We can't hide our insults

Ben is too busy smoking delicious foodstuffs on h…

Ben is too busy smoking delicious foodstuffs on his grill to join the podcast, so it is just Jason and Adam for the first of two episodes this week. First, the pair break down D.C. United’s satisfying 4-1 victory over Orlando City SC, including discussing Taylor Kemp’s great game, United playing direct and attacking without going Route 1, and how different this team is than the D.C. United of June. They also talk about Julian Buescher stepping in for Marcelo Sarvas as well as Nick DeLeon’s debut at right back. In the second segment, Jason and Adam discuss United’s attempt to get their first back-to-back wins this year against Columbus Crew SC. Jason breaks down what is going right for Crew SC with their two straight wins coming into Wednesday’s game, and they discuss what was going wrong for them before that. They talk about who will play the #10 spot with Federico Higuain injured, ponder whether Crew SC’s style has evolved in the past two year, and end by trying to pinpoint their weakness and find a way that United can exploit it. Give it a listen!

Easy on the life

Filibuster is back and sounding delightful in you…

Filibuster is back and sounding delightful in your ears! Jason, Adam, and Ben (who finally fixed his audio problems) are back to talk about D.C. United’s late late draw with the Chicago Fire. We talk about the late goals and how surprisingly lackluster United’s midfield trio of Marcelo Sarvas, Luciano Acosta, and Rob Vincent were. We also talk about how Steve Birnbaum has become a target option, and how that isn’t sustainable before discussing who should play right back for the upcoming matches (hint: not Luke Mishu). We end by talking about Jose Carranza, the D.C. United Academy, and youth development in general. We then invite on Michael Citro from The Mane Land to talk about United’s upcoming match against Orlando City SC. We talk about their two consecutive losses and what Jason Kreis’ hiring has brought to the team. We dicuss the addition of Matias Perez Garcia to the attacking trio and what that means for Brek Shea’s place on the team, as well as all of the designated players that OCSC has and if they can all stay. On the other end of the payroll, Orlando City has brought some USL players up to MLS in the middle of the year, and we talk about the impact they’ve made. Finally, we ask if the team is feeling the pressure in this game and ask Michael to gameplan the Lions for D.C. United. Give it a listen!

Don't think too hard, just enjoy it

It is our 200th episode! Jason, Ben, and Adam are…

It is our 200th episode! Jason, Ben, and Adam are here to bring you the 200th installment of Filibuster by talking about D.C. United’s miraculous 2-2 draw against the New York Red Bulls. We talk about the comeback and the wing play of Lloyd Sam, Patrick Nyarko, and Lamar Neagle, before breaking down how the central midfield did without Luciano Acosta and raving about how much of a weapon Steve Birnbaum has become on set pieces. After the break, we talk about D.C. United’s upcoming game against the Chicago Fire. We ask what’s been going on with them since we last met, and how they will have David Accam back after his flirtation with going to France. Finally, we break down the three ways they attack and point you back to our previous episode on the Fire if you want to hear us gameplan them. Finally, we bust open a 200th episode Twitterbox! We answer questions about how long Luciano Acosta will be around, our recommendations on where to sit if you come up to RFK for a game. We compare Jalen Robinson and Kofi Opare, and talk about some D.C. United legends that are on the same level as Andrea Mancini. We give odds on whether or not FC Dallas will win the treble, answer whether or not there is something wrong with Bill Hamid, talk about the upcoming expansion draft, and estimate how many points D.C. United will need to be above the red line at the end of the season. Give it a listen!

Yelling about it at random

The Filibuster crew is all back together, and Ada…

The Filibuster crew is all back together, and Adam, Jason, and Ben have to talk about the disappointing loss against New York City FC. We talk about how hard this one hit and how well it was going until the 79th minute. We have to break down Luke Mishu and the other defensive breakdowns as NYCFC was throwing everything they had at United, and also how infuriating United’s missed chances were in light of how the game turned out. We end the segment by talking about Jalen Robinson and a little bit about Chris Penso. We then turn our eyes to the other New York team, the New York Red Bulls. We talk bout their recent results and the disappointing emergence of Sacha Kljestan. They have some suspensions to deal with (as do United), and we break down what D.C. United midfield we want to see in the absence of Luciano Acosta. We end by talking about how to gameplan the Red Bulls, which specifically includes some needed creativity from United’s wingers. Give it a listen!

Goat Beard

Filibuster is back and still has plenty of games …

Filibuster is back and still has plenty of games to talk about. Jason, Adam, and Ryan talk about D.C. United 6-2 dismantling of the Chicago Fire, and have to talk about Patrick Mullins and Luciano Acosta. We talk about what else there was to like about the win as well, even if it was against a 10-man last place team. Finally, we talk about Steve Birnbau, Lloyd Sam, and D.C. United’s set piece resurgence. We have to talk about the USMNT’s game against St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Friday, as the USA continues their march towards the Hex. We talk about the chances of Steve Birnbaum starting in this game and remain puzzled by Jurgen Klinsmann’s roster selection. Finally, we move onto D.C. United’s Thursday night game against NYCFC. We talk about how they will deal without Ronald Mataritta and how that will affect how they build from the back. We also ask whether or not D.C. United should take this attacking mindset on the road, and how they should gameplan for NYCFC. Give it a listen!

