BONUS: Arlo White • The Voice of AFC Richmond

Brett   
Welcome back to the Crown and Anchor greyhounds. This is Richmond till we die a conversation about the Apple TV plus show Ted lasso, where we explore the characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us laugh until we can hardly breathe one moment and then feel with the deepest parts of our hearts. The next What's up greyhounds? This is Brett and I am just delighted to be smack dab in the middle of soup season.

Christian  
I'm Christian and I'm currently taking a break from watching back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back English Premier League matches to record this interview. For this bonus episode. We are thrilled to welcome sports broadcaster Arlo white fans of Ted Lassa will recognize him as the voice of AFC Richmond, as he commentates on all of the game action in the show. He's also a familiar voice for English Premier League fans of the United States, as he's the lead soccer commentator for NBC Sports.

Brett   
 White's career has been expansive covering Super Bowl 42 for radio five live the 2007 Cricket World Cup, the Olympics, a stint as the Seattle Sounders commentator, as well as US national team and MLS matches.

Christian  
White's first Ted Lasso appearance was an NBC Sports 2014 ad, the return of coach lasso, promoting NBC's second year as the EPL official broadcast sponsor in the United States.

Brett   
In addition to his work on Tedlasso and NBC, white can currently be heard on select Chicago Fire broadcasts and on his podcast, the Intercontinental football show with Arlo white and Tyler Terrans. So greyhounds please join us as we give a warm welcome to our low white.

Christian  
Hello, much for joining us today. Hello, hello. This is just a real treat for us as soccer fans and as Ted lasso fans because your voice ends up racing through our hallways a lot. One of the things that we've always wondered is what your expectations were going into that second Ted Lasso promo shoot because it feels as though there was a lot of improvisation there on Jason's part. And so I'm sure you had seen the first one. How did your experience with him match up to what you were expecting?

Arlo White  
It was one of the the highlights of my career that day, I can remember, I just flown in from Cyprus. I was on vacation because it was the offseason. And we were doing some preseason friendlies around the around the East Coast with Premier League teams visiting the states. And they said can you get here a couple of days early. So I flew from from Cyprus to London almost missed my flight, my connecting flight, which would have meant serendipity would have intervened. And I would never have been in Ted Lasso because had that flight, I missed that flight. And I caught it by 10 minutes, I wouldn't have been in the promo. So I never would have met Jason. And and this may never have happened but reported to the studio. And I just remember Jason and Rebecca recorded their pieces first. And the idea was that Rebecca would tee Jason up with a couple of things, but nothing, nothing too complicated. And then Jason would would riff off the back of it. And Brendan Hunt was there as well. And, and so nothing was necessarily scripted, but they had general ideas of what they wanted and where they wanted to go. So I just thought, well, I'll sit in the corner of the studio. And I'll just watch this going on. So I can get some ideas of what to do for my for my bits. And it just turned out that I was in Rebecca's eyeline in the corner of the studio. And I didn't want to move because I didn't want to disrupt everything and this the flow of the whole thing, but I just couldn't stop laughing so I had to cover my own face. I had to put my head head between my knees. So I wouldn't catch her eyeline so I wouldn't put her off and have her corpse during a fantastic moment, you know, and ruin everything. So I just thought oh, God, this was actually really stressful. Trying not to intervene in that in that situation. But it was just so funny. And you know, even the bits with Rebecca are about an hour and that's distilled down and edited down to about an hour A minute and a half, maybe in the in the promo. It was just brilliant. And then we went next door. And we were sort of over over a TV monitor in front of a green screen, which bizarrely had the hawthorns, the home of mighty West Bromwich Albion behind us. And that was when there Ted was apparently going to be a co commentator. So I had to just see, see him up with a couple of like, intros to games and whatever it was, then he take it from there. And it was, it was all you can do to not just wet yourself laughing. And it's very, it's very hard when you have a professional like that a guy who's who's used to doing improv, the guy's a genius that was on Saturday Night Live, how I mean, I did course, a couple of times, obviously, which didn't make the final cuts. But it's just like being present in front of a genius. Doing his work. It was an absolute thrill. What an experience.

Christian  
Now, NBC Sports is approaching 10 years as the partner for the EPL in the United States. And you've been at it a bit longer than that here in the US. How has the understanding and acceptance of the sport changed since you've been here? And have you had any ways in which you've had to change or evolve your broadcast style, as there's been more awareness of the sport, and as people maybe have understood it differently?

