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 - E25 - Two Bits, Four Bits, Six Bits, A Dollar, All For The Gators, Stand Up & Holler!
The sports world never stops turning, and this week brought us storylines running the full emotional spectrum - from devastating loss to historic achievements. We open on a somber note, reflecting on MLB pitcher Octavio Dutelle's tragic death in a Dominican Republic nightclub accident that claimed over 130 lives. His legacy with 13 different teams across 15 seasons reminds us of sport's fragility and the connections formed through athletic careers.
But amidst loss comes triumph as Alexander Ovechkin achieves hockey immortality, surpassing Wayne Gretzky's seemingly untouchable goal record. What struck us most wasn't just the achievement itself, but Ovechkin's integrity in refusing to break the record on an empty net. "I'm not passing Gretzky with an open net," he declared, showcasing the sportsmanship that elevates athletic accomplishments to something truly special.
We dive deep into the NHL playoff picture with the postseason just around the corner, examining which teams have secured their spots and which have been eliminated. The MLB season is heating up with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signing a massive half-billion dollar extension, while spectacular defensive plays from Derek Hill and Victor Robles demonstrate baseball's capacity for breathtaking athleticism - though Robles paid the price with a dislocated shoulder.
The NBA provides perhaps our most touching story as Lonzo Ball meets with the family of Alex Reinhardt, the 20-year-old donor whose cartilage saved Ball's basketball career. This human connection transcends sport and reminds us why these games matter beyond statistics and championships.
We break down Florida's thrilling NCAA championship victory over Houston, where the Gators clawed back from a 12-point deficit to claim the title. Coach Todd Golden became the youngest champion coach since Jim Valvano, adding another layer to this remarkable achievement.
Finally, we explore NFL draft scenarios, dissecting where quarterback prospect Shador Sanders might land and the surprising Panthers signing of former college basketball player Colin Granger as a tight end.
Whether you're a casual fan or a hardcore stats junkie, join us each week as we navigate the ever-changing landscape of sports with insight, humor, and genuine passion for the games we love!
April 10th 2025. Welcome back, everybody. Thank you for joining us. I'm Brian with an eye and I'm Mike, and we are two for the win. Mike, what are we diving into tonight?
Speaker 2:well, we're gonna see what's happening across the landscape of sports. We're gonna see what's going on with the MLB Check in with NHL news. We're going to see how the NBA is going as we start moving ever closer to the playoffs. Whoop, whoop, we just had the NCAA March bracket.
Speaker 1:March Madness bracket.
Speaker 2:We're going to see how that turned out and, as always, covered little NFL news.
Speaker 1:Exciting, exciting Come around the corner for, once again, another NFL season. We'll hit on that later, but we got a lot to talk about before then, don't we?
Speaker 2:Yes, unfortunately, we're opening tonight's podcast with a bit of unfortunate news. Octavio Dottel died recently in a tragic death in the Dominican Republic in a nightclub. Unfortunately, he and his wife were at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic where he and I think 133 people died because of a roof collapse. Definitely not something that was expected, definitely not something that was, you know, foreshadowed. I mean, nobody expects to go to a nightclub and the roof cave in. But there's been a lot of his former players Octavia Dutelle for those of you who don't know, he was a major league pitcher for 15 years in the MLB, with 13 different teams during that time, which is pretty crazy World Series with the Cardinals, and he was well-known for his time with the Houston Astros when they first opened up and he was actually he threw the very first pitch on that field that the Astros play on, which was actually at the time, enron Field.
Speaker 1:Which.
Speaker 2:Enron no longer exists.
Speaker 1:Fade by familiar with those days, but we'll not go down that rabbit hole.
Speaker 2:You guys can look up what Enron was.
Speaker 1:Good old classic inside disaster there.
Speaker 2:Some of his former teammates, like Billy Wagner said it breaks my heart and Bradledge he Wagner said it breaks my heart and Brad Lidge. He also said I can hardly believe it that Octavio Dottel has passed away. He was a pretty good pitcher too, I mean he. Unfortunately he joins a group of guys who were all members of that 2000 team that opened up in Ron Field that have passed away. He joins Kim Caminiti, jose Lima and Julio Lugo, who have all unfortunately passed away, who were part of that team. Definitely a guy who was beloved by his teammates and beloved by fans.
Speaker 1:Rest his soul Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family and those affected by his passing.
Speaker 2:And those who also were in the nightclub and their families, because it's definitely a tragedy.
Speaker 1:All of them as well, absolutely, truly, truly sad situation.
Speaker 2:So, moving to a more happier story, we're going to move on to the NHL and, uh, we're gonna talk about alexander ovechkin. He did it, he did it, finally made it, he passed, he passed gretzky with his 895th goal. He passes, he passes, the great one, and you know what?
Speaker 1:he did it in the same number of games.
Speaker 2:They were one goal apart, so he did this in style well, and what kind of makes this kind of cool for him is he did it in his kind of old school fashion. He did it with a, a wrist shot and uh he, as soon as he made the goal, he kind of skates and does like a belly flop and slides on his belly, happy like a kid because he finally did it. And there was a bit of news that came out of this. That was really cool.
Speaker 2:So they had a game before this where there was a situation towards the end of the game where there was going to be an open net because the team was going to pull the goalie and try to get back in the game and all of his teammates were looking at him saying we're going to give the puck to you. And he said no, do not give me the puck. He said I'm not passing Gretzky with an open net. That's not happening. So I have so much respect for him doing that because you kind of don't want to see things like this happen. I mean, it's kind of like when Brett Favre laid down and gave Michael Strahan the sack, record it kind of for a lot of people watching the game it was just like why did you run his direction and lay down just to give him the sack record. You don't want anything like that for these big records. For him to do it the right way in a lot of fans' eyes by actually shooting at a goalie on net and make the goal, yeah it just.
Speaker 1:It's so much better that way yeah, I, I agree, and you know, to some of the references in the in the pro wrestling world. So we call putting them over, you know, letting the guys get the record out of mutual respect. It's it's always about competition, it's always about being the best, but sometimes you just have camaraderie and, like I said, that comes. That is an example of what we call putting them over.
Speaker 2:Give them the record, give them the win well, he earned it, he did earn it, he did he did earn it.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying he didn't earn it, but in the situation, like you were saying, with farve and strahan yeah that's an example of farve putting strahan over.
Speaker 2:Let my man shine for a little bit yeah, but there's a lot of people that you know like, uh, the former uh jets defensive end mark gas dick astano, I think, is his last name. I probably butchered that, but anyway, there there's a. There's actually a video out there where Mark approaches Favre and says I want my sack record back Because he was legitimately pissed. Yeah, at first Favre thought he was messing with him, but you could see it in his face that he was not messing with him, he was serious. He's like you hurt me, you gave my record away. And for some of these guys, especially for him, he's like you, you hurt me, you gave my record away. And for some of these guys, especially for him, he's not in the hall of fame.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's been a lot of debate, he should be well. Yeah, I could. I could see how that, when you're known, yeah, as the you know single season sack record, you know to have somebody just kind of give it away, it it's it's kind of a slap to the face. So for Ovechkin to say, no, don't give me an open goal shot, I want to take a real shot to pass the great one.
Speaker 2:Big-time respect for him for saying that.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I can see the point there in what you're saying and I largely agree with it. I mean, I kind of go either way with it. It depends on the situation and obviously the competitors, you know, and their mutual respect. But you know, when you take records, yeah, everybody behind you and everybody you're about to pass wants you to get it for real.
Speaker 2:But I also understand the concept of putting them over, you know yeah, but there's, there's a difference between you know a quarterback who's like well, I could hit the underneath yeah and you know not take the sack, yeah. Or you know the guy that's like, yeah, I could throw this ball right now, but I'm gonna.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna hold it as tick tick longer so you can get the sack yeah you know, versus what farb did, which is he rolled out towards his side and just let him get, let him just kind of tackle him, yeah, and tackle him. He farb laid down and just laid down, got it so yeah, I mean I'm not taking anything away from strand because he got all the other sacks and stuff. But look, we're getting into nfl and we need to be talking about yeah, let's get back to wayne gretzky.
Speaker 1:Let's get back to some nhl action.
Speaker 2:Yeah vechkin kudos congratulations well deserved. And he's not done yet yeah he's gonna. He's gonna extend this out a little bit this is.
Speaker 1:This is great to watch, right, because now this is kind of like. You know, we're watching these great players where every move they now is a new record. Right, this was like not to go back to the NFL, but this was like towards the end of Brady's career. Everything was about the next record at a certain point in his career and it wasn't even intentional. These greats in the NHL, in the MLB, in whatever sport they play, their careers have come such a long way that that's all they're measuring now is records.
Speaker 2:Well, and you know, when you've done so much in your sport and you start getting to a point where you're looking at the other side, where you're going to retire, you know you want to leave a mark on the game that you love. If you have that ability and if you've had that kind of a career and Ovechkin has been doing this for a long time he's been a good player for a long time. For a lot of people who don't necessarily know hockey, you say Alexander Ovechkin and they're like oh yeah, isn't he a hockey player Like most people?
