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 - E31 - Hot Mics! Hot Teams! & Things Get Heated Between Mike & Brian!
Jim Irsay's legacy reaches far beyond football. The recently deceased Colts owner possessed one of the world's finest rock memorabilia collections – including Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" guitar and The Beatles' complete Ed Sullivan Show instruments. His passion for creating a family atmosphere within his organization led to legendary gestures like flying six Pro Bowlers on his private jet to ensure they could attend both team celebrations and the Hawaiian all-star game. With ownership now transitioning to his three daughters, female representation among NFL team owners expands to ten franchises.
The sports calendar couldn't be more exciting as seasons converge. NHL playoffs feature the Florida Panthers establishing dominance against Carolina while Dallas staged an improbable third-period comeback against Edmonton with five unanswered goals. Meanwhile, NBA Conference Finals delivered instant drama when the Pacers erased a 14-point deficit in the final minutes against the Knicks, culminating with Tyrese Haliburton reviving Reggie Miller's infamous MSG choke gesture after hitting a clutch shot.
Baseball's landscape reveals early contenders as Detroit holds MLB's best record at 33-17, with Philadelphia surging behind seven consecutive victories. The most memorable moment? An Oakland backup catcher specifically requesting to pitch against Shohei Ohtani – and somehow striking him out. Elsewhere, the WNBA launched its season with unprecedented attention following the arrival of college stars Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers.
NFL news continues year-round with owners narrowly preserving the controversial "tush push" play by just two votes. They also established guidelines for 2028 Olympic flag football participation, allowing one player per franchise to represent their country. Perhaps most significantly, Brock Purdy signed a flexible $265 million extension with San Francisco that maintains team maneuverability following the Patrick Mahomes model rather than Dak Prescott's more restrictive structure.
Subscribe now as we continue tracking these developing stories across the sports landscape. The upcoming weeks promise even more excitement as championships are decided and new narratives emerge!
May 22nd 2025. Welcome back everybody for another week and another episode of some fun sports talk between your two favorite co-hosts. I'm Brian with an eye, and I'm Mike, and we are two for the win. Mike, what's going down tonight, brother?
Speaker 2:well, we got the nhl and nba hot in their playoffs heading towards the end of their season.
Speaker 1:We've got the wnba opening up their season and some nfl news oh boy, two trying to wind up, two trying to wind down this. What a good transitional time we're in right now for Sports. Mike. I'll tell you what, before we get going too fast here, though, we have some sad news. Unfortunately, we tend to open with sad news, but we want these folks to be remembered. That's why we put them right at the top of the show. Okay, indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay passed away at the age of 65. I believe it was yesterday afternoon. Yeah it was yesterday.
Speaker 1:Wednesday night, may 21st. We're very sorry for his family, his community, the Colts organization, everybody affected by his passing. Jim Irsay, he inherited the team from his everybody affected by his passing, jim Irsay. You know he inherited the team from his father in 1997 and has had ownership ever since and I believe he is passing it down to his son. Is that what's?
Speaker 2:going on. No, no, he has three daughters. He's passing the team down to. His daughter is down to yes.
Speaker 2:They're going to take over. They're going to share ownership of the team. They're going to take over. They're going to share ownership of the team. But one thing that's kind of don't want to look over this fact when he took over the team, he was the owner the immediate season that Peyton Manning was drafted and before he even had the draft he asked he kind of told Peyton Manning he's like we're taking you, what number do you want? And Peyton Manning said I want 18. So Ursa had a jersey made up FedEx to the draft and was standing there with the jersey ready to go Peyton.
Speaker 2:Manning. Peyton Manning is literally holding up a number 18 Peyton Manning jersey at the draft.
Speaker 1:When most players are holding up a number one and then their name on the back, he's actually holding number 18 and he's one of the only players to have ever done that wow, you know that's incredible and uh, you know not to take away away from Jim Irsay's legacy, but the team being handed down to his three daughters is also significant because that puts more female owners in the NFL, in the league, and that increases a voice for females among ownership as well. So I think this is not necessarily a good thing, but I think for women it's a good opportunity. But you know, Mr Irsay, rest his soul. You will absolutely be missed and we are sorry to see you go. Mike, what you got.
Speaker 2:Some more stuff about Jim Irsay. What you got. Some more stuff about Jim Irsay. He actually owns one of the it's been voted the best rock memorabilia as far as guitars and drums he has significant. He's basically gone on his way to get the guitars and stuff that have been significant through music like he has. Uh, smells like teen spirit the guitar that they recorded that yep that album on.
Speaker 2:he has that guitar. He has basically the entire set from when the beatles did their show on the ed ed sullivan or was Ed Sullivan show when they made their first appearance here in the States, in the US, yeah, that live show they did on TV. He has all of their gear the bass, the drums all of that.
Speaker 1:That is incredible. He was big time into music.
Speaker 2:But he was a very. He made his feelings known, he was very open about he had addiction problems and that he was working through those and and did recover from from those things and yeah, uh. But he also he showed how much he cared about his team and his passion for his fans when they won the Super Bowl. He had six players that were elected to the Pro Bowl and at that time the Pro Bowl was after the Super Bowl and so these six players were like how are we going to be part of the parade and go to the Pro Bowl? And Jim Mercer said I got you, don't worry about it, I'm going to fly all six of you here for the parade and I'm going to fly all six of you and your family out to Hawaii on his dime. It's his plane.
Speaker 2:And when Peyton Manning was getting inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he called him up and said I am flying you in the Colts jet to be inducted. I want you to go and arrive as a Colt. So he made it a point and you know they did have that situation where Peyton Manning had to say goodbye to the Colts and stuff, but Ursae still, you know, still cared for him and he cares for all of his players. He wanted a family atmosphere for his team, kind of like how the Steelers are with their players and their fans. They want kind of a family environment, much like the Niners have that with their fans and their team. It's a family environment. They take care of their people.
Speaker 1:And you'll notice, every team has its own kind of atmosphere and environment. Exactly. They're all different.
Speaker 2:Kind of like the Bengals. They're cheap.
Speaker 1:And the last thing on that you know again God rest his soul. He will be missed. He did a lot of great things with his life and with that team he lived life. Yeah he lived life very well.
Speaker 2:He also had his own band.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He very adamant, played with a lot of his band, played with a lot of serious musicians.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to run down the list, but you can go look it up and see who they played with.
Speaker 1:Just a very well-rounded, cultured, incredible man. This sounds like my kind of guy, honestly.
Speaker 2:He should be, because he was the one that spoke up against your team's former owner and said that man needs to not be a part of football.
Speaker 1:I agreed with. I honestly agree, I remember that.
Speaker 2:He openly stated that John Snyder should not be an owner. Dan Snyder whatever Get there. Who cares? The guy's a piece of crap anyway. Anyway so the point of the matter is he said openly and was you know anybody that would ask? He'd say he needs to be out of football. He does not represent the sport well and he's a disgrace. He should be removed as an owner.
Speaker 1:Mike, are you jumping ship? You use strong words from a 49ers fan. I thought you just didn't care. No, no, no, no, what?
Speaker 2:I'm saying is the man had conviction when he said something. He was a man child.
Speaker 1:There's a hyphen there. You've got the conviction. When he said something, he was a man child.
Speaker 2:There's a hyphen there. You forgot the other half of the word. I'm talking about Irsay, not your stupid former owner. I'm talking about Irsay being holding to his convictions when people would ask him and he said no, he should be out of football.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I will say this is one thing that, undoubtedly, irsay probably also set up along with his wife, um, handing the team down to his three daughters, that now puts 10 teams in the nfl under female ownership. That is almost roughly a third of the league. So, um, women are getting stronger, so good for them. Um, and may god rest your soul, jim ir say you will be missed. Uh, just an all-around good guy, uh, and owner everything. And then on to the next here.
Speaker 1:Um, next thing on the agenda, excuse me, uh, this is more of a. This guy, I'm sure, was well known in football circles, but he's more of a Hampton Roads legend here, uh, tommy Riemann Sr. Uh, former NFL, you know, league running back and longtime high school coach of you know Hampton Roads students all across Hampton Roads for many, many years. Um, you know, passed away uh, thursday morning at the age of 73. Uh, he coached the likes of Michael Vick, and let me pull the article up here he coached the likes of Michael Vick, a couple others that were prominent NFL players, and he was a prominent NFL and world football player himself Coached, I believe, 34 years. He actually came back, you uh, he, when his nfl career ended, he went out to los angeles and became a producer and actor. He was in several well-known movies and tv shows, um, and then came back, hampton roads, I believe, most recently he stepped down in 2024 from, I believe, I don't know the school.
Speaker 1:I don't want to get it wrong, but just a legendary man in coaching, a legendary man here in the area. He will also be missed. So you know we're sorry and you know our thoughts and prayers go out to not only Jim Irsay but also Tommy Rehman Sr and the communities affected by their loss. So may both of them rest in peace. Speaking of losses, though, mike, sorry buddy.
