Two For The Win - S2.70 - NCAA Eligibility, Baseball or Base-Brawl? S*** Rosters Abound!

A golf shot lands in a spectator’s shopping bag at The Masters, and somehow that’s only the warm-up. We jump from that perfectly weird moment into the kind of sports-news stretch where every league is loud at once: playoff pushes, injuries that change seasons, and rule decisions that reshape careers.

We start with a bodybuilding headline that feels like a passing-of-the-torch story as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son wins a classic physique title, then we get into the bigger NCAA storm. The eligibility talk turns into a real conversation about NIL, transfers, and the awkward reality that coaches can move freely while athletes get boxed in. From there, we hit hockey and why the NHL playoffs are appointment viewing, plus Utah’s Mammoths turning a Zamboni into a full-on fan attraction.

Baseball takes over with a mix of respect, chaos, and comedy: remembering Davey Lopes, reacting to the White Sox Pope-themed giveaway, and breaking down the Joe Adell defensive game that literally sends his glove to the Hall of Fame. We also dig into hit-by-pitches, balk calls, brawls, and the growing list of MLB injuries, then lighten things up with minor league mayhem like a prison-yard exhibition game and a team scoring 10 runs on one hit.

On the money side of sports, we talk WNBA salary projections after the new CBA and Angel Reese’s trade to Atlanta, then close out with the NBA and NFL pressure points: late-season injuries, rookie of the year arguments, CTE and player health, and the DOJ investigation into NFL television deals and Sunday Ticket. We finish with a real debate on what the Eagles want from Jalen Hurts and what “franchise QB” means now. Subscribe, share this with a sports group chat, and leave a review, then tell us what story you can’t stop thinking about.

Transcript

Welcome And The Masters Oddity

SPEAKER_00 0:11

April 9th, 2026. Welcome back everybody for another episode of Sports Talk with us. I'm Brian with an eye, and I'm Mike, and we are Chief of the Way. Mike, what's cracking tonight? We are loaded on this agenda. What we got going on, man?

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Well, the madness may be over, but baseball's getting a little mad itself. And not to be outdone, we have hockey playoffs coming up and NBA playoffs coming up. As well as thing called the NFL draft two weeks away. I am excited about this.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

I don't know about You know, absolutely a busy time of the year for Sports World once again. An honorable mention to the Masters, which is underway as of today. Um, and some funny stories coming out of there we won't mention too much. But what did you just tell me about? Somebody hit a ball into somebody's bag.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yeah, so uh one of the players he he hit a shot and it was it didn't stay really on the green, it was kind of going over towards spectators, and of all things, it landed right in this spectator's bag, like they had purchased something from the gift shop and it landed inside their bag. So the line judge or or whatever you want to call the field judge or whatever for for golf comes over and goes, Well, I mean, you can't play it as it lies. Uh I guess pull it out of the bag. We're gonna put it right next to the bag. Now, spectator, can you move the bag? All right, now take your shot. And and as a good sport, the golfer signed the ball and and and signed a ball and gave it to the spectator.

Sponsors And Local Shoutouts

Arnold’s Son Wins Bodybuilding Title

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Yeah, that is some happy Gilmore Billy Madison stuff, if I've ever heard of it. It's rather funny. But real quick, before we get underway, quick thanks to our sponsors and partners, Body by D Gym, located in Yorktown and Gloucester, Deshaun Wright's a bodybuilding champion, training future bodybuilding champions of their own right, as well as very many community and youth uh-based organiz uh uh events and things going on out there. I'm sorry, I trip over my words tonight. Our good friends Kitten and Christian over at Solace Outfitters, uh the Giving Tree Chiral Practic down here at Virginia Beach, uh, our good friends uh over at Pulsewood Tuning getting ready to launch that app here soon this month. And Mid-Atlantic Territory Wrestling, who, by the way, has another live TV taping show showing coming up this Saturday, April 11th. Doors open at 5 15, the bell is at 6. We will see you there. And you can catch them on the Right Now TV Network or Roku TV. Now, let's get into our main agenda. Mike, what we got? Where are we starting now this tonight here?

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Well, since you brought up Deshaun in bodybuilding, it seemed like fitting that we start this off talking about a bodybuilding accomplishment. That's right. So I'm pretty sure people know who Arnold Schwarzenegger is. I'm pretty sure people know him.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

I mean, hey, these kids don't seem to know anybody anymore, man. I'm I've never felt old, but it's starting to hit.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Let's understand. This man was a movie star, once a governor, big time bodybuilder before he did all that stuff. And it's running in the family. So recently, Arnold Schwarzenegger's son uh did his second ever bodybuilding competition. Uh his son, Joseph uh Joseph Joseph Bana. Bana? Bana.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Bana. Bana.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

I like Bana. We're gonna stick with that.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

I'm gonna call him Joseph.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Well, Joseph, in his first well, not his first, his second competition in the INBA Iron Gladiator Classic physique title, he won this in he won this competition, what was it? Like uh, I think at the tail end of March. But it's only his second ever competition as a bodybuilder, and he won. He won his competition. I think he actually won both of those competitions. Yeah, well, but here's here's the crazy part, right? So people are like, well, you know, it's your first time up, you shouldn't just be winning, you know. But but think about this. He's been training with his father, who was a former Mr. Universe, a former bodybuilder. And you know, they he trains his son at uh Gold's gym in Venice Beach. So he's sitting here winning competitions already, yeah. You know, right out the gates. So you know, you when you got the genes of Arnold in you, you're kind of blessed with the ability to get there.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Yeah, and congratulations to him stepping in right into his father's shoes. I mean, that is how Arnold got his launch to stardom, his launch to stay to fame. Uh, he stepped into acting from bodybuilding. Yeah. Uh actually, in I think the what he stepped into the Terminator role.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

No, no, his actually his first role was uh Conan the Barbarian. That's right. It was Conan the Barbarian.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Yeah. And you know, from there, the rest is history. Uh as some of you may be well aware, clearly I'm slightly remiss in my facts.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

But uh you did name one of his other movies that kind of helped launch him.

NCAA Eligibility Order And NIL Reality

SPEAKER_00 5:32

I mean, Conan started it, but really uh Terminator was the one that kind of propelled him into stardom because everybody And then would be you know a successful Hollywood career would be followed up by a somewhat successful political career, you know, becoming the you know governor of California for some time. So he was very successful successful, and I'm eager to see how far his son goes in his shoes or if he branches off on his own path at some point in the world, which I'm sure he will.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

So well, speaking of new paths, we're finding a new path right now with an executive order that was given down about the NCAA and player eligibility and years of service. Uh so with this executive order, uh, we're being told that you know athletes get five years from the point they turn 19 of eligibility. Or from the time they graduate high school. That too. Um, because some people graduate early. Right. Case in point Cooper Flag. Uh and one transfer. So meaning you can't just jump from school to school over and over. Now, I I I like this idea, but with some caveats that I think are are are worth it. Because like the coaches can still jump around, move around, do whatever they want. They could quit every year if they wanted. But to me, what if what if you're being recruited by a certain coach and he leaves and you go to that school and it's like, well, wait a second. Now the real whole reason I'm coming here to get coached by that coach, and he's not here anymore. Shouldn't I be granted the ability to leave? Especially if I've already transferred. If I've already transferred, and then you say, Well, wait a second, you already transferred. You can't do it now. That's screwed up. You know, I I I do think also, I um you may need to fact check me on this. I do believe there are some exceptions, like if injury, you know, say like if you get hurt, so you might have maybe an extra year or two. Like maybe you tear your ACL, right? Maybe you get an extra year medical-wise. But if the NCAA still had any power, they would have wrangled this in years ago before they ever got to the NIL era. But they didn't do anything and they just sat back collecting money, and now we're in the chaos we're in, and now we're having the points where now the president is starting to put executive orders to try to get you guys straight.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah, I can't help but feel like NIL probably definitely had an impact on this. Uh and they're still trying to figure their way out through the NIL landscape. Uh, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Personally, I love NIL. And I mean, I I know some people are like, you're giving these young kids so much money. And first of all, you want it to go back to the way it was before, where these colleges and the NCAA were making billions, billions with a B and giving the players absolutely nothing.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Yeah, I mean, honestly, first of all, the players were already getting this money. It was just done in a duffel bag behind closed doors out of the city.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Yes, there were some getting money behind closed doors or finding money in a card that they were leasing.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Now, I do feel like NIL has empowered some of these players to be kind of I mean, we've seen some of this NIL deal, the ugly side of it, right? Where they're they're promised money and they come to the program, they don't get the money. Or they want more money, so they threaten to leave a program uh simply for more a bigger payday, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:16

But this is giving people the ability to get more out of college now, college sports, because you're now getting the players from Europe coming over to play in the US and get a college education. And you're also getting a diverse, longer stay in talent because people are gonna go, why am I gonna go to the NBA to make hundreds of thousands when I'm making millions in college? I'll just stay here, bank a few more, you know, thousands of dollars, millions of dollars, right, and stick around and refine my skills more, get my name and image out there more because I'm gonna be involved in things like, oh, you know, if you're in football, you're involved in the playoffs, or you're if you're in basketball, you're gonna be involved in the you know, March Madness if your team's good enough. But the other thing that you get out of this in IELT is you're getting people that wouldn't normally even get money, right, are getting their share. Because before it was like, if you're the quarterback, you're getting money. If you're a lineman, yeah, you're not getting much. But now it's starting to level out. Everybody's getting a little bit, everybody's getting a slice of the pie. Whereas before it was all the NCAA and all the colleges taking everything, right? And the player's getting nothing. You know, I I heard an interview or a podcast, uh, Two Pros in the Cup of Joe, where LeVar Arrington said, Yeah, I saw a ton of 11 jerseys in the stands when I was playing for Penn State, but I didn't see any money from that.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

So, you know, as a as a player, when you're looking up in the stands and you're seeing all these people wearing your jersey and you didn't get a cent from it, it's kind of like, man, uh kind of feel a little taken advantage of.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Yeah, yeah. No, and I agree. Like I said, I I think they're still finding their way through it. Um, I don't know, I think some people's feathers will be ruffled because now they can't play for eight or nine years in college. Oh, but I mean, I know sometimes you have to be in college for that long, but if you have professional prospects, are you most of the time those players end up going ahead and trying their hand at a draft, right? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

So I have a problem with players wanting to stay that long only because of the fact that you are taking a spot that would then be filled by someone else. The whole point of it is you're supposed to come in, do your time, and get out, and then the next year, the next draft year or I'm not draft year, but the next group of kids comes in. Right. If you're sticking around for seven years, you're taking somebody's spot. You're taking a spot on a roster. Now, granted, do they have larger rosters than the NFL? Yes. And but think about it in terms of like basketball. It's not nearly as many players, right? But you're taking a spot now that could occupy be occupied by a kid who's trying to get up there.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Yeah, and and I mean, now the flip side is yeah, what about all these we'll just say doctors, all right? There's a lot of fields that go to college for quite some time, but we'll just say these doctors. Well, you're probably not a practicing doctor and playing college football. I'm just gonna be honest with you. You're your your residency is probably taking all your time on that front.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

But well, it's like the Chiefs a while back, they had a lineman who he had gone to school for becoming a doctor, and then during the COVID times, he went and did his residency because they were so short-staffed with being able to help during COVID that he came in, was doing all he could to help and get his residency in. Because, I mean, big strong guy, he can lift people up and move them, and you know, it really was a big help to the hospital. But he finished his residency, got his doctor, and he even appealed to the NFL to see if he could put doctor on the back of his jersey, you know, just the DR dot and then his name, and they wouldn't let him. And I was like, man, the publicity you would get off of that, and the fact that you would take away that that stigma of big dumb jock, you should have done it.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

You should have done it. Honestly, I agree. If you want to be doctor, then go be a doctor, okay? If you want to be uh, you know Mims Jr., wide receiver of the Denver Broncos, then go be Mims, alright? But you can't be Dr. Mims Jr., okay, who plays football and practices medicine. Why not?

