The Show Episode 558

Fourth of July, World Cup, NBA Free Agency, NFC East, Eagles, Washington

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:50

Everyone out there at a great 4th of July. I helped everybody celebrated, friends, family, uh whatever you did. Uh barbecue, uh, you went to the beach, uh, you went on vacation, uh, you sat on out on your patio or your deck, and uh you listened to the show. Okay, maybe you didn't do that. Okay. Hopefully you hopefully uh if you were uh letting off fireworks, uh you still have all your uh fingers attached and your toes. I hope nobody uh lost a finger, uh an arm, a leg, uh whatever you guys out there were uh blowing off out there to celebrate America 250. So I hope everyone had a great 4th of July, and we're back! Now, uh last week, uh, you know, just to give you guys, I like I like once in a while give you guys a little inside information on how the host does the show. So last week, um I recorded a show on a Friday. I sent it out on Twitter like I normally do. I posted it on the website and I didn't send it out to anybody. Usually, as soon as I get done recorded, as soon as it gets passed through the illegals on the uh hosting website, as soon as they uh skim through it and make sure it's okay, they post it on the website. Oh no, listen. Um I didn't inform anyone, I didn't tell anyone I was up there. I wanted to see, I do this every once in a while, but I wanted to see how many people pay attention to what the host says at the end of every show. Where to find the show, where to get the show, what websites to go to, what apps to do, and I wanted to see the number of downloads. I'll say this. I was impressed. A lot of you, a lot of you know how to get the show. Now, a few days later, after that, uh, when we went to start the week, I sent it out like I normally would do. And if you got it again, if you already had listened to it before I sent it, then great. But I was just sending it out to uh a small group of people that do listen to this show. And I wanted to I wanted to, you know, wait to do that to see how many downloads there were. And I'm again, I'm impressed. I'm impressed that you guys go out and know where to find the show. Um with that said, now I know I brought this up last year, I gotta bring it up again because it's it's funny. We got new listeners, uh, you know, people finding this show, scouring through the internet. There's so many choices out there. So I thank you if you've uh uh got yourself attached to this very episode, you've never heard this before. Now that July 4th is over with, summer's over. That's it. I hope everyone had a great summer. Summer is officially over now. That 4th of July has passed. It's over. It's done. Now, I say that because uh, for those of you know who listen to this show on a regular basis, uh, when I was a kid, uh, you know, we were hanging out with us kids in the neighborhood. And again, uh to reinstate it so uh people don't know, I don't remember the neighbor who said this to us, but I do remember the statement said to me because it stuck with me because I was a kid. It just stuck with me ever since. We were standing in some neighbor's garage, and us kids were there, you know, being meddling kids. And I remember I remember the dad say it to us. I mean, there's probably five or six of us kids standing there, maybe even more than it. I remember the dad standing there saying that uh it was right after 4th of July. He goes, Summer's over, kids, just go back to school. That's uh that that was his statement to us. Summer's already over, just go back to school. Because he was already sick of us kids hanging around the neighborhood in the summer. And keep in mind, I grew up back east, back up in New York. School, school, when I was a kid, used to get out in the third week of June. So think about that. Two weeks later, according to this neighbor, summer was over. We should have been back at school. July 6th, we should have been back in school, according to this guy. So that that's that I I say that jokingly. Uh, that's how uh I remember, I remember that vividly. Uh but I just can't picture the neighbor who said that to us. But uh it's it's always stuck with me, and every year when 4th of July happens, it comes, it goes, I always say to myself, well, summer's over. That's it. Wrap it up. Wrap it up, fall's coming, summer's over. Um so yeah, that's why I always say that jokingly. Hey, here, here, out in uh, you know, Las Vegas, kids are out of school before Memorial Day. Now, granted, they're back in at some time at the end of August. Now, back east, when you got out in in the third week of June, you didn't have we you weren't back at school until after Labor Day. So, you know difference in weeks back east is compared to here. Now, I don't know, it might have it might be it might have changed back east. It might be different now for kids going to school. But that's how that's how that's how it is out here now. Uh you know, when you're driving around, because you get annoyed by all the uh you know school signs and slow down for the schools, and you know, you got those people that think they uh, you know, are are are real policemen that hold up traffic with their stupid sign to uh let the kids cross the street. You know, they they gotta act like they have some kind of authority with their sign and uh tell you to stop. Okay, all right. I I know you people are saying, geez, hosts, they're just