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 - S2.40 - Hecklers & Heart Aches
From record-breaking moments to heartfelt human stories, this episode captures the full spectrum of why we love sports beyond just the competition itself.
We kick things off with golf (yes, golf!) as Tommy Fleetwood finally breaks through after 164 tournament attempts to claim his first PGA victory and a cool $10 million payday. His perseverance offers a powerful reminder that success often comes to those who simply refuse to quit.
The baseball world continues to evolve as personalities shine brighter than ever before. Cal Raleigh makes history with 48 home runs as a catcher before September even arrives, putting him in rare company with legends like Mickey Mantle. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani's interaction with a heckler and the hilariously deadpan interview from the Marlins' Tyler Phillips ("I don't like hitters") showcase how player authenticity is transforming the game.
Off the field, Nike co-founder Phil Knight demonstrates the transformative power of sports-generated wealth with his unprecedented $2 billion donation to cancer research—the largest ever to a medical program or university. This philanthropic gesture stands in stark contrast to the ongoing debates about ticket prices and accessibility, highlighted by the Washington Commanders' decision to reduce costs for disabled fans and those experiencing hardship.
We dive deep into the NFL roster carousel as teams finalize their 53-man rosters, examining notable trades including Kenny Pickett, Sam Howell, and Brian Robinson Jr. Plus, we break down Kyle Hamilton's record-setting $100 million extension with the Ravens and the ongoing contract drama surrounding Micah Parsons and the Cowboys.
The WNBA continues its exciting season with Kelsey Plum's game-winning shot and rookie Paige Beckers dropping 44 points to tie a 28-year-old scoring record. And college football fans will want to hear about the significant playoff structure changes that could reshape competition this season.
Join us for these stories and more as we celebrate the moments that remind us why sports matter beyond just wins and losses. Don't forget to follow us on social media and let us know your thoughts on these developments!
August 27th 2025. Welcome back everybody. Schools are in full swing, Everybody's in full swing. Our last recording before the end of the summer, even though I know summer runs kind of into September, To us it's like the end of summer. Once again, I'm Brian with an I and I'm Mike, and we are Two for the Win. Before we get started, Mike, what do we have on tonight's agenda?
Speaker 2:Man preseason's over, which means we're ever so closer to the NFL start week one and still have some baseball action and still have action across most sports Hell yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1:Before we get into the nitty gritty, though, I'd like to thank our sponsors and partners Body by D Jim, one in Yorktown, one in Gloucester, deshawn's the owner, former bodybuilding champion and training future bodybuilding champions of his own, among other things. Solace Outfitters, two young athletes building their brand, very good friends of ours, Christian and Caden. And the Giving Tree Chiropractic Service is a walk-in service located here in Virginia Beach. Justin's very good at what he does, making chiropractic services accessible to all. And before we get in too far down the reel here, I just want to say our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and community affected by today's shooting in a Minneapolis Catholic school.
Speaker 1:Two kids one eight, one, ten years old, confirmed killed Seventeen other victims that we know of. I know this is a very hard time. Virginia Beach has had its fair share Well, one off the top of my head of school shooting. Well, it was a school shooting, it happened in a government building, but still it's very close to home here and we wish you all well. We wish the victims well and our thoughts and prayers earnestly go out to all of those affected by it. I know it's a very rough situation out there developing as we speak. Mike, what do we have up first on tonight's agenda? Out there, developing as we speak.
Speaker 2:Mike, what do we have up first on tonight's agenda? Well, we're going to start off with something that we haven't really touched on too much, and that is golf.
Speaker 1:Golf.
Speaker 2:Yes, I know, I know. I know what you're thinking, I know what you're thinking. I feel like goofy every time I say it Golf. Well, the reason we're going to talk about it is something pretty cool happened recently.
Speaker 1:Tommy Fleetwood finally, finally, after 164 attempts at winning a PGA tournament.
Speaker 2:Finally got his victory this last Sunday. 164 attempts, yeah, so almost his whole career, yeah, pretty much he's had a. And, mind you, this is a guy. He's kind of like he's always been in the running. He's always one of the guys that's in there, just never seems to be the one that gets there.
Speaker 2:Never gets over the hump. So it's kind of like the reverse of the Rory McIlroy with what he does, where he won out the gates like crazy and then all of a sudden he can't seem to get a win to save himself. He's not hot anymore, you know. So people have said is he doing the reverse, where it took him forever to get his win and now he's going to get hot and get all the wins because now he's seen what it takes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:So we're happy for him that he he did it. I mean he won by. You know he was two under pars or not two under par. He posted two under 68, uh, finishing 18 under for the tournament.
Speaker 1:Okay, so he, he did something, he did pretty good he was killing it out there.
Speaker 2:So he did something. He did pretty good, he was killing it out there.
Speaker 1:Now this particular win nets him $10 million in this win. I think I'm going to start playing golf, Mike, yeah, golf has some payouts, man. I think I'm going to start playing golf. We've got a friend that plays golf. He does pretty well too. He gets paid for some of those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like the story. Plus, when they interviewed him, he was a very nice guy. He seemed like thank goodness, this is finally off my shoulders. I finally got one.
Speaker 1:You gotta start somewhere, man. As long as you get there, that's all that matters, man, especially setting goals. Hit those goals, bro. Congratulations to Fleetwood on that win. After 160-something attempts I'm not laughing I can't do it in 200 attempts, it'd probably take me that many shots to get to the hole It'd probably take me 1,200 attempts just to be able to play on the green.
Speaker 1:Anyway, this story is a little bit older, but I just found it today Nike co-founder Phil Knight donating $2 billion to OHSU's Knight Cancer Center Institute, oregon Health and Science University Knight Cancer Institute. This is the largest donation that has ever gone to a college or medical program. By the way, uh, it is the. By the way, I'm reading from the article the foundation said on thursday the gift that will be used to shift the scientific approach to cancer treatment research and patient care outcomes, you know, uh, just a huge donation to change the trajectory of how they handle it seems like cancer overall and all the various cancers, oh and. So I thought that was rather rather huge, especially given some things happening around the sports world right now.
Speaker 1:A lot of people and individuals are investing in how do we make the lives and careers of athletes more, give them more longevity, so to speak. But here you have somebody who's investing into something that's actually a very real problem, not just here in the country but in the world cancer, right. So I think there's a huge. $2 billion is nothing to shake a stick at.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and we've had players even in their playing career deal with cancer. I mean, off the top of my head, liam Hendrickson, I think, is his name. He was a reliever for the White Sox. He had to actually miss some time battling cancer. And then Andres Galarraga missed an entire season dealing with cancer and that was pretty scary because they weren't sure if he was going to make it. And he's still alive to this day because of the treatments he got. And you're thinking back then this would have been in 99. Yeah. So yeah, like 26 years ago, dealing with cancer back then, yeah. So you know, medical advancements have gone pretty far since then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and not to get terribly political or anything, but you know, especially during a time you know I can't speak for other countries, but our country is trying to cut the fat right, cut costs here and there, and medical treatment has been a big part of that. So, you know, I think to sink $2 billion I mean our government wasn't sinking $2 billion into any treatment. So that's a huge windfall for the cancer community, definitely, definitely. And then here's another feel-good story for you, right? This one's not terribly long.
Speaker 1:During a Memorial Day game at SunTrust Park, a junior ROTC cadet from Parkview High School stood at attention beside a memorial that was honoring more than 92,000 soldiers who are missing, by the way, either in combat or however else it began raining. It began raining, not so lightly. Okay, a Braves fan, mind you, this is your team, bro. A Braves fan stepped. Mind you, this is your team, bro. A Braves fan stepped forward and held an umbrella over the cadet, shielding him while he continued to hold his post. So that small gesture, just something like that.
Speaker 1:And there's a picture of it here. We'll put it on our social media. Obviously, I can't show it to you on an audio-only podcast, yeah, but when we do video. You will see it, but anyway, I love stories like this, even though they're short and sweet and to the point. Like this shows the heart of America right here. Okay, this shows what America is about. Okay, your soldiers got you and we got your soldiers. Okay, and that's the way it's supposed to be. Okay, and I mean, the guy almost kind of looks like you. To be honest, he's got the same little beard and everything. You just can't see his eyes.
Speaker 2:I I can confirm I was not there. We that we know of that, we know of anyway. Well, we probably should have found that a lot sooner, but it's good to see that it's it.