Speaker 1:know who he is. When your name carries beyond the bounds of your typical fans, when people in other sports who really aren't familiar with you or your sport know your name, you're accomplishing something.
Speaker 2:Like Tiger Woods. You say Tiger Woods, people are like oh yeah, the golfer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everybody knows him. Nobody knows anything about his career.
Speaker 2:Or you say Rafael Nadal, People will be like, oh yeah, the tennis player.
Speaker 1:The tennis player, yeah, you know. Or LeBron James, Michael Jordan.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Again Tom Brady. Not that I'm a Tom Brady fan, but Venus and Serena Williams. Yeah, both of them Tennis players, olympic tennis champions at that multi-time. So you're right To hear some of these names and people, just outright be familiar. You have really accomplished something.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly. But speaking of accomplishments, we are moving very, very quickly towards the NHL playoffs, very, very quickly towards the NHL playoffs and the NHL playoffs start April 19th. Well, maybe we need to discuss who is out.
Speaker 1:Some playoff action here.
Speaker 2:So right now, as it stands, right now, the East, at the Atlantic Division, right now the Toronto Maple Leafs lead at the number one spot, the number two spot is being held down by the Tampa Bay Lightning and the number three spot is being held up by the Florida Panthers. So the Metropolitan Division is being held number one spot by the Capitals, and you know Alexander Ovechkin's team.
Speaker 1:I can only wonder you know?
Speaker 2:he probably has a huge role in that lockup right now the Carolina Hurricanes take up the number two spot and the New Jersey Devils pulling up the third spot.
Speaker 1:The Devils classic team there.
Speaker 2:Right now the wild card for the East. You're looking at the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens as the two spots fighting for that wild card position. As far as teams that are fully eliminated, no chance. They're out. Boston Bruins out Philadelphia Flyers out Pittsburgh Pengins Out Philadelphia Flyers Out Pittsburgh Penguins Out Buffalo Sabres Out.
Speaker 1:That's for the Eastern side.
Speaker 2:So if we didn't name your team. You still have a chance.
Speaker 1:But Don't give these people false hope, Mike.
Speaker 2:I'm not trying to give false hope. I'm just saying there's a chance.
Speaker 2:The best con artist there is chances are he could sell you air well, look, I mean most of these teams, they're still like the red wings, the islanders, the columbus blue jackets, you know, they're only a couple points behind. And and their records? Yeah, they've got to hope that the Montreal Canadiens have a little bit of a collapse, but it is what it is. But moving on to the West, the Central, the leader at the number one spot, winnipeg Jets, former Atlanta Thrashers, former Atlanta Thrashers the Dallas Stars take up the two spot and the Colorado Avalanche take up the third spot. So, for the Pacific and the West, we have the Las Vegas Golden Knights taking up the one spot, the Los Angeles Kings taking up the two spot and the Edmonton Oilers taking up the one spot, the Los Angeles Kings taking up the two spot and the Edmonton Oilers taking up the three spot, followed by the wild card which is being held down by the Minnesota Wild and the St Louis Blues.
Speaker 1:The wild card is being held down by the Wild. Yes, I'm aware of that I always like to make fun of that.
Speaker 2:Anyway, so now we're going to talk about the teams that are eliminated.
Speaker 1:They got a lot more of them. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2:The West is looking pretty locked up right now. So San Jose Sharks you're out. Chicago Blackhawks you're out. Nashville Predators, you're out. Geez, excuse me, st Louis Kraken or not St Louis, seattle Kraken, I'm distracted by your sneezing over there, sorry. The Anaheim Ducks are out. The Utah Hockey Club, formerly known as the Coyotes, that are no longer in Arizona. The Vancouver Canucks they are out. The only team that still has a slim chance is the Calgary Flames could possibly move their way up and knock out St Louis, although I don't see that happening. The West is pretty set. The East still has some hope. Hopefully your team is one of the teams with hope or already in.
Speaker 1:Look, this is shaping up to be a pretty hot NHL playoff.
Speaker 2:Look, playoff hockey. Look. I always tell people, if you want to introduce somebody to hockey, don't get them to watch a regular season game. You bring them in for playoffs because the playoff hockey is so much more intense and the games are so much fun. You're getting some of the best teams, the best players, and it gives somebody a chance to see the team and then maybe find that player that's their player. Like I like that player, that player's gritty. Or I like that player, he's super fast. Like I like that player, that player's gritty. Or I like that player he's super fast. Or look at that goalie. How did he stop that shot? Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And if you thought hockey was physical enough, wait until you turn on playoff hockey.
Speaker 2:It's even more physical. So if that's, what you're after.
Speaker 1:You're in for a treat.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Look, I love playoff hockey. I really do. Yeah, I don't even really. I mean, I pay attention to regular hockey now that we have the podcast, but before it was predominantly just playoff hockey.
Speaker 2:That's what they call my attention well, it's kind of like march madness people pay attention in the bracket when it happens because people love the playoff feel of that bracket. They love watching how that thing shakes out.
Speaker 1:So it's definitely, it's definitely worth all the, all the bracket drama, the coming together of many teams from across nations and municipalities I think I said that correctly to have a competitive competition. Yeah, you know just, it really draws in the crowd Like so when are we going on to next from here? Hockey's doing great. We got a great postseason coming up. We got some MLB on the table, don't we Mike? Yeah, we got some news, because they're rolling hot and heavy right now. They just basically do they call it kickoff in hockey when they start the season. No, I mean baseball. Sorry, my head's all over the place. Whoa, you're still up.
Speaker 2:No in hockey, you're dropping the puck.
Speaker 1:Stay on this roller coaster with me, trust me.
Speaker 2:Baseball, you just throw the pitch. Stay on this roller coaster with me. Trust me, baseball, you just throw the pitch, that's right, anyway. So moving on to baseball Baseball. Vladimir Guerrero Jr has accomplished something that his dad never did, and that is the Blue Jays' first baseman. Just agreed to a 14-year extension worth half a billion dollars, that's billion with a B.
Speaker 1:Does that make him the highest paid player in the MLB right now, or does that still belong to Shohei?
Speaker 2:Shohei Shohei. Well, Shohei isn't the highest paid right now because he took deferred payments, so he's really only making about $2 million a year. Right now, the highest player in the MLB is Juan Soto of the Mets.
Speaker 1:Juan Soto of the Mets, yeah.
Speaker 2:So right now this won't make him the highest paid player because Soto's contract is shorter. It's 10 years. Yeah, so it's shorter. So the life and money over the contract it probably makes him the highest paid first baseman. But they finally locked him up. Remember we had a discussion where we said I don't know if he's going to be on the team next year, I don't know if he's going to hit free agency and people are going to take a shot at him, and I even said this would be a guy that the Yankees would certainly try to pick up. But that's not going to happen now. The Yankees have to see this guy for the next 14 years, presumably.
Speaker 1:God you know I thought it was bad being in high school or college where you're like man. I got to see this guy for the next few years. Imagine having to face unwanted competition for the better part of a decade or longer Like man. This guy is here and likely not going anywhere. I don't want to face this guy every year multiple times.
Speaker 2:Unless they trade him. But yeah, and speaking of trades, milwaukee actually made a trade recently. They made a trade for 24-year-old right-hander Quinn I think this is Priester, priester, prestor. They sent him the number 7 prospect and they send their number 7 prospect an outfielder, yoferi Rodriguez.
Speaker 2:Sorry guys, I have some motor speech problems tonight to the red sox plus draft compensate, compensation, uh, balance, round a and player to be named later. So the red sox basically give a up-and-coming pitcher to a pitcher needyedy Milwaukee team. So that works out for both teams because they're getting the number seven prospect in the MLB pipeline. When you start cracking the top ten, these are guys that will be contributing soon in the major leagues.
Speaker 2:So this really might turn out to be one of those deals where we look back on it and we go, man, you see that player that they just, they just got. You'll go back and look at the deal and be like, yeah, who did they, who'd they get for him?
Speaker 1:maybe they'll, maybe he'll get traded back for himself. They'll.
Speaker 2:They'll add hey compensation that that's happened before. It has happened before.
Speaker 1:It has, hasn't it? We talked about that a couple weeks ago. That was kind of funny yeah we did. Going down here next up what we've got Miami Marlins.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, they had some news Tuesday. Look, this was an outstanding play, woo, this guy. Tuesday, the Miami Marlins. They had a very cold game. They moved this game up because of how cold it was. They didn't want to play at night because of how temperatures were dropping, which is weird to say in a baseball game. So they moved the game up. Unfortunately, miami felt the loss because they lost 10-5. But, man, they've got to have some warm feelings for what they feel for their center fielder, derrick Hill. Derrick Hill made an outstanding play. Bases are loaded. Bases are loaded. Two outs Right. The guy at bat hits the ball deep left center field into the wind and he, derrick, just runs. He just takes off running as fast as he can. He realizes I gotta go for it, yeah, and he dives I mean full-on superman dives full stretch.
