Two for the Win
Mike is a U.S. Navy Veteran and Bryan has more than a decade of civil service experience. Together, these blue collar guys dissect the latest sports headlines and events.
Two for the Win
Two For The Win - S2.84 - Spain Streaks To Greatness & Other!
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One goal in the 106th minute changed everything and it didn’t just decide a World Cup champion, it lit a fuse. We open by breaking down Spain’s 1-0 win over Argentina: the possession battle, the keeper standing on his head, the moment of brilliance that finally breaks through, and the nasty edge that lingers into an on-field brawl. If you’ve been looking for a clear World Cup final recap with real takeaways, we talk about what dominance actually looks like when the score stays stuck at zero for nearly two hours.
Then we jump into MLB right as the trade deadline starts to pull teams in opposite directions. We hit the strange and the serious: a Japan prospect choosing the majors, a game featuring a catcher pitching and a pitcher driving in runs, viral defensive highlights, a triple play, and a wave of injuries that reminds you how fast a season can tilt. We also talk standings and streaks, including why Boston’s win run changes the entire deadline conversation.
From there it’s NBA offseason movement and peak sports randomness: a three-team trade with real defensive value, plus the thrift-store story that turns a few bucks into a Wilt Chamberlain jacket worth a fortune. We wrap with LeBron watch, NFL training camp updates heading into the Hall of Fame Game, an ESPN shakeup, a gambling-policy suspension that raises eyebrows, a scary home break-in involving Saquon Barkley’s family, and a real talk moment on how pay-to-play youth sports is pricing kids out. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave us a review so more fans can find us.
Welcome And Sponsor Shoutouts
SPEAKER_02July 22nd, 2026. Welcome back everybody, and thank you for joining us once again for another episode of Sports Talk with Us for the first time tonight. I'm Brian with an I, and I'm Mike, and we are two for the win.
SPEAKER_00Mike, what do we have on tonight's agenda, brother? Well, World Cup is finally crowned a champion. MLB baseball has a lot of interesting things going on, and they're coming up screaming towards that trade deadline, which it always gets a little crazy going around the deadline. Speaking of crazy, NBA, they still got some drama and things going on with them. And as always, gotta talk a little on NFL.
SPEAKER_02Hello, NFL, and speaking of NFL, we are just a couple weeks away from Hall of Fame games, our first bit of NFL action, and we are inside about about a m a little over a month to kickoff. And speaking of kickoff, not going too far into NFL in our opening, but we are coming up on our season three kickoff, which we have some special things planned for that occasion as well. We'll pull you in later. But before we go into all that, I just want to thank our sponsors and partners real quick. Body by D Gym, located in Yorktown, Gloucester, Deshaun Wright is a former bodybuilding champion and training future bodybuilding champions in their own right. And a lot of his students, one of them is his son and our good friend Christian Wright, uh, winning a lot of trophies and awards right now. So his protege is getting out into the world winning trophies. Congratulations to all of them. Uh, our good friends that just mentioned uh Christian, as well as his business partner and our other good friend Kaden over at Solace Outfitters. Those two young guys just going 100 miles an hour, uh, both of them doing very great things with the life, moving on to the next phase of their life. Now they're now graduated high school. Uh congratulations, guys. And uh, you know, our good friends MATW, Mid-Atlantic Territory Wrestling, uh, and our friend the pain train, Preston Quinn, who is uh soon we're gonna have a regular here on our show. Uh they're next out, uh, the Chuck Coates Tag Till tag team events taking place in Fisherville, Virginia. That's on August 1st. Uh, and take a look at some of our friends over at Por Vita, as well as Request Jason. Look out for those guys where they're playing, go see them. And Mike, I know that was a mouthful. Are we ready to dive into Yes? So nonchalant. I need more, I need more energy, okay? I hype this up, I amp it up, I run the trailers. Our sponsors is the trailers. Then we get to the final feature, and Mike opens with the saddest Titanic opening.
SPEAKER_00Hey, just giving you back some bullshit, because I do
World Cup Final Breakdown
SPEAKER_00what you're bullshit. Anyway, let's kick off tonight talking about this last uh championship game in the World Cup between Spain and Argentina. Because, as you know, you picked Argentina and I picked Spain.
SPEAKER_02I did, in fact, I still stand on that.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02Although I wish I would have wasn't the other way around now.
SPEAKER_00Well, look, we really did come down to two very highly skilled, very good teams. I mean, let's not forget Argentina won it last time that we we had a World Cup. But Spain in its own right had not really even allowed a goal until the Belgian game. That was the first goal they allowed. And if you're Cape Verde, think about this. They didn't beat them. You know, Spain did not beat Cape Verde. It was a nil-nil tie in the beginning rounds. So if you're Cape Verde, you gotta feel like you did something because the team that won this, that won the championship game, was Spain, one to nothing.
SPEAKER_02And I feel like I should have picked differently because during the championship game, I would come to find out, Mike, Spain has not lost a matchup in their last 57 matchups. I know. So that when I when I learned that stat, I was like, well, bye-bye, Parles. It was nice while you were here, but I guess I'll see you again on payday.
SPEAKER_00But I will say this the this game, it wasn't like they scored early and just sat back. No, this game, I mean, it really the possessions all look like it was all Spain. I mean, Spain was constantly in Argentina's goal, and the goalkeeper for Argentina was playing lights out. I mean, he's making save after the side of the state. Yeah, let me give that guy credit. I think he had something like 11 saves, which is the total number of saves that I think Spain had the entire tournament for their goalie.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and Argentina uh also I think the highest or one of the highest scoring teams in the entire uh FIFA World Cup tournament. So to hold them to zero, uh, you know.
SPEAKER_00Well, this the first goal didn't come until the 106th minute. So we're already over. Yeah, we're already in overtime. It didn't come in regular regular time because you get 90 minutes in the first part of it, and then beyond that you go into overtime or extra time. And the goal was actually pretty impressive. If you didn't see it, but basically, one Spain player kind of did this lob, kind of a lob kick into the zone where they had they had a player literally do a header back to one of his own players. It's called a headbutt. It was a header, and he literally hits it right back to one of his other players, and it was uh Torres. Torres was the one who got the goal and had the amazing, amazing, you know, game-breaking goal there. And it it's crazy because like the goalie was playing so well, but there was nothing he could do to really self-correct on this because he was going edging over to prevent the header from the player who was already in there. Yeah. And oh, is it Williams? Dang, I don't know why I'm forget his name. Anyway, it was an insane assist. If you have to, well, if you have to know these players' names, I'm sorry I don't have it here in front of me, but go and look at this goal because it was so impressive for him to have the wherewithal to not only get to the ball, but hit it to his teammate and set him up for a perfect shot on goal. It was such a such a fun game to watch. And it was getting really testy, and it was even testy after the game where some of the Argentina players were getting to the face of Spain players.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it it actually ended with an onfield brawl. I don't know if you saw that, Mike, but the end of the game, it actually ended with an on-field brawl. And this next what I'm about to say wasn't part of this brawl, but earlier in the game, uh Fernandez actually got a red card. So you're right, it was very physical.
SPEAKER_00It was earned because he already had a yellow card and he goes running into another player who they were both going for the ball. And I mean, I guess you could say momentum kind of carried him into it if you really wanted to look at it that way. But he up-ended the guy. Like the guy's just trying to get to the ball and pass it to one of his. Well, I mean, the guy did it.
SPEAKER_02That was the one where the guy did a flip, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he did like a full-on summer summer.