Arlo White  
I don't think the knowledge has improved, because the knowledge was very good. Anyway, I mean, I guess we have attracted a lot of new fans. And you know, a lot of younger fans have come into, into into the Premier League and into the sport in general. So that's been great. There's one thing I do notice on a regular basis, and Lee Dixon and grammar. So comments on this quite a lot. We hear a lot of American accents at games now on a week by week basis, which which has changed. I mean, I know COVID has, has obviously maybe curtail that slightly in recent times. But even at the weekend, we had two or three Americans come up to us at Stamford Bridge, when they realize that we're not in a booth, we're just dinner on a desk and you know, amongst the season ticket holders, so we're easily accessible. And we very regularly have Americans come up to us asking for photographs and for a chat about the game, which we're more than happy to do. So that that's kind of started through our time, and we hear sort of anecdotal evidence, yeah, from from parents, that they're spending more time together as families, and on the weekend mornings, because, you know, rather than, rather than everybody be in their own room, on their own television, on their own device, you know, that's quite a communal experience that people are having on the sofa. And it might be that mom and dad support Man United. And, you know, I know the kids support Chelsea or whatever it might be, that they're actually able to spend some quality time together on weekend mornings before going off and doing their own things. So that that's lovely to hear. And I know there's a younger audience and there's an audience that's grown up with us. So I regularly get like emails, letters, you know, DMS saying that, you know, I've just got my first job I've got you know, I've been watching you because it's nine years now. I've been watching you since I was in high school. So we're kind of a generation of soccer fans and Premier League fans have grown up with us, which is lovely to hear. So it's just nice that we've had this, this experience and this impact and and we've signed up for six more years. So goodness me, I'll be close to retirement age by the end of that.

Christian  
So one thing that our fans will be familiar with is the fact that I am a Portland Timbers fan, which means that oftentimes I will insert subtle digs on our rival the Seattle Sounders in podcast episodes. Since you were at one point in time, a commentator for Seattle in the interest of being fair and balanced. Can you please say some nice things about your experience with the Seattle Sounders?

Arlo White  
Oh, how about that this is a separate podcast altogether. I mean, it was life changing and fair play being a timbers fan. I've got to say the stadium and the setup down there is absolutely great. And the rivalry is genuine. I mean, there is an enormous dislike for each other. It's in there between the clubs in the other two cities in that sporting context that the Sounders experience for me where it was, as I say, it was life changing. I wanted to be a football commentator full time. I'd been at the BBC for 10 years. And I was I was I did some football commentary. But I also did cricket I did general hosting duties and that sort of thing. It was great. And I commentated on five Super Bowls. I was very, very lucky. But I wanted to dedicate myself to soccer. And the sound is had just launched. They hadn't played yet. I was in fact, I was at their inaugural game, which was, which was amazing. I did a mock radio call, because they had the guy Kevin Calabro, who was a legend in Seattle, who was the Seattle Sonics commentator for many many years and didn't follow the team to Oklahoma so they thought it was a good idea to get Kevin and and Kevin is brilliant. But but he even he admitted that soccer wasn't his game. It wasn't his sports. So that lasted for a year. And I kept in touch with the team and they and they invited me over to take the job for year two. And as it happened year two and year three of the franchise and then NBC came in, bought the rights to MLS and, and offered me the job to go over there. So it was a two year stint. And it was just amazing. And I remember being at the first game, and Brian O'Connell, who's the director of broadcasting, took me around and got me in front of as many people as possible, because I think he thought that this might be something that might happen in the future. And Drew Carey, I remember Drew Carey saying to me, because he is I believe, still a minority owner of the team. And he said, he said a great to meet Yeah, he was he was sort of like wired, because it was just such an exciting, adrenaline was flowing. And he said, what you got a call going to be? And I said, You know what, I have no idea. Absolutely no idea. Because I tend not to I think American announcers tend to have a catchphrase or some do have a catchphrase, when a homerun is hit or a goal is scored a touchdown is scored. And that wasn't really wasn't really my thing. But I just remember it being just a great experience. And I sat at the bar hotel after that mock broadcast and I knew that my life was it was about to change as I know, I wanted that job. And I wanted to be part of the Seattle Sounders wonderful organization. And again, it just gave me the opportunity and kind of propelled me up to national level with NBC so that they're days that I look back on very fondly indeed. And of course, beating Portland was awesome. I remember one game down it down. It was Jeld Wen field, and it was live on national TV, I think on Main NBC, and I think it was a three two victory for the Sounders and it was a great game The sun was shining. And I can remember being on the on the commentary gantry, which which was underneath the roof of the stand, and I went to get myself a coffee at the end of it. And a couple of 1000 sounders fans started chanting my name. Like we love you, Arlo. We do and I'm like, what is happening? This is absolutely is when your life enters this different realm, you know, so I kind of give everyone a waiver. They're clapping like great. Like this happens to me every day, which obviously it didn't. But that was a that was a really cool moments in a big game.

