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 - E30 - Eastern Playoff Shakeup, NFL Schedule Release & General Shenanigans!
In our latest episode, we dive headfirst into the white-hot intensity of playoff season across multiple sports. The NHL playoffs have delivered unexpected twists, with the Edmonton Oilers establishing themselves as Stanley Cup favorites after dismantling the defending champion Golden Knights. Meanwhile, the Florida Panthers have roared back with three unanswered wins against Toronto, reminding everyone why they're the defending champions.
Baseball captures our attention with spectacular performances and historic moments. Yankees phenom Jasson Domínguez has etched his name alongside legends like DiMaggio and Mantle by becoming the youngest Yankee ever to hit three home runs in a game at just 22 years old. We explore MLB's fascinating decision to potentially open Hall of Fame doors for previously banned players like Pete Rose and members of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, which could reshape baseball's relationship with its complicated past.
The NBA playoffs have rekindled the physical intensity reminiscent of 1990s basketball, with underdog stories emerging as the fourth-seeded Pacers shocked the top-seeded Cavaliers. We break down the devastating Achilles injury to Celtics star Jayson Tatum and how it impacts Boston's championship hopes, while analyzing how the Thunder, Nuggets, and Timberwolves position themselves for conference supremacy.
We couldn't resist dissecting the freshly released NFL schedule, highlighting the brutal gauntlet awaiting the Cleveland Browns (facing six playoff teams in their first eight games) compared to relatively smoother paths for other contenders. Plus, we share the heartwarming story of Travis Hunter's humility during his journey from college graduation directly to Jaguars rookie minicamp, demonstrating why character matters alongside athletic talent.
Whether you're following championships being decided right now or looking ahead to football season, this episode delivers expert analysis, passionate debate, and the entertaining banter you've come to expect from Two for the Win. Join us as we celebrate what makes sports the perfect blend of human drama, athletic excellence, and unexpected storylines.
May 15th 2025. Welcome back everybody. We're right in the middle of springtime, on the cusp of summer. Thank you for joining us once again for another round of sports talk. I'm Brian with an eye and I'm Mike and we are two for the win. Mike, what's cooking tonight, bro?
Speaker 2:Well, it's a continued theme here. We're going to talk about some playoffs, because we still have the NHL and NBA playoffs still going. We're going to discuss some MLB action and you know we got our fix. You know the NFL is just giving us a little taste of NFL news and action. We got some.
Speaker 1:NFL fix tonight. We got some NFL fix and it's going to be good dessert tonight. Y'all stay tuned.
Speaker 2:NFL knows we're addicted to them.
Speaker 1:Addicted to your love.
Speaker 2:I was trying to sing a different song, but it didn't come out that way, didn't come out right.
Speaker 1:Those of you who know me know what song I was going for. Anyway, let's dive right on in here tonight just got a couple uh, you know personnel changes here for kicking off our talk about the nhl here. Uh, so foot hired as canucks coach replaces tuckett, connects connects tuckett. I don't think I said any of these names right, but you know what?
Speaker 1:the canucks have a new coach yeah, you know, words are hard and we're here anyway. So anyway, adam foot named head coach of vancouver canucks on wednesday, this past wednesday. Uh, he's 53 years old. He's replacing uh rick toket I hope I said that right. Uh, he stepped down as Canucks coach last April, so he was a Foote was an assistant in Vancouver for the past three seasons Vancouver, vancouver.
Speaker 2:Look man, it's.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's too early to be cursing Mike. All right, we're not going to do that right now.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, but we're going to get it right.
Speaker 1:We're not prepared for this level of insubordination. I just want we're going to get it right. We're not prepared for this level of insubordination.
Speaker 2:I just want to say that.
Speaker 1:Anyway, don't you all take it Anyway? So, congratulations, adam Foote becoming new head coach of the Canucks the Vancouver Canucks, if I said it right that time. Hopefully, whatevs. Anyway, the next piece of news, speaking of toket, my guy hired as flyers coach. These guys might be worse when the than the nfl when it comes to personnel, and you know, people switching teams, okay, uh, and he himself is replacing tortella, who, I am pretty sure red got a job somewhere else in the league. So, uh, that's that. You know I'm rather short, but that's what I got for coaching. Personnel changes in the nhl, especially while they're in the thick of playoff season, uh, well it just.
Speaker 2:It just shows in the nhl you're not without a job for too long. If you're an okay coach, yeah, I mean maybe it's just bad, you know.
Speaker 1:Maybe it's just bad chemistry. You know what I'm saying. Nobody's really a bad guy in the NHL, I guess.
Speaker 2:Well, no, they do have enforcers and most people. If it's not your team, you hate the enforcers.
Speaker 2:Speaking about enforcers let's talk about the NHL playoffs real quick and get you guys situated with what's happening right now. So right now in the West Winnipeg Jets are going against the Dallas Stars and Dallas is up in the series 3-1. They've kind of had a commanding lead in this series throughout. They don't look like they're struggling at all, but over in the other matchup recently, the Edmonton Oilers and the Las Vegas Golden Knights, that series is wrapped up.
Speaker 1:Oh, they're done. Talk about enforcers.
Speaker 2:Well, edmonton Oilers. They moved on after defeating the Golden Knights 4-1 in the series and a lot of people are picking Edmonton as the team that's going to win it all. And with the way they've been able to come back in games in this playoffs, I'm starting to believe. I'm starting to believe.
Speaker 1:You might be on to something there.
Speaker 2:Not only am I believing in that, but if we bounce over to the east right now remember we talked about how Toronto was up two to nothing in the series against the florida panthers it is not that way anymore the florida panthers have made a strong comeback. They actually won the last game six to one. So they're not only winning, they're. They're winning in commanding fashion so right now yeah, one more win and they're going to the Eastern Conference Championship.
Speaker 1:What's that? Three unanswered wins right there. I mean, come on, toronto, you started. Okay, I wouldn't call it strong.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we might be seeing them bounced out if Florida wins this next game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, talk about coming back with a wrath.
Speaker 2:So, speaking of a team that's on the verge of being bounced out, washington Capitals right now not looking so good against those Hurricanes. The Hurricanes are up three games to one and, I hate to say it, the Caps just don't look like they have it. I don't think they're going to win this series. I think they're out.
Speaker 1:It's been a good run. They did have a good season, set some records. Oh yeah, oh yeah. But yeah, this run tough, but they did have a good season, set some records.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, oh yeah. But yeah, this is, uh, this is shaping out to be a pretty good. Yeah, I can't wait to see how this shakes out.
Speaker 1:Obviously, edmonton's the first one to lock up the conference championship conference final um, and we'll see how it shakes out. Hey, with the other three matchups, we we have a good idea, probably, how two of those are gonna go.
Speaker 2:So I mean honestly, I would like to see the panthers make the stanley cup final again and I mean, take your pick, dallas or edmonton would be a good matchup against them.
Speaker 1:They either way yeah, I agree with that and honestly, I think I'm riding the panthers coattails on this one. They're my pick to go all the way.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, carolina's a very good team and they've been in the playoffs. It seems like every single year.
Speaker 1:Which shows I have a good eye for quality.
Speaker 2:then Well, the Panthers won it last year. So I mean, it's that old adage to be the champ, you've got to beat the champ Again greatness recognizes greatness, so obviously I would naturally pick the Panthers.
Speaker 1:So you're right, good job.
Speaker 2:Thank you, sir, okay, okay, yeah, we'll go with that.
Speaker 1:Even the system said bah.
Speaker 2:So, but moving right along, we're going to move on into baseball, and man, baseball is having walk-off wins and all kinds of wackiness.
Speaker 1:Go on right now and speaking walk-off wins.
Speaker 2:Speaking of wackiness, there was a play the other day in the red sox and tigers game. They were tied 5-5 and one of the tigers players hit a deep home what looked to be a home run ball about to go over the right field fence when the right fielder from the red socks goes up, goes after the ball and he doesn't catch it, but he almost tip, drills it over to the center fielder who just happened to be standing there and he grabs it on instinct and it's like like wait what?
Speaker 1:Little tip drill Little tip drill. Everybody loves little tip drill.
Speaker 2:Okay, I don't know what that is. It was the ice cream song.
Speaker 1:It was the ice cream song, but for tip drills.
Speaker 2:Okay, whatever.
Speaker 2:Anyway so, unfortunately for the Red Sox, they had that amazing play but they did not win the game. Tigers won that game and speaking of Tigers' wins, good job, tigers. Speaking of the Tigers getting wins, man their shortstop Baez. Javi Baez, he had himself a game the other day. He had two home runs in the game and the more important home run came in the 11th inning when he hit a three-run home run walk-off to send the Tigers home with the victory. So that's not a bad way to be. I mean, they won that game 10-9 against the Red Sox. Again, red Sox not doing so great against the Tigers in the.
Speaker 2:Tigers stadium. It's a good thing to see, because Javi Baez kind of disappeared a little bit after his Cubs days when they won the World Series. It's good to see him starting to come back into form. Speaking of players coming into form, uh hyasung kim so it's interesting because all the talk is about otani and him hitting home runs, but kim the other day hyasung kim finally got his home run.