Speaker 2:So, before we go down that route, I want to discuss something. So we've all had those days. You know, when you're at work and you're just like it's just a bad day. Everything goes wrong. Maybe your co-workers are pissing you off or, you know, something gets screwed up and oh yeah you're just having a bad day, right.
Speaker 2:So you know, in the world of sports your bad days are kind of they're just out there, like everybody sees it, like you can't hide. You know for us, the public, you know it's easy for us we have a bad day. It's only seen at work. We go home Nobody else sees it Generally. But in the case of pro golfer Shane Lowry.
Speaker 1:Mr Lowry.
Speaker 2:He had himself a bad day. He sure did Mr Lowry. Back on February 16th he was playing a hole at the Hollow Club in Charlotte. It was the eighth hole. When his shot landed he had a pre-established divot on the fairway.
Speaker 2:He was ranked 10 in the world and he spoke with the official ruler to see if he could move the ball because it landed in a divot. Well, no such luck, he has to hit it. So he did so and tore up an area around around the divot, and then he took it. He took his uh club directly to the gap and slammed it into it, taking out a huge chunk of turf, and then screamed fuck this place. After frustration, lowry put up the middle finger at the ball and he finished the hole with a putt.
Speaker 2:So, you know, anybody who's ever played golf knows that you can have a day like this playing golf, because you can have beautiful shot after beautiful shot, and then there's just that one shot that you have or multiple shots, in my case where you're just like fuck this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know it. Those moments happen. And, by the way, that article we just read from uh, written by uh, sharna Flam uh, you know, this reminds me of if you ever just chilling at home and you got, we all got that grumpy neighbor right, we all got that neighbor who just loses his shit. You know who it is.
Speaker 2:If you don't know who it is, it's probably you.
Speaker 1:You ever just seen that guy cursing his lawnmower out or just flipping wrenches at the back of his garage because something has just got under his skin? This is what this reminds me of?
Speaker 2:Are you watching me do stuff around my house?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I am, I have some of those wrenches.
Speaker 2:I was wondering why them bushes were shaking.
Speaker 1:But you know, that's what this reminds me of. This guy just lost his temper. He had enough. He obviously had enough early on too. So you know we're not gonna hold against, mr shane lowry. I mean, you are on a platform and you're in public and you probably should have a little more discipline and self-control, but you know things happen and we all have a day things happen especially under competitive circumstances.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, I mean it's unfortunate it is unfortunate but you know the world continues to turn we benefit from not being on tv when we have a bad day. Unfortunately, yeah when you're pros, when you're in pro sports, it's up front and everybody sees it but speaking of bad days, moving right along. Well, no, this is kind of a good day.
Speaker 1:I was going to say you know who's not having a bad day.
Speaker 2:Who's that?
Speaker 1:Florida Panthers.
Speaker 2:Well, I wasn't going to talk about the Florida Panthers yet. I was going to talk about the fact that the Blackhawks have got themselves a new head coach.
Speaker 1:Yeah, actually they're having a great day too. Let's hit that.
Speaker 2:So Blackhawks have just hired themselves a new head coach. I mean, they kind of need some more players as well, but they just hired Jeff.
Speaker 1:Blasho, blasho, blasho, blasho, what else it's Blasho, what else?
Speaker 2:Anyway. So they have themselves a new coach. They definitely need some more players, because they're hurting for players, anyway. So, yes, the Blackhawks finally have themselves a new head coach. But bad day, in this case Flip-flop we do know, what a day. We do know what happened in the playoffs here recently, with the Toronto Maple Leafs being knocked out by the Florida Panthers, which we had touched on previously.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they got knocked out so bad. They knocked their president out too.
Speaker 2:Exactly so after 11 seasons. Brendan Shanahan no relation to Kyle Shanahan or the Shanahan family of that nature?
Speaker 1:Are we sure about that?
Speaker 2:I want to dig deep. No, I'm pretty sure. No, I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, he's. He will not be the president for the toronto maple leaves any longer. So he is now being, he is now being pushed out as the president of the toronto maple leaves mike's, like my coach, is only related to successful people. This man just got fired, don't worry, he's not well, unless it, unless it involves being with atlanta, then yes yeah we're not going to talk about 28-3 anyway, so shall we speaking about some nhl?
Speaker 2:we need to get touched up with the playoffs and what's happening?
Speaker 1:we're touched. That's for not that kind of touched anyway.
Speaker 2:so right now, uh, we actually have the panthers playing the carolina hurricanes right now. Uh, panthers are up to nothing, so good for them, but they already hold a one one to nothing lead in the series. Now the more impressive thing happened on the Western side just the other night, with Dallas getting the win. So Dallas going into the third period. The other day they were down and they were down 3-1. But even being down 3-1, they came back and won that game 6-3. They had five unanswered goals in the third period and this came off of a bunch of power plays that were given up by Edmonton Oilers penalties. Edmonton just kept giving them the chance to come back and getting back in the game and they took full advantage of it and they won that game. And you've got to think like if the Oilers would have just played clean hockey, they might have won that game outright.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So come game two, if they can tighten things up and, you know, not take anything away from Dallas I mean Dallas, you know, did what they had to do to win. I mean coming back to win 6-3, that's, I mean you're going into the third period and they seem to be rolling hot because they're one game up on Edmonton already. Yeah, that's the one game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the one game you just mentioned. But you know, are we jumping over to the east side here?
Speaker 2:Well, east side we already talked about Panthers are up one game in the series, they're playing right now Against the Hurricanes?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're playing right now and they're up 2-0 on Hurricanes, so they might be up 2-0 in the series so.
Speaker 1:Panthers.
Speaker 2:I have to call myself out because when they were down 2-0 to the Toronto Maple Leafs I was like I don't know, the Florida Panthers haven't fared well when they get down 2-0, but I got to give it to them. They came back, they won that series against Toronto outright, taking it to a Game 7. And when they got to that Game 7, they didn't just beat Toronto, they pounded them. Final score was 6-1 in that Game 7.
Speaker 1:I don't remember how I called it, but I'm going to plead the fifth.
Speaker 2:Hey, I know how I called it and I'm going to leave zone up to it. So I know my buddy David, who's a Panthers fan, is pretty happy right now because they're one series away from being back in the finals and possibly be two-time champions.
Speaker 1:It's okay, I had better luck with my NBA predictions. We'll go with that one later.
Speaker 2:So, moving right along, we're going to get into the MLB. The MLB so recently. We just had a series between the New York Mets not the New York Yankees, the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox, and during one of their games they had Walker Buehler of the Red Sox was on the mound and he got ejected from the game. After arguing with the umpire and Francisco Lindor kind of rooted for it, kind of was cheering on him being ejected, and Walker Bueller had quite the comeback today. He said I wouldn't want to face me either, I'd be cheering for me to be out of the game too. So way to turn it back, you know, just take his comments or his cheering to heart and just use it against him.
Speaker 2:So, moving on to something else, because, like you know, sometimes in baseball you're watching a game and you sit there and say how the hell did he call that a strike? That is not a strike. Like people are always like the ump is blind, the ump is blind. How the hell did he call that a strike? That is not a strike. People are always like the ump is blind, the ump is blind. How the hell did he call that a strike? That's not a ball.
Speaker 1:In this case, the ump is special.
Speaker 2:So it happens all the time. Anybody who has any team they root for in baseball and they've watched a game and they're rooting for their team and they they see it just doesn't happen where an umpire has a clean game normally. But something they often don't do is ever say they screwed up Until now. So a microphone caught Notorious Bad Ump recently admitting he was wrong. Which ump, you might say? Well, that honor goes to Laz Diaz, during a game against the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox in a 5-1 win where the Mets beat the Red Sox. You can hear on the microphone where Laz Diaz says when Christian Campbell is up to bat, he says that's on me. Christian says Diaz. He says hey, that's on me.
Speaker 1:It's like story time.
Speaker 2:He said it twice, not just once. He didn't say hey, it's on me, he said it's on me, christian, and then he said it twice, not just once. He didn't say hey, it's on me, he said it's on me, christian, and then he said hey, that's on me. So twice the ump admitted in the same same phrase, same caught on, caught on a live mic, where he said I screwed up that call.
Speaker 1:How do you so? Why I don't?
Speaker 2:know man, For some context I have words, but You're still learning to use them. In the terms of umpires scoring accuracies like their scorecard accuracy, the matrix that they have for that. Diaz is graded out as the fourth worst caller of balls and strikes in 2025. So now just think about it. We have games galore and he's fourth among all of the umpires that could be calling these games, and we have every night a handful of games. Dang. That's not good. That's not good.