Speaker 1:You know, we got to shed some light to it eventually yeah, some of these things I'm a little behind on but I've just now seen them. But I think that's a great thing. I'd love to see more stuff like that happen. You love feel-good stories, especially with all the shitheads, especially in baseball, bro.
Speaker 2:Baseball fans can heckle Let me tell you what, bro, they can. They can, but you know I have something about that later. But speaking of feel-good stories, I've got to give it up to this man, right here we're getting the feel-goods in early.
Speaker 1:Sounds like just crowd.
Speaker 2:Well, what you're hearing there. If you heard the crack of the bat, that was Cal Raleigh. Cal Raleigh of the Mariners who we've been following. Check this out 0-1 to Cal. Man.
Speaker 3:Number 48 reaches the second deck. He has tied the all-time record the most home runs by a catcher in a single season, and Cal Raleigh has done it before the end of August. Simply incredible 448 feet.
Speaker 1:I mean you rarely see a ball land up there here at T-Mobile Park.
Speaker 2:I mean, what an exclamation point on number 48.
Speaker 1:Not bad.
Speaker 2:You know, not only does he tie and pass the record, but he's on to 50 home runs already and we haven't gotten out of the month of August, which for the Mariners, is a record. No player has had 50 home runs before September. Keep in mind we're talking about a team that had Ken Griffey Jr and, at one point, alex Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez. They've had some bats over the years, so you're talking about hitting some rarefied air and setting a record for catchers for most home runs in one season. You know that's super impressive and you know you got to think about this too.
Speaker 2:Most of the time catchers they're not playing as many games. This is why they don't have these large home run records. So this is really impressive because they take a beating doing their catching position. That's why they don't play as many games as most other major leaguers. And you've got to think about the fact that he's done this from both sides of the plate. He's a switch hitter, so he has home runs from the right side and home runs from the left side. The only other player that's done something to this magnitude, mickey Mantle. You have your name in the history books with a player like Mickey Mantle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's incredible. And before we move on, I was just I was just thinking something while you played that we should really do like a Mystery Science Theater 3000-type deal with sports. Like I think that would catch on, mike. Like we just sit there and talk shit through the whole game but like people still follow it, kind of. It's like a movie.
Speaker 2:You mean like the Manning cast?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but we're going to be better because we're not the Mannings.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, yeah. But anyway wanted to give congrats to Cal Raleigh for pulling this feat off and honestly, he better win the MVP for the AL Better. I don't care what Judge is doing, I don't care what the rest of the league is doing. Cal Raleigh this season historic. He needs to get it. They need to give it to him. But earlier we had mentioned the heckling. The heckling. So most people know that when you go to a rival game the fans are usually getting in the rival team's face. They're saying stuff they're you know what you got every game is a rival game for somebody.
Speaker 2:No, I mean like you mean like rival rivals I mean rival rivals, I mean, like you know, yankees, red sox we're gonna trademark that.
Speaker 1:By the way, rival rivals, like you know yankees red sox, braves phillies.
Speaker 2:You rivals Like you know. Yankees Red Sox, braves Phillies. You know Braves Mets, you know.
Speaker 1:Cowboys, redskins and this Sorry Commanders.
Speaker 2:We're talking baseball, we are talking baseball.
Speaker 1:It is baseball time right now.
Speaker 2:Or, in this case, the Dodgers-Padres. It is a rivalry.
Speaker 1:That sounded like one word.
Speaker 2:They've been having these games where it's like one team just kind of sweeps or takes the series, that it just seems like the tide keeps shifting back and forth Because they suck, because right now they're battling back and forth to keep the lead in the division. The Padres got two games out of the series this last weekend but the third game was all Dodgers and it seemed like everybody on the Dodgers was getting a home run or getting on the hit parade because Freddie Freeman had two home runs in the game run, or getting on the hit parade because Freddie Freeman had two home runs in the game and one fan from the San Diego Padres was just giving it to Otani because Otani had nothing to that point he was not batting well, and Otani goes up there and smashes his 45th home run.
Speaker 2:And as soon as he's coming back to the dugout, he's going right to that fan and he's like all right, how about that?
Speaker 1:How about that? How about that one? I got one on you. How about that?
Speaker 2:You like that One's all you need, sir, so what I like to talk about, about this is, is the personality of the players in baseball. Like, is that a good thing? Like, is it good to see these players, like, showing some emotion and getting their, getting in their feelings?
Speaker 1:well, as long as you're not throwing bats at coaches or sunflower seeds on the field, I don't see well what I mean.
Speaker 2:It's like it used to be that you you didn't really hot dog in baseball. You know like, uh, thou shall not do kind of unwritten rule things. But now it's like players like you're getting awesome bat flips, you're getting guys coming back and talking to the fans.
Speaker 1:I mean they want to see the swag. They want to see the swag.
Speaker 2:You get guys making awesome catches and they just kind of feeling themselves and like popping the jersey.
Speaker 1:Baseball is no longer a businessman's sport. It's now for everybody Show the swag, be the swag.
Speaker 2:So I like this, but it kind of makes me think, like what if we had players like Ricky Henderson playing now? Cause Ricky was about Ricky. You know Ricky Henderson, he'd catch a fly ball, he'd snatch it out there and he was all personality. And this is the day, the air. He was all personality and this is the day of personality. I just wonder what it would be like having Ricky on the field today with these kinds of personalities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. It would be interesting, it would be interesting Such a thing to dream about the what-ifs of the world. Yeah, a little bit of a what-if Of the universe, really.
Speaker 2:But I think it adds to the game and it draws fans in because you get to see these players, you know, kind of express themselves and kind of gets people excited. I think it adds to baseball. To be honest, I think it does too. But speaking of personality, or maybe a lack thereof, I think we have found the bill, the bill belichick of baseball. Uh-oh, yes, yes, we got one. We've got one, we've got one.
Speaker 2:So the straight, everybody straight emotion just like no emotion, no, no, no kind of mess going on If Bill Belichick was an emoji, he'd be meh. So what I'm talking about is, recently, tyler Phillips of the Marlins came in to close out a game against the Toronto Blue Jays where they won 5-3. It was the only win they got in the game or in the series, and his interview was a a little, a little awkward. So how about we enjoy this for a moment?
Speaker 5:let's go thank you very much, tyler. You threw 32 pitches yesterday. When did you know you were going in tonight? When they called down and you were ready to go. Yeah, I'm ready they call down. I'm pissed off, I'm ready to go. Why do you? I'm ready. They call down. I'm pissed off, I'm ready to go. Why do you get so pissed off? I don't like hitters. How did you get through? That night. Throw the ball over the plate.
Speaker 5:How long does it take you to cool down after a win? I never cool down. And the slapping what was the level of slapping when you came on Pretty hard, my face is hot. Yeah, yeah. How important was it for your team to get this win today. It's big. I mean every win's big.
Speaker 4:I mean, it doesn't matter what the record is, every win's big.
Speaker 5:That's what we're here for is to try to win the game. What has this organization helped you unlock for your career this year? I think?
Speaker 4:it's for yourself. Go out there, Do what's you, Whatever's going to make you successful. That's what you do, and In this team I see it, we're a lot of young guys and when you play for each other, have some fun with it. That's what you got to do. Great win. You're scaring me. Go to the clubhouse.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much. Did he say anything? He just walked away. He just walked away. You're scaring me. I'm pissed off. Why are you pissed off? I don't like hitters. I feel like somebody put him up to that, but I could see where that could be his real.
Speaker 2:I don't think that was a put-on, I think that was all him. I think that was real. I think that was real as hell. And the best part about that video clip is like after he's done, he kind of looks over at the camera like this guy.
Speaker 1:Bro, I'm here to play baseball.
Speaker 2:It was such a Bill belichick kind of interview. He was like when did you know you were coming in when they called down when they called down I got pissed off.
Speaker 1:Why'd you get pissed off? I don't like hitters man. This guy is a classic already in the making.
Speaker 2:I like this guy a lot I'm hoping that we get more phillips interviews, because that was just perfect.
Speaker 1:That was good. I want to see more Phillips interviews. This is the ironically, this is the personality baseball has been waiting for, bro.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, they've had personality, but this is the Bill Belichick kind of interview.
Speaker 1:If Bill Belichick and the Undertaker had a kid, it would be Phillips. It would be this guy.
Speaker 2:Anyway, it was perfect and you know we love stuff like that, we love a little bit of we try to bring that good stuff out.