Speaker 2:I I can say that one. Yes, you can. For those of you that don't know, he was a KBO star In case you don't know that KBO is the Korean Baseball League and he was really good in the KBO and he's been showing it here in the MLB. This is his first go-round with the MLB. He's been showing it here in the MLB. This is his first go-round with the MLB. In his last 11 games he has been 9 for 25 with a batting average of 360. He's earning his keep with the Dodgers.
Speaker 1:Congratulations to the game. Fun fact, mike Hyosung, although spelled slightly differently from our man Hyosung Kim, here is also a Korean motorcycle manufacturer, basically a knockoff of a kawasaki ninja.
Speaker 2:And there you have it okay anyway, but uh, moving back to the story, but he's not the only one that's having a good season for the Dodgers, or at least players from overseas. Yamamoto is having a darn good year. He's basically a Cy Young candidate already. I mean, the guy has an ERA under one and just people don't seem like they can hit him. It just doesn't seem like anybody's getting anything on him. So if he keeps that up we might be seeing a Cy Young go his way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man.
Speaker 2:But moving right along, we're going to talk about the Yankees and their star player who did something recently, and jason dominguez. So jason dominguez accomplished a feat, breaking an amazing record. Now this record was beat. This record has some clout because when you start lumping your name in with players like joe dimaggio- joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. Mickey Mantle. So you kind of get the idea of where this is going.
Speaker 2:Lunch no he's a young outfielder for the Yankees. He's their left-fielding phenom, but he set a record the other day. He is only 22 years old and 91 days old at the point when he accomplished the feat that he did so he is the only player to ever do it before turning 23. Right now, this kid he is, he has hit multiple home runs. And then I want to get the exact number. Sorry for my delay and not having the notes in front of me. Okay, we need stats, bro.
Speaker 1:Click, click, click, click, click. We need stats.
Speaker 2:Listen, he becomes the youngest player to hit three home runs in a game, and he accomplished this before his 23rd birthday Now. Previously, the record was held by Joe DiMaggio at 22 years and 200 days before he had his three-home run game. Mickey Mantle was 23 when he accomplished his three-home run game and Lou Gehrig was 24. He accomplished his three-home run game and Lou Gehrig was 24.
Speaker 1:So he is now the youngest Yankee to hit three home runs in a single game. I just want to say I'm really impressed that they had the day count, like it's not enough to just be 22. He was 22 in 200 days, like that's how close he was to 23.
Speaker 2:Right, that's how close he was to 23. Right, well, and the fact that we're talking about older baseball players because of him. I always like this, because baseball is great at referencing former players and giving them their due too. So you kind of get a little insight into players from the past and speaking of players from the past. A little insight into players from the past and speaking of players from the past, major League Baseball actually opened a path for players such as Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson to possibly have a chance to make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1:This is interesting. I read this. This is a good job right here.
Speaker 2:Here's the thing there's 17 players listed and some of them were part of the Black Sox scandal from 1919. For those of you that don't know, the White Sox in 1919 threw the World Series. They basically got bought off and they threw the World Series for a payout. When it was discovered, a lot of these guys were blackballed, they were thrown out of baseball and most of them were really good players and some of them, had they not done this, they would have been in the Hall of Fame. So, saying something, you basically gave up your opportunity.
Speaker 2:Now, pete Rose, on the other hand, he went the other route. He gambled on baseball openly Well, not openly. He didn't admit it until years later. But he got busted for betting on baseball and he got a lifetime ban. Well, technically, the lifetime ban did work, because Pete Rose is dead and they've opened it up and they're going to give him a chance.
Speaker 2:Now don't get this twisted. This does not mean that these guys are automatically going to the hall of fame. Does not mean that Most of the time, when you retire from baseball, it takes five years and then you're eligible for the hall of fame and then you only have a certain number of years you're on the ballot. Well, they're well beyond that point, and now what it takes is they need to be voted in by a committee that is built up off of former players, and they I forget what they call it, but they're not going to be eligible until like 2028, if they even get voted in, until like 2028, if they even get voted in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, usually what happens is, in these circumstances, they vote in players that are past the point where they could be on the ballot. All these players well past the point of being on the ballot, even pete rose. Now, granted, pete rose should be in based on his accomplishments, but you did break a rule, and then I think the only reason that he really got banned the way he did, and the reason they haven't brought him back, it's because he kind of acted like an ass he didn't really own up to it and be like look, I made a mistake, I'm sorry, and do some sort of fall on the sword.
Speaker 2:You know, saving grace. He just didn't. He just like no, I didn't do it, I didn't do it.
Speaker 1:I mean, hey, some people are like that, they'll take it with them to the grave.
Speaker 2:Well, he didn't admit to doing it until he put out a book and he could profit off of it. Yeah, so, and I mean he was.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's honestly kind of smart.
Speaker 2:His stubbornness is what made him a good player. I.
Speaker 1:I mean, honestly, he's kind of smart. His stubbornness is what made him a good player. I mean he's kind of smart, honestly, like I got to give it to him.
Speaker 2:Look, to give you an idea. He literally ran over his own friend, ray Fossey, in an All-Star game. Oh Lord Look when I say run over, he knocked the crap out of him. He actually hurt him, but he wanted to win the game and that's how he was. He got the nickname Charlie Hustle for a reason he always wanted to hustle and he was going to hustle everywhere he went.
Speaker 1:That's the way to be man. We love the hustle. We're on the hustle right now.
Speaker 2:Moving on to our next story here, this was kind of an interesting one that came out from the Mets. The Mets they have a player on their team, a pitcher, and that pitcher is I'll let you say his name- Give me one.
Speaker 1:That's not okay. Kodai Singha, it's either Cody or Kodai. Cody or Kodai, cody or Kodai. I'm going to call him Cody.
Speaker 2:Correct me if I'm wrong. What it's like Seneca?
Speaker 1:Seneca.
Speaker 2:Anyway, sega he's.
Speaker 1:Cody Sega.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people do joke around and call him Sega.
Speaker 1:Anyway, he's Sega now. You ever heard of Mega man?
Speaker 2:I like when you try to say his name, that's why I do that to you. But his signature pitch is a ghost forkball and if you haven't seen it, just go look it up. Go look up this pitch. So the funny part about this is normally when a pitcher strikes somebody out, they put a K up for every strikeout they have. So in this case his last outing they decided to make a nice little graphic where it was a ghost holding up a fork. You know, because he throws a ghost fork ball. Cool enough, right.
Speaker 1:Okay, ghost fork.
Speaker 2:He goes through his innings and he gets his, his amount of k's, and they leave the little ghost up there. But when the next pitcher comes in, they decide no, no, no, no, they don't get the ghost because it's not him. He doesn't throw the ghost ball.
Speaker 1:He doesn't get the ghost. You don't get the ghost, they go back.
Speaker 2:That goes for you so they go back to the case. The unfortunate part was the next pitcher got three strikeouts so he got k k k. So on their graphic it's a bunch of ghosts holding a fork and the letters k k k. I don't think they anticipated this happening, but it is the most unfortunate situation from a graphics department.
Speaker 1:This is not really a laughing matter, but it kind of is.
Speaker 2:It's not but it's kind of like nobody thought for a second. This is horrible. This would look bad. Let's or hey, maybe, since he's out of the game, we'll change the graphic hey so.
Speaker 2:So but wait. Not only do the Mets have an issue with their graphics department, but recently they had a trash panda running around the stadium, and by trash panda I mean a raccoon that was literally going through the stands, scurrying around looking for food, while people are oblivious. They're like a row over and they don't see this raccoon just walking behind them. Listen.
Speaker 1:Mets, get your stuff together. Okay, You're making me think of FedEx Field right now. Okay, You're easily tied for the second-best team in the league.
Speaker 2:Get your shit together. But I mean, come on, is that not funny? I mean like it's funny in the what were you thinking? Kind of way.
Speaker 1:Mike, it only took me 19 minutes and 40 seconds to curse today.
Speaker 2:Okay, so recently I literally just saw this story.
Speaker 2:So an ex-MLB star that some people may know Rafael Fricall he is facing felony charges in South Florida. Raphael Fricall he is facing felony charges in South Florida. Now, typically we don't bring up a lot of these out-of-sports players and some of the bad things they may or may not be involved in. But when I read this story I kind of had to read this particular situation on air because so I had to read this a couple of times because I'm still kind of dumbfounded on trying to figure out what exactly he did. So it says the former All-Star turned himself into Broadwood County. If you're in Florida you might know where that is.
Speaker 1:God, I love me some. Broadwood, broadwood County Jail.
Speaker 2:Wednesday and was released on bail after a short time later. After a short time later, According to the court records, he is charged with aggravated battery Okay, that's normal. With a deadly weapon Okay, kind of normal. And throwing a missile into a public or private dwelling or vehicle. Now wait a second.
Speaker 1:I'm going to say it one more time. Oh, I know what this one is.
Speaker 2:Throwing a missile into a public or private dwelling or vehicle. Now, those of you who ever saw Raphael Foucault throw, he had a rocket for an arm. But I think he's taking this rocket for an arm thing a little too seriously if you're saying he threw a missile.