Speaker 1:That's not good it really isn't, but kind of funny at the same time and I don't know why this guy, I mean okay, I mean you know whatevs?
Speaker 2:speaking of funny, you know we oftentimes have these games where your team's getting blown out and they're like, look, we're not going to waste our arms, we're just going to put some position player in there and he can, he can throw. So recently well, kind of recently, this is back on the 16th the dodgers were playing playing the well, I almost said Oakland A's. They were playing the A's in Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 1:The.
Speaker 2:Dodgers were up 19-2. So like they had a commanding lead, yeah, like victory is assured.
Speaker 1:Too bad there's no KOs in MLB, because that might have been one. You know how NFL cuts the game off if a game gets out of control yeah no, not in the MLB, you just suck.
Speaker 2:You go and take that ass whooping and we all go and watch it so in this case, they decided to use their backup catcher as a pitcher, but this came with a little bit of a caveat he wanted. He wanted to go out there and pitch, because he said that he wanted otani. He wanted to pitch to otani. Uh, I have to. I have to say when somebody says they want one of the best hitters in the game, that this guy knows something.
Speaker 1:This guy saw something that nobody else saw, and he used it and go ahead and finish.
Speaker 2:I don't know that he saw something. I think he just wanted the challenge.
Speaker 1:He was very successful. So I think whenever you got somebody that eager, they know something.
Speaker 2:Or they don't know anything, and they're about to get proven that they don't know anything. It can go one of two ways Either you're going to look like the hero or you're going to look like a zero. In this case, he got up there and pitched against Otani and he struck him out.
Speaker 1:Boom Told you what did I tell you.
Speaker 2:I told you, he knew something, he knew something about Otani's game that Otani didn't know about Otani's game?
Speaker 1:I don't think so I'm telling you he just wanted to have the opportunity to pitch against him. Look, you don't get over-eager to face the league MVP on a whim if you don't see something that you can exploit. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying he wasn't pitching like he was, you know, an ace pitcher he just kind of was throwing stuff. All he had to do was be close enough regardless regardless of that take, the man went up there and he struck out Otani.
Speaker 1:So incredible by the way. Good job. Let's just give him that, because oh, I give him due, but I still think he knew something.
Speaker 2:Regardless. Anyway, if you look, I'm going to show my co-host the picture here. He's literally holding the ball in a case that has the date that says when he struck out Otani. So, he's keeping that ball. That's a granddad. What's that ball on the mantle? Oh, that's when I struck out Otani. You didn't strike out Otani, yes.
Speaker 1:I did. I struck out Otani bro, Go watch the clip. We're in 2025. There's probably a thousand angles on it.
Speaker 2:And here's the thing too. Despite that, the Dodgers actually had themselves a little rough run against the Angels for their highway series, because you know the Angels are real close to the Dodgers. They actually got swept by the Angels. So a little shout out to the Angels for doing well there. But let's move on and talk about what's going on with the standings. As always, we're going to start in the AL.
Speaker 1:East and you know, not just in the AL East. But if you look at all the divisions you're starting to see some separation here between the strong teams, the mediocre teams and the weaker teams. So, we're starting to see some things stretch out here.
Speaker 2:It's a long season, so there's still, and we haven't even hit, the trade deadline which will also yield what teams are contenders and what teams are pretenders.
Speaker 1:We know who the Browns of the MLB are this year because that team only has eight wins.
Speaker 2:if you'll scroll, We'll get to it. You're trying to jump ahead, man. I am jumping a little bit ahead.
Speaker 1:I like to see the big picture. Mike is a little more refined. Let's jump into the AL East, my brother.
Speaker 2:All right. So the New York Yankees they are leading the NL East or the AL East, I should say, with a 30-19 record. Followed up behind them is the Toronto Blue Jays, five games back of Blue Jays, five games back. So Yankees got a pretty comfortable lead there. In the East. The AL Central is being led by the best record in baseball, the 33-win and 17-loss Detroit Tigers. So they're playing some darn good ball, detroit, and they have a comfortable lead as well. They're five-and-a-half games up on the Minnesota Twins, but that entire division, minus the Chicago White Sox, is doing pretty well. They're five and a half games up on the Minnesota Twins, but that entire division, minus the Chicago White Sox, is doing pretty well. They're all over 500, so it's not necessarily going to be a slam dunk for them. They might have to fight back people in the division.
Speaker 1:Let's not kid ourselves.
Speaker 2:Moving over to the AL West, we have the Seattle Mariners with a 28-20 record. Al West, we have the Seattle Mariners with a 28-20 record, having them three and a half games up on the Houston Astros at a 25-24 record.
Speaker 1:And that division is tight.
Speaker 2:Moving over to the NL East, the NL East is led by the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies have been hot. They have won seven games straight here recently and they have a 32-18 record.
Speaker 1:Actually second best in the league, right behind Detroit.
Speaker 2:Yes, and right behind them is the Mets with a 30-20 record, with two and a half games back on the Phillies. So they actually leapfrogged the Mets. Remember the Mets started out hot and they do this from time to time. The Mets have been known for many years for starting out hot and then kind of fizzling out and then coming back strong later in the season. So I wouldn't count the Mets out as far as putting a run together.
Speaker 1:No, I wouldn't count them out, or exactly what you just said, but the Phillies are looking pretty strong up there.
Speaker 2:And mentioning the team that started out with the worst record to begin the season, with an 0-7 start. The Braves have powered back to have a 24-24.
Speaker 1:Oh, nobody likes you.
Speaker 2:Anyway, the Braves come back to have a 24-24 record, so they're 500 now. So we've got to give a little shout-out to that, because it's a pretty impressive climb.
Speaker 1:No shout-out.
Speaker 2:We're shouting at you Going to the NL Central, the Cubs lead with a 30-20 record. Three games back from them is the St Louis Cardinals with a 27-23 record. Three games back from them is the St Louis Cardinals with a 27-23 record. And in the NL West, the Dodgers despite their little skid there with the Angels, they have a 31-19 record, putting them two and a half games up on the San Francisco Giants that are 29 and 21. And right behind them is the San Diego Padres at 27 and 21. So the Dodgers can't get too comfortable. They've got two teams hot on their tails.
Speaker 1:At 31,. I think what they're tied for third in the league right now because there's another team with 31?
Speaker 2:They would be right now. They would be. They'd be third or fourth. They'd be Right now. They would be. They'd be third or fourth. Third in the league, behind the Phillies and the Tigers. As far as overall record, they're third, and then Yankees Would be fourth with their overall record, but again, we're still Fairly early in the season, yeah I mean over 100 and some games to go.
Speaker 2:The colorado rockies could win 30 straight games from this point on no, no, no, I'd be surprised that they won 30 games the whole year I was obviously kidding, I am just talking shit. As he's prone to do. But moving right along, we're going to swing over into a season that just started.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, boy, All right. So we all know, you know, we all love the NBA. Everybody loves women's basketball. They were hot last year. Let me rephrase that they were coming up last year and yes, they are hot and it seems like they're going to capitalize on that success because obviously they just kicked off their season. May 12th, they played their first games. It was between the Antelopes and the New York Liberty. Toyota Antelopes and New York Liberty Liberty won that match 84-61. And then they had some other opening games that day, you know, and then they had some other opening games that day. It looks like you know a good third of the, you know a good half of the seat of the league. I mean Atlanta Dream and Washington Mystics.
Speaker 2:Then Minnesota, lynx. That was May 16th.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was May 16th to open up their season Minnesota, lynx, dallas Wings. Then the Sparks took on the Valkyries. By the way, playing their inaugural season, there is the WNBA's latest expansion team. So wait, wait, wait.
Speaker 2:You kind of passed over. Go back to that last game. The Lynx won that game against the Wings 99-84, and that would have been Paige Becker's first game, because she went to the Wings.
Speaker 1:Yes, paige Becker's first game because she went to the wings. Yes, and you know, unfortunately they didn't get the win, but I'm sure they'll figure it out. They got a lot of season left to play ahead of them. You know, we just mentioned the Valkyries and the Sparks and then on the 17th we had the Vegas Aces versus the Liberty Chicago Sky Indiana Fever. I know that was a matchup right there.
Speaker 2:So Liberty won 92.
Speaker 1:Well, chicago Sky Indiana Fever is a good matchup because of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese matchup and. Fever got the best of them there. But going back to the Liberty and the Aces, Liberty beat the Aces 92-78. Which is a commanding victory. It is a commanding victory, I mean we can hit the scores.
Speaker 2:I hit some of them. Same thing with the Fever, the Fever with their 93-58 win over the Chicago Sky. So I'd say that Kaitlin Clark's fever got the upper hand. Yeah, they definitely got the upper hand over them.
