Hello,

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Total Soccer show.

It's the new year, which means it's time to make some bold predictions that we will then be embarrassed to revisit in the next month, or six months or 12 months.

League winners, league losers, transfers, sackings.

I'm sure it's going to be a good one.

Unlike yesterday's show, I presume, which I was not here for, but I am today. Before we get to those predictions, I said Happy New Year to start things off. Joe Lowry, what is your Happy New Year window? How long after the first can we continue to say Happy New Year? Taylor, I think the Happy New Year window ended yesterday for me, just the first Monday of 2025. I feel like, you know, it's, it's Monday, man. It's Monday. But I'm glad you're back on this Tuesday, which is already going better than Monday. Well, we did lose Ryan. I'm not sure how that tilts the scales, but I'm glad you escape the snow drift and that you're back with us on this Tuesday. It's good to see you. It's good to see you. It's good to see, and I say this with all the love that I have for them. It's good to see faces that aren't my children's. My children's school has been closed. It is closed today due to the snow here in Richmond, Virginia. So I'm home with them. And a one-year-old and a four-year-old make for interesting times when they are cooped up together. Could be worse, the city of Richmond has a boil watery, boil water effect. So at least we have running drinking water. Graham, drinking water in Scotland, how are things? One of the few good things that we have in Scotland is our drinking water. Is the snow, what is happening with the four of us? Is the snow claiming one of us per day? Is it going to be Joe? It's not going to be Joe next. No, no, please. That would really be a story if it's Joe next in Arizona. But is it going to be me tomorrow? What's going on? Joe, the one time, it could be Graham. That would make the most sense. that said the one time I have been to the Grand canyon it did snow at the grand canyon yeah yeah that's a normal thing i guess because the desert gets cold right yeah no it's well but people don't understand i get frustrated at it gets cold in the night right what people don't understand is that a irizona is a huge state arizona is like half of the size of france uh just context, which is actually not that helpful context,

but that's just the fact that I'm dropping. I think France is 1.8 times the size in terms of

square miles. That's right, America, baby, not kilometers of Arizona. Arizona is a big state,

and it is a tall state. It is longer north to south than it is from east to west, which means it

does go up, you know, quite far north. And it does get quite cold and wintry and snowy and pine tree-y and more picturesque wintory in the northern half of the state or northern third or whatever of the state. So it's not just tumbleweed and sand and desert people out here, you know? As long as that palm tree is behind you, Joe, I'm not believing any of it.

Fair enough.

Fair enough. You can always tell who's hosting the show when it's Ryan. There's puns. There's dad jokes. When it's me, it's geography, apparently. Graham, do you have a happy New Year window? I'm assuming Graham Bahambog Ruffin. It's about five seconds long. at midnight, is the window, and then after that is too much positive sentiment for me to handle. It's just, it's new year. I figured. I don't even think Graham makes it all the way through a Hogmane. I think he starts out strong. Like, Hogman, no, didn't feel ripe coming up. Too many syllables. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I'm laughing that hard because that feels very, very accurate.

Yes, it does. Too many syllables. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

I'm laughing that hard because that feels very, very accurate. Yes, it does.

All right, gentlemen, as I said in the introduction, we are here to do some predicting for the new year.

Graham, I'm assuming, wrote his one second after the ball dropped, so as to be on brand with his New Year rules.

But, Joe, I'm going to come to you first.

Can you please start us off with your first prediction for 2025?

I am so excited.

I love this episode.

Before I do that, I want to go back to my 2024 predictions if the council will so allow.

I made six predictions in 2024. I only got two of

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