Speaker 1:This is interesting. You say this, you're right about that, given his traits. But also we have the similar law here in Virginia. I think it's something like launching a missile. Basically, if you throw anything out of your vehicle, even if it's a piece of paper trash, it's a felony charge but this says missile. So that's what it's called. It's called launching a missile. It is, that is what it's called. It's a real law. Okay, it's real and it is a felony.
Speaker 2:The mental image I get is, like you know, somebody, just like javelin, throwing something like a missile yeah, you, yeah, hey, but like an actual missile yes, thrown, but this is the law.
Speaker 1:They the law always makes things sound worse than well not always some things, things are actually worse.
Speaker 2:Well, in this. In this case, it just it sounds kind of ridiculous because I'm just like through a missile.
Speaker 1:Yeah like the mental image that comes up is you're taking something an actual missile and like I'll show them.
Speaker 2:Let me go to the trunk of my car and just pull this scud out yeah, I just I thought of all kinds of horrible idea things.
Speaker 1:I was like what is he? What is he doing?
Speaker 2:it just makes me I though this is real it makes me think of that Minas to Society, when they're pulling weapons back and forth and all of a sudden, one of the Wayans brothers opens up a U-Haul truck and he's got a big gun in the back of the U-Haul. Yeah, but yeah, it just.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 1:That just hit me weird. Like when I saw it I just think that's kind of missile it is. It is funny, it is where, but it is a real thing. It's um, certainly awkward when you try to explain that it's only just a drink you bought from 7-eleven, but yeah yeah, yeah, well.
Speaker 2:Well, florida is the stupid new state.
Speaker 1:They do deliver some very interesting situations hey, virginia is not far behind them, bro. We have the same law here.
Speaker 2:Look, look, I know they're stupid. Knows no state. They're stupid people in every state.
Speaker 1:And we love stupid people and we love stupid news.
Speaker 2:Hey, we love hearing the stupid news anyway. So, getting back on topic and talking about baseball, let's check in with the standings real quick and see how things are shaking out. So right now in the AL East, we have the New York Yankees leading with a 25-18 record. Four back from them is the Boston Red Sox Going down to the AL Central. We have the Detroit Tigers leading the division, leading the league actually, yeah, leading the league.
Speaker 1:They have the best Tigers leading division, leading the league actually yeah leading the league.
Speaker 2:They have the best record at 29-15, and they are three and a half games up on the Cleveland Guardians I almost said their former name.
Speaker 1:As well as the. Royals too, yeah, and the Twins just another game behind them.
Speaker 2:That's tight right there, yeah that's tight, tight in AAL Central. So, moving down to the AAL West, the AAL West is being led by the Seattle Mariners at a 23-19 record and it is tight in that situation too, with the Astros right behind them by one game at 22-20 record, with the Rangers right behind them with, again only one game back with a 23-21 record.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wonder why they haven't switched that yet.
Speaker 2:Well, it's because they have one more loss than the Astros. Oh that would be why. Yeah, so the Athletics are also only a game and a half back, with a 22-21 record. So there's some good ball being played out there in the AL West as well.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:But moving down into the NL East, the NL East is being led by the New York Mets with a 28-16 record, despite their follies on the graphics. Or in the stands, I should say not on the field. Obviously they're playing well on the field if or in the stands, I should say not on the field. Obviously playing well on the field if they're collecting 28 wins. But they're being followed up by the Phillies with a 25 and 18 record, making them two and a half games back. And the Braves have finally made it to a 500 record with a 22 and 22 record. So it only only took them 44 games into the season to get to 500. So they're middle of the pack right now in the NL East.
Speaker 1:Not doing too bad there.
Speaker 2:Moving on to the NL Central, the NL Central is being led by the Cubs with a 25 wins and 19 loss record, with the St Louis Cardinals right behind them at only a game back with a 24-20 record, and the NL West being led by the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 28-15 record.
Speaker 1:Tied for second in the overall league.
Speaker 2:Yep and with right behind them, with only a half game back the Padres with a 27-15 record and the Giants are only three and a half games back with a 25-19 record. So right now, I mean all the divisions are pretty well tied.
Speaker 1:The whole MLB side, really not a lot of separation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nobody's running away with anything.
Speaker 1:I mean, you have you certainly have teams, you know, like the rockies, who are just not doing anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the rockies are this season's. Probably don't.
Speaker 1:I don't even think they are trying.
Speaker 2:But you know you have.
Speaker 1:Teams are separating themselves as losers, but well, the rockies right winners are all still tight the rockies.
Speaker 2:Right right now they're 7-36.
Speaker 1:The teams who showed up to have an MLB season in 2025 are still playing baseball. The Rockies are not part of that group.
Speaker 2:Well, I think part of the reason the Rockies are not doing so great is the division they're in. They're basically being bludgeoned by three teams that are doing amazing. Well, actually technically four teams, because, no look, arizona is not that far out. Arizona is not that far out at only five and a half games back look, the whole rest of the league has at least 15.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm just looking at the Padres or the Pirates right in front of me here. Everybody is in the mid-teens to the 20s. I mean if you're at 15 wins or less, you got some things you need to change.
Speaker 2:But I'm saying this is like in football when you're playing, when you're playing in the nfc central or nfc north, yeah, like you're, you're facing all of the really good teams in your division. You know, it's one of the best divisions in football, yeah. So I think that's kind of what's going on with color is they're facing the Dodgers, the Padres, the Giants, the Diamondbacks, and I mean, yeah, they need, they need some help, they need to get some players.
Speaker 1:I mean, they have Arizona coming up this weekend as their next game. But really I'm looking at league average here. Right, you have your top guys sitting at 29 28 games and everybody else is between kind of 22 and 25. That's kind of where, like, the middle of the pack is hanging right now. Everything below that is 15 wins or less. The rockies fall well into that category, so I'm just saying that they gotta pick it up a little bit.
Speaker 2:Well, somebody has to be the worst team in baseball. Come on, man. So let's move on and let's jump into the NBA. We got some NBA news.
Speaker 1:You know we got some big NBA news here. This is kind of a big deal. You know, major announcement from Michael Jordan he is joining NBC's what's their show called NBC's upcoming. He's joining their analyst team, basically for upcoming NBA coverage. Pretty much he's pretty much joining NBC's analyst team. Okay, so this is pretty cool. They already have a legendary team of people up there. So to see Michaelael jordan, I mean he's probably just gonna talk shit about every everybody.
Speaker 2:Okay, oh so I'm hoping, I'm hoping that you know jordan comes out and he tells some stories like we hear some stuff that nobody's heard, or, yeah, you know stuff. He brings stuff up from the past that just makes everybody go oh damn, you hear what? Jordan said about so-and-so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and in my opinion, the great one is coming back. The great one has arrived. I'm a big Michael Jordan fan, chicago Bulls fan from back in the day, but I want to see if he takes on, if he entertains any conversations about himself and LeBron.
Speaker 2:Look man, he doesn't even talk to LeBron.
Speaker 1:I know that. That's why I said that's what I want to say. Somebody's going to put this in his face, Cause now he's on that team, so I want to see Jordan Look.
Speaker 2:Jordan used to invent things to get him motivated, like he would invent that. You know other players said something or did something to set him off and he would just go off. So you don't need to give that man a reason.
Speaker 1:Don't talk about my mama. I didn't talk about your mama. Okay, Bobby Boucher. Okay, Bobby Boucher. Okay, Bobby Boucher, let's go, let's go. Anyway, big news there. Congratulations, Michael Jordan. Honestly, I'm excited to see how this plays out. And we got some other big news here. Kevin Durant wins PBWA's Magic Johnson Award for 24-20-25. If you're not familiar with the PBWA, this award and he's winning this for the second time, by the way is given to the player who best combines excellence on the court with cooperation and grace in dealing with the media and fans. Kevin Durant, by the way, plays for the Phoenix Suns. He's winning it now. He won it last year. Did he win it last year? Well, it's his second time winning it. I don't think it was last year. They didn't give him the information here. He's a fourth-time honoree. He joins Steph Curry, who got it in 2016 and 2024,. Damian joined Steph Curry, who got it in 2016 and 24,. Damian Lillard, who got it in 17 and in 20, and Shane Battier, who got it in 07 and 2013.
Speaker 2:Shane Battier.
Speaker 1:Shane Battier. Yeah, so the award was created in 2001. It's named in honor of Irvin Magic Johnson, the former Lakers star. So I think it's a very prestigious award and part Dodger owner and part Dodger owner as well as Commander owner, Thank you. Did you puke a little bit? Did that make you choke?
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Okay, it just seemed a little uncomfortable for you, but congratulations to Kevin Durant one of my favorite players in the league, by the way. Just seems like an all-around good guy.
Speaker 2:Good job to him, congratulations so now we're going down here, let's get into the NBA playoffs and let's start in the East and talk about this.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Knicks and Celtics east and talk about this yeah, nicks and celtics. So, unfortunately, not this, not this last game, but the game before we had an unfortunate situation in uh, in game four, where it was a non-contact. Uh, no, no one was really on him but jason tatum, who was having good night. He had 42 points on the night and had eight rebounds and I think he had four steals, so he was having a good game.