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Well, I mean Why not? If you if you if you check every box, you do everything you're supposed to do, why not? I mean I'm not gonna pigeonhole the guy who puts in puts in all that time and effort.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

I suppose it's only a matter of time before they allow that. I mean, they finally did allow you to put junior and senior on your jersey, right? Yeah. So I guess it's just a change of perspective at that point.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Yeah. You see how easy either way, the fact that we are starting to get a better picture of how the college is gonna be landscaped is a good thing, in my opinion. I hate that it has to come to somebody doing an executive order, but eventually it's all gonna get figured out, everything's gonna smooth out, and everybody's gonna start getting used to the transfers and everything else that comes with it.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

I will add one more interesting dynamic to this. Uh, the NCAA board uh or whatever board of academics regulates these things is asking the Supreme Court uh for resolution uh or exemption from basically all the eligibility lawsuits that are about to come their way as a result of this. Because this is gonna set off uh a domino tidal wave reaction.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Yeah, but here's the thing you can't do anything once there's been an executive order. You can't appeal something that is stating done.

Utah’s Mammoth Zamboni And NHL Race

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Uh no, you can't, but you can still try to sue somebody. What they're asking the Supreme Court for is to basically say, nah, no court's gonna hear this. You can't even file it. Because you could still file it and go hear and encase and work your way up, whatever, whatever. But I'm interested in I'm I'm interested to see if they grant that. I don't see why they wouldn't uh in that case. But let's move on into some NHL action here. They're getting ready to come hot and heavy into some playoffs, but we got a little piece of interesting news. You know, their new franchise, Utah Mammoths, uh, having a little fun with their Zamboni. There's a company out there uh by the name of, and by the way, I got this from KSL5 TV, which I think is a local uh news TV network out there in Utah. Uh there's a company called Diesel Brothers, who are internationally famous for their skill and expertise in customizing massive high-performance vehicles. I guess the Zamboni is a high-performance vehicle, Mike. No, nobody's racing a Zamboni. I I couldn't imagine unless its performance at creating sheets of ice is being measured. I I I don't know. But anyway, their Zamboni now looks like a gigantic, and this thing looks rather cool, mind you, a giant mammoth. There's them, they're calling it the Zamoth, the Zamboni Matt Mammoth.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

I think this is so cool because if you have it, just do yourself a favor. Go look up this Zamboni and we'll post it. Okay, well, he'll post it either way, go find it. And you look at what a Zamboni normally looks like, and then look at this thing. This thing is super cool, and you gotta think the younger fans are gonna just geek out when they see this mammoth coming out of the ice.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

You know what this reminds me of? Any any of you Power Ranger fans out there. This looks just like a blue version of the black mastodon, okay? This looks like the Black Rangers Mastodon to me from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. This thing is cool. And by the way, fans mixing genres there.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

You said you said Power Rangers and and uh and the Transformers.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Well, no. I uh his his uh what do they call him again? The Power Rangers with their uh their megazords. Yes. I said Transformers, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

I was confused. I was like I like all of it.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

He started talking about their Teenage Mutant Transformer Power Ranger, whatever they call it. Anyway, uh this thing looks cool, and it will be available for fans to ride pre-game and during intermission. So that's even better, in my opinion. Uh, I think this thing's really cool. We'll post it.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Right, right. We'll we'll post that. And let's just take a quick look at the standings because we are getting set for playoff hockey, and there's probably one of the best things to ever watch is playoff hockey. Because if you let's say you're not even really interested in hockey, watch a playoff game as your first introduction into hockey, and you'll probably get hooked because the effort, the energy, the excitement, and the just pandemonium from the fans makes it all worth it. But let's start off by looking over in the East Conferences and in the Atlantic Conference, we have Buffalo at the number one spot, Tampa at the number two, and Montreal at the number three. The Metropolitan, we have the Carolina Hurricanes at number one, Pittsburgh Penguins at number two, and the Philadelphia Flyers getting in there at number three. The wild card is set with Boston at number one and Ottawa Senators at number two, with the only few teams left in the hunt being the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Detroit Red Wings, the New York Islanders, and the Capitals.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

So Man, seeing the Caps barely on the fringe compared to their recent history. Well, I mean as a playoff competitive team.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

It is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Same thing with the Devils. I mean, the Panthers, all these teams were played. I did the Maple Leafs, all these teams that were playoff teams last year.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

The Panthers is the one that is more shocking to me because you're you're talking about a team recently has won Stanley Cups and they're not going to be in it. Uh yeah, so the Devils, the Panthers, the Maple Leafs, and the New York Rangers have all been eliminated. They have no chance. Yeah. They're not in it. So moving over into the Western Conference, we've got the Central being led by the Colorado Avalanche, the Dallas Stars at number two, and number three is the Minnesota Wild coming in in the Pacific. We have the Edmonton Oilers, the Las Vegas Golden Knights, and the Anaheim Ducks coming in at number three. Hey, Party McFlies team. Yeah, they're in there. They're in there. Sliding in that number three spot there. And in the wild card, speaking of the mammoth, mammoth holding up that number one spot in the wild card position with the Nashville Predators right behind them. But don't look yet because you still have the Los Angeles Kings, the San Jose Sharks, the Winnipeg Jets, and the St. Louis Blues, and the Seattle Kraken all still in the hunt trying to get that last spot, last few spots to be in. The Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, and the Vancouver Canucks have all been eliminated.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Yeah, I can't, not a lot of surprises. They're relatively consistent from last year's standings. Maybe one or two on the outside looking in there. Not as shaking up as the East Side Conference, though, but I digress, my friend.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Yeah, well, I mean, this is going to be exciting hockey, regardless. Look, I'm telling you, if you haven't seen playoff hockey, watch it. You will love it. Get into it. If you don't go for the hockey, go for the fights.

MLB Losses And Strange Promotions

SPEAKER_00 21:44

I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out. Yeah. I love saying that. Think of it like that. Let's talk some MLB action though here. Let's get rolling with that.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Alright, so we're moving on into MLB. Um, but unfortunately. We're uh unfortunately starting. Starting off with some unfortunate news. Davy Lopes, four-time All-Star, has passed away at the age of 80. For a lot of us, we know David Lopes from his managing and not so much from his playing career. But he was a profound base stealer. Like he was he was the guy. And he actually holds the record right now, as we speak, for most games played at second base for the Dodgers at 1,134. He his 1,145 games batting leadoff is second in the organization's history. So this that should tell you that he was a mainstay and he he performed well when he was there. But the man also went on to do managerial jobs in the in the MLB. And hang on, I'm trying to. My apologies, I'm trying to get to Apolog apologize. I'm trying to get to the team's key. So getting back into the article because you know I'm an idiot and click the wrong thing and it makes things move. Sir. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

No, just keep going.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Oh, I thought you wanted me. I thought you wanted to chime in. My bad. Anyway, so for David Lopez's career, he stole 557 career stolen bases, making him 26th in MLB history. Uh he hit 263 in 1,812 regular season games with 155 home runs and 614 RBIs, 332 doubles, and 50 triples for his career. During his coaching career, he coached the Milwaukee Brewers from 2000 to 2002. He coached the Orioles, the Padres, the Nationals, the Phillies, and even the Dodgers for a stint. Unfortunately, at the age of 80, David Lopes has passed away.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

May his rest his soul. Our thoughts and prayers go out to uh his family, uh the community, everybody affected uh by his loss. So absolutely prolific career uh and an icon, obviously, in the MLB community as well.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Yes, yes. And we're gonna move right along uh and discuss something kind of cool because what's going on now as teams are since the season is kicked off, they're gonna start promoting their promotions, you know, try to get people to the ballpark. And uh the White Sox, as we've mentioned before, have a pretty infamous fan in the Pope. Yes, the very Pope is a White Sox fan. And uh has not made any any qualms about it. He is definitely a fan of the White Sox, so much so he was even there for game one of the 2005 World Series when the White Sox won it all. But they're doing a giveaway with the White Sox where they're gonna be giving away headgear, like Pope style headgear. Everybody's seen the Pope and his hat. Well, you're gonna get one that's White Sox and Dorn on a promotion night.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

You know, this is hilarious because there was another team, we didn't cover it, but there was another team that unveiled One Piece gear during their opener. I forget who it was, I don't want to say the wrong team, but this reminds me of that.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

So the White Sox on August 11th will be playing the Reds, where they're going to be giving out a limited number of Pope theme hats in special ticket packages. So hopefully you go to that game. And when I mentioned that the Pope had gone to this game for the World Series back in 2005, they even, in this article brought to you by MLB.com and written by Brent McGuire, uh he mentions that the Pope, Pope Leo, sat in section 140, row 19, seat two. So if you want to sit where the Pope sat, go ahead and get you that seat. And he he really loved watching the team win it all that year and even celebrate is in the moment celebrating the 20th anniversary of them winning in 2005 uh series. And the team captain around then was Paul Konurko, and was one of the best players on the team. And recently he was present for the celebration wearing a special white 14 jersey that was actually signed by the Pope.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

So this is pretty cool to me. And now that seat costs$10,000, and 98% of the proceeds will go to the church.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

You know what I hope they do? They should sit there and that one seat be different than all the others. Like maybe they make it a different color where it just, you know, it's the holy seat. It should blow up smoke whenever you sit in it. We have no, it should not. It should not. What smoke signifies the passing of the pope and then moving to a new pope.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

But smoke usually signals that they've that they've voted on a new the white smoke, right? Right. The different color smokes mean different things. Yeah, but it should blow white smoke, not black black smoke means the passing of the pope.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Let's not let's get away from that. We're not talking about that. That's that's bad juju. Anyway, it is Pope's passing.