SPEAKER_02I mean, he sold, I think he sold it, but he sold it well. So there's a lot of selling. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Summer, I'll just say. But I will say this. At one point, I think it was like 12 shot-on goals for Spain with none of Argentina. Yeah. That's a crazy stat if you if you really think about it. For a team in Argentina that was scoring pretty regularly through the tournament.
SPEAKER_02They were scoring, I think there was only one game where they scored less than three goals, and that was like that was against who'd they knock out prior? Was it England? Yes. Yeah. So uh one of the highest, the highest scoring team in the World Cup tournament, this bracket, and you know, they just got held to a goose egg. So Spain really, they really came in there and stepped up and keep that winning streak alive.
Halftime Show Debate
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't know about that little halftime show they had.
SPEAKER_02Are we gonna talk about this?
SPEAKER_00I I I get the sense you don't want to.
SPEAKER_02What was it? It was uh BTS, Madonna, Justin Bieber, Justin Bieber, The Muppets, The Frickin' Muppets? Yeah, the Muppets were there.
SPEAKER_00And the only the only part that I really cared about, Shakira.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Shakira was there now that she's off the hook for her tax evasion thing. I do not care. Madonna was apparently lip syncing, but if I got lips enlarged like an elephant, I wouldn't be singing for real either. So I don't know what to say about that. I think you said all you need to say about that.
SPEAKER_00Anyway.
SPEAKER_02I wonder if she can do this.
SPEAKER_00Anyway, there's a there's a lot of a lot of criticism coming over that that whole situation. Oh, forgot to mention Ted Lasso was in it too.
SPEAKER_02I did read something that he had a part. Yeah. Um what are you taking? Uh Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show, or you're taking FIFA's halftime show. Which one are you picking if you have to pick one? Human bushes or concoction of I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Could I just have the Shakira portion? No, all or none.
SPEAKER_02I just want the Shakira portion. Well, I just want the bulletproof vest that Bad Bunny was wearing underneath his nice clothes.
SPEAKER_00So hey, I ain't never seen no Bush shoot anybody. Just saying.
SPEAKER_02Well, sir. You don't want to. I'm not gonna go say some of the things I want to say right now, but we'll leave that for another time.
SPEAKER_00Yes, we will. So let's move on.
MLB News And A Japan Prospect
SPEAKER_00Let's move on, and we're gonna go ahead and hop on over into baseball.
SPEAKER_02Hop just like the Easter bunny.
SPEAKER_00So we hop over into baseball where uh Sasaki will sign will sign with the Miami Marlins. And no, it's not the Sasaki you're thinking of. It's not the one that's playing for the Dodgers. The alcoholic kind. No. No, this is uh Renatoro Saki. He's uh he's a uh young prospect over in Japan who is foregoing playing in the professional ranks in Japan to come over and play in the majors. Ooh. Which is not what you see normally. You see players go and play professionally in Japan and then normally get a little bit of attention and then they decide to do that.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's like a it's like a stepping stone. Let's see if you really got something, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, he's just gonna go straight over. Yeah. He's he was selected by a professional team in the first round uh over in Japan. Uh the napon professional baseball draft, I guess is what it where it was. And he's not doing that. He's not gonna go do that. He's gonna come over and play over in the States. So we'll see how it works out for him. Hopefully, hopefully he does well. But good job for the Marlins having a good scouting team to go and find talent no matter where it is.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, and congratulations to him, you know, getting placed in advanced placement in school, you know.
SPEAKER_00Well, not advanced placement, so to speak. Anyway. So as we just wind down from having having the all-star game and having a little bit of a break, teams got back into their first series, and the Braves had their first series with the Rangers, and they came in, and the first game they played with them, it was kind of a uh a trouncing of the Rangers. The Rangers did not do well. But there was an interesting scenario that happened in the game where you had a catcher pitching and a pitcher hitting. Now, I'll say it again in case you didn't catch that. You had a catcher pitching for the Rangers and a pitcher batting for the Braves. Now, I know we have a tiny, he pitches and and bats, you know, typically back in the days.
SPEAKER_02He's not an NL though.
SPEAKER_00No, he's not a catcher. But typically in the old day, you used to have the NL where the pitchers would bat. So it's it's very unusual now to see a pitcher bat who isn't named Shohei Otani. But in this case, a oh, and I love doing this to Brian.
SPEAKER_02Right there in the blue. Ooh. Victor Madros. Medeiros. I like Madros. No, it's Medeiros. Sounds from like he's from the Odyssey.
SPEAKER_00So Victor Medeiros was having himself a series. Because in this particular game where the Braves won 15-1, Medez came up to bat after, you know, pitching a little bit, and he went ahead and got himself an RBI single. No, a two RBI single in the game. So he was responsible for two of those runs in the 15-1 victory. RBI. But he followed that up the next game by going ahead and getting himself a multi-inning save. So he's making himself pretty, pretty uh he's making himself into a fan favorite now and making him into kind of a a team favorite as well with his performances. So he's he's kind of showing out. But that's not to outdo his teammate Drake Baldwin, who probably wants to keep playing the Rangers the rest of the year because he was batting 6-67, so he was 10 for 15 on the series with three home runs, eight RBIs, five runs scored, and one stolen base. So he was having a great time playing against these Rangers. So I'm pretty sure he wants to keep playing the Rangers, but they're they've already left. You know. They have left town. No, I mean the Braves won the series two to one, but I bring it up because you gotta give a little nod to a pitcher who comes up and gets a hit and gets an RBI and gets a save and does a multi-inning save. You know, gotta give a little nod to those kinds of performances, especially especially from a guy that most people be like, who? Yep. Way to show up and show out. And speaking about another player showing out, uh, there's a player on the Orioles, a pitcher by the name of Brandon Young. He had probably one of the craziest looking plays the other day against the Astros. Now, he's up there pitching to Altuve, and Altuve hits a comebacker, and Young literally just kind of does a hacky sack kind of move with the baseball, hits it up to himself, where he grabs the ball and throws the first and gets Altuve out, Altuve out by like a mile. If you haven't seen this play, just go look up the Brandon Young throws out a two Altuve play, and it I'm telling you, you're gonna be like, what? What just happened? It's quite skillful and it makes it look easy. I know he made it look easy, but it's not. I mean, even his teammates are looking at him like, what did you just do? Because like, even his shortstop and second baseman are waiting for this ball to come through the middle of the infield, and they're like, Where did it go? Oh, he has it. How'd he get it? So go look it up. It's a pretty cool play.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's pretty impressive.
SPEAKER_00Good, good heads-up play by uh there by him as well. And since we mentioned the all-star game, uh, first time all-star, uh catcher for the Rockies, uh, Mr. If this thing will load, there we go. Uh Mr. Hunter Goodman of the Rockies. We remember we discussed him a little while back. He had a three home run game, but he was having he was having a little bit of a little bit of a drought. He wasn't he hadn't hit had a home run in a while. So it was kind of like, ah, man, this really sucks. He hasn't had a home run. I think the last time he had a home run was, I believe back in July 1st or so. Well, after a little bit of a break, he redeemed himself by doing another three-run home run game and donning the purple fuzzy coat that they have that they wear when they do home runs. So he got to wear that three times in his game. Most recently back on the 19th.
SPEAKER_02Imagine how hot it is. Do they wash that thing?
SPEAKER_00I'm sure they do.
unknownI don't know.
SPEAKER_02Maybe, maybe not. Baseball players are disgusting.
SPEAKER_00So one thing that's kind of been a little interesting as we come out of the all-star break is we're getting a lot of players that are coming up lame.
MLB Injuries And A Brutal Lesson
SPEAKER_00They're having injuries. Uh one notable one that recently happened is the Tigers, their righty uh Flaherty, Jack Flaherty, is hitting the the injured list with some inflammation to his right flexor.