Speaker 1:He was doing really well.
Speaker 2:But there was a loose ball play and he went to go for the ball and he went straight down to the ground and then instantly was grabbing for the back of his calf and it usually means one of a few things, and especially when the player goes down and they don't get up and they're spinning around on the floor in agonizing pain.
Speaker 1:How graphic.
Speaker 2:We kind of know. We kind of know. Unfortunately, by now most of you probably know it's a ruptured Achilles and there's no timetable for his return. He may not even be back for next season.
Speaker 1:He did, however, have successful surgery on it.
Speaker 2:What player doesn't have successful surgery?
Speaker 1:Listen, I'm just passing the word. Man, I know you're passing the word, but it's like Don't shoot the messenger.
Speaker 2:They might as well just say hey, he had surgery and went well.
Speaker 1:He is expected to make a full recovery, though.
Speaker 2:Right right.
Speaker 1:So that is good news, as well.
Speaker 2:So yes, we're happy to hear that. Uh, unfortunately for for the celtics in that game, the knicks won that game. But yeah that kind of lit a fire under the celtics because this, this last game they had, celtics came back and won. Nobody was giving them a chance. There was a lot of people saying this series is over, tatum's down, they're not winning. Celtics said hold my beer, hold on, we're not done Well.
Speaker 1:I mean it's 3-2 right now. The Celtics turned on the Jets because the Knicks came to play.
Speaker 2:And the Knicks have been doing rather well through the series. Well, game five. They had some issues with foul trouble late in game, so they had to switch out a lot of their starters, which made it exceedingly difficult to kind of mount their comeback, especially when you got your top guys, townsend and Brunson, on the bench. Guys Townsend and Brunson on the bench, which are kind of the guys here lately that have been lighting it up late in games to get them back in it, yeah, but this might give them a chance to do something that they haven't done since like 1999, though have a closeout game in the Garden. That has not happened, yeah.
Speaker 1:Since 1999., you know, honestly I really like the Celtics. But watching the Knicks play through this series, honestly I'm kind of a little bit in their corner right now.
Speaker 2:You know, I got to own something man.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Remember, all season long I was talking about how the Knicks they're not playing well against these top two teams. They weren't playing the Cavs well, they weren't playing the Celtics well and they were losing to them.
Speaker 1:The.
Speaker 2:Knickerbockers Like they were losing to them. They didn't beat them in the season, but now we're in the playoffs and the referees are kind of biting the whistle. They're not really blowing on the whistle, they're letting them play and it's lending more to the physical style and nature of the knicks. They keep, they keep pushing up on the uh, they keep pushing on the celtics, making them have to play their style ball, yeah, which the knicks are. They're a tough team. Most tibido teams are that way but the Celtics, they've been playing finesse ball all year and if they're not hitting threes, teams can really bully them around. It seems like, at least in these playoffs, because that's what the Knicks have been doing. They've been playing them tough, and if you're playing another team tough and they can't do anything about it, yeah, you're going to find yourselves bounced, which leads us to our other games in the east. Yeah, boy, so this is my pick. So what we're talking about here is the calves and the pacers. This series is over over number one.
Speaker 1:Is over Over Number one seed sent home by the number four seed. What a shakeup.
Speaker 2:Now it was kind of interesting. Before this game five we had a certain moment that has gone viral with Max Strauss he sent a group text message relation to levi strauss no don't look at me like that.
Speaker 2:Come on now he said he sent a group text message to his teammates and he said he basically says if you don't believe, then don't show up for work. Now I don't know if this, if this was a, if this was a precursor, or he was trying to just, you know, give his teammates fair warning, but he didn't show up. He was oh for nine and coming off the bench. So if you're gonna put out a text like that and you go for nine, it's not a good look.
Speaker 1:No no.
Speaker 2:He's catching all kinds of strays from the internet and like all right, I guess this is you calling out for work.
Speaker 1:All I can do is shake my head, man, all I can do is shake my head. But that aside, you know. I don't even know what to say right now.
Speaker 2:I have nothing. I have nothing. I can't shoot from what to say right now. I have nothing. I have nothing.
Speaker 1:I can't shoot from the hip on this one.
Speaker 2:Look this is just one of those things that, like, sometimes you're better off not sticking your foot in your mouth and if you're going to say something that could possibly be putting your foot in your mouth, like, hey, don't show up if you're not going to play hard. Or you don't show up, you're not gonna play hard, or you don't show up like, come on, man, bro, he's he's cut.
Speaker 1:He can't. No, he can't be on the team. He's not gonna be cut. But you know what? He can't be on the team next year.
Speaker 2:But you know what we'll trade him every single time he goes to play another team. You know, somebody's to bring a little poster board that says 0 for 9. Somebody's going to say it, somebody's going to get them. But congratulations to the Pacers. Moving along, moving on, they're going to be in the Eastern Conference Championship game and one thing that's really interesting about this team is it's not that they have like a star player necessarily. I mean, yes, they have some names, but it's like they got a bunch of like maybe B plus A minus guys that just play well with each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and listen, did I not call it? I said the Pacers have a history of, of, uh, turning it on in the playoffs. They have a history of playoff upsets. They just knocked out the number one seed in 2025.
Speaker 2:Y'all, here we go yeah, yeah, and god, I'm trying, I'm trying to remember his name right now because I'm just, I'm just loving how, how I love the way the Pacers play.
Speaker 1:So full of love.
Speaker 2:When they knocked out the Cavs, the Cavs point guard. Why am I forgetting his name right now? Jeez, why am I forgetting his name? I can see his face all day. I'm so better with, I'm more in tune with people's look, I got this. But anyway it was so funny, like their, their, their star player is darius garland no, not darius garland, it was uh donovan mitchell donovan mitchell.
Speaker 2:That's it, donovan mitchell. My bad, ah, I don't know why his name just blanked on me, but donovanovan Mitchell. After the game he was just being so salty about it that he was blaming the media, that it was their fault. Why is it their fault? You're the one on the court. You're the one playing. I didn't see no reporter coming off the bench in their dress shoes, throwing up threes or setting up passes you know, or getting a rebound.
Speaker 1:I mean, they played a rather good series there.
Speaker 2:But that's not the only team that made their way into a championship game or at least moved on in the playoffs. Over in the West we had the Timberwolves. Timberwolves knocking out the Warriors Finally close out the series knocking out the Warriors, but it's kind of. It wasn't really a series, because the second that Curry went down with his hamstring injury. It just wasn't the same. The games were Well. I agree with you. They didn't have. Yeah, jimmy Butler wasn't playoff Jimmy, like we've seen in years past. I mean, the team just looked outmatched.
Speaker 1:Well, timberwolves, like I said, man, they have one of the best defenses in the league and they really, I mean they leaned on that quite a bit.
Speaker 2:And this is going to be their second year being in the Western Conference championship game, so it's not like they haven't proven themselves in the playoffs. I like the.
Speaker 1:Timberwolves, I think between the Timberwolves and the Warriors, I think they have a better shot of taking on the Thunder.
Speaker 2:And let's just say you know, I got to say this man, I am loving this playoffs this year. It's pretty hot.
Speaker 1:It is pretty hot. The Thunder Nuggets last night man.
Speaker 2:Well, it's not so much.
Speaker 1:Thunder Nuggets.
Speaker 2:No, no, it's not that it's not one matchup or any one thing as a whole, the playoffs have just been. They've been more physical teams. That it's not not a lock for anybody. It seems like all of these series have been pretty fun. I mean there, there, there have been some games that there were some sweeps or whatnot, but you're getting good play, hard play, out of every team in the playoffs. There's nobody that's kind of phoning in, it feels like, and you're getting some exciting basketball. Some of these teams it's not necessarily the star guy that is doing the hard work.
Speaker 2:I mean you've got players that are like the fourth guy that you're seeing is in double digits yeah, you know, or some guys coming off the bench and he's producing good minutes, you know getting getting you double digit points off the bench. So like I'm really impressed with this year's playoffs, it just it kind of reminds me of what basketball was in the 90s yeah and I know people hate that debate. They're like, oh, so physical. Yeah, it was physical. There was games where it should be physical.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a sport.
Speaker 2:There should be some level of physicality well, it's the thing I I that kind of turned me off from basketball for a while was these fouls. It was like he touched him with a pinky and you're going to call a foul to God, those little fouls, those little fouls. It's like what are you blowing a whistle for? He didn't even appeal his shot. And it's like, oh well, he made the layup after the guy touched him with a pointer finger.
Speaker 1:Yeah and that was something that we were seeing in the Knicks and Celtics games too. They were really playing up those fouls as well, but trying to get people in position for fouls, it's just a whole different mind game.
Speaker 2:No, I mean. So. It used to be that if you went into lane, you were going into lane at your own risk.