Speaker 1:the knees were locked, the elbows were locked, the hips was locked. This man was a plank laid out flat. Look he dives Full stretch. The knees were locked, the elbows were locked, the hips were locked. This man was a plank laid out flat.
Speaker 2:Look, he dives for the ball, gets the ball and immediately holds it up, like I got the ball Still laying on the ground because he hit the ground hard but he went full out and he saved Guaranteed he saved three runs on that play. Oh, yeah, yeah, because the bases would have been cleared.
Speaker 1:Huge play and he had a big night. He had a home run in. He had a hitter with two run ins that night too, so he had a good time batting as well. He had an all-around decent night.
Speaker 2:The Miami Marlins are a team that you might not want to sleep on because they've been playing some good ball.
Speaker 1:They really have.
Speaker 2:I mean despite the loss to the Mets. I mean, the Mets have been doing all right themselves. But moving on to a bit of injury news and ailments, so starter Blake Snell, who was a recent add for the Dodgers this offseason was considered one of the top free agent starting pitchers. He has hit the 15-day injured list with left shoulder inflammation ahead of the Sunday's 8-7 loss to the Phillies at Citizen Bank Park. So interesting though I mean because people were talking, hey, can this you know crazy built team go undefeated? And it's like, okay, nobody's ever gone undefeated. But they were joking around like, oh, this team's going to go 162-0. No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:That's never going to happen.
Speaker 2:But funny that they were playing the Phillies, because earlier this week we got comments out of Bryce Harper of the Phillies, the first baseman for the Phillies. He basically said that if you're crying over this super team, then it's the wrong mentality to have. And I kind of have to balk back at Bryce Harper a little bit because, bro, isn't that exactly what you did like? Look, okay, understand that the Phillies team is built up of almost no players that they developed. They have literally either traded for or signed almost every player on their starting lineup.
Speaker 1:Making them scraps.
Speaker 2:So Trey Turner he was with the Washington Nationals when he came up. Then he went to the Dodgers and then, in free agency, signed with the Phillies. Bryce Harper was with the Washington Nationals. He went to free agency and signed with the Phillies. Kyle Schwarber was with the Cubs, was a free agent and signed with the Phillies, Then their catcher, JT Rilamilto, they traded for. He is considered one of the best catchers in baseball and they have made him the highest paid catcher in baseball. He was with the Florida Marlins, they traded for him and now he's with the phillies, which his contract will be up at the end of this year. Noticing a theme brandon marsh traded for brandon marsh.
Speaker 2:There's, there's a pattern going here right, you're noticing that I'm saying that most of these players they have traded for, I mean a Alex Boehm homegrown, but they were ready to ship him out this offseason and their ace starting pitcher, zach Wheeler he was with the Mets Signed him in free agency.
Speaker 1:Well, they got to have something to sell to get all these people to come play for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're not afraid to throw around the dollars that's what it is, the dollars. They're out there. They're out there like somebody trying trying to play at the strip club. They just fanning out the making it rain.
Speaker 1:They just making it rain for free agents mike, I like how you said that, but but listen.
Speaker 2:but look, this is. This is, I think, partially some saltiness from the Phillies, because the Dodgers picked up all the free agents they wanted, so Harper's like damn it. I thought we were getting Blake Snell, nope, nope.
Speaker 1:He went to the Dodgers.
Speaker 2:I thought we were getting Tanner Scott Nope Signed with the Dodgers Nope. I thought we were getting Kirby Yates Nope Signed with the Dodgers Nope. I thought we were getting Kirby Yates Nope Signed with the Dodgers. I thought we were getting Tyusker Hernandez Nope, he signed with the Dodgers too.
Speaker 1:Sounds like you went to the wrong place, harper. You might want to jump ship yourself, bro.
Speaker 2:No, I'm just saying when you did the exact same thing that you're talking about, it's like I do remember, not very long ago, him playing for the net. So yeah, I mean like, and they were willing to make him one of the highest played players in the league and he decided no, I'm gonna go over here to the phillies instead of staying with the nationals, which which I find so great that the nationals won the world series the next year after that after he left.
Speaker 2:So it's just that is so excellent on so many levels like I'm gonna go here and play for a winner really and then they're gonna win, so yeah and hence you have one of the core reasons why I'm afraid to leave the Washington Commanders behind. Yeah, yeah, you stop being a fan of them.
Speaker 1:they'll win as soon as I stop being a fan, they'll immediately start winning, which they kind of are now. But anyway, back to baseball.
Speaker 2:Back on topic. Let's get back on topic. So the New York Yankees outfielder, cody Bellinger, has drawn a hard line in the sand against no more wings. He is not eating wings ever again. This man is wingless, so reason being you might have noticed he didn't start in the starting lineup recently, and that's because the wings he ate gave him food poisoning and he spent the better part in the bathroom, so he was not on the field because he wasn't getting out of the bathroom.
Speaker 1:This was part of a bigger conspiracy thing, wasn't it?
Speaker 2:No, no, this is just ate bad food and got sick, and so I can't blame him. I can't say, look, I think we've all eaten something and did not agree with us, and then we're like I ain't going there and again, I'm not eating that food from there for a while, Usually usually Mexican. No, for me it was McDonald's. I ate a McDonald's burger one time and immediately an hour afterwards I had to throw up McDonald's good old American Mexican.
Speaker 2:Now let me get one thing straight. I have nothing against McDonald's. I have nothing against McDonald's. I have eaten some of their food since, but for a while hell, no, I'm staying away. He just doesn't want to get sued.
Speaker 1:Forget them guys. No, no no. The golden arches. Yeah, my back's arching. Never mind, we don't even worry about this stuff.
Speaker 2:Anyway, what we got next on the issue. Good lord bro.
Speaker 1:The opposite direction, not the kind you're thinking of. Alright, alright, going on to Seattle here. Seattle-san Francisco went at it, swept by San Francisco, with a 5-4 walk-off loss in the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon. But far more concerning of that match, that was Victor Robles.
Speaker 2:Robles.
Speaker 1:Robles was carted off. Leave it to me to completely botch today, which is weird because in real life I'm good with that. Anyway, Victor Robles was carted off field with an apparent left shoulder injury after covering 113 feet in 6.2 seconds, diving into the fence and making a remarkable grab. This guy has Dukes of Hazzard written all over him.
Speaker 2:So what they found out is the left shoulder was dislocated, causing a small fracture in his shoulder. So he's going to miss a little bit of time. But you know he's a former Nationals player that you know. He's known for his glove and man, he just went for it. You know Can't really be mad at it because he went for the play, he made the play and had he not caught it probably would have been some runs scored. But a guy was on first and he tagged up and went all the way to third because he was down and he was just like look, I know I'm hurt. He literally like hand-slapped the ball to get it into the infield. Hand slap the ball to get it into the infield. Like, if you get a chance, just go look up this Victor Robles play and I guarantee you will not be disappointed. You're going to be like, oh my God, and that's baseball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, You're going to see the play and just be like, oh my God.
Speaker 2:Is he okay? No, he's not okay. But to see the play and just be like, oh my God, Is he okay? No, he's not okay, but he made the play.
Speaker 1:Two major plays, him and the Derek Hall play, as we just mentioned before.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and actually, speaking of that Derek play, one of his teammates made a similar play the next game. So I mean you got Marlins players in the outfield making diving plays left and right. So, yep man, what a time, what a time.
Speaker 1:What a time, man, as we moved into the next sport here. The nba is getting hot. We got a little bit of feel-good news for you, mike.
Speaker 2:You want to lead us in with this one, bro yeah, yeah, uh, so oftentimes, you know, some of these feel good stories don't really, uh, don't really get a lot of limelight, and we're gonna shine a little light to this one. Uh, as we, as we all know, lonzo ball has had some knee issues and here you know he had. Well, it's known that he's had knee issues, but this isn't recent that he's had knee surgery, but he had cartilage replaced in his knee and the cartilage came from a donor. So he had the ability to meet with the donor's family, because oftentimes when somebody is donating organs or donating cartilage, it's because they've passed.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, in this case, recently, when the Bulls were playing the Miami Heat, the mother, father and older and younger brother of the deceased got to meet with him, the person being Lonzo Ball. So the family got to meet with Lonzo Ball. The guy who made the donation was Alex Reinhardt. He was from Dakota Dunes, south Dakota. He was only 20 years old and died back in February of 2023, at which point Lonzo Ball was given the donation of cartilage for his knees, and the family said it's extremely emotional, so much happiness has come with it too. All the people are like they're meeting a lot of these people. They have had donations from or their donations have gone to. People have asked to meet them and they're being met with a lot of joy, and Lonzo's no different.
Speaker 2:He really wanted to meet them and say thank you and, and you know, kind of wish them a little bit of condolences, because I mean again, if you're getting a donation of any kind of body yeah organ, it's because the person passed away yeah, so most of the time, yeah, it's and, you know, for somebody who's only 20 years old, I mean they did say that the the guy was an avid sports guy himself like he. He, you know, did wrestling and football and was, you know, into skiing and and tubing, so like he was an active guy himself. So now that his ligaments are in a professional athlete's knee helping him continue his career, it's kind of a. It's kind of one of those like where it sucks, but at the same time it's kind of a it's a good thing it's kind of a bittersweet thing, you know, mr alex reinhardt, you know god rest your soul.