Speaker 1:Now, what we got, zoom it on by into the WNBA tonight.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, we're going to move on into the WNBA. We only got one little tidbit. We're going to talk about, Well, two things. Well, it's part of the same thing, it's part of the same game. It's part of the same same same, Same same man. Yeah, boy, Recently we had a game between the Sparks and the Wings and Kelsey Plumlee.
Speaker 1:Love Wings. Had wings earlier tonight.
Speaker 2:Kelsey Plumlee had a had herself a game because the Sparks they're fighting, they're trying to get themselves into the playoff picture, and the end of the game went something like this Looking at the clock Plum trying to go to work.
Speaker 3:Five seconds left. Plum with two seconds. Plum the runner, bank shot. She got it. Kelsey Plum with the bank to win it.
Speaker 1:There you go.
Speaker 2:I love hype games. She gets the win, she gets the winning shot. I love hype games. She gets the win, she gets the winning shot. Now, mind you, that winning shot came at such a crucial point because it is a game-winning shot. But they had had a rough game all game. Defense was just not their strong suit and of course you hit that game-winning shot. They're going to interview you after the game game-winning shot. They're going to interview you after the game and I love the interview that Kelsey gave to the reporter. Yeah, we got to play some fucking defense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we got to play some fucking defense. Gotta love it. That's like putting your teammates on notice publicly. Bro, you don't really want to be calling out your teammates.
Speaker 2:I love that Plum did this. I love that she was so candid. And this is the side of the WNBA that people aren't seeing. They don't know if people don't say anything. This is what makes the WNBA awesome, because these girls have so much heart and so much fight and they're straight forward with it straight shooters, man. I love it, I like it and she's she's right, they do need to play some defense come their next game, but you know, like they, they, they really did something in this game because you got to figure they had their hands just completely tied dealing with with Paige Beckers, because I mean, I believe in that game she put up 44 points to set a rookie record.
Speaker 1:She's a hitter man. I wonder what, uh, women's fantasy basketball looks like. So get, so get this.
Speaker 2:She drops 44 points, tying the Houston Comets guard Cynthia Cooper's 28-year-old record for the most points in a single game, 28-year-old record that she ties when she passes it. That's doing something. And to make the moment even sweeter, because they did lose. But in a recent interview they asked her Paige Beckers, who would you like to meet? What would be the ultimate If you're sitting courtside? What fans would you love to see? She said she'd like to see an actress from Grey's Anatomy or the Criminal Minds actor, shamar Moore. And wouldn't you know it, shamar Moore was at the game and went to go meet her in the tunnel after the game. So you lose, but you don't really lose because you get to meet one of your favorite actors after the game.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool. She's a first-year player right now isn't she? She's a rookie, she's a year behind some of these other big-name players and she's playing games like that. I mean, I know Angel Reese and Kaitlyn Clark have had some big games, especially in their rookie year, but I don't know if they have any huge games like this. I mean 40-something points, yeah, so do they have any huge games like this.
Speaker 2:I mean 40-something points. Yeah, that's, look people. I mean everybody's talking Kaitlin Clark, but Beckers, she's doing something.
Speaker 1:Beckers seems like she's being talked about more, and not only that, but she seems like she's doing more, and especially in year two of Kaitlin Clark, clark and angel reese and and some of these other girls that came in last year like they're good players, don't get me wrong, but they just don't seem like they're performing. How do I say? They're performing at the level they're expected to. But beckers is just freaking windfall in all of them right now. She's just blowing by them right now. First and second year players.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's looking great and you know, if we go and look at the standings right now, man, you know. How does it feel, dallas, we have the Sparks in the nine position for overall record, so they're doing pretty well. They're six and four over the last ten games. So they're crawling back into the standings where they could possibly get in there, because we already have the Lynx and the Vegas Aces have locked up a playoff berth, so they're in. It's just who else is going to get their spot. You've got to be there.
Speaker 1:You think Mark Cuban knows what he's doing, got the right people in the right place. He gets Cooper Flagg on the Mavs and has got Paige Beckers on the wings.
Speaker 2:Well, Mark Cuban's not involved with the. Well, he doesn't have the majority ownership anymore with the Mavs.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:He sold part of his stuff, and I'm not sure if he's involved in the Mavs, but he's probably still smiling.
Speaker 1:I mean probably he likes, Dallas has gotten two very phenomenal players both on the women's and the men's side here this year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm beginning to think is this a conspiracy to get Dallas something that? Wins. Because the Cowboys ain't it.
Speaker 1:Well, and they got to compete with Houston and San Antonio right next door bro.
Speaker 2:Hey, speaking of wins and stuff, you know what's funny? I heard a joke today that you'll love. Oh yeah, it's funny that you know Travis Kelsey and Tay-Tay. They're getting married. He put a ring on it. She got her ring before the Cowboys did, did you just call her Tay-Tay.
Speaker 1:Hey, don't worry about it, her name is Taylor Swift. Listen, sir, you're less of a man now. You know what's going to be weird seeing Don't hate, sir. You know what's going to be weird seeing the name Swift on the back of Travis's jersey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, he's going to retire after this year, so he doesn't have to. Yeah, he's going retired, so he don't have to.
Speaker 1:It's going to be weird seeing his Swift name on the back of his jersey. He would hyphenate it Swift hyphen Kelsey yeah they'll put his last name last.
Speaker 2:Anyway, I thought it was funny that she got her ring before the Cowboys did. That's funny oh that's hilarious.
Speaker 1:I saw the meme of Saquon Barkley hurtling over them too, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Speaker 2:We are a little bit. We need to get back over and we need to talk some college football. It's just so exciting. As we know, we've got games heading up to this weekend. We've got some big matchups with Ohio State. They're going to be playing against Texas. You got a one against a three. Almost never has happened. So that's going to be very interesting to watch. It will, but before we jump into that.
Speaker 1:Shall we talk about Ralphie?
Speaker 2:Well, I was going to say, sir, I was going to get down to Colorado and say that we have a pretty big announcement with Colorado. True story. A retirement. We do A retirement from.
Speaker 1:Colorado, we do. Ralphie VI is being retired in favor of Ralphie VII.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, well, I was going to lead in and try to say that we have a retirement out of Colorado.
Speaker 1:Well, you lead in, sir, I'll step back.
Speaker 2:Well, it's too late People know now, nonsense they might have been concerned, thinking that Dion was stepping away.
Speaker 1:We can all pretend, but it's not Dion.
Speaker 2:It's Ralphie.
Speaker 1:That's right, it's Ralphie the bison. Dion's going to run a horseshoe-shaped pattern before every game.
Speaker 2:He might could still do it to be honest with you Missing some toes and stuff, and I don't know if he could Anyway. So, as we stated, Ralphie, the mascot who normally runs out before games and is on the field, is no longer going to be on the field. Ralphie, the sixth.
Speaker 1:Sorry, ralphie, the sixth.
Speaker 2:Hey, I mean, they can't all do it forever. You have a live mascot.
Speaker 1:Eventually they gotta retire. They say that ralphie the six is indifferent to running. He's, he's, his running days may be over, so he just doesn't want to exercise anymore. I don't blame him, I don't want to exercise either.
Speaker 2:I'm just. I'm just envisioning like ralphie sitting on a couch with a bowl of chips.
Speaker 1:Like screw that yeah he's got, he's got a dad bod. The same dad bod I have. Actually we're just drinking beers, you know we're watching ralphie the seventh, get it at least he's doing a great job at least you know when you're.
Speaker 2:You have a dad bod if you have kids, it's not as awkward. If you have a dad bod and you're not a dad, it's a little awkward.
Speaker 1:I give you that If I didn't have my son with a dad bod, a lot of people would be like, bro, what the fuck are you doing? What's wrong with you? Why are you? Yeah, but since I have a son and I'm also rocking a dad bod, it helps that I'm 37 years old too. They're like man dad bods are kind of in. I'm like I appreciate the support.
Speaker 2:I know you're lying to me though. Yeah, as they scroll past you on social media and go look at him, let me go get this baddie with all the tattoos and the pecs.
Speaker 1:I got pecs too, but they're torpedo shaped More like moobs.
Speaker 2:Moobs, anyway, carry on, sir.
Speaker 1:Moving past that. Congratulations to Ralphie the 6th on the retirement and good luck to Ralphie the 7th on moving forward. Seems like he's doing a great job so far. He got the starting gig. But you know, college playoffs have been tweaking a little bit, right. They've been tweaking here, tweaking there. They're on drugs, making fine-tuned. They might be on drugs, but they've been making fine-tuned adjustments here to the playoff structure, right?