Silent Goodbye (Jason)

Adam and Jason talk about D.C. United's draw agai…

Adam and Jason talk about D.C. United's draw against the Montreal Impact, bout the new stadium renderings of United's new digs at Buzzard Point, and about the weekend game against the Chicago Fire.

Special: A discussion about race, gender, and inclusion in American soccer culture

A few weeks ago, the New York Times Magazine ran …

A few weeks ago, the New York Times Magazine ran what has become a notorious piece in American soccer cultures. That article, by Jay Caspian Kang, we think, was an attempt to start a conversation about race and ethnicity and diversity and inclusion in the stands at professional soccer games around the U.S. We aren’t the first to say that Kang’s piece failed to spur that conversation. So we’ve decided to try and have part of what needs to be an ongoing, nationwide discussion here. This is a podcast episode entirely about that. Adam, Jason and Ben aren’t in this episode — the three of us don’t really have any experiences as nonwhite or nonmale fans. Instead, Donald Wine II, who writes for Black and Red United as blazindw, is hosting this episode and talking to other fans of color about their experiences at MLS games, women’s pro soccer games and United States men’s and women’s national team games. The episode starts with Donald and Rick the Blasian (who also writes here at B&RU as BlasianSays) discussing their experiences as members and leaders in D.C. United supporters groups. They talk about how they got into United and some times when they felt more, and less, comfortable and included in the culture. They end the segment with some thoughts on how to keep advancing D.C.’s mostly tolerant and inclusive supporters’ culture. In the second segment, Donald sits down with Stephanie Yang of Stars and Stripes FC and The Bent Musket and Josie Becker of MLSsoccer.com to have a broader discussion on race and gender in the bleachers around the country. They talk about what changes they’ve seen in the stands over the years and address the notion that American culture borrows too heavily from other countries — specifically England. They end the show discussing the importance of vocal and visible leadership from supporters group leaders, teams and leagues in preventing exclusion. We hope you’ll listen and keep an open mind. This isn’t an easy conversation to have, and it can be an uncomfortable topic to engage with. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this special episode of Filibuster. If you have any responses, questions, criticisms, etc., please leave them in the comments or send them to [email protected]. You can also reach us on Twitter, @FilibustserDCU. And thanks again to Donald for hosting and to Rick, Steph and Josie for agreeing to come on the show.

LaCroix is over

The Filibuster team is united once again, and Jas…

The Filibuster team is united once again, and Jason, Adam, and Ben are here to talk about D.C. United’s 2-2 draw with the Philadelphia Union. We talk about whether or not this is the turning point of the season, and have to keep talking about how the finishing needs to improve and how United is shot shy. We talk about how the game changed with the subs of Julian Buescher, Lamar Neagle, and Kennedy Igboananike, which also was around the same time Ben Olsen got sent off. Finally, we talk about Rob Vincent as a defensive midfielder and what we want to see against Portland. To help us preview the game against Portland Timbers, we bring on FourFourTwo USA’s Richard Farley. We ask him about Portland’s win over Sporting Kansas City and Porterball versus Bennyball. We have to talk about how Portland is yet to win a road game this year, and how they will try and win their first without Diego Chara. We talk about their new defenders, including Vytas, as well as the new forward line pairing of Jack McInerney and Fanendo Adi. Diego Valeri has been playing wide recently, so we have to dig into that, as well as who replaces Alvas Powell and the question of Adam Kwarasey versus Jake Gleeson. We then move into a bigger discussion of D.C. United and the whole Eastern Conference versus the Western Conference, before coming back around to ask how Portland would gameplan D.C. United. Give it a listen!

Turned up on my own grammar

Filibuster is back yet again to fill that gap in …

Filibuster is back yet again to fill that gap in your ears. Adam and Jason fly mano-a-mano to break down D.C. United’s 1-1 draw with the Montreal Impact. We talk about how we felt about the game, whether this looked more like a 4-3-3 than a 4-1-4-1, and the performance of Patrick Mullins. We have to talk about Luciano Acosta’s day, and whether the draw wipes out all of the positives of the game. We then bust open the Twitterbox to talk about MLS’s national broadcast policies. We then bring on Evan Villella from Brotherly Game to break down the Philadelphia Union coming to RFK Stadium to face D.C. United. We analyze and must-win game for D.C. United and ask Evan to gameplan the

Nature being a jerk

Filibuster is back, and does not recommend you li…

Filibuster is back, and does not recommend you listen to Jason’s story that opens the podcast. Ben and Adam are here too, and we have to talk about D.C. United’s destruction at the hands of Toronto FC. We talk about how bad Jared Jeffrey was and how D.C. United let the game get out of control from the very beginning. We apologize for waking up Sebastian Giovinco, and talk about Luciano Acosta’s performance. We end by talking about the lack of anyone being able to cross, and some transfer rumors involving D.C. United players. We then talk about the upcoming game against another Canadian team, the Montreal Impact and Didier Drogba. We talk about him and about Ignacio Piatti, how up and down their defense has been, and if United can do anything to break them down. Give it a listen!