Speaker 1:Um and again, thoughts and prayer, thoughts and prayers out to you and your family. But this is definitely a feel-good story because, you know, he probably never thought he'd be part of the nba and now he kind of is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he kind of, in a way he is and you know, for his family. Think about the fact that the amount of people their, their son has you know, affected like yeah, in one in one way or another, either whether it's, you know, given some of the ability to move again, like lonzo, or the ultimate where you've given somebody a second chance on life and I gotta in one way or another. Whether it's giving someone the ability to move again, like Alonzo, or the ultimate where you've given somebody a second chance on life.
Speaker 1:And I really like how appreciative and the gratitude from Alonzo Ball's side as well.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, he made it a point that he wanted to meet him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is about his career and he knows he might not go much farther without this donation, so I like that he's taken his time to really appreciate them and recognize them as well.
Speaker 2:And side note, bulls did win that game against Miami. Yeah, fuck the Bulls, so that helps them.
Speaker 1:Excuse my language, but I can't believe I said that.
Speaker 2:That helps them in the playoffs. You know, as far as positioning in the playoffs.
Speaker 1:Position, Assume the position, and before we get into the NBA playoffs, we'll just talk about hey. If you're not already aware, LeBron James is one of the biggest freaks of nature, not just as an athlete, but specifically in the NBA. He now passes Kareem.
Speaker 2:Abdul-Jabbar.
Speaker 1:Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Why did you just assume I was going to mess it up? It's so weird. Anyway, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the second all-time in NBA games played, he is now only 51 games from surpassing Robert Parrish for the number one all-time NBA games played. This is an absolute incredible feat. I don't even know where Jordan falls in this stat.
Speaker 2:I didn't even know, oh, he's not nearly as far up, I don't even think he's close. Well, keep in mind, though in Jordan's day, people didn't play nearly as long.
Speaker 1:They didn't have the number of teams they have.
Speaker 2:He did take a break to go play baseball, although I kind of heard rumors that part of that was he was found gambling and the compromise was go play baseball and then come back.
Speaker 1:There's plenty of rumors about that and you know, despite those things, do you know the owner of the Bulls? They still paid his NBA check while he toyed with the MLB. Yeah, so I thought that was another incredible fact, you know, just another sign of not letting people fail. Yeah, that's huge in today's world. So congratulations, Mr LeBron James, on another record in his armoire of records. Now, Mike, sorry I didn't mean to touch you like that Are you ready to talk about some NBA playoff, some NBA championships? Are you ready to talk about the cream of the crop?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Get to it.
Speaker 1:All right, let's rock and roll here. Okay, updating the bracket from last week. It's really not a whole lot different. There's really only two changes here, guys. Yeah, for the east side, the Bucs and and the pistons have switched place. The bucks now sitting in number five, the pistons dropped down to number six. Over on the west side, slightly higher repercussions as the warriors and the clippers trade places. Warriors getting knocked down to seven, clippers jumping up to five, everybody else still where we left them a week ago.
Speaker 2:So the Warriors are now in the play-in game scenarios and you missed one. With that win against Miami, the Bulls moved to the nine and then Miami are now down into the 10 spot. Doesn't really change much, but you know.
Speaker 1:Oh, I thought that was already like that last week, though the Bulls were at number nine, number 10.
Speaker 2:We'll visit that later. Yeah, but they just beat them, so now they moved up.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you're right. Now they moved up, they're going okay cool, I see what you're saying.
Speaker 2:They're still playing each other, but they swapped positions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, pretty much Okay. So yeah, they're 9 instead of 10. It's cool, yeah, I see what you're saying there. Yeah, kind of important, that is a good one. But you know, for the playoff bracket, kind of still sitting where it's at here, largely, you know, not a whole lot of variation.
Speaker 2:You know what I find very interesting about the bracket.
Speaker 1:What's that? The number four spot in the West, the Nuggets.
Speaker 2:You know what that is interesting, I'll let you take that one, because this is kind of flabbergasting to me. So Tuesday afternoon we were hit with kind of a shocker for most people. The Nuggets decided, who are now in the fourth spot in the West, so they're going to be in the playoffs. They're in the fourth spot, and yet they fired their coach, michael Malone, and fired their GM, calvin Booth, both Same day. They were like we're done with you all, we're tired of your crap.
Speaker 2:Now there has been more to come out since this firing and what we're hearing is that the GM and the coach were having a lot of back and forth about how the team was being used and the minutes being played by some of the younger players and Coach Malone not playing the younger players and doing heavy minutes on some of the older starters, older players. But at the same time there was also talks of Malone having some issues with the locker room and how he's utilizing some of his players. So I think this might be, even though he is the most winning coach for the Nuggets in their history and he has won an NBA title for them recently, they're like we're done. Bye, bye, felicia.
Speaker 1:Bye, Felicia. They're like go on, get, get out of here Now if the Nuggets currently sitting at number four in the West, if they go on to now get out of here now, if the nuggets currently sitting at number four in the west, if they go on to make the finals even if they don't win it look, I don't feel as confident now in my selection of the nuggets being the team that's going to be upsetting people with, you know, them firing their coach and they're having issues with players yeah down with murray, you know just kind of flabbergasting there.
Speaker 1:I still I wouldn't have did it Look.
Speaker 2:I'm going to have to switch my pick up now because I've got to choose a different team if the Nuggets are going to be playing like that now.
Speaker 1:Honestly I've got to say Nuggets aside and I love chicken nuggets it's really hard not to be in.
Speaker 2:OKC's corner right now. I don't think it's because of chicken nuggets, I think it's because of gold nuggets man. It's kind of why they have the pickaxe in their logo.
Speaker 1:Look, man, don't judge me. I saw nuggets. I thought of Wendy's. I like chicken nuggets.
Speaker 2:That's all that matters Gold nuggets kind of look like Wendy's nuggets too. So so what you're saying is, your inner fat kid came out did.
Speaker 1:But it's hard not to be an okc's corner, because they might legitimately be the best team statistically ever right now. I mean, not only are they outscoring all their opponents by at least 12.6 per game, but they are also having a lot of success with not turning over the ball and a lot of success defensively too. So they have 5.3 fewer turnovers than everybody else in the league as well. So they are just playing clean basketball right now. They are as winning as winning comes.
Speaker 2:Think about this too. They're also double digits ahead of this number two spot, the Rockets. They're 14 games ahead of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's just crazy.
Speaker 2:They've won 14 more games.
Speaker 1:Now look, there's been teams 66-52, yeah.
Speaker 2:There's been teams with better records overall for the entirety of the season. But you can't look at this team and poo-poo on them for anything, because they've really been playing really great ball and they've been the team that all year long people have been like I don't know. I don't know if they're for real. Well, they're really young. You've been hearing all this back and forth where people are just doubting them, but they've been beating good teams.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they're showing it. And the only teams record-wise that even come close right now are sitting in the East the Celtics and the Cavaliers and they beat teams in the East and they beat them. And I like the Cavaliers a little more than the Celtics right here because they are the most effective shooting team ever right now.
Speaker 2:Well, but here's the thing Right now, the reigning champ is the Celtics.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know it's that you can't be the man. Until you beat the man. Right now, that team is the man. The Celtics is until somebody beats them and knocks them out they're, they're still in it, they still have their chance I was gonna say the cavaliers.
Speaker 1:I'll get to the celtics in just a second. The cavaliers lead the league in both three point rate and three point percentage. They are the best three point shot team in the league. The celtics have a lot of three point. They've had an uptick in three points which contributes to a lot of their success.
Speaker 2:Well, but the crazy thing is it's not necessarily their starters. Pritchard who comes off the bench. He's been nailing down some threes. We covered where he had a big game recently where he was dropping threes like crazy and he's probably going to be sixth man of the year. But you can't. You can't just in the playoffs. You need everybody to contribute. You can't go into the playoffs and not get contributions from your bench yeah and the celtics have proven their bench performs now.
Speaker 2:So does OKC. Okc, their bench performs quite well. So does the Cavs. The Cavs, all the teams that are that are in the top spot with, with the one exception being the Rockets. The Rockets, they're super young and I don't think they're nearly as as deep on their bench as the celtics, the calves or okc yeah, they're so they're gonna have to get hot and play their style of ball in order to get past some of these teams yeah, I I agree with you.
Speaker 1:I think the rock is. They just don't have the experience, but I do think they have the ability to stay fresh in their rotation and we saw this in the march madness tournament, which we'll get to in a little bit. Uh, being able to keep your players fresh and your players coming off the bench effective is a big part of winning in basketball. Of course so it's not just about your starters, like you said. Uh, your bench player has got to be effective. They got to be ready to go too.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes and uh. Speaking of players ready to go, um, and me changing up my selection, I think I'm gonna kind of switch over to the lakers, probably having a good chance to surprise some folks. I'm gonna move over to that, and that's mainly because of you know just how well we've been seeing Luka perform now with them, which, speaking of which, last night he had a 45-point game against his former team.