Speaker 2:If you went into lane, you were going into lane at your own risk you know, because you had the bad boy Pistons that for years were beating up on players, and especially Michael Jordan in the early years. And Jordan, he got tired of it. He was like you know what Screw this? And he started a weightlifting regiment because he got tired of getting beat up by the Pistons and he's like I'm gonna go in there and I'm gonna beat them up yeah, and I was.
Speaker 1:I was watching this I I believe it was the knicks celtics game. Uh, one of the players was taking a three-point shot and the defender really didn't aggravate the shooter, but the rule was he came close enough to impede the shooter, enough to lose balance, that he was still flagged for a penalty.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know the player you're talking about. It was Brunson. He was taking a three-point shot.
Speaker 1:That's what it was. It was Brunson.
Speaker 2:There's an NBA rule that you can't land in the zone where the player is coming down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what it was, so.
Speaker 2:Brunson was coming down and Brown off the Celtics. His foot landed right where Brunson was coming down and Brunson rolled his ankle off of Brown. Yeah, so that is a rule in the NBA that, albeit he did not touch Brown with his hand, he did impede a clear landing spot. That's been something that they've been trying to enforce for years, because they don't want players going down for something so stupid as a player sticks his foot into the landing zone, Because there used to be players that would just stick their foot there because they knew the player had to come down.
Speaker 2:Players that would just stick their foot there because they knew the player had to come down. Yeah, and oh look, their star player rolled his ankle because my foot just happened to be there, yeah. So then they started making it a penalty and at times if you do that and you it looks intentional enough that you're trying to hurt somebody, they'll call flagrant foul on you. So it looks odd and yes, I know, I know what you, with the exact play you're talking about.
Speaker 1:That was. That was pretty good too. That was.
Speaker 2:That was a good one highlight, oh, but speaking of good play, how about that thunder and nuggets series, man?
Speaker 1:man, that was a good game, uh last night, and the series in general. Honestly, the nuggets.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I had slightly lower expectations I know, but I know you told me it was over and I'm like no, it's not, but you know for for a team.
Speaker 1:You know, maybe they did, maybe they found the answer. When they switch coaches because they have they are not the same team as pre-playoffs. Right now they're playing a whole different game of basketball well, I mean sometimes, case in point, the Pacers.
Speaker 2:sometimes when they get in the playoffs they're a different team, but in the Nuggets case I don't know that they're going to come back Thunder.
Speaker 1:Nuggets.
Speaker 2:Well, because the Nuggets, they're just looking gassed. They're looking like they need some more production off their bench and not playing such hard minutes on Joker and Murray some of their lead guys.
Speaker 1:You've got to think like look, there's a reason why Thunder is legitimately one of the best teams in the league right now. First of all, they're very young. They're a very young rotation and they rotate Well, and that's the thing this is this is what I said before.
Speaker 2:But they have players that rotate in that give good production off the bench they got.
Speaker 1:They have a deep team they got a deep team, they got a young team and you gotta think the thunder is coming in just shy. Just under 40 percent of three-point shots. Like that is league. That's an NBA record. So like they were killing it with the three-pointers. This year. They're the number one three-point team.
Speaker 2:Well, and the thing is like, even when SGA is not doing well, the other players around him are doing well. So, unlike what you're getting from some other teams in the playoffs, notably some of the ones that are knocked out, they're having other players that are. It's almost like they're taking turns Like no, it's your night to do 20 points and how many rebounds and how many saves?
Speaker 1:Like they're taking turns with it yeah, it's not my night, for it's your night, and I I think honestly whoever lands against the timber wolves, the thunder or the nuggets although it's gonna be a good match up over there on the west side. Yeah, I'm eager to watch both these teams continue to compete. Now I'm picking the thunder. I've had the thunder pick to actually to win it all. The only one that I might change my mind. I had the Pacers going deep as well, but you know.
Speaker 2:Okay for the East. If we get a Pacers-Knicks Eastern Conference Finals series, I will enjoy the hell out of that.
Speaker 1:By the way, those Pacers home jerseys are just fire bro.
Speaker 2:Like that was just fire. But yeah, and their court's pretty cool too, they do have a nice court.
Speaker 1:I love their court man. I was like man, I might be a Pacers fan, but think about this.
Speaker 2:Think about this too. So you're either getting Thunder Nuggets or Timberwolves in the finals Thunder Nuggets or Timberwolves in the finals or you're getting from the East the Pacers, the Knicks or the Celtics. I like the sound of all of those teams, but notably I would really like for it to come down to Knicks and Pacers in the East and the Thunder and Wolves.
Speaker 1:Thunder Nuggets and Timberwolves, Lions, Tigers and Bears. One of these things is not like the other. Hey, I like this Thunder Nuggets because soon it's either going to be Thunder Wolves or Nuggets Timberwolves. Well, it's just as essential Timber Nuggets Partially.
Speaker 2:I don't really want the Nuggets to move on only because they've already won it before, and I would like to see one of the teams that goes on to win it all be a team that hasn't Honestly, I won't be mad about the Nuggets.
Speaker 1:I really would like to see Thunder go all the way. I like the Pacers too. I like the Timberwolves. Honestly, I like a few of these teams still in it, so I'm probably a bigger fan of the West, aside from my recent random love for the Pacers.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I'm kind of more wanting to see one of the teams out of the East win it, because the West has been just dominating the NBA finals for years.
Speaker 1:The East just won it last year. The Celtics are the defending champs.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, but that's once. That's once. The rest of the time it's been teams from the West.
Speaker 1:basically they have like five championships in their team history. I think maybe a little bit more, I think it's more like seven, but Okay.
Speaker 2:I'm not talking about Celtics in all time. I'm talking about just in recent times, in the recent, last, you know, like 10 years.
Speaker 1:Well, the recent times are trying to level out the old times. Okay.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying I would like to see a team out the East win it.
Speaker 1:All right, I'm picking the paces for that one then.
Speaker 2:Oh geez Anyway.
Speaker 1:All right, picking the paces. Pace, that's how that's gonna go, that's how that works, but moving down it's going as we're moving through the nba season or in the nba playoffs. Uh, we're gonna take a quick look at the nba draft lottery coming up, okay, so well, it already happened it did already have.
Speaker 1:Well, the draft lottery already happened. We're just going to cover it, but we'll take a look at some of these top prospects as well. So excuse me for that one, but you know, just shooting from the hip here Number one, mavericks. Number two, spurs. Number three, 76ers. Number four, hornets. Number five, jazz. That's the top five. We'll go over what we think the most common picks will be in a minute. What you got, mike.
Speaker 2:I just want to point out the fact that it's a little odd that the Mavericks, with their 1.7% chance of getting it, they win it. But here's the odd thing. Let me say this.
Speaker 1:Go ahead.
Speaker 2:Here's the odd thing. So LeBron James again gets a player he would like to play with. So when he got AD realize the next year, the number one pick went to the Pelicans.
Speaker 1:Yes, and then the Pelicans. You're going exactly where I thought you were going to go with this the Pelicans got Zion. Yes.
Speaker 2:You're going exactly where I thought you were going to go with this.
Speaker 1:The Pelicans got Zion, yes, and now, when LeBron with the Lakers, still he gets Luka. Now the Mavericks get the number one pick. I saw this. I saw this. It's like the NBA the script writers. They're always on point right. This has been what, five years in a row now, probably, where a team has traded a major player away with a very low chance.
Speaker 2:No, I'm not saying a team that has traded a major pick away, but I'm just saying the LeBron connection where, wherever that major star came from, they seemed to get the number one pick. After that happened.
Speaker 1:Well, there is that connection, but it's.
Speaker 2:It's not the only time something weird like that's happened, because when LeBron left, the Cavs I mean granted, the Cavs sucked after LeBron left, but they got Kyrie after that with the number one pick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I. That's weird Anyway.
Speaker 2:It is weird. I was trying to find the it's starting a lot of the conspiracy theories again because, back in the day there was a big to-do when Patrick Ewing went to the Knicks because they were like, why did the Knicks get him? How did that? There was all this conspiracy talk about how maybe they froze the envelope. So when he went to pick, the cold envelope was for the knicks and it was set up for him to go to the knicks. You know it's funny. It's funny all the conspiracies that are floating around.
Speaker 1:It is, but I have been floating around getting back on topic, though, we all know who's going number one. The Mavs are taking Cooper Flagg.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then right behind them they're thinking Dylan, Harper is probably going to be number two. It's kind of a toss-up between Harper and Ace Bailey.
Speaker 2:That is the son of former Chicago Bull, ron Harper, who was a very good player in his day, but his son is definitely going to be a good player. He's a true freshman, averaging 19 points with Rutgers.
Speaker 1:Not bad at all. And then just some other notable players coming out here as soon as I can get this to do what I need it to do here. So obviously we've got the consensus as Cooper Flagg, and then, right behind him, baylor products, vijay Edmund, who made an impression in the 24 Olympics. They think they edge out Harper's Rut. You know Rutgers teammate Ace Bailey. So that was the competition. I was mistaken, it was between Vijay Edgecombe and Ace Bailey. They're tied between number two and number three. And then you know they think, trey Johnson and Con Neupel, behind them Kami Maloche, in the middle of the pack there, jeremiah Fears, kasparis.