Speaker 1:And then Phoenix Mercury, you know an exorbitantly, you know big win 81-59 versus Seattle Storm. And then we had a few other games come up. I'm not going to run down all of them right now, but it's been a good season to open up. They had a good first week and you know we're not going to go too deep into the standings because they just kicked off a mic. I got a question who do you like to see in the WNBA? Go all the way this year. I know it's early, but this is fun to talk about.
Speaker 2:I have no clue. You're not even going to pick one. No, because it's like dude. They've played three games. The majority of them have played three games so you can't really tell too much off of three games. We don't know who's going to get hurt. We don't know what team is going to gel and start really taking off.
Speaker 1:So you don't have a favorite WNBA team.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, let's just play devil's advocate here. Which?
Speaker 1:is what I love to do.
Speaker 2:Look, we've got at least four or five teams that have one-on-one records right now.
Speaker 1:I'm not looking at that record. What?
Speaker 2:am I supposed to gleam off of that?
Speaker 1:No, I'm not going by right now. I'm just asking you who do you want to see go to the finals? You don't have to answer, it's okay.
Speaker 2:I got a pick.
Speaker 1:I already have a pick.
Speaker 2:Well, okay. Well then, who's your pick, since you're going?
Speaker 1:this way. Honestly, I'm going to go bold. I'd like to see Golden State Valkyries, in their inaugural season, make the finals.
Speaker 2:Well, that doesn't happen that often. I mean, last team I remember going deep into playoffs was the Golden Knights of the Hockey during their inaugural season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you're right, but I like the Valkyries, I like their setup, but I like some of the players they put together. I also like don't get me wrong, I like the Fever and I like Sky, Both of those teams Don't count the Liberty. No, I'm not. Oh no, I'm not counting out Liberty at all. I do like Liberty as well, but I'm just saying, these are Brian's picks.
Speaker 2:Okay, you know what I'm saying there.
Speaker 1:You got your picks, bruh. But anyway, off to an exciting season for the WNBA. I hope you're excited and we're excited.
Speaker 2:Well, one thing I got to say, though I feel like if more people watch the games, they'll get a better understanding of how good these games really are. I mean because, let's face it, most people they don't watch. They'll watch the NBA, but they don't watch the WNBA, and I feel like that's a shame, because these girls, they play some really good ball.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's so much more physical than the guys I hate, to say it Like guys during the regular season, their games just sometimes are almost atrocious to watch. Atrocious, yeah that. So fuck you. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is the girls. They play with so much more intensity and passion that it's almost more fun to watch their regular season than it is to watch NBA regular season, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there's a different level of competitiveness with women. Men, okay, there is a little bit of a mental game there, but with women there's so much more of a mental game there. But with women there's so much more of a mental game there.
Speaker 2:Oh well, they want to win just as much as we do.
Speaker 1:Well, they, well, they do. But women play this psychological game, right. They're more psychological than they are physical. And given how physical they are, I should tell you how psychological they are right Because they're playing psychological games. Psychological, they are right Because they're playing psychological games. They're playing psychological warfare. They're all about mind games, right? So there's just a different level of frustration going on on their courts. I think Men just get flustered because we get outskilled. Okay, we get outskilled, right, we don't care if somebody calls us an asshole on the court. But for women, somebody calls you on the on name of court, it's like a psychological shot of warfare. It's like all right, what's next? You know?
Speaker 2:like I don't know it's the whole moment right there I don't know, man. I mean I think a lot of people would will take offense if somebody's like yo you a bitch anytime somebody says that on the court first of all, I think that anybody, anybody that has that said to them, I think they're ready to take them down.
Speaker 1:No, I agree with you. I'm not saying anybody's going to take lightly to something like that, but I'm just saying the subtle psychological games, right? That's what I'm talking about here. I'm not talking about somebody being blatantly disrespectful. I'd knock your head off too, whatever.
Speaker 2:But the point of the matter is, aside from whatever, that was.
Speaker 1:That was called good conversation.
Speaker 2:That's what that was, sir I'm saying that the the level of play that the these girls put out there is worth watching. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:I think we already made that part known by the description we just put out. Anyway, wnba is kicked off. They're one week into their season. Me and Mike have no idea who we want to go to the finals for two different reasons, but that doesn't matter, because we love it and we're going to watch it. We hope you are too. Follow it with us. Let's get into the NBA finals. My friend, the second biggest flagship what is that finger for?
Speaker 2:It's not the finals yet. It's NBA playoffs. We're not in the finals yet.
Speaker 1:You're right. Well, there's a big thing that says finals in front of me because we're looking at the bracket. So yeah, I said finals on accident. We're actually really in the conference finals. But the semifinals, the conference finals. We're kind of already almost there.
Speaker 2:Tomato tomato Work with me here, folks Well yes, we're into the portion of the conference finals which, if we go back to our last episode, we need to dial back and kind of explain how we've gotten to where we're at.
Speaker 1:I'm going to let you run with this one, Mike, Take the lead. My friend, let's go on this journey with you.
Speaker 2:You are what's the name?
Speaker 1:of the guy who runs the train the conductor. You're the conductor, let's rock.
Speaker 2:All right. So, going back to last week, we had already said the Timberwolves have already moved on to conference finals for the West. We were waiting to see what happened with the Thunder and Nuggets and ultimately in that game, Ultimately in that situation, the Thunder come out on top holding Jokic to only like 20 points in that final game and, to be honest, the team as a whole kind of looked a little spent. So it was a hard-fought series which, by the way, you thought they weren't going to put up much of a fight. You thought the Thunder were going to roll them. I plead the fifth.
Speaker 1:Hey, look they took them to a game seven and the Thunder were going to roll them. I plead the fifth hey look.
Speaker 2:They took them to a game seven and the Thunder prevailed. So they're taking on the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals, but they've already played one game and they are up in the series. The Thunder are against the Timberwolves and they're playing again tonight. So we'll see if the Timberwolves can figure something out, because during that first game we did have Ant-Man roll his ankle and that definitely will play out in this series if he still has a tender ankle and can't really push off and do the moves that he normally does her ankle and can't really push off and do the moves that he normally does.
Speaker 1:By the way, yokage uh had a another historic season as well as a historic uh run in those, but it still wasn't enough to land him a fourth straight mvp, so whatever no, no, that's because, sga of the thunder, he got the mvp and honestly, we all deservedly.
Speaker 2:We all kind of knew that was going to happen.
Speaker 1:It was kind of leading that way, I agree, and the Thunder honestly really having a historic season. I mean, they're the leaders in buckets man.
Speaker 2:So, moving over to the East, we had already last episode talked about how the Pacers had made it into the finals. We were just waiting to see what was going to happen with the Knicks and Celtics. Now we did discuss the fact that Jason Tatum had gone down and that it kind of looked like the Knicks series from there on out. But the Celtics came out the very next game, in Game 5, and beat the Knicks and kind of shocking them because it was like well, wait a second. I thought the Knicks were going to take this with Tatum being gone. But the whole team of the Celtics kind of stepped up and gave it all they could, but kind of short-lived because we came out for game six. Knicks just wiped them up, took them out and moved on. So now we have a Pacers-Knicks Eastern Conference Finals series and we just had that game last night very first game that series in madison square garden, and man, what a game.
Speaker 2:So look bro pacers, open this game they open this game eight straight yeah, eight straight shots made, and all five players on the floor had made a shot out of those eight. So they're spreading that ball around. Everybody's taking a chance getting a score. So they're not just, you know, pass it to one guy and you make it.
Speaker 1:Look, the Pacers showed up, and I feel like I've been calling this for almost the entire time we've had this show. The pacers have a history of getting hot. In the playoffs they already knocked out the cavaliers and now they're taking on the knicks and game one. I'm not gonna lie, bro. They showed up, sharp, they showed up, and I don't know if it's more the Knicks choking or more the Pacers getting hot, but I'm on board. Honestly, I'm in the Pacers' corner for this one.
Speaker 2:So what it has to do a little bit is the fact that the Pacers they like to run and gun, they like to go fast, and the Pacers their rotation. It seems to not affect their run-and-gun style and it doesn't seem to affect the production on the floor. Like, let's not get it twisted. The Knicks, they played well. They had the point where they were down in the first and they came back and had the lead, albeit slightly, when they went into half. But the Knicks unfortunately joined a pretty bad list which they'll be the only ones on the list.
Speaker 1:They're starting the list. That's called starting the list.
Speaker 2:But this is not a list you want to start. They're the first team to be up like 14 points, with three minutes left to lose.
Speaker 1:And they didn't. I mean they lost by a little bit, but really it was a lot.
Speaker 2:Well, no, because it was like. It was kind of like, it's kind of like when you it's kind of like a two-minute drill. It's kind of like a two-minute drill when you would see, oh look, we've left a minute 30 for Tom Brady to go down the field and it's like, oh fuck, here comes Tom Brady's going to get the win, because a lot of people experienced that during his career. But it kind of felt like that because the Pacers just kept chipping away.