kids. I know. I just wanted to throw that in there. I know people are probably saying, you know, hosts, once again, you just throw your more yourself into a deeper, deeper hole. Uh, but anyway, I hope everyone had uh a great uh 4th of July. And uh here we are. We got all kinds of stuff going on. I mean, it doesn't, does it is it me? Or does this year, 2026, just seem like there's just so much going on and so much to talk about? Well, I this NBA free agency and the trades is crazy. I mean, I got three pages worth of stuff here in front of me to get through. And I tell you what, I'm gonna do a little bit of the NBA free agency right here on this show. I'm gonna, and then I gotta do another show and talk about the rest of it. Uh I haven't even talked about the whole two tours with the PGA. I don't even know if I'm gonna get to that on this show. Uh, we're still doing our division uh picks, our division over and unders for the NFL season. Uh, we are got two teams left for the NFC East to do on this show. That's and uh Washington. Maybe I'll explain why uh we say when I get to Philadelphia today. Maybe we'll finally reveal why we say Philadelphia like that on this show. Uh if I remember. But uh first up to get to uh breaking news right before um I'm about to do the show. Uh U.S. soccer got a big lift this morning because Florian Balgoon's red card has been suspended by FIFA. Uh, if you saw the last game with the United States, uh with their last game where they're playing uh Bosnia, whatever their country, the rest of their country's name is. Um Balgoon, Balagoon, Balugoon, I don't even know how to say this guy's name. Is he is he American? I'm just asking with that kind of name. Anyway, um, good for him that he's on our team because he's a good player. Um he kind of made a move where he stepped on the ankle of the opposing player and was uh the play was reviewed by VAR. That's the uh FIFA review thing, and they gave him a red card, and he was thrown out of the game, and of course he was suspended for the next game. By the way, the great coverage on Fox didn't tell you that. Uh when you if you were watching it, you had to go to the Twitter uh slash X to find out what was really going on in the game by that. Great, great announcing. You announce a World Cup once every four years, and you're afraid to uh you know let your listeners know the rules of soccer. Great announcing by Fox there. Boy, what and they're soaking up the ratings with this USA team uh as they keep on moving on in this tournament. Yet they got buffoons announcing the game that can't explain the rules to you as they're happening live on the air. It's just uh this a little ridiculous. Anyway, the uh Balagoon guys red car has been suspended. He will play Monday night uh against Belgium. So uh, you know, the U.S. getting a huge break. Now, I don't know why this suspension was lifted of the red card. I'm not saying anything fishy happened because, you know, the big deal was that this play that um Balgoon stepped on this guy's Achilles' back of his ankle, Messi of Argentina did the same thing in a match, and he wasn't even issued a yellow card. So this kept on was bringing bring up, it kept on showing, posting the videos on the Twitter of them side by side. Uh everybody was just complaining, and maybe, I don't know, maybe FIFA, maybe the board of governors in soccer, I don't know. Maybe they're just sick of hearing about it, and they reviewed it again, and maybe the people had sent in tapes of the messy tape, maybe people have sent in things, and the ban has been lifted, and he's gonna play it Monday night. That really, really, really helps the U.S. team uh in that game against Belgium because now instead of uh all the focus being on uh Polisic, Pulisik, whatever his name is, uh the other star for the United States, uh all that focus comes off of him, and now they're gonna have to reshift some of that focus on the Balagoon guy. So maybe that'll even out, and USA will have uh a better chance in that game. And if you if U.S. wins this game Monday night, it'll be the farthest they've ever gone in the World Cup. They'll make it on to the quarterfinals. So they had 24 and a half million viewers for that uh 32 knockout round game. I'm expecting a higher number of viewers uh Monday night for that game. That game is up in Seattle, I believe. So uh, you know, for those of you people uh looking forward to that game, that game is gonna be Monday night. So I got a I got a few other uh, you know, few other things here, uh annoying things about soccer that I keep on watching. Now, I'm watching more soccer than I ever thought I was gonna be watching. And I and and I don't know how. I don't know it's because I got the William Hill here and I can bet on it, and now I'm interested now because I got money on the game and I can pay attention to what's happening. I don't know if that's why I'm paying more attention to the soccer, but I gotta tell you. The one thing it's driving me nuts about the soccer, there's dude, I got two things written down here to tell you about the soccer. The flopping that is going on in soccer. These guys, they get hit by the opponent, or they're both running for the ball, they get knocked down, and they act like their life is over. They're crawling on the ground, holding whatever body part that's that got trampled on, and acting like that they're never gonna be able to play soccer again in their whole life. Meanwhile, do