Speaker 2:You said they're tweaking I mean. I have to make sure we're talking about the same thing here.
Speaker 1:So last season, you remember, when Notre Dame did not get the first round by, but they probably deserved it.
Speaker 2:Well, now Well that's because if you don't belong to a conference, you can't get it. Well, they've done away with that now. Oh, well then, now you've given Notre Dame no reason to ever join a conference, ever. I agree with you. Why would they join a conference and have to be subject to sharing with the conference and have to deal with conference BS, when they could just say but I'm going to go over here and do my own thing.
Speaker 1:There's two things that have happened here. There will still be a top five auto-seeded, where the top five highest ranked conference champions will still make the playoffs, but those top five are not guaranteed a first round buy. Now the top four highest ranked teams of all the teams to make the playoffs, those are the four teams that get the first round buy. And secondly, there's no more playoff reseeding.
Speaker 2:So if a 12 seed beats like a four seed, they're not getting receded, they're going through the bracket the way it falls, all the way through four rounds and the bowl games are the semi-finals of of it right now I think this is stemming from the fact that arizona got their you know, the sun devils got their themselves a buy and kind of a favorable favorable position last year, yeah, although we got some really good games out of it we did we had some blowouts, yes, but it was entertaining nonetheless so now, if you beat a higher seed, you're not getting reseeded, you're just going on to the next level of the bracket, whoever that may be, and you've got to fight all the way to the championship man.
Speaker 1:And you know they do, like I said, they do the bowl games in the semifinals or the pre-semifinals.
Speaker 2:I hope that this doesn't take away from the rivalry games. I hope that this doesn't become a thing where everybody's biting for position in the playoff structure, that they kind of shy away from what they've always done, like the Michigan-Ohio State games. Well, we already know that Notre Dame is, you know, I think it was USC. They're not doing their game anymore against each other because the hell with tradition, I guess.
Speaker 1:I mean. Times change, Traditions evolve.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying there are some things that you continue to do because it's tradition and it's what the fans expect. You know, like Army-Navy, you get Army-Navy game every year. You don't just say, eh, screw it, we've done it for decades, let's just say no more Like screw that man.
Speaker 1:I mean, it would be nice to still see those things, but I get it Like the times are changing.
Speaker 2:The one change I do see out of it that's good is the fact that it used to be if you lost a single game, a single game. It meant you're done, season's over, you're not getting to the national championship game, it's over, you'll get a bowl game, but you won't get the big prize of the national championship game. Yeah, which I always hated that model only because of the fact that it basically produced the same teams over and over and over and over, because the same teams had all the money.
Speaker 1:They had all the money.
Speaker 2:They had all the notoriety. But it also made them do cupcake schedules where you're getting some team against Appalachian State. It would be like Alabama against Appalachian State.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Appalachian State fans would be bragging about Alabama. Hey, alabama's coming to town, you going to that game? It wasn't. Hey, we're facing Alabama, you going to go see that game?
Speaker 2:It was all about the star team well, don't get me wrong, because there's the. The benefit of the having that game was that school would get a ton of money for allowing them to play each other. Yeah, so there was a benefit into it, but it was not great from a scheduling standpoint. Because you go, who wants to watch that game? It's going to be a blow blowout. When you're seeing betting lines where it's like negative 30 because this team's going to get blown out, it's like, eh, it's not going to be such a great game. But now we're getting games like Texas and Ohio State, a one and a three. I can't remember a one and a three ever playing each other to start out a three.
Speaker 1:I can't remember a one and a three ever playing each other to start out a season.
Speaker 2:So I feel like it's going to force teams to then play strong games to make their bid for the playoffs look a lot better. Yeah, because if you're playing a stronger schedule, you're going to look more favorable than the team that's playing Toledo. Yeah, you've got to play a school that's got something going for themselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we've got some good matchups coming up here to finish out week one. I know we got into it last week, but we'll probably dive into it a little bit again here. Might have been a little bit preemie, a little bit premature last week.
Speaker 2:We were just excited. Come on, man. We all know what it is we're excited for football.
Speaker 1:Well, now we've got to pick two different games that we're looking forward to than the ones we picked last week.
Speaker 2:I don't know, man. I mean, I'm thinking I'm still loving my games, that I chose.
Speaker 1:I love the games I chose too, but I'm going to switch it up. No, I'm not because I really like that Notre Dame-Miami matchup there, but TCU and North Carolina, you know, the final game of week one. That could be an interesting matchup there.
Speaker 2:Do you just want to see that because of Belichick? No, what do you mean? No?
Speaker 1:I don't care for Belichick that much. I mean, I like to make fun of him, but Doesn't everybody that's about it. I just want to see if his girlfriend's going to be there, since she seems to be calling the shots.
Speaker 2:The truth comes out. He just wants to stare at the sidelines. He doesn't want to see the play on the field.
Speaker 1:He's not here for football. No, I'm here for the NFL. I'm here for college, but I'm here for the NFL. And speaking of which, let's zoom into our flagship sport of the evening, starting out a little bit. We're all over the map here with this one, but I think we got a good order to it. Raiders QB O'Connell. He broke his wrist. He's out six to eight weeks. Mike, do we know who's filling in for him?
Speaker 2:Well, so Geno Smith is the starter. O'connell was going to be the backup to Geno, so this was kind of a big blow to them.
Speaker 1:That's right. Kenny Pickett just went there, right.
Speaker 2:Thanks for ruining the lead-in, sorry, sorry.
Speaker 1:I thought we were just talking.
Speaker 2:I was going to say they need to find somebody to fill in for that spot and they reached out to the Browns and asked if they could get one of the quarterbacks and they got Kenny Pickett. So now Kenny Pickett again has been traded. It went from the Eagles to the Browns and now from the Browns to the Raiders. But this is kind of a weird situation because it wasn't that the Browns didn't have faith in him, it's that he was hurt and didn't really get any time to really showcase himself, really get any time to really showcase himself. So instead of have him sit around and maybe be possibly a practice squad guy or third string guy, they go ahead and ship him off and get a draft pick for him. But the browns are not done man, they they still plan collect them all because they they signed bailey zappy to their practice squad.
Speaker 2:So now again they're up to four quarterbacks and you know five if you count, count watson this is funny to me, right?
Speaker 1:because, um, we're gonna move some things up in the agenda here, because, especially with when it talks to sam howell right, because sam howell just got traded too, and you understand why that's relevant here. In just a second, kenny Pickett and Sam Howell have set a damning NFL record of their own. Both these players have been traded three times before their fourth year has started. They've both been on three different teams via trades Actually four different teams. Yeah, they've been traded three times, four teams before their fourth year in the NFL has even started. So Howell went from Washington to Seattle, to the Vikings, and now, I think even today, he was traded. When was he traded? Today or yesterday? He was traded to the Eagles.
Speaker 2:Yesterday because they had to trim down the rosters to 53-man rosters.
Speaker 1:So Howell landing back in the NFC East and Kenny Pickett going from the Steelers to the Eagles, to the Browns, now to the Raiders, now to the Raiders.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like he's kind of having an up and down there. It's a good situation for him because he's going to the Raiders where he'll be the backup to Geno Smith If Geno goes down or is not playing. Well, he could see some playing time. He could get an opportunity. His opportunities fare better going to the Raiders than sitting there in a situation where, with the Browns, he had to get past both of the rookies and Joe Flacco. But Flacco we all know is kind of a place for him for now.
Speaker 1:Now, Howell's situation is a little bit more of a slap in the face because, as this storyline plays out, howell's getting sent to the Eagles, but do you know who they signed to replace him?
Speaker 2:This would slap me in the face. Oh, you mean when he got traded from the Vikings?
Speaker 1:Yeah, carson Wentz. Yeah, I'd be mad, I'd be mad as shit.
Speaker 2:Hey, I mean, he was drafted higher than him he was. And might I remind you, you were so high on Sam Howell when he was with your team. You were telling me oh, this is the guy, he's the guy, he's so great.
Speaker 1:He was like a poor man's Taylor Heineke and Taylor Heineke is like a poor man's something else. He was like double time poor.
Speaker 2:I just find it so funny.
Speaker 1:You were so high on this guy and he's been passed around the league now For a long time, as a Washington fan, it was so easy to cling to hope the slightest glimmer and you're like, oh yeah, but you know his name is Jaden Daniels now, so everybody else can kick rocks. Okay, good old JD. Well, jaden Daniels, jaden.
