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 - E35 - Season Showdowns, Generational Talents & Coaching Good Judgement Into Young Stars
The sports world presents us with moments of triumph, drama, and humanity that remind us why we're drawn to these games in the first place. From championship glory to behind-the-scenes character, this episode covers it all.
The Florida Panthers have established themselves as hockey's newest dynasty with back-to-back Stanley Cup victories, closing out the Oilers with a decisive 5-1 win. Sam Bennett's 15-goal playoff performance earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy, though the celebration took an unexpected turn when the team accidentally damaged the Cup. We explore what makes this Panthers team special and why they're already favored to three-peat next season.
Trade season has officially begun in MLB with Rafael Devers moving from Boston to San Francisco after tensions mounted between the star third baseman and Red Sox management. The dynamics of this trade signal what could be a very active period as teams position themselves for playoff pushes. Meanwhile, incredible defensive plays from Luis Gilmore and Ronald Acuña remind us why baseball's sudden moments of athletic brilliance keep us watching.
The NBA Finals continue with Oklahoma City holding a 3-2 lead over Indiana heading into Game 6, with Jalen Williams emerging as a breakout star. Off the court, the Buss family's decision to sell their majority stake in the Lakers for a staggering $10 billion valuation represents a seismic shift for one of sports' most iconic franchises.
Perhaps most poignantly, we discuss how Spurs coach Greg Popovich once offered to move Dejounte Murray's mother to San Antonio with his own money after learning she'd been shot – a reminder that beneath the competition, there remains profound humanity in sports. These stories of character contrast sharply with concerning off-field incidents involving Antonio Brown and Shedeur Sanders, highlighting the responsibilities that come with athletic fame.
Join us for this comprehensive look at the week in sports, where we go beyond the scores to find the stories that truly matter. Follow us on social media and visit twoforthewin.com for more sports coverage throughout the week.
June 19th 2025. Happy Juneteenth, everybody, and welcome back for another episode of Sports Talk and some banter. I'm Brian with an I and I'm Mike, and we are Two for the Win. Mike, what do we have cooking on this very, very hot June day?
Speaker 2:Well, we have one final that's gone final. Another final that may go final tonight. If that's a little confusing, it's all right, we're going to clarify it all in a minute. And MLB is rolling along like it does and the preseason for football is closer every day Ever inching closer to us.
Speaker 1:I may have said that incorrectly, but it's okay. You guys know what I meant and if you've been following us to this point, you know how our rotation goes. As other sports become more relevant, we phase out of other sports and become heavier on these topics, and we're very excited to be able to talk about all sports throughout the year. Let's dive into the MLB, mike.
Speaker 2:MLB. I want to start with some NHL because that, as I alluded to, one final has gone final. Yeah, you're right about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right about that. Let's dive into the MLB. We'll do that first. Nhl, nhl. You said MLB.
Speaker 2:You really want to talk some MLB.
Speaker 1:I am not here, I am only physically present.
Speaker 2:No, we're going to talk some NHL real quick, because we have to congratulate the Florida Panthers on being a two-time champion winner. They won last year, they won it this year. The Panthers handled business this last game. They had a final score of 5-1 against the Oilers, closing out the Stanley Cup Finals. And man, not only did they close out the finals, but they did it in a 5-1 fashion. That's an incredible victory right there, because that's like a Just a shut the door. Shut the door. There was no chance. Don't even talk about how we could have, or if only. No, no, no.
Speaker 1:Door's shut.
Speaker 2:You guys lost Door's shut and it's unfortunate. I mean Edmonton, they got some decisions to make Because they got to figure out their roster and they got to figure out If they're going to sign their their star up to a long-term deal in conor mcdavid, which undoubtedly they will. They would be stupid to let him walk out. He's he's too good of a player to let him walk. I agree with you, um, but out of this we got our con smith trophy winner in sam bennett, and well deserving because he's had 15 goals throughout the playoffs. That's incredible.
Speaker 2:So, unlike the NFL and MLB, they do something a little different. Their MVP is for the entire playoffs, not just the finals. So he won it. Because I know some people are saying, well, wait a second, he didn't have the most goals in the finals. Yeah, I realize that, but overall, throughout the playoffs, 15 goals. That's pretty darn good.
Speaker 1:That is pretty good, and let me tell you a little bit about this Conn Smythe trophy as well. It was introduced in 1964 by the Maple Leaf Gardens, limited to honor by Maple Leaf. Let me skip that part for a second. Anyway, it was named after Toronto Maple Leafs owner and general manager, legendary Hall of Famer, Conn Smythe. And of course, as you just mentioned, it's based off performance throughout all of the playoffs, not just the finals game. A very prestigious award to have is a board that votes on who the player is going to be to get it. So congratulations to him and congratulations to the Panthers on winning a second consecutive finals.
Speaker 2:Well, and yes, it's impressive to do back-to-back, because especially in hockey, it's very hard to go back-to-back. But it is kind of funny though, because not only do they get off to one hell of a celebration, I mean because, let's face it, once you win the cup, you get to go around and party with the cup. And party they did and unfortunately they have been added to a list you don't want to be added to and damaging the cup they uh, they actually put a crack and a dent in the bottom of the cup while celebrating while we do not know the facts of how it got dented.
Speaker 2:They're not the first ones to do this. I mean the tamma bay lightning when they won it almost a decade ago, they dropped the cup, putting a dent in it when they were doing their little boat parade. And the Colorado Avalanche when they won it recently, they dropped it on the ice, damaging it. So it's not unheard of. I mean, the cup's been, you know, submerged in a pool. It's been dropped into the Atlantic Ocean. You know there's been a number of times it's been mishandled, but they've always gotten it back into its you know, they've repaired it and made it look great again.
Speaker 2:So it definitely gets its wear and tear because everybody gets a turn with the trophy. You know this Like, everybody gets a chance, everybody gets to hold it. And well, not just that, everybody gets a day with it. So every player gets a day with the trophy, a hot day with the trophy. But the cool thing is this particular trophy when they awarded it to the team, because usually after you win you get a chance to take the trophy and everybody gets a chance to skate around the ice with it. So the Panthers they decided they're going to let all of their guys that are first-time winners because they just won it right, but they have some new guys on the team. They said all you first-timers you get to go with the trophy first. They gave everybody a run with the trophy around the ice, but all the newbies they got first crack.
Speaker 1:That's pretty awesome, which was super cool. That's very good and excellent camaraderie by that team. Mike, do you think there's a three-peat in store for the Panthers?
Speaker 2:Well, the oddsmakers are already projecting that there's a chance that they are well not a chance they are the frontrunners going into the next year as it stands, because a lot of their players they're already signed up. They're there and the guys they have that are going to be possibly going into free agency. I doubt they're going to let walk. And if you just want it, are you going to want to walk away from a situation where you just want it.
Speaker 2:I mean, panthers are not going to be a team that's going to say you know what, we're good, we just want it with you, we're good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, if you look at their track record here through this year's playoffs run, they just blew through teams. The only people who really came close to competing were the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So they really just blew their way into the finals and then blew away the finals, like you said, with that 5-1 final victory there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you say that about Toronto. Toronto was up two games to none, yeah, and yeah, they really did give them a run for their money, but they came right back.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so very exciting, and clearly we're in store for another exciting NHL season next season.