Brett   
It's awesome to hear a little bit about you calling English football here in America. But a quick perusal of your social media accounts will show folks that you also are interested in American football. And in fact, this weekend was a crazy playoff weekend one of one of the best by all accounts historically, how did you develop an affinity for American football?

Arlo White  
Well, it's a long story, but it's it shorts, my auntie or it's actually my dad's auntie. But they're because of their ages. They're very similar in age. So they they grew up more like brother and sister. And she married an American GI in 1959 and moved to Chicago. And you know, disappeared, or to all intents and purposes disappeared off the planet for many, many years. And then when their communications got slightly better and slightly cheaper, she she came and visited in 1984, with a with a new husband called Bill. So it's Kat and Bill. And we hit it off, I was 13 years of age. And they took me across to Chicago in 1986. And so it's a Soldier Field. So I saw the first home preseason game of the 85 Bears, which as you can imagine, was just unbelievable for a kid of 13 years old, and we had tickets by the players tunnel so I had a high five with Walter Payton, the fridge Jim McMahon, Richard den Steemit. My all these guys now I've been into American football for two or three years before that, because we had a one hour highlight show every Sunday evening, which were the highlights from the weekend before. So you can imagine things have come a long way since then. And the only other way of getting action or access to it was on the Armed Forces, network radio. So it was a signal that came out of Germany. And it was sometimes crystal clear. I think it was long wave moving medium wave. But sometimes the signal was crystal clear. And then you could guarantee you know, the bears have got a 35 yard field goal, Kevin Butler to win a pre you know, to win a regular season game, and then suddenly that the signal would be overtaken by some Belgian folk music. And you'd have to wait a week to find out exactly what happened in the game. So now we get all the games now I've got NFL game pass and everything. And, you know, I was up till very late on Saturday night and Sunday night, you know, just in awe of the comebacks and the quality and the excitement of those, those four divisional round playoff games. So it's there, it's been great and I've commentated on about six or seven Wembley games, five Super Bowls. And it's something that one day I'd like to I'd like to do again, but I won't be I won't be trying to get our Michaels job. I think he's one of the all time greats of what he's doing. So I think he's his job is safe, put it that way.

Christian  
The rhythms of the universe are interesting because Jason Sudeikis when he was on SNL, his first on camera work was in a parody of the Super Bowl shuffle. It was a day and episode when Tom Brady was hosting and saw he was with a bunch of guys dancing and rapping and impersonating all those dudes that you were rooting on when you were becoming an American football fan and whose hands that you were slapping, so it may not have come full circle, but there's certainly a significant connection there.

Arlo White  
Absolutely. And I love that song. And I memorized every single chorus to it every single verse to every player. I could I could recite exactly what their their lines were. I just thought it was brilliant. That was they were so the 85 Bears was so arrogant and so cocky that they recorded that way before they qualified for the Superbowl because they knew how good they were. And you know, they almost had the perfect season the last of the dolphins I think on a Monday or Monday night towards the end of the season, but they went 15 and one just breezed through the playoffs. Thrash the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, Walter Payton didn't get his touchdown that was a shame ridiculous I think Mike Ditka regrets that forever because he gave the ball to to the fridge didn't the on that short yardage touchdown. Yeah, yeah. Which is a bit of a shame but you know, Walter is an all time legend. But and that that team should have won more Super Bowls at least one more. They went 14 and two the following year, but I think there were a few a few fallouts behind the scenes. And yeah, the defensive coordinator buddy Ryan didn't get on with deckchairs. I think I think things were a little bit frayed around the edges by that point. But that was an amazing team. And so we've seen them live at Soldier Field as a massive thrill. And and they've been absolutely rubbish ever since. Since I've started supporting that I think the rich won Super Bowl to be fair, Rex Grossman. But aside from that, it's been a tale of woe. But one day, hopefully, we'll be back in the in the big game.

