Messi lifted a trophy in a league he’s barely eight years older than says everything about the last 30 years of MLS. Here is my look at what it gave us. open.substack.com/pub/bobsturm...

The Beast In Me (NFLX) No one chin quivers like Claire Danes & this moody thriller gives her ample chance. Matthew Rhys is a super creep billionaire wife-murder (or is he?) who is generally the cause of all the quivering. Not really a who-done-it, more a why & how done it (B+)

Paramount+ rolling out their Goalazo Show, but showing BOTH gender versions of the tournament has a very high-wire act feel to it. The juxtaposition between the two is not subtle.

EP#24 OUT NOW! A grounded, honest conversation about the hardest things The Musers have ever done, physically, emotionally, and professionally, and what it actually takes to get through them when quitting feels easier. Link in bio.

It's Never Over – Jeff Buckley (HBO): Not much new, but deeply moving. Unlike those of us in '94 who knew little about him & were won over, if one discovers him thru this doc, curious how it’ll color their 1st listen to what Bowie reportedly called the greatest album ever (B+)

There are a lot of valid opinions on this but, as a member of the “MLS DayOne Club” - the idea i’d one day see the sport’s biggest name/best ever level player both lift MLS Cup and also look genuinely pleased w/ himself for the achievement, warms my coal heart 🤷

12 years ago, the World Cup is what got @thekickaround.bsky.social launched. It is the show's bread-and-butter, and what we've (Andy, Lars and myself) have planned for the P1's next summer is going to be great.

@cboehm.bsky.social are your mls salary tableaus still posted somewhere?

a rather solid chat, w/ @larssivertsen.bsky.social about this week in the UCL, watching United humiliate itself and L'Pool mistakes made, forthcoming or both. plinkhq.com/i/1472205621...

If you ran into an issue getting older episodes of TMTP this week, that error has been resolved. You may need to delete and reload those episodes to fix it in your podcast player. Sorry for the hassle. New Ep #23 coming next Wednesday (12/3)

Promising progress & several very good individual performances. Particularly impressed by Tessman’s confident play & more of Arfsten rewarding Poch’s patience. Win vs a very good SA side & w/out 4 big names is significant. note: Balogun’s selfless 69th min recovery run 🫡

The Diplomat S3 (NFLX) - Continues to excel when it gets into its most frantic gov’t babble, only to reveal it’s actually a relationship food fight. nits: peaks too early & having to wait till early ‘27 for S4. Oh, do not ever say “vigorous” during sex. (B+)

For 30 years no one up north gave two squats about those of us down here having to sit in 100°+ summer days/nights, sweating sacks and watching games run at 1/2 speed. Bundle up - It’s y’all’s turn. 😆

two things can be true: MLS moving to tv was the best option on the table, and the separate MLSSP paywall was problematic. Fixed. This has always been an  experiment, MLS - the guineapig. Now it, & F1, get rolled into tv just like Ted Lasso & we can enjoy games in 1080p.

Love these vids and how they give a peek at the personalities of players and their relationships. BUT, I’d love @ussoccer.com to include names/clubs of who’s onscreen and not assume the viewer knows who each player is. www.instagram.com/reel/DQ92Noo...

Out now! Your Football Friends dig into grief and how the team moves forward. Bob talks about his trip to GreenBay & how the Mavs/Nico story might be a lesson for Cowboys fans. Plus a preview of Monday's visit to Vegas. Link in bio.

The calendar flip is a long debated topic. But, word of a format in both regular season and playoffs is interesting. MLS could generate a LOT of interest if it integrated MLSNextPro's "Pick your Opponent" into any playoff format. US Sports Media and fans would gobble that up.

demo'ing City Hall would be our local gov't version of trading Luka.

New TMTP episode out now! The Musers tackle bucket lists; what’s on theirs, what they have already checked off, and how they differ from life goals. Out now wherever you listen to podcasts or use the link in the bio.

Our very own Andy Swift is about to attend his 30th consecutive MLSCup (yes, all of them). He's part of a very small and exclusive group, celebrating this milestone which will happen on 12/6. 🫡 very cool achievement for all involved! www.socceramerica.com/attending-ev...

Hey P1's - with the ongoing collision of Ticket programming obligations, the show has been 'on the bench' - so, because you want/need your soccer-talking, @peet2 & @larssivertsen.bsky.social rtsen combined forces to review the week's UCL fun & preview a bit of the PL weekend.

Black Rabbit (nflx) Most of the “Golden Age of TV” has been spent watching characters make bad decisions. This series not only sets the record for number of bad decisions, but stews in & is empowered by their juices. It helps, though, to like the antihero. Not here. (C)

Your Musers wrestle with AI intimacy, loneliness, frictionless living, and the future of human connection. Classic @gordonkeith.bsky.social unsettling George while @juniormiller.bsky.social subtly encourages it all. TMTP 20, out now & links are in the bio.

House of Dynamite (nflx) - GenX already experienced 80’s Hollywood and culture's obsession with nuclear war ("Would you like to play a game?"). It’ll be interesting to see if this popular but poorly structured & frustratingly told movie starts another trend 40yrs later. (C+)

I’m almost certainly the ONLY person on Earth, who last night watched Bugonia and then the FCD playoff game - back to back. the more I think about it, the similarities between the two, are batshit wild.