Speaker 2:Well, speaking of exciting Dodger fans man, did they get something exciting here recently? So the Dodgers are filled with stars, but none bigger than Shohei Otani, and he's been playing well this year, but it isn't what they've been wanting to see. And he's been playing well this year, but it isn't what they've been wanting to see. Everybody's been wanting to see Shohei pitch because he hasn't pitched. He had surgery and he's been recovering from that surgery.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:Tommy John surgery. Right, it's some form of Tommy John, but usually when these injuries happen it's a long-time recovery and he was still able to bat. Even his doctor said it's okay, you can bat, but he you know the torque and what it takes to pitch puts more pressure on that elbow. So they didn't want him to, but he's finally pitched. This week he finally came back pitched. But here's the thing I love about what Dave Roberts, their manager, is doing.
Speaker 2:Now, normally you hear of a guy coming back to pitch and he's going to pitch a couple innings. You're figuring all right, they'll take him four or five innings. No, dave Roberts said no, we're not going to force him to come back and you know, hit it full tilt. We're going to ease him back. We're going to allow him time to get his arm ready. So he only really pitched an inning, but in that inning he did get triple digits when he pitched. Now, granted, control was a little off, but he had a good, good showing. He did, and literally I heard this from a beat reporter out there in Los Angeles that he saw something that he's never seen before in all his years reporting in Los Angeles. All of the fans showed up and were in their seats anticipating seeing first pitch. Most of the time, you know, fans are just kind of filtering in, they're just trying to get into the flow and get into their seats. And he said like everybody was already sitting and ready and waiting for the pitch because they wanted to see Otani.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they set a ratings record for this game, didn't they? This is one of the most watched games, not just this season, but I think they said in MOB TV television history, broadcast history.
Speaker 2:I mean greatness is something you want to witness when you have the opportunity.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And that's what Otani is doing. He's showing greatness because we don't see players that can pitch the way he does and hit the way he does. This isn't like there's one coming out every year out of college. You get a once-in-a-lifetime to see these types of players and that's what he is. He's a once-in-a-generation player.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to say he's legitimately a generational talent.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and I encourage anybody, even if you may not be a baseball fan, watch this guy because he's going to do stuff and you're just going to be like that's different, Because it is it 100% is so speaking of different if you guys have never seen the Savannah Bananas and if you haven't, I strongly encourage you to Highly recommend it.
Speaker 2:So the Savannah Bananas is a team that they're a traveling team, that they have put their own little spin on baseball, which they call banana ball, and they do different tricks and different things Like they might. If they're fielding a ground ball, they might pass it under legs and then throw it to first base. Or they might go to catch a fly ball and tip it with their glove and catch it, or do a backflip and catch it. You know doing all these crazy things. They'll have a guy come out on stilts and pitch from the mound, or go to bat on stilts or put the bat on fire and then go go hit the ball. They do all kinds of craziness and they'll like dance, and the whole team will be dancing at the same time. Or you'll have a guy do a, do a dance and then throw the ball. Like they get the fans involved too, like if a fan is in the in the stands and he catches the ball, that counts as an out, so you can literally help your team win if you catch the ball. So it's a lot of fun. But sometimes they bring in former major leaguers to come in and be part of the festivities. Most recently they just had a former major leaguer in, sean Casey, come.
Speaker 2:And if you're not familiar, sean Casey was a first baseman with the Reds for a number of years.
Speaker 2:He played for a few other teams as well, but most notably for the Reds and he was an all-star, pretty darn good player in his career. But he came out to play with the Savannah Bananas and we've all seen it, we've all had that family member, you know, on a Turkey Day football game where they're trying to relive glory days and they get themselves hurt. Well, unfortunately, in Sean Casey's circumstance, he's now 50 years old and he's been out of baseball for a while and that's not saying he hasn't kept himself in shape. But when you try to go from zero to 60, when you're a bit older, it's a little different. So, unfortunately, sean Casey, in this recent Savannah Banana game he had to be helped off the field because he hurt his hamstring. But he hurt his hamstring so bad that he literally tore his hamstring from bone. So now he has to have surgery to reattach his hamstring to the bone. I cannot imagine attach his hamstring to the bone, so I cannot imagine. This is a cautionary tale to all of the older athletes out there, like know your limits.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like maybe we do a few more stretches before we get out there and try to keep up with the younger cats.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you know, play on the level you're at. But sometimes and I get it, especially as you and I get older, mike it's very tempting to want to perform at the level you did when you were in your prime. And then sometimes you just find out the hard way your body just can't. Your body says what are you doing? No matter how well you've taken care of yourself, sometimes it's just not there anymore, bro.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So speaking of things not being what they once were, or things kind of being a bit different Differently. So recently we just had a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, a right-hander by the name of Aaron Salvelez.
Speaker 1:Shall, I take a crack at it, yeah you take a crack at it.
Speaker 2:I'm horrible with names.
Speaker 1:You're horrible with names.
Speaker 2:It's always funny when you take a crack.
Speaker 1:Aaron, I already messed that up.
Speaker 2:Aaron, I'm going to go with Savali Savali when you take a crack, a-ron.
Speaker 1:I already messed that up. A-ron, I'm going to go with Savali Savali.
Speaker 2:I like that. Alright, we'll go with Savali.
Speaker 2:Give a little ring to it. So Savali was a starting rotation pitcher and he's recently been pushed back into the bullpen, and usually as a starting pitcher. This is not a good thing. Usually it's either one of a few things. Somebody's come up from the minors and they're pitching way better than you, so it's like, yeah, we're going to move you to bullpen. In this case, aaron didn't take that too well and he was like, hey, this is crap, I want to trade. And they said, okay, they called up the White Sox and the White Sox said, hey, we'll trade you, andrew Vaughn, our first baseman, for your pitcher.
Speaker 1:Bye, Felicia.
Speaker 2:They said all right, but they bounced him out. So Savali, as you said, Aaron Savali is now with the White Sox and this is kind of kicking off the beginning of trade season for the MLB. As we get closer towards the end of July, that's when the hot stove and the MLB rumors start kicking off, because everybody's trying to either be sellers or buyers. Yeah, and we're going to have a lot to talk about when it comes to once we get past the All-Star game, things are going to start to heat up in the trade market which, by the way, if you haven't voted for All-Stars, get on it because that's coming up this next month.
Speaker 1:That's right get your votes in.
Speaker 2:So with that trade, we thought, okay, you know kind of under the radar trade, and we got a big surprise. Soon after that, a very big trade happened. So it's no surprise, and everybody kind of already knows that the Red Sox, when they got Alex Bregman, their star Rafael Devers, was like wait a second, I'm the third baseman, and so is Alex Bregman, he's the third baseman as well. So they said no, no, no, don't worry, we're going to have you DH. He begrudgingly took on the DH role and let Alex Bredman, who is a better defensive third baseman, take over. Okay, but when their first baseman went down, they said Devers, can you please fill in? At first. And Devers was highly insulted and said I'm not a first baseman, I'm a third baseman. Highly insulted and said I'm not a first baseman, I'm a third baseman. So they were like, okay, they brought up their young rookie, anthony Ramos, who actually recently hit his first home run in the majors, which congratulations to him. That's going to be a day he'll always remember his first home run in the major leagues, absolutely.
