Two for the Win
Mike is a U.S. Navy Veteran and Bryan has more than a decade of civil service experience. Together, these blue collar guys dissect the latest sports headlines and events.
Two for the Win
Two For The Win - E22 - March Madness Fever! AreThe Lakers In Trouble & What Kind Of Underwear MLB Umpires Are Required To Wear!
The spring sports season is hitting full stride as MLB kicks off with international flair, March Madness delivers its first stunning upsets, and the NFL offseason continues reshaping rosters across the league.
We start by breaking down MLB's Tokyo showcase where the Dodgers swept the Cubs while Shohei Ohtani thrilled his homeland fans with a home run. The cultural celebration surrounding these games highlighted baseball's deep connection to Japan, complete with a tribute to Babe Ruth's historical visit and an appearance by Japan's home run king Sadaharu Oh. Beyond the games themselves, we explore how these international matchups strengthen baseball's global appeal.
The conversation shifts to basketball's dual storylines - the NBA's injury woes as playoff positioning intensifies, and the NCAA Tournament's opening rounds. The Lakers' injury report reads like a hospital ward while Paul George's season appears in jeopardy following knee injections. Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics made headlines with their record-breaking $6.1 billion sale price. On the college hardwood, we dissect the selection committee controversy surrounding West Virginia's exclusion, UNC's dominant response to critics, and McNeese's bracket-busting upset of Clemson that has already changed the tournament landscape.
Football fans will appreciate our breakdown of the NFL's proposed rule changes, including the potential elimination of automatic first downs on defensive holding penalties and the controversial ban on Philadelphia's "tush-push" play. We also analyze recent free agency moves like Cooper Kupp joining Seattle and Danielle Hunter extending with Houston, while examining the growing frustration with Aaron Rodgers' indecision about his future.
Whether you're filling out brackets, tracking free agent signings, or simply enjoying baseball's return, this episode captures the excitement that makes March one of sports' most captivating months. Subscribe now and join our conversation about the games we love and the stories behind them!
March 20th 2025. Welcome back everybody. It's getting mad, it's getting hot and we're coming hot into the springtime. I'm Brian with an I.
Speaker 2:And I'm Mike.
Speaker 1:And we are Two for the Win. Mike, what do we got on tonight's agenda, mike, what do we got on tonight's agenda.
Speaker 2:Well, as you alluded to, we got a case of the madness, with March Madness off and running. We got some MLB news as well as MLB live games happening Not in the States, but they're happening and we've had some things going on with the NBA, and NFL always has something going on and back around the globe we come. Exactly so what we're going to kick off right now is.
Speaker 2:We're going to talk about Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball, if you didn't know, has already had two official games this week. But those official games were not in the States, they were played over in Japan. The Dodgers and the Cubs went over to Japan to play two games, official games. They're not just a couple of exhibition games, they're actual games that count towards the season. And those two games played out pretty well for the Dodgers. I mean the Dodgers won both games. I mean the first game was on Tuesday, march 18th, where the Dodgers won 4-1. In that game you had, the winner was Yamamoto for the Dodgers and the save was to Tanner Scott. And in that game we had Shohei going two for five. You know he's hometown kid when they're playing in Tokyo.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:So the second game, same results kind of. I mean Dodgers won, but they won 6-3. With not the pitcher you thought was going to get the win in NAC, you would have thought their starter would have got the new pitcher for them Saki Saki or Sasaki Sasaki. I thought he would have gotten the win. I like Sasaki. He looks pretty good. Look his first three pitches 100. All three of them man. It was about 100 miles an hour each.
Speaker 1:This guy might be drinking some Saki. Let me tell you what.
Speaker 2:Look this guy because he all right his performance. It was only three innings, all right. He struck out three, but he walked five batters. It's a little control issue right now, but if he figures that out, this guy is throwing triple digits. And then he follows that up by throwing an off-speed pitch that's like 82. So when you're talking a 20-mile-an-hour difference between pitches, hey, good luck.
Speaker 1:You know, like you know, that's never fun and I have something to add as a side note to this game here. Performance aside, uh, could you imagine buying tickets to this game? Right, say your name is stan hudgens and you just show up like any other day, fan, and you go to your laundry, you know, get your concessions, you wander to your seat and you're gonna sit down and lo and behold.
Speaker 2:Bill murray is your neighbor for the dodgers and cubs game oh yeah, it's no secret that bill murray is a big cubs fan yeah, could you.
Speaker 1:And he's just sitting there amongst his people, amongst the general public. Can you imagine being Mr Stan Hudgens right now? I can only imagine how he was probably freaking out. I mean, especially if he's a fan.
Speaker 2:He was a big baseball fan. Bill Murray's a big baseball fan, yeah Well, there's a few more things about these games, because in that second game, shohei Otani finally gave what the fans wanted. They wanted to see Shohei hit a home run. And he did Shohei, but that was the only hit he had in the game, so he made it worth it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, at least he nailed it right.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, but if you hadn't seen it or didn't get a chance to see it, you need to see the opening ceremonies for these games, because they really put on a show. They actually did a video tribute where they talked about when babe ruth came over there and kind of introduced baseball a little bit to the, to the japanese people, and they were very thankful and, you know, they paid a little homage to him and talked about, you know, these players that are starting to gain notoriety not just in Japan but in Major League Baseball. So it was a very, very well done show and I mean, like they had, like these crazy drum guys going off, they had people playing all these traditional instruments. It was pretty impressive. You know, something cool to watch.
Speaker 2:But there's so many other layers to this that if you didn't watch the games or didn't follow it, you might have missed on these things. So one of the things that happened is they actually had the all-time home run leader at the game. And no, I'm not not talking about Hank Aaron. God rest his soul. I'm talking about baseball in general. There is actually a guy, if you didn't know, from Japan. He is the all-time home run king. He's Sadahara. Oh, oh, he has, for his career, 868 home runs across 22 seasons for the Giants for over in Japan.
Speaker 1:Yamiuri.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the Yamiuri Giants in Japan. Yamiuri Giants Now he's 84 years old and he was so impressed by the enthusiasm that he saw from the crowd getting a chance to see these American teams come over and play and getting to see these younger players that have gained so much notoriety.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:So he was very excited to see where the game was going because he played 22 years. Obviously he loves the game and he has met Hank Aaron. And Hank Aaron you know, and him you know albeit O is a left-hander and Hank was a righty, but they had very much a great deal of respect for one another and you know, when you've got two home-run champs, two home-run kings, standing next to each other, it's this verified air, you know, and especially for two different leagues, but you know, those two games will count. They the rest of baseball is still doing spring training. We'll get the regular season starting up, I believe on the 27th, if I'm not mistaken, is when we'll have opening day for Major League Baseball Very exciting. I have one more baseball news.
Speaker 1:Oh, we got a goodie.
Speaker 2:So if you're a Braves fan or just a fan of this player in general, Craig.
Speaker 2:Kimbrell, who is five on the all-time save list active saves list well, all-time saves list in general. He is going back to the Braves on a minor league deal where he started his career, which, being a Braves fan, I'm excited. I'm hoping he does well. I have some family ties to him. I know people in my family that live near him and know him, so I'm wishing him luck. But yeah, he's behind players like Mariano Rivera, trevor Hoffman, lee Smith and Canley Jansen on the all-time saves list at 440 saves for his career. So he's had a really good, impressive career and done it with a few teams. So we wish him best of luck and hopefully he makes it onto the roster and does something this season.
Speaker 1:I hope he does too. Good luck to him. Quite an accomplishment he's got there and quite a track record as well.
Speaker 2:But yeah. So what's going on in the NBA? Brian?
Speaker 1:You know we've got a few things going on here. First and foremost, the Lakers are in trouble, man. They're without several of their key players, actually tonight versus Milwaukee Bucks. They're without LeBron James who's fighting groin injury. They're without Luka Doncic, who's fighting an ankle injury, austin Reeves another ankle injury. Dorian Finney-Smith another ankle injury. You seeing a pattern here, mike?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then Rui Hachimura. He's dealing with a knee injury. This is during a brutal stretch for them, which has them playing six games in eight days, and to start off against Milwaukee is no walk in the park, because they're a pretty tough team this year too.
Speaker 2:Well here recently though, they've been on a little bit of a skid. They've lost quite a few games here recently, so they may have a decent chance. But when a team starts having a meeting aside from normal meetings, like the Milwaukee Bucks recently had between their top two players, giannis Sonacupo and Damian Lillard, and their head coach, you don't exactly get the warm and fuzzies. When a team's doing well, they usually don't have side meetings, they're just playing well, not only thatuzzies. You know when a team's doing well, yeah, they usually don't have side meetings, you know, they're just playing well not only that, but you know, the mavericks, that this has got to be a little bit bittersweet for them.
