no end when watching Miami games, the play-by-play announcers say his full name such as "Lionel Messi passes to Alba" as if we have to be told which Messi is on the field. Just say Messi passes the ball and let it go.

 

OTOH, Twellman likes to refer to him as Leo…

 

I saw this sign driving up Monterey Highway just south of downtown today. While I didn't get the reference I was impressed that the community was getting exciteded about this acquisition. Then I pulled up just a bit ...

 

I mused about this on Reddit, but I wonder if Hoppe is negotiating to get the number 9.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SJEarthqua..._app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1


His Instagram handle is MatthewHoppe9 and I noticed that MLS rosters aren’t listing numbers for Hoppe or Akinola (even though he wore 9 against Tigres).

https://www.mlssoccer.com/clubs/san-jose-earthquakes/roster/

Hoppe may feel he needs it for branding but maybe Akinola and his agent don’t want to give it up either. Hmmm……….

Of course maybe Hoppe is just waiting for the number 44.

 

I don’t feel like the guy’s done enough recently in his career to be thinking that he can demand or negotiate for any number. Dude be glad you have a gig and get on with it!

 

I tend to agree but we live in the era of influencers and branding. Apparently some stuff is more important these days than soccer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Gretzky originally wanted Gordie Howe’s number, too, but he had to settle for 99.

 

Cruz Medina settled for 99 too.

 

Hopefully in the not too distant future one of the local breweries will be coming out with a Quakes Hoppe IPA to commemorate many goals from him.

 

It looks like CL took a bit of a flier on both Hoppe and Akinola. If either of them pans out, even just as a quality sub, this will have been a good play.

Sadly, we were up against the cap and thus couldn’t take a big swing. We need to sell a player or three to get some cap space and some roster spots, but that will have to wait for the off-season.

Hoppe and Akinola have both looked good in the past. They are both reclamation projects, but there’s a decent chance that that at least one of them comes good. Better to roll the dice on two players rather than just one.

Also, because neither of these guys can be counted on to upgrade our team (yet), I think that our playoff chances have taken a hit.

Go Quakesfans!!

- Mark

 

Yeah, there were a million questions that could have produced more information.

What’s your current fitness level?

You left your home in Southern California at the LA Galaxy academy to play for Barcelona Academy in Arizona at a young age. What motivated you to go there?

You played in Germany, Spain, England and Scotland before coming to San Jose. Can you describe the differences in those leagues and what your expectation is of MLS?

What do you think it would take to put yourself back in the National Team camp?

 

Out of sports media and journalism, soccer remains at bottom of the barrel.