Speaker 2:Con Neupel.
Speaker 1:Con Neupipple yeah. And then Igor Dimen you know breaking down. You know 7, 8, and 9. So there's some notable players here from college. Everybody you know may or may not be familiar with the top players coming out of college basketball.
Speaker 2:Well, and we also don't know what trades might happen, because there's talks of the Bucs, possibly exploring, trading the Greek freak, and if he winds up on the move, we could see the Bucs move up into one of these top spots. Obviously, he won't be the number one pick, because the number one pick is definitely going to be Cooper Flagg and I don't think the Mavericks are going to give him up.
Speaker 1:They're not passing on him.
Speaker 2:I don't think they're passing on him for Greek Freak, but I could see a scenario where the Spurs possibly give up their pick in order to get the Greek Freak.
Speaker 1:They could work something out, but you know. So it's just interesting to see how the NBA draft may shake out. And here's some of the top prospects' names. So good luck to those prospects. I hope they all do well in their future. I hope they all get drafted, mike. I have a question for you, sir. What's that, as well as for our listeners. Are you guys ready for our second flagship subject of the night? We're going to talk NFL, talk whoop whoop look yes, we're gonna talk.
Speaker 2:They're celebrating it. We're gonna talk about they're celebrating with me at home.
Speaker 1:It's quiet here, but I I hear the cheers from our listeners. Right now everybody's happy for nfl look we're, we're all.
Speaker 2:We're all crackheads for the nfl.
Speaker 1:We just want to taste and what better way to kick it off than to talk about the late, great Mr John Madden.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Raiders fans are probably really unhappy right now. Okay, they get their first look as Nicolas Cage, as John Madden and Christian Bale as Al Davis.
Speaker 2:Okay, Christian Bale as Al Davis. Okay, I've seen some released photos of Al Davis lookalike, with Christian Bale being Al Davis, and I got to say he does look a little like Al Davis. But I'm sorry, nicolas Cage as frickin' John Madden.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:It just doesn't look right to me, and there's so many people that could have chosen to be Madden.
Speaker 1:I mean Christian Bale got it down a little bit. Be Madden, I mean they, christian Bale got it down a little bit. But Nicolas Cage, you know I'm eager to see how the part plays out.
Speaker 2:Maybe it won't be bad, I'll give him a chance, but it just.
Speaker 1:And he's a good actor. He put on some weight for this role. I mean, he's known, and some of these other great actors are known, for changing their physical appearance up and down.
Speaker 2:Well, especially Christian Bale.
Speaker 1:Christian.
Speaker 2:Bale does it all the time yeah. But okay, Me personally. I grew up listening to John Madden call football games, so I will feel very offended if this does not look and sound like John. So you know, because it's for me, it's kind of partially it's going to hit me wrong. You know like I'll be in my feelings now.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to lie now Consider, these folks may probably had to have done a sample part to make sure they can actually play the character. Um now, if not nicholas k let's dive into this a little bit, mike if not nicholas cage? Uh, you had you picked somebody and I picked somebody, right, who did you pick?
Speaker 2:uh, I think you should say yours first. Who do you who? Who was your pick? What? You wanted to play john madden.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I think yours is also slightly better now that I think about it, but I honestly picked John C Reilly, and it may just be because the picture specifically of John Madden here in front of us reminds me a little bit of John C Reilly. John C Reilly does have curly hair, though, so they would have had to give him a perm or something. They could have figured it out, they could have got it right, but I think he could have.
Speaker 2:That's why you have hair and makeup on studios.
Speaker 1:Now, john C Reilly's voice doesn't necessarily match him, but I've never really heard him do an impression per se, other than when I saw him in Step Brothers, which, by the way, was a great movie.
Speaker 2:But that's, I'm glad you said impression, because that kind of goes to who I think should have been casted. For Madden, they should have casted Frank Caliendo, because Frank. Caliendo does a perfect, perfect Madden impression. Now, granted, you're going to maybe lose a little bit on the acting chops, because nobody's gonna say that frank caliendo is a great actor. Uh, he's a comedian and if you haven't.
Speaker 2:For those of you that may not know who he is or haven't seen him, go look him up. Frank caliendo does a bunch of really good impressions and one of his best is doing john madden it it is to a T sounds like John Madden. So do yourself a favor, go look it up, if you haven't seen it, and just see if you can tell us what you think. You can go to our social media sites and tell us like hey, I agree, it should be Frank Caliendo, or no? You?
Speaker 2:idiot it should be, this guy he's way better.
Speaker 1:Let us know what you think, man. We want to hear from y'all. I didn't mean to call y'all, man y'all man y'all man. Anyway, congratulations Nicolas Cage on the role. I hope he does a good job so recently, travis Hunter.
Speaker 2:As we all know, he got drafted into the NFL by the Jaguars.
Speaker 1:The number one B overall pick.
Speaker 2:So he basically got drafted and his life has gotten a little hectic because he recently had graduation and then he had to show up for for rookie minicamp, which started friday. So he had graduation thursday and rookie minicamp friday hey, so he starts your new job today.
Speaker 1:Bro, it's a pack.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the real world, son it's a packed schedule so he had to make do and get himself a flight and get back out there. But I was reading this story and it really shows to him as a person. So they account this woman who actually was sitting next to him on the flight and she knows nothing about him, right, like she doesn't know that he's a football player or anything like that and she had posted something on social media and she said uh, I had the most wonderful flight home from denver, going from denver to jacksonville. And the woman wrote in a post and said I met a nice young man who sat next to me. He offered to put my bag in the overhead compartment to help me out and said he was always polite. Yes, ma'am, no, ma'am, yes.
Speaker 1:I like this story.
Speaker 2:Anyone would be proud to have him as a son or a grandson. He said. People were walking by saying congratulations, great job, and even taking pictures. And I turned to him and she said who am I sitting next to? And he looked. He looked at at his, his pants, which were jaguars, you know, jaguar themed pants, yeah, and smiled he already had the pj set on and then she said, she asked are you an athlete? And he smiled and said yes, I'm Travis. I just was drafted by the Jaguars.
Speaker 1:They got a new fan for life.
Speaker 2:So the woman said he was so down to earth, so humble and such a nice guy that she told her son, I want his jersey.
Speaker 1:Get me his jersey.
Speaker 2:So she is instantly his fan. Yeah, and I love this for him because, like seriously, I feel like when you see travis hunter, he it's just genuine. You see that smile, you see hear him talk and he just he seems like that type of guy that when you talk with him or you're around him he's just got got that aura, that happy go-lucky. He's just a nice person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and look, I'm not knocking anybody else here, but I really like Travis Hunter. I like how he carries himself, I love the athlete that this man is and, honest to God, mike, you might call me a liar, but I love him going to the jaguars because I mean, they have brian, is it thomason or thomas brian, thomas jr? Yeah, they have brian, thomas jr. Now they have travis hunter out there. Oh, look, don't sleep on the Jaguars much longer, y'all.
Speaker 2:Well, and here's the thing, I love him going to Jacksonville for the simple sake that Jacksonville was going to let him do what he wants to do, Meaning play both ways. And, as a fan, most fans we want to see that. We want to see if he can do it. We want to see if he can Now. We want to see if he can Now. Granted, have there been players who have played defense and offense? Yes, but not to the level of which he did at Colorado. So if he can do that in the NFL, man, this is going to be so awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can't wait to see it. I'm eager to see him. I think he's going to have a tremendous amount of success in the NFL. I can't wait to watch him play. I wish he came to Washington.
Speaker 2:But you know and 31 other teams are wishing the same thing that I wish he would have came to my team.
Speaker 1:The next one. We don't have to hit this too hard. That's what she said, Sorry, we don't have to hit this too hard. That's what she said Sorry. Michael Scott is my spirit animal. Anyway, Saints QB Derek Carr. This is almost about a week old now. We may have hit it last just briefly, but Derek Carr is retired from the NFL after 11 seasons due to his shoulder injury. I know he's been going back and forth on this shoulder injury it seems like for almost two seasons now, because I think he played through it a little bit last season, but it was an issue the previous offseason as well. So you know, congratulations to him on retiring. I'm sure Saints fans are wondering what's next, as their now QB1 is Tyler Shue or Tyler Show, however you pronounce it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it can seem unfortunate, but sometimes when you're resetting the clock and starting to get to a point where you're going to start over which the Saints are kind of in, cap hell, they're going to have to do it. Eventually they're going to have to start exiting, having players be pushed out, traded, leave in free agency, basically what just happened with the niners, where you pay a bunch of players and then it becomes uh, now we got to figure stuff out, and now they're at the point where this might be, this might be, look, this might be a blessing in disguise him leaving because this might set them up for getting a quarterback they actually really, desperately need.
Speaker 1:Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2:No, Rodgers ain't going there, Guaranteed Well he ain't going to Pittsburgh, so no, and he'd already be there now if he was Look no, not necessarily, Because remember last year he had to go on his egypt vacation yeah, and he went into his deep, dark black box already.
Speaker 1:Look, he did that in the winter time. It's out of the way now I don't care about that.