Speaker 1:Uh, because they just traded luca and they're fighting a huge injury problem themselves right now.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I mean they almost had a forfeit games because of injury you know, yeah, yeah, that went right there.
Speaker 1:So, but, yeah, excuse me, sorry, I had to take a sip for a second, but and then next. Uh, you know, paul george is going through it himself. Uh, he's received injections in his left ad adductor adductor muscle.
Speaker 1:sorry, I'm not a doctor and I and I don't work anywhere near that field, but he's got injections in his left adductor muscle and left knee on Monday and has been ruled out for the rest of the season. Sources tell you know this comes from Shamsharnia, a pretty reliable source out there George is expected to be out at least six weeks, but here again they're saying that maybe a season might be over. So this is not a good look for Paul George or the rest of the team. What you got, Mike.
Speaker 2:Man. Right now, the Clippers have to be like whew, we didn't sign him to a big deal, yeah, yeah, bullet dodged. The Clippers have to be like whew, we didn't sign him to a big deal, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Bullet dodged.
Speaker 2:Well, this was the thing, Like they had to figure out whether they were going to sign him and give him the big contract or just let him walk. And they chose to let him walk. And they received a little flack over that because they kept Kawhi and they didn't let him walk. And they they they received a little flack over that because they kept kawaii and they didn't let him. Let him have another shot. And right now the clippers are looking kind of smart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just saying, yeah, not a bad call. I mean, sometimes you swing and miss and sometimes you hold that swing and you're glad you didn't swing at all. But uh, you know real quick, while we're talking about the nba at this, jun Mike or I guess, when it comes to all sports teams, when is is there ever a right time to for ownership to part with their team? A lot of owners are very attached to their teams. Ok, but a lot of sports teams are being sold. There's a trend going on here which we'll talk about shortly, but is there? Should they be treated like businesses? Are they businesses to you and when is it? When is the right time to part? Should you part with? Should you tell your sell your team when they're at their low, like the commanders did, or should you sell your team when they're at their high, such as the grisbeck family? Here we'll touch on a it in a minute.
Speaker 2:Hold on, hold on. I have an issue with something there. You said commanders being sold while they're low. They weren't sold while they were low because Snyder still made a butt-ton of money. So I mean return on investment. He did pretty okay.
Speaker 1:Listen. Roi was great.
Speaker 2:If you want to say that the product on the field was low, sure, but you want to Look they were. All these owners are trying to make money, period, end of story. That's what it comes down to. They don't care majority of them about wins and losses. They care about how good is my product Now, virtue of winning, your product is better because more people are going to buy the jerseys, the tickets, the parking, the concessions and everything that goes into being a fan, so they'll make more money.
Speaker 1:Well, on the surface of it, yeah, but then you have team costs and you have maintenance and update costs and salary costs. You have all kinds of associated costs that seem to be going up here in the industry, and they're not just limited to the NBA, but I'm sure they're filling it across all professional sports right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean based on the contracts. I don't think anybody's going unfed around any sports right now.
Speaker 1:And that's another thing.
Speaker 2:Even college players are getting paid now.
Speaker 1:And that's another thing. We'll hit on A couple of these players. How does these, if you have two marquee players signed to huge futures contracts again, if you're inheriting a team at their high, do you keep them or do you use them as trade bait and hit the reset clock?
Speaker 2:Well, I would say because all right, why don't you just break the news and we can discuss everything?
Speaker 1:because by this point.
Speaker 2:Probably people know what we're going to say. I'm sure they do?
Speaker 1:I just wanted to have the discussion here. We can dive back into it anyway.
Speaker 1:But yeah anyway, as mentioned before, the Grusbeck family, current owners of the Boston Celtics. They're selling the Boston Celtics to their managing partner of Symphony Technology Group, bill Chisholmisel, for 6.1 billion, that's a billion with a b as in boy dollars, american us dollars, the green kind. Uh, by the way, that aside, this is the highest fee ever paid for an american sports franchise. Uh, surpassing, actually, as you know, the washington commanders in 2023, who went for 6.6.05 billion dollars. So you know it's.
Speaker 2:It's like being the highest paid non-quarterback in the nfl.
Speaker 1:It only lasts for a little bit until somebody sells it, if you ask me, these two teams are in hugely stark differences, aside from them being two totally different sports teams.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, yeah, because the Celtics just won the championship. So I mean you're coming off for a sports team, you're coming off the highest of high, you won it all. So you're the champ, and it's not often when you're the champ, your team's up for sale. Now this has been floating around, though, for a while, like there's been chatter and talk about the team being sold off and we're just to the point where it made sense for them. I mean, you never know with these owners when it makes sense for them to sell their team, because some never do. I mean, we got sports franchises that the team is known like a case in point, like the Steelers the.
Speaker 2:Roonies. Everybody says, oh, the owners of the Steelers, the Roonies, you say the owner of the Cowboys. People go, oh yeah, jerry Jones, People know some of these owners because they've just owned them for a long period of time. We just had Virginia Woolf. She owned Bears. She just passed away not too long ago, but her family still owns the team, so it's still part of their family. It's still the. Her family still owns the team, so it's still part of their family. It's still the same family that owns it. So these, these teams, they don't often change hands. But here recently, when you know somebody's saying, hey, I'll give you billions, people start to go what, what, oh yeah, how much are you giving?
Speaker 1:and and they've honestly, there's been a slew of teams, especially NBA and WNBA teams, changed hands here recently, a couple NFL teams over the last couple years, but this is not uncommon, you know, especially with the NBA specifically. You know it's getting harder for these teams to make money and I know this is more towards the NBA specifically especially when you have player deals that run as high as 20, 35 and 36. You know these 10 year long deals for these players. So I, you know I don't think it's ever a bad idea to sell high, like if you're gonna get out sell, sell high straight up. You know.
Speaker 2:Get what you can while you can and get out.
Speaker 1:So I'm eager to see Now. They expect this to take maybe one, one and a half year to wrap up. They believe they're right on schedule, so you could be looking the middle of 27 or 28 for them to finalize this deal. It's going to take a couple years.
Speaker 2:Well yeah, these things even though they have agreed upon it, there's still plenty of things behind the scenes that have to be figured out.
Speaker 1:You know a lot of legal things appraisals, insurances, change of hands. You know bank accounts, you know the financing of it. All these things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you don't just automatically have a you know 6.1 billion, just things. Yeah, you don't just automatically have a you know 6.1 billion, just show up in your account the next day yeah, hey, mike, you feel a little mad, I feel a little mad, I feel some. I feel some madness setting in well, yes, I do feel the madness, I feel, I feel the hype of the madness.
Speaker 1:I feel the March madness.
Speaker 2:Look, this is one of the most funnest times of the year Because, let's face it, if you're somebody that loves college basketball, this is the time of year where, all of a sudden, people are calling out because they're not coming to work because they want to watch these games they got money on these games or they're leaving work early and they're going to the bar, sitting there with their buddies making side bets, and people are filling out brackets, and that is like the one thing that probably makes this the most fun for the majority of folks Because you fill out a bracket, you don't have to know squat about college basketball.
Speaker 2:You could have watched zero games and you can sit there and participate in this and have fun with it. You know, and I remember there was a kid years ago. He had a bracket that was almost perfect and they they asked him, they were like how did you get your bracket so perfect? What would? What did you? Do and he he goes oh, I just looked at the mascots and they were like the mascots. Oh yeah, well, I mean, obviously a tiger will eat a blue jay.
Speaker 2:And that's how he broke it down and he had a darn good bracket. So I mean seating, be damned, it's the mascots.
Speaker 1:Salute to that guy. He knows what he's doing. It's working right. It was a kid.
Speaker 2:He's like.
Speaker 1:I just like that mascot better All right here let's dive into the first four. We go chronological order here.
Speaker 2:Well, before we get to that, though, ooh, pumping bricks. There was some drama before this. Oh, we got some cherry pie, cherry pie. Well, selection Sunday man, where everybody's trying to figure out who are the remaining teams, because we always have a few games where we have the play-in games which are not necessarily part of the March Madness bracket. But it's to round out the last few teams.
Speaker 1:By the way one of those teams who did not make the bracket Ohio State for a third year in a row.
Speaker 2:Meh, we're not going to third year in a row. Meh, we're not going to talk about that. Meh Meh. I was more interested in talking about the craziness that came out of West Virginia.
Speaker 1:Another good one.
Speaker 2:Well, the West Virginia mayor decided to get in on the act because West Virginia didn't make it in and part of this controversy. Another team West Virginia, didn't make it in and part of this controversy. As he's making his comments about it, he's got a sign that says National Corrupt Association or whatever.
Speaker 2:So he's bitter and he may have a little bit of a grievance, because the team they chose over him was the Tar Heels, unc. Well, he was like. Well, why is UNC in? We have a better record, you know, we've been the better team, you know. But come to find out on the selection committee, one of the guys that's part of the selection committee gets a bonus if UNC gets in.