Speaker 2:But Devers, there kind of always seemed to be a little bit of a rift between Devers and the Red Sox where, ever since they picked up Bregman. It's like Devers has been a little sour on how the Red Sox have been treating him. So finally they were just like you know what we're going to explore trade, and they got one. Rafael Devers is being well has already happened. He was traded to the Giants. So the Giants, in return, sent back righty Jordan Hicks, lefty Kyle Harris and a pair of outfield prospects in James Tibbs III and Jose Bello. Let me try it. Let me try it.
Speaker 1:No, it's Bello, bello, bello Bello.
Speaker 2:Hello Bello. Anyway, so Tibbs is actually the number four prospect right now in the Giants organization. Okay, so they're getting a pretty good haul of prospects, but they also got some starting pitching that's ready to go.
Speaker 1:So they made out pretty decent on the deal.
Speaker 2:He's pretty good yeah, and Giants has said they're willing to take on Devers' huge contract because not too long ago he did sign a long-term deal that was going to keep him with the Red Sox for a number of years. So they've already agreed that that's going to be okay. They'll take that on. Now this trade has also brought in a lot of criticism from people saying that you guys in the Red Sox have done Rafael Devers wrong.
Speaker 2:And some former players have come to his defense and said look, both the Red Sox organization and the players' defense, you have Big Papi saying look, if you don't know how the business works, don't talk. And I agree with him If you don't know how the business works, you don't talk about it in that manner, because you don't know what's going on behind closed doors. I agree with that. This situation kind of yields to both sides, kind of getting what they want and things being a new start, a fresh start and everybody coming out as a winner. If Devers doesn't want to be there, there's no reason they should continue to try to make him do things he doesn't want to do because he obviously doesn't want to do them.
Speaker 2:But it was kind of funny when he got to the Giants they said, well, what if they ask you to play first base? He says I'll play whatever position they want me to.
Speaker 1:So clearly he just doesn't want to be where he was at. He doesn't want to be with the Red Sox anymore. Yeah, and I get it.
Speaker 2:I get it. You know, it's like if somebody was to say come up to you at your job and say hey, guess what? We hired a guy for this position. Wait a minute, that's my position. Oh, don't worry about it. Hey, can you take this other position that you don't want? Like I can understand his frustration.
Speaker 1:By the way, that does actually happen.
Speaker 2:It happens a lot. It happens a lot. I agree with his frustration, but I mean, like I said, big Papi said if you don't understand the way that the baseball works, let it go, don't talk about it, because you don't understand the business side, and this is clearly business. Yeah, you know this wasn't. Oh well, you didn't do what we wanted. We're shipping you out. No, this is. Both parties have come to a point where it's like okay, you don't want to do the things we want you to and you're not happy with this. Maybe we'll just do fresh start, we'll let you go elsewhere so you can do and be what you want, and we'll start over ourselves. Everybody wins.
Speaker 1:Sounds like a plan to me. Yeah, I think so too. Shall we dive into some standings real quick.
Speaker 2:Well, we'll get to that. We'll get to that. Oh wait, we got we, we got we got a couple more things we gotta touch on ahead.
Speaker 1:I am, I gotta, I gotta.
Speaker 2:Like I said, I'm only physically here, y'all so recently the astros were playing against the athletics and I gotta give a huge nod. You want to try this name? Yes, uh, luis Gilmore Sounds as good as I can do. So Luis made an amazing catch from the shortstop position and if you haven't seen it, you really need to go see this. It was back on June 16th.
Speaker 1:Could be Luis, but I like Luis it's.
Speaker 2:Luis Trust me.
Speaker 1:Anyway, mike's like shut up, it's Luis trust me anyway.
Speaker 2:Mike's like shut up, so Luis was playing at shortstop and he was drifting back into left field and he makes this amazing just all out dive catch. And he was going left, he dives going to his right and still manages to make the catch. You can see it on the pitcher's face. He's just like, oh my goodness, he caught it, you know. So if you haven't seen it, go check it out. It is one hell of a catch. It is worth the watch and it's a couple seconds. It's not that long, you know. Give yourself the 26 seconds it'll take to watch it and be amazed by a great catch by a player who's not necessarily a big name, but he's been around for many years, he's traveled around from team to team and he deserves a nod.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:By the way, Ronald Acuna made a great catch against the Mets recently. Just had to put that out there.
Speaker 1:Yes, he did.
Speaker 2:Kind of a game-saving catch at the wall in the late innings. But one of their rivals had a little bit of a scuffle here recently with the Phillies, nick Castellanos. He had an issue with his manager where he had spoken his mind and the manager said oh okay, catch the pine is what he had for his response Ride some pine bro.
Speaker 2:Ride some pine. You got it this game. He sat him the next game because he was like, oh, you're going to have words, gotcha. I don't know what he said to him, but he said enough in speaking his mind that he got put on the bench and message received. Yeah, but it may have done something to spark something in Nick, because the next game that he played he made a game-saving catch in right field as well to help the Phillies win. So clearly you've got to let the manager do his thing because he knows what he's doing, and he needs to let the manager do his thing because the Phillies, the past few years they've been riding a pretty good wave of good play. So, nick, maybe just tune back your opinion just a little bit. Go grump to your fellow players.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to again, you got to be present in the moment, right? You can't speak out of emotion, you can't act out of emotion. So you, you know, I can't say I disagree with him getting benched depending on what was said, but clearly it was emotional enough and appropriate enough for him to do that.
Speaker 2:And sports carry a lot of high emotions. They do Sometimes. You've got to let people do their thing and have their emotion, but don't take it too far.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't take it too far. It's okay to express that, but there's a right way and a wrong way to go about expressing these things.
Speaker 2:Right, okay.
Speaker 1:And you just got to be, like I said, present in the moment.
Speaker 2:You got to be smart and you got to be emotionally smart as well, yeah, Well, and you got to also, if you're the person that's receiving the maybe harsh vibe or harsh words being said, you got to also keep in mind the context.
Speaker 2:We're playing sports. It's high, high level, high leverage, emotion, just let it be. You know, maybe let it roll off your back and you know it's like I've had. I've had moments with coworkers where we've been screaming at each other at work and then after work we're like I want to get a beer man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's get a beer, yeah.
Speaker 2:And everything's cool, because we know it's just high emotions at the time. Yeah, and it's all good. When, speaking of all good, let's do a rundown of the standings real quick to see who's hot and who's not. Right now. We'll start with the al east. We got the new york yankees leading that squad with 42 wins and 31 losses, and right behind them is the tampa bay rays.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they 41 and 30 33 record making them a game and a half back. But don't hold out on wins and 31 losses. And right behind them is the Tampa Bay Rays with a 41-33 record, making them a game and a half back. But don't hold out on Toronto because they're two games back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the AL East looking kind of tight here through this part of the season Not too bad, and their bottom dweller, the Orioles, is honestly not terribly far behind. They have an opportunity to catch up, they have an opportunity to catch up.
Speaker 2:But that that game they had recently with the rays, where they gave up a 12 spot, 12 unanswered uh runs, is not a good way of uh keeping keeping things going for your team. They've they've hit on some hard times as a squad. Uh, you know they. They lost some players, which may have hurt their ability to gel and perform great, and they're just not hitting in all cylinders and it's very apparent.
Speaker 1:So we'll wait and see. They're not firing on cylinders.
Speaker 2:We'll see how that shakes out. But moving on to the AL Central, with the MLB's best record, the Detroit Tigers have claimed their best record again with a 47-27 record and they are nine games up on Cleveland.