Speaker 1:They played against the he had Go ahead.
Speaker 2:This is funny. He shows up for this game and he knows they're going to do something special. They're going to do a little tribute and the Dallas fans are showing up in Laker-Luca jerseys. And there was actually a guy who actually ran laps around the stadium. He did 77, luca's number 77 laps around the stadium before the game.
Speaker 1:So you know, talk about some some uh voodoo.
Speaker 2:Juju magic over here like doing some saltiness, and well they they put t-shirts on all the seats for for the fans that said thank you. Uh, it was like thank you, luka, but it said it in Slovenia, so which is an awesome Slovakian. Which is okay, which is awesome.
Speaker 1:We go back and forth on it, we both.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Look either way, I'm bad with names, you're bad with words, anyway. Anyway, luka was very touched by it. As a matter of fact, he was trying to hold back tears, and they even at the postgame. This reporter just kept asking him questions, like trying to get him to cry. The producer had to be in the ear like he hasn't cried yet. Ask him another question about how emotional it is. No, ask him another one. No, another one. We need him to cry.
Speaker 1:Get the man to cry come on, where's eli manning when we need somebody to cry? Come on, guys, anyway no, uh, yeah, obviously very emotional for luco to come back, uh, but not emotional enough to knock that chip off his shoulder. Like you said, a 45 point game oh, that's a's a wowser, considering, uh, the Lakers only put up 112 points to to account for almost 50% of your team's.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean I think 31 of that was in the first half, so yeah, I mean he really he put them out in front and just kind of let the let the rest of the team, I mean 112 to 97 and the Mavs, you know, sitting at number 10.
Speaker 1:Sitting at number 10 right now trying to stay alive after the Luka trade.
Speaker 2:Which is saying something because they've been dealing with some major injuries.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they're not having, they're not doing terrible, but they're in the playoff conversation. But you know, 112-97, without that 45-point point game they just don't win that game.
Speaker 2:Just, just, just no way to say it yeah, but I mean you could, you could say it about any team really. If you take away the lead score and most score yeah you're gonna, you're gonna wind up having a losing team.
Speaker 1:But this lakers team is a little bit different, I think, than Lakers teams of old, because LeBron is not a homegrown Laker.
Speaker 2:Okay, he came from Miami, then bounced to the Cavs and now he's with the Lakers. I mean technically, neither was Kobe.
Speaker 1:Well, neither was Kobe.
Speaker 2:Well, because Kobe was drafted by the Hornets Yep because, Kobe was drafted by the Hornets, but they sent him over for Vlade Divac. Over to the Lakers.
Speaker 1:You know this Lakers team. Ever since they've added Luka, it just seems like it has an extra edge to it than they typically do.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, you're adding a premier player in the NBA to a team that already had LeBron James on it.
Speaker 1:And a couple other names as well.
Speaker 2:Well, albeit, lebron is not the LeBron of old. He does have that switch where if he needs to turn it up, he'll turn it up. But you know, he's kind of been looking for that guy that steps up, and AD did that last year but he was kind of hoping AD would that guy that steps up, and AD did that last year but he was kind of hoping AD would have done that a lot sooner and it just hadn't been that way. But we're getting the benefit of Luka being in his prime, playing with LeBron, who needs the rest and is able to get it because Luka can pick up the slack.
Speaker 1:And honestly you know.
Speaker 2:And that's not to take anything away from the other players.
Speaker 1:Hats off to them, because the Lakers are sitting at number three in the West and holding strong because they've got a good matchup with the Grizzlies coming up. I like the Lakers to win that. To be honest with you.
Speaker 2:Well, once we hit the playoffs, so yeah.
Speaker 1:Real quick before we move on. Right now, as it sits, who's your favorite to make the finals? Who's your two teams? Pick a team here. How about this? You pick a team from the East and I'll pick a team from the West. Unless you want it the other way, then we'll flip it to make the finals.
Speaker 2:Why don't you just choose your two teams you think is going?
Speaker 1:to make it and I'll choose my two. Okay, well, that makes it a little less fun, but we can do that. Let's see here, I'm sorry, in the West. Look, I really like the Rockets and I really would love to see them go, but I just don't think they're going to get even on a whim. I think this is OKC's West division all day long. I think OKC's going to lock that side up. Over here in the Easteltics are a strong team. They've been strong the last three seasons and obviously they won last year. Um, the cavaliers are up there, but I really like the bucks, as a sleeper team, to slide their way into the finals. I think we see a Thunder-Bucks finals this year.
Speaker 2:I agree with the Thunder.
Speaker 1:I believe the Thunder. Well, they gotta get by the Pacers who are notorious for playoff upset. So I give them that. But I like the Bucks. That might be a little bit more biased, but I'm taking the Bucks on the east side.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking we're seeing a Thunder Celtics final. That's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 1:That's very realistic. I think as well.
Speaker 2:But if I had to choose a team that will definitely do an upset in the first round, I think the Pistons will knock out the Knicks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, even with the Knicks coming back here recently, getting back to the Knicks of old.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but they're just not playing. I don't know, man they haven't beat the top teams in the East.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2:You're going to have a worn-down team because it's a tippity-do team. Where he plays all of his starters heavy minutes and then when they get in the playoffs they kind of collapse because they're not rested. Where he plays all of his starters heavy minutes and then when they get in the playoffs they kind of collapse because they're not rested.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll watch this matchup. Because Mike's taking the Pistons, I think I'm going to take the Knicks here we have ourselves in accord, we'll see. We'll see who wins that one there. Moving on, we're going to talk NCAA, Not 1A, not 3As AA.
Speaker 2:So here's the thing. So we've got to talk about these final games, like we had. Unfortunately, before we could have this next podcast, we had the Final Four and the Championship game. So we're going to start by talking about the Final Four. So the big, big upset or not really an upset per se, but I called this, I called this Duke-Houston game. I said don't sleep on Houston and their defense. And Duke has not played a defensive team like Houston yet, not in a while. And lo and behold what happens Duke gets knocked out. Duke gets knocked out by Houston.
Speaker 1:In the Final Four, the semifinals.
Speaker 2:What's crazy about this, though, is not necessarily what happened in the game, but what happened after the game. An alum tried to get on the court to celebrate with the team. Hakeem Olajuwon was trying to get on the court to celebrate with the team after beating Duke, and the security guards wouldn't let Hakeem Elijah on on the court.
Speaker 1:Look this man is a perennial all-star in the NBA. This is funny. I like stories like this.
Speaker 2:And he is not only a perennial all-star in the NBA, he's an alum. He's an alum of the school and he's there cheering the team on and the security guards not letting him up there. Look, this security guard is catching so many strays from people online. Like, how do you not let this man go celebrate? Like, come on, this older man is not going up there to cause some drama. He's even there with like a little bit of an entourage. You know, these people might be like you know who? This is right.
Speaker 1:Usually when people show up with an entourage, they automatically go in. Oh, this guy's got people, we'll walk them in.
Speaker 2:They wouldn't let them on the court to celebrate Dang. But you know, congrats to Houston that they made it into the final game and on the flip side had auburn against florida, which that game?
Speaker 1:the score does not tell you how that game really was because that game was so back and forth the whole game like it was great defense, great shots being put, yeah I gotta say I think I like this matchup a little better than the Houston-Duke matchup. No, that Houston-Duke game was pretty good that was pretty good, but just the shootout between Florida and Auburn.
Speaker 2:Florida won that game because they capitalized on the mistakes of Auburn. When Auburn took bad shots, they're immediately getting up court and making the shots of their own, and they were making theirs. That's why they got that lead towards the end of the game. Auburn just didn't have an answer. Like I said before, florida was too deep at every position. When they went to their bench it didn't really seem like they went to their bench because they were still getting good production out of even their bench players. So they won beating Auburn. Moving on to the final and I know most of us already know what happened we have Florida against Houston, which was an outstanding game, except for the fact that, you know, houston at one point had a 12-point lead in this game, so it was almost looking like it's their game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're winning this game. All they have to do is hold on to a 12-point lead. They just kept slipping man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they just started slipping.
Speaker 2:They kept making bad ball moves and they weren't working for the shot. It was like they were just kind of passing on the perimeter and they kept making bad ball moves and they weren't working for the shot. It was like they were just kind of passing on the perimeter and not really working into the paint, except for the last few seconds on the shot clock.
Speaker 1:You know another thing that really killed Houston Penalty shots. They floated Florida with penalty shots. Florida was able to get back in that game because of penalties.
Speaker 2:And it wasn't because of penalties and it wasn't because of their star player through most of this, clayton, he had a bad game. It wasn't him, it was the rest of the team, the rest of the team was picking up the slack.