Speaker 1:They just kept coming. They just kept coming.
Speaker 2:So kudos need to go out to Naismith Pacers just kept chipping away, they just kept coming, they just kept coming. So kudos need to go out to Naismith, because that man he came up, three after three, shot made down the stretch because they were nine points down with less than a minute left and Naismith just hitting threes like nobody's business. So this, might you know what this will wind up being 10 years from now? Than a minute left and Naismith just hitting threes like nobody's business.
Speaker 1:So this might you know what this will wind up being? Yeah, like 10 years from now, this will be like the Naismith game, kind of like back in 94 when Reggie Miller and it was like no stress If you just watch him the poker face all night just dropped.
Speaker 2:Well, in 94, reggie Miller had a game like this where he got the, he got the pacers the win over the knicks and he did that choke sign. Yeah, he turned, he turned and did the choke sign. I saw that earlier now, that was back in 94, so this this time around Tyrese Halliburton, he did the same choke symbol.
Speaker 1:He did it again.
Speaker 2:But he can't do it again. He wasn't there, Listen again being the moment.
Speaker 1:happened again, but with different players. Come on, Mike, Keep up bro.
Speaker 2:No, no, no. You got to be clear on what you're saying, man.
Speaker 1:I am clear, he wasn't there. I think you're the only one that doesn't understand. Look, nobody else is speaking up.
Speaker 2:That's because we're the only ones in the room, anyway. So let me get to my point, my point being that at the end of the game they were down two and Tyrese Halliburton, the most underrated player or most overrated player, I should say voted by his peers, has the ball and he has an open two. He can go ahead, go to lane if he wants and put up an easy layup and get the two, but he dribbles backwards and most coaches would be like, no, what are you doing? Look, because he's backing up and this is going to be your final attempt. And so he's backing away, kind of shooting, a fade away, kind of shot what looks at the time to be a three. So that ball is heading for the iron, it bounces and you're thinking, oh no, he's missed it. But this ball bounces almost like straight up and just very gently falls straight down for the bucket and then he, he, tyrese Halliburton, starts doing the choking motion towards towards the fans.
Speaker 2:and. But here's the thing yeah, it was a bit premature because his toe was on the line and and it was not a game-winning shot. It was a game-tying shot because it was a two Yep Sending it to overtime and Pacer still came out with the win. But had they not come out with that win, I could see where you're posing that choke, with the picture of them head down, walking off the court.
Speaker 1:So he's happy they won that game. You're the one that choked. You're choking yourself but here's, that's what that, but no, you're glad it worked out for him. Yes, I would have eaten that alive.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry but here's the thing when reggie miller did that back in the day, they lost that series. So he better hope that history isn't repeating itself. So, like you were saying, it's happened again. He better hope it doesn't happen again, because then it'll be a choke job and the next will be yeah, sometimes it's not good when history repeats.
Speaker 1:I'll give it that almost all. Actually, it's almost never good when history repeats.
Speaker 2:Well, but to add a little caveat to that, reggie miller was part of the announcing crew that was in there and he looked at Reggie when he did it, when he did the choke sign.
Speaker 1:Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's word of the night, brought to you by Webster's Dictionary, is caveat. Thank you, Michael.
Speaker 2:So moving right along back into this particular situation of what's left in the playoffs with these two conference championship games.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I'm excited.
Speaker 2:This is a hot Final Four teams right here, man Well for me, I'm more interested in the Pacers-Knicks series because I feel like that's going to be the series that's going to be more fun to watch, because both teams are very physical. Now. The Knicks are more of a slow half-court kind of pace kind of team, while the Pacers are a run-and-gun kind of team. So it's going to be interesting to see how these two teams play against each other and how they force each other to play their style so I'm just going to straight up, disagree with you and pick the pacers.
Speaker 1:but over on the west side, I am more excited for the thunder and the timberwolves, and here's why timberwolves one of the best, if not the best defense in the league against arguably the best offense, the highest scoring offense, the offense scoring the most three points, having a historical season. I am more interested in this series over here between the Thunder and the Timberwolves. We've gone from Thunder Nuggets to Thunder Wolves and I actually like the name Thunder Nuggets better, but the Nuggets suck because they got knocked out and now we're on Thunderwolves, and I actually like the name Thunder Nuggets better, but the Nuggets suck because they got knocked out and now we're on Thunderwolves. So I'm riding the Thunder's coattails all the way to the finals. I think the Thunder is going to bring this all the way home.
Speaker 1:I would be happy to see the Pacers, but I've been calling Thunder to win the finals since we've been talking about this and I'm going to stay with that A lot of people have felt that that's probably the play, but I would not at all be surprised if we have a Thunders-Pacers finals, that's what I'm hoping for that would be a very interesting final series because of the fact that both those teams have a lot of depth to their team.
Speaker 2:So even the bench play would be interesting, because you're going to have players that are still contributing, not just minutes as far as putting up minutes and points, but putting crucial play on the court where you're having production on both the defensive and offensive side, because both these teams seem to be very sound, even when the benches are on the floor, two very high-octane teams at that.
Speaker 1:So I think if we end up with a Thunder Pacers finals, it is going to be very explosive. We're going to see some fireworks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it'll be awesome if that's how it works out.
Speaker 1:I think that's great. So we're, going to wrap that up on the NBA here, let's move into. We got a little bit of college football here. Just an update the 12-team college football playoff is now moving to a straight seating model this fall. Sorry y'all, words get harder as we go.
Speaker 2:This is such a good thing, such a good thing. So basically, what this means is they're doing away with the. If you won your conference, you get a bye. No none of that, None of this. Like, who the hell is that team and why are they ahead? Because they have a crappier record than this team.
Speaker 1:No, no longer, no, no no.
Speaker 2:That no longer applies.
Speaker 1:Top four get the favorite.
Speaker 2:Top four, they get to move beyond.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they get home field preference, field advantage.
Speaker 2:This will be interesting too, because you could run into teams that maybe they didn't have the strength, the schedule, but they won out. I mean, we saw this last year with Indiana where they were just winning, winning, winning, and they had a pretty decent record towards the end. So if you find yourself as one of those lower ranking or lower teams in the eyes of the college ranking Of the board, but if you're sitting there with an undefeated record, it's kind of hard to dispute that hey, they have an undefeated record. Of course, the committee might still position you a certain way based on your strength of schedule, but we can't help that we can't help that.
Speaker 1:but it seems like they are trying to make the game better, trying to make the playoff bracket better, the playoff structure sorry, better, and I'm all for it. I kind of like what they did last year. I like where they're going to go with it this year. So they're ever-improving. So the situation between NIL deals and the college playoff bracket structure obviously being worked on, obviously improving. We hope for the better. So that will be for that. That's all we got on college football, mike. We have to get a sound intro for this because I can't do it myself every time.
Speaker 1:But are we ready for the flagship of subjects. This is our flagship sport. I mean, the nba is pretty hot too. It's kind of like our second flagship sport.
Speaker 2:We talk a lot about nba too, but are we ready to get into some nfl, bro? Let's. Let's just be honest. We just really love the nfl.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we we spend roughly 50 to 59 minutes talking about all of the other sports and then we spend 45 minutes only football, only NFL. So you know it is probably our flagship sport. Who's ready to dive in with us? I hope you are. Let's get going. What do we got up? First Mike.
Speaker 2:Well, so they had the owners meeting and they have these owner owner meetings every year and they have have all the owners meet up for all the teams and they they kind of how that?
Speaker 1:is that how that works?
Speaker 2:well, this is an in-person meeting, like there is no. Hey, let's zoom this in like no, they. Well, this is they all physically go and show up and they sit together and hash everything out. Well, at least hash certain subjects out.
Speaker 1:This is their second meeting. They usually have a second meeting when they don't get through all of their business on the first meeting.
Speaker 2:Right and in this case, one of the things on the docket was to talk about the tush-push, which has been a hot-but button subject and was brought up. And they've done this. They've done this a couple of times. The NFL when they don't like something, they get a team to kind of represent it and push it ahead. In this case, they use the Packers to kind of push the narrative of let's get rid of the tush. Push what?
Speaker 1:you got. I just want to say on the tush push. This is funny. Jason Kelsey actually got out there. There was a group of people protesting banning the tush push at this meeting where it was taking place. Jason Kelsey was part of that protesting group. He held up a cardboard sign that said push my tush in favor of keeping the tush push. I just thought I'd throw that out there. It was kind of funny to look at. You should go look it up.
Speaker 2:Let me point out the fact that if he's in there advocating for it, he was also the same person that said in an interview that he's probably the person that gets the worst treatment on this play, because he gets everybody crashing on and into him.
Speaker 1:Into his tush.
Speaker 2:Well, just into him in general, like you have guys coming from the side, guys coming from the top, like he's the one at the bottom of the pile.