Brett   
So Arlo, you mentioned that you've you've called some American football games, is easier to call American football for a British audience, or soccer for an American audience.

Arlo White  
I think soccer for an American audience because we don't change our style too much, you know, every now and again, I might say, locker room instead of changing room or I might, you know, say, field instead of pitch. But I might even say that anyway, so that there aren't too many Americanisms. And I think what people want is authenticity. So So knowing you know, the game or following the game, as long as I have done broadcasting that American audience is, is sort of second nature because I've been doing it for over 10 years now. And you know, there might be occasions where I might slip in an Americanism and might slip in a reference to well, that play there reminded me of something that happened in the NFL a week before or something like that. But generally don't try and force it in American football because I didn't do that many of the games. Again, I've followed the sport since the early 80s. I was okay at it. I enjoyed it. I really, really enjoyed it. But I'd say that the soccer to the American audience is kind of more second nature, I guess.

Christian  
a couple of months ago we had fellow Ted lasso cast member Tom Hendryk who plays goalkeeper O'Brien on our show, and he shared with us what it's like to be a Leicester City Football Club fan of football club that you are also a fan of and he shared just about the elation of the club, winning the Premier League title against all odds a few years back. Also the heartbreak when the club Chairman tragically died in a helicopter crash at the football stadium. And then the elation of winning the FA Cup this past season. When you are broadcasting, how do you kind of balance the emotion of those moments and those stories that you hold deeply in your heart with your professional obligations to report in a fairly straightforward manner?

Arlo White  
Well, I wouldn't have mentioned publicly that I was a Leicester fan own and the only reason I did was when I moved to Seattle because it was a way of connecting with the fan base that you know you love your sounders and I obviously grew to love the Sounders and I love my team where I'm from which is you know, this this crappy championship club called Leicester City and thinking that never never the twain shall meet this will never come back to to bite me at all. Because they were they were skint. They had no money they have no problem. specs and and this wasn't going to be an issue. Lo and behold, a few years later when they get promoted, and then and then even then that first season, I only did one game and they were appalling for 80% of the season. And then by some miracle won seven of the last nine games and stayed in the in the Premier League. So I'm thinking, well, maybe I'll do more games next season. But it turns out, I did about 16 or 17 of the games, because they won the plumbing title. I mean, it was just absolutely incredible. You could not script it, anything that Jason and Brendan and the writers come up with, with intead law, so could not possibly be more fanciful than what happened to Leicester City that season. You know, will our Richmond going to win the Premier League in season three, I don't know maybe maybe they've taken inspiration from their from the foxes in 2015 16, we'll have to wait and see. But it was truly incredible. And what I what I say to people is that when you do something for a job, regardless of how much you you, you love that particular team. And that's, you know, that's, that's for your personal time, that's for your time away from the microphone, when you're being paid to do a job, it is very easy to get into that particular mindset that you are there to tell a story to be objective to tell it from both sides. And there's that sort of sense of detachment that I find quite easy actually to achieve. And, you know, maybe in the early days, I might be hypercritical or or you know, or less, because I didn't want to show any bias, but now it just doesn't bother me and nobody during that title winning season. You know, people knew that I was a Leicester fan, but nobody accused me of bias in any situation. Because, you know, the teams that were playing were just as important in that scenario as Leicester City where I was just very, very happy that they just happened the planets aligned for me to be in that in that position. It was just absolutely incredible. And I actually compensated on the game