Speaker 1:Oh Lord, please, here we go.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking to myself that does sound a little sketch, doesn't?
Speaker 1:it. Let's eat this alive.
Speaker 2:You get a bonus if they get in, because, I mean, most of these guys, the representatives, have some affiliation with these schools and you know they go behind closed doors. They don't tell us anything really. They just say these are teams and we just have to accept it. But this is the man you could take and set this like Christmas coming around every year.
Speaker 2:Every year we get down to the point where we're filling out the bracket and there's always somebody who goes well, why did they get in? Our team is better. We should have been in. We got snubbed. Come on, we have a lot of teams in this and, yes, there were some conferences that had a little heavier hand on who was in and who wasn't. I will not deny that SEC is pretty front loaded in this bracket, but UNC made it in and West Virginia didn't, and he's trying to have a lawsuit. Now they're going to sue the NCAA to try to say that, oh, they shouldn't have been in. We're the better team.
Speaker 1:Well, Well, if that guy got a bonus, they might be on to something.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying it's a little weird, but regardless.
Speaker 2:North Carolina made it to their play-in game to see if they could advance. So in their play-in game they won. They won 95-68 against San Diego State. At one point they were up 40 points in that game. So they didn't just win, they beat those guys up. I believe RJ Davis. At one point he was six for six behind three point line. So they played. It would have looked really bad if they got in that game and laid up a big old goose egg. You know, if they came out, looked flat and they got knocked out, west virginia would have even more ammo. But look, everybody always feels like they got snubbed. It happens every year. Yeah, but sorry it's, it's just, it's part of it and there's. They're not going to expand it any further because they can't expand it any further. If they did, it would be even more ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Don't have the time like this is the perfect way it would be february and march madness. We have enough madness in one month yeah, let's enjoy the march madness and and have some fun with it.
Speaker 1:Besides, the super bowl happens in february. You can't do nothing else in february. Come on now. Everybody's still getting over that, I mean.
Speaker 2:Everybody's still broke from Valentine's Day. Let them have a break.
Speaker 1:I saw a meme for somebody's March Madness bracket. What was it? It said, let me pull it up real quick. The one where they said the Chiefs were down 34-0 in the Super Bowl. That was his March Madness bracket.
Speaker 2:I said okay, well, clearly it's still too soon. Obviously he's an Eagles fan, but anyway. So those weren't the only play-in games or it wasn't the only play-in game the UNC-San Diego State. We also had a really down-to-the-wire Alabama State-St Francis game.
Speaker 1:Now, that was just an electric game. At the end.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you're thinking, okay, there's like no time left. I mean we've got like what a second, you know like next to nothing, and they've got to hope that they can lob this across court and make a quick touch lay layup or something that was like an 80 foot assist and that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 2:Alabama state their guy inbounds by, like basically football, throwing the basketball all the way across the court to one of his other players who lob, who basically touches it right. In Two points they're up. There's like .7 left on the clock. Lay up all day, so it's like all right, st Francis, I hope you can lob like they did, which they couldn't Nope. The game is over.
Speaker 1:They're not some lobbers. They can't lob.
Speaker 2:Kudos to Alabama State. I mean, this is what's crazy about March Madness. You can play well all year long and then a play like that ends your season. Yep, or you can play mediocre and get into the Final Four, even the championship. Well, one of the other play-in games was the Texas Longhorns against Xavier.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And Xavier. They came out in that game.
Speaker 1:That was another hot game. It was good.
Speaker 2:Look, I watched that game. They came out flat. They did not look good. It took them almost three minutes to even really get on the scoreboard and Texas kind of looked like they were taking ownership of the game, but they stuck with it. They played hardball and both teams really played hardball. I saw players diving for balls on the ground, guys sitting there making extra passes, heads up play where the players are going out of bounds, and he sees the defender and he just chucks it right off of the defender to make the ball out on them. There was just so much good heads up plays happening in that game and Xavier came back and won that game 86-80, sending Texas home Avenging their loss from them from a few years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, good job, Xavier, Knocking out Texas there. And then the final one for the East American Mount St Mary's 83-72. Mount St Mary's comfortably putting away American yeah, Comfortable version of winning there. I mean, I think the most comfortable cushion of all was, you know, UNC, San Diego at 95-68.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't think you get much more comfortable than that. That's pretty, you know. All right, put the back end of the bench up. Let's let them go.
Speaker 1:That's the bottom of the barrel. Let's start coming up toward the top of the barrel here.
Speaker 2:Let's get some quality.
Speaker 1:We actually have some games going on right now as we're recording this.
Speaker 2:Well, let's also remind folks that those playing games, those teams, they're being moved on. So St Mary's is going to play Duke and North Carolina they're being moved on. So St Mary's is going to play Duke and North Carolina they're moving on to play Ole Miss. Ole Miss, and actually Alabama State played earlier against Auburn and they lost and they lost. So Auburn's moving on, Alabama out 83-63. Yeah, with Auburn getting and they lost and they lost. So Auburn's moving on.
Speaker 1:Alabama, out 83-63.
Speaker 2:Yeah, with Auburn getting the win there, number one seed moves on, you know easily.
Speaker 1:Hey, at least they had a chance. At least they got into the bracket. I've got to give them credit. You can't win if you're not in. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So in Xavier they're going to be playing Illinois, so we've got all the bracket sitters are in, everybody's in, they know where they are, they know where they sit and the games are happening right now. We started games midday today.
Speaker 1:Actually, right in front of us, we have the Tennessee and Wolford game and Tennessee's 77-62.
Speaker 2:Right now, as we speak, yes, tennessee just won beating Walford moving on Yep, so that's a good win for them.
Speaker 1:Yep number two knocking off number 15, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, we also had a little. I wouldn't say it's an upset, but we did have Louisville playing Creighton earlier, with Creighton coming away with the win and they're going to move on to play Auburn in the next round.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely not. I wouldn't call it like you say, I wouldn't call it an upset, but I had Louisville winning that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's kind of a in every bracket. It could go either way.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's kind of how I felt about this. It could have been an either-way game, but you know it wasn't. It wouldn't say it was a blowout but I mean 89-75,.
Speaker 1:it's pretty Another comfortable put away, but honestly not bad, not a bad score. It's not like they got blown out or whooped up or anything.
Speaker 2:No, no no, and with Tennessee moving on, they're going to be waiting to see who wins between UCLA and Utah State, so we'll see who moves on from that. But earlier we had Purdue winning. They won 75-63 against High Point. So they're moving on and this could have been a pretty interesting next set of the bracket had it not been for McNeese. Mcneese played against Clemson earlier today and the score doesn't really show how McNeese really came out. Mcneese came out and was on fire and led this game and they gave Clemson everything they had, everything they had to beat them.
Speaker 1:And it paid off, it paid off 69 to 67. This is a huge upset right here. Watch out for McNeese guys, because Clemson was number five in their bracket.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we would have had number five Clemson against Purdue.
Speaker 1:Number four.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And they were four.
Speaker 2:Clemson would have been five. So it would have been a five and a four in the next round. Now we have McNeese, who's a 12, going against Purdue, a four.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's what I was going to say, that's what I. Yeah, good job.
Speaker 2:Thank you, mike. Yes, trying to clear it up, trying to clear it up. But bottom line is McNeese is our first upset of the bracket, you, everybody that had Clemson moving on me, unfortunately, now we're, our brackets are not complete. We're not undefeated in our bracket.
Speaker 1:I had Clemson pick too. Honestly, I had Clemson pick too. I think only McNeese supporters and college students probably had McNeese pick. It was probably a super minority amount of people. Well, hats off to McNeese. They're our first Cinderella of the of the tournament. Yeah, and by no means not a bad thing, not talking shit.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no congratulations, mcneese.
Speaker 1:Uh, I hey, let's see if you get another upset bro well.
Speaker 2:Moving on to Houston, number one rank Houston they won their game easily, 78-40, beating out SIU.
Speaker 1:Edwardsville.
Speaker 2:So now they're moving on and they're playing the winner of the Gonzaga-Georgia game, with Gonzaga beating Georgia 89-68. So we're getting Houston against Gonzaga beating Georgia 89-68. So we're getting Houston against Gonzaga in the next round.
Speaker 1:I think that's going to be a hell of a matchup. Houston number one. Gonzaga's number is that, saying eight.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, gonzaga's number eight, but I like Gonzaga a lot in this tournament, so I think this is going to be a really good run right here.
Speaker 2:I have more faith in Houston.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying they're going to win, but I think this is going to be a good match.
Speaker 2:Well, yes, so Houston, the past few years has been in the brackets and they've done well.
