The Show Episode 545

Kentucky Derby, NFL Draft final notes, NBA Playoffs, MLB Stats

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Golden Temple out of nowhere with the women at the Kentucky Derby.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

And of course, you know, like we talked about on the uh Kentucky Derby show, uh, as the guest and I were talking about, the most exciting two minutes of sports. I don't know if that's the most exciting two minutes in sports. So we we need to slow down with that tagline of being the most exciting two minutes in sports. Now, was that? Was that a finish, something else? Well, yeah, it was because Golden Temple there came out of nowhere to win the Kentucky Derby. Now, I said on the show on Friday or on Thursday or whatever we recorded the uh Kentucky Derby episode, I liked uh the horse The Puma because I was saying it went along with my name, the host. Well, the Puma was scratched with a swollen leg. And of course, if you follow along, like I tell you every episode, like I tell you every show we do, follow along on the Twitter, you would have got updated on who the host had as a horse. No, I didn't have golden. And I wish I did, plus 3,500. No, I didn't have golden. I picked further ado. And he couldn't be further from first place than what you just heard there on the call from the Kentucky Derby. Now, we don't talk about this on this show, but myself and Mrs. Host have uh a little dog named Papa. We had him pick a horse. Uh, I put the horses' names in front of them, and whatever horse he was name, he went up and sniffed first, that was gonna be his horse that I was gonna bet on. Well, he picked Renegade. His horse came in second. So of all the horses that we had picked for the show, and we didn't give we didn't give the uh the our dog's horse out of the show because uh I had him picked after the guest time course. Uh he had the best chance of winning. Uh he was neck and neck with a Golden Temple there uh at the finish line. But as you saw, Golden Temple, uh the winner, and the first female trainer to ever win uh a Kentucky Derby race. So uh, you know, was it exciting? It's just a bunch of horses racing around a track. I mean, it's like watching the WNBA, isn't it? Oh, I'm the bad guy. I I'm the bad guy for saying that. I got I know I know everyone's laughing. I know everyone's laughing, but I'm the bad guy for saying that. Um the anticipation of you know watching and watching the broadcast. Now, myself, I knew better uh from past Kentucky Derby Broadcast. Remember, we talked about on the show with the guests that um you know the post time was gonna be 657 Eastern. So that's 357 West Coast time. I was out and about all day, uh, just doing things. Doing here, over here, going here, going to see this person, over here. I looked at my watch, and it was 330. I said, whoa! 20 minutes, 25 minutes, the race is gonna start. So I I I tuned it on. And of course, they drag it out. They they play the uh the trumpet music. And the horses come out one by one. And then Mike Tarico's gotta introduce the horse and the jockey. And we gotta get a we gotta get a breakdown of the horse and the jockey's credentials, one by one. As we're loading them into the into the gate. We've got almost all the horses in there. One of the horses, Great White, uh, flips its jockey onto his back, and the horse falls and flips over. The medical team of the Kentucky Derby and people involved uh said the horse could not race. Therefore, Great White was taken out of the running of the Kentucky Derby, and every horse had to be taken out of the gate and put back in. So we that was another 20 minutes. And I jokingly said, as that you heard me again on the show on Friday, I said, I'm surprised this race isn't uh, you know, raced at night to get a higher rating. Well, the race finally went off, and of course, you know, Golden Temple won. Well, I guess NBC and the Kentucky Derby knew what they were doing because the rating for the Kentucky Derby averaged 19.6 million viewers. It peaked at 24.4 million as Golden Temple rushed across the finish line. That is, folks, the most watched Kentucky Derby ever on record. In this age of TV, where people can watch so many things Netflix, Amazon, Paramount, Tubi, HBO, you name it. There are so many apps that you can watch TV on. Hulu. You name it. The Kentucky Derby just posted the most watched Kentucky Derby ever. That's something else, isn't it, folks? That that's incredible that they got that many people. That many people to tune into that race. And man, the amount of people that were there, the crowd that was there, Mike Trickle said it was over 150,000. Now, we read on the show that the capacity there is over 170. It looked like, it looked like on TV, it looked like there's 300,000 people. But again, now the guest had a uh uh a note uh that he forgot to uh mention on the show $132 for a general admission ticket at the Kentucky Derby. $132,000 ticket that gets you the premium dining experience. Now, I don't know what that entails. I don't know if that's uh crappy ass bottomless mint julep drinks. I I don't know what what what all that entails to uh you know get uh with that. But $10,000. Now, there's a bunch of races before the