they realize now with today's technology that they're gonna show the replay? And all of us viewers that are sitting at home or sitting on the internet or sitting there watching our phone are gonna see that nothing happened to the guy and the replay? Are they gonna realize that after when we see that? Do they realize that we see the replay and how stupid and ridiculous they look after? And then after they don't get a penalty or whatever happens, two minutes later, guys back up running around like nothing happened. Now I realize that the NBA has also a problem with this. Yes, I know. I'm gonna get emails now. Oh, what about the NBA host? They got all kinds of, all kinds of flopping problems in the NBA. Yes, yes, we know that. We've talked about it on this show. But the soccer flopping, oh my god, that is just way over the top. And these guys, they're holding their head or they're holding their ankle, they're holding their shin, they're holding their arm. And then real when they when the play is up on over, oh, I'm okay. Uh, continue on. I I again I it's a it's a it's just weird to watch to see that extent of the over-exaggerating that goes on when one of these guys gets touched by someone else going after the ball. It's just it's just too over the top. I mean, and I and I it might have worked, I don't know, 25 years ago when uh 30, maybe 30 years ago, when there was no HD TV and not as much great replay and not as many cameras. Maybe, maybe all this worked, you know, that far long ago. It doesn't work now, especially when you'll see the play, you'll see it on the internet, you'll see it on the Twitter or the X somewhere, and it just makes these guys look even more ridiculous. Here's the other thing it drives me nuts about the soccer. And I know you soccer hooligans out there are gonna be all frustrated with the host when I say this. The passing. Team gets the ball, pass it to the center, pass it to the left, pass it to the center, pass it to the left, pass it back to the center guy, pass it to the right. Meanwhile, they're inching in, inching in into the other zone, other team zone. They get it about 30 feet over the center line. They don't like what they see. They pass it back out and back down to the field. Sometimes they pass it back down to the goalie. And then they set it back up. Pass it to the right, pass it back to the center, center back to the right, right guy back to the center, center to the left side, left side back to the center, and then we do it all over again. Somebody help me out here. Is that what happens all the time watching soccer? Is that like a thing? That's all the time. I mean, that's that's games are 90 minutes. That's that's 50 minutes of the game. 60 minutes of the game that's going on. And then they they wait for a little moment and then they they try to sneak a big kick down the left or right side to the to one of the guys who can run real fast, and he's got to get the ball, and hopefully he's not offside. Because the offside rule is just as dub two. The host has got one change for you soccer hooligans out there. Once you get past half the field, once you get inside the other team's, I don't know, half, I don't know what you call it, half half field. If you pass it back out, if you pass it back out without the other team intercepting it or without the other team deflecting it back out, if you pass it back out, penalty, you should give back the ball to the other team. So that should be that should be uh half-court violation. Just like in basketball. Teams bring the ball over half court, they're not allowed to bring it back over. They gotta shoot. Same thing in soccer. You get that ball past midfield, you're not allowed to pass it back across midfield. Should be a penalty. If you do, back to the other team. That's that's what should happen. Because, like I said, they they waste so much time doing that. And I I know before everybody emails the host, it's strategy host.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

They're trying to set up the play, they're trying to set up and confuse the other team. They're moving guys around, trying to get them in position. I understand.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

Hey, I get that part. I know what's going on. Just trying to make the game a little more exciting, just trying to get it, you know, trying to, you know, draw some more interest. There's plenty of interest, right? We're at 24 million views for that game, that last USA game. Who knows what we're gonna be tomorrow night? But I'm just saying that this one thing I would make an adjustment to the rules. That's it. That's all I'm saying with the soccer. I'm still watching, still betting, still host is still intrigued by it. I'm still talking about it on the show. God, just ramble on about it. Hopefully, the USA can win tomorrow night against Belgium in advance to their first ever quarterfinal. And who knows? Could be waiting. Spain could be waiting for them in that game. Wouldn't that be something? All right, now moving on. Like I said, there is so much stuff in the NBA going on, so many big stories. So I'm gonna now, this isn't I'm not leading off with this story because I think this is the main story. I had so much NBA stuff, you know, written down written down here on my uh papers that this was uh you know one of the things that uh I wanted to discuss before uh moving on to some NFL stuff. And this has to be I'll you know, I