Speaker 1:They have a nice mission. They are pulling away. Yeah, they're pulling away. They're leaving the rest of that division.
Speaker 2:They'll definitely be buyers at the trade deadline.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And moving over to the AL West, those Houston Astros we mentioned earlier, they're in the lead with a 43-31 record and they are 5.5 games up on Seattle. So they started out slowly but they're starting to pick things up and performing well. They're doing well. We'll probably see them in the postseason if they keep this up.
Speaker 2:Moving on to the NL, the NL East is still being led by the New York Mets with a 45-29 record, with only a one-game lead over the Phillies. But they just recently lost two games to the Braves and in the last game they lost, the Braves actually had their starter go eight in two-thirds innings almost a complete game and just held them to nothing. They had no runs. So that's not a good way to be if you want to keep that lead. So keep it up if you want to win that division. So the NL Central is being led by the Cubs the Cubs with a 45-28 record. They are six and a half games above both the Cincinnati Reds and the Milwaukee Brewers. But both those teams have shown in the past that they can kind of stick around and keep things going.
Speaker 1:Not too bad.
Speaker 2:Moving on to probably one of the more exciting divisions in the NL West, with the Dodgers still holding on to their lead of the NL West with a 46 and 29 record, and this is pretty impressive Given the fact that they've had so many pitchers. Starting pitchers hurt, they've kind of reduced themselves to doing bullpen games and spot start games and they've really been piecing it together to get these wins so that there's been some really good managing done by them, by their manager, dave Roberts. So kudos to them. But they are only up four and a half games on the Giants and six games up on the Padres. The Padres have been having a little scuffle here. They're sitting here with a 3-7 record over their last 10. That's not going to get it done. They need to start getting things going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they definitely need to pick it up.
Speaker 2:Certainly certainly so over here in the WNBA. What do we got, brian?
Speaker 1:Let us know Over here in the WNBA. We only have one piece of news here. We haven't kept up terribly well with them, but we will dive into their standings here in just a moment. Kayla Clark has 46 assists through the first five games to start their WNBA season. That is a WNBA record. Not too bad on that one. So the battle between her and Angel Reese continues. And now obviously we have Paige Beckers in that conversation as well. And now obviously we have Paige Beckers in that conversation as well, her being a rookie and the other two, angel Reese and Kaitlyn Clark, being second-year players. So these girls are coming up rather well and coming up on fire, coming up on fire. So it's not too bad there. Sorry, having some technical difficulty here. So anyway, let's dive into the standings real quick, starting at the top. Excuse me y'all, we're very sorry for the technical difficulties.
Speaker 1:Starting at the top here. Sitting number one Minnesota Lynx 11 wins, 1 loss. Followed closely behind New York Liberty with 10 wins and 1 loss. Phoenix Mercury at number three spot 9 wins. Atlanta Dream with 8 wins. Both of those teams have 4 losses. Seattle Storms trying to keep up with a 7-5 record, followed by a fever 6-5 record. The Golden State Valkyries in their inaugural season, sitting at 5-6, middle of the pack here, sharing a similar record, with the Aces the Mystics behind them at 5-7. Los Angeles Sparks at 4-9. Chicago Skies at 3-8, which is a little surprising to see at this point this season and Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings pulling up the caboose with 2-10 and 2-11 respectively here and Dallas Wings pulling up the caboose with 2-10 and 2-11 respectively here. So we do have a rather competitive WNBA season underway here. There are some dark horses sitting towards the top and there's one or two surprising teams falling behind here.
Speaker 2:So I think it's a pretty good start to their WNBA season. Yeah, yeah, I mean, the women are definitely holding their own and, like I've said many, many times in the past, the women's game is so physical and most people don't understand because they don't really watch the games enough to get an understanding of how good these women really are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can agree with that there. So let's move on past that and hopefully they continue to have a competitive season with them as well. So let's jump into some men's, some dub, some nba action here. All right, starting off at the top. Uh, rockets are signing uh center steven adams to a three-year 39 million dollar extension. I know they're happy about that, uh, and clearly he's happy to be part of the rockets as well. So, yeah, he's a very crucial player to their success.
Speaker 2:So yeah that's a very good signing for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they're a young and up-and-coming team and one of my personal favorites as well, so I'm eager to see what they do through the rest of their offseason. Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook has declined his $3.4 million player option. He will become a free agent on June 30th, so this is rather interesting given the drama around the Nuggets here this previous season, especially as they came into the playoffs. You know getting a new GM and maybe some of their player moves, and maybe you know falling a little bit short in the playoffs as well. Clearly he's not happy there. There might be some things going on behind closed doors. I wonder where he's going to land at.
Speaker 2:That's a good question, being that he's a veteran player at this point in his career he's not quite the wall-to-ball action player that he was when he was with OKC. That he was when he was with OKC, so he's probably going to wind up being a backup or a role player coming off the bench, and he's shown time and time again he's okay with that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so that's an interesting thing to follow there as well. And some big news out of Lakers country the Buss family is entering into an agreement to sell the majority ownership of their team Los Angeles Lakers country. The Buss family is entering into an agreement to sell the majority ownership of their team Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter for a franchise valuation of approximately $10 billion. Sorry, words are hard. Now the Buss family is anticipating keeping a minority share of the team just over 15% for some time, so this is a rather interesting development here. Mike, go ahead bud.
Speaker 2:Well, and if that name sounds familiar to you, it's because Walter is part of the ownership group that has invested in the Dodgers. So if Yankee fans or not Yankee fans, if Laker fans are wondering what they might get from a new ownership, what they need to realize is they have put a lot of money into the Dodgers. I don't see them just putting money into the Dodgers and not putting money into the Lakers as much as they can. Now, the thing is, though, when you're buying into these Lakers, unlike other teams that have a lot of assets associated with them, whether that be a stadium or it be land, they do not have that. With this, with this particular situation, they have a team that leases the stadium that they play in, so they don't have necessarily a ownership that owns land or owns something that is tied to the team. It's tied to whoever owns it.
Speaker 2:In this case, it's not the lakers. Yeah, it's a, it's a big thing. Because, you know, for a number of years they question why have the lakers ownership, being the Buss family not sold it? Because when, when, when Jeannie Buss's father, who was owner of the you know at the time, the Showtime Lakers, he kind of started that whole thing when he was still around. You know they had speculated that once he was gone they might sell the team. Sell the team, but they never did.
Speaker 2:And it's caused a lot of feuds between his kids where they've been literally going into legal battles and and, and they never did. And it's caused a lot of feuds between his kids where they've been literally going into legal battles, and and, and. They're all older now. So it's probably a situation where, you know, they probably wanted to sell the team while they could all still get a piece, because even if one of the uh family members passed away, it wasn't like their shares were going to be dispersed amongst the remaining members. So this is a situation where it might have been just right time, right place and nobody's going to really say, nah, I can't use $10 billion.
Speaker 1:Now I will say Jeannie Buss is going to remain as the Lakers governor and continue to run the team for and this is a quote at least a number of years. That time period is undefined so far. Uh, but walter is the. You know, the incoming owner is the ceo and chairman of the diversified holding company twg global. Uh, they've been a stakeholder in the lakers since 2021, so they've been around already for a couple years, as you mentioned just now. So he purchased the Phil Anschwatts Sorry if I butchered that. He got 26% share of that and was also when Walter received the right of first refusal on a majority share of the team, so he was the first person. He had the rights to be the first person to buy and clearly he's a buyer, so he's person to buy and clearly he's a buyer, so he's going to buy. So I'm eager to see how that changes the culture of this team going forward and maybe the dynamic of anything that affects them on the court.