main big race. So you're just you're just not showing up and watching one race. The one race is what they show on TV. There's a bunch of races prior to that. Now I don't tune in early enough to even care about any of those races. But they do have a bunch of races prior to that. So you're just not you're just not paying $10,000 for two minutes. You're paying $10,000 to be there all day. And the one thing is I I kept it on because they were supposed to go to game seven of the 76ers uh Boston Celtics basketball game after the race. So I kept it, I kept the race on, just waiting for that game to start. And man, do the people clear out of there? Do the people clear on a Churchill Downs after that race is over. That place looked like a ghost town 15 minutes after the race. Man, those people quickly get out of there. That was something else to see. I don't know if anybody noticed that. I don't know how many people watched that listen to this show, but man, 24.4 million people that that uh that uh race peaked at. That's something else. Something else that's pretty crazy. Now, I want to uh move on here. I know we just had a whole show about the Kentucky Derby, and I want to move on to some other things uh that I need to uh discuss. Now, uh I know last week's show we talked about the draft, and I got all your emails, people. I got a bunch of text. A lot of people didn't like the fact that the host didn't give a grade on the draft. I I don't, I don't what what it was what is so important of giving a grade to the draft? I I don't get it. So I'm gonna give you an example here of why I didn't give a grade for the draft. Three years ago, it was the 2023 draft. So that means that those 30 first those 31 first round picks have all been in the NFL now for three years. Of those 31 first round picks, 22 of those picks have had their fifth year option exercise. And two of those, 22 people who've had their first round or their fifth year option exercise have signed long-term deals already. So you could go back now and properly grade the 2023 track. And you could probably say that those two teams that gave long-term contracts to those two players, well those two teams deserve an A. Because they got the right pick, they got the right player, and they hit a home run with that pick because that player now is still with that team. And he's they signed a long-term deal. Now, the other 20 picks, because there was 22, the other 20 picks have logged into their uh fifth-year option. So you could probably say that those teams could get a B because they like that pick. They like that pick enough that they exercised the fifth year option. Now the Steelers are one of those teams that didn't exercise the fifth year option. Roger Jones was a first-round pick. They declined the fifth-year option on him. One, he hasn't performed up to expectations of a first-round pick, even though he was playing better in his third year last year. He suffered a neck injury, still questionable what's gonna happen in camp. And the Steelers declined the fifth-year option. So he is one of the players that didn't get their fifth-year option picked up. So you know what I give Broderick Jones and his Pittsburgh Steelers for that draft for that grade in 2023? A D. Probably not gonna be with the team after this year. Probably not even gonna see the field this year if that nick if that neck injury is that really serious. So, the 2023 draft, the Steelers got a D from the host. Well host, you're too dumb. I'm not gonna get again, I'm not giving a grade to a class of players that I don't even know what they can do. So, I know a lot of people are upset at that. And again, I don't get it. I don't get why so many people are upset that I didn't give a a damn grade to a draft class that we don't know nothing about. And I'm gonna keep on harping about it. People probably say, okay, host, take it easy. It's just a draft. I I just you if you sit here on this mic and you sit here and get the email and the people. Now, some of you people are just messing around with the host and just trying to be funny. Some of these people who email me are really legitimately upset that I didn't give a graft rate. Now, here's a couple stats for you people uh about the draft, and maybe maybe I'm already said this last week, and um I I apologize if I did, and I can't remember if I gave these stats because I had these same. The SEC for the 20th consecutive season had the most selections in the draft. That's 20 years in a row, folks, that the SEC led with selections in the draft. The SEC had a total of 87 players pair 87, 19 more than the Big Ten. The Big Ten came in with 66 selections in the draft. And then it's a clear drop-off. ACC had 38, Big 12 had 38, Notre Dame had six players, the American Conference four, the Mac four, FCS football four, Mountain West three, Sunbelt two, Conference USA one, and UConn with one player. So the SEC, once again, dominating, dominating college football with 87 selections. And you can go by most players drafted by a school, too. Most players drafted by a single school. Now, I know Ohio State had a bunch of players taken in the first round. Well, they didn't do fairly well after that. They had a total of 11 players. They were still number