I've been watching the NBA, following the NBA years. Years, over 30 years, more than that, 40 years. I gotta tell you, this has got to be one of the most exciting off seasons I've ever seen. Just the the trades, the free agency, uh, the talk of this very next subject, what's going on? This the NBA, the NFL knows how to sell their uh, you know, sell their game, sell their emblem, sell their you know, sport in the offseason. The NFL knows how to keep on carrying on what they do, you know, with the draft, with the schedule announcement, with the mini camps, you know, just the NFL knows how to keep chugging along and keep people interested. NBA is doing the same exact thing this summer. Now, those playoffs we just saw with the Knicks winning, that was tremendous. Best, one of the best playoffs. Finals we've seen, even though the finals is only five games, one of the best finals we've seen in a long time. Every game was exciting. So the NBA is trying to carry that momentum, trying to keep that going. And it looks like they are. Because this offseason has just been so crazy what's been going on. So, and again, this is not like the main thing, but I got this to start off with. Lebron James has told the Lakers he will not return this season. Libron was making over $51 million per year. The Lakers have now cleared up all of that space. And boy, did they take advantage of it. We're going to get to that here in a few seconds. But did they take advantage of it? Just alleviating themselves of Libron's salary and now have the potential to signing all these guys, which they did. But Lebron James informed the Lakers he will not return. He spent eight seasons there. He won an NBA championship with the Lakers in 2020 in the bubble, if you remember that. So he went to the Lakers, brought him a championship. They got Luka Docky. Is it the best move for Libron to move on? I don't know. Do you think Libron's? Do you think Libron's moving on because he's not the main man there anymore? And Luka Docic is. Of what he does on the court, he's still a top 10 NBA player. So don't think that Libron is just out there going through the motions. This guy can still play. He's still great with bringing up the ball. He's still great making shots. He's still got inside moves. He still takes it to the basket. He still dunks. Libron is still very active on the offensive floor. Now he's not as great as defensively as he used to be, obviously. He's 40-something years old. But he's still a top NBA player. And I think one of the things is, I think he didn't like that Luca came in and took the spotlight from him. And the Lakers made Luca the main part of their team. The focus is around Luca now, not Libron. Now Libron knows that his career is winding down. Now the rumor is out there that Libron wants to play 25 NBA seasons. That's a lot of NBA seasons. That's a lot of NBA games. I mean, he's already the all-time leading scorer. I don't think anybody's going to catch him. I mean, play 25 seasons in the NBA, especially Libron. If we went and looked at all of his playoff games that he's played, I think all the playoff games that he's played, I think he's played an extra three and a half seasons on top of the 20-some seasons he's already played. So, you know, keep that in mind too. All the playoff games Lebron has played over the years, that's another three and a half seasons, I think, that's been added on to that. I'm not sure about the exact number of years to add on. I'd have to look it up, but he's got more years tagged on to what he's already done. So the big, of course, speculation around the league is where's he gonna go? Where's Lebron going? We have the Golden State Warrior rumor out there that he wants to go play with Curry, that the Warriors are gonna try to make a trade for Anthony Davis, and uh Draymond Green is uh gonna restructure his contract, and uh, you know, Jimmy Butler is gonna be coming back from uh a torn uh ACL, and Golden State's gonna have five big players. But then Washington, where Anthony Davis currently is, says Anthony Davis is not on a trade block. He's not available. So that's shut down on that whole room. Then the other rumor is Leibron's gonna go back to the Cavs. Cavs made it to the Eastern Conference, they got Donovan Mitchell, they're gonna re-sign James Harden, they got a bunch of young players. Lee Brown would fit right in there. How fitting would it be to finish where he started? That's another rumor. The other big rumor is where Lee Brown wants to go is the Miami Heat. Back to Miami. They got Guyannis, they could sign Norman Powell. Remember, we brought that up. They couldn't sign Norman Powell. That was one of the main guys they needed to keep in free agency, and Norman Powell left. Now they don't got a guy who can handle the ball for Guyannis. Now Miami doesn't have a guy who can bring up the ball. Oh, here's Lebron sitting over here. Could he come back to Miami and be Giannis's wingman there? Pat Riley Sorries loved him. Eric Spolster loves him. So who knows? I'm just gonna throw this out there because I said it before. Don't rule the Knicks out. Nick's just lost Mitchell Robinson, free agents. Well, that'll be for another topic when we get to him. But Nick's got some room. A little cap room. Libron doesn't necessarily have to play for $50 million. If Libron truly wants another NBA championship, he should think of the Knicks. That's the hostess landing spot. I already brought