Speaker 2:D. I heard something today that you're not going to like. Oh shit, Do you realize that? The average age of your team now makes your team the oldest in the NFL.
Speaker 1:They were one of the youngest last year, yeah, about that.
Speaker 2:You kept adding old guys and now your team is the oldest average team in the NFL. I want to, which, might I add, and say to you that does not bode well going for a second-year run.
Speaker 1:You know we're going to mulligan this and talk about this next week because I don't think you're telling the truth. No, I am telling the truth.
Speaker 2:Fake news, it's not fake news. Your team is the. You're telling the truth. No, I am telling the truth. Fake news, it's not fake news. Your team is the oldest team in the.
Speaker 1:NFL Well, if we get Micah Parsons, definitely going to be one of the oldest teams.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't think you're getting Micah Parsons. Jerry Jones would send him to an overseas league before he'd ever trade him to Washington.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you're right about that and you know we've got more to talk about that coming up later. We actually have two sections on Micah Parsons tonight one coming up after this next one which you're going to go over, and then one a little bit farther down the line. Oh, I'm going over the Micah Parsons thing.
Speaker 2:No, I'm going to go over Micah Parsons.
Speaker 1:I want you to talk about Kyle Hamilton and how much money that man is going to be throwing around the clubs.
Speaker 2:Oh shoot. Look, Kyle Hamilton if you guys did not know, the Notre Dame prospect that is with the Ravens and has been an impact player since he came in the league has gotten a little love from Ravens. The Ravens have now made him the highest paid safety in the NFL, giving him a four-year extension worth $100 million. Woo yeah woo is right $100 million.
Speaker 1:I can't even make $100 grand. This guy's getting $100 million.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's going to be earning. It's $21.25 million per year on his four-year extension of 85 million, which makes him 100 million over the next four years. So congratulations, sir. You have earned that pay raise.
Speaker 1:Getting more than Scary Terry over there in Washington as a receiver, I see.
Speaker 2:Hey, well, I mean Baltimore. They've always been known for their good defense.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They're just trying to keep that good defense together.
Speaker 1:Now. We'll drop Michael Parsons down a little bit. When we get to that section. We'll talk about him in just a moment, because I really want to hit on that in a second. But before we hit on him, brian Robinson Jr traded from the Commanders to the 49ers. Mike, as a 49ers fan, how do you feel that we? Basically traded B-Rob for Debo.
Speaker 2:You traded B-Rob for nothing?
Speaker 1:No, because we gave up a sixth-round pick for Debo and y'all gave up a sixth-round pick for B-Rob.
Speaker 2:No, you gave up a fifth-round pick for Debo. We gave you a sixth-round pick for B-Rob. No, you gave up a fifth round pick for Debo. We gave you a sixth round pick for B-Rob.
Speaker 1:I digress, yes, I digress Same same.
Speaker 2:So the point being is now we got a guy, we can now rotate with McCaffrey.
Speaker 1:Rotational player yes, I agree, but he's not going to be a hitter. He has no breakaway speed. He hits the hole slow. That's what she said.
Speaker 2:You don't need the breakaway speed in the Kyle Shanahan offense, if you haven't noticed.
Speaker 1:If you have Christian McCaffrey, you don't need breakaway speed, because he's the one bringing it. Look, he's going to be, and Ricky Pearsall?
Speaker 2:He's going to be so much better in Kyle Shanahan's offense and Gerindo or Gerindo?
Speaker 1:How the fuck do you say it Grenade? I call him Grenade, it's.
Speaker 2:Gerindo, he's like a grenade. Gerindo's going to be the third back and B Robbins is going to be the fourth. He's going to be second. No, yes, he is. I'm vetoing this. No, it's what's going to happen. I'm sorry to tell you this is what's happening.
Speaker 1:That means he's getting goal line carries. Fancy people listen up.
Speaker 2:That doesn't mean he's getting goal line carries.
Speaker 1:It's a Christian McCaffrey goal line every time, unless he's not yeah, because Christian McCaffrey just runs it there, that's his job.
Speaker 2:Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What Are you trying to tell me? That it's the running back's job to run it into the goal. It's everybody's job. I'm just saying you're trying to state the obvious, sir. What I'm saying is there's not going to be much opportunity Running back Because CMC is going to run it from 10-plus yards out.
Speaker 1:okay, they're not going to be on the one or the two. Christian McCaffrey is just gonna go on in and get it done bro.
Speaker 2:Sir, I like your faith in Christian. If he could stay healthy, yes, this is great, but adding B-Rob is a very good thing. Depth, sir, depth.
Speaker 1:Depth, but I don't know if it's good quality depth. I mean, B-Rob was the starter for a few years for us.
Speaker 2:Just because your running game coordinator couldn't figure out how to use him properly.
Speaker 1:I mean now we're throwing insults.
Speaker 2:No, no, no. Let me remind you who you're.
Speaker 1:I feel like I just got smacked.
Speaker 2:Look your offensive coordinator. When he was with Arizona he didn't really produce much of a run game. I mean those backs. They would come in, have a flurry of yards and all of a sudden, towards the end of the year, they fizzle out and disappear.
Speaker 1:I mean B-Rob got shot in the leg so it doesn't really count.
Speaker 2:No, I mean look, because he got shot in the leg. Now he's going to have somebody to talk to in the 49ers locker room. He can go talk to Ricky Pearsall.
Speaker 1:They can exchange their shooting stories, their shooting stories. Yeah, they both got robbed at gunpoint. I remember that, yeah.
Speaker 2:So instantly they can be pals Like hey, you been shot too.
Speaker 1:Hey, buddy, we're going to start a clique. We're the Bullet Brothers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going to show off our scars.
Speaker 1:Anyway, congratulations to him on staying in the NFL. I mean, now he's going from the East Coast to the West Coast. Not so bad out there in Santa Clara. You know nice stadium, it's a brand new stadium. They'll at least get that.
Speaker 2:I did like the new stadium. It's no candlestick, but it's all right. The museum was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Was that a weird joke? Was that like a LGBT joke? No, that's what the old stadium was called.
Speaker 2:No, the old stadium was Candlestick Park. It was, but it was a hybrid stadium baseball and football.
Speaker 1:I'm eager to see how that plays out. Mike is buying that, I'm selling it, so I'm just't once you leave your home team.
Speaker 2:Hey, hey, you're the man that bought into sam how and bought it. Bought into, yeah, I bought into sam how?
Speaker 1:because we drafted him.
Speaker 2:But as soon as he left I was like, nah, he's probably you bought into him and tyler heineke, telling me both these guys were the savior. I didn't say they were the savior. Hold on now.
Speaker 1:Both times you touted them. Hold on Putting words, and we have episodes to prove this. Now Okay, Recorded.
Speaker 2:We were not doing these when you started praising these guys. You're right.
Speaker 1:And I did like Sam Howell a lot and I liked Heineke a lot. I never said they were the savior. Okay, you did tell me they were great. I did say they're great, they're great people.
Speaker 2:And I think Heineke is a great player. I'm sure they are great people as a local hero.
Speaker 1:I love Heineke.
Speaker 2:I like Heineke too. He played for Old Dominion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it was cool to watch him play, and a lot of women think he has a nice Heineken, so we'll go with that. Whoa, sir. But speaking of switching teams and the saviors, how is Adam Thielen feeling right now, going from the Vikings over to Carolina, then getting traded back to the Vikings? They're like yeah, I guess life was better with you. No, no, no no.
Speaker 2:So here's the thing You're looking at this the wrong way, oh. This is not the first time tonight.
Speaker 1:you've told me this, by the way. No, no, no, listen, listen. Apparently, I've got it all wrong.
Speaker 2:Remember his story. Remember his story. He was an undrafted rookie that made his way onto the Vikings. Mike Growing up a Vikings fan in Minnesota your mom's an undrafted rookie. So he makes it onto the team, becomes a fan favorite and all-star multiple times over, and then he gets to free agency and they kind of let him walk. But now they're bringing him back because they have a bunch of issues at receiver they do, and this is kind of double-bladed to me.
Speaker 1:Right, because he's going somewhere. Obviously that believes he can contribute to the situation, but this is also a knock on him in carolina because he wasn't totally healthy through last year. He did have a couple good games, but he wasn't terribly effective. They have a core of young receivers now who they believe in. I think much more.
Speaker 2:I don't think it's the receivers they believe in much more. I think it's the quarterback they believe in much more.
Speaker 1:I agree with that too.