SPEAKER_01Flexa, flexer.
SPEAKER_00But the problem is like this may have been because of where the Tigers are in their season. They've been looked at as a team who possibly could be trading players away. And Flaherty was one of the names mentioned. Yeah. As a possible trade candidate. Well, can't trade him if he's hurt. Back on he's down. Yeah, he's down. And coming over to the surging White Sox of all teams, they've been they've been kind of the surprise this year after being you know kind of a down team the last few years. They've been hitting it hot. But they get some bad news losing their their catcher. Um yes, teal, but I want to get his whole name, Kyle Teal. Kyle Teal. Kyle Teal. So sorry, Kyle. He suffered a high ankle sprain, which for a catcher is really bad news because you're constantly squatting down, getting up, and you gotta run. You can't really do all that when you have a high ankle sprain. He's gonna be out six to twelve weeks. Terrible. That's a huge loss for a team that's trying to make a push.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, that can be problematic, especially like you say, if you're trying to make a push for the postseason. Yeah, I am I imagine that would hurt.
SPEAKER_00I'm sure it does. But an interesting situation with the Cubs and one of their relievers, Trent Thornton, uh he kind of avoided a serious injury. He's kind of day-to-day with a bruised left heel right now, uh, because he had a line drive or a comebacker come at him and hit him in the foot. And uh he credits him being so lucky to the shoes he was wearing. Now, Thornton credits his Mizuno cleats and said that he avoided serious injury because the particular model that he wears has a hard shell on the right back on the back right heel of the shoe, basically protecting where most cleats have a kind of softer leather, they have a hard spot on the back of this particular brand of cleat, and he credits that to why he is avoiding a s more serious injury, one that probably would have put him out for a while. So, hey, it's all about the equipment. Make sure you got the right stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this is true.
SPEAKER_00And unfortunate news for this is not worse though. I know it could be a lot worse. He's he's darn lucky. It looked really bad when it happened. It really did. You know, and I'm sure that most Cubs fans are like, oh no, now we've lost one of our starters for the rest of the year. But no, he's day-to-day. Uh coming over to the Royals, they got a bit of bad news for their star, Bobby Witt Jr., who's probably hands down the best shortstop in the game. I mean, there's not many gonna argue that. He can hit, he can steal, he can hit for average, he can hit home runs, like and he's great defensively. Well, they're not gonna have him for a little bit. He's got a little bit of back tightness, lower back tightness, so he's gonna be out kind of day to day. Don't know when he'll be done. But that's not the worst injury that happened recently. And Brian, I love doing this to you. What is the player's name? Uh, Mark Kotze. No, Mark Kotse is his manager.
SPEAKER_02Oh shit. This is on this is on the A's. Joshua Karolja Grau.
SPEAKER_01Gurr man. He's the Gurrrr man.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So Joshua. Grow Joshua has taught everybody a little bit of a lesson here with the injury that he suffered uh most recently in a game uh where he had a brutal foul ball hit him right in the bathing suit. area and the family jewels in that action he wound up suffering a ruptured testicle by doing so Nikes yeah that's the appropriate response and most people are probably going ah yeah yeah yeah exactly that is exactly how you should feel how does it even feel how do you deal with that kind of energy hey all I know is he he had to get surgery to deal with this can you still do things with people as PG I would I would probably think that that would be off limits for a while. As PG as I can put it anyway hey look I don't know he's probably the first player to ever do this I know I know we had uh was it jazz he had an incident like this not too long ago but this is this is a s it's becoming a common thing where we need to really look at these players and be like bro get the cup where your cup bro like stop messing around I don't care if you play out in the field get a cup all you young players all you kids playing in a little league get the cup you gotta make him wear the cup man my son was bad about it when he played baseball he just he didn't want no do not forget the cup believe me you don't want you don't want to be like Joshua and not have the cup he literally had to have emergency surgery after they figured out what had happened and good lord like no don't do that to yourself don't do that to yourself but since we have all these bad injuries happening and bad things happen it might be good to bring to light some of the good things that have happened where the Guardians have gotten good news because Jose Ramirez is coming back after a five week stint on the IL remember we talked about this he had the hammock bone injury I was gonna say there's no thing as a good injury I thought you were talking about the good injuries. It's like wait are these the players we don't want in the game no this is well that's fandom type stuff talk there. No what I'm saying is like when you have an injury that happens and then the player comes back that's the good side these are the good things this is the good side we got some where you finally get the player back and healthy hopefully so like I said Jose Ramirez is back with the Guardians they're definitely excited to have him back he's he's definitely their marquee player that's a huge huge addition for them. And the Yankees finally get uh freed back after he had been gone since May they have not had him in their rotation so they're getting a pretty good piece back in their starting rotation. Nice.
Phillies Baserunning Meltdown
SPEAKER_00Now going to a scenario that probably the Phillies fans really want to forget that happened last night where they were playing the Dodgers and going in late into the game at the bottom of the ninth and they're they're surging they literally are they're making a comeback it looks like they're gonna make the comeback because they got players on and it's like they got a player on third and second with only one out. It's like alright and you have Brandon Marsh he's been little since the All-Star game has been a little bit on a downward spiral as far as his hitting goes but the one thing you didn't want to have happen you didn't want to hit it to the third baseman and have your runner off the base and that's exactly what happened he hit the ball a little ground at a third base runner is caught in no man's land and he's they they sit there do the little throw the ball back and forth and wound up getting him out but to make matters worse the guy that was on second had run to third thinking oh I'll move up and then he notices that he's running back so he's like oh no I'll run back to second. Nope bad move because they turned a double play off of this it wound up being a 5-26 four double play ending the game with the Dodgers getting the two to one victory Phillies losing in their house in the most embarrassing of ways like come on poor communication I don't even know how you communicate in that situation but just poor poor turn of events like bad bad luck. Okay so for all the all of the younger listeners when you're in this situation you're at second base you see the runner kind of caught in a pickle and he's going towards home play just go ahead and go to third and stay there. Do not run back even if he comes back to third stay there because if he's caught in that pickle he's gonna get out anyway so at least at least you will be on third base and the batter will be there be there well hopefully they don't at the best scenario you'll be on third the other guy will be at first base safe so you have a runner at first and third with only two outs and maybe the next batter can bat you in just don't just don't run back to second after you see this. Like that's the problem. If he didn't run back to second there was not going to be a double play.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00He just he put himself in a bad spot and that that just comes to straight the base running coach not teaching the right stuff but speaking of a awesome defensive play that you don't see very often that I'm gonna show to Brian right here the there was a game between the Marlins and and the Houston Astros where the Marlins turned a triple play a triple play against the the Houston Astros. Unfortunately they didn't win the game but again Altuve in this scenario man he's he's coming up for the wrong scenarios he hits a ball towards third base the third baseman steps on third throws the second second baseman throws the first triple play and look how fast they're catching and throwing that ball they were moving that's fat that's some of the fastest I've seen in a while oh you have to you have to turn it fast that's that's one of the fastest triple A's I've seen in a while they they move in well they don't happen that often which is which is pretty amazing.