Speaker 1:Especially in the second half, houston really just seemed to start to unravel. They played overall solid ball, but their, their defense slipped. They gave up one or two uh, you know quick shots. They were fouling, like you could see. They were gassed, they were just they were not really holding it together very well and they just let the gators slip on in and lock it down well, and and the crazy part was the last play.
Speaker 2:You you probably saw the last play and you probably thought what is going on because like the player.
Speaker 2:He looked like he was putting up a shot, but he didn't put up the shot and he wasn't blocked. What happened was is he lost the handle of the ball and you could see the ball bouncing next to him and you're like get the ball, grab it. But here's the thing If he would have grabbed that ball, it would have been a penalty, Double dribble, Yep. So he couldn't touch the ball and he's waiting just looking at this ball bouncing and going. Please let one of my teammates grab this ball. Nope, Florida player comes diving in and grabs it and it's over, because they have the ball and time is up and then they had houston, had that huge out of bounds towards the end there gave the ball to gators.
Speaker 1:They drove right down.
Speaker 2:The court put it back in yep, where they're, where the player was driving and it went off of him.
Speaker 1:It just seemed like once florida realized they had a shot, especially in the second half, you could see they kind of just turned it up.
Speaker 2:You could see where these two teams were playing some outstanding defense, but one team kept playing outstanding defense and that was Florida.
Speaker 1:What do I always say?
Speaker 2:Florida came up clutch with their defensive play in the end and again they capitalized when needed and they, just they, they, they had to claw their way back in. Like I said, they were down 12 points, which in college you know that's almost a guarantee is you just play mediocre, you're going to win the game oh yeah, by the way, this was a relatively low scoring game in the grand scheme of basketball games 65 to 63.
Speaker 1:Most your games are ending in the 80s, 70s to 80s range at the low on a low.
Speaker 2:This was a really low score we got. We got like the two best defensive teams. Yeah, in the tournament in the final game figure, the teams that play the best defense are in the final game.
Speaker 1:And what do I always say, mike? Well, there's one thing I always say. I have a second thing to add to it. Number one these two things that contribute to winning, especially winning championships. Number one the team that makes the least mistakes and, on the flip side, the team that takes advantage of the most opportunities.
Speaker 2:Well, and that kind of goes to what? Oh dang it. Why am I forgetting his name? Former coach of the Cowboys was the one that coached him during the 90s and won a bunch of their championships for him. Jimmy Johnson, jimmy.
Speaker 1:Johnson, I was just about to say it. These are the moments that I hate, because we know these names, but when you need it, it's just not there.
Speaker 2:So Jimmy Johnson always said it's not about how many big plays you make, it's how many mistakes you don't.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:And that's. You know. Kudos to him because that's a darn good saying, and it's true. It's true, you know. Kudos to him because that's a darn good saying, and it's true. It's true. It's the team that makes the less amount of mistakes that usually winds up winning these games like this. And kudos to Florida, because they made less mistakes at the end.
Speaker 1:And one more congratulations to Florida. They had another accomplishment here, specifically for their head coach, todd Golden, 39 years old. He is the youngest head coach to win a national championship since Jim Valvano in 1983, and Valvano was 37 back then.
Speaker 2:Oh man.
Speaker 1:So that was via the Florida Gators men's basketball Facebook page, so I thought that was a really interesting stat as well. So you're seeing a lot of not just young players in collegiate and professional sports, but you're seeing a lot of young and up-and-coming coaches as well have success. So that's another good sign for these sports.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you said Jim Valvano, it just makes me think of his passionate speech he made by the way.
Speaker 1:1983 was 40 years ago, yeah, 30 years ago.
Speaker 2:Well, those of you that don't know, jim Valvano passed away from cancer and he has a foundation, the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research, and he gave an impassionate speech, I believe, at what is now the SBs. He just kind of got up there and said I may never see it in my lifetime, but maybe this research will help save your children or your children's children. It's a really good speech. If you ever get a chance and you just want to hear somebody give a really good speech, if you ever get a chance and you just want to hear somebody give a really good speech, just look up Jimmy V's speech on cancer. It's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1:God rest his soul, by the way. Here we go. Who's ready for NFL time?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean we're moving closer to the draft. I mean we got some nfl news I'm talking about the conversational piece.
Speaker 1:It's time we're skipping fun facts. We don't have many of those. They suck anyway so we're moving into our flagship sport which, honestly you know, hockey, baseball and basketball are catching up to our flagship sport and our knowledge of them. But NFL football is really our flagship sport to talk about here. Who's ready to talk about some draft time? Draft time A little less exciting, not quite football time but it's still a little bit of football you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Look me personally. I love the draft and I look For analytical guys.
Speaker 1:This is it.
Speaker 2:Look, I am that nerd that will sit there and watch the entire draft All three days.
Speaker 2:I will watch every single pick and I have literally watched these games, seen these players named and you know everybody watches it and they think, oh yeah, that guy's going to be great, but you just don't know. I mean, for Christ's sakes, you get the Tom Brady's in the later rounds, you get the George Kittles, the Brock Purdy's, you know, in the later rounds. So, like people who only watch the very first round, you're not getting the full experience. You're not getting to see these players that like, oh man, I like watching it because a lot of times if these players don't pan out with that team, yeah, they get into free agency and then they wind up in your team and it works out. So I mean, I, I just love it. I love watching the drama, I love watching the movement, the behind the scenes. It's really good.
Speaker 2:There's a really good documentary about the 83 draft and it basically covers Elway to Marino and that's actually what it's called. From Elway to Marino and that's actually what it's called from Elway to Marino. Watch that and get an idea of all the things that goes on behind the scenes on a draft day and hear the things that almost happened, that didn't happen. Like case in point, pittsburgh almost drafted Dan Marino, pittsburgh native or Pennsylvania native, who could have been with the Pittsburgh Steelers if it wasn't for the fact that they had Terry Bradshaw and they drafted a guy with the nickname Senior Sack. And don't get me wrong, this guy, look, this guy was an outstanding player. He had speed, he had power. I watched a clip of a highlight of him where he runs down a guy 60 yards downfield and he's no little guy, right. So you're going run down somebody as a bigger dude, like a middle linebacker, edge rusher. You go run down a guy downfield, 60 yards downfield, you're moving right.
Speaker 1:It's funny you talk about the draft because while you're talking about this, I have a thought and it's totally left field. Bill Belichick he said he regrets not drafting Lamar Jackson when he had a chance.
Speaker 2:I bet he does.
Speaker 1:You know who he drafted instead Running back Sonny Michel. You know where he's at right now Out of the league.
Speaker 2:Neither do I he's out of the league. He is Because, well one he retired, but running backs, usually three years and they're done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, three to four years. Yeah, unless you're like, I don't know, adrian peterson or frank gore, frank gore, or you know, here's some other good ones.
Speaker 2:emmett smith yeah, you know guys that last, that last for a long time, but it's few and far in between because you know running back you got knee ankle injuries.
Speaker 1:Terrell Davis.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Terrell Davis was a flash in the pan, but he was great.
Speaker 1:You know, like one that comes to mind from Arian Foster like he came out of the gates, he was a great back and then just like hamstring injuries and just soft muscle injuries just kept screwing him up and railing his career and eventually ended his career but he was a big household name for a little bit and now hardly anybody remembers I love, I loved his commercial.
Speaker 2:He had a commercial one time, I believe it was. It was for monday night football and he's like sitting down to read a story to his daughter or son. And he's like, and he opens up and once upon a time there was a little girl, she was a princess and she got married and happily ever after closes the book and the little girl goes. That's not how the story goes. Well, that's how it goes tonight. And he flicks off the light and walks out and it goes Monday night football.
Speaker 1:Monday night football Got to get to the game.
Speaker 2:That's how it goes tonight. That's how the story goes tonight, oh that's funny.
Speaker 1:That's funny. Oh man, real quickly getting in here just as some hypotheticals, as we're talking about the draft, do you think the Browns, if they pass on a quarterback, namely Shadur Sanders, do you think they tank for Archie Manning?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know. Okay, there's two scenarios here. Right, you're saying, would they tank to get Archie? It's possible. But here's the thing you don't know that Archie, for one, is going to even come out in next year's draft. Exactly so you could tank. And then he decides I'm staying another year.
Speaker 1:It seems like every year is a tank for the Browns, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2:Some things stand true and, yes, it does seem like the Browns are always there. But no, no, no, listen. So they have a great situation here. Right, we've kind of already figured out Cam Ward's going to be the number one pick, so, which means they get their pick on what they want. They can either go and get Abdul Carter, who's probably the best pass rusher in this draft, or they can go and get shadour sanders.
Speaker 2:you know, kind of a b quarterback by most accounts, or they can go ahead and get the best corner combo wide receiver in the draft. Oh, go ahead. You look like you know who I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:His name just slipped my mind. You put me on the spotlight. I know it's Travis. His name just slipped my mind. I know his name very well Travis Hunter. Travis Hunter. I'm a very big fan of his, to be honest with you, maybe even more than Shander Sanders. I honestly think Travis Hunter, if not the best, might be one of the best prospects in the draft, just straight up.