one with 11 players drafted in the draft. But then you had two SEC schools come in at number two, Alabama and Texas AM. They had 10 each. Clemson, Miami, and Texas Tech had nine players taken in the draft this year. I don't know what I don't know who thought Texas Tech had good players. Nine players taken from Texas Tech? You're better going, you're better off going down to the uh local park and finding players that are better than nine players out of Texas Tech. Nine players out of Texas Tech? That's gotta be a mid sprint. Anyway, Georgia, Indiana, Penn State had eight. Good luck with those Indiana players. Uh whoever drafted them. Uh Florida, Iowa, LSU, Oregon, Texas, and Washington had seven players drafted each. Michigan, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma had six. Auburn and Tennessee both had five players taken. Arizona, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Arkansas, Boston College, and Kentucky each had four players taken in the 2026 draft. Stats don't lie, people. All the best players come from the SEC. 19 more than the Big Ten. All the big schools are in the SEC. All the big time players are from the SEC. Doesn't stats don't lie. And as you can see, NFL teams think along the same line. They like those SEC players because they're just better football players. Oh, but what? They haven't won many championships post. Yeah? Good luck with those Indiana players, like I just said a few minutes ago. Good luck with those Indiana players this year in the draft. We'll see how well uh Mendoza does with the Raiders. Oh, that's right. He's gotta be on the bench because Kirk Cousins is gonna play over him. That shows you how good they think he is already. You're gonna let Kirk Cousins play over him? Hey, well, that's another show for another topic, but I'm just throwing that out there now. Um I found this rumor funny during the week. Uh, Russell Wilson was uh mentioned of being a visitation to the New York Jets to back up Geno Smith. So, I mean, well boy. Since after uh Russell Wilson has talked with the New York Jets, now a rumor is swirling around that Russell Wilson is in talks with CBS to fill Matt Ryan's shoes, because Matt Ryan left to join the Atlanta Falcons brass in helping that team get back on track. So CBS is looking for a player of quarterback type to come on and be on their show, of course, to fill Matt Ryan's shoes on the CBS morning, halftime, afternoon, whatever. So Russell Wilson may be joining that crew. But listen to this. I found this this is so funny. The Jets. They drafted Sam Darnold to replaced Geno Smith. The Seahawks. They signed Geno Smith to back up Russell Wilson. Geno Smith replaced Russell Wilson. Sam Darnold replaced Geno Smith on the Seahawks, the Jets. They signed Geno Smith to replace Sam Darnold. Then signed Russell Wilson to back up, I mean they could sign Russell Wilson to back up Geno Smith. You can't make this up, right, folks? Isn't that crazy? Isn't that crazy that the ties between Geno Smith, Sam Darnold, and Russell Wilson right now? That's unbelievable that those three guys are going back and forth and being signed by the same teams and then having different roles with each team. Wouldn't that be something if Russell Wilson decides, you know what, I don't want to be on CBS. Maybe I will sign with the Jets. And then he's Geno Smith's backup. And Geno Smith was Russell Wilson's backup. Folks, the NFL is crazy. And it's just strange how things just come about for certain players in the NFL. So last week when I recorded the show, after I got done recording the show, I had found out that my old coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin, made his debut on NBC. And it happened to be on NBC halftime during one of the basketball. That they were playing lesson. Now, I ended up missing it. And I didn't hear the comments or anything till after. So, what I'm going to do now is I'm going to play the interview. It's only four minutes long. Oh, don't think we're going to be sitting here talking Pittsburgh Steelers for another half an hour. I'm not going to do that. I want to play the interview with Mike Tomlin on the set at halftime, talking with Maria Taylor. And I'm just going to chime in on a few of the things Mike Tomlin addresses during the interview. I'm not going to chime in on everything and talk about everything. I'm just going to chime in on just a few of the topics he's talked about. Now it's only four minutes. It's only four minutes. So let's just hear what Mike Tomlin has to say in case anybody else has missed it. In case anybody else didn't hear any of the sound clips during this past week.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Tomlin here today, and we interrupt this NBA showtime to break the news that Mike Tomlin will be joining us this fall for Football Night in America. Welcome to the team, Coach. I'm so excited to have you. We're going to have a great season.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Hey, I'm looking forward to it. Looking forward to learning from you.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Let's go. And you clean up nice. It's weird to not see you in like the sideline gear.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