Red Sox Streak And Deadline Talk
SPEAKER_00Yeah but let's talk about a team right now that is probably one of the hottest in baseball you know if we go a couple weeks before we get to the the all-star break and we were talking about the Boston Red Sox as being sellers at the deadline because they just were not piling up wins they were not doing great and as we went into the break they had rattled off 11 wins and went into the all-star break kind of changing the narrative it's like well wait a second all right this team's kind of catching fire well they come out of the break and you're like well they had a break maybe they'll they'll cool off no nah bro so literally today they have gotten their 15th victory in a row you want to you want to break up your your downward spiral you get 15 wins in a row yeah you're gonna make up some ground because they were sitting there as a cello dweller there for a little bit and then they started mounting this comeback they've won 15 games in a row where and it's coming from all angles. They're getting good pitching they're getting some clutch hitting and as a matter of fact when they got their 13th win it was a streak that they tied that they have not accomplished I mean they routed the Rays to get their 13th win but it's something that hadn't happened since 1948 to get 13 in a row that's my mom's birth year for for the Red Sox that that is crazy. Because we've had other teams have win streaks but as I mentioned that we're getting into the trade deadline scenario where teams are going to start to try to say ah maybe we need another bat maybe we need another pitcher maybe we or another starter you know starting pitcher or relief pitcher well the Los Angeles Dodgers have already taken a step forward in that in that factor and they went and picked up and I love doing this to Brian right here Seth Seth uh halverson you're gonna go with Halverson okay I'll take that I'll take halverson they traded for him he's a right handed pitcher uh well he's a bullpen pitcher from the color from the Colorado Rockies flamethrower of a reliever the ravines but for for landing him they went ahead and traded over a right handed uh prospect over to or an outfield prospect over to the Dodgers or the Dodgers traded an outfield prospect to the Rockies to the ravines Rockies ravines the depths the depths anyway there's gonna be much more to come when it comes to the trade deadline as we get ever so closer to it. I believe it's gonna be on August 3rd this year at 6 p.m and believe it or not trades will happen even up to the last minute so they always do a special every year by the way a lot going on in those two days Mike August 3rd MLB trade deadline August 4th or wait August 1st NFL Hall of Fame game yes coming back over let's check in with the schedule or not the schedule the standings as they stand right now right now the Tampa Bay Rays are leading the AL East with a 58 and 42 record and Boston's in third they're making up some ground there as uh we mentioned earlier with the White Sox they're leading the AL Central with a 53 and 47 record. The Texas Rangers even though they have been on a little bit of a skid they are leading the AL West well not by much. They're leading by only a game they are 51 and 50 with Seattle Mariners hot on their heels with a 51 and 52 record. Coming over to the NL East the Atlanta Braves lead that division with a 58 and 42 record and the NL Central is being led by the Milwaukee Brewers with a 64 and 38 record they're doing amazing and they're probably going to be buyers at the trade deadline and the Dodgers coming in with the exact same record leading the NL West at a 64 and 38 record. Not bad not bad we got some we got some expected teams in the top and we got some unexpected teams towards the top so we got a good this is shaking out to be a good MLB season Mike yeah it's it's it's really gonna be pretty interesting coming up to the trade deadline to see who moves where and because everybody's gonna start you know making bids for one player or another teams are going to be all fighting for players and I always like that time of the year because you start seeing some crazy stuff happen and and these trades can affect teams for a while. Yeah you know because uh years ago the Braves picked up danceby swanson for trading away Shelby Miller to the Diamondbacks and Dansby who was not really anything yet he was still in the minor leagues when he came over he was a mainstay for the Braves for a long time and now he's a star player for the for the Cubs. So these trades they have impact.
NBA Three Team Trade Explained
SPEAKER_02Yeah and speaking of trades let's jump into the NBA and Brian why don't you tell us about this three team trade that happened that's right we're gonna trade up the MLB for the NBA they all collude anyway thunder send Dort to Hawks and three team trade Mavericks get Ritz or Rissa I never can say this guy's name right Mike I don't know what it is about MBA players and me but I can never say your names correctly but I try so hard. Probably some MLB players too but I digress anyway the Thunder traded all defensive wing uh Lugions Dort to the Hawks in a three-team deal that sent three second round picks to Oklahoma uh a 2024 first round pick uh sorry Oklahoma City so sent three second round picks to Oklahoma City as well as number one pick uh Zachary Rissacher to the Mavericks and Ryan Nimbrard to the to Atlanta on Sunday so Oklahoma City has now acquired seven second round picks while going under the second round apron and shedding $200 million this offseason via the trades of Dort Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wigan so they're doing some dude so they're not just moving players around but they're clearing up cap space as well Mike somewhere Bill Belichick's smiling about them picking up a bunch of late round picks.
SPEAKER_00Anyway no Lou Dort is a really good piece that's being sent to the to the Hawks and I I that that is a really good pickup by them it's low key it's not gonna get much notice but that is a big deal.
Thrift Store Find Turns Into Gold
SPEAKER_00And speaking of another big deal I gotta ask Brian Yes have you ever been to secondhand store or thrift store or anything like that?
SPEAKER_02You know I love when you ask me questions Mike because then I get to talk and now that we're here in this moment I'm gonna go ahead and answer as you've requested.
SPEAKER_00You you're making very long-winded have you been to one or not? Yes okay some people like the people sitting next to me uh who you know like to go ahead and get get deals like you go in there and you're hoping to find something that you know maybe you find that rare find you know something cool something like you know it doesn't have to be closed or you know anything necessarily I mean plates made out of wicker. I mean hell I've I've found some pretty decent football jerseys in in thrift stores. I know you usually resell them to me I can't help it that the ones I find in the thrift store for your team anyway. I buy every time it's like he knows me. Yeah it's like a Brian tax anyway so recently there was a pretty cool find by a a teenager out in Portland he had gone to a local thrift store Portland I know sorry high hopes he find he finds what looks to be a warm-up Lakers jacket and it has the name Chamberlain on the back oh snap and so they do some some investigating to find out you know if this was actually a legit Wilt Chamberlain jacket because I mean it was a pretty pretty big jacket you know I mean Wilt was a big dude. Big jacket for a big guy. Right. So you know they started thinking like I wonder if this is a legit thing or not. So they do some background investigating and they find out that indeed it does link the jacket to Wilton Chamberlain. Nice and I believe it was between the I wanna he so he buys it for $3.07 right at at the thrift store and they link this thing somewhere in the timeframe of like the 1971 to 1972 NBA time with the Lakers as being a warm-up jersey he actually wore. So it goes to auction and he winds up getting $89,600 for his three dollar and seven cent investment. God damn y'all we're gonna start a surge look here's here's the thing to thrift stores is a is a very rare thing but I'm telling you people stop thumbing your nose up at the thrift store there's some cool stuff there apparently you know yeah I mean I found some cool store and cool stuff in thrift stores as well a lot of times you're sifting through junk um but you know if you're a person that likes to shop you don't mind thumbing through stuff anyway go to a thrift store see what you can find it might not even be anything of value such as this warm-up jacket here but it might be something you genuinely can use in your life or in your household. I don't know I found an entire ratchet set and it was not it was not some boo-boo brand it was like a real legit ratchet set that I paid 10 bucks for and that thing would have been easily easily like 40 50 bucks yeah and now I need you to sell it to me for my telecompany anyway moving on into the other situations happening around the NBA where it's kind of been a little bit of a LeBron watch where everybody's asking where is he
LeBron Watch And The Waiting Game
SPEAKER_00going? There's been seems like every week there's a different scenario where it's like oh no no no he's going here. No no no no he's got to go over here no no no no I don't think he's interested and LeBron's not helping us he keeps making motions towards saying things like trust the process oh he's going to the six sixers no you know or he sits there and makes some comments about you know it'd be nice to play with his buddies you know oh he's gonna go play with his buddy Steph Curry.
SPEAKER_02Yeah I gotta say we almost hit on this last week and now I feel like we should have that would have been a good pickup.