Speaker 1:All of that is what she said.
Speaker 2:So he's getting the most bad out of the play is what I'm saying I had to make sure you worded that right, because there was definitely another.
Speaker 1:That's what she said locked and loaded.
Speaker 2:What I'm trying to say is he has come out and said stuff before where he's like I like the play, but at the same time he doesn't like the play. And I think you know, the more we do this play, something will eventually happen and somebody will get hurt, and then we're going to be sitting here.
Speaker 1:Look.
Speaker 2:This play is. Mark my words. This play is going to be gone. It didn't get the 24 votes needed. It only got 22 out of the 24 it needed to get it gone. But it will be gone by next season, I guarantee it.
Speaker 1:I wish I like your idea. We talked about this a few months ago. Modify it. Make the ball carrier have to cross the line of scrimmage under his own power, unassisted. That takes care of pretty much all the problems.
Speaker 2:Pretty much.
Speaker 1:I liked your idea for that. I thought it was very solid idea. I shared it with other friends. They also liked it.
Speaker 2:So yeah, because then, because there's no question, if somebody comes up and initiates any contact with you before you have crossed the line of scrimmage and that's what happens on every single one of those then it would be an illegal play and you would get docked 5, 10 yards, whatever they decide, and then it's no problem. But one thing that they also discussed was the reshuffling of the format of the seating. As far as the playoff picture is concerned, they've also tabled that they're going to push that off until— Actually, I have an update on that.
Speaker 1:Go ahead. The Lions actually have withdrawn their bid for that. They're going to push that off. Actually, I have an update on that. Go ahead. The Lions actually have withdrawn their bid for that, so that is now off the table.
Speaker 2:Yes, but they are still, even though they have withdrewed their complaint, it is still. It was a bid. It is still an issue that they are discussing.
Speaker 1:Well, they're going to discuss it. It has been tabled.
Speaker 2:They're going to do the regular format that they've been doing this year and then next year, next offseason, they're going to rediscuss it, because I think this is going to happen and what this means is you can win your division and still be in the playoffs, but if you're not the team with the best record which we have.
Speaker 1:You don't get home field advantage.
Speaker 2:You don't get home field advantage which is kind of contradictory right now, at this point well, in fairness, like how many times have we had a team that, just because they're in a division that is loaded we just had it last year. The Vikings and the Lions both had records that would have put them at the top of the pile if they were in first place, like either of those teams could have been in first place.
Speaker 1:In my opinion. I feel like, if they're going to do this, you just get rid of divisions, conferences.
Speaker 2:You can't, you have to no, I know I was now winning. I'll explain why. I'll explain exactly why they do the division format and it is the most simple answer let's hear it, nostradamus no, it look.
Speaker 2:they didn't used to have divisions and now they do. Yeah, exactly, and the reason they have divisions is to keep the nation interested, because if every team that is good is on the East Coast and making it into the playoffs, nobody on the West Coast is going to give a shit. But if you have conferences and you have players from other regions that make it in, it gives rooting interest for people in all areas of the country, increasing your viewership. They're not going to do away divisions. That's never going to happen, because all it's going to do is dilute the number of people watching.
Speaker 1:I think you have a good point. I also think they're setting up for expansion. Goodell has already said he's trying to get the NFL to be an international entity. They can't Okay. I mean, if Toronto opens they'd have to add more than one team for the NFL, but right now, at this point, it is feasible for them to expand the league.
Speaker 2:They're not logistically going to be able to compete with teams that are outside the country, unless it is a Toronto or unless it's in Mexico. Those are the only way they can do it. They can't have teams from the West Coast fly all the way out to England every couple of days or every couple of weeks.
Speaker 1:No they're going to stand up one or two teams based in England, I think. So you would have different teams and England. Those teams would be coming to the US too. Yeah, the schedule and the travel plan will suck, but look at NFL International. They're not doing NFL International just to fucking wave their tits out. They have plans for expansion, they have plans on being international, and all the countries they're playing in are countries who have expressed interest in opening an expansion team.
Speaker 2:I understand that, but what I'm saying is logistically it will not work. It is too much. I think it will, though it won't because it's okay.
Speaker 1:You have a different team every week though it won't, because it's okay.
Speaker 2:You have a different team every week. You if you have, if you have teams that half their conference is overseas and they have to constantly make that flight. It is too much wear and tear on the body of the players to make that time change. I am telling you this based on the fact that I've done that time change and I know it sucks.
Speaker 1:It sucks so much, I'm not saying it doesn't suck, but the. Nfl is an entertainment business and the entertainment business doesn't care what sucks for the individual. They care about performance.
Speaker 2:This is why I say they can't do a team that is based over there they can do teams going.
Speaker 1:They will probably have a few teams. No-transcript. They can do teams going. They will probably have a few teams. They'll probably have a few teams.
Speaker 2:They can have teams that go over there, but they can't do this. You know, having to logistically run their teams.
Speaker 1:It could work, because you think you're most teams are on a biweekly schedule. At most you get two to three home games in a row, maybe two road games in a row, right before you finally get another home game, sometimes a little bit longer. Say, for instance, you have a team based in okay, germany.
Speaker 2:If it was so easy, they would have already let the owner of the Jaguars move the Jaguars to England.
Speaker 1:Well, they need more teams. I don't think they're going to do one at a time. I think that when they stand it up, I think there's going to be multiple teams that stand up at the same time, because they're going to be expanding the league as a whole. I don't think they're going to add one or two teams. I think they're going to add four teams, four to six teams. To be honest with you, I think they're looking at getting bigger. It will work, though.
Speaker 2:Every entity bigger, but every it will work though every entity baseball, football, basketball, you know the nba, the mlb like they. When they stand up teams, new teams, they only do like two at a time.
Speaker 1:They don't ever add yeah, but they're not. They're not the nfl though and their teams. Their teams are not 53 man squads either.
Speaker 2:The nfl is the same way, the last time they added two teams was when they added the jaguars and the panthers, and they haven't added any teams since and they, the nfl at that time, is where all of the other professional sports are in their growth process.
Speaker 1:right now, the nfl is much farther ahead in its commercialization and in its growth than all of the other professional sports. This is a good debate, I like this Logistically the money. If you listen to me for a second.
Speaker 2:No, I get what you're saying.
Speaker 1:It will work it won't, though.
Speaker 2:You're missing the point of.
Speaker 1:Because that team overseas is not traveling every week. You have a different team traveling to them and then they might travel every two to three weeks to the States. That is much easier on your body than every single week flying back and forth.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's what I was saying earlier. When you start up teams, the reason they don't do this massive, let's introduce four, five, six teams. The reason they don't do that is logistically. You can literally tailspin your entire operation into the ground if you expand too fast and too much. You're right.
Speaker 2:And the NFL yes, it is the biggest conglomerate for all of sports. Yes, this is true. It has worldwide fame. Yes, but here's the thing Right now sending teams over there. Yes, we fill stadiums.
Speaker 2:Yes, these teams have success when they go out there because it's a partnership and we kind of hey look, the NFL's come to your backyard. What happens when the team is there permanently and then ratings decline, attendance declines, the teams aren't doing well, people aren't watching the games because they're not on at a time when most people can watch them. Because think about it when these games air, it is 9 in the morning on the East. When the games air for the West, it is 6 in the morning, so nobody on the West Coast is watching these games. So part of when you stand up these teams is you've got to have somebody that helps back the team and helps support the team, because the NFL model is it's not the NFL that buys the stadium, it's the area that buys the stadium. It's the area that puts up a lot of the money to make sure that these teams local funding, but I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it would kind of try to convince these countries over there that some of them look, they're not going to go for that I, I think they honestly would.
Speaker 1:And no, maybe they won't add a handful of teams. You're right, maybe they'll do one or two at a time, but I, I do believe it's feasible because, um, I'm trying to get back to, I just forgot this point. I'm so sorry. This is such a good debate we were doing so well, but anyway, um, I don't think that that is a I think it is a realistic consideration, but I don't think that. Cause, I mean, look at what happens. I mean the Browns and the St Louis Rams and the Raiders like they don't have the highest attendance record and also go to the go to the NBA and the MLB. Right, these teams, these sports, play so many games that they play across schedules. They don't have a set schedule like the NFL does. I think the NFL would end up like that Some of the games for the NBA and the MLB, you have to go back and watch them because they just didn't come on when you can catch them.
Speaker 2:Well, there's another part of this that you're not factoring in. There's also a thing the NFLPA and there's also a thing the NFLPA. So not only are you trying to negotiate these stadiums, these teams, these areas, but you also have to negotiate with the NFLPA on what these players are going to accept and what they're willing to accept, because it's not just as cut and dry as here's our new team, but we have no players.
Speaker 1:They're going to have players. We have no agreement with these players, you'll just have more players getting drafted and you'll have more free agents.