Speaker 2:What I'm saying is it's not unlike a veteran player to wait and then sign later, once you've gotten past a lot of the crap you don't want to do.
Speaker 1:I mean you are right about that. I give you that.
Speaker 2:He's probably waiting to get past a lot of this crap. And not to mention what just happened, the schedule release. If he doesn't want to be on a team and be part of? Hey, we need Aaron Rodgers on Monday night. Hey, we need Aaron Rodgers on Thursday night. Hey, we need Aaron Rodgers on Monday night. Hey, we need Aaron Rodgers on Thursday night. Hey, we need Aaron Rodgers on Christmas Day. If you don't want to be a part of that, don't sign until after the schedule's released.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, not only that, but I kind of agree with you. Not only that, but we've seen, historically, players wait well into the season, maybe a dark horse, especially older players, yeah maybe a dark horse playoff team needs a QB, they just need something to fill in. Maybe he comes in, makes a playoff appearance.
Speaker 2:Maybe right situation.
Speaker 1:Right place, right time, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Excuse me, the next thing I want to talk about here. I love me some running backs, bro Derrick Henry. Derrick Henry and the Ravens agree to a two-year extension worth $30 million. Total $25 million of that contract is guaranteed. This is the largest contract for a running back over the age of 30 in NFL history. Derrick Henry still getting it done. I mean they're not committing to him long term, but they're ready to give him the money because they know he's worth it. He was a rumbler for them last year. He's going to rumble again this year, I think he's got it.
Speaker 2:Look, given the production he put out last year, why wouldn't you pay him?
Speaker 1:Exactly Shit or get off the pot.
Speaker 2:Excuse my language. If he keeps this going within that contract he could become fifth all-time in rushing.
Speaker 1:Yes, he can, passing Adrian Peterson. Yep, yes, he can.
Speaker 2:He's 19th right now, but he can easily get up there because a lot of these guys are kind of tightly packed so he can get up there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's kind of tight.
Speaker 2:It's only, I think, over 3,500 yards that he needs to get.
Speaker 1:I mean he could do that in two seasons. He's putting up 1,000. I think he put up 1,500 last year, maybe a little bit more. He had a good year even despite his slight injury status, he had a really good year last year, so congratulations to him. Congratulations to the Ravens. It seems like they're going to try to keep it rolling.
Speaker 2:So, moving right along, the Raiders signed an interesting player they signed. So when you go to sign a player, typically they have played last year yes, unless they were injured. Hasn't played last year yes, unless they were injured. But in this case, the particular player they signed hasn't played for two years and, in particular, this player that they have signed is Jalen Smith, former All-Pro Ah we know, mr Smith. Former All-Pro linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys. You don't say Now, you would say to yourself like okay, why this player Now, when he?
Speaker 1:was healthy. I did say to myself.
Speaker 2:When he was healthy. Now, remember, this guy was selected in the second round by Dallas out of Notre Dame and there was injury concerns there because he had really messed up his knee I mean tore everything in his knee when he was at Notre Dame and Dallas still took a flyer on him. It was kind of a smart move because he had between 2018 and 2020, he had three consecutive seasons of 120 tackles. So that's some pretty good production.
Speaker 1:That's not bad. 120 tackles, that's all pro status. You're pretty good man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so he comes back healthy.
Speaker 1:If you get more than 50 or 60 tackles, you're like middle of the pack. If you can come in over 80 or 90, you're pro status.
Speaker 2:Middle linebackers are expected to stack up the tackles and, let's face it, he was playing really well. It just injuries catch up with people. He's only 29, so it's not like he's long in the tooth. If he's healthy, he can come back and make some noise.
Speaker 1:And 29, and you say he's coming back as a middle linebacker. So I see a very London Fletcher type of role here.
Speaker 2:You've got to choose somebody other than London Fletcher to reference every time we talk about middle linebackers Never.
Speaker 1:Good old number 59. You know, mr St Louis Rams, all pro as well. You know, I'm not talking about Linda Fletcher, though I'm talking about Jalen Smith.
Speaker 2:Yes, but I'm saying we could come up with somebody other than him.
Speaker 1:Well, you can, I'm not Well you should Not by choice.
Speaker 2:Anyway, moving right along, I will speak my people to greatness. Every time, every time, moving right along, I will speak my people to greatness every time, every time Moving right along. So hopefully Jalen Smith does well with the Raiders.
Speaker 1:I hope he does. I think this is an interesting move, so recently as we mentioned the Jaguars earlier.
Speaker 2:The Jaguars had released a former fourth-round pick veteran receiver Not a fourth-round pick by them, but a fourth-round pick veteran receiver Not a fourth-round pick by them, but a fourth-round pick nonetheless and that player is Gabe Davis. He played one season with them but injuries shortened his season and he is a free agent. But he has decided he is going to have a visit with the San Francisco 49ers, so they're bringing him in have a little tryout and see what happens.
Speaker 1:Honestly, with the way Shanahan could use him. I think this is going to be good because I see a very no.
Speaker 2:Go ahead. I didn't foresee this being a possibility because remember I had mentioned that San Diego being possible, the Chargers being a possibility or possibly doing the Steelers because they're wide receiver needy. But if he goes to the 49ers he does stretch the field, which will give many more options for the 49ers in layered approaches now.
Speaker 1:Gabe Davis is small. Who's playing? Receiver? Gabe Davis isn't that small he's slightly smaller than your average receiver. He stands about 5'11. But who's playing receiver? I know it's not Debo anymore, but you still have Brandon Ayuk.
Speaker 2:And Ricky Pearsall.
Speaker 1:Ricky Pearsall. So are they putting Gabe Davis in the slot, or are they putting Pearsall in the slot?
Speaker 2:Pearsall's in the slot, and then you're having Ayuk and Jennings on the outside.
Speaker 1:So that means they're going to run a double slot because Gabe Davis is not staying off the field.
Speaker 2:Well, gabe Davis also is a deep threat, gabe.
Speaker 1:Davis is not staying off the field.
Speaker 2:Well, Gabe Davis also is a deep threat. He's a deep threat. So, yeah, he can play outside the numbers, so he can rotate in if they choose to use him in that manner.
Speaker 1:Kind of similar role with the Chiefs. Use what's his name. Start with an M.
Speaker 2:McCole Hardman.
Speaker 1:McCole Hardman Kind of a McCole Hardman type rolecole Hardman Kind of a Mecole Hardman type role with Gabe Davis.
Speaker 2:I don't know. He's not going to run.
Speaker 1:They literally only bring him in to stretch the field.
Speaker 2:They're not going to use him in the because they use Harden with jet sweeps and stuff. They're not going to use Davis.
Speaker 1:They only started that this year, and then they and they're not going to use Davis for a jet sweep Well, they only started that this year. And then they kind of gave that role to Xavier, whatever his name Ferrari, xavier, worthy, that guy.
Speaker 2:So moving right along.
Speaker 1:Moving right along here. But that's good for them. I'm eager to see how they utilize them if they if they do bring them in officially, uh. But green bay pro bowl offensive lineman uh jenkins is skipping otas. He's holding out for a new contract. Um, there's not a whole lot I have on this right now, it's just. This is typical behavior from somebody who wants to get paid. Okay, he's not necessarily up for new contract, I think he's like one or two years out, but he wants a contract renewal right now. He obviously feels like he's the shit. So you know, best of luck to him. That's what I got on that. And then the Colts uh apologized to finn's uh tyreek hill for the now deleted video.
Speaker 2:So let's dive into this, mike so the video uh, they did kind of a minecraft video and it was. It was basically a video where they're they're because of the schedule release, their first opponent was supposed to be Dolphins and they made a video where a Dolphin wearing a Tyreek Hill jersey is being chased by the Coast Guard or going after the Coast Guard. And for those of you that don't remember from last year, tyreek Hill had a little incident with the police outside the stadium, so it kind of brought up a wait a second. Yeah, are you all doing this on purpose? Are you all throwing some shade? Like it kind of hit wrong Again. Like we said with the graphics, with the Mets something hit a little different once they saw it. They're just like uh, who okayed this?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, who's? Yeah, where's our pr department and our marketing department? I need, we need meetings right now.
Speaker 2:To be honest, to be honest, they probably should have done it with tua, not putting hill in there. I know they're gonna put star players in there, but like at least the safe one would have been Dua.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Man way to screw it up PR department.
Speaker 1:I agree with that one, Mike. Let's talk about something we've all been waiting for. Okay, let me tell you right now NFL kickoff officially September 1st.
Speaker 2:First. Fourth, Fourth Jesus. I didn't know. You just said first yeah, I didn't know if that was a fourth or first, or look, we all know words are hard, okay yeah, words are hard and then you do a podcast yes, I take speech therapy with my son.
Speaker 1:Okay, we get a two-for-one deal, anyway. So September 4th 2025, cowboys versus Eagles. This was almost. Maybe this could be a great matchup or a horrible matchup. I don't know who thought of it because the very next week on September 11th. The Commanders take on. I believe, we take on, I believe, we take on.
Speaker 2:We're out with it already. Who are you taking on?