Speaker 2:Well, I got an interesting kind of question to ask you based on this. So like, let's say, we'll just hypothetical this Right. Let's say we have the Lakers, we have the Yankees, we have the Kansas City Chiefs, we have when are you going with this?
Speaker 1:Should we throw the Florida Panthers in there?
Speaker 2:Hang on, no, I'm thinking you know a lot of. Okay, if you were given the choice and you could buy, say, the Lakers or the Yankees or the Chiefs or you know any one of the hockey teams you know. Or if you had a choice in any of these, any sports team, any of these sports teams.
Speaker 1:American sports teams specifically.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, there's too many soccer clubs to go into and I'm not going to even pretend like I know half of them Chelsea. I probably even couldn't name ten of them. Sorry, I'm admitting on this episode, I'm not that much of a soccer fan.
Speaker 1:Neither of us are, and I know Chelsea just changed hands in recent years as well.
Speaker 2:But that's besides Europe, honestly that's the same ownership group that owns part of it. Walter owns part of it too, Walter at TWG. Yeah, so, given if you were the billionaire and you could own one of these teams, what team would it be? I mean because, given the situation, because like, let's face it, Lakers, they're a huge brand. So is the Kansas City Chiefs, so is the New York Yankees, and if we want to go hockey, we could say the Rangers, we could say the Oilers. I mean, they're a big brand.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Edmonton. Yeah, I mean Panthers is a newer team. Otherwise I would say the Panthers, but they're a newer team. They don't have quite the history that some of these older teams do so like. If you had a chance to buy one of these teams, what team would it be and what would your reason be?
Speaker 1:I'm going to be honest, I'm going to be very biased. I'd buy the Commanders. Oh, jesus Christ, you know it, you already know it. I'm going to buy the Commanders straight up. Josh Harris beat me to the punch. I also didn't have the money in my bank account like he did, but a bank account, like he did. But that's okay. But that aside, if the commanders.
Speaker 2:They're not an option. Choose somebody else.
Speaker 1:You can't ask me which team and then tell me the team that works on an option I gave you a couple of teams and there weren't part of it.
Speaker 2:Oh, you wanted a multiple.
Speaker 1:Okay, this is a multiple choice question.
Speaker 2:This is like a multiple choice kind of thing.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's see here I'm probably You're talking about of all the championship teams here, honestly, I really Kind of recent as of recent, yeah, honestly I really like the Thunder and I really like the Pacers. But if I'm going to pick between two, of them, I'll probably buy the Thunder.
Speaker 2:To be honest with you, Bro, I said like Yankees Chiefs.
Speaker 1:I said yankees chiefs, listen and the and the god okay, all right, I'm all right, I'm buying, I'm not buying the yankees and I don't want the chiefs. Okay, listening, comprehension is not a strong suit of mine. Okay, what were the other choices? Lakers I'd buy the lakers. Or any hockey team, I would. I would buy the lakers. I would buy the oilers too, but I would, I would rest on the lakers. They're pretty good franchise. That was you want a valued time, storied franchise, oh, and clearly, just their name and branding carries a lot of weight and value.
Speaker 2:So for me, I like all of the sports, like I could be happy with having any of them.
Speaker 1:I mean, I guess that's kind of where I was getting that too.
Speaker 2:Well, no, no, no. I mean like seriously, if I owned a baseball team, I would be happy to be owner of a baseball team. I would probably go to all of the games, the home games and same thing with football and same thing with basketball. But for me, like I think, yeah, I probably would lean behind the Lakers because you got to think about the history behind the Lakers and plus the fact that stars go to the Lakers, like you see a Lakers game and you can see a who's who, kind of around the first few rows at a Lakers game, you'll see Leonardo DiCaprio you used to see what Go ahead?
Speaker 1:No, you can go ahead. I'll wait until you finish what you're saying, because I was going to make another point.
Speaker 2:Oh, I was going to say for years you saw Jack Nicholson sit in court side, you know, jawing it up with the Lakers players and cheerleaders alike, probably trying to get some numbers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, can't blame Jack, yeah, and I want to add to that, as you're talking about, you know, not just famous people, but also good players coming to the Lakers. Look at what Braun has done over the last few years or so. Right, he started with the Heat, then he went home, brought a championship to the Cavs, hung out with them for a little bit, then he went where To the Lakers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, okay, okay, I'm going to say these first few things about LeBron. Here we go. Look, it's just my opinion. It's my opinion Now. I understand him doing that whole you know Boys and Girls Club thing. To announce he was going to the Heat was a bit of a you know. It was good for the Boys and Girls Club, but he totally that was the wrong way of going about it. He has even admitted such, because he kind of really screwed over his hometown by doing it in that manner and really upset a lot of people. I think that's where a lot of people turned on him, because before that everybody was 100% in on LeBron. Everybody loved him, minus the teams that were playing against him.
Speaker 1:It was the Bron World Tour, as I like to call it Right right For him to go back and then win one for them.
Speaker 2:That was super cool. I really appreciate him having done that for them because they really they really deserved it. And you know, for him to then bail on them again and go to Lakers Now, granted, going to the Lakers it had more to do with him than it did about playing for the Lakers. It had more for him going out there and starting his life after basketball by dealing with production companies and being available for different meetings with these organizations that are going to be life after basketball. So the move of going to Lakers wasn't necessarily the like hey, I'm going to go to Lakers because I've always been a Laker fan, it's. I'm going to Lakers because it's going to set me up after basketball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and speaking of being set up, before we dive into, you know, the NBA playoffs here, game six coming up tonight actually, uh, I want to mention a little feel-good story here. Okay, uh, did john, did john to murray right di jante, di jante, murray right when he was, when he was playing under greg popovich? Okay, popovich tried to use his own money to move toJounte's mom to San Antonio after finding out that she had been shot in the leg in his rookie year. By the way, so this was clearly some time ago, but this story coming out now is very heartwarming. Okay, and this is a quote I'm going to read. It was so crazy. A lot of my people don't even know this.
Speaker 1:He, speaking of Popovich, tried to move my mom to San Antonio with his own money after she got shot. My mom was shot in the leg my rookie year. He called her himself without me knowing until after the fact. So he said you know, popovich, we want to move you here. No, not with DeJounte's money, with my money, not with DeJounte's money, with my money. So this sounds like a dude, a coach who really cares not just about Mr Murray and his family, but about all of his players and all the people that he has been a part of their lives right. So this is a big story. What a class act by Popovich. Just you know, even right now in today's time, feel-good stories still coming out.
Speaker 2:Well, these are the types of things that you know. They don't come out at the time because the players, they appreciate these acts and a lot of times they don't want publicity from it. They're doing it because it's the right thing to do and this just shows that, like how much a coach of his caliber, they not only care about their players but they care about the things that matter to their players and including their families. So you know good organizations, they typically do take care of the players plus their families.
Speaker 1:Yeah and yeah, not just that. This is where I was getting ready to go with this, not just with sports teams. But I want to make a point real quick. If you're living your life to the fullest and most honest you can, this is the kind of things that will happen. You want people to be saying good things about you in the future. What you do today is going to affect you tomorrow. So live honestly, live authentically, and don't do nice things because it's good for the universe. Do nice things because that's how you are.