this up. The other landing spot now, the big rumor is hell yeah. Because of what Philadelphia has done. And again, that's more to come on you know another show that we're gonna continue our NBA free agency talk about. But where's Libron gonna go? It's gonna end up somewhere. There's potential suitors out there that could use him. Potential suitors that could use Libron. San Antonio could have used him. Boy, how how good how would San Antonio have fared in those NBA finals if they had a leader like LeBron on there to keep that team together so they wouldn't crumble down late in games? Be a spot for Libron. So many spots for Libron to go, but we'll see. I I'm gonna say, you know, the all the NBA media experts, you know, they always say, oh, he's going to, he's going to Golden State, he's going to Miami, he's going to Cleveland. You know, sometimes it's always a team you least expect. So we'll see where Libron ends up. But the Lakers, after getting rid of Libron, they meant business. They re-signed Austin Reeves to Max Contract Hero deal. Four years, 185 million. They went out and got Quentin Grimes. They signed him to a four-year, $60 million deal. They went out and got Sando, and I don't even know how to say this guy's last name. You're talking about hosts messing up names on this show, which I constantly do all the time. And it's, of course, it's a running joke on the show for all you new listeners. Sando Maca vanillia. They signed him to a four-year $52 million deal. And then on top of that, they traded for Walker Cussler from the Utah Jazz. They traded two first-round picks, a 2031 and a 2033 first-round picks for Walker Cussler, and they signed him to a four-year $130 million deal. The Lakers now, okay, get ready. The Lakers now have no first round picks for the next eight years. And using everything you have, all your resources to build a team through free agency of trades, while the Lakers just did it. No more first round picks for eight years. Rob Planka. What's on? What's with these teams in LA? You know, Les Sneed of the Rams. F those picks. Rob Plenka, same thing. Yeah, I'm with you, Les F th those picks. Get rid of them. No, we don't need any of those picks. The Lakers. Now Lakers getting through Libron. Resigning Austin Reed, signing all these free agents. You think the Lakers are better? You think the do people out there think the Lakers are now a better team? Luka coming back from injury? JJ Reddock still the coach? Are the Lakers a better team now without Libron? And here's the other thing. Is Bronny James going too? Or is he staying on the Lakers? What does Bronny James end up doing? I saw a lot of people on Twitter joking around after Libron said he wasn't coming back. They said, alive, look at Bronny James. And they had the scene from Goodfellas where Joe Pesci's character is walking in the room with the two guys behind him. And for those who know Goodfellas, it's a scene where Joe Pesci's walking into the room and the two guys are walking behind him and they shoot him right in the head. Somebody posted that of Bronny James walking into the Lakers locker room the day after Libron said he was leaving. So the Lakers would have to release him from that current deal to get rid of him if he wanted to go and keep playing with his dad somewhere. But how about how about the how about Libron? Better draft my kid. Better draft my kid. They draft his kid, let him play a few games, let him play a few minutes with Libron. After the year's over, hey, I'm leaving. I'm done. I'm not coming back. See it, see it, Bronny. How do you like that? How does Bronny feel about his dad just leaving him on an island with all those guys who didn't really want him anyway? He's only there because Libron told him to draft him. Poor Bronny James. He'll never see the court now. Not after they signed all these guys. The only thing going for uh Bronny is that uh Kennard, the left-handed shooter, uh, he left and signed with Phoenix, and Marcus Smart, the other veteran who was uh playing alongside Libron in those playoffs, who played a pretty good playoff. Marcus Smart, he signed with Houston. So two veteran players have left that could you know open up potential playing time for Bronny, but I highly doubt it that's gonna happen. But that's what happened with the uh Lakers there. And, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna stop there with the NBA free agents because I want to continue the more any other topics that big topics that happen during the NBA. You know, host wants to go over them. Host wants to give you his spin, wants to give you his take on what he thought of them. You know, there's the whole Jalen Brown trade yet. There's Kawhi Leonard getting traded back to Toronto. Uh but we we got to talk about that. We've got to give the host takes on that. But we got it. Some more division stuff in the NFL to get over. And of course, leading into that, the host wants to uh, you know, give you, of course, to set up the uh NFC remaining two NFC East teams, the host, of course, wants to give you uh, you know, uh some stats here. So like I always tell you on this show, and uh still it just it boggles my mind that a lot of people just don't understand that whatever happens in the NFL one year doesn't keep happening the next year. You know, you always had those people, right? Who they do their NFL predictions and they pick the same damn teams to make the playoffs as the year before. And if