Speaker 2:So there's so much that goes into building a team and there really is, I there really is okay, I I'm speaking from experience because I've watched, uh, I've watched where literally hampton roads has been on the verge multiple times for having a team. We were literally and multiple sports actually. Well, here's the thing, the Kings were one of the most. It's a little sidebar, a little sidebar, a little sidebar.
Speaker 1:Bear with us folks.
Speaker 2:This is getting good, we're going to go down this rabbit hole for a second.
Speaker 1:This is getting good.
Speaker 2:So literally, the Norfolk area of Hampton Roads was literally one of the final people that was in for the bid for the Hornets when they were moving out of Charlotte and eventually wound up in New Orleans and became the Pelicans. There was a stadium rendering, there was a plan and I don't think they were going to even change the name. They there was a plan and I don't think they were going to even change the name. They were just going to bring them up here and they were going to be the Norfolk Hornets.
Speaker 1:This literally was a thing. Down with that.
Speaker 2:But the bid came down from New Orleans and they were more willing to put up money and more willing to do more than Norfolk was. Again, this situation also happened back in the 90s when there was an expansion. They were trying to expand the NHL and they were trying to move some teams around. There was a team called the Whalers that used to be in Massachusetts. They moved and became the Carolina Hurricanes. Now, during that time there was also that talk of expansion. They did not do the expansion down here which they were discussing, because there was literally a rendering. You can go find this jersey online. There was going to be a team called the Hampton Roads Rhinos.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And they were going to be here in Hampton Roads and because the hurricanes were so close roads and because the hurricanes were so close, because they were so close to this area, they decided we're not doing this, we're moving this team, the whalers, down down to carolina and then we'll get our expansion teams elsewhere. And they also, at that same time as when they moved the, the winnipeg jets down to atlanta, made them Thrashers. And then the Thrashers moved back to Winnipeg and became the Jets again.
Speaker 1:And we almost had Sacramento Kings go cross-country to Virginia Beach. That deal also fell through.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and we had the UFL at one point when we had the Destroyers.
Speaker 1:But the point of the matter is— Well, yeah, the UFL, and then we had arena football, which largely sucks, but we're not going to talk about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that fell through because the league wasn't funded very well and even though it had big backing from Bruce Smith and a couple ex-NFL players. I think Emmitt Smith was involved with his wife with the Norfolk Nighthawks but that fell through.
Speaker 1:That fell through, so there's been a lot of potential for our local area.
Speaker 2:But again, getting back to your main point, that's kind of the point I'm making here is that you can have all the potential in the world for an area to have a team, but there are so many other factors that come into it that play a part in a decision like this even happening and I'm guaranteeing you they would love to do what you're talking about. But it might not be feasible based on trying to work out the schedule which remember these teams. They're traveling and moving around the country, they're having games all over the place to begin with, and then you're adding in you know, now that they have these teams going here, there, everywhere, for overseas games, they're having to factor that in too. So they're trying to factor in bi-weeks along with these schedules and trying to factor in you know, maybe they'll have a Thursday game this week and then the next week they'll do their game overseas, so they can kind of even out this travel. It just adds another level of logistics. That's just frustrating.
Speaker 1:I understand what you're saying, but I remember a time when the NFL was considering. You remember when teams used to have to fly cross-country back-to-back weeks and we thought that was huge right. Flying, say, from New York or the Upper Northeast all the way cross-country two to three times in a row it's the same distance, the opposite direction, going to England. No, it's not. Almost it's 3,000 miles across the US, it's roughly. What is it about 3,500 to get from here to UK, I mean in the Northeast.
Speaker 2:It's a few hours flight just to make it over there.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So you're crossing a few time zones to get over there.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, it is a longer flight. The distance, yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2:I've never traveled there, so I'm not totally familiar For those of us who have never done time. You know changing time zones. You know when you're going back from a time zone so like if you're on the East and you go to the West you're gaining time. So it's not, it's not that big of a deal, you know. But when you're going the other way, you're losing time. So then your sleep schedule is all screwed up, your body clock is all screwed up. It does add an extra layer of stress. I've made this flight back and forth for work a few times, more than a few times, and it does affect you.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll give you the win on the time zone thing, because that was something I hadn't considered, yet that does change a lot of things.
Speaker 2:So we'll see what they do with that.
Speaker 1:Very good debate. You guys feel free to let us know how you feel on that. It's obviously a very hot subject and, speaking of time zones, you know we're going to switch subjects here for just a second. I'm going to change the order here. The NFL has approved. I lost it anyway.
Speaker 1:They've come out with guidelines speaking of time zones, guidelines for player involvement, participation in the 2028 olympics for flag football. Okay, uh, some of these. Uh, they discussed a resolution to allow nfl players to participate. Basically, uh, they're permitting players under an nfl contract to try out for flag football team participating in 2028 with 2028 olympics, limiting nfl player participation to no more than one. It was two players a week ago. They have since changed it to one NFL player from the roster for each NFL club team participating in the 2020 Olympics. So, in addition to permitting each NFL club's designated international player to play versus country, so actually they do get two players. They get a designated international player and the player to try out and then give me just a second Providing appropriate injury protection. They want to make sure these guys are basically protected if they get injured while competing in the Olympics, instead of the NFL regular season or preseason.
Speaker 2:They only have 10 spots. So one player from these teams, it doesn't matter, there's not going to be enough seats is what I'm saying. It's 32 teams, bro, but also, let's also keep in mind that there are people who play flag football professionally and we don't know who the Olympic Committee is going to choose.
Speaker 2:Just because you're an NFL player doesn't mean that you're automatically going to be chosen to be part of the flag football team. So it might be a mix. It might be some NFL players, it might be all NFL players. I don't know, but I know this If I was somebody who played flag football professionally and I have been for years and then somebody's just going to show up and they're like oh, here comes Justin Jefferson, he's going to take over.
Speaker 2:Sorry, go home. I think I'd be a little salty over that. I mean, I get it. I mean he's going to take over, sorry, go home. I think I'd be a little salty over that. I mean, I get it. I mean he's an NFL player. But you know, when I've been playing the sport and, mind you, it's not the same as tackle football for many reasons. There are rules and stuff that go into flag football that are not the same as NFL tackle football. So there would be a learning curve a little bit. I mean, yeah, the skills some of it will translate, but you know, the last thing you want to have happen is, in an international setting, somebody quickly forget that it's not tackle and lay somebody out from, you know, another country. It'd be a bad look.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know country and be a bad look. Yeah, and you know you hit the nail on the head. I was just about to say flag football is an entirely different game from tackle football. Just the dynamic, the way you run, plays, the way you handle yourself, just everything is just different. Um, but you know, we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1:Very good, I think it's good for them to be able to have the opportunity to compete in the Olympics. At least they're not holding them back. And the other thing is the NFL is now introducing O-linemen, mike Finally finally getting some recognition. The NFL is introducing a Protector of the Year award in 2025. The idea was pushed by Bill's offensive lineman, deion Dawkins, as well as former All-Pro player, andrew Whitworth. This is a huge development because they really don't. I mean, they track offensive linemen, but there's really no offensive linemen out there. And, in the words of these guys themselves, without the O-line, there wouldn't be running back records, there wouldn't be Super Bowls, there wouldn't be running back records, there wouldn't be Super Bowls, there wouldn't be passing records, there would not be a lot of the things and stats that you have now. So this is a big step forward for O-linemen.
Speaker 2:What a lame thing to call it.
Speaker 1:Protector of the Year. Yeah, I agree they could have came up with something better. Everything else has a fancy name or it's named after an important individual.
Speaker 2:This should be the andrew whitworth award.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't do that I mean he, he helped invent it and he's the only one I know he helped invent it, but like there are so many other offensive linemen, that the trent williams award?
Speaker 2:not even, okay, not even trent he's not okay.
Speaker 1:He did a face pop. I already messed up guys.
Speaker 2:Look Okay, understand.
Speaker 1:Mike is covering his face right now.
Speaker 2:There are so many offensive linemen that deserve their due to sit there and go. Let's call it the Andrew Whitworth because he was involved in it. That would be such a slap to the face. Such a slap to the face. Like people like anthony muñoz, uh, or uh. Jonathan ogden, uh. Joe thomas, like joe thomas played every single game of his career. You know like there there's so many there were.
Speaker 1:There have been quite a number before him. I'm just saying they should do something better than what they've come up with a better name. Yeah, you know I mean the Walter Payton Award. Come on now.
Speaker 2:Like that's a cool-sounding name Because they all right. So Walter Payton kind of a synonymous player. Exactly the problem is we haven't really been giving the due to offensive linemen to make anything of that kind of level of synonymous with them, even though you cannot have a successful team without them.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:You really need to have good offensive linemen to have a good team.