Speaker 2:So I just I don't know. I mean that's not saying Gonzaga's not a good team, because they're in this. It seems like every year Gonzaga's in there and they're moving on and they're always getting further into the bracket. But I don't know, I just my gut feeling is Houston. But don't bet on that. Using my words, I'm just saying, you know, it's for opinion and entertainment purposes only, please, and thank you. I don't want people being like you lost me $300. Like, oh shit.
Speaker 1:No, we just told you who we're pooling for. I didn't tell you to pool for them.
Speaker 2:I didn't tell you to put money on them.
Speaker 1:We're not giving you sports advice. We're giving you sports opinions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:We're sports opinions. Yeah, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:We're just talking anyway, talk with us, we'll talk. We're not gonna gamble with you though. Yeah, yeah, no, but anyway, uh. Moving on, we also had byu versus vcu, with byu coming away with the win 80 to 71. Moving on to play the outcome of wisconsin and missouri montana or yeah, montana, sorry. Sorry, it's a little hard for me to see it over here same same, same same tomato, tomato they're too anyway byu and wisconsin will be playing in the next round.
Speaker 1:I think that'll be another marquee matchup. I know that it's really not a surprise For BYU to beat VCU, but I was really pulling for VCU myself, so I always pull for that team. I didn't have faith in VCU I mean they made the final four Like what? Never mind, it was a while ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was so long ago. I know what you're thinking.
Speaker 1:I think we were both still in high school when it happened.
Speaker 2:Look, bottom line is it happened so long ago that those players are long gone and it's not the same team, so that's why I didn't have faith that they were going to beat BYU you don't have faith, anyway. So they're moving on and look, this is just the beginning, like we haven't really tapped in to much of the bracket at all. Saturday we're going to have a ton of games happening. I'm not going to run down the schedule.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:But look, bottom line is the best thing about March Madness. Oh yeah, you can't replicate this kind of just joy that these players are getting from just playing. In March Madness you see the highest of highs, the lowest of lows. The further you get, the more intense it gets, because all the players like you start getting down to Sweet 16, the Elite 8, you start getting down to the Final Four and then everybody's just so ramped.
Speaker 1:By the way, Mike, do you have a prediction for the Final Four or the Finals?
Speaker 2:Well, I can tell you who I think is going to win it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll go there. Who do you think is going to win?
Speaker 2:I know they've been on a skid. I know they've been on a skid. I know they've been on a skid, mike. But well, no because like, okay, look a lot of times some you know, when it comes to to any kind of playoffs, any kind of brackets or anything like that, if you become the hot team, you have the best shot, because you can't come in flat-footed so a lot of people are the dance and you got to be able to dance.
Speaker 2:Well, a lot of people have written this team off because they had a little bit of a skid, but I still think Auburn is going to be in the final game and they're going to win.
Speaker 1:I think that's an interesting pick. That's not bad. I honestly have. I'm just going to come out and say I have St John's winning it all and I know a lot of people look at me funny right now, but they're kind of picking up the pace.
Speaker 2:Hey, I mean it's not okay. Maybe it's just me, or it may not be, but when I'm filling out my bracket, I tend to find that, as I'm going through and going all right, that team will win. No, that team won't win. I look for upsets and I look at the matchups and I say that can't happen, there's no way. It's like okay, I'll give you an example. Let me see.
Speaker 1:Let me see. Yeah, we actually just talked about one, in fact.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:McNeese, mcneese. Mcneese, mcneese is one.
Speaker 2:I didn't see happening.
Speaker 1:I didn't see coming at all and that's what she said but, no, I mean it's like a team like Lipscomb.
Speaker 2:I couldn't see them beating Iowa because Iowa is number three, but this happens all the time in March Madness, where some team gets hot.
Speaker 1:I agree with you there, because Iowa is also a renowned basketball school, especially for their women's basketball team.
Speaker 2:Well, this is Iowa State. Iowa State and Lipscomb, it's like okay. Or about florida and norfolk state? Nobody, I guarantee you, unless they look, say it.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna say it don't say unless you go to that school or you're associated with that school.
Speaker 2:Nobody's gonna pick them to beat florida I hope you're talking about florida. Nope, he said it no, florida, look no, I'm picking norfolk florida. Florida is another team that's gonna probably make a deep run in this bracket, because they they're they're coming in strong and they've got like two of everything, man. They got two of like every need, every depth you need on your team. They got two of they are rather hot.
Speaker 1:I mean, they're the number one seed for a reason, but I'm sticking to Norfolk. I just have a feeling about this one. I'm pretty good with my NFL predictions, but don't hold me to the fire with my basketball predictions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not after that one.
Speaker 1:I'm taking Norfolk State. I think they're going to channel that Michael Vick NFL energy into their basketball team. I think they're going to play hard. I think they're going to do it.
Speaker 2:One of the ones that I've heard a lot of people discussing is this Missouri-Drake game. They've been saying Drake's been playing great ball, Drake's been a hard-fought team, Drake is going to be the ones that are going to be the darlings, they're going to upset somebody. Okay, well, I know that it feels that way, but personally I don't see it. But you know, look, I can tell you right now I'm like majority of the people in America. I haven't watched all these teams play. I haven't watched, you know, every single college basketball game, because nobody can. It's kind of impossible to watch every single basketball game for all these colleges.
Speaker 1:I mean even just to know the stats and familiarize yourself. You just don't know all of them, I mean, and there's always some random unknown school coming out of nowhere.
Speaker 2:Well like NC State.
Speaker 1:That one too. Well, I'm talking about more unknown than NC State.
Speaker 2:No, no, no what I'm saying but NC State was the team last year that kind of came out of nowhere for everybody.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, they did last year.
Speaker 2:Well, and the thing that I love about these teams that come out of nowhere is usually you start seeing these players that are playing well on those teams. You see the personalities and you start seeing some cool stories about these players and about their dreams to make the next level. And a lot of times when you make these deep runs, it does open eyes, it does get extra opportunity.
Speaker 1:Well, you're in the national spotlight and you're getting a lot of opportunity in the national spotlight. That's what it is is really is the exposure so and if nobody knows about you, they're not going to find you some of these guys, though, like this, is it, like this?
Speaker 2:this is it for them. They're not making it to the nba, so you know, deep runs into the March Madness brackets.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Possible national championship.
Speaker 1:This is their thing, this is their one shot, this is their moment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just like the song, but one shining moment, one shining moment. But yeah know, one shining moment, one shining moment, but yeah, I mean this, and and the other thing that makes this amazing is you get schools and and you hear the name. They're like where the hell is that school from?
Speaker 1:yeah, I've definitely. Even to this day, I still have those moments I'm like who, who is that? Where are they? As google there's. They're some small town university, but they're big enough to make the bracket. So they're here and they're in.
Speaker 2:Hey, even the big schools. If you ask the majority of people where's Gonzaga, Most people won't be able to tell you.
Speaker 1:Most people think you're talking about Gonzo from the Muppets.
Speaker 2:I mean, some of them are obvious. Yeah, gee, where's Oregon? I think I could narrow that one down.
Speaker 1:I think I'm going to open a university in every state and just name it after a different state, Like I think I'm going to put a Virginia University in North Dakota.
Speaker 2:And no one will go. Yeah, they will.
Speaker 1:Because I'll make it. We'll figure it out. That's part of marketing, that's not my job. Okay, it's to it. Yeah, and we'll open the portal. Somebody will come portal in do you got all right? We're big fan of portals. You ever seen Stargate? No, okay.
Speaker 2:Well, anyway.
Speaker 1:Here we go, our favorite little fun time segment before we get into our flagship segment, our flagship episode Well, not episode Our flagship topic of the show, that being the NFL. Is everybody ready for fun facts time? Mike, you ready for some fun facts?
Speaker 2:Okay, go for it.
Speaker 1:We only have a couple tonight, but these ones are very good. Okay, I try to make them all good all the time, but sometimes you swing and miss. Here we go. Number one, usain Bolt is the fastest man alive. I know that's a very common thing, but a lot of people are young these days and I don't think a lot of people aware of this man's name. He holds the world record for the 100 meters uh, for the 100 meters speed, clocking in at 9.58 seconds, as well as the 200 meters clocking at 19.19. The man holds 18 gold medals. This guy's a lightning rod and his name's bolt.
Speaker 2:So you do know that there was a kid in australia recently that just, uh, he just ran the 200 meter under 20 seconds as well I have. We'll have to get that time it's uh, I believe, I believe is it's gout gout, is his name or something like that, or a nickname Gout Gout. Anyway, if you haven't looked at it, there's an Australian teenage runner who ran under 20 seconds recently for the 200 meter.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, we'll have to get that time, because that's awfully close to Mr Bolt here, so I thought that was a fun one. That's why it's impressive. I thought that was a fun one. That's why it's impressive. I thought that was a fun one. And here you know, with it being the heat of March Madness and NBA season, this being fitting Michael Jordan has a vertical leap of Mike. Can you guess?