Speaker 2:Okay, you should do nice things because you want nice done to others and you want nice out there.
Speaker 1:You want nice? Yeah, don't do it, because you want publicity from it. Yeah, exactly, you don't want. Don't do it because you want publicity or you want people to say, oh well, he's such a good person. People will say those things about you in the future. If that's genuinely how you are, yeah, so I advocate for always being that kind of individual. Right, Be honest, be upfront, be authentic and be nice. Be caring.
Speaker 2:What's that golden rule? People used to say Do unto others as you want, done unto yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now let's dive into some playoff action. As we mentioned earlier, game 6 coming up tonight. Yes, the Thunders leading 3-2, and the Pacers look like they might be about to get paced. I'm not going to lie, mike.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, so I'm probably not going to get the game seven that I want, and that's facts. We came close.
Speaker 2:Look, I'm not trying to throw dirt on the Pacers. I'm just saying with one of your lead stars, halliburton, dealing with a calf injury that is looking like it might keep him out of the game, even if he does come in the game, if I'm the Thunders coach, I'm telling my players you go after him. Every move, every, every switch. We need to make it, put on him and push him to make him play off that calf and hurt himself more or expose them on the defensive side, because if you've got a hurt calf, if you've never experienced having hurt calf, it is extraordinarily hard to fight through, if you've ever had charlie horse.
Speaker 2:Now it's. It's not easy to play through injury. Injuries and especially for a, for a basketball player, a calf injury is brutal because, like, you have to change, you have to do change of pace, you have to push off. Everything you're doing is just making it hurt more and more and they're going to do the best they can to train him. You know he'll be with the trainers, getting massages and getting hot and cold and maybe getting injections to try to help the muscles stop being aggravated, but it's going to keep hurting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, as you just mentioned, if he does play, it sounds like it's going to be very limited action. So clearly one of their star players, you know, dealing with the injury. He's been a big part of this playoff run you know His betting line has gone down too.
Speaker 2:So obviously even the books aren't thinking he's going to do much, because it went from 17 to 13. So there's a chance like even if he does play, we're not going to see much out of him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, going on the flip side here, the Thunder. They've really cleaned up their act a little bit here. They've cut back on turning over the ball, which was a huge problem through the last couple games, and they are now taking the ball away from the Pacers and they're performing and it's showing, as they're, in the lead now 3-2. If they win this one, that's game done.
Speaker 2:Well, we have to give some flowers to somebody who most NBA fans. If you're a casual, you didn't know him until his playoff season started. I love flowers. Thank you, mike. No, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about Jalen Williams of the OKC Thunder. He put up a 40-point game. He did. He put up over 40 points, so listen Excellent showing.
Speaker 2:He had an amazing game five and really was the reason behind them winning that last game. I mean, yes, it was a team effort, Everybody did their share to aid them in that win. But he kind of had his coming out party. You did it on the big stage, so now people ain't going to be sleeping on them. Honestly, when everybody was talking about this team, they were always talking about who Halliburton.
Speaker 1:No, not Pacers Thunder. Which player were they talking about? You tell me.
Speaker 2:Halliburton no, not Pacers. Sorry, thunder, not Pacers. Thurser, la la la which player?
Speaker 1:were they talking about? You tell me.
Speaker 2:SGA, sga. I knew it Come on, so anyway.
Speaker 1:I knew it was.
Speaker 2:Alexander.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I mean, he did just win MVP. That's what I get for not paying attention.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what you get for not paying attention, Anyway. So with Jalen Williams having the game he did, that's kind of putting his name out there. So this next season nobody's going to really be sleeping on him much. It's kind of like how Brown was for the Celtics a year ago when he was doing things in the playoffs, and now everybody's like, oh okay, it's not just Tatum, Casual fans, they wouldn't know those players, but when they do things on the big stage, like he did, the name comes out.
Speaker 1:It becomes more familiar at that point and I've got to say, mike, let's go ahead and make some picks, man, I hate to admit it.
Speaker 2:I think we pretty much gave our picks.
Speaker 1:man, we did give our picks, but I'm just going to go ahead and make it official. I think the Thunder is gonna lock this one up. I feel bad for the pacers because they've had a really, really good run. Uh, but there's always next season.
Speaker 2:So you know what I want.
Speaker 1:Game seven I'm picking pacers this is a weird turn of events because at the beginning of this we I don't I, we were like opposites, I think, and now we're opposites again, yeah, but I, I want, I want a game seven.
Speaker 2:So I'm gonna pick pacers and I hope I'm right.
Speaker 1:I always advocate for more, for more basketball. But let's go ahead, everybody, let's jump into the nfl that they're starting to heat up. Some players are moving around a little bit.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know I kind of like this portion of the year a lot more than I like when the free agents are moving around in the beginning.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because this is when the veteran talent starts to move around and when you start seeing things happen that people you know. When the season starts they go. Wait, he's on that team.
Speaker 1:You know the moves that make everybody go, oh oh that's where he is and speaking of which five-time Pro Bowl linebacker, cj Mosley, he's returning, he's coming back.
Speaker 2:No, he's not no he's retiring. You read that way wrong. I'm reading that wrong, god. No, don't hit me guys.
Speaker 1:He's retiring, not returning.
Speaker 2:Sorry. No, he's retiring but not returning, sorry, so wait a second wait a second wait a second. No, what we need to say is he's retired. We were talking about players. You're gonna see. You ain't seeing him, no more. He's going home. He's going home to see for his family, to see him. That's right. He's retiring.
Speaker 1:What a storied career he's had, uh, to this point, uh, I gotta give it, I gotta give it up to him. And then you know, mr Jire Alexander. He's on a new team now as well. He's joining the Ravens, as CJ Mosley is leaving, even though they play different positions Ravens you know catching some headlines here Well and CJ Mosley was with the Jets.
Speaker 2:He was a former Raven you are right about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was a former Raven, but he also, like you say, alexander, who just was released by the Packers, going over and playing over there with the Ravens. Now that's going to really aid them in what has been a really weak cornerback combo, that room. Their cornerbacks have been not so great over these last few years and now they. That's not to throw shade, it's just these past few years. Historically they have not been really great at the corner position, so now they get somebody who when he's right he's a difference maker.
Speaker 1:That's very good. And, mike, what's the old adage? In Russ, we trust, oh good Lord maker. That's very good. And mike, what's the old adage? And russ we trust, oh good lord. It's looking like. Uh, russell wilson is gonna lit, is gonna land the starting job for the giants. Honestly, not totally surprised, but they did just draft jackson dart. Uh, it looks like now he's. You know, russ has separated himself here through camp, so it looks like like the Giants are going to be rocking with Russell Willis. I'm eager to see Russ start for the Giants. This is a little bit different scenario from what we're used to.
Speaker 2:The hell it is. This is the NFL standard playbook. You start the veteran, let him dig himself into a hole, and then you put in the rookie when you have a layup game to see what he's got and then, if he performs well, well you let him have another game, and if he performs well, you let him have another game, and then by that third game if he's doing okay. Hey, russ, looks like you sit on the pine the rest of the time, yeah and that's not the scenario I was referring to.
Speaker 1:Just seeing russell wilson in the giants blue, I honestly did not expect that ever.