Joe Adell’s Three Home Run Robberies

SPEAKER_00 28:07

I used to know a guy named Juju. Okay. He's a big race car fan. We we used to drag race. Anyway, moving right along, that's an interesting piece right there. I can't wait to see how it unfolds.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Yeah, so let's let's come over here and talk about a pretty impressive feat. So, like we've all heard of like a player, a pitcher getting a save in baseball, right? So, like they they have a stat for that. Baseball relief pitchers can get a save. Save. Um, but you don't really have that for players in the field, right? Like if a player makes an impressive play and saves a run or saves the game, they don't they don't really have anything for that. And I'm I'm beginning to just a good play. I'm beginning to think that after this performance put up by Joe Adele of the Angels, that they might need to come up with another stat because Joe Adele did something against the Mariners that caused the Mariners to even judge what they're gonna do in the next game after this one. So Joe Adele, he sat there and robbed, not one, not two, three home runs. Three home runs. Three home runs in this game against the Mariners, where he literally on one of them falls into the stands, and one of the the patrons got an excellent shot of him standing there holding up the ball in his glove from from behind, and it's a it's a like a million-dollar picture. But he robbs three home runs. The final score in the game was one-nothing. So it would have been three to one and they would have lost, assuming that they didn't, you know, yeah, score any other runs after them home runs. But he basically won this game for his team, robbing them three home runs. And the performance was so good that now his glove is going to the Hall of Fame. It's going to Cooperstown.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Cooperstown? Congratulations to him, and what a hell of a performance, might I add.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Yeah, you're doing something when Cooperstown says, yo, give me your glove. Like when they say give me something, I want it in the hall.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Yeah, that glove no longer belongs to you, fine sir. We will take that off your head.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

The funny part was sometimes these locker rooms, they'll have a dry race board and they'll write, you know, hey, you know, game plans. You're like, think of this, or you know, watch out for this with this player or whatever. They, in big letters on their dry race board for the Mariners, wrote, Don't hit the ball to Joe Adele. And that was the only thing on their board for the next game. And it's kind of sound advice after he robbed you of three home runs. But going from one accomplishment to the other, Nathan Evaldi accomplished a feat. He has had 1,500 strikeouts. We call that 1,500, Mike. Yeah. 1,500. Well, he has 1,500 strikeouts for his career. Uh, he's surpassed it, but actually, but he has gotten 1,500 for his career. And it comes in a bounce back start for him because he's kind of he has not been pitching well, but this past performance, like, he did, he did really well. He did really well in this last game. It's a good sign. I think that's incredible. But 1,500, no small feat in major leagues. Congratulations. But not to be outdone, we gotta talk about the Guardians. The Guardians, their fan favorite, Jose Ramirez, has set a franchise record. And that record is games played for the franchise. Woop woo! This man has played more games than any other player for the Guardians. Like, look, this guy has been in the subject line of trade rumors so much. Does this he's he's been the one guy that that the Guardians are like, nah, no, we're not, nope, nope, don't call.

Hit By Pitches Balks And Dugout Fury

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Now, does this include playing time under the old mascot? Yes. Okay. It's still the same organization. Yeah, well, I mean, it's kind of like washed. I didn't know some people only count, you know, the entities, but they really are the same team, right? Oh, yeah. I mean, it's still Cleveland, it's still the baseball team. Cleveland, still the same roster, still all the same players, just a different, you know, they just went through some kind of identity change. Common thing here in America.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

So recently there was a game between the Brewers and the Red Sox where Wilson Contreras uh he got a little upset. And uh at pitcher Brandon Woodorf or Woodorf or Brian, you want to say it?

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Can Brian say the name? Where are you pointing? Brandon Woodruff. Woodruff. Woodruff. Rough wood. Woodruff.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

I almost I almost want to have wood. I almost want that key and peel skit where the teacher's saying all the names. Yeah. Where's Bulaki? Bueller. Anyway. Bueller. Anyway. So recently in that game, Contreras was a little upset because he got thrown at in this game and hit by a pitch. And you would think, okay, you know, sometimes things happen, sometimes things slip. But keep in mind that Contreras used to play for the Cardinals, their biggest rival, the Brewers. So this man, while playing with the Brewers, or playing with the Cardinals against the Brewers, has been thrown at, and I want to find the number because I want to get it correct. He has been hit by the Brewers, just the Brewers, 24 times. Man. 24 times. It's hard not to start to think it's a little bit clear.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

Can we open a bounty gate investigation yet?

SPEAKER_01 34:19

So this right? Right? For real. So I kind of and and in his in his statement, he's like, they always tell me I'm not trying to hit you. But it's not hard to start going, look, you've hit me 24 times between multiple pitchers on your team, only your team. And I had to look this up, dude. This is not the most.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

The most times that a player has been hit by an opposing team is actually Biggio. When Biggio was with the Astros, the Rockies hit him 29 times. So it's not, it's not like it's specifically with them. Damn. I mean, I I I kind of feel for contrarios. You get hit this many times, like, yeah, I'm gonna start thinking this team doesn't like me.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Yeah, I mean, like I bounty gate, I'm just saying, you know, there might be something there. Yeah, you didn't know there was bounty gate in baseball, huh? Everybody thought them footballs was a little deflated too until they finally started looking into that. Anyway, I don't mean to compare apples to oranges. I'm just saying cheating happens across all sports.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Now that I'm saying them about cheating, but I gotta show you something real quick. I'm gonna show you this play that happened in the Dodgers Blue Jays game. So World Series rematch. I love to rewatch this. I'm gonna I'm gonna show you this scenario, and I want you to tell me what you think happened here. So I'm wondering if there's supposed to be sound on this. Well, no, no. Just watch. I'm not gonna do the sound. So the referee is waving his arms after the the pitcher, Kevin Gossman, throws his pitch. Right. Now see the pitcher, he throws it, and then the referee, or the ump, waves his arms and then points at the the guy on first base and says, move to second. So what he is called is he's called what is known as a balk. Not a walk, a balk. Can you spell it for me? It's literally spell walk, replace the W with a B.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Sir, don't talk to me like a Star Trek fan. I need actual letters in order. B A L K. Oh, okay. Like balk, like balking at somebody. So the point of the matter is Is this where this term came from in modern conversation? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

Okay. This is so okay. For those who may not know, what a balk is, it's when a pitcher makes a motion or a move that is not in line with him doing his wind up and pitching. So you can't do an additional move in this case because there was a little bit of twitch before Gossman threw his pitch, they called a balk. Now, this caused John's John Schneider, the coach of the Blue Jays, to be irate. He came off the bench, red faced finger in the face of the ump. And you know what this reminded this got me thinking about? Because we have the ABS. No, because we have the ABS, we're gonna get far fewer coaches coming off the bench and getting in the face of the ump and just gilling red face and being like, you madam, that was a striker. Like, we're not gonna get as many objections.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

Look, I don't I don't mean to stand on the side of peace and passiveness here, but isn't that good news, especially for the umpires? I mean, they've probably dealt with this since Little League, so it might be business as usual, but like, doesn't that kind of sound like good news? Like, I'm I'm not gonna lie, like I'm not really interested in seeing my manager come off the bench out of the dugout and get face-to-face with the ump, and then get either kicked out of the game or told to go sit back. You get some funny Well, yeah, you get some funny actions, but I I don't know, man. I don't want to enable, you know, short-fused anger management. You know, I mean Well, it's it's been a thing.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Like you've seen this in baseball where managers come up there, get all irate, and then they eject them, throw them out. So, because of Tempers Flaring, I thought it'd be kind of cool to talk about, well, not necessarily cool, but kind of talk about a scenario that happened between Mike supports violence. The Braves and the Angels. Well, it's violence in something that doesn't normally have violence. But the Braves and the Angels played a game the other day where their player their pitcher Lopez had thrown kind of a high-end fastball inside towards Soler, who was a former Brave. He was part of the World Series winning team.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

And there's I know I think it's Solar, but you may be Soler. But like I think it's Solar spelled wrong.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

No, it's Solaire, stop. Look. You see that pitch. Yeah. It was pretty wild. It didn't come completely near Solaire, but this caused a brawl where Soler he wanted he wanted to throw throw hands at Lopez. So he comes out there, and Lopez is like, what? What's your problem? And then he comes running out and just starts swinging on Lopez and they just start throwing punches. And out of nowhere, the Braves manager comes over and tackles Solaire to the ground. Their 62-year-old manager tackles him to the ground and then helps with a couple other guys trying to pull Solaire away. Now, Walt Weiss, the manager of the Braves, he knows Solaire. He was part of the team when they won the World Series. So he knows him. But like he's like trying to get him to calm down, move away. But the fight happened.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

And you know, I'm not gonna lie, that was a very good display of a team brawl. Even the managers got in on it. Like, that's a that's a good team effort. I love to see that.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Well, they broke it up, Kohler has prevailed, and unfortunately for both players involved, they both got a seven-game suspension, which sucks for them.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

I mean, in the grand scheme of things in baseball, seven games ain't that bad. That's like a week off, but so from bad news between fights to unfortunate news with injuries.

SPEAKER_01 40:55

We're injured injuries are happening quickly in the the world of baseball. It's it's unusual, but you know, don't know what the quite the link in the chain is for this. Maybe a shorter, shorter uh spring training, maybe leaning into some of these injuries. But maybe higher performance and people out of shape. I don't know. But Zach Efflin of the Orioles. Zach Efron? Efflin. Oh, sorry. He is unfortunately going to be out for the rest of the year. He's having Tom John Tommy John surgery, so he's done. Um that's unfortunate for them. And the Astros are losing their ace, Hunter Brown to right shoulder strain. He's heading to the aisle as well.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

So have you ever tried to say Tommy John surgery, but flip the T and the J. Jommy Ton surgery. Now that's a tongue twister.

SPEAKER_01 41:49

No, no, I haven't. Um moving on to the Mets, Juan Soto is expected to be out for two to three weeks. He is having a calf strain issue. That's a blow right there. Yeah, definitely a blow to them. They definitely didn't want that to happen. So, since we've hit you with a couple of bad things, why don't we discuss some kind of cool things?