SPEAKER_00Well here's the thing so recently uh the Miami Heat had put out a thing saying that on you know July 27th they're gonna do a meeting a meeting where they announce that they're introducing their new player LeBron James or the player coming to them LeBron James and people are like people are like wait a second wait a second is he going to Miami and it quickly got pulled down and then the heat basically said no no no you know we're just you it was a practice thing where our media department or advertising social media people accidentally posted it they weren't supposed to post it it's just in preparation if he does come here and it's like they try to place LeBron in Miami before he even decides.
SPEAKER_02You know LeBron coming here come on over here buddy come on come on come on over here we already tell people you would listen I will say this as far as him making a decision and I know people are like just make the decision make decision it's fine for him to take his time because I'm gonna say this there it's a lot more than just him remember he's a family man he has a family.
SPEAKER_00Now wherever he goes it's gonna affect his family now granted his family probably stay in Los Angeles because he really didn't want to leave the Lakers but they kind of left him with no choice. So now he's gonna find his next team so if he wants to take his time and figure it out that's fine. I know that the commissioner's been like it would be nice if he made his choice so I could make the dang schedule yeah I I think that's very well said Mike and I I want to add to it like everybody you know and this is a problem among fantasy football players and fantasy sports fans well too they're like oh we'll just make the decision hurry up you understand these people are human too right um and at this point in Braun's career he's probably not just weighing where or if he'll go there he's probably weighing retirement as well like this is a very LeBron and Tom Brady kind of both entered uncharted waters as athletes in their respective sports right well let's be real this is probably going to be the last team he plays for this will be the last team he plays for probably I agree with that so it's not something you need to rush but I will say the antics I could do without you know saying that you're going to Fanatic fest and kind of making it seem like you're gonna make the choice there and you know your friends or your your crew basically making comments like you're gonna be there to make your choice or make your decision and then having this staged back and forth with Halliburton come on we don't I wonder how much of it is misinterpretation and how much of it is overhype.
SPEAKER_02None of it really called for I don't know if all of that is Braun's fault. You know he he might be like yeah I'm going to Fanatic fest and somebody might have been like oh he's gonna make an announcement at Fanatic Fest right like it might not have been that at all.
SPEAKER_00It might not have but the point of the matter is we don't have to make these things so convoluted you know all he has to do is say look I'm weighing the teams I want to go I that I have opportunities to go to because let's say there's there's some teams that are like yeah we're good we don't need you even though it is LeBron understand that you know it's also about well everybody don't want to pay him well it's not it's not even just that it's like you know think about it this way if you already got a team set up you don't need him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah I mean right off the top of my head the Knicks all right Oklahoma those teams probably not in the market for LeBron James.
SPEAKER_00Right right and then there's some teams it's just it's a no non starter like the Wizards there's no chance he's going to the Wizards There's no chance he's going to the Bulls. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's not happening. It's got to be a mutual interest there, right? He has to feel like he's going to gain something. And I think the other side has to feel like obviously they're going to gain something as well.
SPEAKER_00So Yeah, I mean it the choice is going to come. I looked at it. Look, it's not it. Has it been drawn out? Yes.
SPEAKER_02It's not like we're going to be sitting here in the middle of NBA season 2027 and be like, well, Braun still hasn't figured out where he's going yet. We're going to know by the time, okay, the season starts. Everybody just hold your horses.
SPEAKER_00No, it's it it'll probably come within the next two weeks.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, because you have pre-season two. He's gonna want to take part in that. Well, I don't know if he wants to, but he probably if he's going to a new team, he's probably gonna he'll probably be there for some some of it, okay? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Braun depends independent miss. In my opinion, we'll probably know something in the next two weeks.
SPEAKER_02Why do you think two weeks?
SPEAKER_00Why put that time limit on it? Because there's still things, even if he does pick the team, those teams still have to figure out how to fill out the roster around him. There are a lot of free agents right now not signing and not going anywhere because they want to figure out where he's going. Because that's going to affect where they can go and the money they can make. This is true. And there's teams right now that they're not making moves because they're waiting on him. So there is a big holdup in him doing stuff, you know, making a decision.
SPEAKER_02But could you imagine being such a prolific player that like probably at least 70% of the league is waiting on you to figure out what they're gonna do? Like that is that's crazy clout to me.
SPEAKER_00Okay, right, is some players and and some some some players anti-some of this is just you know, I and I I this is one of the things. Like, I love LeBron as a basketball player, but some of the stuff he needs from people like his ego being stroked, I can't stand it. It's like, dude, you're LeBron James. You don't need this. Like, why do you need this this kind of attention? It's like stop being passive aggressive, stop with the antics, like just dude, just like you don't get you don't get this kind of stuff from Steph Curry.
SPEAKER_02I don't know, Mike, but I'm gonna tell you what, I love stroking and I love and I liken it to strutting and let that man strut and stroke whatever he wants.
SPEAKER_00Like bottom line is we'll all find out at the same time. All these insiders, they don't know anything. No more than us.
SPEAKER_02Unless you're Adam Scheffter, then you know everything.
SPEAKER_00That's a whole different sport, man. Like, you don't even know.
SPEAKER_02No, he reports on basketball, too. He reports on golf, he reports on everything. This is we only see him predominantly for football, but he reports on everything now.
SPEAKER_00That's because they've been too busy firing all these other people, but we'll get to that stuff. But anyway, point of the matter is we'll find out eventually where LeBron's going, and they'll be able to shake out the lineups and figure all that stuff out. I agree with that. Let's move on
NFL Hall Of Fame Ramp Up
SPEAKER_00in to our favorite topic: football.
SPEAKER_02Football! But before we go to football, feel free to take a minute and go to our website, our landing page, too. That's the number two for the win.com. And listen, you can access all of our episodes from our history and season seeing as how we have season three coming up, you have quite a bit to binge listen and maybe one day binge watch if you play your cards right, you know, wink, wink, wink, you know. But anyway, I digress. Let's move into some foosball, Mike.
SPEAKER_00So, given the fact that we have the Hall of Fame game coming up, the teams that are going to be involved in that, the Panthers and the Cardinals, have kind of gotten their training camps kicked off a little sooner than the rest. They're already in training camp getting ready. And as part of that, uh, they're kind of getting some injuries and stuff piling up and things that they need to get figured out. But this is more of a scary one for the Panthers with their right tackle. Taylor Mottin was diagnosed with a blood clot in his lungs. Terrible. So he will miss the regular season time because of this. This was just announced Tuesday that it happened. But he's not the only player that's having issues with with some injuries. Now, this blood clot thing, that's a bit unusual. It it does happen. I mean, we did have where, you know, going back to NBA, you know, we did have uh Victor Wimbayama, who had who had some issues with blood a blood clot a while back, but he got it all cleared up and he was playing just fine this past year. So hopefully that's a good sign for for Mottin.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00But blood clots are no joke, bro. But going over to talk about the other players, they're having some injuries, issues with the Panthers, corner JC Horn has a injury. It is a non-football injury list that he's been put on, or yeah, non-football injury list. So Horn Horn has a cut on his foot that requires stitches. So, I mean, obviously, if you got stitches on your foot, it's not a good thing to be out there as a corner cutting and moving and jumping and running and doing all that when you got a got stitches in your foot.
SPEAKER_02Hopefully he'll be okay for the season, though. Horns Horn's a pretty good player for them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he's he's one of their more known defensive players. Marquee players. But, you know, they're gonna have to iron out all these little little sideline things and injuries to figure out who's gonna be making the team because they're first up. They gotta be ready for the Hall of Fame game, as you mentioned.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they will be playing in the Hall of Fame game against the Cardinals uh 8 p.m. that night. I believe that's August 1st. Yeah, August 6th. Sorry, I've been saying August 1st, August 4th. Mike, apparently I don't know when the Hall of Fame game is, but I'm seeing here now from NFL.com. Thursday. August 6th. 8 p.m. on NBC.