"Sit back, dump it in behind and let Haaland fetch it"

Bugonia - Going in, I’d imagined an ending & turns out, it wasn’t close. Lanthimos menacingly slow-cooks the story of "Is Emma an alien" for 4/5ths of its run time & then violently spills it into an ending which hijacks your focus from Stone & Plemons’ great work to "what?" (B-)

Slow Horses S5 (tv) - You know a show is great when its new season is arguably its 'worst' and you still enjoy every minute. Sure, it’s full of Jackson Lamb clichés and once again we wonder how MI5’s doghouse saves the day. Like Roddy Ho, don’t care. (B+)

Invasion S3 (tv) - what began in S1 as a unique way to tell the story of aliens raiding Earth, by S3 has devolved into a mush of plot holes & clichés w/ zero payoff. Might hold record for most (clunky) single-teardrop speeches in tv history. bummer. (D)

Your Football Friends, return to talk 44-22 over Washington, hopeful signs from the defense, Dak on fire, Schotty, Diggs drama, Maxx rumors, SB12 memories and Georgie's Hot Fry PotW! - links in bio.

Task (HBO) - not a crime show as much a story about family; the nuclear, broken or biker gang kind. Also not exactly the story you’re probably expecting but as it oddly plays out, hits a range from dark to sweet. Tom Pelphrey & Emilia Jones are great (A)

Frankly, my biggest takeaway from #FCDallas win in, and over, the @whitecapsfc.com is learning that they are managed by Steve Buscemi's brother. #MLS i.groupme.com/612x408.png....

Only twice have I ever cried during a live song performance, and once was D'Angelo's performance of "Sometimes It Snows in April" on The Tonight Show after Prince's death.

We had a lengthy and detailed breakdown discussion of this red card incident and why we believe Jair Marrufo made the decision he did, why VAR didn't do anything about it, and how Logan could have avoided the whole thing. overcast.fm/+AA8pcBFvK-Q...

Peacemaker S2 (HBO): It's a bummer that what should have stood as the funny, adult, self-aware and entertainingly silly, stand-alone series it was in S1 was shifted into a tool for moving forward Gunn's new DCU and, in turn, became a boring waste of time. (D)

If USMNT come in 2nd in their group, the R32 game they would play in would be July 3rd at "Dallas Stadium"..

Your Football Friends, JubJub & SportsSturm break down a gutsy Cowboys win, Dak’s comfort in Shotty’s offense, and an O-line full of backups bullying the Jets. Plus: the forgotten Cowboys Band & a look ahead to Carolina. Link in bio

From near-miss bike crashes, choking on hot dogs to a terrifying mid-air dive at 25K feet, the guys swap their wildest “I probably shouldn’t be here” tales. Equal parts harrowing & hilarious, it’s @juniormiller.bsky.social George Dunham @gordonkeith.bsky.social at their most mortal. Link in bio

My fav part is how with the move the team changed from referring to itself as Arlington Renegades to Dallas - despite now playing in Frisco (never in Dallas proper) - and you wonder if anyone even bothered to ask.

Tomorrow (Wednesdays), The Musers share tales of how each "cheated death" - Care to guess which one almost "by hot dog"? Link in bio and available wherever you listen to podcasts.

One Battle After Another (theater) - Throughly enjoyed this dark satire of the most extreme ends of America. Except more for how it was made & technical qualities than plot or themes. It is a PTA film after all, so set expectations accordingly. Final road scene is great. (B+)

someone could pull off a hilarious social media video series of hitting up every WC venue and sitting in the impossibly few, as-far-away-from-the-field and obscure "Catagory 4" seats. 🧐 here, I can't tell you how terrible those seats would be, at any price.

what makes this all the more remarkable is she got the $1M wedge on the 1st spin of the wheel of the entire show, and inexplicably avoided losing it to a 'bankrupt' spin the rest of the way. the cumulated odds of how she won the $1M has to be astromonical. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3wM...

In Ep15, The Musers dive into fractured discourse, social media doomscrolling, and Funyuns as the only true unifier. "Sign of the Times", out now, wherever you get pods.

As the lifelong fan of a long since crumbled pro sports giant (Cowboys), I keep trying to impart on my fellow United fans my experience of a return to that former greatness is not promised, eventual or entitled.

the Atletico Dallas/USL project is admirable, interesting, difficult. It also has a giant runway of time, meaning a lot will change before it ever kicks a ball. But the Garland relationship always had an odd feel when the club was clearly so focused on Dallas proper. maybe this is for the best.

Alien: Earth (Hulu) – starts as a perfect 1st Alien movie/Noah Hawley mash-up, then awesomely leans into its Alien, adds wild new species (worth +½ letter grade), then jerks curiously more like a season of sci-fi Fargo. Your screaming will be heard as frustration, or glee. (B+)

hi... we're here to haunt your dreams with our dead stares.

Head's up - the new PTA movie, getting very strong reviews, is being shown in Dallas in IMAX70MM, and is the only way to see the full image, as shot. Cinemark 17 IMAX is 1 of only 10 theaters worldwide, showing it in this format.