SPEAKER_00 42:12

Yeah, now we get our version of the longest yard, but for baseball fans. Uh, and it's in real life. So uh I'm just gonna come right out and read the article, which I got from DraftKings, by the way. Uh baseball is coming to Old Joliet Prison in Joliet, Illinois. They're gonna have a prison game. So minor league baseball team, uh the Joliet Slammers, uh, shared a look at preparations for the big house ball game, uh, which is the jailhouse ballgame title, uh, an exhibition to kick off Route 66 centennial celebration. I don't really know what that is. I probably should have dove into a little bit deeper, but I'll post about it later. Uh baseball at the prison dates back to 1914 when the warden when Warden Edmund Allen introduced a game to boost morale. It was played regularly until the facility closed in 2002. So the slammers will face the Gateway Grizzlies in the prison yard on April 30th. Uh obviously teams. Two minor league teams here, not quite, you know, prison versus professional or minor league, but I think this is rather cool. Um and I, you know, I don't want to get too much into the prison system, but I I think there's obviously things we can do to improve all the way around. I think this is a good start.

SPEAKER_01 43:30

Well, this just shows how baseball is willing to do things to uh provide better better outreach and and innovate to make things cool for them and their fans. So speaking of minor leagues, there was a situation in the in a minor league game recently, and this is gonna sound a bit weird. So I'm I'm gonna read you what the headline is. Everything we do sounds weird on this article from from Josh Jackson. Minor league team score. Ten runs on one hit. That is exactly what you should be thinking is to get to the second part. And eight before the one hit. So eight eight runs before a single hit in one inning. Yes. If you're a little bit puzzled, so is that 18 runs, or is that eight runs before the hit and then two runs before they got the single hit during the 10 run outburst? So basically, what it amounted to was a lot of wild pitches and walks and hit pit hit batters that eventually wound up with 10 runs. You know, this was a game between the New Hampshire uh Fishercats, a double-A affiliate affiliate of the Blue Jays, who scored the 10 runs, and this was against the Portland Sea Dogs.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

So I see us as minor league, but this kind of thing is actually not uncommon in little league.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

So if you were looking at the scorecard, you see walk, walk, and then WP. I'm sorry, I forget what WP means, but it probably mean means wild pitch. Uh so wild pitch, a strikeout, walk pitch, walking walked pitch, then a sack fly, a walk, a walk, a walk, hit by pitch, a wild pitch, a walk, a hit batter, a wild pitch, hit uh walk, a walk, then a wild pitch, and then finally the one the one hit. God dang man, who's been a strikeout. Who's their pitcher? Get rid of that guy.

SPEAKER_00 45:44

That guy is probably going down to single A ball after this point. He's probably not even gonna be a coach, just switch careers, bro. Go be a scientist.

Minor League Chaos And Fan Mishaps

SPEAKER_01 45:54

So as we talk about these promotions and and things going on at the ballpark, uh usually the emphasis is to try to put the promotion towards the the game itself. Usually the promotion doesn't steal from uh the game itself, but in this case, uh a recent game, the stealer of the show was a baby kangaroo that was at a Rangers IA affiliate. The thief of the show, he who's or he or she or they who stole the show. I mean, I've heard of you know Bark at the Park or uh what is it? Uh they have one with the cats. It's like uh Rooster at the Brewster. Whatever it is. Anyway, the point of the matter is the Kangaroo boxing. No, no kangaroo boxing. No. This high A affiliate for the for the for the uh Texas Rangers decided that well, I don't know if they decided, but they had had a visitor of a kangaroo. Kangaroo. I'm I'm gonna I'm not gonna lie. If I was at a ballpark and there was a kangaroo, I gotta go see it. I gotta take a picture. I gotta be gotta see it.

SPEAKER_00 47:13

I mean, especially if you live in an area where you don't get to see a kangaroo often. Everybody doesn't have a zoo nearby. And actually, our local Norfolk zoo doesn't even have a kangaroo. Do they have a kangaroo? I think they do have a kangaroo. I don't know. Um, we're gonna find out about the kangaroo situation here in Norfolk, ladies and gentlemen, but we'll move on for now.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

Moving on, and remember early on in spring training, we had said look out for Connick Griffin with the pirates, and said that he was probably gonna go back down to the miners, but he'd be coming back up. Well, he has come back up to the majors, but in the process of coming back up, the pirates have done something that they haven't done a whole lot of. They decided we're gonna go ahead and lock up our dude. They signed him to a nine-year,$140 million deal because this guy is the future for their shortstop position.

SPEAKER_00 48:05

Is this the guy who his old team wanted to bust him down? No. To the Okay, and then he's walked away.

SPEAKER_01 48:13

No, he was drafted by the Pirates and he's with the Pirates. All right, this is the difference. Always been with the Pirates. Okay, cool. Anyway, the Pirates. Moving right along, and uh some of you may have seen this, maybe, maybe not. Just a few nights ago, a game between the Cubs and Rays uh had a unique situation where a fan was trying to get a foul ball, and unfortunately, while attempting to get this foul ball, uh lost not only their pride, but lost their pants in the process. So I think they got the ball, but at what cost? You know, you kinda you you go for it, yeah, and was it worth it? So, you know, I ask you, Brian, is there ever been a time where you went for it and it wasn't worth it?

SPEAKER_00 49:05

Almost every time. Doesn't matter what it is. No, I'm just kidding. Actually, uh almost all the chances I take are worth it, either for the humor of it or for the success of it. Usually for the humor. Well, come on. You gotta have something you went for and it didn't work out. Um, I once got pants in high school right in front of the cheerleading squad. Yeah, but you didn't go for the pantsing.

SPEAKER_01 49:30

I'll give you a scenario. No, but I did go for the cheerleaders. I'll give you I'll give you a scenario. So okay, so you were trying to go talk to them and you got pants in front of them. No, no, we all laughed it off.

SPEAKER_00 49:41

I will say, okay, so hold on. What's a good and nasty? You know, like I got one for you. Weird things happen to me, but like not like on the spectrum of we're talking about now.

SPEAKER_01 49:51

I'll get I'll give you one to help help you help you think of what I'm talking about. So I saw I saw this video where this guy he wanted to come up with a gender reveal for his upcoming baby, and he's kind of a car guy. So he ordered these special tires, and these special tires were supposed to the they were supposed to put out a certain color smoke. So when he burnt did a burnout, he was gonna put out either blue smoke or pink smoke. Instead, he ran into his mailbox. Not that video. In this case, the guy spins his tires and he winds up blowing his motor. Whoa! So I would have ran rather ran into the mailbox. Okay. Was it worth it? Was it worth it? And I want to ask the fans, give us your you went for it, but was it worth it?

SPEAKER_00 50:38

You know, this is a good one. I'm gonna post this one later. Um, I'm sure I've had a few. Um I can't think of any off the top of it. I'm sure after we get off air, I'll have like 10 of them.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

Yeah. I'm saying I'm the same way. I'll be like, man, what was that movie? Ah, and then later on, I'll be like laying in bed. Ah, dang it, that's what it was.

WNBA Pay Jumps And Angel Reese Trade

SPEAKER_00 50:58

I think that is hilarious, though, by the way. Um and that man lost his pants. So well, I think it was a man. Might have been a woman. I don't know. Whoever they were, they lost their pants, and it was funny as hell to me. Anyway, there's a video out there, you can find it. And we will also repost that. A lot of re have our work cut out for us, bro. We have, I don't know if you can tell, we have upped our social media games. So, by the way, thank you everybody for your support. We have really driven a lot of traffic uh in these last few days, and without you, it would not have been possible for you visiting our content. And thank you very much for your support. But let's move on into some WNBA action, Mike. Are you ready? Yes. All right, guys. We're gonna talk some WNBA. We'll have a little bit here. Uh, first of all, we have some salary projections. Now that WNBA has got their CBA done and everybody's got pay raises. Here are the projected salaries of some of their biggest stars, okay? And honestly, I'm happy for that. I'd love to see. And this is uh so we'll just start at the top. You know, this is from the score. Uh notable projections, starting with Aliyah Boston. She goes from 94,000 to 574,000 estimated. These are estimations, okay. Uh Caitlin Clark, 85,000 to 528,000. Paige Beckers. Uh, way to be in the right place at the right time uh coming into your second year, by the way. 80,000 moving into the 500,000 range on the heels of those top two I just mentioned. Uh Cameron Brink, 85,000 on up to 493,000. Another polarizing figure, and honestly, Cameron Brink is my favorite. Uh Sonic Sonic Citron uh goes from 80,000 up to 436,000. And Angel Reese, are you ready for this, Mike? Her base salary was 75,000. She's the lowest paid of the all the ladies I just mentioned. Her base salary now jumps to 350,000, still a nice chunk, uh, and probably gonna get a little more now that she's been traded to Atlanta.

SPEAKER_01 53:07

Yeah, she's been traded to the Atlanta Dream for two first round picks, which is saying something because if you're traded for two first round picks, that means that somebody's recognizing you and that your value is worth that much. So, for her, I would look at it two ways. One, I get a fresh start. Two, they gave up what for me?

SPEAKER_00 53:32

Yeah, they value me. I want to be there. I think there's some dynamic here from what I've been reading. Uh, Angel Reese, not happy about playing with you know, Skytown's obviously wanting to rework their roster, okay? They want to rebuild. Angel Reese is the really the only notable name they have, and she was outscoring their scoring guards. And she had been requesting they bring in some new point guards and scoring guards.

SPEAKER_01 54:00

Um kind of felt like she was doing it on her own.

UNC Hires Malone And Title Recap

SPEAKER_00 54:02

She was kind of doing everything on her own. So I feel like they really sent her somewhere where she can experience some success, uh, some team success in the WNBA. And by the way, joining Britney Griner, uh, another by now iconic name in the WNBA. Um, these two teaming up together along with the rest of that championship caliber team, I think that this is a good move. Honestly, it works for Skytown, it works for the Dream, it works for Angel Reese, it works for everybody involved, everybody's happy. You don't usually see deals like this go down where everybody's happy with the outcome.

SPEAKER_01 54:37

So moving right on into college basketball, uh, there's was a kind of a debate issue that we had, or not issue, a debate subject we had, where the UNC Tar Heels were looking to fill their coaching void. And we there has been speculations on did they want to coach them still coaching in the Final Four or where are they looking? Where are they where are they gonna go for their next coach? Wonder no more. They have reached out and they got Michael Malone, ex-NBA coach, who was the coach of the Denver Nuggets the last time they won their NBA title. So they're getting a championship pedigree. But I could tell you his coaching style, he's a no-nonsense kind of coach. He's hard-nosed. So his players are gonna have to get used to that.