Speaker 2:Four feet.
Speaker 1:How'd you know?
Speaker 2:I can only wonder.
Speaker 1:I can only wonder 48 inches, y'all, that's okay. How'd you know? I can only wonder 48 inches y'all, okay. Just so you know, the average human being not even the average peak athletic human beings that play in the NBA professionally and otherwise good and above average excellent is considered 24 to 28 inches. Okay. Michael jordan has almost double that at 48 inches. This man is flying, this man's flying over you.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's that's why they had the logo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know and I can only imagine that being a big part of his domination as well during his time. So that's incredible. The man can jump a whole other person off of the ground, off of Earth's gravity. That's just incredible, superhuman. Okay, and the last fun fact I hear another fitting one as we kick off the baseball season Major League Empires. Mike, mike, did you know this? Major league empires have to wear black underwear as part of their all-black attire. Did you know that? Do you know why?
Speaker 1:major league umpires have to wear black underwear they have to wear black underwear as part of their required uniform I don't know.
Speaker 2:Is that so you? Is that so they can't tell when somebody's giving them a wedgie?
Speaker 1:No, Well, I'm sure that can probably help. It's because umpires squat a lot, so they don't want umpires to squat, and you'd be wearing your favorite pair of Sponge Bobs and those poke out while you're trying to call somebody out.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Because they squat a lot kind of like plumbers.
Speaker 2:So they're trying to hide any plumber crack.
Speaker 1:They're trying to hide plumber's crack.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And that's fair enough. I agree with the rule. Very clean, look. So there you have it, everybody Three fun facts for the evening for you to take home to your loved ones and tell your work folks. Take them, bet on them, do whatever you do with them, put them to good use, make a funny out of them.
Speaker 1:Let's slide on here into the NFL, our flagship segment of the show. Mike, you want to kick it off, or you want me to kick it off? You can kick it off. We me to kick it off, you can kick it off. We got a fun one here. Okay, this is kind of a what if, but I saw this, uh, coming across my news feed. Just kind of interesting. Okay, I decided to take it up as a debate on our show. Uh, who you think the fastest qb is among? Michael vick, rg3, lamar jackson? Okay, and for the record, by the way, we'll go ahead and throw Jalen Milrow in. He ran a 4.3740 time today at his college pro day. So we know RG3 is lightning rod fast. We know Vic never even needed to run full speed, but we know they clocked him at something, I think, like what, 26 miles an hour at one point. Or that was Lamar Jackson, sorry.
Speaker 2:I will just come out and say I'm gonna go with what vick said. Vick said lamar's faster yeah, that's like vick vick's, like I was fast, but he's faster now.
Speaker 1:Do you think jaylen milrow is faster? You think Jalen Milrow is faster, do you think?
Speaker 2:Lamar is faster. It's Lamar, I think so too. Lamar has a different gear man, that guy he can go from barely moving to just lights out fast.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like nobody's visiting. Change the direction. How many times do you see this guy change direction? And you see a defender just sliding past, reaching back, giving the no. As he slides past, you can't even touch him.
Speaker 1:And, like I said, they clocked Lamar one time at over 20 miles an hour, looking over his shoulder backwards. So I would think Lamar is probably the best Special, special athlete man.
Speaker 2:I mean there's a reason he's in the NFL, you know, like he is one of a kind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and here next. You know it's about time for the annual NFL owners meeting and we have a few here, but we can dive into all of them. I put the three big ones here in front of us, but we can reference all of them. There are six rule changes on the table this year for the NFL. The first one, I noted modification of defensive penalties. We'll say. The proposal is to eliminate the automatic first down associated with defensive holding and illegal contact penalties. Mike, let's dive into this. Man number one, what do we think about this?
Speaker 2:this means if there's a defensive interference call downfield, it will not result in an automatic first down at the spot of the foul I agree with it, because there are way too many teams that I believe they know that if they just throw the ball up in a direction of a defender who is a mismatch, that they'll get a hold or they'll get a play and they just automatically get a chunk of like 30 yards and now they're in field goal range yeah, I mean I mean there's plenty of instances that we can draw from this that have had incredibly lopsided outcomes as a result of bad play calling or just getting an easy penalty.
Speaker 2:I've never heard of the Super Bowl out like that, where we had a ticky-tack kind of call against an Eagles offensive player saying it was offensive pass interference, and it's like whoa, wait a second, Like he touched him with a fingertip, Like what are you?
Speaker 2:guys talking about, so I could see both sides of it. But we do so much to aid the offense that doing something to aid the defense once in a while, I'm not exactly against it and plus, if these teams are so great on offense, they don't need you to give them a hand me out. Yeah you know you don't need to just say, okay, let's go ahead and just give them 30 yards, because this other guy touched the other guy's arm you know like I mean come on you know that's when you start getting people flopping.
Speaker 2:And you start getting people.
Speaker 1:You know doing things to get calls and I I think you'll see the physicality of the game ramp up a little more, because now they know they're not going to give up 60 penalty yards for touching the guy, they know that they might still get penalized but they're still not going to be automatically in position to win.
Speaker 2:Well, and the defensive strategy might change a little too, because now you know, oh, they're not giving up that yardage. Let me just do a quick hold. I'll just quick grab on this guy's jersey. All right, they'll give them the first down, but I think there should be a cap. You know you shouldn't. I'm not saying that. You know, if it's 40 yards downfield and there's a penalty, that you give them 40 yards, I think you give them a standard amount of yards and you keep the play going, not just this. You know, give them all these yards because you know this guy happened to. I mean, mean, granted, when it's your team that's getting the penalty called against them, you're standing up going that's that's, that's not, that's not holding.
Speaker 1:you know you lose your mind, yeah and and there are a lot of questionable calls that happen to again. So I I agree, I think it should, I think it requires to be, uh, some revisiting, some reforming. I wouldn't get rid of a penalty altogether but I would just rewrite it.
Speaker 2:I may have just told myself there I do watch football, kids watch Blue's Clues or any kids' show.
Speaker 1:I'm interacting with it Is Blue's Clues still on air.
Speaker 2:Look, look, all right, you want a better one. Adults watch Price is Right.
Speaker 1:That is definitely still running, hey everybody.
Speaker 2:I don't care who you are. Everybody loves, price is Right and everybody thinks they know the price.
Speaker 1:Everybody loves Drew Carey.
Speaker 2:I miss Bob Barker.
Speaker 1:I miss Bob Barker too. Classic, Especially his role in Billy Madison. May he rest peacefully. But on to the next rule change. Here we don't necessarily have to hit all of them. I don't think they're all overly impressive.
Speaker 2:We can get through them, but we can talk about them here.
Speaker 1:The next one ban on the tush-push play.
Speaker 2:Yes, ban on the tush-push play.
Speaker 1:Yes, the proposal prohibit an offensive player from pushing a teammate who is lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap immediately at the snap.
Speaker 2:I don't like it.
Speaker 1:The concern is solely around player safety, but we know that's kind of bullshit.
Speaker 2:I don't like the wording already and I can tell you why.
Speaker 1:Well, that's just the proposal. What they want to do is just get rid of it.
Speaker 2:Well, I can tell you why I don't like the wording of it. They said a player lined up directly behind the quarterback, so all they're going to do is stand them off to the side and then have them transition in when the ball snapped and push. I told you guys previously the way you do this rule to make it where it's fair, and you can't sit there and say, oh well, they're targeting the tush, push. You just say you cannot aid, push any runner beyond the line of scrimmage. You cannot push anybody across the line of scrimmage. Now that still leaves you the place downfield where you get the running back gets held up and then the linemen come in behind him and help give the push for the extra yards. That still gives you that because you're already downfield.
Speaker 1:You're already downfield, you're already. But the moment you're trying to cross the extra yards, that still gives you that play.
Speaker 2:Because you're already downfield. You're already downfield, you're already passing on the scrimmage, but the moment you're trying to cross the line of scrimmage, you cannot have anybody aid or push you across the line. That's it. You say that it's done. By saying lining somebody up behind the runner or behind the ball carrier, you're giving them wiggle room to say, oh, he's not behind him, he's standing to the right or the left and he came in after the ball was hiked.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's. It's shady wording already.
Speaker 2:It's crappy wording.
Speaker 1:Hopefully they'll refine it when they get there.
Speaker 2:You know why that came about? Right, that came about because the Packers were the ones pushing for this.
Speaker 1:And, ironically, it was proposed by the Packers.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying. But here's the thing they still have to get like 23 other teams to agree to this, you know, to ban it, and they really should, they really should, they really should I.