Speaker 2:yeah, what they have seen out of their young quarterback back in Bryce is that he has stepped up. They don't need, because most of the time when you have a rookie quarterback you bring in a veteran like Thielen to kind of be the safety valve, the easy throw, the guy you look for when you're in trouble. But Bryce was not a rookie last year. I know he wasn't, but they brought Thielen in when he was. So by him being sent out and sent to the Vikings is showing that they have more faith in their quarterback and ability to work with young receivers and know that they're going to be set up right.
Speaker 2:Know they're running the right routes and running the offense effectively.
Speaker 1:Well, maybe there's that familiarity, but, honestly, like the Raiders could have used another receiver, a veteran receiver.
Speaker 2:Right, but this is a matter of what people offer and what they're willing to accept. True, in this case, minnesota is willing to offer what the Panthers were willing to accept. So it's a good story for him because, if you didn't see it, there was a good little video of him telling his kids he's going back to Minnesota, and they were like, yeah, we're going back to Minnesota Because, like again, they gave up two picks for him again.
Speaker 1:They gave up two picks for him Again.
Speaker 2:Almost three. They gave up what they were willing to accept.
Speaker 1:They gave up a number of picks. Actually, carolina is going to receive a 2026 fifth round pick and a 27 fourth rounder and Minnesota is getting a 26 conditional seventh round and a 27 fifth round. So essentially they kind of swapped picks in a way and then gave up a player in the process. So you know, not a bad trade, I give it to give them some credit. Yeah, I like when I see you know capital exchange hands and we love draft capital.
Speaker 2:Hey, they're a young team and the Capital will work for them building around their young team. So it works in both teams' favor. Because right now Minnesota's kind of feeling the hurt because they've got one receiver who's been suspended for a few games for his DUI activities and then they've got another receiver down on injury Addison right, what the DUI or. And then they got another receiver down on injury Addison right, what the DUI or the injury. Addison is the DUI, addison's the DUI. But then they had another receiver go down to injury. So they're getting a little thin in the receiver, jalen Naylor.
Speaker 2:Yes, so they're getting a little depleted. And adding Thielen in when only the receivers you have are young Puts a little more veteran presence in there. You know what I mean. So it works for their favor. But speaking of people getting in trouble XQB in the NFL, jay Cutler. Jay Cutler Everybody's favorite. I say that jokingly. Nobody finds him as a favorite.
Speaker 1:Most people hated his blasé attitude and as a quarterback that's supposed to be a franchise guy when he's like meh, he's like, if Tim Tebow had no personality or religion, you have Jay Cutler.
Speaker 2:Exactly that's what he reminds meh, he's like if Tim Tebow had no personality or religion. You have Jay Cutler. Exactly that's what he reminds me of.
Speaker 1:Well, he's getting jail time as part of his DUI plea deal. Yeah, by the way, there's other factors to this. He got pulled over not only under DUI, he actually had an unregistered gun in the car too. Yes, so that was trouble point number two for that. So the fact that he's only getting four days in a Tennessee jail, I think is rather impressive.
Speaker 2:Well, he was arrested back in October 17th of 2024 after his Dodge Ram truck rear-ended a GMC in Franklin, tennessee. I'm a Ram guy. This makes me sad so like you said, he basically was found to be under the influence when this happened and they found things under his possession. But yeah, so not exactly a good way to be Drugs, not a good way to be.
Speaker 1:And speaking of not a good way to be, what a fall from grace, to be honest with you Speaking of falls from grace.
Speaker 2:what about that, Rasheed Rice?
Speaker 1:Rasheed Rice. Rasheed isn't really at the peaks of grace yet because he's such a young player. Uh, he was a rookie last year, I think. Yeah, he was a rookie last year. Uh, you know, kansas city drafted him to be the number one. Whether or not he's going to be the number one, you know they let go of tyree kill and rashid rice, you know, fast forward a little bit. You know, if you we talked about this on our podcast. By the way, he was involved in an incident that created, I think, like a five or six car pile up yeah, um pile up a rat.
Speaker 1:He and his friends had like two supercars. They're weaving racing traffic and he wasn't the driver for one of the vehicles. So I give him a little bit credit there, but at the same time you still yeah, but his car was involved, his car was involved in it and the other car was rented and, yeah, what makes it worse and which is really dumb, they ran off. Yeah, they left. They left the scene. Uh, I think rashid was still there, although it wasn't he. He stayed, but everybody else like ran off and left.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure if he did or didn't, but the point of the matter is, even if you run, they have the plates, they have the rental agreement, they know who you are.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You're not just getting away. He did step up to the plate. I don't think there was terribly a lot of legal repercussion come from it, uh. But now the league is handing down, uh, six game suspension. They were talking about a 10 game suspension, uh, but now it's just gonna be six games, so he's gonna potentially miss the first six games.
Speaker 2:That's a third of the season, bro, I have an interesting take on this and I think if you really because I hate the way that they do these suspensions, because the first six games that means nothing you know like, if you really want to affect teams and affect players, start suspending them at the back end of the season. If he missed the last six games, and let's say, kc is fighting for a playoff spot or fighting to stay in the number one spot, it means a lot more than, oh, you're just going to miss the first month of the season. I think it's a.
Speaker 1:I see what you're saying, but I can't say I totally agree, because what if those teams aren't competitive for playoff spots that time and then you're just taking a player away. But I agree, like these players want to play, okay, no matter where their team is standing at, they want to play.
Speaker 2:Well then here's the ripple I'll give you. You can go ahead and do the first six games, but then you need to do like baseball does Baseball. Recently you had Jerickson Profar of the Braves. He had served an 80-game suspension for PEDs. You know it happens. So he got suspended, did his 80 games. But there's a caveat Shouldn't, if the Braves go to the playoffs which they're not, because we've sucked this year if they go to the playoffs, he's not allowed to play. Okay.
Speaker 1:I can agree with that.
Speaker 2:If you have a player that does something to this magnitude, you want to affect him, you can't play in the playoffs. That affects not only does it affect his ability to play in meaningful games, but it also affects his checks, which, when you play in the playoffs, you're getting more money. Yep.
Speaker 1:So not that he's not going to lose money and more notoriety because it's playoffs, right.
Speaker 2:I agree with that. If you do that, it'll make some of these players think twice about doing this dumb stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think you got gotta remember we're talking about kids, right. These guys are barely 21 years old when they're coming into the league, Right?
Speaker 2:I'm not advocating that they can't make mistakes, but let's be honest and I'm not sticking up for them either.
Speaker 1:You know like we had to have very good judgment when we were 21. Otherwise, it was lights out right. Yeah, we didn't have millions to now yeah, now they have a lot more leeway because they're on a stage and they're big name players and even sometimes the teams help them get out of it. But like, oh, I agree with you, I like the playoff band, what's up?
Speaker 2:who's the Raiders player that he did something similar, but he wound up killing a girl when he crashed his Corvette into her.
Speaker 1:Henry, Ruggs, that's who it is.
Speaker 2:He's getting out soon. His career's done.
Speaker 1:He's getting well. He's talking about trying to get back to the league now and there's a possibility. Well there's a possibility well, there's a possibility that he might. I mean jamarcus russell tried to make a comeback once too.
Speaker 1:We saw that way but so I didn't even know he tried to make a comeback yeah yeah, I remember reading about jamarcus russell's trying to make nfl comeback and literally no, it was just smoke. Nothing ever came from it. But henry ruggs might actually have an avenue back to the league, especially if he's done everything that's expected of him and then tried to make things better. It's hard to make them so much better when you kill somebody.
Speaker 2:Well, he might wind up doing a UFL thing or whatnot to try to get his name back. That avenue is available now. But you know these mistakes. They are that I mean. And you are right, these are young guys with a lot of money and let's face it, when you're young, you got a lot of money.
Speaker 1:You want to do some stuff like racing cars and it does something. We don't talk about this very often. But young with a lot of money inflates your ego.
Speaker 2:Especially as a man?
Speaker 1:Yes, but I think it also has to play in, so you start feeling like you're untouchable.
Speaker 2:I think it also has to play in with who do you have around you? That too, If you have the right people around you, you're not going to make these kinds of mistakes. It's hard to go.
Speaker 1:Let me go from right people, but you, you're not going to make these kinds of mistakes and it's hard to go. Let me go from right people, but you've got to have good people around you right. You've got to have people who are interested in your well-being as much as you are theirs. These folks and I don't know them and I might be speaking out of line, but they didn't seem like they had Rasheed Rice's well-being in mind when they took his car racing down the road.