lesson against West Ham after which condition I and four others were tragically tragically killed in the helicopter crash. And and just a word on that. I mean, the helicopter arriving at the King Power Stadium, it was beautiful, like blue and white shiny helicopter, it was gorgeous. And for a team that had been down in the third division had been, you know, almost went bankrupt, and were in the championship. It was just so glamorous to see this helicopter landing on the center circle after after games, as his pilot would would collect him and take him back down to London. And you couldn't fail to watch it every time. I mean, I must have seen it 100 times and was just any conversation you were having having would just stop and you'd watch the the helicopter landing and then maybe taking off again. And it was great. I've got so many videos of it in my phone, you know, each to each time was like the first time so I can remember having a chat with Michael Regan, who is the one of the leading soccer photographers over here. So it was also a Leicester fan. And he went out the helicopter went over our heads and landed and we just stopped what we were talking about. And we actually commented on the fact that it never gets boring watching this. And then I got into my car and I was about a mile and a half away from the ground. And one of the TV presenters who was there for BT Sport guy called Jake Humphrey tweeted out that there's been a helicopter crash outside the ground. And and I actually replied to him, and then texted him and said, Jake, I think your account has been hacked. Because I just I mean, it just didn't occur to me that this was real that this had happened. I just assumed that it was some horrible practical joke, but you know, as we know, it was it was real, very, very real. And just an absolutely awful situation and, and one a day that I'll never forget and then they and the days after that I'll never forget as well and going to the King Power Stadium is just seeing the outpouring of grief and the flowers and the shirts and you know, seeing the players how they reacted How can top his son reacted and he's been magnificent, you know, being elevated to the head roll at the football club in subsequent times. And you know, in honor of his legacy, that there is a certain way that that team goes about its business and there's a and to have won the FA Cup and Brendan Rodgers as well. Was something very very special indeed. So you know one day there will be a film made about Leicester City have the highs and lows of the last five or six years and as I say it's barely believable and the the extremes that have occurred to what what used to be a run of the mill provincial soccer team that used to yo yo between the top flight in the second division and barely won anything to see what's happened subsequently has been both thrilling and provided elation, and provided utter devastation as well. So it's been a it's been a real roller coaster.

Christian  
In the show AFC Richmond play their matches at Nelson road Stadium, which is modeled after Selhurst park where Crystal Palace a actual real English Football Club play their matches in London when you go and broadcast as sellers Park, is there anything memorable or enjoyable that you particularly look forward to there?

Arlo White  
Yes. Jason and Brendan first asked me whether I wanted to be in TED la so the show in the car park outside of Selhurst park because they were obviously they're filming they'd already started filming Season One. So Jason was there in his in his AFC Richmond coat, and his flat cap and his mustache. And I'm thinking, Oh, this is gonna this this show is going to be funny, you know? And I said, Are you going to develop the character beyond just this, the hapless American that comes across to manage Tottenham Hotspur? He said, Yeah, we flesh the character out a little bit. Oh, my goodness, as they have they have it. It's just it's absolutely sensational, isn't it the show, and that's why we're speaking but so I'm reminded of that meeting every time I go to Selhurst Park and the gantry is extraordinary. It's like walking the plank back off the you know, the old days on the old pirate ships. But the view of the game is brilliant. You can often hear what the players are saying so close to the action, the holmesdale Road boys away to the left hand side behind the goal. They never stopped singing and shouting and screaming throughout the game. So it's usually a very, very good experience and also the Dave Clark Five the old song glad all over is played as the team's come out and that never fails to put a smile on your face it gets you kind of used to dance along to it. So it's a great place to go and I'm delighted that in another guys it's Nelson road, or aka the dog track. I think that's absolutely fantastic. And of the AFC Richmond, you know, it's very fitting that they play at a ground like Selhurst park so I think they're there. There's affinity between AFC Richmond not leasing kick color as well, but AFC Richmond and and Crystal Palace.

Christian  
You mentioned the gantry where you broadcast matches from and how it's like walking the plank. It always reminds me when I see it, of the catwalk in a theater. Can you explain to people what the gantry is like a little bit more because in the show, you broadcast from a much lower vantage point than you do when you do real broadcasts of actual soccer matches? Well, it's