Speaker 1:I hear all these people going well, if you don't like it, stop it.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and the other argument is all the other 31 teams can do it as well, but that's not the point all the other teams don't have the same offensive line and all those other teams don't have a quarterback who is the same height and build as Jalen Hurts. You can't tell me that you can stick a Lamar Jackson, who's taller and lankier, behind that play and you'll have the same results. It's not possible.
Speaker 1:Zach Wilson for the tush. Push all day, let's go.
Speaker 2:Look, I mean bottom line is they can do it because they have the personnel to do it. It is not a play that is fair across the league because not all the other teams can do it. We have seen other teams try it. We've seen the Bills try it. It didn't work very well. We've seen the Chargers try it Didn't work very well because both those quarterbacks are big and they can't get down low enough. If you watch the play closely, every single time Jalen Hurts squats down and gets as low as he can get his head and still snap the ball, and then the offensive line lunges forward. And as they're lunging, that's when he moves, and he moves with them as the people behind him assist and push him forward yeah, and this is obviously a well choreographed play, they don't just.
Speaker 1:I mean, everybody practices qb, sneaks and stuff like that in one yard line and short, short, short yard situations sneak, but it but it's not the same, right. But what I'm saying is they're clearly practicing this to an in-depth level, to where you see the choreography. I mean they even have variations of it now where they swing out right now. So they're clearly honing this play and this formation set, and I, you know what you got bud.
Speaker 2:I have one other thing, the main reason why this play pisses me off to no end when I hear announcers go, this play works because of Jalen. He can squat 500 pounds. His legs aren't on the damn ground.
Speaker 1:Stop telling me it's his legs, oh they're dragging him across by his damn underwear like they're pushing they are pushing that stupid vest that he wears under his jersey to protect his ribs.
Speaker 2:They're pushing on that and putting him across the line yeah, it is not because jalen hurts can squat 500 pounds, and I'm tired of the announcer saying that I I mean like I'm sorry to be on a soapbox about this, but it's just, it's like the most obnoxious play ever. And it's so fitting that the Philadelphia Eagles are doing it because, I mean, let's face it, their fan base gets voted again and again as the most obnoxious fans and, of course, their team is the one with the most obnoxious play.
Speaker 1:Well, I hope they do adjust it. I like, I like your idea about the runner can't be assisted. They must advance the ball, pass the line of scrimmage on their on their own, unassisted. I think that's a good rule. The next rule oh lord, excuse me, I'm so sorry everybody. Um, the next rule. Fourth, one adjustment of playoff seating. This is one that's near and dear to my heart because I think it's. We'll go into it, but the proposal is to allow wildcard teams to be seated higher than division champions if they have a better regular season record. By the way, the team that that proposed this. They looked at the differences, okay, they looked at how it is now and then they looked at how it would have fallen with this year's playoff teams and bracket had they had this rule in place. And, by the way, the lions were still in the same place.
Speaker 2:Okay, uh, just want to make Well, let's also keep in mind that the Lions play in one of the toughest divisions in football right now with, let's face it, they had three teams in the playoffs last year and it was a drag-out fight throughout the entire season with majority of the teams in that conference. And now that the Bears are tooling up too and getting some well-needed pieces, they look like they're on an upward trend.
Speaker 2:But I understand what they're saying, but not all records are the same and I'm going to explain why. The reason that all records are not all the same is you don't play all the same teams. Strength of schedule, so you don't have the same strength of schedule.
Speaker 2:Take the words right out of my mouth Mike the strength of schedule for them last year, the reason that they had such a great season they were playing the NFC South, the worst division in football. They all played them. They all basically won, but when they went up against each other, that's where their losses were coming against each other. So if you're playing the weakest divisions and playing your division, your record doesn't exactly hold the same kind of weight because unfortunately, I'll tell you the other division they were playing and I can say this confidently because I know what my division was last year yes, they played the NFC West as well. The NFC West was a weak conference last year. Look at the Rams. The Rams won the division but they didn't have a better record than any of the teams that went for the NFC's.
Speaker 1:The conference game. Yeah, well, no, the Lions, the Bears the the wild card, no the division round.
Speaker 2:Their division. The Lions, the Bears, the, the wild card, no the division round their division, the Lions division?
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, division, anyway, god, you got me all the NFC North. Yes, sorry, nfc. I'm sorry, I didn't know what you were talking about.
Speaker 2:Anyway, they didn't have anywhere close to the same record. There's like three, four games gap, you know. So, like sitting there saying like, oh okay, let's do it by the record. Okay, well, you don't have the same. And then I heard the argument well, let's just do away with conferences, okay. So basically what you're telling me, by doing that we're just going to do away with entire regions. We had this before. When you do away with entire regions we had this before when you do away with regions, you lose viewership.
Speaker 1:there are conferences to keep people interested divisions yeah, well divisions, yeah, and conferences too, you're not wrong. But I mean, you know you're okay if I interject here, mike, go, go, go. This is a stupid thing. First, all the whole reason they introduced wildcard teams was to expand the playoffs so they could, like you say, increase viewership and fanship. Okay, the only reason we have wildcard teams is for viewership is to draw in more money. Okay, point blank. That is literally just a business decision At one point in history.
Speaker 2:Go ahead, mike, I'm sorry, well, and it was also to make sure that teams that were in a stacked division could still have a chance to play yeah. I mean because, let's face it, the Rams or not the Rams, the Vikings last year they were a formidable team for majority of the year and if you would have said, okay, Lions won, Lions are in, go sit at home, Vikings yeah, that would have felt a little like it would have felt like a slap in the face, but at the end of the day, win your division.
Speaker 1:But again, I agree with letting in one to two wildcard teams. I think we're approaching pushing our limits with three wildcard teams and then talk about adding more in the near future, a fourth one. But anyway, at one point in time, the only way to make the playoffs was to win your division and going back to the strength of schedule argument. That is why things may appear lopsided, but they actually level the playing field when it comes to the quality of the teams getting in.
Speaker 2:Well, and usually you have a stronger strength of schedule based on you know what happened the previous year. If you were a good team, you're going to have a really tough schedule next year. So next year we might not see the same teams with the same records as far as the guys that were on top.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And to add to that, say you're a powerhouse team, you get a tough schedule. And then now, how many years have we seen it? Obviously not recently, but it used to be fairly common Team will win the Super Bowl. They're the powerhouse of the NFL. The next season they're terrible, they flop, they're in rebuild mode. They got a tough schedule and they ain't got no, no competitiveness to them well, I mean super bowl hangover.
Speaker 1:Is a thing, I mean super bowl hangover so yeah, so now you have a double whammy. Your strength of schedule and your team basically imploded, so now you have two things working against you.
Speaker 2:They're rather crucial, so well, and I mean this. This kind of lends back to our argument earlier when we were talking, uh, the, the march madness and teams getting in, everybody's always going strength, schedule, strength, schedule, strength. Look at who you played. Look at who you played. I mean we got the played. I mean we've got the same argument in the NFL. It's just a little hidden by. Oh, they're a conference winner, you know. Or oh, this is the best division, most competitive division, okay, yeah, but if they're punching down playing teams that have won maybe two wins on the year by midseason and you're're like, okay, there's no real stretch there, they're not playing the best of the best every week.
Speaker 1:You know what I like and I just now thought about it and I don't know if there's a way to do it or not. We'd have to put more research into it, because I literally just thought about this while we're on air. Okay, what if they do it how we do fantasy football, where every season they shuffle the divisions? I don't know if that would work, but if you shuffle the divisions, that they have.
Speaker 1:They have changed divisions before well, I mean, what if every season you shuffled the conference and shuffled the? Well, I mean, it'd be, rather it would be, I don't think rather complicated, that's a little much.
Speaker 2:I mean trying to change Because I mean, let's face it, A lot of times the reason that they're set up the way they are is logistically. It makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, regionally.
Speaker 2:It makes sense for the Packers to play the Vikings. You know You're not going to have. You know, the Packers playing Miami. You know. No, but I I mean the Cowboys you will have them play each other but having divisions where the teams are geographically surrounding each other. I mean you don't have Los Angeles playing New York.
Speaker 1:That is a division. Well, the Giants, the Eagles and the Commanders are all over here, but the Cowboys are in Texas, Southeast Texas, but the Cardinals used to be in the NFC East with us when they were over here closer on the East Coast, but then they moved to Arizona and some other shit happened.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, again they moved teams and moved divisions around. I mean, we're not that far removed from when the Rams were in St Louis.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's not uncommon for teams to move around. No, it's not. We've got a team in Vegas that used to be in Oakland I mean especially if they switch ownership.
Speaker 1:So I mean that's also common too. But you know, we'll see how they work out. The rule, you know, the only point to having divisions is for playoff seating. So if you kind of contradict that, you I don't know what they're gonna do, and then we don't have stuff like the the beast quake mode you know, like he's quake mode where a seven and nine team gets a win because they're in a home game because they're a division champ. I just wish people wouldn't get caught up in overall record so much.