Speaker 2:I remember hearing an agent say one time he said one of the first things he tells players when they get drafted, not even after they've played it down in the NFL. He said the second they get drafted. He said the first thing they tell them you get a new phone, you get a new number. You decide who you're going to allow to be around you. Yep, he said all the people that you knew before. You don't have to have them around you, right? And he said the first thing that's going to happen is all them people, they all want a piece, they all want theirs.
Speaker 1:They all want to be friends with you, Even people that don't really talk to you like that. Suddenly they're going to feel like your best friend.
Speaker 2:Right. So the point he was making is you need to look out for you and what's best for you and your family, do not worry about everybody else. And it's kind of one of those things like they have that class now with, like, chris Carter, where Chris. Carter basically breaks it down. It's like look, I'm lucky, I got a talking to the right. People stood in front of me and said you're screwing up and if you don't get right you're not going to be here. It's a privilege to be here, Not a right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it got through to him because we all remember chris carter having a great career, yeah, and you're right about that. So you know, surround yourself with good people, not just the right people. Good people, right? Um, move on to the next thing here. Sorry, this thing, this actually comes from my, so I feel a little bit good, but at the same time it begs me to ask the question Mike, okay, and I know I know. Anyway, moving on from that little tidbit, I believe this is an excerpt I'm going to read from Josh Harris, the owner of the Washington Commanders.
Speaker 1:I believe football should be a game for everyone. That's why we are reducing ticket prices for people with disabilities and those facing life's toughest challenges, because Commanders, nation is built on family and no fan should ever be left behind. So they're lowering ticket prices only for disabled people and people going through financial hardship. But this begs me to ask two questions, okay. Number one if you can do this, why don't you do it for everybody? Begs me to ask the question. Number one are ticket prices? Are NFL ticket prices getting out of control? Yes, and two I understand the people with disabilities, but I would have loved to see it geared toward disabilities, senior citizens and veterans as well. Okay, because there's two more categories there, and people who are going through financial hardship. I get right, you want to do things, okay, but if you're going through financial hardship, should you really be spending money on an NFL game? So there's a lot of different aspects to this question here.
Speaker 2:I'll give you the caveat. Let's say you have a son or daughter and they absolutely love a certain player you know. Like let's say, okay, in case of point, let's say that Jayden Daniels is their favorite player and they just want to see Jayden Daniels play football and for Christmas you get them some tickets to go see their favorite player. Yeah, I could so see that. You know, especially for a family that, like they're struggling, which most people these days are struggling in one form or another. But I see the benefit in it and I see where it can be a good thing for for folks. But I get what you're saying, like do you need to spend this money right now? And it all depends. I mean, if you're talking you know somebody spending thousands of dollars that they don't have, yeah, you're probably in the wrong place for that. But if you're just trying to do something, like you know, take your kid to a game because they've never been been and they want to see their favorite player, you've got to at least do it once.
Speaker 2:Man, tickets are getting way too expensive and they're getting outrageous because let's think about this for a second the cost of going to a Super Bowl. The tickets are thousands of dollars. The cheapest you could get is like $3,000. And you haven't even paid for a single event outside of just that ticket to the Super Bowl. You haven't paid for a hotel, you haven't paid for parking, you haven't paid for a rental car, you haven't paid for nothing. So unless you live there, that's a lot of money for everybody, you know, minus the ultra rich, you know, that can afford to just buy press boxes and other stuff.
Speaker 1:I mean hardship aside I feel like, especially if you live somewhat locally to the stadium, and even down here in Norfolk, right Norfolk, virginia Beach we're still within driving distance to the game. I feel like if you're going to make it happen, you can make it happen.
Speaker 2:Right, I've made the drive before. I've gone to Washington games, but they're I have as well. They're definitely. It's a long day to drive up there, go to a game and then drive back. Hopefully it's a one o'clock start game so you don't come home at midnight.
Speaker 1:I agree with that because, no matter what you do, I love to go up for the weekend. Go up Friday night, spend Saturday in DC, see some museums whatever you're going to do which most of them are free, yeah and then Sunday go over to the game and then head back after the game. That's a great weekend to me. But, like I said, you know, that's just what I know. Nfl it's not just NFL. A lot of sporting events professionally are getting rather expensive.
Speaker 2:The only one that is staying kind of moderately priced is baseball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was just about to say baseball is.
Speaker 2:You can get standing room only tickets for pretty cheap. You can get seats in the upper decks for pretty cheap. Yeah, you know, even now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 2:It's the one sport that I feel is truly more all-inclusive to all of their fans, whereas there's not. You know you need to pay a certain amount of money to be able to even be there, because if you go to a baseball game a major league baseball game before the game starts you'll have kids go down there towards the railing and they're trying to get autographs and you know they're trying to get their favorite player to like wave or say hey, and you get more out of that. Yeah. And like you know these nfl games, unless you're on the field, you ain't seeing the, you're not going to talk to the players, you're not going to really get much out of it. You might get them toss something to you if you're by the tunnel before they run up, maybe maybe, and then, if that's somebody, don't snatch it in front of you oh, that's if the the rail doesn't break.
Speaker 2:or the of you, oh, that's if the rail doesn't break.
Speaker 1:Yeah, speaking of FedEx Field, if the rail doesn't break it, everybody falls over the edge with that stadium. Well, that's why they're trying to get a new one. But I thought that was a very good question. I'd like our listeners to ponder that and chime in on our social media. Let us know what you think about NFL prices, especially what Josh Harris, the owner, the commander, said here.
Speaker 2:I'm all for it.
Speaker 1:One thing I am feeling slightly bad for, and this is kind of like a kick-em-when-you're-down thing. My thoughts and prayers personally go out to Nia Smith of Philadelphia Eagles. Okay, this man was drafted by the Eagles, Formerly of the Eagles, Formerly of the Eagles. Yeah, this man was drafted, didn't make it, did not make. The cut was released, I believe yesterday or early today. And really, to make matters worse, four hours later after he was cut, his girlfriend breaks up with him. I'm like, damn bro, you, just you, just that's just like that, just lets you know, right there.
Speaker 2:He's getting ready to make a country song man. Yeah, he got cut by his team, his girlfriend broke up with him.
Speaker 1:He's about to link up.
Speaker 2:He better go check on his dog and make sure his vehicle still runs.
Speaker 1:He's about to link up with Taylor Swift on some X music here, but, yeah, I feel bad for him. That's just an example and honestly, bro, that should just tell you that what she was probably out for like in my opinion, and especially the way it looks, she just wanted you for what you were going to have. Yeah.
Speaker 1:He's probably better off and you don't need nobody like that, bro. So like I feel bad for you because another team may still take a chance on you, right, just because you got cut doesn't mean that you're not going to get another shot Shit. The Eagles might even bring you back on their practice squad, right you know. So like I feel like the gun was jumped there, case in point.
Speaker 2:Case in point, I'm glad you said that, because a lot of players have been getting cut but they're signing with other teams, because this is why preseason's a good thing. You're putting tape out there for other teams to see. And, case in point, a great person to add to this Tommy DeVito. Tommy.
Speaker 1:DeVito no relation to Danny DeVito.
Speaker 2:No, Look, he had a showing in preseason, Like he was great in preseason, and that yielded him another spot with another team. The Patriots picked him up to be on their team because of his preseason showing. So it goes to show like even if the team you are on cuts, you doesn't mean you're not going to wind up somewhere else. I mean, Valdez Scantley is with the Niners now after being cut by the Seahawks.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Just because you got cut doesn't mean that another team doesn't value you, or what a lot of teams will do is they'll cut a player and then they bring them on the practice squad, so it's not necessarily the end.
Speaker 1:It's not great, it just maybe wasn't a good fit at the end. It's not great, it just maybe wasn't a good fit at the time. There's a lot of reason players get cut and it's not always because they're not good players. A lot of time it's scheme fit or maybe they have too many of that player. A lot of time. It's chemistry, or you're right. They're overstocked on a particular position.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you have too many that are so good, you just have to make the call on one or two of them this year was a little odd, though, because sometimes there's that veteran guy that got cut because it's like man, you're making way too much, but this rookie, we ain't paying him nothing, he looks great. Yeah, that hasn't happened this year, really, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I mean you're right and you know, speaking of getting cut, shiloh Sanders is the first Sanders brother to be out and he did not help himself.
Speaker 2:Bro. I think he's the only one that's going to be out. They're going to keep Shador on the Browns.