you've been following the NFL, you know that every year, five different teams on average make the playoffs that didn't make the playoffs the year before. And people just just can't just fathom that. They just can't understand that. And this stat right here is what I'm gonna read you is another key stat. This stat here of these, what I'm gonna read, I guarantee you it is not gonna happen in the 2026 season for some of these teams. Number of games with a halftime lead in 2025. How do you think your team fared in the first half of games last year? Now, it has a lot to do with preparation for your opponent, has a lot to do with your coach's offensively and defensively game plan that will go against the other team's game plan. So, and it has to go to uh you know how your team performs and how your coach gets your team ready to come out firing on all cylinders in their first half. Is your team ready to play that week? Number of games with a halftime lead in 2025. Who was number one? How many how many people I want to take a guess before I tell you who was the best team last year to have a lead at halftime? And how many times did they do it? Okay, I did let people think. Okay, you're thinking, I know I keep talking, you can't hard to think when hey host, you gotta be quiet. Well, we don't want silence, you know, but you know, just think who who who was the best team last year? Well, a team that went 14 and 3. And that of course is out of the AFC East. New England had the lead in 15 of 17 games last year at halftime. That's how you go 14 and 3, folks. You lead at halftime. When you have a lead at halftime, most of the time you end up winning that game. New England had to lead 15 times last year. They only lost one of those games. That means they went 14-1. When New England had to lead at halftime last year, they went 14-1. That's how you go 14-3, folks. Good coach, the team's well prepared. Good offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, Mike Vabel running the defense, the team was ready. Now, the thing is, for you people to understand, that's not gonna happen this year. But many people out there think that because that, oh, that's what happened. That's good, they're gonna do it again. I highly doubt that. I highly doubt that. Coming in with 12 games, which they're leading at halftime, Houston, Rams, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Jacksonville. They led it 11 times at halftime. Seattle led it halftime 10 times. Indianapolis, Green Bay, Atlanta. Led it nine times. Tampa Bay, Denver, Giants, San Diego, Detroit, Cincinnati, Miami led it halftime eight times. Buffalo, Kansas City, Cleveland, Baltimore, Chicago, and Dallas led it halftime seven times. Arizona, Minnesota led it halftime six. Washington and Carolina five. Tennessee and Oakland, five, the Saints three times, and with only two games leading at halftime, the New York Jets. So as you can see, some of these teams are going to turn this around. Some of these teams aren't going to have as many halftime leads. And some of these teams are going to become better second half teams. Look at the Bears. They weren't great at leading at halftime, but they were great in the second half last year. Now, they might not be as good as in the second half this year, and they might be a better halftime first half team this year. So, you know, a lot to think about when you hear these stats. And people just fall into that category where they think it's going to be the same all the time. And that's not usually the case. So, with that stat, we move into our final two NFC East teams. And we're going to go right to the now, a reason I say Philadelphia like that is, and uh, I don't know if I ever explained it on this show. I've done so many episodes, sometimes they can't remember of all the current things I talk about or stuff I talk about. When uh the host first moved here, and uh, you know, when the guests moved here too, there used to be this uh betting show on local radio, and this host, uh not me, but the host of that show was a guy named uh Larry Grossman. And he used to um, you know, talk about the games every week, and then every day he would have different handicappers on to come on and discuss the games, and they would they would say who they leaned to. They would never give a pick because they always wanted you to sign up for their service, thinking that they were some great handicapper, when the host himself was just as good as these guys giving out plays. But these guys always wanted you to sign up for their service, so they would never give their play on their show. They would always give like a lean, they were just never honest of what they do, kind of like another guy we hear on another show uh that we occasionally listen to, that uh I'm not gonna mention. But anyway, the host on the show, Larry Grossman, every time he would say Philadelphia, he would say every time. So, and I think, and and and I don't really know, but at the time, Larry Grossman was an older guy. And this was probably 20 some, this is probably 20, 20, almost 25 years ago that we were listening to this guy. He was an older guy. I want to say he may not be around anymore. I'm not sure of that, but I'm I'm I I'm not you know positive, but I think he's not around with us anymore. So, in honor of him, when I see Philadelphia, I say it like how he used to say it all the time. So that's where that whole Philadelphia thing comes from. The way