SPEAKER_00Or Peacocks. So it's gonna be an exciting week that week because we're getting on August 3rd, that's when the trade deadline will get MLB trade deadline, yeah. And then August 6th, we'll get the first little bit of uh football action for us. And probably at least NFL football action, I'm sure we'll still have plenty of college stuff going on.
SPEAKER_02And probably maybe even a LeBron decision around then. Maybe, maybe not. Before give or take.
SPEAKER_00But since we kind of had an injury-lady, but we're we have to bring up a a good sign, uh the lines are getting good news that Sam Laporta is fully cleared after having his back issues that pretty much derailed him all of last season. Um and it wasn't it wasn't anything, you know, slight. This was a b big time injury. Like he he repaired a fully ruptured disc or a fully herniated disc in his back. Let me get it right. Yeah. Fully herniated disc. Which is not fun. If you've ever had any kind of back injury, yeah. And if you haven't, count your blessings, because back injuries suck.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm eager to see uh how long it takes them to get back to Pro Bowl form.
SPEAKER_00Well, their offense looked totally different without him. Like they did the production, because they started out hot. I think they had like six wins early on in the season, and then they just they I think they had three the rest of the season. They just did horrible down the stretch.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because he's also a good blocker, too, so he plays a role in their blocking game as well, so and their protections. So but I know they'll be glad to have him back uh and hopefully return to uh high performing offense in the post-Ben Johnson era.
SPEAKER_00So a low-key signing, uh, well not signing, but extension that happened. Jordan Brooks reached a three-year extension with the Miami Dolphins for 51.3 million. So pretty good little uh deal there. You know, when you got a good good player, go ahead and lock them up so you can keep them around. And that wasn't all that happened. The Packers decided to do a three-year deal with one of their players, a three-year extension with Devontae Watt, their defensive tackle. They gave him 57 million on an extension.
SPEAKER_02Both good signings, I think.
SPEAKER_00It's a good interior extension there, and and really the the Packers have locked up a lot of their key defensive pieces, so they're looking pretty, they're sitting pretty nice right now.
SPEAKER_02And I like those white helmets they got. That's kind of a clean look to me. I really like that, brightening it up a little change, change from the green and yellow spectrum.
ESPN Cuts And Analyst Drama
SPEAKER_02And by the way, uh ESPN, since ESPN and NFL, you know, exchanging hands here recently, ESPN letting go quite a number of uh analysts. One in particular, which I don't uh necessarily disagree with. I maybe disagree with the way they did it.
SPEAKER_00Uh well, the reason it happened the way it did is because somebody jumped the gun and put it out there, and before he could see it on his phone, he just no, they wanted to make him aware. So in case you don't know what we're talking about, uh a player that you would normally see on NFL Live or sometimes um on various shows throughout ESPN.
SPEAKER_02Occasionally inside the lines.
SPEAKER_00Ryan Clark was let go literally mid-episode for the NFL Live show. And in between during a commercial break, they informed him that he was being let go because somebody jumped the gun and put that information out. And before he had a chance to see it and maybe say something on air, they went ahead and said, Hey, um, yeah, um, you're done. We're letting you go. And I I also think this might stem too because Ryan Clark had a uh uncomfortable back and forth with one of the other analysts on the show, and he has he's had a number of times where he's made things that aren't really racial racial when they've talked about things on the show, and it it definitely you could tell it made people uncomfortable on the show. It's like, whoa, bro, like I don't know what you're talking about because that has nothing to do with what we're saying.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think it's I think it's similar reasons they let Cam Newton go as well. But both these guys have shows of their own, uh, notable, notable podcasts.
SPEAKER_00Well, Cam Newton is uh he's kind of like you know, the old thing where it's last man in, first man out. He was kind of like the last one to get there, so he's first to go out. But I mean they they had a whole slew of other people to the old thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there was there was a lot of people they let go, uh bringing on one notable name being Pat McAfee. They didn't let Pat McAfee. No, they're bringing him in.
SPEAKER_00No, they've had Pat McAfee.
SPEAKER_02Oh, well, yeah, they brought him in. Yeah, that's right. They added Pat McAfee a few months ago. I remember that.
SPEAKER_00I want to I want to clear up something with the Pat McAfee show because people want to be like, you know, get a little pissy about the money he makes because he's getting like $30 million or something like that. Um understand this. That money he's making is because of the two shows that he does. Hit the Pat McAfee show and then he does the college football. And in both cases, he is funding the people that support that show. Yes. So yeah, he he might be getting 17 million for you know the Pat McAfee show, but he's also the one paying the people that help run his show. He doesn't have a production crew from ESPN, he has the people he pays to do his show that gets aired on ESPN.
SPEAKER_02That's true.
SPEAKER_00And then same thing with the college football deal, he has people that he pays as part of doing the college game day show. So he's it's not a matter of he's making the most money. If you really want to look at who's making the most money and draining the pot the most, that's Stephen A. Smith. That dude's making bucko money at ESPN, and he is by far the highest paid there because he's he's using the ESPN all of their facilities and staffing and like he's gonna be able to do that. That's true, he wins all that money.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, and and like him, love him, or hate him, uh Stephen A is on his game. He knows that guy knows how to debate.
SPEAKER_00I I've got no problems with Stephen A. Like, to be honest, there are times he makes points I'm I'm on par with.
SPEAKER_02I think he makes a lot of great points. And the one thing, and I Mike, when I was a younger man, when I was a younger man, um, I didn't like Stephen A a lot because of I didn't say I like him all the time. There are times he says things that I'm just saying.
SPEAKER_00He has said things, but I Stephen.
SPEAKER_02As I get older, I realize I find myself liking him a lot more because he has a holdback. He says what it is out there in the open, and I don't always agree with it. Um, but I like how he handles it. Most of the time.
SPEAKER_00Well, then I got some other analysts to introduce you to that really don't hold back. Not Nick Wright. They're not on ESPN, though. We don't care about Nick Wright. Nobody cares about that guy. For some reason, he keeps getting jobs. Anyway, neither here nor there.
SPEAKER_02He reminds me of Chad Kroger of Nickelback. He reminds me of Squidward. Anyway. Sorry, Nick Wright.
SPEAKER_00Anyway, let's move on.
Cardinals Gambling Suspension Story
SPEAKER_00Sorry, not sorry.
SPEAKER_02Let's move on to this thing about the Cardinals.
SPEAKER_00Speaking, speaking of somebody that's got to be having all kinds of apologies right now, but it don't matter. You've already been, you've already been fired. Fire! They let you go.
SPEAKER_02So faster than a Japanese steakhouse.
SPEAKER_00So the Arizona Cardinals, you know, let alone the fact that they have issues with the fact that they're in one of the harder divisions where they literally, right now, the odds for them to win their division is 10,000 to one.
SPEAKER_02So you know they got hard times. I'm one of those people who will put five bucks on it just to see. Just to say I got a piece of that.
SPEAKER_00Anyway, so their directives director of college scouting, Ryan Gold, has been suspended indefinitely for violating League's gambling policy. Now, this stems from the fact that a bet was placed by, I believe, his wife, where they literally hit the first five picks that the Cardinals made perfectly in the draft. All five. The first five picks made correctly.
SPEAKER_02I wonder what insider told them about that.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I don't know. Person that's involved in the scouting.