Speaker 1:I think they're going to keep Shador. He's going to have a little more run time, I think I mean.
Speaker 2:Shiloh throwing a punch in a preseason game. He, I mean.
Speaker 1:Shiloh throwing a punch in a preseason game. He threw a slap, he lost his cool. And what do I always say? Mike, lose your cool, you lose your judgment. A great man told me that once, a driving instructor in fact.
Speaker 2:Well, he lost his cool. But again, this doesn't mean that he won't be brought back on the practice squad. It doesn't mean that he's done it back on the practice squad, yeah, no, it doesn't mean that he's done it just means that, hey, you, you fell.
Speaker 1:No, he's not. He's not coming back. No, whenever you, whenever you get uh what are they called? Uh personnel cases, uh personality problems, things like this.
Speaker 2:This is the first thing, though, unless he's had other things happen. No, it's not like over in Tennessee camp, where their rookie quarterbacks get in fights with their defensive tackle Simmons.
Speaker 1:Well, here's the flip side of that, right. If he was that great of a player and was doing well in the chemistry of the team, something like that happened. They might have been willing to look past it. Okay, yeah, but he's a good player, alright, we don't have to worry about it. This was such a happen. If you go back and watch the clip right and the way he was being blocked and pushed back, I probably would have thrown a punch myself because the ref should have blew that dead.
Speaker 2:But what did you just say a second ago?
Speaker 1:About losing your cool. You lose your cool, you lose your temper. I mean you lose your cool, you lose your judgment. But like, if you look at the way these guys are hitting at the moment, I didn't personally think it was a bad. I mean, I see people excessively block all the time in the game, even at the NFL level. So to me this just feels like they were kind of just looking for a reason.
Speaker 2:You know that made me think of the fact that Abdul Carter got chipped by a tight end and he got flatted. And he was like I ate that up, like no, bro, you got chipped hard you got welcomed to the NFL. But LeVar Arrington said it to him though. He said look, man, take pride in that You're a rookie and they chipped you like that in preseason. That means they know, they know who you are.
Speaker 1:That means they know they chipped you for a reason, but to me this seems a little bit like they might have just been looking for a reason to make the cut maybe not just for him, but looking for a reason to cut anybody no, I mean, it's definitely not the time to be doing anything that makes you stand out.
Speaker 2:Don't be the tall nail. You'll get hammered. And this is just the the case point. They got to cut down and it may come down to just simple things Like this guy is a better locker room guy, that guy shows up on time, that guy is in every meeting taking notes, whatever it is don't be the guy that's not looking like you care or be the guy that stands out in a negative way because, then, they're going to be making roster cuts with your name because of bad things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I definitely think there's more pressure on them because of the Sanders name. But, like I said, I halfway feel like they were looking for a reason to get rid of him, but I also halfway feel like, all right, you probably didn't help yourself with that this doesn't mean it's over.
Speaker 2:I mean a lot of coaches. They like when their players are fiery, even in preseason.
Speaker 1:To me, this is something a little deeper, because if I look like I said, going back, repeating myself look at the play, he was getting excessively blocked. I mean, the play was blown dead, he was still getting blocked back. I think that should have been a penalty on the other player. If the play was blown dead, he was still getting blocked back.
Speaker 3:I think that should have been a penalty on the other player.
Speaker 1:But you know it's different, you know, and they just let it happen. And then, of course, shiloh's like what the fuck, bro? The play's been dead. Why are you just letting this guy run me into the back of the end zone, sir?
Speaker 2:I'm a little disappointed in you right now why you have not mentioned the fact that you guys locked up a certain player on your team.
Speaker 1:That's because everybody already knows. I don't need to tell people that they already know. They already know the most important piece of news. You should be excited. They already know the most important piece of news in the NFL world right now. Okay, and that is that Terry McLaurin got locked up. Okay, Not in jail.
Speaker 2:I seriously thought you were going to say that Kelsey was engaged. I thought that's where you were going to go with that.
Speaker 1:No, Terry McLaurin has a contract extension and we knew it would happen. We knew it would happen.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:They're going to pay the man.
Speaker 2:Whenever these kinds of things happen, they always show. When they finally do the scrub of the social media or they do the I'm holding in, holding out, whatever they're doing, whatever they're holding, they eventually show up and play. But he's not the only one that got a deal, hendricks. Hendricks got his deal with the Bengals, but it's interesting, but it's interesting the way it's done. So they gave him a bump, but it's like a one year deal. He's a free agent at the end of the year.
Speaker 2:So yeah they're going to give him 30 mil this year, but at the end of the year he's a free agent, so he can go where he wants.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and back to, and I agree with, I like Trey Hendrickson and they're still trying to probably look into trade him. Okay, I wonder if he's going to be traded by middle of the season. They're going to find a trade partner for Hendrickson.
Speaker 2:They do that. They're going to piss off Burrow.
Speaker 1:Well, you know whatevs. Live and learn. But, terry mclaurin, three-year deal I think the third year is an option. You got 30 million dollar signing bonus. The whole contract is worth 96 million dollars. So if he gets the 30 million dollar signing bonus, that brings his annual salary for the next two years down to around 20, something that 22 million dollars or something like that. So the the $30 million offsets it. The $30 million actually makes it closer to $27 million per year. If you break it down, they're just giving it all to him up front.
Speaker 2:It's a good thing they got him locked up because you've got to pay. That man, he's scary. He's scary, it's in his name. Your quarterback had such a connection with him last year. How are you going to let that walk Almost romantically Like it's just sir, control yourself, you're getting a little too passionate about your team.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I didn't even feel the need to mention it because the whole world already knows the most important piece of NFL news, and that's that Terry McLaurin is going to be a commander's for life. Commander I don't know about for life.
Speaker 2:But no, this man's going to retire this man's going to retire, commander.
Speaker 1:If they were to trade him, they would have traded him. Nobody's going to trade for a 33-year-old receiver, so out of all of these, adam Thielen aside.
Speaker 2:Well, all of these deals have finally gotten rounded out, all but one, and that's Michael Parsons. Yeah, this saga is getting kind of funny.
Speaker 1:Getting to what I was going to say earlier, I won't go into the whole. I'll save the article for next week. But getting into the Michael Parsons saga, right, did you just call him Michael? Yeah, he's Michael, until he fucking does something, okay.
Speaker 2:Are you calling it Jerry Jones? You're calling him the wrong name. You called him Michael Parsons. Michael Parsons, michael Pearson. Anyway.
Speaker 1:As their owner called him, michael Parsons, first of all in the preseason finale, was seen laying on a trainer bench just taking a nap. Laying on a trainer bench just taking a nap, and even the head coach was like, hmm, I'll have to look into that Bro.
Speaker 2:He was even seen eating some nachos yeah.
Speaker 1:But don't be surprised and this will go into a segment we're going to do next week don't be surprised if the cowboys call his bluff. Okay, he's going to play for the cowboys right at this juncture.
Speaker 2:Well, they need to hurry up and figure it out, because they have the first game of the year against the Eagles on Thursday night.
Speaker 1:September 4th Exactly, and as an aging veteran player, the last thing you want to do is take a year off from football, if you're planning on playing again.
Speaker 2:Well, just ask Le'Veon Bell how that worked out for him. You won't see that money again. This whole Micah Parsons saga is getting ridiculous because there was a scenario recently where somebody is taking pictures of him at a terminal in the airport where he's flying out to get an evaluation on his back from another specialist to get a second opinion, and people are taking pictures of him in the airport, like it's some sort of spy gate, of him in the airport.
Speaker 1:It's some sort of spy gate. Thank you everybody for joining us tonight. For what is this? The fourth episode of season two now, or third? I think it's the third. We've long shown that we can't count man, that's fine.
Speaker 1:Quickly coming up on episode 40 here, I believe next week or the week after, depending on my count. Thank you everybody for joining us. Once again, I'd like to thank our sponsors and partners. Body by d jim, one in yorktown, one in gloucester deshawn's a great guy, great owner, former bodybuilding champion himself and training future bodybuilding champions, among other things under his roof, solace outfurs. Uh, two young athletes building a brand. Uh, our friends Caden and Christian, both basketball players. They're doing great. And the giving tree chiropractic service located down here in Virginia beach. Justin's very good at what he does making chiropractic services available, accessible to all. Thank you everybody Once again for joining us and listening to our sports banter, even the times where we're less accurate. I wish you all a good night. My name is Brian with an I and I'm Mike, and we are Two for the Win.
Speaker 2:Thanks everybody.