I say it like that, and is it comes from Larry Grossman, and that's how he used to say it on his uh sports betting show that he used to do locally here in Las Vegas on the radio. So I kind of just keep that uh tradition up with him. So our 2026 Eagles. Their 2025 record was 11 and 6. Their head coach is Nick Siriani, their leading QB from last year. Of course, it's Jalen Hurts, 3,224 yards, 25 touchdowns, six interceptions. He also added in there 421 rushing yards. Their leading receiver was Devontae Smith, 1,008 yards to go along with four touchdowns. Their leading running back had a bad year, but still had 1,140 rushing yards to go along with seven touchdowns and 273 reception yards. Their leading sacker was Jalex Hunt with six and a half sacks. Their leading tackler was Zach Brown with 123. Their offensive rank was 24th. Their defensive rank was 13th. Their odds to win the division are plus 140. Odds to win the conference plus 860. Odds to win the Super Bowl plus 1600. Their 2000, 26 over and under is 10.5. Plus 125 to the over, minus 150 to the under. So a big Favorite is the Eagles to go under the 10 and a half. Last year, the Philadelphia Eagles. Their over and under was 11. The hosts predicted they would go 13-4. Their 2025 record was 11 and 6. That's a push. They weren't under the number. They weren't over the number. So a push for the hosts that makes us 5, 5, and 1 on our 2025 over and under. There are key additions. They brought in Hollywood Brown for a one-year $6.5 million deal. They brought in Arnold Abete for a one-year $7.5 million deal. They're big key departures. AJ Brown, of course, traded to New England Patriots. Jalen Phillips left as a free agent. Reed Blankenship left as a free agent. They drafted Mikhail Lemon to replace A.J. Brown, a wide receiver. Eli Stowers, a tight end, and Marcel Bell at offensive tackle. So Philadelphia didn't really do, didn't really do any big moves in the offseason. The only big moves they did was getting rid of guys. Like I said, A.J. Brown, Jalen Phillips, Reed Blankenship. That's three key guys on that team that contributed over the last, you know, last season. Jalen Phillips, of course, was brought in in a trade late in the season from Miami last year. They failed to re-sign him as he moved on. So, you know, Philadelphia, you know, really questionable at the end of last season. Started off the season good, then kind of collapsed at the end of the year. Lost that playoff game to San Francisco at home. A game they should have won. They had the whole AJ Brown drama all last year. They finally shipped him out. And I don't think that this offense is going to be the passing game. I don't think the passing game is going to be any better. Mikai Lemon, rookie, great young receiver, but he's got to learn. He's got to come in and learn. And I don't think he's going to be able to get this offensive going. Now, before we give the wins and losses with their schedule, I do think Saquon Barkley is going to have a better season than he did last year because of the year before, he was just outstanding. And I just think he's going to reapbound and have a better season statistically than he did last year. So their schedule. They open up at home against Washington. Win. At Tennessee, win. At Chicago, Monday night football. Lost. At home, lost. At Jacksonville, that game's in London. Lost. Carolina at home, win. Dallas at home, Monday night football, win. At Washington, Sunday night football, win. Giants at home, win. Then they have a bye. Pittsburgh at home, win. At Dallas, Thanksgiving, loss. At Arizona, I'm going to throw that in there. Loss. Indianapolis win. Seattle at home, loss. Houston, Thursday night football at home, loss. At San Francisco on Sunday night football, loss. At the Giants, to finish the season, loss. I think the Eagles have a total collapse at the end of the year. I think the whole Jalen Hurts, him being the quarterback, I don't think he ever finds his rhythm all year. I got Philadelphia going 8-9. I got them under 10.5 by two and a half games. I got them under. I'm with the William Hill odds. I think the Myers 150 on the under is a great play for Philadelphia. I think they lost too many key guys. Free agency. I think even though they got rid of A.J. Brown, he was a headache. I don't think he's going to be as replaceable as they think with Mikha Lemon. He's going to need a year to catch up. I do think Saquon Barkley, like I just said a few set minutes ago, I do think he'll have a better rebound season, but I think there's a lot of pressure on Jalen Hurts now. They got rid of A.J. Brown. They're going to be like, hey, what's going on? I think he'll be all right in the beginning of the season. But I think as the season wears on, the fans are going to grow restless. The media in Philadelphia is going to grow restless. I think it's going to wear on the Eagles and Jalen Hurts. I think they finished 8-9. My last NFC East team, the Washington Redskins. Their 2025 record was 5-12. Their head coach is Dan Quint. Their leading QB last year, Jaden Daniels was hurt most of the year, was Marcus Mariota. Debu Debu Samuel, 727 receiving yards, five touchdowns. Their leading running back, Jacob Crosby Merritt, 805 rushing yards with eight touchdowns. Their leading sacker, Von Miller, their leading tackler. Bobby Wagner, 162 tackles. Their offensive rank was 22nd. Their defensive rank, dead last, folks. Dead last coming in at 32. Their odds to win the division plus 500. Odds to win the conference plus 3,500. Odds to win the Super Bowl plus 6,500. Their 2026 over and under is 7.5. Minus 120 to the over. Plus 100 to the under. 