Speaker 1:It really is one of the most important, crucial parts of your team.
Speaker 2:Just look at our last Super Bowl. Do you think Patrick Mahomes would have liked to have some better offensive linemen?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and let me tell you what. As an O-lineman it takes a different level of teamwork, because all five of you have to be on the same page for plays and protections, and then you've got to be able to run block as well as pass block. O-linemen do a lot down there in the trenches. Uh, o linemen do a lot down there in the churches. Um, so just I. I think they have been long overdue for something like this so everybody focuses on skill positions.
Speaker 1:but let's face it O-linemen are the most ignored people in the NFL.
Speaker 2:They are, and it's kind of sad because they do probably one of the hardest jobs in the NFL. They have a guy that's 250-plus come barreling at them sometimes 300-plus barreling at them, yeah and they're trying to push them out the way or move them out the way or go around them to get after their quarterback. And there is no worse feeling for an offensive lineman than you miss the assignment or you miss your block and you don't even have time to yell to the quarterback look out, you'll get about, look, and then the quarterback's on the ground.
Speaker 1:And you know your O-linemen are some of your highest-paid players on your team because they're making more than a lot of your skill. The only people making more than your O-linemen are your star players and your defensive players.
Speaker 2:Well, the O-linemen typically don't. Your blindside blocker your left tackle normally makes the most, but the rest of them, your left tackle normally makes the most.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, from left to right it's highest to lowest, but like, even, like you know, from left to right, yeah, right side's, you know Well, unless you have a left-handed quarterback. Yeah, that's a little bit different. That changes things.
Speaker 2:But the I mean don't get me wrong, I mean good players will still get paid regardless of the position they play at, because I mean there have been plenty of really good centers that made decent paychecks. But the point I'm trying to make is, as a unit, they have a very hard job because the play starts with them and ends with them. So but, moving along, we're going to talk about a contract that finally got awarded to.
Speaker 1:Brock Purdy For one of your favorite teams. Sorry, your only favorite team, I'm sorry. Not my only I have some favorite teams.
Speaker 2:But the Niners is my team for football. This is not a man about commitment.
Speaker 1:This man does not get tied down.
Speaker 2:Hey, I said for football. The Niners is my team. Hey, I said for football the.
Speaker 2:Niners is my team, anyway. So the 49ers product, purdy, signed an extension for five years, $265 million. That extension is an average annual salary of $53 million and the contract includes $181 million in total guarantees, including $165.05 million during the first three years. But this is one of those things where the initial announcement of a contract it looks a certain way, it sounds a certain way, but when you actually look at how it's being paid out for the first two years, it's only about $33 million of the contract is actually being paid to Purdy for the next two years. So they're still getting a significant savings with this contract.
Speaker 2:This contract actually does two things. It does two very important things for both the team and the player. It allows them flexibility for the next two years and it also gives them the ability at year three for the team they can buy him out at like 27,. I think it was like 27 million for that for that particular year. He has for Purdy. He has a no trade clause which means they can't just dump him. So he'll still get some money. He'll still get his money that he's owed, even if they try to trade him uh, even if they got to pay out the additional guarantees. But the way they have written this, they have flexibility, which is something that the likes of patrick mahomes, the likes of josh allen, the likes of Burrow have all done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the number seems massive, but it's not like the Dak Prescott deal, where it's handicapping your team.
Speaker 2:So, there's room for flexibility and room to make this work for team and player.
Speaker 1:He did a Tom Brady deal.
Speaker 2:Well, not quite Tom Brady. Tom Brady would always take a lesser deal yeah, that may allow the team to do what they needed that man basically almost played football for free at the end of it but the way he did his deals, the money was going elsewhere and he made his money off of endorsements and other stuff. So but yeah, by that time in his career it was feasible and plus he was dating a supermodel that made way more than he did, so it wasn't really necessary.
Speaker 1:Look, she is the ex and we don't talk about exes. Okay, and that's how that goes. You know, former All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown was arrested. You know, just a few days ago at Aiden Ross' boxing event in Florida Date John. Bill yeah, right In Florida after pulling out a firearm and firing shots while fighting off people who were trying to steal his chain. Mike, what in the hell do you make of this?
Speaker 2:That people are assholes.
Speaker 1:They are assholes First of all I don't know all of the details exactly.
Speaker 2:Okay, just based on what you said. He's wearing a chain and people try to steal his chain and he defended himself. I've got no problems with that. Bro, but there's two sides to this, okay, so first off let the man wear his damn chain and leave him to hell alone.
Speaker 1:Well, he was getting jumped, and it wasn't obviously just for his chain, well, first off, like I said, leave the fucking man alone.
Speaker 2:Let him do him Like just stop Quit being assholes. Like just stop Quit being assholes. So. But on the other side, if you go out wearing a big old fancy watch, iced out big old chain, and you're flashing cash out in public, don't make yourself a target. I mean, I agree.
Speaker 1:He's obviously not running any security anymore. But I agree with you a little bit to an extent. Right, but people wear nice things and I honestly God don't know if I'm faulting him here. The firearm thing might have been a little bit too far, but in the situation where your safety is being compromised, you don't know. You know what's the rational decision. He didn't shoot anybody. I honestly might think that he might have a little bit of an edge here. I think he might slightly be in the right here, if not all the way in the right. He was defending himself and the officers. You know he was arrested, but they let him go later, so well, I have no problems with him defending himself at all.
Speaker 2:Um, and I'm pretty sure florida is a stand your ground state, um, and they are. So a stand your ground state means that if somebody is provoking or trying to attack you, you have every right to defend yourself, and if they are threatening to attack you in a physical manner where you feel threatened to the point where they're going to do bodily harm to you, you have right to shoot at them.
Speaker 1:So bottom line is but I give them credit for not to be honest with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean what it sounds like to me.
Speaker 2:Give it his temperament yeah, what it sounds like to me is fired a couple of shots to get them off of him, get away from him, because anybody who hears gunshots they usually take off running Typically, typically.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's just To me.
Speaker 2:Like I said before, if you wear all this flashy stuff, you're making yourself a target, and if people are coming at you to get that stuff, that's dumb too. Just leave people alone. If they've worked hard to get that stuff, leave them alone. Yeah, go work hard and get your own.
Speaker 1:Stop trying to take from others and I agree, people always want to take away from others when they can't get it themselves. But the there's another dynamic here, just slightly brown. I wish he would have just come out and be like, look, I was getting robbed. Yeah, I was a self-defense all the way. You know what he did. Shortly after he was released, he appeared on ross's stream. All right, aiden released, he appeared on Aiden Ross' stream. He appeared on Aiden Ross' stream after his release and said I got CTE, I blacked out, I blacked out Aiden, I don't know what happened. So, look, you should not ever be embarrassed for defending yourself. And I'm going to tell you directly that, antonio Brown, right now, don't ever be embarrassed or ashamed for defending yourself. The. And I'm going to tell you directly that, antonio Brown, right now, don't ever be embarrassed or ashamed for defending yourself the way you did. You did not shoot anybody. Okay, granted, I can't comment on whether or not the involvement of the firearm was appropriate, but I give you credit for not shooting anybody directly.
Speaker 1:At least he's okay, at least he's okay and the people who were attacking him were okay.
Speaker 2:Personally, and I don't care if this sounds screwed up. I don't care about the people who attacked him. You're right about that, you're right, you know honestly what are you doing, Seriously, what are you doing?
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 2:Like I said, leave the man alone. He earned what he has. If you want that, go get it yourself.
Speaker 1:Go do what you have to do and I'm on this level don't don't be trying to hurt the man and take his stuff exactly.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to add to that like this is a time this is a perfect example of people trying to kick you when you're down. Bro, and don't get me wrong, antonio brown has been out there and done some wild things and, trust me, I love to make fun of him. But, like, this is one thing that I kind of agree with him on, and maybe it could have been handled better, but I wasn't in the situation, I don't know. So I am giving him a lot of credit for the way it ultimately ended up, because it could have been a lot, a lot worse.
Speaker 2:True, and that's the problem Because, again you said, antonio Brown's been in a bunch of different situations where it hasn't gone so great for him, and usually because of his own actions. In this case, it was a situation where you're in a bad situation and it's not his fault yeah, and with that, you know, good luck to mr brown.
Speaker 1:Uh, it, it. You know I can't say he's trying to clean things up just from one situation being in his favor. I don't think his statement after was great, but anyway, let's go ahead and wrap up. I want to thank everybody, uh, for joining us for another episode of sports talk. You're welcome to talk with us by yourself as we talk and you're welcome to chime into our social media. Uh, by the way, we are two. That's the number two for the wincom. We're officialized. We got the domain out there. Feel free to check us out. I'm Brian with an I and I'm Mike, and we are Two For the Win.
Speaker 2:Pass the word everybody, and thank you for listening.