Hello and welcome to the total soccer show. My name is Darrell Grove and sitting across from me to a man who's smiling.

It's Alexi Lalas.

Hello.

I'm smiling because, as I'm sure you guys know when you do podcasts, everybody associates it with their ritual of their week.

And in your case, almost a daily ritual because of the amount of content you're putting out.

But so I'm thinking back in all these images of where I was and where I was running when I hear you do this introduction. And I've never seen it in person. So it's a thrill, an absolute pleasure, to see that and to be with you guys. Thank you. And Taylor Rockwell is also here, as per usual. I am as per usual. I don't

get the nice rollout, but I'll take that. Is this the first time we've recorded a podcast in person?

We've been on stage together, but I don't know if we've done a podcast. We've been on stage together, but yes, in terms of recording a podcast. This is the first time. This is rarefied air. Literally Figuratively because we're in Alexi's room.

I don't know about that.

It's a...

We're in a hotel room we couldn't afford.

We're in the quarter hotel room is what I noticed.

Well, thank you.

Thank you. we're in Alexi's room. I don't know about that. It's a... Yeah. We're in a hotel room we couldn't afford. We're in the corner hotel room is what I noticed.

Well, thank you. Thank you to Rupert. It's giving away all your personal. You are. So, Alexei, we've got listener questions that we're going to put to you today. But first, we wanted to have, you know, a little chat about what happened last night, the All-Star Skills Challenge. The Skills Challenge.

Yes. we're going to put to you today. But first, we wanted to have, you know, a little chat about what happened last night, the all-star skills challenge. Because you were there, wasn't quite clear what was going on, but you were- Neither was I. You were judging and you had your arms crossed. Okay, so they asked us to judge. And if I were to come ask you to judge something, you would think that there would be, because of the way that I just said that, judging involved in that, you know, you're judging on something that's happening.

And a skills challenge, you would think it would be judging on skills challenge.

Come to find out that actually I was there to be a conduit and a vessel to the Twitter folks, because

I, as you know, am a man of the people and oftentimes speak for the people I was

there representative of the of the Twitter vote that people were able to vote on in that moment and so I was

like I said just being translating it out in a visual form to everybody there I would have

much rather to have been judging on a continual basis which is why when they asked me at one point when we were on Mike about what I thought,

...