Speaker 2:Well, it matters, but the point of the matter is what they have going. I'm not exactly. I don't feel that bad about it, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now the next one. The next rule up and we probably we might not have a lot to say on this one is roster management flexibility. This is more logistical. If you're not very into the really the logistical side of building a roster, you're probably not gonna care much about this. But uh, the proposal is to exclude players placed on reserve, injury reserve before uh or on the day of the roster reduction to 53 players, from counting against the 90-player limit unless the player is designated for return.
Speaker 2:It just means opening another roster spot to fill in players.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it just means, unless you know, this player is definitely coming back, he's not going to count against you, and that's what they're trying to do here.
Speaker 2:I don't see a problem with it and, honestly, I feel like we're eventually going to get to a point where these rosters are going to open up a little more, given the fact that we've had situations where teams are on to their you know fourth or fifth back, or you know they're on to their fourth or fifth back, or they're on to their third quarterback, or you've got offensive linemen that are going down left and right and now they're just grabbing anybody off of anybody's practice squad. So there's plenty of room for them to go ahead and expand these rosters. But what happens when you expand rosters? You got to pay more people.
Speaker 1:That's right so, and they hope it gives them more roster flexibility as far as managing it. But again, we'll see what they come up with. That and I'm sorry there were six rule change proposals, not I mean seven rule change proposals.
Speaker 2:I can't count y'all.
Speaker 1:Y'all just proposals. I can't count y'all. Y'all just know I I can't count anyway uh. Number six pre-game preparation of kicking balls. These, actually these last two rules, are kind of interesting. The proposal for number six here, uh, is to allow teams to prepare uh kicking balls, or k balls, before game day. So teams are already allowed to prepare game balls that are permitted for to be used in the game, but they're not permitted for kicking specific footballs. So that's all that would do is just to allow them to set aside footballs for kicking ahead of games, as well as gameplay footballs for kicking ahead of games as well as gameplay footballs anybody sleep?
Speaker 2:yeah, it is. It is an absolutely boring I say we're really diving into the logistics here so these I don't look, I don't care what they do with their balls Moving on All right number seven Enhanced communication during negotiation period.
Speaker 1:Teams are breaking rules anyway, so let's see what can happen. The proposal permit teams, during the two-day negotiation period, to have one video or phone call with a prospective unrestricted free agent and his agent and to arrange for the players travel upon green to terms with travel commencing at the start of the new league year. This is proposed by the Steelers. They want to facilitate. They want it basically to help facilitate smoother negotiations and transitions during free agency, like when Sean McVay or Matt Stafford likes to go on vacation with his future team head coach and yeah, yeah, I'm surprised that you know it's just okay that you can just reach out to these players and vacation with them, and even if they're on other teams and you know yeah, I'm honestly surprised it's the Steelers and not like the Rams or somebody, because or maybe the Steelers are tired of the Rams always going on vacation with the players they want.
Speaker 1:Maybe Tom Coughlin wants to go. Mike Tomlin wants to. I said, tom Coughlin, look at me.
Speaker 2:I have a disgrace. You're a mess tonight horrible.
Speaker 1:Okay, sorry, there were eight proposals.
Speaker 2:I lost count, guys, you know good, good, lord guy, get with it, come on this is the one I was actually waiting for, because this is interesting here.
Speaker 1:Uh, scouting credentials for potential postseason opponents. The proposal was to allow teams that may qualify for the postseason to obtain scouting credentials for two consecutive games Week 17 and Week 18, played by a potential postseason opponent. Additionally require teams hosting wildcard games to provide scouting credentials to all teams within the same conference participating in the postseason. Basically, after week 15 is done, you can't send scouts out anymore if you're a playoff competitive team to try to scout other teams. In this situation, they're just trying to find ways to be more better prepared and it may result in us getting better quality games in the postseason. Who knows, what do you make of this one, Mike?
Speaker 2:I think it's a wordy way to say keep your scouts at home.
Speaker 1:Well, they want to be able to send the scouts out during this period so they can scout teams that they may or may not be playing in the postseason.
Speaker 2:Again boring.
Speaker 1:I think honestly. I mean this is interesting to me because this is what the Patriots got in trouble for 10 years ago, 12, 15 years ago, I can't count.
Speaker 2:They were doing it with a video camera. They were taping opponents. Well they were taping. It was a little different. It was a little different.
Speaker 1:It was a little different, but still along the same lines. But anyway, I think it's interesting.
Speaker 2:Well, let's move on to some moves that have recently happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's get into some personnel moves here.
Speaker 2:But we had Daniil Hunter. With the Texans he reached an agreement for a one-year extension that is going to pay him $55.1 million over the next two seasons, so they've locked him up. He's been really good for them. He's been a very good player helping them out. But they also picked up Cam Robinson to replace Laramie Tunsil, who just went to Washington.
Speaker 1:Not bad, honestly not bad, Honestly not a bad move.
Speaker 2:Apparently, if you thought they were making moves that you were going. What are they doing? Why are they? Hey, there must be a plan because they picked up another player that is pretty darn good in the free agency market to fill in for that void. Yeah, the Texans are trying to enhance and open a championship window. Darn good on free eight in the free agency market to fill in, yeah they that void?
Speaker 1:yeah, they're. They're trying. The texans are trying to enhance and open a championship window and I think the moves that washington make is making right now, I think they're saying that their championship window is open right now well they, they're doing what the niners did when purdy was on his rookie contract you know they loaded up because they're like, hey, we got a guy we think we could do it with, let's load up pieces around him.
Speaker 2:And they're doing the same thing. I mean come on man. Your front office is built off of some of the Niners' front office. So, no surprise there that they're doing the same kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:And the Commanders and 49ers. They do a lot of business in general over the years, so good relationships there. And no surprise that we are co-hosts and I'm a Commanders fan and you are a 49ers fan, so I call them. We call the whambulance on each other quite often.
Speaker 2:Oh, we definitely call each other out, but anyway. So moving on. Another move that was kind of surprising, but not surprising. At the same time, cooper Cupp signed with the Seattle Seahawks for a three-year deal. What's more surprising about this move is they gave him $45 million for the next three years for that contract. And you would think, well, okay, I mean Cooper Cupp going to Seattle, I mean he's from Washington, so it makes a little sense there. But now they're probably going to plug him into the slot, but he doesn't separate like he once did. So now you've got to really hope that they can scheme him open. So the dollar amount is kind of like Honestly, I like it.
Speaker 2:I like the fit for them. I'm just worried about the dollar amount versus what he's actually now. He doesn't separate like he used to and they're going to put him in slots, so obviously they're going to send what's the receiver they still have.
Speaker 1:Smith and Jibba.
Speaker 2:They're going to move him to the outside.
Speaker 1:I like to call him Jazzy Sauce.
Speaker 2:Well, they're going to move him to the outside.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he was supposed to break out this year. He didn't quite get there, but I like him paired with Cooper Cupp At $45 million over three years. Let's think about this right how much of that are they guaranteeing to him? Do we know that figure yet? Probably not. No, um, he's probably not gonna get all 45 million, I unless he really has a good first year, like year one well, yeah, all, all contracts are not really what they're worth.
Speaker 2:I don't.
Speaker 1:I don't see him might play out his third year, but unless he really has a good first year, even if he has a good second year, if he flops in his first year, I don't think he makes it past year two.
Speaker 2:Well, he'll be motivated to play the Rams. He's already come out and said that he's looking forward to playing them.
Speaker 1:I bet he is with their banged up secondary. We could talk about Aaron Rodgers. He's all over the place. You know, he's kind of throwing teams for a loop right now. I think he's playing coy. Mr Florio, you know, obviously we have updated news, so I'm just going to skip ahead. The Vikings have come out and said they're not training JJ McCarthy, he's their guy. They're no longer in the race for Aaron Rodgers. I don't blame them. Rodgers doesn't even know if he's even going to make a decision this year.
Speaker 2:So well I. So I don't think it's so much that you know the Vikings are are, because there's there's a couple of things in play here. If you bring Aaron Rodgers in, you're bringing him in to start. He's not going to sit and be a backup. He's not going to sit and be be the. You know guy, that's the, the veteran whispering over the shoulder to the rookie.
Speaker 2:So you could bring him in but if you bring him in, are you telling JJ hey, we don't have faith in you. So that's going to put some question in his mind. But you know he probably does need a veteran there, somebody that can honestly a good veteran for them to probably pick up would be somebody like a Joe Flacco to sit behind him and kind of. You know, joe's done the backup thing. He's been a backup for a few years now and he's been in a Super Bowl, he's been in playoff games, so he's going to be able to be more of a guy that can handle being the mentor than an Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like Flacco as a good option, but I like another scenario here. Right, Because there's been some murmurs surrounding Matthew Stafford to the Saints. If that were to ever become a possibility, I like the Saints to either send Derek Carr or release Derek Carr and Derek Carr to go to Minnesota.