SPEAKER_02Maybe this guy whose name is eluding me because I don't have the article open. Which, by the way, brought to you by ESPN. Ryan Gold is his name. Ryan Gold. I knew he had one. I just said his name. I knew he had one of those unforgettable names.
SPEAKER_00Listen to what happens here. I say the guy's name and he doesn't know the name. This is how you know he doesn't listen.
SPEAKER_02And then I designate his name as unforgettable.
SPEAKER_00Anyway. Point of the matter is.
SPEAKER_02His name is literally gold. Wait. I love gold.
SPEAKER_00Let's see. I wanted to make sure I got this right.
SPEAKER_02I also love Reese's. Outrageous, not the nutrageous, though. Forget that nuts.
SPEAKER_00Anyway. I don't have it here in front of me, but basically they made out like bandits. I think they put a small bet down and wound up getting like something, you know, darn your almost a million dollars off of betting what the first five picks would be by the Cardinals. Kind of a little bit suspicious,
Saquon Barkley Home Break In Scare
SPEAKER_00you know? Speaking of suspicious, how about what happened with Saquon Barkley and his family, which thank goodness they're okay. Yeah, so our thoughts and prayers uh out to you and your family. Probably one of the biggest fears by most people is any kind of harm coming to you or your family in your home. And Saquon's family just real just lived this in real life, where some intruders broke into their home while they were home. So, you know, Saquon, his wife, and their kids are in the house, and somebody they don't know is broken into their house. Thankfully, the people, I guess, alarm may have been tripped or something, and they they took off, got out of there, and thankfully didn't get away with anything. But you know that family, Saquon's family probably did not sleep that night because they were probably scared, you know, senseless because somebody's been in their house. Yeah. And they're afraid, are they coming back?
SPEAKER_02You know, so yeah, not an easy feeling for sure. Uh, and definitely feel for y'all. Lucky, like you said, Mike, luckily everything's okay. I'd like to know who it was. I'd probably been chasing after them.
SPEAKER_00Well, hopefully they'll get something off of camera or something and be able to catch these people and make sure that they don't have a chance to come back and make sure that you know, kind of put a put a thing out there where like, nah, this ain't happening. Don't go breaking in these houses because we'll get you.
SPEAKER_02Well, they sound like amateurs, they probably they'll probably be caught. Uh they'll probably be an investigation, they'll probably be caught. They probably did something stupid, I'm betting.
SPEAKER_00Well, most people who commit crimes are doing something stupid. You know, like no one ever goes, man, I'm such a brilliant move.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and crime solving technology. I know I sound like such an amateur, but crime solving technology is really coming a long way, Mike. I know everybody's laughing at me right now, but uh the shit they can do on NCIS and Law and Order uh pale in comparison to what is actually available to them technologically wise. This is just the things you know about.
SPEAKER_00So I have an interesting little bit of uh information about one of your favorite players.
Scataboo Slip And Harbaugh’s Reaction
SPEAKER_02What's better than uninteresting information about a favorite player?
SPEAKER_00Well, we uh we all know, I mean, every anybody who's heard this show knows that you have a man crush on Scataboo. I do, he is my scataboo. Well, Mr. Scataboo had a very embarrassing moment at at Fanatic Fest where he tried to do his trademark little backflip. Now, mind you, his season was ended last year because of a serious leg injury. Ankle injury, yeah. Yeah. Ankle and leg because he like fractured his leg and jacked up his ankle. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Eager to see how he runs this year.
SPEAKER_00Anyway. So he tries to do his backflip while he's at Fanatic Fest and does not stick to landing. He went to falling. And it looks really bad. If you guys haven't had a chance to go look it up and see see this uh not so spectacular landing of his. But the cool the funny thing was they wound up contacting Harbaugh and asked him about it, and he's like, I haven't seen it yet, and they showed it to him, and he's like, Well, come on, if you're gonna do it, you gotta stick the landing. He said, I might have a talk with him, and you know what that means. He he said he acted all nice, but this is gonna be uh come in my office. Come over to the principal's office. Shut the door, shut the door, and then it's gonna be like, Don't pull that BS ever again.
SPEAKER_02You know, like yeah, and and you know, I think that kind of shows that he's not got full confidence in the rebuilding of that of the ankle and leg.
SPEAKER_00So No, I think it's no, this is him having overconfidence. I mean, it you wouldn't attempt to backflip if you didn't have confidence in it.
SPEAKER_02Well, I I think he had confidence that he could do the flip, but when you stick that landing, you land hard. I think he was worried. Well, he slipped.
SPEAKER_00Well, okay. He slipped. There was some like confetti and he just slipped and he fell. Like, I'm telling y'all, I need details like that. Go look at the video, you're gonna see it and be like, oh, that's bad. I need details like this up front. Anyway, point of the matter is he's not having a great offseason, dude. You know, he's showing up at different events and doing dumb things in the TV.
SPEAKER_02At least he didn't re-tear his Achilles dancing outside the car, whatever Deshaun Watson did it a year ago.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness. Look, you don't have to do much to re-tear an Achilles. There was a a uh picture with the Braves that he tore his Achilles and he all he was doing is walking into the facility and he took a step onto one of the steps and it tore. You know, like so sometimes it's just bad luck.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean I mentioned this a week ago, Kevin Cobb. You know, I he was a backup for Philly, then went got traded to the car, or he left in free agency with the car, knows what to start. Shh didn't even start his first season because he slipped. On a mat on his way to the practice field, tore his ACL, done, never heard from him again. Terrible, terrible, terrible. But anyway. Do you want to take this last one, Mike? Sure, sure, sure.
Marshawn Lynch Joins Hockey Fest
SPEAKER_00So we're kind of blending two worlds here between uh I love crossovers. This is this is a little blend between hockey and NFL. Hockey? So kind of our our favorite former player, Marshawn Lynch, uh has been designated a special guest at the HDA's Summerfest. Now you might be asking, what is the HDA? Well, it is the Hockey Day in. No, it is the Hockey Hockey Diversity Alliance.
SPEAKER_02Hockey.
SPEAKER_00Hockey D. Yeah. You got me all fucked up, dude. Anyway, it happens in Toronto, and they have invited Marshawn Lynch to be a special special guest at this particular event where he will host football clinics and just kind of be there for the whole festival where they're trying to be an inclusive event for all races. Everybody come in, experience hockey, maybe get a football clinic with Marshawn Lynch. You know, and it's kind of a cool thing.
SPEAKER_02Like I'm gonna go do a hockey thing to get football lessons.
SPEAKER_00No, it's it's just a diversity thing, man. Okay. Anyway, but it's it's rooted around hockey mainly because it's up there in Toronto, and let's face it, hockey is a it's very liked in Canada. They they love their hockey up there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, until they get a football team, then football will rule.
SPEAKER_00They like it until they play us and we beat them with a gold medal. Yeah, that's who. Anyway, but it's kind of cool to see that you know Marshawn Lynch is getting out there and doing. I mean, not that he doesn't get out there and do stuff. We see him in commercials, we see him in movies, we see him doing all kinds of stuff.
SPEAKER_02He's just doing it so he doesn't get fined.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. You're right.
SPEAKER_02You know, I try to get our friend Micah to come on the show, right?
SPEAKER_01Hey, I'm just here so I don't get fined.
SPEAKER_02That's the first time we got to use that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I try to get Micah on the show. He's like, oh man, I don't talk a lot. I was like, Don't worry, Marshawn Lentz. Me and Mike got you.
SPEAKER_01Just to answer questions.
SPEAKER_02No, he ain't answering no questions. And I thought that was funny because he is a Seahawks fan. So anyway, point of the matter is Jinx, knock on something, my chest.