I know usually I'm an equipment room issue, but I can clean up from time to time. I got a small wardrobe. I'm working on it though.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

I love it. I'm curious though, when did you have the blink moment? You always say don't blink, but you have to have a moment when you think about your 19-year career and decide that it was time to walk away and go on to something new. When was that for you?

SPEAKER_00 23:35

You know, it's probably not an overnight decision, but it's probably not something that I could articulate or share with people. It's just a loneliness with leadership. Um I just thought it was a good time for me personally, and by that, I mean just where I am in life. And I thought it was a good time for the organization, to be quite honest with you. Um, we didn't have a lot of success in the playoffs in recent years, and there's just some veteran players there, man, guys like Cam Hayward and TJ Watt and Boswell, man, that I thought just that were worthy of the excitement and the optimism associated with new leadership.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

Okay. What he's referring to, of course, is, and if you follow the show, and if you listen to the host, Pittsburgh Steelers haven't won a playoff game since 2016. They made the playoffs the last few years, they haven't won a game. They haven't even been competitive in any of the games that they've uh competed in. Blown out by the Chiefs a couple times, blown out by the Bills, and then were hanging with the Houston Texans in the fourth quarter, and still ended up getting blown out. So Mike Tomlin referring to, you know, that juncture of his coaching career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I what when he well I and he says, he says in there of players like uh Cam Hayward, TJ Watt, Chris Hopkins. I think, personally, I think that the booing finally got to him this year. Those fans were really booing him this year. They were booing the way the offense played. They were booing when they got blown out by Buffalo this year in the second half. They were at home. That game was at home. They were really upset, the fans, in certain times this year, the way that the team was playing and the way everything was going. I now I don't, I don't, I think the excuse of Cam Hayward and TJ Watt and Chris Boswell, uh, you know, they needed different leadership. I think that's just an excuse. I think it finally got to Tomlin not having success, and the fans booing him really got there.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

What do I do? I know that you've been, I've seen you at baseball games. You came to a Knicks game. I feel like that was a big part of the recruitment, by the way, of Mike Tomlin. Um, but you make the decision to go into broadcasting. What made you decide you wanted to take everything you've learned being in leadership in the NFL as a head coach to the stage in front of the camera?

SPEAKER_00 26:10

I just thought it'd be a great way to stay connected to the game and the awesome people in it, players, coaches, executives, and excited about doing that on Sunday night and traveling to different venues and getting that feel uh for the environment. And lastly, you know, I just thought it'd be awesome to share insight with fellow football lovers. I love to talk football. Um, and so that's just an exciting component for me. I gotta admit, though, there's gonna be some anxiety about stepping into a new space, but good anxiety. You know, it's good to be uncomfortable, the growth associated with that. And so, man, I'm I'm fired up about it.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

Now, we all saw, if you remember, when Bill Cower left the Pittsburgh Steelers, he went to CBS and he fell in love with being on CBS just talking football. Just like Mike Kamlin mentioned it. But Mike Tomlin mentioned in his interview that he still wants to be around football, still wants to talk around football and still be associated with it. That to me means that he wants to keep an eye on what's going on in the NFL this season. And I think, I think Mike Tomlin has the door open still in the back of his mind to coach again. Now, Bill Cower got asked many times to come back and coach. And he always said, no, I'm good here. I love being on CBS, I love being in the booth, I love being on the broadcast, I love talking football here. I don't now, we haven't even seen Mike Tomlin yet on a regular season week of football night in America. By just that comment there and knowing his competitiveness and the way he was the past 19 years as a Steelers head coach makes me think that he's only doing this. So he keeps an eye on what's going around in the league in the NFL and to keep that door wide open for a coaching job.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

I don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

You better have my front too.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Um I'm also curious, though. You you just said that we're gonna travel every single week for football night in America. That's a part of this announcement of Mike Tomlin also joining us. But what were you doing during the draft for the first time in 19 seasons? You didn't have to be locked in a war room somewhere figuring out who you wanted to take. Like, how do you spend your time now? What are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 28:28

You know, that's a good question. Uh I was at a cigar bar hanging out with some guys and, you know, supposedly watching the draft, but you start telling war stories and so forth, the draft's watching you. But it was it was fun to watch it to a different lens. And and and when you don't, when you're not on the clock, you can just appreciate what a significant moment that is for the young people. So to watch those guys get drafted and then live out a component of their dreams that we all know. Now the work starts, but that's a big night for those guys, and it's just fun to just watch it from that perspective.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

All right, I can't let you leave here without putting you to work just a little bit. Okay, just a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Can you tell me who you believe will be the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers next season?