Speaker 1:You know, okay, he went to Denver for a little bit. You know he did some things, but not totally. It didn't work out there. And then finding him now himself back over here you know well finding himself over here on the East Coast with the Giants here in the NFC East. I think the Giants are trying to keep pace because you know, jalen Hurts with the Eagles, jaden Daniels with the Commanders Nobody cares about the Cowboys but Russell Wilson, you know, I think he might, I think he has a chance to do something here with the Giants. I mean, he's got neighbors out there, I think they've got another one or receivers.
Speaker 2:I can't remember off the top of my head at the moment. Well, and they got Skadabo coming in Skadabo. Yeah, he's going to be a rookie running back for them. I mean, they still have Singletary and they're going to have some veteran presence as well as mixing in Skadabo. I'm eager to see.
Speaker 1:Skadabo too. He's going to be a hammer, he's just going to be a thumper man. So I'm eager to see if the Giants offense can really turn it around and perform.
Speaker 2:As long as the offensive line performs, they should be okay. That's been one of the biggest problems for them is the offensive line just collapsing down and the quarterback not having time. I mean, yeah, they have neighbors, a good star receiver, which is a good foundational piece, but having a running game, which they did not really have much of one last year. You've got to be able to have some balance to your offense and bringing in a veteran quarterback and having a running back like Scadabo to come in and offer a change of pace and also somebody who can come out of the backfield and catch the ball and play pass defense, which was a huge problem for them last year because, let's face it, when they got an edge rusher in their face, they basically didn't.
Speaker 2:I don't want to say they were O-laying, but they weren't much of a defense and most of their quarterbacks spent a lot of time on their back.
Speaker 1:Yeah and I'm eager to see. I mean on paper, this is a very juicy offense, uh, and given the status of their o-line which their o-line wasn't terrible last year they're kind of middle of the pack, so he should have some good protection as well. He shouldn't be running from for his life. Uh, now going on the next thing, we're gonna talk a little bit nfl politics here. Okay, the n NFL PA is preparing I know we've hit on this a couple episodes, but again the NFL players associate is preparing to eventually make a push for a four team European division.
Speaker 1:Now, there's not a lot of details out yet on this. They don't even know if they're going to have four new teams or if they're just going to base four existing teams overseas, and this is kind of evident. They're studying this a little more now because the Vikings have two road games in Europe and I believe they're going to be playing both of those games while they're over there. So that's very interesting. And they, like you said before this was one of your key arguments they said the logistics of it is a huge thing they're trying to work through right now and how logistically they can make it work.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you're saying I was right.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm saying you had a very good point.
Speaker 2:We'll refrain. I want to point out something else you said. I want to point out the fact that you said the Vikings have a couple games over in Europe.
Speaker 1:They're considered a way team Road games over there yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, they're an away team in Europe.
Speaker 1:Or maybe it's just road team. I don't know Road game yeah whatever.
Speaker 2:But here's the thing I want to know Are they in Norway? Because if you're going to send the Vikings over there, why do you not have them in Norway?
Speaker 1:Exactly, get them some Norse action.
Speaker 2:Imagine the support there for the Vikings.
Speaker 1:In Norway, and that's an interesting take as well. And here we have some more drama out of the Bengals. The Bengals have always been kind of cheap Look their drama is that it's always that they're cheap.
Speaker 1:Their first-round draft pick. Defensive end, shamar Stewart, has not signed his rookie contract and he has actually left camp. And if he doesn't sign, there's two scenarios that can play out here. He can go as an undrafted free agent to another team or he can actually be drafted again. If he doesn't play or join a team at all, so he could be redrafted next year. Doesn't play or join a team at all, so he could be redrafted next year. So this is an interesting situation because the Bengals are trying to insert some language. They're trying to set new precedent. I don't necessarily agree with it myself, but they're trying to find ways where they can pretty much disqualify guaranteed payments over a season for certain things. Right, so that's a, but a lot of other, especially younger players or rookies, don't have this language in their contract. So this is one of their first of its kind, and he doesn't want to be the first of its kind for this scenario, and I don't blame him, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2:It's complete PS bangles. Look, right now, rookies need those guarantees because not every rookie gets a second contract. So stop trying to screw the guy over. Do the guarantees because, let's face it, it's a drop in the bucket compared to what you're paying to basically your entire offensive. You know, side of the ball. Look, look, just one player on your offense is making more than the entire defense. Your worst unit last year was your defense and you did jack and squat to improve it. And you're having battles with trey hendrick trey hendrickson overpaying him when he's been the sack leader two years in a row, collecting 37 sacks in two years.
Speaker 2:Some people don't have that in a career.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I've got to give it to this young man.
Speaker 2:If Bengals fans want to jump off that bandwagon, I don't blame you.
Speaker 1:I think they jump off a lot of wagons. To be honest with you, I'd probably throw myself off the wagon. I was a Redskins fan for my whole life.
Speaker 2:I think the Bengalsals ownership threw themselves off a wagon headfirst and that's why they're so stupid.
Speaker 1:I gotta give credit to Stewart for being in tune and recognizing the politics of this situation, because he seems like a very smart young man. So for him to be able to recognize that this is not a contract, he should sign kudos to him now. Unfortunately he doesn't really have much leverage. The bangles hold all the leverage. But at the end of the day it's gonna work out for him. He's gonna land on a team.
Speaker 1:He was a first round draft pick, okay, um now he can't be ufo they can't trade him because he would have to sign with them and that would be also complicated as well because you're talking about trading a first round draft pick. Ufl could go to the ufl, uh, but I think honestly he's gonna hold out and either go undrafted free agent to a team of his choice or he's just gonna get redrafted in 2026. I mean, you're talking about 12 month holdout. Like this guy, he probably has some nil money from college, so he's probably really not in a bad position to play it like this. So I commend him for standing up for himself in this situation. Speaking of bad position.
Speaker 2:Look, man, you know this is the story that just keeps on giving and being. Antonio Brown, Antonio Brown, man, this is the guy that we all have, a friend that you just go. Yeah, there's always something going on with them, there's always something wrong and in this case, part of it. Part of it I give him the benefit of the doubt, part of it, I give him the benefit of the doubt. Then the other part of it, I can't. So Antonio Brown right now is being looked for by the police because he is wanted on attempted murder charge. Now I understand when you hear that. Initially you're like, oh my God.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, this stems from that situation with the chain and the security.
Speaker 2:Right right, right right. So this all stems from that incident with the chain.
Speaker 1:Now granted, that's what we're calling it the chain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I get it. You know, if somebody is like trying to steal from you, you want to defend yourself and you have every right to. What you don't have a right to do is chase somebody with a gun and shoot at them. Well, he pulled the security guard's gun right off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and one of those bullets apparently grazed the other gentleman's neck, so like, look, this goes back to what I've said before when you lose your cool, you lose your judgment, and I'm sure that he was mouthing off to them and maybe even instigated the situation. But you have got to be smart, especially young folks out there. Okay, because this will, things like this, affect you for the rest of your future. Okay, so you have to be present in the moment and you have to be cool, and you really have to just not put yourself in these situations to begin with. Okay, why the why was he there? Why was he doing what he was doing? Maybe if he wasn't there at all, he wouldn't be in the situation.
