Hello, everyone.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to MLS Assist, a podcast created to give insight into the tactical side of major league soccer.

I'm your host, Joe Laughey, and I'm joined by my co-host, Jordan, how are you doing hold up out there in Colorado?

I'm doing all right. You know, I think that gives you a lot of time to do all the things that you've been putting aside, right?

What have you been up to? What have you put aside that now you've got to do? I've been playing a lot of piano recently, actually. I pulled the piano back out again where I might not have had as much time for that before. We've dusted off the keys. I've been playing a little bit. What about you? Wait, before we just switch quickly, I've got to talk more about the piano. What are you playing? Are you really good pianist? Like, can you play big time songs?

I mean, with practice, I can play whatever quote unquote big time songs probably. I've played for a long time. I started out when I was when I was really young. So it's definitely been a fixture of my childhood and

now I'm kind of digging it back out again, trying to to shake off the rust and to get back into it. So it's been fun. I've enjoyed it. Okay, I'm going to have to think of a song. I need you to learn to play. Maybe the MLS anthem. I don't know. Hmm, just a thought. Wow. Wow. You might need a whole orchestra to do that though. Yeah, I'll have to hire some people. Maybe I'll get some friends who I know who can play various instruments. I think that actually might need to happen this quarantine. No commitment, but that would be a lot of fun.

Right. Jordan, what about you? What have you been digging out over this quarantine? I've been doing a few different things. I have another podcast where I help people through injury recovery. So I've been recording

some podcasts for that, working on some stuff with my company, the ACL Club. And I've been writing a book

for the last year, Joe. So a lot of time trying to get myself to read through everything that I've

written and get that all organized

and stuff like that. And I also am cleaning out my garage at my house, which is not the most

fun thing. I was going to say, as fascinating as the garage sounds, do we get a spoiler on what this

book is about, at least the topic? Or is that secret for now? Yeah, I can tell you. No, no, no.

It's just about how challenges in life end up being some of our best moments, how they teach us the most about ourselves. That's cool. I'm looking forward to reading that one day. So that hopefully should give you enough motivation. My backing alone should be enough to get you through that. Yeah. Okay. I'll be super focused today and working on my book then. Perfect. I think

that's perfect for you. On today's show, we're not going to be looking at Jordan's book. We're not even going to be listening to me play the piano. We are going to be looking back at the 1990s. On today's show, we're going to look at the first season of Major League Soccer and comparing some of the wacky on-field action to the major league soccer that we see today.

So, Jordan, you and I went back and watched a couple of games. of Major League Soccer and comparing some of the wacky on-field action to the Major League

Soccer that we see today.

So, Jordan, you and I went back and watched a couple of games from Major League Soccer's

first ever season all the way back in 1996.

We watched San Jose's 1-0 win over DC United in the opening game of the season, and then

we watched DC United's three-two to extra time comeback win over the Los Angeles

...