SPEAKER_00 29:09

If you got a gun to my head, I'd say it's AR. I just think, uh Aaron, I just think being around him for the 12 months that I'm around him, he got a love affair with the game of football and not only the game, but the process, um, the informal moments, uh the development of younger guys, the interaction with teammates. I think he has an addiction to that. And there's only one way to feed it. And certainly he is still capable and in really good shape. And so I think at the end of the day, he'll play football.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Well, at the end of the day, what you just proved right now.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Mike Domin said it right there himself. He would know more than us. Aaron Rodgers is coming back. I think Aaron Rodgers is coming back too. But I think uh the Pittsburgh Steelers didn't anticipate the total uh you know nonchalant attitude again from Aaron Rodgers. I think Pittsburgh uh really expected to get a more answer up front this season if he was willing to come back and play. And of course, Aaron Rodgers being Aaron Rodgers keeps on dragging it on and on. Because that's what he likes to do, is to keep his name out there and keep on people talking about him, whether these guys on these other shows are saying negative things about Aaron Rodgers, whether these guys on all these other shows are saying positive things. As long as Aaron Rodgers' name is being thrown out there, that's what he likes. He likes people talking about him, he likes being the center of attention, and that's what he likes. And here we are, we're discussing the two on this show. Just like Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, he likes to be the center of attention. Aaron Rodgers has that same kind of mentality. I want to be the center of attention. So he's got it, and the world, not the world waits, but the city of Pittsburgh waits to see if Aaron Rodgers will ever make it back this season. Or the studios are going to rely on Will Howard and Drew Aller and Mason Rudolph. Now, of course, we have to update everyone on our NBA series parlay. Well, I gave eight plays at the NBA Series Parlay. One series is still out there right now. Uh, Cleveland and Toronto. Uh, that series is gonna be uh tipping off here tonight. And we still don't know the result of that. So we got seven series that are complete. Now I expected, of course, to go eight, no. We're currently four and three. Yeah. Four and three. Because the Lakers, we had Houston, they took care of Houston in sixth. Oh, and the Boston Celtics, which were big favorites, the Philadelphia 76ers took care of them in seven, and the Minnesota Timberwolves, without their best player, the Ant-Man, without the bread man, Steven Chenzo, they took care of Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. Three upsets, three wins, three wins the host didn't have. And hoping Cleveland pulls us out so I can at least say I went five and three, but that's crappy. Five and three in an NBA Series parley? Five and three? When you're supposed to go eight, oh terrible, terrible analysis by the host and those picks. My goodness. My goodness, that was terrible. Now, here's the best part. And I know a lot of people are gonna disagree with me on that. I don't care who wins tonight between Cleveland and Toronto. With the Sixers knocking off Boston, the New York Knicks are going to the final. Nobody's as good as them. Nobody can beat them. Philadelphia's not beating them. Detroit's not beating them. They didn't beat them last year. And Cleveland or Toronto can't beat them. The Knicks folks, with their awful head coach in Mike Brown, are gonna go to the NBA final. Can you imagine the ticket prices that are gonna be at Madison Square Garden when the Knicks get to the final? Now listen to this. This is this the get in price right now for the Knicks in Philadelphia series. The Knicks are playing. They're playing Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semifinal. Game one and game two are at New York Madison Square Garden. The get in price to get into Madison Square Garden for Game 1 and Game 2. $503 per ticket, $507 per ticket for Game Two. Now the get in price for Philadelphia for Game 3 and 4, $278 for Game 3, 262 for Game 4, Game 5 for the Knicks, get in price. Now that could be at they could be at 2-2, they could be at 3-1, they could be down 3-1. The get in price of that is $651 now. Go back and turn around and go to Philadelphia for game six. The get in price there is $275 and then holy cow. If there's a game seven between the Knicks and the 76 at Madison Square Garden, the get-in price is currently $946 to see the Knicks play. That place is going to be electric in this series. And if they go on to beat Philadelphia, which I think they're easily going to do, I think Philadelphia's gassed after beating it, beating Boston. They were on a mission. Joel Embiid hurt his knee again. He was playing half on his leg and willed that team to uh victory. Him and uh