SPEAKER_00 55:25

I mean, I think that's what that program needs. They really need somebody to come in there and rewrite the script. Uh, and I think that's exactly what Malone's gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 55:35

Well, he's gonna he's definitely gonna bring bring another level to it for sure. And and then, you know, UNC's definitely hoping that he can untap some potential that they have existing there and probably bring in some with the name that he's walking in with. You know, NBA, former NBA coach, does yield a little bit more than some guy who, yeah, he's been there for 10 years, but like has he coached in the NBA? Or hey, my coach coached in the NBA, maybe he can give me some pointers to get to the NBA.

SPEAKER_00 56:06

You know, and a little extra. Speaking of, you know, a little bit of madness, as you mentioned earlier, and I'm mad as hell. I mean, I made some money early in the early part of the bracket, but not so much in the later part. Uh but as fortune would hold true, a number one seed did win the tournament in Michigan.

SPEAKER_01 56:24

Yes, Michigan topped UConn in the final game 69 to 65. That's right, congratulations. Wolverine's. But the the thing that was kind of cool about this was they had the coach of Yukon, Dan Dan Hurley, interviewed beforehand, and he said he wants the score to be in the 60s. And point being, reason for it being the 60s, he said if it's in the 60s, we got a chance. You know, and they really did. This game was very, very close. Michigan only had two three-pointers the entire game, which is saying something because this team was doing pretty good from the three-point line throughout the the entire March Madness. Right. So for them to only put up two and just getting a lot of their points in the paint was kind of a different kind of feel. This game, if you didn't watch it, it was a very physical, physical game. The the referees were letting them play, which I loved because these game, this game had a had an older NBA kind of feel to it. It was not perfect by any means. And even Michigan's coach had said that, hey, we didn't play our perfect game, but we won, even though we didn't have a perfect game. But way too many times, UConn was letting, I'm not letting, but having Michigan's players get behind their defense on on fast break opportunities where they would just perfect pass right to their guy, and their guy would kind of just lay it in or dunk it, or you know, just got behind them. And the sheer size of the Michigan uh defenders in the paint just was apparent when you were watching this game. It was just so perfect for a championship game. Like, I know everybody was kind of touting that the Arizona Michigan game was gonna be the real championship, but what we got for a championship game, I loved it. It was a very good game. It was exciting from beginning to end.

SPEAKER_00 58:23

Yeah, I mean, you had a number one versus number two. Yukon upsetting Duke in the final seconds of their game. I didn't think Illinois was gonna make the championship game. I thought it was possible, but I I didn't think whoever Yukon or Duke, I didn't think Illinois was gonna make it past either of them.

SPEAKER_01 58:40

Um and if you betted Yukon to cover the spread, like you won points because it was six and a half before the game, and they wound up being only six points off. And even Dan Hurley said, look, we can't be upset about that loss. We we played a good game, we just didn't play well enough. He said, Yeah, you can go back and you can look and say we we could have done more at this point, or we let one get away from us here, or get this this possession here. Like there was points where they kind of let the game get away from them, but they at one point were literally right there. They had a shot, they had a point to get there. They just Michigan played a better game. They did, really the better team won. It wasn't a fluke.

SPEAKER_00 59:30

Yeah, and just hitting on the bracketology, just hitting on my personal experience, uh, I was smart because I had UConn pegged as my bracket winner, but in the event that they didn't make it past UConn, which obviously didn't, I had UConn as a parlay to make the final four. So I hit on that parlay, mind you. I would have lost maybe 10-15 bucks either way, but the payout would have been bigger than the loss on either side. So smart gambling on my part.

SPEAKER_01 59:59

I don't think gambling is probably nobody nobody's gonna cry over your losses, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:03

But I just want to say, like, things like that worked out. Uh, I wish I had I I had an inkling in my stomach. I was like, man, I should put money on Michigan, but I just didn't do it. I didn't want to put much more. I didn't, I only I only gambled maybe about a hundred bucks this whole tournament, but I won more than that back. So I'm not mad about the ones that fell through. I had Michigan this whole time.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:23

Congratulations. Show you my bracket that I had it on.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:26

You should have put money on it, sir. You would be in pretty good standing. Anyway, I think I think if you had put what was it, if you had put 10 bucks on Michigan at the beginning of the whole tournament, I think you would have come out with like around like$5,000 or something. I have to do the math again, don't quote me, but it was some crazy stat you know, astronomical statistic.

NBA Outliers Injuries And Health Talk

SPEAKER_01 1:00:49

Anyway, uh so the Big Ten pocketed about$69.4 million in the NCAA NCAA tournament revenue. Speaking of money. So back in the day, you know, this money would have just gone right to all the universities and nobody would ever see any of this money elsewhere. But basically, whenever your team from your conference wins the championship, they kind of diversify and split the pot up, and you know, everybody from your your division and you know the Big Ten gets a slice of this pie. So good job for the Big Ten getting some money. But let's roll on into the NBA and talk about something that was kind of unusual. So, Brian, if I told you your team's plan and they're gonna get 29 threes in the game, would you feel confident you're gonna win?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:47

Um, I'd feel confident I'm gonna win, but I'd probably call you a liar uh because that's a pretty tall order of threes.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:55

Yeah, but it it does happen. I mean, we do have have teams that make a bunch of threes in the game because I mean we do have a lot of shooters in the league now where teams are putting up like 50 shooters.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:07

Well, yeah, high scoring games are the way to go. This is just like kind of like the NFL. They want to see more volatile plays, and for NFLs, it's more passive, more deep passes for the NBA, it's more three-pointers.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:18

Well, I bring this up because recently the Memphis Grizzlies made 29 threes on a Monday night game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the final score was the Grizzlies loosing 142 to 126. So the Grizzlies shot 49.2% from the field and let's see oh, from the deep, and 45.7 from inside the arc. So it is a pretty decent shooting night, really. But they just didn't they didn't amount to enough. They really they just didn't get enough threes. And this is not the first time this has happened. You know, they're sharing this this I I don't know if I want to call it an accomplishment, but they're sharing the same likes with uh Milwaukee, who had the same thing happen to them against Boston, where they made 29 threes and still lost in a 140 to 97 victory, uh the Bucks made that many threes, and they were not the victor against Miami. Sorry, my bad, and it was December 29th, 2020. So yeah, it happens, it does happen. Teams can still make a ton of threes and lose. It's crazy. So as we roll in to the NBA wrapping up, getting ready for the playoffs, teams biting for position and trying to get themselves set up for the playoffs. Uh, this is not the time to be getting injured. And unfortunately for the Lakers, they get news that Luca pulls his hamstring in the middle of a game in a game that was kind of out of hand. And not after, shortly after that, you get that Austin Reeves is out with an oblique and will be out for four to six weeks, leading right into the first first round of the playoffs. And also the fact that you lose Luca, but you lose Luca in a meaningless game. They were they were playing the Oklahoma City Thunder, and there was a 25-point lead in the third quarter with like seven a little over seven minutes to go in the third quarter. And so the the Lakers opted to keep Luca in. And some people are saying, Well, why would you keep him in when it's a meaningless game? At this point, you're done, like you're down 25 points, pull them and you know, save them for the postseason. But I feel like that's 2020 thoughts. You know, like you're you have 2020 vision. Yeah, I mean, I can't. You know, you're you're you're looking hindsight there, you know. Like you can't sit there and have somebody, you know, say, oh, well, they got injured, you should have taken him out. Well, what if he had stayed in and they made a run and they came back and went?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:16

I mean, nobody can you can't foresee injuries coming, okay? Um it's hindsight's 20. Oh, yeah, you should have took him out. Yeah, of course you should have taken him out. If you knew he was gonna get injured, if he was at risk of injury, exactly. Of course you would have. But I think you're just trying to keep the game in c under control and get to the end. Uh, these are two huge blows to them, uh, no doubt. But we'll see where the injuries actually stand at, how bad they actually are. They might get lucky.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:50

I heard one speculation where they were keeping him in to help inflate his numbers to help him from with the MB MVP voting. That's possible. It it's possible. Possible, but it doesn't seem like something that in a meaningless game. I don't think a coach cares about your awards. You care about winning.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:06

I well, it could be both, right? He cares about winning, but in a quote, meaningless game, this may have been a game where they're like, all right, we can pump you up a little bit. We can afford to focus in on you and some other stats here, because they may have underestimated or just assumed it was not a a game worth stressing over, right? Well, those games, those games happen too. They're like, okay, we know we can handle them, we're just gonna keep it under control, but uh we're gonna get Reeves and Lucas stats up a little bit tonight, okay, guys?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:39

Well, this comes at a point where you're losing, you know, basically two out of your top big three, leaving LeBron all by himself uh as far as big stars on the on the Lakers. And they're move, they actually moved down from the third spot to the fourth spot in the standings. But this comes at a point where you're getting ready for the playoffs, and now it's gonna turn into a you know, LeBron save us. Well where he's gonna have to do it on his own.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:08

With two players down that aren't named LeBron, they're gonna need help from their depth. And this is where Which they don't have enough of. They don't have enough of enough of, but this is really where your depth needs to step up. Like you guys, even though it may be for a short time.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:23

Yeah, but next man up, I mean, you're talking about going against teams like the OKC, where some of their bench players could be starters on their teams. Hey, you know what? This is your moment. You're gonna step into it or not. You know what this actually feels like to me with these two injuries happening? You just gave the Lakers the ultimate excuse. Because those players are out, instead of if the Lakers had them both and they went into playoffs and bowed out in the first round, everybody everybody would be looking at them like, oh, C C they suck, they suck, they need this, they need that. But now, if you say, Oh, you lost two out of your three top stars, and you're playing an older LeBron by himself against young competition in the playoffs, and they get bumped in the first round, it kind of has a different ring to it.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:17

I think shallow fans who maybe aren't well educated will probably think that. But if you look at their competition, look at them, you know depth is just as important as your starting squad. Maybe not neck and neck, but like you know that you need a rotation, okay? You know you need players that can come in off the bench and perform like number ones, even though they may not be bona fide number ones.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:43

But that's where coaching comes into play. Yeah, coaching coaching can make the depth seem more than what it is. You're right. And and for for his credit, like let's not let's give the the Lakers coach his his flowers because he has done a fine job with what he has. Like, he has gotten the most out of these guys. So like the Lakers, nobody's thinking that they were gonna run away to a championship because let's just face it, every time they've played a bigger squad or played anybody in the top top three, they've lost. They have not held their own against the likes of OKC or San Antonio or the Nuggets. Like they have had struggles against those teams. Let's not forget that last year they got swept out of the playoffs by the Timberwolves.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:31