Speaker 2:The Stafford thing is done. He's staying where he's at.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's fine. I just keep seeing trade rumors around it and they give him permission to talk to other teams and all kinds of stuff. So I'm just like, are you serious?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but he already signed that new contract with the Rams. Why would the Rams sign them and send them?
Speaker 1:I mean it's happened before.
Speaker 2:I just don't see it. I don't see it because with the moves they made, you don't, you don't sign him and then bring in. You know well, they did give him a rather large contract as well.
Speaker 1:You're. You're probably on to something there, but I think the vikings getting back to aaron rogers, and the vikings oh, you're right, I think I think they would like to have a veteran in front of him for at least one or two more years. Yeah, um, but I think they're very wary. I think they're wary of aaron rogers. I think they should be wary of aaron ro.
Speaker 2:I like what Cam Hayward said, where he said if I got to make my pitch, he's like I don't want to make a pitch, but it's simple as this. We're the Steelers. Either come play for us or don't.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's how he should feel it's look, man, you know what we are, you know what we have. Come play or don't Like. Don't sit here and jerk us around.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And everybody's kind of tired of it. I mean honestly, I'm real tired of it because we've been doing this for years now with Aaron. Where he's will, he won't he maybe darkness retreats and like dude we're done.
Speaker 1:And then there's the Pat. Mcafee show that he refuses to pull out of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, honestly like.
Speaker 1:Too many distractions.
Speaker 2:You're either in and with it or you're not and, honestly, I feel like every team in the league should just say Aaron, go away, we're done with you.
Speaker 1:And it's not even about his stats. So we can get away from that, because he honestly was among the best, if not the best, in some of his quarterback stats in the league this last year, despite their play.
Speaker 2:He started to look better at the end of the year. I wouldn't say he was up with the best.
Speaker 1:I mean I'm not saying he doesn't have skills, but he's too many distractions, too many off-field distractions, too much drama, and that drives teams away. Teams are trying to win championships and stay clean in the media.
Speaker 2:And how do you set up a roster and know what you need if you don't know who's going to be behind center? How are you supposed to set up and prepare if you're not set up with the most crucial piece?
Speaker 1:Look, if I'm a quarterback-needy team and I get to the draft, I'm drafting a quarterback.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I mean, that's what quarterback-needy teams do.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, but I'm saying if I draft a quarterback, I'm not thinking about Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2:I think Aaron Rodgers gets on a team before the draft or it becomes significantly harder well, I'm glad you brought that up, because one of the other teams that he's been linked to is the Giants, and the Giants got the number 3 pick, so and all signs point towards they're going to take Shador if he's there and honestly they should.
Speaker 2:They should because I'll tell you what they do. They sign Jameis Winston as their backup, possible starter. If something should happen and they don't get Shador, they can just limp through a season with Jameis Winston and next year they'll get the guy and they'll use Jameis as, and next year they'll get the guy and they'll use Jameis as the bridge to the next guy yeah, which is what his career is now, and there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, look, flacco's been doing it for a few years now where he's been a bridge guy to the next guy. So if they sit there and they get Shador, well good, they can let Shador sit behind Jameis for a little while, learn a little, give him a couple weeks, give him a soft landing play against a team that is not going to be the hardest team to play and let him get warmed into the league, and that wouldn't be a bad thing.
Speaker 1:And then they have a quarterback for the future. I like Shador going the giants and I'm not a giants fan at all, but I like shader going to giants and I think that, like jayden, daniels, could instantly turn them into a contender well, yeah, I mean they, they, they have a okay foundation as far as a roster.
Speaker 2:They just need, you know, a few more pieces to help round it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because they have, they need a running back.
Speaker 2:Okay, they'll get one in this draft.
Speaker 1:they could get one of those, yeah, but they have receivers, they have fast receivers, good receivers, neighbors, neighbors, and um slayton, slayton and the other kid I I forget his name, will Robinson. He's not a bad guy either. They have some good players, man. They just need some good play.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, they need better quarterback play Tommy DeVito ain't it Tommy DeVito. I mean, yeah, they still have him on the roster too. I mean they could just go with DeVito, go with DeVito. So I mean, yeah, they still have him on the roster too.
Speaker 1:I mean they could just go with DeVito, go with DeVito, but here we go. I didn't know if you would agree or disagree with this, mike. The New England Patriots were reportedly hesitant to bring in a veteran wide receiver during the free agency period because of the negative impact. Demanding of the negative impact. Demanding the negative impact it can have on a demanding veteran like while like DK or Iuke could have.
Speaker 2:So what you're saying is like a guy, that is like give me the ball, pass me the ball.
Speaker 1:They think that Drake may is too young to handle a breakout star such as DK or Devanteae Adams or Brandon Ayuk, which who's still on the market, Supposedly yeah, supposedly so they were hesitant to bring in. I don't know if I necessarily agree with this.
Speaker 2:Look, if you're having concerns that your quarterback can't handle a Diva receiver, I think you've got bigger issues because, honestly, your quarterback is supposed to be the field general, he's supposed to be the coach on the field and he's supposed to be the one that helps rein in those kind of personalities or at least find a way to be like bro, sit down, you'll get the ball when I see that you can be open, or you don't get the ball in this play because it goes to him.
Speaker 1:Well, not only that.
Speaker 2:We'll run the play, the play that was called, not the play you want.
Speaker 1:Well, not only that, but coaching, like you, bring in a Diva receiver. Yeah, you need a confident quarterback, don't get me wrong, but coaching should be there to calm his ass down too. No, this is a starting quarterback, all right. Yeah, but let's face it, If the quarterback sucks, then I can understand that might be a little more difficult.
Speaker 2:But let's face it how many times on the sideline do you see or have you seen in the past where you know a Peyton Manning is yelling at his players Tom Brady, yeah. Or Tom Brady yelling at his players because he's telling them, no, we're doing it this way or no? You weren't open. Don't tell me that you were open, yeah or no. The play doing it this way or no, you weren't open. Don't tell me that you were open or no. The play wasn't designed to go to you. That's why I didn't throw it to you or no? You aren't getting the touches right now because we need to establish the run. That's part of the job. You got to be that guy, that voice that helps tamper people's now personalities now, what do you say?
Speaker 1:and I won't talk about jay and daniels, because they had a relatively good season, but, uh, caleb williams, he had diva receivers all around him in year one and they did not have a good season, similar to the Patriots, that's due to play calling. That was yeah.
Speaker 2:Their play calling was atrocious.
Speaker 1:So I'm saying, like he's a rookie quarterback, why was he able to handle, you know, top-notch receivers but Drake May can't Like? Is there a confidence problem with Drake May, do you think?
Speaker 2:No, I don't think there is. I mean, look, you don't make it to the NFL and become a starting quarterback because you have a confidence issue. You know, just flat out. You have to have some confidence somewhere to be in there and say, look, I'm going to hike this ball and that guy on the other side of the line, who's close to 300 pounds, is going to come tackle me. You've got to have some confidence. You've got to have some, you know, cojones.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you need to have some swagger. I just don't know if I've seen. I've seen a little bit of swagger from May when he gets hot. You see it.
Speaker 2:But you still need to see that confidence and swagger when the times are hard, and I I think he found that last year.
Speaker 1:The times were hard, yeah, but you know I don't, we'll see what they do, man. So that was interesting to hear out of the new england's uh front office. So uh, and here we have mr graham brandon graham, longtime eagle, super bowl winning eagle, calling it a career two time. We have Mr Graham Brandon Graham, longtime Eagle, super Bowl winning Eagle, calling it a career Two-time. Went to three Super Bowls, won two of them. Thank you, mike. 15 years in all, with the Eagles organization becoming more and more rare as we get farther into the future. Just congratulations to him, and what a hell of a career he's had.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean he's going out how most players would want you win the Super Bowl and you go out a winner.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And to do it all with one team too, I mean, and for that long, especially being a pass rusher, I mean that's yeah, that's just incredible. Yeah, we might be seeing. He'll definitely be in the Eagles Hall of Fame, if not the NFL Hall of Fame. You know, he's definitely a fan favorite.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now, once again, thank you everybody for tuning in. We appreciate everybody listening to us, having a conversation with us and being part of our conversation. Feel free to find us on Facebook, on Instagram, we're on, we're on all streaming services. Um, you know, feel free to interact with us, interact with us on social media. Uh, we post things, we try to, we try to talk.
Speaker 1:We know we don't have a lot of followers, no, but I just want to say we appreciate all of you coming down, uh, taking time out of your night, your day, your afternoon, whatever time you listen to us. Um, once again, I'm brian with an eye and I'm mike and we are two for the win thanks, everybody.