Speaker 2:I honestly think that you could see a scenario where they do draft either one of those without drafting Shador and they move back up and draft Shador anyway. I could see a scenario where they work a trade and get back into the first round and get them Shador anyway.
Speaker 1:Do you think the Titans really pull the trigger on?
Speaker 2:You don't cancel meetings with Shador Sanders and other possible prospects if you don't already know what you're doing.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I can agree with you. They're not really wanting and dining him or anything like that, like you normally see.
Speaker 2:And they're not going to come out and say the NFL does not want their teams to just flat out say this is who we're going for.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not coming out period. I mean, look, we've all been part of those drafts where you know it's, it's a hundred percent. There's no way this is not happening like the trevor lawrence draft.
Speaker 1:Everybody knew trevor lawrence was going number one, that was a no-brainer he was the only quarterback in that draft, though really worth looking at I don't know I'd have to go back and look at the draft.
Speaker 2:He was the only.
Speaker 1:I mean, there were a couple other quarterbacks in that draft, but he was the top tier, like he was the only one worth looking at not anymore.
Speaker 1:I mean, like at the time, look at what he's done well, honestly I I could disagree a little bit, because sunshine has not done a bad job in Jacksonville. He's been through a couple coaches, been through some personnel. He's never really had the personnel around him or the protection, for that matter. But honestly, if you look at his stats, he really is. He could be better. He's not a bad quarterback.
Speaker 2:You could do worse and honestly I think I mean okay, if you're going to go by that standard, you could do worse. Of course you could do worse.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't mean to say to do worse, as in he's bad. I actually think Trevor Lawrence is actually a good quarterback, he's just not. The Jaguars are a difficult situation to win in, just like the Browns.
Speaker 2:So I got a better question, because I mean, realistically, the conversation right now for most of these teams who need a quarterback is are they taking Shador? Because you could say the Browns, the Giants, the Giants, the Jets, the Saints, the Raiders, you could all say that all these teams could be going after him and they all hold high draft spots in the top 10, so there is a likelihood that they might all get a chance, they might all have the ability to go after these guys. So to me, I think there's a possibility he does get drafted within the top 10 picks.
Speaker 1:But you know You're talking about Shador.
Speaker 2:Yeah, shador, now I don't think the Browns are going to take him. Now I don't think the Browns are going to take him. But the Browns have done things in the past. That everybody goes, what the hell?
Speaker 1:Why are they the Browns?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean they drafted Baker Mayfield and that actually turned out to be the right decision for them. I mean they could have had Josh Allen, but nobody really knew what Josh Allen would become Josh Allen until he did the things he did, until he did the thing.
Speaker 2:But I'm kind of at a point now where you're hearing these things and you're starting to hear them from multiple sources or multiple so-called draft experts where they think Shador is going to slip. And it very well could be possible, because you could almost make a scenario for all of these teams where they don't draft Shador Now. He could slide as far down as 21 to the Steelers and you know the Steelers will take him because they need something.
Speaker 1:I think if the Giants don't take Shadur, I think Shadur slides man Just looking at it right.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean he could wind up with Oakland or the Jets.
Speaker 1:I don't see the Jets taking him. Honestly, I think he slips out of the top 10. If the Giants don't take him, I think he slips out of the top 10. If the Giants don't take him, I think he slips out of the top 10. And that's not really a knock on him. I just think, like you said, teams just really aren't sold on him right now.
Speaker 2:Look, I look at Shador kind of like I do Brock Purdy, because he's got an elite processing ability, because he's processing on the fly.
Speaker 1:He is fast, he is fast.
Speaker 2:With processing. He's not necessarily fast as a runner. Well, yeah, he does try to extend plays. Yes, he does hold the ball a long time. But keep in mind he was trying to make things happen at Colorado State, you know, where he didn't have the best o-line, he didn't have the best running game, so it was a lot of open up wide and throw the ball. Yeah, but he showed time and time again he's accurate. Now one thing I can I can say with confidence being accurate and having an elite processor is a good thing in this league, because we've seen Brock Purdy have success with that. We've seen Joe Burrow have success with that. We've seen, because nobody will sit here and say that Joe Burrow has the strongest arm in the NFL. Nobody will say that because he doesn't.
Speaker 1:You'll say he's got a pretty strong arm though.
Speaker 2:He doesn't have a Josh Allen arm. He doesn't have a Josh Allen arm.
Speaker 1:He doesn't have a Justin Herbert arm.
Speaker 2:Both those guys could throw through a brick wall. Yeah, his receivers do have to slow up on deep, but what I'm saying is they have elite processing skills and they're accurate. In the NFL, the number one thing you want to see with any quarterback you want to see him accurate. If he cannot throw the ball accurately, I don't care how strong his arm is, because all that means to me is he's going to throw a strong pass, it's going to get tipped and he's going to get picked.
Speaker 1:Or worse. Well, pick is about as bad as it can get, yeah, or?
Speaker 2:it could be a pick six.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I like Shadur in New York. Well, they're both New York. I like Shadur with the Giants more than the Jets.
Speaker 2:I don't see them doing that. I don't see them picking him up.
Speaker 1:I don't see them doing it either, but I do like him more with the Giants than with the Jets. I don't think he lands with either team, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't think he lands up with either of those teams the only reason I see the Giants, and this is because of Brian Dable.
Speaker 1:I don't like Brian Dable. I just don't care about his coaching style that much. But the Giants and the Cowboys are desperate to keep up in the division.
Speaker 2:They're in win-now mode. They are in win-now mode. They can't risk having a rookie quarter. Look if they win games this year and players go down. Things happen that cause the team to kind of collapse a little. They can easily, easily go into next year's draft and pick up a quarterback in a much stronger quarterback draft and they can explain look, we got this guy, he's the new guy, we're going to develop him into being the guy for the team.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You can't do that if you go ahead and you get Shador but you're going to start Russell Wilson and you have Jameis and you have Tommy DeVito, you can't have four quarterbacks on the team, and especially right now.
Speaker 1:they are in a win now mode but it's a that's flabbergasting because they don't have anything to win with other than neighbors and a mediocre defense the defense is better. Better they had an above average secondary. They had a very good secondary, not so good on the defensive front, but their defense isn't bad. They're slightly above middle of the pack, but their offense was just atrocious.
Speaker 2:They didn't have much of a running game.
Speaker 1:There's that too.
Speaker 2:But what is this draft? Full of Running backs. They'll be able to pick up a running back. Run it back, my man, run it back.
Speaker 1:They'll be able to pick up a running back in the later rounds.
Speaker 2:Run it back, my man Run it back, so they'll be able to pick up a running game in this draft.
Speaker 1:But you need blocking too. You need an effective O-line?
Speaker 2:Yes, they do. You need an effective running backs coach. Yes, they do. And look, I'm not saying they have everything figured out. I just don't think, based on the things you're saying right now, you get Shador and you're going to put him behind a bad line and with no run game. Then what?
Speaker 1:Who's this guy? Jaden Daniels who?
Speaker 2:does he think he?
Speaker 1:is.
Speaker 2:Look, that wasn't a call for you to start talking about Washington again. Move on from Washington.
Speaker 1:The analogy is there, though. All the traits are there, but I agree with you, we can move down a little bit here. Who gives a fuck about the Giants anymore? What are the Patriots going to do at number four? Because they have a quarterback and Drake May and a brand new coach in Mike Ray?
Speaker 2:So they need pass rush. They need pass rush in the worst way.
Speaker 1:Paul.
Speaker 2:Abdu. So if Abdu'l-Kart is still there, they are 100% taking him. I don't see him getting past the Patriots and if he's not there, then they're probably going after Mason Graham. And you know, mason Graham is probably one of the better defensive tackles in the draft and if he is still there after the Patriots pick, the Jacksonville Jaguars definitely going to take him. I mean, look, mason Graham, if you need pass rush, anybody would be lucky to have him, can?
Speaker 1:you imagine if? Well, I see the Raiders. Some people projected them to take running back specifically GD, but could you imagine the Raiders flipping it up?
Speaker 2:Well, the Raiders at six.
Speaker 1:And they take Mason Graham, Say Mason Graham slips to six, and they pair Mason Graham with Mason Crosby which, by the way I just realized, they both share the same first name. Max Crosby. I always call him Mason because I'm an idiot.
Speaker 2:Well, look, I don't know that they're going to go that route because they really need a run game and Ashton Gentry is definitely one of the best running backs in this draft class and he showed it last year with what he was doing. That look, I know people have a problem with running backs being taken now high in the draft, which is so weird because it used to be. It'd be running back, running back, running back, running back. So I drafted.
Speaker 1:I think this is this is funny to me, right? So I, pete Carroll, is in Las Vegas, which is funny because marshawn lynch left seattle to go to las vegas and now pete carroll's there. I see, ashton gt is a very marshawn Lynch had some burst.
Speaker 2:Once he got through the line he had a little bit of burst, but he loved being that guy. That's a power.
Speaker 1:You don't remember the Marshawn rumble down the sidelines?