Speaker 1:I lost it. Ugh, sorry, I'm coming. Ugh, I'm coming.
Speaker 2:Ugh.
Speaker 1:We'll get to the international games in a second? No, that's not on the agenda.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, it's horrible. I lost it, but anyway it's horrible.
Speaker 1:We got a thursday night football, september 11th, the washington commanders. I mean, we can just look at that, it's right in front of us. Anyway, let's talk some nfl schedule here, okay, uh, while you're pulling that up, I'm gonna dive into these international games here, okay, uh, november 16th october, october october. Friday, september 1st October, october, october. Friday, september 1st 5th. God man, why is this wrong with me? What's wrong with me? I don't know. Why are numbers and words so hard? Anyway, friday, september 5th. Okay, right after kickoff, the Chargers. I know they announced this already, okay.
Speaker 2:Your week one opponent is the Giants and your week two opponent is Thursday giants and your week two opponent is thursday night football against the packers that's the one I'm talking about right there.
Speaker 1:So your first two weeks of thursday night football are packed with the nfc east. Sorry giants drew the short stick. They're gonna get a loss in week one. By the way, the giantsants and Washington have faced off week one for the last three seasons straight.
Speaker 2:Anyway, I don't know why the league is hell-bent on doing divisional matchups week one, but that seems to be the thing they're doing and, honestly, I think part of the reason they're doing that is because they want to go ahead and get the cowboys in while they're still people healthy playing on the cowboys. That's right. So because, honestly, when I heard this matchup, I was just like I wasn't too excited about it I'm not.
Speaker 1:I'm not very excited about it, but the cowboys are apparently america's team, so they, I think they have a christmas. I think they have a Christmas Right. I think they have Christmas Day and they have Thanksgiving. I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:Yes, they have a Thanksgiving Day game against the Chiefs.
Speaker 1:Yep. And let's see here, september 28th, live from Croke Park, dublin. We will have the Vikings and the Steelers, and then the Vikings are staying in Europe and London. They're going to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium face the Browns, october 5th at 9.30 am, eastern Time. Sunday, october 12th, 9.30 am. Most of these games are going to be 9, 9.30 am because they're overseas. Another London game Jets-Broncos, and then the week after that, wembley Stadium, october 19th, the Jaguars and the Rams.
Speaker 2:I love that for one reason, and one reason only it's the Jaguars. No, I love it because you're making the Rams go all the way out there, traveling all them time zones, get them tired and worn out to where they will not perform.
Speaker 1:Hey, look at the Chargers too, though. They got to go all the way to Corinthians Arena and Sao Paulo. Yeah, I don't even know where that's at. I think that's in Italy, but I'm not totally sure.
Speaker 2:No, no, that's Brazil. That's Brazil, Okay so they're only traveling, so they're not going to be traveling any time zones.
Speaker 1:All right, well, clearly also not good in geography. So words, numbers and geography I am. Did I make it out of high school, mike?
Speaker 2:I don't remember Anyway out of high school, mike, I don't remember. Anyway, yeah, good old public education there, public.
Speaker 1:Public, but November 9th, live from Berlin in Olympic Stadium. We're going to get the Colts and the Falcons and then good old boys. Sunday, November 16th, live on NFL Network 9.30 am from Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. We have the Commanders and the Dolphins. I honestly think that's the best international matchup so far.
Speaker 2:So I gotta say something, because right now I feel like the NFL has decided to say say screw you to at least one team, and it's not mine, it's not yours, it's the Browns Cause, listen to this. This is what the Browns have to open the season.
Speaker 1:I can't believe they got out.
Speaker 2:So the first game bangles Okay, divisional opponent. The second week, ravens Okay, divisional opponent, the second week Ravens.
Speaker 1:Okay, divisional opponent.
Speaker 2:Then you get the Packers Okay playoff team. Then you get the Lions Okay playoff team. Then you go to London to play the Vikings. Okay, so that's a playoff team. Hang on. No, no, no, it gets better this is bad for them. Then they play the Steelers.
Speaker 1:They might catch a break there. No, they might catch a break there. No, no, no.
Speaker 2:They play the Steelers in their house. So the first six weeks is kind of like a giant FU to the Browns.
Speaker 1:They're like hey Browns, wait, hold my beer.
Speaker 2:Watch. They're like hey, Browns, wait, hold my beer. Watch how we're going to screw you over, yeah.
Speaker 1:Because this is, bro, I'm so weak right now.
Speaker 2:Look, they don't play a team Like, okay, then they got the Dolphins, the Patriots, okay, then they get their bye week. That's the first week they get any kind of relief. Bye week nine by week nine they get somewhat of a win because they don't have to play anybody.
Speaker 1:But then they get two weeks to prepare for the Jets.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they get to play the Jets next, so they better get a win off of that one. But then they get punched in the mouth again because they get the Ravens on week 11. They get the Raiders week 12. The Raiders are going to be hot this year. Then they get the Raiders week 12. The Raiders are going to be hot. Then they get the 49ers. Now, mind you, they're at the Raiders and then they come back home to play the 49ers, then they're at home for the Titans. So there you go. There's a little relief.
Speaker 1:There's a little relief there.
Speaker 2:Then they get the Bears.
Speaker 1:Who are going to be studtacular?
Speaker 2:And then they close out the season Bills Steelers. Bengals get the bears who are gonna be studtacular and then they close out the season bills steelers bangles.
Speaker 1:Look it's hard.
Speaker 2:It's not like we're a great team last year six.
Speaker 1:six of those matchups are not very easy matchups. Okay, the steelers maybe hit or miss this year let's see what they do at quarterback. But the Ravens?
Speaker 2:I'm just saying that's a pretty bad gauntlet.
Speaker 1:And the.
Speaker 2:Bengals, Do you agree that that's a pretty bad gauntlet of teams to play?
Speaker 1:Look even when you have the quote easiest schedule, you really don't have the easiest schedule.
Speaker 2:No, no, no. And, by the way, Let me show you this, let me show you this before you, before you get on, that I'll show you this schedule now. This may be biased okay, okay but look at this, okay. So we're going to talk about the 49ers real quick. The 49ers open with Seahawks let's do it.
Speaker 2:The 49ers open with Seahawks, then the Saints, then the Cardinals, then the Jaguars, then the Rams on Monday night football. So that's, that'll be a pretty decent game. Buccaneers week six, falcons week seven. On Sunday night football Texans, giants, ramsants, rams, cardinals, panthers, browns, then our bye week, week 14, then Titans, colts, bears, seahawks to close it out.
Speaker 1:Honestly, relatively easy middle of the pack schedule.
Speaker 2:I think it's a pretty easy schedule because I mean there's a few teams in here you, the rams, the bucks now, and the texans and, you know this, the seahawks maybe, depending on how they play with sam donald but that's like it's like okay, it's not the worst schedule this.
Speaker 1:this could possibly not go your way, because the Seahawks I know nobody's really intimidated right now, but Well, let's face it. They might do all right.
Speaker 2:Everybody's trying to get their team to play well.
Speaker 1:I think the Jaguars are going to be a team to contend with, not really worried about the Rams. But down here, here, the Titans. I'm eager. The Titans and the Bears, that's a gimme. Well, the Titans and the Bears. But the Titans, I'm eager to see how they do with their new quarterback under center, because things move faster in today's world. But the Bears, they're not going to be the five win Bears.
Speaker 2:They were last season. Listen, this is the two games that, like Bears, they're not going to be the five wind bears they were last season. Hold on, hold, on, hold on. Listen, this is the two games that, like I know, it's going to happen Come. Week 12, we got Monday Night Football with the Panthers. Yeah, they're going to flex that shit out. We're not going to play the Panthers on Monday Night Football. And then on week 16, we have Monday Night Football against the Colts. That ain't happening either. They're going to flex that game out as well.
Speaker 1:Y'all got just in front of us like four primetime games.
Speaker 2:We got five.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got two Thursday nights, two Sunday nights and a Monday night. Yeah, no, two Monday nights, two Sunday nights and a Thursday night.
Speaker 2:And we open and close the season with Seahawks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, christmas Day, we're getting Dallas and Washington, as well as the Lions and the Vikings.
Speaker 2:Is that going to be on? That's on.
Speaker 1:Netflix on Christmas Day. And then Thanksgiving will be Chiefs and the Cowboys, and I think Christmas falls on a Thursday this year, so we'll be probably recording at the same time, because I'm not doing anything and you're not doing anything.
Speaker 2:We might record before, so we can enjoy the games.
Speaker 1:We might record after, so we can watch the games and then talk about them. We'll figure it out, we'll figure it out, we'll figure it out. Stay tuned until December, y'all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, stay tuned in.
Speaker 1:Schedule TBD for Christmas. However, that brings us to the end of tonight's show. I know there's a lot of NFL schedule release to talk about and we will hit on it more in the coming weeks, but right now I want to thank everybody genuinely for joining us and supporting us. We appreciate your ears and we appreciate your support spread the word. I'm Brian with an I.
Speaker 2:And I'm Mike.
Speaker 1:And we are two for the win.
Speaker 2:Thanks everybody.