Yeah, I I I was just about to mention that they didn't make it very far in the playoffs. So, like, obviously, yeah, last year. So this year they they're hoping to make a deeper run this year, and I think they really feel like they have a championship caliber team here. So they gotta stay healthy. Uh, but again, your depth, you gotta have these, you can't put it all on LeBron. He's getting older. Reeves is still a young player, okay. Luca's in the middle, he's he can't do everything by himself either. Okay, I think the three of them are very good together, but you still need help.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:10

Well, speaking of injuries, this one was kind of a you know, almost feels like a snake-bitten situation. So Joel Empede, he is no stranger to being being on the injury list, and he's had a litany of weird injuries happen. Litany. But in this case, Joel Embiid was scheduled to start in a game most recently, and he was just pulled abruptly, and then all of a sudden it came out. He has appendicitis.

unknown 1:10:37

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:38

So then he has to have surgery to deal with his appendix. So there's no telling how long he will be out, you know, because he's got to fully recover from that because he can't be getting bumped around and stuff after a major surgery. So, you know, this depending on what happens with the Sixers, this might just be the end of his season and maybe the end of the Sixer season as far as the playoffs.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:02

Well, they'll they'll definitely miss him because the 76ers were relatively competitive this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:08

Well, he's only played in I think 38 games or something like that. All right, so a fraction. But, you know, like half the games, but in when he was in, he he was getting like I think uh 29.6 on average. So he was a performer when he was in. They were getting good play out of him, but you know they just gotta keep him healthy, man. Like he just can't stay healthy anymore.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:32

And this the appendicitis thing, like, I'm I'm sorry, like I know you can't help that one. You can't help that one, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:41

That that could happen to anybody. That's not necessarily because oh, he, you know, went hard and and you know, pulled a hammy or yes, you know, fell to the floor and blew. But he better lower cover.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:51

He needs to make sure he comes back as strong as ever because they're gonna be watching him for his recovery now because he's probably already teetering on the hot seat uh with it with his eligibility, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:02

I just I hate to see it for him. I hate to see it for him. I really do. I hate it. I really wish this guy would have more health in his future, but you know, a big man who it gets hurt is gonna start to consistently stay hurt.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:16

And you know, Mike, across all sports, health really is one of the few X factors that has the biggest say in your longevity, okay? Um, if we all had perfect health, I think players would obviously play longer, they'd play harder, they'd play, you know, uh you know, I I I don't know. I have a few other things to say, but I think the games would just be much more different if you didn't have the X factor of health, which brings in the humanity.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:45

Humanity a couple players come to mind when we go talk about that health situation. Um, notably Bo Jackson is one of them. Uh, you know, health pretty much shortened his career. That guy could have been a Hall of Famer in both the MLB and in the NFL if it wasn't for injury. And then uh Grady Sizemore, who was a player for the the Guardians back when they were called the other name, and that guy was like he was like Ken Griffey Jr. in his early years. He could play the outfield, he was a great defender, great hitter, had power, could steal bases. He was everything you wanted a player, but injuries just took their toll and slowed his career down to nothing.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:30

Yeah, and at times and at times throughout human history, we have been able to witness extremely uh huge step forwards in human health and the the physique, right? But it's always short-lived. As all the players you just mentioned, okay. Tom Brady remained relatively healthy, but I wouldn't call him a necessarily a freak of nature, okay? No. Adrian Peterson is a freak of nature to me, okay. Bo Jackson is a freak of nature to me, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:04

Um Arian Foster was another one I could think of. Another, yes. It wasn't necessarily his skills as much as his body letting him down, where he was literally tearing his hamstring from bone, which takes forever to heal from. And if it wasn't for those injuries, he would have been a mainstay and one of those guys that we were talking about in the all-time great rushing backs, but he just injuries killed his career.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:30

Health is the is the one of the biggest factors in in how long your career lasts, no matter how no matter how good and talented you are.

Rookie Of The Year Debate

SPEAKER_01 1:14:41

Yeah. So getting back over to the NBA and away from our injury talks, all right. The conversation has started for rookie of the year since we're winding down the season for the NBA. And all year long, it kind of seemed like Khan Knipple was the guy. Like he was he was shooting threes and making them at such a high clip and just kind of being that surprise. Like nobody really expected him to be as productive as he was being in year one for the for the Hornets, especially not for the Hornets. He has no Knipple. But Cooper Flag, with his recent performances of 40 plus points and back-to-back games, has kind of like started to change the narrative where it's like this kid who all intents and purposes should still be in college because he's he's just a kid, he's a teenager, but he is playing in the NBA like a vet.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:36

Like he is these two cross paths in 2023 before Flag made it to the NBA, but they crossed Paths recently, Cooper Flag and LeBron. And Flag exploded for 45 points, 45 points on eight rebounds and nine assists, and LeBron had 30 points on nine rebounds on 15 assists. So rather comparable numbers, except Flag had more points. I forget which meeting this was at when they crossed paths. It might have been earlier this season when Dallas uh faced, you know, faced the Lakers at some point.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:15

So the debate between Khan Knipple and Cooper Flagg as rookie of the year is getting a lot more because of these performances by Cooper Flag is kind of pushing his name ahead of Khan Knipple, who are former teammates from college, and it's kind of like well, Cooper Flag kind of in the early on was not doing so hot, and now that he's coming on and showing and leading a team, it's really pushing him ahead. And in in my book, I think I would go with longevity versus you know, because Knippel has been playing well throughout the season. I know I know that Flag has kind of come on late, but I would look at the totality of the entire year.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:06

I agree with you, Mike. Who who has been successful for the longer period of time? Um, I agree with you, honestly. Sure, Flag can come in and score a hundred points a game for the last six to you know last 20 games of the season, but Kanipple, as you say, has been doing it almost from day one consistently. I think that that is really they're both great players, but I think that is the difference in how you decide this award.

Tragedy And The Cost Of Bad Decisions

SPEAKER_01 1:17:35

It almost makes me wish that they would do an East and West rookie of the year. But eh, say Levy. They may do that. They do, I mean, they might do that. I don't know. I don't know, they will. Moving over to college football, uh, just a quick short little bit of college football news. Uh so the Colorado quarterback who passed away uh not too long ago, we did we did discuss this, but um unfortunately there was a significant amount of alcohol detected in his system when he died. Uh, unfortunately. Um this scenario, uh let me I want to get things correct. I don't want to misstate anything here.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:23

So Brian. Can Brian say the name USA Today Sports? No, sorry. Dominique Ponder. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:34

Dominique Ponder passed away and they found out that he had a blood alcohol content of one or 0.167. That is twice the legal limit. He had a crash, it was just a single car crash, so he wasn't involved in a crash with anybody else, it was just him, and unfortunately passed away because of his we'll say unfortunate judgment.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:08

So for the record, I think it is what is it? One beer will put you just at.08, two beers put you over it. If you have double the amount, he probably had at least four to five beers, depending on the alcohol content. We won't dive too deep into this. I just wanted to do some math real quick, but it's very unfortunate um that this has happened. I always hate hearing, especially about young players uh passing away.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:35

Well, and let's face it, you know, when you're young, you tend to make dumb decisions. Like we've all made dumb decisions when you're young, but you hope that you have the ability to learn from them. Unfortunately, in this situation, you can't learn if you're not here, so it it does suck.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:56

Yeah, it uh unfortunately others will learn from your situation, and it's I hate to sound uh terrible about that, um, but hopefully your memory, I mean your memory and your legacy will continue in a positive way. Uh, but this will be one way that you didn't want to be remembered, but others will learn from it. Okay, so there's there's some good silver lining to take from that. We hope others will learn from it. I mean, drunk driving, Mike, do you know what? I'm gonna sidebar this for a second. Drunk driving is actually only like the second, it used to be the number one cause of deaths in America, death by you know, operating a vehicle via whatever the case. It is now distracted driving.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:45

I would I would certainly agree with that.

CTE Fallout And NFL Headlines

SPEAKER_00 1:20:47

So so drunk driving and distracted driving, top two killers in the US, uh, even with gun control problems, if you consider that. But anyway, our heart our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family and everybody affected by him. And uh, we we truly are feeling for him uh right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:04

So let's shift over and talk about the NFL and a player we mentioned before that had passed away, uh who was who was battling health issues to begin with. Um in Steve McMichael's. He he he was unfortunately not having such a great run at the end of his life. He was battling ALS, which is commonly known known as Lou Garrick's disease. But um part of when he was passed away, they asked that he have his they have his brain studied and find out, you know, what he may be ailed from later. And they did find traces of him having CTE, which is not what you want to hear and but it it's the truth. He had CTE and was probably a contributor in him developing ALS and having issues leading to his death.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:08

Yeah, a ALS seems to be one of the leading uh disabilities leading to CTE because they they don't know if you have CTE until after you've already passed away. Well, yeah, they can't really diagnose it. Well, yeah, they have to study your brain. You know, uh so that's very hard. I hope that that progresses eventually. Uh, but look at all these and look at some of the mental health problems. And I hate to, I mean, Antonio Brown just might legitimately be crazy, but he may even have CTE, you know, the way these hit impacts affect your mental processing, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:22:41

Well, this this makes me think of Junior Sayao. Um another notable because Junior Sayao uh was dealing with a lot of emotional and and just a lot of issues later on after his playing career, to the tune of where he literally took a shotgun and and and shot himself in the chest and left a note, please study my brain. And uh was kind of I I don't want to say the wake-up call, but kind of the it brought more eyes and attention because of who he was. I mean, he was well loved and well respected, and and that was so many people were shocked.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:17

I remember when that happened, that sent shock waves, not just through the NFL, but that sent shockwaves through the entire sports landscape. Uh, even people didn't didn't watch sports, you know, because that CTE had been tossed around here or there, but it hadn't really been taken seriously. After Junior Sal's death, that really put CTE at forefront in everybody's mind. Like, all right, yeah, we need to start taking some practices here to mitigate this.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:48

So moving along uh from the CTE to talk about uh Rashid Rice. Uh Rasheed Rice.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:57

Whatever. There is not a NP on the end of that, and that's what she said.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:02

Anyway, uh NFL probe find found no reason to discipline Rice any further on the allegations of abuse. Um we all know he's had his run-ins, and he recently had a run-in where you know he was accused of abusing.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:18