Arlo White  
very different because we tape those scenes at a non League. So minor league ground, which is very near to the studios actually. So it's very handy. And it's called Hayes and yeading Football Club. So the main stand that they have there is obviously quite small. So we're not we're not necessarily elevated, but we're not watching any game action. It's going out on the field. That's that's all put together at a different time. And obviously Chris Powell, who is my co commentator, is the football consultant for the show. So he helps them get the actual, you know, football footage and scenes right and I think he does a magnificent job. So generally speaking, we're higher up than that, then hazing yedek and you know, I've been to many NFL stadium, many a Major League Baseball Stadium and you know, the the media and commentators announcers are treated in a very different way. So often, particularly Seattle, for example, lumen field, you get into a separate elevator, you go up and the doors open, and you're in the press box, and then you walk into your hermetic hermetically sealed booth, you're announced booth. And you know, if you don't like the general public, and you don't want to be anywhere near them, you don't have to be anywhere near them. I happen to like the general public and having a chat with fans and all that sort of thing. So in our in our situation, we get to the stadiums in the same way or get to the gantry through the crowds now on the way to the gantry, you know, you're probably an hour and a half, two hours before kickoff. So there aren't too many fans around after the game or if you need a bathroom break, you are going with fans, which for me, isn't necessarily a problem. But if it's Graham and it's a Tottenham and if it's Lee and it's at Tottenham, and he's a former Arsenal player, that could be a problem. So you know, they literally have to monitor I mean, to be honest, most people are genuinely quite nice and have nice banter with them. But they have to monitor literally their fluid intake because they they they are a little bit nervous about about going to the bathroom and can you believe it? I mean that the billions of pounds that TV companies over here and around the world pay for TV rights and the analysis we're at work have no bathroom facilities, it really is a point of it's a real bugbear for me. You know, I just I can't believe it, but we're so hard done by him and it's not coal mining, obviously, but we we feel very hard to come by with that. And we're generally speaking we're out of what we are out in the open. I much prefer that long as I get wrapped up warm. And we have generally fans around us. So there's oftentimes you know, sometimes a fanboy here what we say and disagree and turn around and, you know, shout out is you know, there's lots of selfies. There's lots of autograph requests for the guys and and you feel like you're part of the event rather than sort of distance from it. There's no glass in front of you, you know If it's minus five is minus five and you're not you know you haven't got a heat so you're not behind in an enclosed office with your with just your shirt you know a short sleeve shirt on you are part of it, you're out there. And that's what I like about English football grounds because you can I think you can convey you know the atmosphere better when you're part of it when you're when you're in the middle of it. So that's what I really love about about the gantries in English football.

Christian  
Even if you do occasionally have to apologize for the fruity language that yeah, pick up on a live broadcast in those situations.

Arlo White  
Arsenal was a nightmare. It's so at the Emirates, you've got this really cramped little gantry, which for a stain was only 10 years old. It's just It's just remarkable. You can't even you can't even pull your chair back. You know, you've got to sort of get out sideways off the off the seat and the season ticket hold the front row of the season ticket holders, their knees are just behind our heads. And there was one guy that for three or four seasons just would not stop swearing. And he hated Aaron Ramsey for some reason every time Ramsey got the ball. If you can beat this, don't give it to fucking Ramsey. Okay, Ramsey, Dave Ramsey liked it. And that was one of his nicer phrases. And some some of the I learned some new words from this guy. It was absolutely incredible. And in the end, we have to say too, because he was warned a couple of times, there was one situation where gravely almost got into a fight with him. And we thought, No, we can't we can't we can't do this. And that was during a game. And in the end we had I think we had to have a word with us. And I say Look, can you just move him and we don't want him kicked out is a season ticket holder is within his rights to do what he wants. But I'm having to apologize five or six times again For his fruity language. And it was it I mean, I've you know, he whether he was a Docker during as a day job, I don't know. But he certainly had the language of one. And, you know, I think it was a it was a good day for Aaron Ramsey The day he left arsenal, so we didn't have to be subjected to that abuse anymore. But yes, we have done many a fruity language apology. And I think that that has made it into Ted Lhasa as well. So it's something that Jason and Brendon have, have obviously picked up on.

Brett   
Yeah, speaking of some of the other similarities and differences between how things work in real life versus TV. On Ted lasso your your setup is just a laptop, but we know that your real matchday prep is much different. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

Arlo White  
Yeah, it's my own system. Every announcer has their own system they developed down the years, I just use basically Address Labels, I call them the stickers. I've got a template on the computer on the laptop, and I just put play player information on those. So it's, you know, age? Where are they? Where are they from? How many appearances have they made, you know, and then some nice little tidbits about them, if there's anything that's any quotes that are interesting, anything has happened to them that particular week, or, you know, are they playing against their former team and all that sort of thing. And, you know, it's a lot of work during the week. Each squad has 25 players, and then you've got some of the younger players that are coming through particularly during the the COVID times, and I'm generally doing two games every weekend. So that's well in excess of 100 players. So it's quite time consuming, but I enjoy it and and then when we get the teams announced I put the starting elevens down on as good, you know, accurate formation order as I as I think they will be and and that's my source of information during the game. And I've kept every one of them, but are one that I lost in a hotel in Liverpool. And I don't know whether you've ever seen that OVC in that Fraser episode where he he's got the tapes, he takes a tape home of every one of his shows. And he opens his his cupboard. And he puts he puts it The latest taping and then stops it goes back and realizes there's one missing and the whole episode is about his obsessive search for this missing episode. And I'm similar to him it plays on my mind every day that I lost this particular match board one day alternate, I'm sure but but yeah, that is a system that works for me. I always tweet out pictures of it before the game. So maybe people can use it as a as a guide when they're, you know, a companion for when they're watching games and maybe you know, tick off a few things that I use during the game, but you very rarely used more than 10 15% of what you've written down there. It's just in case. You know, somebody in that squad does something amazing. You've got to be ready for it.