SPEAKER_00Point of the matter is it's really cool to see these kinds of events where they try to branch out and invite fans to be involved with the sport and maybe it maybe introduce people to a sport that they might not have had an involvement with prior to.
The Rising Cost Of Youth Sports
SPEAKER_00Which is probably something we need to do for our US team in soccer. We probably need to reach out and introduce more folks that don't have the means, which by the way, between baseball, football, basketball, soccer, it's becoming a thing, dude. Like, this is something I need and hockey? Look, not so much hockey. Hockey's always always been an expensive thing to do, but like you're having all these things where the traditional routes where you would just go play for like your middle school, then you go play for your high school, then go play some college ball, like that's a that doesn't exist anymore. Now, if you're not if you're not going AAU for basketball, if you're not on a travel team for baseball and soccer, if you're not doing those things, or you're not part of these these club events where they bring the best players from all around to play in one area and do a tournament, if you're not doing that stuff, man, you're screwed.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, and that probably is also a networking thing as well.
SPEAKER_00Bro. So I heard where somebody broke this down one time and they said that their kid was going through this soccer program, and it was like over a hundred thousand dollars for all the different vents that you have to pay for to get through just to get through doing all this stuff. Where it's 35,000 to go to this, go to this, you know, different soccer travel league and be on the travel league where you'll get exposed to coaches and and teams and you know, scouts and because like scouts for for some of this stuff, like for like basketball, they don't go to the high schools anymore. They go to the AAU. That's where they want to go. They want to go see you go play against the top guy from this other state. They don't want to see you playing the scrubs in your hometown, they want to see you go and play some real talent. Yeah, and it's getting to a point now where it's costing big money. Yeah, and especially even the football, the football's getting bad, dude. Like I got a friend right now, her son's playing, and this it's it's like a whole big thing where you know, if you're not part of this league, you're not going nowhere. You know, it's like you'll you'll go play for this other other league, but and it don't cost as much, but if you're not paying for the one that does cost, then you're not being seen. Yeah, you're not getting exposure. It's crazy, dude. Like it's flipped away.
SPEAKER_02Hey, that's everywhere, man. And I I hate that it's like that, but um, you know, that's just the way the world of sports uh seems to be evolving, especially as we move forward.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but it it's also coming with the cost. Like, and and now, you know, when I grew up playing playing uh baseball, you would have like maybe one bat, and kids would just share the bat, you know, or or you'd have like two or three helmets and we'd share helmets, you know. Now kids gotta have the bat. Now you have to have all your own stuff. You gotta have your own helmet, you know. Like, yeah, there's no there's no real sharing.
SPEAKER_02And then if they don't stick with it, so my son did baseball, didn't even finish the season. I think I dropped like seven, eight hundred dollars on baseball gear. This is little league, okay? I can't imagine how much you spend as you go up, you know, in age uh and in league.
SPEAKER_00And then every weekend you're sitting there paying to go to these events, these travel things. Yeah. And it's like, you know, it started becoming a thing as I was getting older because like you had, you know, the Upton brothers, BJ Upton and uh BJ Upton and his brother Justin and David Wright and Mark Reynolds and a bunch of players from the Hampton Roads area, that they were on a travel league together, which is crazy. You think about those names, and Ryan Zimmerman, all of them like on the same team, they all went to the majors, and it's like, dang, they must have been like murder murdering squads when they played them, you know. But that's how it is. Like, if you're not going to these academies, if you're not going and playing in these big tournaments or travel squads, you're not getting noticed. Yeah, like you can't just the days of going and playing through your school, like, yeah, sure, fine, you can play for your school, but don't let that interfere with your travel stuff. Yeah. And then every year, I want a new bat. Oh, I want a new new pair of cleats. Because I mean, kids are gonna grow out of them anyway.
SPEAKER_02Kids are gonna grow out, they're gonna beat them up.
SPEAKER_00I mean bro, I remember like having to break in baseball gloves. Like you get a baseball gloves.
SPEAKER_02You still have to break them in.
SPEAKER_00When it yeah, but like it's not the same anymore. Like they actually have a machine, I think it's at Dick's, like they literally put it in.
SPEAKER_02It's like a metal tinning machine. Like it's just a it's just a metal tinning machine. That's what it looks like. It looks like a sheet metal machine. Yeah, and they just hammer the piss out of it. And to me, like you're right, we used to have to break that in the hard way. Yeah, like used to have to have our parents run it over in the morning when they'd fucking leave for work.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, run over it with the car, or you know, wrap it with a big rubber band and oil it, yeah. Or sit there and just like pound it into the dirt, you know, like spiking it into the ground a bunch of times until it softens. But it's like crazy how this thing has turned into the haves and have nots.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's just another level because now that it's easier to get paid at the college level, access is gonna become limited now.
SPEAKER_00But the point I'm trying to get to with all this, our soccer team for all that crap, they were not the best team. And all the teams that were in this, they don't have academies, they don't have the crap that we do. Yeah, they just train the best players they can find. Yeah, and sometimes some some of the players that we have that may be the best, they might not be in the wealthy neighborhood. They might be the one that l lives in, you know, the hardest part of town, but they're dang good with a soccer ball.
SPEAKER_02Well, I was gonna say some of these people, just like with the World Series, right? Some of them go to other countries to represent other countries just to get into the tournament.
SPEAKER_00Baseball is probably the only one that they find talent from pretty much anywhere. Like you don't have to be wealthy to come from somewhere. Like with the with the the football, bait and the basketball, like there's sometimes it feels like you gotta have a little bit of something going on there. Yeah, it feels like yeah, get somewhere. And same thing with soccer. Soccer's so gatekeep. They they got gatekeepers, man. Like they I mean, look, I swear to you, just go to any any soccer event and look at the cars outside. You are not seeing some busted hoop d coming into the parking lot. You know, it is all like, you know, mom's pulling up in her big escalade.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's how I was at Little League Baseball. Like almost everybody shoot, you know, but not why. You gotta factor in now. Cars are staying nicer and reliable for a lot longer than they used to. Like, I mean, my car opposite, my car is 12 years old, and even my RAM, which was 20 years old, looked and drove damn near brand new. Like people mistaken it for brand new. So I'm sure some of these people just have cars that are very well taken care of as well. But a lot of them are nice cars. You don't really see these broke-down ass cars like we used to see in the 90s and early 2000s. Cars are, suffice to say, they're I feel like they're staying nights or longer. I don't know, man. I still see PT cruisers on the road. I still see Dodge. Oh, the the PT losers?
SPEAKER_01The PT losers.
SPEAKER_02You know, what was the other one? There was another car I saw that I'm just like, damn, I can't believe that's still driving around. And I see a lot of them. Uh what was it? There's a couple of them. Anyway, it doesn't matter. That's not
Thanks And Sign Off
SPEAKER_02related here. But anyway, for the last time tonight, I'd like to thank everybody for joining us. Uh a little bit shorter show, but things are a little bit short for us and uneventful through July. Uh, they don't really pick up until we start getting more into football season, which we're just a couple weeks away from. But we still we still brought some interesting things. Yeah, we try we try to keep it we try to keep it alive. In fact, last July we didn't even put out an episode, so we're doing much better than we did before in the past. Uh, but I'd like to thank everybody once again for joining us. Uh, thank our sponsors and partners, Buddy by D Gems, All Southers, uh, and Minute Late Torre Toro Wrestling, as well as our friends at Poor Vita and Request Station, um, and everybody who comes who takes time to listen to us, and we have some events coming up to celebrate the kickoff of our third season. For the final time tonight, I'm Brian with an I, and I'm Mike, and we are two for the win. Thanks everybody.