I don't mean to interrupt you. We actually covered this um a little bit before the season because he had the issue a couple years ago with the racing and all that shit that involved in a five-car wreck. But then this came out shortly after with a girlfriend, somebody he was seeing, girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, accusing him of this stuff. We covered this back then, and this is kind of the result of this. Uh, so I'm I personally am very happy to hear that nothing has come of this because Rasheed's obviously been through it, okay? Uh, and like I say, Mike, sometimes once you get in trouble once, sometimes trouble continues to find you, no matter how hard you try to stay out of it. So I'm I'm happy to see he's kept his head above water and the situation's been resolved, and he can continue his career as a professional football player.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:10

So moving on to a situation where uh we all know that when John Gruden was the head coach of the Raiders and Mike Mayoc was the GM, we all know that around that time uh is when they had all those investigations where they looked in some past emails and other stuff, and Gruden was basically let go. And and and during that time, the team wasn't good at all. They just were a shell themselves. And recently there's been some anonymous discussion between some of the uh former staff members where they basically said, yeah, the roster was trash, and basically blames it on John Gruden and Mike Mayock, saying that you know they basically handed off junk to uh oh well who was the interim coach? I want to get I want to get the name right. Wasn't it Dennis Allen? I thought it was Antonio Pierce.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:15

I think you're right. It was Antonio Pierce or Dennis Allen.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:19

I think both of them had a had a turn at it. But yeah, one of the persons said that Antonio Pierce was given a, and I'm gonna change what he said, said giving a given a crap roster, Pete Carroll was also given a crap roster, another anonymous source has said on this particular matter. So basically, those then the know, those that are in those rooms and around those staffs are basically saying that beyond just Max Crosby and Hunter Renfro, the team has just been basically handed a pile of crap for a roster, and this is coming from the coaching staffs.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:56

I mean, honestly, I'm I'm just gonna be up front here. Like, to me, this is I don't want to say it's stupid, but whenever you take over, first of all, whenever you fire a coach, it's probably because your team's not doing very well, which also means your roster talent probably also sucks, okay? Um, or you're just not coaching them well. A lot of times, especially in the NFL, when you take over a roster, you're taking over a bad roster, okay. It's not you nobody fires good coaches. Nobody fires coaches of winning teams, okay? Not in the NFL. I don't know if there's a lot to complain about here or if they're just trying to latch on to a situation. I know there was a lot with the Gruden situation as related to the Redskins dysfunction uh with the emails and such, but I don't know if the raw like obviously you drafted poorly, you identified poor free agents. That's not just on the coach, that's on the front office as well. Well, great.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:00

And Mayoc kind of had a huge hand on where the roster was going. And I I remember them making some picks, and even the analyst at the time, during like they picked they made a first round pick, and I remember they were talking about who are they gonna go with? And they had named off like four or five players, and all of a sudden they picked up this guy, and I I I wish I remembered the name, but everybody on the panel, everybody, there was like a pause and and talking, like nobody said a thing. Yeah, and then all of a sudden somebody goes, Why would they pick him there? They could have got him in the fourth round, yeah, you know, or something like that. Like it was a it was a later round pick that they made a first round pick on, and the guy had never turned into anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:43

To me, this was a sign of sometimes grandma just can't cook no more, okay? That was a John Gruden pick all day. I don't think Mike Mayak, I don't remember the player's name, but I remember it going down. Uh I don't think Mayok, I don't think that was his choice. Uh I think Gruden had a much bigger control over the roster. And maybe the game just isn't what it was in his earlier days, okay. This was his first time stepping back into coaching in quite some time.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:12

Honestly, he didn't really have control over roster back then. He basically the GM took care of it. He was basically hands off. So now that they were saying, Oh, let's bring Gruden back, let Gruden have more say. And hey, come on, sometimes you're not the smartest guy in the room. Sometimes you need to let the people that know more make the decisions. It might not be the person in power.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:38

I agree. And I feel like the game had just evolved beyond their knowledge at this point as far as how to evaluate players. Um, but you know, I you know, Gruden was back in what you say, 2012, 2013, around when RG3 entered the league on his second stint, right, with the Raiders. Um, I don't know if you can count a decade or more later and still pin those personnel issues on them, okay?

SPEAKER_01 1:30:04

Yeah, well, moving along and a happy farewell and and joy of retirement to to Stefan Gilmore after a long career. A salute problem too for the wins. He is calling it a career, and undoubtedly will probably be a Hall of Famer because he did it with multiple teams, one Super Bowls, and multiple Pro Bowls. You never heard a bad thing about this guy. He just consummate professional, and you know, he's he's gonna look back on this career and be satisfied because honestly, think about all the places he went, all the teams he played on, and you walk away of rings. Come on, it's a good career.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:53

No, I I agree with you. I mean, he was well known in name and through Pro Bowl player, but you didn't hear a lot of drama or talk around him. Like he was just a solid defensive player. You knew his name, you knew what he was capable of, you didn't know much more than that. And that is he is one of the examples of true professionalism uh to me.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:14

So an interesting situation where uh a player that the Steelers traded for last year at the deadline, uh Kyle Duggar, who they got from the Patriots, is signing with the Bengals on a one-year deal. So he's gonna be going against the Steelers now.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:32

So it's always interesting when you know opposing divisional interdivision personnel changes, whether it's through trade or free agency or whatever. Always interesting to see what it's like on the other side, right? Oh yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:50

So the NFL uh it's gonna be in a weird situation coming up. So the Justice Department has begun an investigation into whether the NFL has violated the anti-competitive practice in which television contracts that require consumers to pay subscription costs to watch some games, sources from ABC News. This is about affordability and the creating an even playing field for providers, a government official told ABC News. So they're getting into the point where they're gonna be starting to investigate the NFL over their abilities to spread the games out and make fans pay more.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:41

So we covered this a little bit because some of this goes to the Sports Broadcasting Act, which I routinely talk about with everybody about blackouts, but there's also another side of this. Remember, Department of Justice asked all of the commissioners of all the major sports, the NBA, NFL, NHL, and the ML MLB, for statements on how they do TV deals and distribution stuff like that. Remember all the details. We covered this last August. Um, so now we're seeing this start to unfold uh here and now over how the NFL structures its side because they advertise every game, but obviously you cannot get every game, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:33:24

So there was a precedence set in 2024. A jury in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ruled that the NFL violated an antitrust law in distribution of out-of-market Sunday afternoon afternoon games on a premier subscription service awarding 4.7 billion in damages. So the NFL is definitely coming under some heat. This this is gonna be pretty damaging to them.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:58

Yeah, and it's because the major networks have the right of way on this, and they're trying to divvy some of that share out, but the contract is not up yet. So they still feel like they have exclusive rights. So there's a all this is a number of issues with streaming uh and who has rights to what coming to a head.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:23

So the lawsuit covers 2.4 million resident subscribers with 48,000 businesses in the United States who pay for the Sunday ticket package on DirecTV or for out-of-market games from 2011 to uh 2022 season. Uh damages because of damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws. The NFL could be liable for Brian, you want to tell them? Tell them this number.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:59

Uh-huh. I don't even know if I can count that high. Let me count those commas real quick. One 14,121,779,833.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:18

So the NFL needs to stop messing around with people's wallets and the ability for us to watch these games because the US it literally comes down to telling them knock it off.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:33

It literally comes down to false advertising with their Sunday ticket. You just read it word for word. Okay? If you just upfront with people and tell them some games may not be streamable, or a networks may exercise the right to exclusive rights to games. If you cover your ass with a simple statement, first of all, you'll still get subscribers. They may grumble a little bit, but you'll still get subscribers. This comes down to who has the rights over games and to who has the right to broadcast them. And I believe that the major networks of old feel like their toes are being stepped on with streaming services.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:12

It really goes more back to consumer. The consumer is tired of being screwed over and to be able to have the ability to watch their games.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:22

Well, well, yes. What I'm saying is the business side of it, but the consumer having the ability, this comes down to who has this really does come down to who has broadcasting rights. And if you don't have their app or their network, but yet you still subscribe to a, you know, that's the Sunday ticket, and you may not still get a game you want to see. You're right. It does come down to the subscriber. I just d explained it from a different angle, more from the business side of it. Uh, but I agree this is coming to a head, and they're gonna have to do something about this uh here soon.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:58

So moving right along, uh, we're gonna discuss a scenario with Troy Aikman.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:05

Yeah, actually, this is interesting here, because Troy Aikman, longtime Dallas Cowboys legend, has always been in the Cowboys corner, but he seems to be changing his tune here recently, right? So I got this from a source called SportsKeto Pro Football, and they got it from DLLS Sports and the NFL Dolphins, some other sources, right? A few sources collaborated here. Uh ESPN's Troy Aikman claims the Miami Dolphins brought him in this offseason to provide insight, insight they otherwise wouldn't have access to, right? Starting his relationships across the league. Uh Troy Aikman is largely becoming somewhat of an insider agent at this point in his career. Let's just uh call it what it is, right? So, but he's noting that the Cowboys have never pursued him in a role such as this, although he is very capable, and we've seen it in the way he does his interviews and interacts with people too, right? So now he's not just working for Miami, he is rooting for Miami. He is 100% vested in their success and is kind of said forget the Cowboys, bye Felicia.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:11

Yeah, because he openly said that he would he would have been more than willing if they picked up the phone and called him. Well, this is kind of that old that old scenario where, you know, you like this girl, but there's another that you like, and you're gonna go talk to her, and then you left the other girl hanging, and then she goes, I'm done. I'm going to talk to this guy. She ain't gonna wait around forever. Trickman ain't waiting around forever for the Cowboys to come back.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:37

That's right, and the Cowboys' other girl was Brian Schottenheimer. Okay. And although Shoddy's a is a pretty good coach, I just don't believe he would have brought the value that Aikman did as far as advisability uh on personnel. But I I like Aikman. I like Aikman uh overall. I like him falling into a new role with the new franchise. I love to see people step outside their comfort zone and do something new. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:03

He's a stepping into his comfort zone, but just with a different team.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:07

Well, yeah, yeah. He may be stepping into his comfort zone with a different team, but obviously he didn't do this. He didn't do this for the Cowboys. He's been an analyst. You know? You're right, but he's been an analyst for the last few years. But I believe that he does have a lot of value in this role that they're bringing him in. So look for the Dolphins to turn around, in my opinion, uh, relatively quick.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:29

So moving over and talking about a is a kind of a big situation, maybe not a big situation, and the timing of it's kind of not strange. It it makes sense. But Dexter Lawrence has gone ahead and told the Giants, trade me. I'm done. I want to be traded. And this reeks of give me a big deal, I want a better deal because he's kind of in the back end of his deal.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:55

I was just about to ask, is this related to contract extension, or do you think this was related to friction with the city? No, I just told you what he is. It's it's he wants his money. I can't imagine a coach like John Harbaugh and a player like Dexter Lawrence not getting along. Like, this seems like a match made in heaven. They're not gonna trade him.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:13

He's looking for a new deal. That's all this is. He's not going anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:16

You think he gets it? Where is he at right now in his current deal? I think he's in his final year. If he's in his final year, I think he gets it. This is a very prolap, prolific defensive tackle in the NFL. You don't want to let this guy walk.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:28

They're not letting sexy Dexie walk away. Come on, man. They need some more of that, you know, sexy Dexie dance after a sack. They need more of that.