Speaker 2:This is, this is where you know. To me, this is where, if you have a lot of flash, you're making yourself a target. Now, granted, I know people want to look good, they want to, they want to, you know, kind of peacock, and present themselves with their chains and everything and look, fly and whatnot, and that's fine, but you have maybe maybe what you do is, if you're gonna go out and it's not exactly the most secure of a spot, maybe you wear the fake chains for that.
Speaker 2:Maybe you wear, maybe you wear something that like, if somebody takes it, you're like whatever you know. But in this case there's an extra little scenario here, because they can't find antonio brown, because they've said that he ran off to the middle east. I don't know. The middle east is where I want to be right now.
Speaker 1:You know, not with everything, yeah, not with everything going on over there, he's probably just desperate to get away and stay away. But again, like you have, it's okay to look flashy, but antonio brown is the opposite of humble. Okay, and now at this point everybody knows his character. So I'm certain he let people pick at him and then he responded back negatively and then the situation escalated. But again, you have to be smart and you have to keep your cool.
Speaker 2:Okay, and you have to be humble yeah, unfortunately in this situation, it's one where he just it's not a good look and hopefully it gets resolved in a better manner than it started and hopefully antonio brown will make some different decisions when it comes to his life, because this is not a, this is not really good yeah, but you know we always hope he was trying to clean it up, but he it doesn't appear that he's doing that yeah, I mean, bad decisions happen. And speaking of bad decisions, not those decisions.
Speaker 2:So you want to tell me, you want to tell me he's not fast. Well, he said, hold on, I'll prove you wrong. And that someone is shador sanders. Recently you know shador, you know he's a lot of his comps they said, oh, he's not fast, he's not fast. Well, he proved he's pretty fast in a car because recently he was pulled over doing 101 in a 60-mile-an-hour zone. So we might be seeing Shador, with a little bit of a restriction on his license, here soon.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I want to say this though when we were all young at one point, we all probably have gotten a speeding ticket at some point in our lives, and usually, I know for me it was my early 20s. What about you, brian? Early 20s, you get a speeding ticket.
Speaker 1:Look, I made a lot of bad decisions in my early 20s.
Speaker 2:Okay, but that's the point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did have quite a few of speeding tickets back then myself, not necessarily to this caliber, but again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you and I weren't driving the kind of cars he's driving.
Speaker 1:You know like Look, most cars are capable of hitting 100 miles an hour, unless you're in something like a Prius.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but the kind of cars he's driving are fun at that and controllable at those speeds, whereas, you know, driving a Toyota Corolla at that speed is a little nerve-wracking. This is.
Speaker 1:to me, this comes down to lack of discipline and maturity. To me, this comes down to lack of discipline and maturity, and especially since you're on a platform, so you're out in the public eye. What happened to leading by example? Right, you just got done telling us you're going to focus on yourself and football and becoming a better player. Going out and breaking the law is not doing that and also not a good look.
Speaker 2:I mean let's cut the guy out of some slack.
Speaker 1:Well, I I am. He's a kid, he's making a mistake.
Speaker 2:Look, you know, like let's, let's see what comes of it. Let's see, let's see, because I'm gonna add to this.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna add to this in a second. Something just came off the top of my head, but I'm not dragging him through the mud, I'm just saying like somebody has to have this conversation with him somewhere, and maybe they already have, but look, you don't think his dad will have a conversation with him I'm sure, I'm sure they'll have some sort of conversation.
Speaker 1:I'm not knocking that either, you know. But again, you've got to keep your head. And there's and especially in today's world, in today's society, and you look at where times are going there is becoming less and less room for error, less and less room for mistakes. You're, we're getting to the point where you make one bad decision and it will ruin you for the rest of your life. Okay, regardless of whether you're famous or not, whether you're athlete or not, okay. So that's why I'm stressing and I've been through it myself, mike, you really have to keep your cool and keep your head on straight. And let me tell you what it is hard to do the right thing. It is hard well, it's not hard to do the right thing, but sometimes it's hard to not have the fun at the level you want to have it at. Okay, I'll say it like that.
Speaker 1:And this reminds me of Henry Ruggs' situation who, by the way, has been he's getting out of jail early and he's taking accountability, and it doesn't bring back the daughter of that family that they lost, but he did, to their face, apologize and took accountability. He's doing that now. So this is, you know along the lines of that to me. You know. Hopefully he's able to get out, turn his life around, you know. On that note. So, like I said, decision making is crucial, especially at a young age. You have to have the discipline to stay within the lines. Okay, stay within the rules.
Speaker 2:I get that and you know this kind of comes back to a few cases. You did bring up Henry Ruggs. It does bring to mind Rasheed Rice racing his buddies and them getting in a five-car accident.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Which, again, you know, that is a whole other situation. And, granted, we don't know if he was driving on an empty highway, we don't know if he was driving you know somewhere where there was nobody. We just know the speed and we know how much the speed limit was supposed to be. And here's the thing I'm not saying that everybody, when they're young, should go out and start speeding all over the place. No, no, no, I'm not. I'm not saying that at all. All I'm saying is, when you're young, you make decisions that you know at times can be dumb, because you're, you're just young and you're you're having fun. You, you don't really, you don't fear life, yet you don't fear things that you know. Yeah, you don't really you don't fear life.
Speaker 2:yet you don't fear things that you know you don't have the cares and concerns that you have when you get older, when you have kids, when you have you know a house and when you have things and other people that you're responsible for, and when you're young and you have money and you have a fast car, you want to go fast, you want to just have fun and unfortunately, this fun is going to hurt him. He's going to probably wind up with some fines paid and he might have his license restricted or taken away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, maybe he just lost track of the speed or wasn't paying attention, or maybe it was just oh, I got some open road, let me hit it real quick. And didn't see the officer. I got some open road, let me hit it real quick and didn't see the officer.
Speaker 2:Hey, maybe that song just hit hard and he you know, he just had to put it.
Speaker 1:But this you know, life changes in a matter of milliseconds. Okay, Look at Henry Ruggs. He was on top of the world, All right, Next thing you know, the world is coming at him. His world's on fire is coming at him. His world's on fire okay, in a split second. That's why I stress discipline and decision-making is so crucial.
Speaker 2:Well, we'll see how this affects him. And you know, because we've had players that came out with, you know, a higher spot, you know, like a Ryan Leaf, he came out out and it was either him or pay manning was going to be the number one quarterback drafted and we all know what happened. Ryan leaf went down a road of doing doing drugs and doing dumb things and it it ultimately led to his being pulled out of the nfl and his career being cut short. But since then he has turned it into a scenario where he goes around and talks to players, you know, when they're rookies, and says hey, look, don't be like me, don't do these things, listen to the veterans, do things the right way and don't wind up making yourself be an afternote in the NFL. That's right.
Speaker 1:And ladies and gentlemen, and all of our listeners, we'd like to thank you for joining us once again for another incredible episode of Sports Talk. I know we had some misses. I mind-blanked a couple times, you know talking MLB before we even got to the. Nhl, some other things, but we want to thank you guys sincerely from the bottom of our hearts for supporting us and listening to us, and you guys probably like the fact that we're basically a running shit show.
Speaker 1:We just try to keep up right and we appreciate it. Go to our social media, our website number two twoforthewincom. We're also on Facebook and Instagram. Spread the word. Please Spread the word. For the last time this evening. I'm Brian with an, I and I'm Mike and we are Two. For the last time this evening. I'm brian with an eye and I'm mike and we are two for the win. Thanks, everybody.