Brett   
There aren't a lot of people that can claim to have been personally impersonated by Snoop Dogg, which has happened to you. As he was watching you call the 2016 Soccer finals at the Rio Olympics. So besides Snoop Dogg, which is amazing who is a dream celebrity that you would love to hear impersonate one of your calls? Oh, that's

Arlo White  
such a good question. I I was blown away by that. I mean, I look let's be honest, super Snoop Dogg didn't have a clue who I was. But it was brilliant to hear him doing the impersonation. It was Neymar when he scored the penalty in the shootout at American arval places bought a dream come true. To win the Olympic gold medal that was so far he was in his trailer clearly it was at some gigs somewhere And then I was just blown away when I heard that the next day when I was flying out of Rio. I don't know. It's an interesting one. I mean, I'm a huge Oasis fan. So so it's Liam Gallagher wants to do an impersonation of me. He's He's very welcome to do that at some point. But how about someone like I don't know a Bill Murray, you know, who who's a great hero of mine, and fellow Cubs fan. So you know, both of us have sang the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley Field, which was another another wildly brilliant thing that I've managed to be lucky enough to do. So yeah, somebody like Bill Murray or Jason himself. I mean, you know, if Jason is up for it one day, that would be fun to hear him do it. But yes, Liam Gallagher, or Bill Murray or somebody like that.

Christian  
That would be awesome. Hey, thank you so much for being generous with your time, you are an incredibly busy person. I encourage all of our listeners to find you on social media on Twitter and Instagram, because you're a great follow you post your prep boards before the games, you post the soups that you have at halftime of matches, you also post your walks from pitch side up to the gantry. We will look forward to hearing your broadcast throughout the rest of this English Premier League season. And we'll also look forward to having you here on our shores this summer, when you join in some broadcasts for Chicago Fire of the MLS

Arlo White  
Correct? Yes, looking forward to that that'll be in July. So I've got an affiliation with the Chicago firemen ambassador for them as well. And it's just like, as I've explained, you know, huge Bears fan huge fan of Chicago itself. So I'm delighted that I get to walk into the announced booth at Soldier Field. I mean, again, it's just what dreams are made of really, and the fire a club that's going places and to spend time with with family over there and take part of my family over as well and spend time in the city during the you know, the beautiful june july months is, is very special. So I'm looking forward today feels like a long way away now with it getting dark at four o'clock in the afternoon and freezing cold. But that's kind of like that's the that's the carrot at the end of the stick now is to look forward to Chicago in the summer. So I'm looking forward to

Christian  
most excellent. Thank you so much.

Arlo White  
Pleasure, Christian. And Brett, lovely talking to you. And keep up the good work.

Brett   
Thanks, sir to you.

Arlo White  
All the best. Thanks for having me. Take care. Thanks, you too.

Brett   
And that is our show. We hope you enjoyed our discussion with the Arlo white. Y'all can check out the show notes for links to his podcast, his social media accounts, his appearance and NPCs the return of coach last Oh promo as well as other cool stuff we mentioned in this episode.

Christian  
We'll be back soon with more Ted lasso conversations, but you can keep the conversation going on Twitter and Instagram. Our handle is at TED lasso pod.

Brett   
This episode of Richmond till we die is brought to you by gin and kerosine productions. It was produced by me, Brett and me Christian. If you did enjoy this conversation, we ask that you take just a moment to give our show a five star review and subscribe to our feed. It's the best and easiest way you can show your support for the pot.

Christian  
Okay, I'm Christian, signing off for Brett and Arlo white. Thank you for listening. Until next time, cheers y'all.

Arlo White  
I've never knowingly sworn on on any broadcast. So yeah, if you could believe that for me, but I thought I'd do it like that. So it'll give, give it a bit more authenticity

Transcribed by https://otter.ai