Speaker 2:I do remember the rumble. I watched the rumble live. I was like, oh my God, you're talking about Beastquake, beastquake, look, that was. And, funny enough, that was when they were 7-9, and they won the division and hosted the Saints, who had a better record, which nobody thought the Saints were going to go up into Seattle and lose, and they did. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 2:I saw a thing where he walked around New Orleans with a sign that said sorry about Beastquake.
Speaker 1:Oh Lord I love Marshawn.
Speaker 2:I mean as a 49er fan, to sit here and say that I like another team's player, like I liked him, but I hated watching him play against my team.
Speaker 1:I just like football in general. Speaking of the Jets man, we're on air on Rodgers Watch. We've been on Rodgers Watch for like four months now.
Speaker 2:Man. Don't even connect him with the Jets, because the team he's flirting with is the Steelers, you know ever since, like Rogers and Mike Tomlin made goo-goo eyes at each other when he was getting ready to leave Green Bay, and then he winds up going to the Jets.
Speaker 1:I think Rogers is going to sit the year out. I don't think he's going to land anywhere.
Speaker 2:Eh, I don't think so. I think he's just going to sit here and toy around until later in the offseason and then he'll sign somewhere. I think he's not even don't expect him to sign anywhere until late in the summer, so he can miss all the mandatory training, mandatory mini camps and camps and training camps, exactly.
Speaker 1:I mean, I do see that playing out as well, but I think he's between two worlds right now. Take a pay cut or hold out, for the pay Rodgers is all about the money. Let's just be real here.
Speaker 2:I don't know that it's a money thing as much as it is Rodgers' ego thing.
Speaker 1:Well, he wants to go somewhere, that's.
Speaker 2:Rodgers wants his ego stroked.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, he does want that. But I think he wants to go somewhere that feels like it's going to be a legitimate competitor, because he doesn't want to be a loser. But he thought that about the jets. He thought he could walk into the jets and do the tom brady thing that he did in tampa and just take him to the next level. But he didn't. He got injured for one in the first season rogers loves his ego.
Speaker 2:Stroke more than more than massage. Watson Massage Parlor.
Speaker 1:I'll agree with that.
Speaker 2:Like he gets pleasure in people talking about him.
Speaker 1:It should be almost just as damning. I mean that's why he's on Pat McAfee's show, that's why he always I realize I'm not trying to talk shit about Rogers- but he's always going into the darkness to find further thoughts on things.
Speaker 2:He's always on that show because Pat McAfee and AJ Hawk just agree with everything he says, instead of saying, bro, it's a little weird.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, pat McAfee, he just we don't need to talk. I mean, I don't have a problem with Pat McAfee, he does his thing.
Speaker 2:I don't either. I don't have a problem with either of them, I just like, sometimes you got to be a friend, sometimes you got to call a friend out. When they're being dumb, yeah, or when they're saying or doing something dumb, you're just going to be, like what?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's stupid. You do it to me live on air all the time and I appreciate it because it helps hard.
Speaker 2:It's hard to take me seriously sometimes and sometimes I just don't take it seriously, just over here joking around but speaking of speaking of stealers and uh, things being being a bit like causing stress for the fan base here recently, TJ Watt posting a picture of himself doing the peace sign with no context to it. Has Steeler fans like bro, what the hell.
Speaker 1:Maybe he wants world peace.
Speaker 2:Look, it's one of a few things it could be. I'm out of here. It could be, like you said, world peace.
Speaker 1:What was his face? What did his face look like?
Speaker 2:Well, it's an older photo he took. It's an older game photo. It's not a oh okay.
Speaker 1:Anyway, maybe it was a throwback Thursday moment. Today is Thursday.
Speaker 2:Well, some have speculated that. Think about what just happened recently with the Browns. Today is Thursday. Well, some have speculated that. Think about what just happened recently with the Browns their pass rusher got a huge payday where he's making $40 million, I mean, I guess if you can't win, you can at least get paid.
Speaker 2:I think that it might be a scenario where he's putting the two fingers up, making it seem like he wants out, because he's like, hey, let me get $1 more. You know, you know how these guys are. Oh, he's the best. You're paying him that much. Look, I'm better than him. You've got to pay me more.
Speaker 1:Sorry, mike, us hourly workers want one dollar more. These professional athletes want one million dollars more.
Speaker 2:Look look, I said it that way on purpose yeah, I said it that way, look look come on, put me at 30 an man, let me get it.
Speaker 1:Let me get that big 3-0.
Speaker 2:Look, this is how it is. You know, when you're the best player, or presumed best player, and one guy gets paid, then the next one wants the biggest deal they can get. So case in point this is why Dallas is in such an awful mess, because they wait and wait and wait and wait to pay their players and then, when it comes time, it's like, oh well, we can't do anything because we're paying that guy $60 million. We're paying that guy $40 million, oh, we're paying that guy. And it's like, oh damn, we can't buy anybody else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what is this? This fucking baseball, we can't buy anybody else. Yeah, and what is this? This is fucking baseball. We can't pay any more players. Come on now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because baseball doesn't have a salary cap and football does. Football has a salary cap which prevents them from being able to just build ultimate rosters. They just have to basically work the cap.
Speaker 1:We might dive into that next week. What if the NFL removed the salary cap? You guys go on our social media and let us know what you think about that one that's never going to happen. No, no but.
Speaker 2:Owners will never let that happen.
Speaker 1:We like to play what-ifs though.
Speaker 2:Owners will never let that happen, because then it's going to turn into these just beyond ridiculous contracts where players are going to be like you know, I want the Deshaun Watson, I want everything guaranteed.
Speaker 1:Real quick before we wrap up. We just got one piece for you. Carolina Panthers announced Monday they signed former college basketball player, Colin Granger, to a contract. The 6'9", 225 pound center will be a tight end as he attempts his first foray into football. Granger put together a five-year college basketball career that began with two seasons at Ohio University. Very sought-after, highly touted basketball talent now switching sports to play tight end. Is this guy's name Aaron Hernandez?
Speaker 2:Aaron Hernandez only played football and he wasn't a two-way star. I think you're thinking more along the lines of an Antonio Gates.
Speaker 1:Yeah, antonio Gates, that's what I'm thinking of.
Speaker 2:Or a Tony Gonzalez, both of which, who played collegiate basketball but made a bigger name at playing football at the tight end position. Absolutely Look. If he turns into a player of that caliber, home run all day for them.
Speaker 1:If that's the case, honestly, I see it happening, bro, I mean. I'd love for it to happen, but kudos to them for thinking outside the box.
Speaker 2:Look, this kind of stuff happens all the time. You see players picked up like this that are from other other sports and they don't have the same impact like sometimes. You can bring a player in from a different sport, teach them how to play and they take off, for whatever reason. They just they god-given ability or or whatever it may be. And then you have other other guys to try to take the same path and they don't. They don't hit, they don't have the same same magic you know. So it doesn't necessarily mean he has no shot. It just means he's gonna have to work that much harder to make it happen. But kudos to them and attempting to bring in a guy that they think has the ability to be that guy channeling their inner tim tebow, as I see look tim tebow, his career could have kept he could have kept going.
Speaker 2:if he would have given up trying to be a quarterback, if he would have decided to have been a fullback or a tight end, he would have had a longer career.
Speaker 1:Belichick wanted him to be a fullback or a tight end. I mean, he should have been a tight end. He would have been good and, yes, he would have kept his career going a little bit longer, but you know he stuck to his. His career going a little bit longer, but you know he stuck to his guns. He wanted to play quarterback. He's a quarterback in the NFL, not right now, but you know.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, he went to play baseball and was in the Mets organization for a while in the minor leagues, not even at AAA. He was down in, I think, aa ball.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think AA ball, yeah. So I mean, sometimes if you really want to stick around, you have to make the hard decision. You know, it's like okay case in point, like you see this sometimes, where a pitcher he'll lose his ability to locate the zone, yeah, and they'll send him down to the minors and he may bounce around from a team or two and then he decides, well, screw it, I'm not going to be a pitcher anymore, I'm going to be an outfielder. You know a player that comes to mind, rick Ann Keel. He was a former Cardinal, former Brave, former player for a lot of teams, but he was coming up and he was looking at being a really great pitching prospect and then all of a sudden, he could not find the zone. He was having the hardest time finding the zone. He goes down to the minors and decides to be an outfielder and he comes up and he becomes an all-star outfielder and actually I think he's. If I'm correct, he was the last player to hit for the cycle for the Braves.
Speaker 2:So, a little interesting tidbit there.
Speaker 1:We love that Going full circle, wound up in the NFL, could bring it back to the beginning of the show with the MLB. Thank you, everybody. That brings us to the end of our show. Once again, thank you for joining us, taking part in the conversation. Thank you for support. Find us on Facebook, instagram, any of your podcast streaming networks services.
Speaker 2:Pass the word along to others.
Speaker 1:Pass the word along to others. Once again, I'm Brian with an I.
Speaker 2:And I'm Mike.
Speaker 1:And we are Two for the Win.
Speaker 2:Thank you, everybody.