2025 over and under was 9.5. The host had 9-8. They went 5-12. Winner for the host. We are now 6-5 and 1 from our 2025 over and under. Well, we did start off good, but we are now back to a winning record with our over and unders. We are now 6-5-1. Sweating it out here so far, folks, through 12 teams. Key additions for the Washington Redskins. Odolfi, Oa, 4 years, 100 million. Sizagome Akanoa, three years, 30 million. Leo Channel, three years, 24 million. Amik Robertson, two years, 16 million. Key departures. Debo Samuel, Marshawn Lattimore, Von Miller, and Bobby Wagner. Now, those are big names defensively, right? You're like, wow, that's a big thing. They were ranked 32nd. They're not going to miss those names. Yes, they were names eight years ago in the league. But these guys can't play anymore, and Washington knows it, and that's why they shipped them out. They drafted Sonny Styles, a linebacker. That's what they needed. New blood. They drafted Antonio Williams, their wide receiver, and Joshua Joseph, edge rusher. Now their schedule. Now the key thing here, before we get into their schedule, is of course Jaden Daniels' health. Got beat up in his first year, but played phenomenal. They went all the way to the conference championship against Philadelphia and lost. They beat that Detroit team that had a great record at home. They had a great playoff run. And then last year, Jaden Daniels was beat up all year. Just couldn't find any ground. Offensive line was leaking. People were in on him. He was getting hurt. And their defense was completely terrible. Now, the thing is with this Washington team, can they keep Jaden Daniels healthy? I was all sold with Jaden Daniels. I thought he was going to be the one of the next great quarterbacks, but I just don't think he's got enough meat on the bone. And I don't think Washington made the proper improvements that they needed to protect him. You saw, again, you saw what the Bears did when they hired Ben Johnson. You know what the first thing he did? He went out and solidified the offensive line to protect the Messiah, Kayleigh Boyne. And Quentin Washington didn't even try to do that. Now, they need help defensively, obviously, right? Their defense was 32nd. But if you want to win games, you need your best player to be on the field. And I think Washington ignoring the offensive line, uh, ignoring having a top running back uh to you know take some uh the uh relieve off of Jaden Daniels, I don't think that's gonna help either. So let's look at the schedule. They start off with three three doozies of some games here. At Philadelphia, lost. At Dallas, lost. Seattle at home, lost. Then they go to Indianapol, then they go to London and play Indianapolis, which would be a home game, win. Giants at home, win. At San Francisco, loss, a bye. Philadelphia at home, Sunday night football, lost. Rams at home, lost. At the Giants, Thursday night football, lost. Cincinnati at home on Monday night football, win. At Arizona, win. At Tennessee, lost, Houston at home, loss, Atlanta at home, win. At Minnesota lost, at Jacksonville, win. Dallas at home win. I got 7-10. I got under the uh projected 7.5 wins for 2026. So the host has under for the Washington Redskins. I just think you know Dan Quinn led Atlanta to the Super Bowl, of course, blew the big lead 28-3 against Brady in New England. Now Dan Quinn can coach, but I just think that they're gonna rely too much on Jane Daniels. They're gonna protect him too much. He he needs, he still needs reps. You know, he he didn't get a lot of reps last year in his second year at quarterback. He didn't get a lot of reps. So he's kind of still Jane Daniels, he's still kind of a sophomore/slash junior between a two and third year NFL quarterback because he missed a lot of time last year. And you know, the more time you see, the more defenses you see, the better you get. I think Jane Daniels is gonna struggle. I don't think the offensive line is gonna be there. I think this is another losing season. And they and that the that juggernaut they started off with. I mean, I don't know how they're gonna overcome the start of this season. But if they manage to win one of those games, they cut one and two, uh, they might have a chance at a winning record. But they're not gonna be able to recover going 0-3, and uh that's the way I just see it. So I got under the number for Washington. So that wraps up the two NFC East teams. That wraps up this show. Again, I appreciate everyone who downloads the show and listens to it. We're gonna continue our NBA free agency uh discussion on the next show, and maybe we'll get to a few other items. And we're gonna start another division. Another NFC division on the next show. Oh, what NFC division will be? Whoa, you're gonna have to tune into that next show. You know where to get the show by now. That's the Twitter X, whatever you want to call it. iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google, whatever. Whatever you, whenever you get your podcast, just go there, you'll see the show. We are the 97th ranked sports talk podcast on the Interwebs. Right here, this show. And as always, it's nice to be important, but more important to be nice. I leave you folks with another brand new five fingertips on the