Maxie and Paul George. So you can say what you want about the NBA regular season. It means nothing because these guys don't play. Joel Embiid hardly played during the regular season. And he missed the first few games of this series. Once he showed up, Philadelphia is a completely different team. And they took care of Boston. Didn't hell Boston didn't have Jason Tatum either in game seven. But uh Boston, I thought, blew the game in game seven. Uh they came back, uh they got within one point. At one point, they had a one-point lead. And uh Philadelphia muscled their way back ahead, and then Boston was just taking so many three-point. I mean, when the three-pointers aren't falling, you've got to go and at least take some post-up uh with a big man, or at least dribble in for a mid-range jumper, or try some alley oop, or just drive to the basket and hope you get five. Stop taking the three-pointers, Boston. Well, it cost them because they didn't make it out of the first round. And you can't feel bad for Boston fans, right? Here's what's happened for Boston fans in the last six months. They made it to the Super Bowl. Drake May uh allegedly had a hurt arm, and they lost the Super Bowl to CLC Hawks. The Celtics blew a 3-1 series lead to the Philadelphia 76ers, and they're ousted out of the first round in the NBA playoffs when they were the number two seed and had the best odds to get to the finals. Even better odds than the Detroit Pistons. The Boston Bruins scored. I'm sorry, the Boston Bruins were outscored 13-3 on whole mice and lose to the Buffalo Sabres in six games. The Buffalo Sabres first series win in I don't know how many years they took care of Boston Bruins in six games. And the Boston Red Sox are off to a 13-20 start and have fired their whole coaching staff. You can't feel bad for Boston Celtics, man. You can't. You just can't. You can't. All those Super Bowls they won. They won uh Stanley Cups, uh, World Series in the past, uh, the Celtics won a few years ago. Enough of Boston winning the championship. You can't feel bad. I'm glad that this uh karma is finally coming around and it's being stuck to the city of Boston. Uh they deserve it. They deserve it, and it's good to see that this is happening to them. Now, I should give another NBA series parlay. And now, I I know the current track record, uh, I know a lot of people uh aren't gonna play it. But I'm gonna give one anyway. The Lakers are playing Oklahoma. There's I'm telling you right now, there is no way the Lakers are beating Oklahoma City at a seven-game series. Unless SDA and Chen Holgram go out of the game in the first in game one and don't return for the series. And somehow Luca has some magic and comes back for the Lakers. No way. Oklahoma's winning. There's no way Minnesota is beating San Antonio. Now, I know San Antonio is a very young team. They took care of a Portland team. They were 20 games better than Portland in the regular season. I know Minnesota is playoff tough, they're playoff ready, but in order to beat San Antonio with Wemby and Vieron Fox, you gotta have the Ant-Man. And you gotta have the Breadman. The Breadman's got to deliver the bread. And he ain't gonna be there for that. The Ant-Man might come back midway through the series. That's what that's the uh story that came out today. But at that point, it might be too late, and San Antonio already might have a 2-0, 3-1 lead in that series. It may not, they may not be soon enough for the Ant-Man to get back in that series. So I like San Antonio to play to win that series out well. I already love the Knicks. There's no way the Knicks are losing to Philadelphia. And I don't care who wins between Cleveland and Toronto because I think the Pistons are gonna be either one of those teams. So I'd go with my four series, again, all favorites, all favorites, I'd go with Detroit, New York, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio. And I would say, I would say, if you're a little gun shy on any of those, I'd be a little weary on the San Antonio, Minnesota. Only because I think now that Wemby and the Spurs start shitting their pants of being in the next round. Because being such a young team. And when you have success that quickly, sometimes you get a little overwhelmed, and sometimes it just creeps up to you and you can't perform the way you've been performing up to it so far. But unless the Ant-Man can fully come back and come back right away in like maybe a game two, I just don't see Minnesota pulling this off. So, again, one more time. San Antonio, Oklahoma City, New York Knicks, Detroit Pitts. That's your four team NBA series parlay in the next round. I know the track writer career is so great. You guys are running down right now. Let me put some money on it. You guys are logging in to your betting apps right now on your phone to put a play in. I know you are. I know you are. Um I got a few uh baseball things uh to uh talk about here uh before we uh uh end the show today. Uh this the new Japanese star who uh is taking the uh