Bills Bet On DJ Moore

SPEAKER_00 1:40:36

That's right. I agree with that. We only got a couple things left here, Mike. Um, first thing I want to ask you is uh did the Bills overpay for DJ Moore? They gave him what, two second-round draft picks?

SPEAKER_01 1:40:49

They did not overpay. Because one thing they have not had since Stefan Diggs is a clear number one. And it showed. Because when they were having issues with guys not getting open and guys not running efficient routes, and just just balls being dropped and piss poor play from the offensive side from the wide receiver end. Yeah, they needed a clear cut number one, and they need a guy that's a good route runner, and they need that vet presence to help a Keon Coleman and some others on the staff kind of get right. You know, sometimes when you have that guy that comes in and shows everybody else how hard he's working, it kind of motivates the other ones to work just as hard. So I don't think that they overpaid. I do think they're getting a great player, and I do think that DJ Moore is gonna have a better year than he ever did with a Caleb Williams.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:42

I mean, I think so too. They were they had too many mouths to feed in Chicago. I I think they have too much firepower, to be honest with you. It's usually teams don't have enough. I think I think Chicago had too much, and I think DJ Moore really is gonna carve out their biggest problem is there's always somebody left out.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:04

Remember, when DJ Moore was going off, Keenan Allen, when he was with them, wasn't getting anything. Well, and then Keenan Allen goes back to the Chargers and he looks like his old self because they didn't know how to effectively use him, and when he was there, they just weren't efficiently using him. And then look what happens. As soon as they get Lovelin, the next guy kind of fell off, which in this case was Moore.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:28

Well, Moore fell off. Well, yeah, because now you have Lovelin's coming on strong. You have Kmet, who's kind of a pretty good fringe pole Pro Bowl player himself. So now you have a good two tight end set. Adunze came on strong in his rookie year. Like you say, what's his name? And then Luden.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:46

Yeah. Ludin was coming on at the end of the year and it's showing that he could be that number two. And you were kind of pushing DJ Moore aside. This is exactly what was happening.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:56

And never mind their running back room. Like, we haven't even talked about those guys yet. They were just absolutely loaded, man. And I think DJ Moore is a hell of a receiver. I think he's much better than his stats even show.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:10

I think for them, it was it fit both needs. It fit both needs. I don't think they overpay.

Are The Eagles Done With Hurts

SPEAKER_00 1:43:16

I think so too. And Bills, they're not gonna look back. They're gonna love DJ Moore in their system. True bona fide number one, in my opinion. Uh, and tonight, Mike, I have a debate for you, okay? Everybody, when you're doing great, we're all great. We love everybody, right? We win the Super Bowl, Jalen Hurts is great, future, all of it. But now things have been a little bit shaky last year or so. Uh Hurts is in the last year of his contract. He wants an extension, but the chatter coming out of Philadelphia is not that he may be the future. They don't want to pay him, Mike. I got a question for you. Ooh, answer a question with a question.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:57

So is Philadelphia Eagles are they the most unhappiest good team ever? Like, they have success, they're unhappy. They don't have success, they're unhappy. They're just unhappy all the time. And I think a lot of it stems from their coach. I don't think it's now, don't get me wrong. The things I'm hearing about Jalen Hurts, it makes me think of Russell Wilson. It makes me think of the disconnect that Russell Wilson had with the Seahawks and how his teammates didn't like him. The team, the coach, didn't really like him because of, oh, Russell's off ball. Russell wants to do his plays. Russell's changing the play. All things you're hearing about Hurts. That he's changing plays, he's doing what he wants. He's not throwing the ball when they want him to, that he's waiting for other plays, or he doesn't want to take risks. Sounds like everything they said about Russell Wilson in Seattle before they shipped him out.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:00

Um I I mean, I'm not I'm not disputing that. I think you have a point there. So to me, Jalen Hurts, they I think they thought he was the future. Then Nick Sirianni came in as head coach. So I think Siriani is actually trying to, and this is my theory behind so many touch pushes, okay, and and run heavy games, game, game scheme, right? Jalen Hurts is a good short pass, he's pretty good medium pass, but we do not see him throw a lot of deep pass. And this I think is where we run into friction with the A.J. Brown situation, is he just really wasn't putting it up. Uh, and I think they see that, and I think they want somebody who's gonna push the ball down the field through the air, not just tuck and run.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:40

Well, they have a run heavy run scheme, but but one of the things that I'm not even mad at at Jalen as much as I'm mad at the stupid announcing that happens with their games. I I can not at any point get behind these stupid announcers who say, Look at that tush, push, play. Jalen hurts, he can he can dead or he can squat over 600 pounds. Look at him, look at him get that first down pushing that. The man's legs were never on the dang ground, and you had people pushing him. He had not done it with his legs. It was always he's on top of his lineman, and the guys in the backfield are pushing him, damn near giving him the double thumb hook of the butt first pushing him across.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:39

Do you know who else can squat 600 pounds? A mother in labor, okay? Secondly, um, you you're a quarterback in modern day NFL, alright? The dual threat quarterback had a very short-lived highlight area era, okay? They thought that the future would be the spread of the dual quarterback, but they st now they still want a pocket passer back there. Okay, at the end of the day, you have to be able to pass the ball, you have to be able to pass it deep accurately. It's gonna pay me to say this.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:15

Uh-oh. It's gonna pay me to say this. Uh-oh. Wait, you say it's gonna pay you like actually hurt you. Like, what they what people actually want in a quarterback in the NFL is they want more of a Patrick Mahomes, a guy that's looking to throw it first before run it. Yeah. That's what I I agree with you. Throw first from the pocket, run if necessary. I agree with you.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:43

That is the ideal NFL quarterback is throw first, run last.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:49

Yes. But also in that throw first, they want you to go through your progressions first, not just oh, my nut my number one's not open, let me run. They don't want that. They want you to go through your progressions and they want you to hit the play on the time or position at which you're supposed to throw it. So if you're running an out route, that ball better be up in the air before that player goes to cut. Because if you throw it after he cuts to the outside, that ball's gonna get there late and it's either gonna get picked, tipped, or it's gonna be an incomplete. Now you're coming out. I mean, yeah, I'm saying I'm saying all the things that can't happen. But that's literally the point of it. You do things on a timing and rhythm in the NFL where you're throwing guys open a lot of times. So if you've got a quarterback that does not want to throw, when it is open or NFL open, which is throw the guy open, throw it to a spot, your guy has to go get it, and you're not gonna win with that guy.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:52

This is really where Tom Brady excelled, okay? Because he'll look you off, he'll throw the ball with such an accuracy, not even looking your way. He knows where you're gonna be at, but he practiced this, okay? This is what they want from quarterbacks. They want you to throw that ball where he's gonna be, not where he's at.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:11

No. Tom Brady was the master of take what they're giving you. He would take it. He's not looking for that extra pass. He was gonna sit there, oh, you're giving me the guy in the flat for three yards, and he's gonna be able to get me two more after in yak yards, give me five yards. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:31

Boom. Well, that's what I'm saying. He took what they gave him, but he was a master at putting it where his receivers could grab it uncontested. Okay, and he had one of the fastest releases, I think less than 2.4 seconds, uh that we've seen.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:48

You know, he was just I don't know. That makes me wonder who the fastest release was, because I would have to say that Dan Marino probably had the fastest release.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:57

Dan Marino, but in modern times when Brady played. He had one of the fastest on the field. I mean his his release was measured around just under 2.4.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:06

I mean, Brady basically played at the tail end of Marino's career.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:10

So he played so long. Well, he did, and we can talk, we can compare stats, but I'm talking about Brady specifically. His release rate was just under 2.4 seconds, okay? Which is incredibly fast processing for a quarterback to take a three-step drop and get rid of the ball in less than three seconds. Like that's incredible to me.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:32

But anyway, but Jalen, Jalen Hurts, who who is stemming all this argument, we're right, right. He's not okay. If you're the franchise guy, right, he's won Super Bowls, right? But here's the thing you want your franchise guy to be the guy that like is at the front of the helm and can write the ship, and also can be the guy that when things aren't going right, he gets up there and he's like, Look, we ain't got it right, but we're gonna get it right. And Jalen Hurts, he's just kind of an even keel, and there's no ups, no downs, like it's just even keel all the time. And don't get me wrong, sometimes that's a good thing, but sometimes you need your quarterback to get fired up. You need him to get on the sideline and be like grabbing his lineman and being like, keep them off my butt for two more seconds so I can throw this ball.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:30

I'm not saying he couldn't be successful in another system, but I feel like Jalen Hurts' time in Philly is coming to an end. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:51:39

If they can move off coaches that won them Super Bowls and move off players that are other quarterbacks that got them close to winning Super Bowls, they can certainly move off of Jalen Hurts.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:51

I thought they should have kept Nick Foles over Jalen Hurts. They would have been way happier. Nick Foles was a true bona fide pocket passer. No, you lost me there. I know, I lost a lot of people, but some people are just haters. They hate us because they ain't us.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:06

But anyway. The point of the matter is Jalen Hurts, the friction, unless he has a great season, we might be seeing this man moving on.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:14

Yeah, and you know, we'll see how all that unfolds, and we'll post some things on social media, which by the way, visit us on our new YouTube channel, 24Win, however you do it on YouTube, uh, 2 for win on Instagram, 2 for the win on Facebook. Uh, we don't have a TikTok yet, but we will tomorrow. So go to 2 for the win on TikTok too. Follow us everywhere. We have some very fun projects coming down uh that involve trying to get some interaction and interact with our fans and listeners as well. So thank you everybody for listening to us and taking part in our conversation. Uh, thank you to our sponsors and partners, Body by D Gym, Salah's Outfitters, the Giving Tree Chiropractic, Pulse with Tuning, and MATW Mid Atlantic Territory Wrestling. Thank you, everybody, once again. I'm Brian with an eye. And I'm Mike. And we are two for the win.

SPEAKER_01 1:53:05

Thanks, everybody.