Chicago White Sox by storm of Marakama. He's got 13 home runs and 27 walks in the team's first 32 games of a season. He is the fifth player to ever do that. He joins these players of only having 13 home runs and 27 walks in the first 32 games of an MLB season. Babe Ruth did it twice in 1928 and 1930. Mark McGuire did it in 1992, not even with St. Louis, Mark McGuire. Mark McGuire still did it when he was on the Oakland A's. Albert Pujol did it when he was on the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006. And the same season 2006, Jim Tomey did it for the Cleveland Indians. He, I'll mention 13 plus home runs and 27 walks in the first 32 games. And now, 20 years later, Japanese prospect that came over and joined the Chicago White Sox, Mirakama, he has done it and has joined those other gentlemen in that amazing list. Kyle Schwarber over the weekend. You know, he's known as the guy in the Philadelphia Phillies that hits the Schwarberbs. He was uh right up there last year in the home runs. He had over 50 home runs. So I thought he could have been uh uh a finals MVP candidate, but of course, you know, they're never gonna give it to him. They're always gonna give it to Otani, no matter uh what his stats are. Uh he's the first Major League player since Lou Gehrig in August 26th, 1935. To do this in a Double hitter. Five plus hits, three plus walks, two plus doubles, two plus home runs, and zero strikeouts. So Kyle Schwerber. Second player ever to have those numbers along with Luke Garrett. They have five plus hits, three plus walks, two plus doubles, two plus home runs, and zero strikeouts and a double header in one day. So that's that's a pretty good name to be alongside there. If you're gonna have a major league baseball record, you want to be able to share that with uh you know one of the all-time greats, and that's what he did. Now, a couple of teammates, Ben Rice and Aaron Judge, boy, they are hitting the cover off the ball for the New York Yankees. The New York Yankees are 22-11. They came back and uh really scored some runs today. They uh took a uh a big number in the eighth inning and they swept the Baltimore Oriol today. Uh Aaron Judge and Ben Rice are the fifth pair of teammates to have 12 plus home runs when the team has reached 35 games. They are the first pair of teammates to do it in 31 years. The last time we had two teammates do this was 1995 when Cleveland had Manny Marias and Paul Sorrento. They were the last two teammates to hit uh 12 plus homers each in the first 35 team games. In 1994, Alice Burks and Andres Galaraga did it for the Colorado Rockies in 1959. Penny Matthews and Henry Aaron for uh the Milwaukee Braves uh did that in 1959. And in 1956, the first pair of teammates to hit 12 home runs each, over 12 home runs in their first 35 team games, were Mickey Mannell and Yogi Vera. So Aaron Judge and Ben Rice smacking that ball around for the New York Yankees. And last but not least, I'll leave you with this. Good lord, if you're a man. Today, the New York Nets. It's their 34th game of the season they played. Sunday. They've lost the 34th game of the season. 16 years of streak. They ended that streak today, okay, because they beat the California Angels today 5-1. If they would have lost today, that would have been the 17th season in a row that the New York Mets lost the 34th game of the season. That is an amazing stat, isn't it? Can you imagine a franchise when you get to the 34th game every year and you lost? 16 seasons in a row. Well, they can put that record to bed all the time. Like I said, they beat the California Angels in a five-one, and that streak is over. So the New York Mets will never have to hear about that streak anymore. So good for the New York Mets and that streak. Boy, what a stat that is! Oh man, man, baseball is this baseball has so many stats. You can look up so much research on baseball. You can look up so many stats and go back and you know just come up with stuff that is just amazing to see what some of these teams do over the years, especially at certain times of the year, certain games of the year, even with individual players who something happens, it gets in their head, and they just can't do it. It's just it's just crazy. But I hope you guys all enjoyed the show today. I hope you uh I try to give you a variety of things. Again, this is the 97th ranked podcast sports talk podcast in America, and you're all listening to it right now. And I can only thank everybody listening, and all of you, and all the new listeners. Thank you very much for listening to this show. I appreciate it as always. You know where to get the show by now. That's the host of Steal D F72, Twitter, X, whatever, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, Podcast Deck, and of course, Amazon Music. And as always, with this show. It's nice to be important, but more important to be nice. Of course, the music in the background. Oh. This is the host's favorite thing. I already this is off the Book of Soul album. This is the greatest.