Sports Live! With Steve and Justin

NCAA March Madness Unleashed | Sports Talk Live! with Steve and Justin!

• Steve and Justin

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We argue through Sweet 16 matchups, why certain teams look built for March, and how coaching plus late-game nerve changes everything. Then we pivot to how streaming, stadium costs, and new tech like the automated strike zone are reshaping the way fans experience sports and why it’s getting harder to just watch the game. 

• Illinois as a real Final Four pick and why the bracket path matters 
• Houston’s home-court edge and how “neutral” stops being neutral 
• Nebraska’s surprise run and the value of impact players who do not score 
• Iowa’s win over Florida as a tempo and coaching lesson 
• Transfer portal and NIL creating older rosters and fewer true Cinderella teams 
• St. John’s vs Duke hype and Rick Pitino’s late-game play call 
• Purdue’s role players peaking and why that changes their ceiling 
• Michigan vs Alabama plus Iowa State as a dangerous matchup 
• Streaming fragmentation across MLB and NFL and why fans hate it 
• Classic baseball broadcasts and what modern coverage lost 
• NFL ticket prices and the MetLife Stadium experience problem 
• Automated strike zone, challenges, and umpire ego 
• Yankees prospect development frustrations and “play them or trade them” logic 

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Banter, Keith Joins, Brackets Begin

SPEAKER_01

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Sports Live with Steve and Justin. Tonight, NCAA madness, a little madness from here and there. Some surprises. Some things we're not surprised at. But here we are on a Monday night with Steven Justin. Here we go. And tonight we have with us Keith. He converted over the past week. That's it. He was it was a pastor, now he's a rabbi.

SPEAKER_00

I'm Baha'i next week. So I'll be I'll be, you know, I'm I'm working. I did this way to spend my time when I'm not watching college basketball. I'm just, you know, you know, studying uh theology. I I I did the whole book of Deuteronomy last week, thanks to you. Thank you. That was a big help. Um you know I forgot all about that. You know, Hebrews and all of it. I I blew through all that stuff. So it was great.

SPEAKER_01

So I'm I'm so let me know when you're my degree is in law and society, so when you're ready to when you're ready to go back to the code of Hammurabi, I'm I'm all in for you. I'm in. Well, it's funny because I I did we uh I have another podcast, it's called History's Agenda, and I was speaking to a guy that does remote viewing where they're you know guys that used to work for the government and look at things not where they are, that they could basically see with their minds. That's the short. And they can go back in time, forward in time, and all kinds of things. And this guy did an investigation, went back and looked at the code of Hemorabi. I'm like, who knows that? I was like, well, you you're lucky you got a guy that studied that running with the Deuteronomy.

SPEAKER_00

Could we bring him on the basketball show and haven't picked the final four?

Illinois Final Four Case

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he probably could, but he doesn't do that kind of thing. So anyway, NCAA micromadness. That's it. I just want to say, I told you Illinois. I still believe in Illinois. I think they're gonna go to the final four. I could be totally wrong, and it wouldn't be the first time.

SPEAKER_03

What do you think? After after seeing them play, I went after we got off air last week. I went back and studied the South bracket one more time, and I couldn't, I just am so partial to the Big Ten. I crossed out Houston, then I crossed out Florida, then I wrote Florida over Houston, then I crossed them out, and I wrote in Illinois because you gave me business about picking number one seat. So I was like, you know what? I didn't put Illinois. Yeah, you said a way to way to go out on a win. But to be fair, I did get high point right, I did get Texas right. So, you know, I'm doing all right. I think I got 13 out of 16.

SPEAKER_01

I have to say that there are not a lot of number ones. I mean, you have Duke, you have Arizona, and you have Michigan. Beyond that, you got nothing. Yeah. I mean, uh there's teams that I listen. I think Illinois is uh great and could go to the Final Four, I do. Or the Elite Eight or whatever you call it, I do, but I think they're going to the Final Four for sure now.

Houston Home Court And Nebraska Rise

SPEAKER_00

Houston's no chunked. Well, here's the thing. If they were playing on a neutral court, I would say Illinois had a good chance. Houston's playing two home games. I mean, Houston's got Illinois at home, and then the winner of Nebraska and Iowa, they're playing in Houston.

SPEAKER_03

Nebraska's a surprise because Nebraska had never won a tournament game before. And I called Keith on, was it Thursday? We were on for tip-off, and they showed the stat. Nebraska had never won a tournament game, which blew my mind. And I said, you know what? If they win one, they're gonna win a few. So they won, and then they beat Vany.

SPEAKER_00

They interviewed Price Santa for three threes at the five threes at the half, and they were like, you know, this is the Nebraska record for most threes in a game. And he was like, Yeah, so, you know, like it was like the halftime reporter was like, you know, like jamming him up with that, and he's like, Yeah, like we've never been here before, so it's you know, not a big thing. But yeah, no, I uh I they they did a really nice job. I don't know, have you it the kid you gotta watch who's fascinating on Nebraska is the kid Heuberg's uh Heuberg's son, Sam Hoyberg. He's six feet tall. Every game he has some statistic that makes absolutely no sense. He had nine rebounds in the first game, right? He had eight assists in the next game. He's you know, he always gets the probably the most impactful player in the country who doesn't score 10 points a game. I mean, but he always has some sort of statistic where he adds greatly to the team. So I mean, you know it would make you think he could do whatever he wants, right? Connor, yeah, he's six feet, I mean, six six feet tall, standing on the phone book. And he, you know, grabs nine rebounds in an in an NCAA game. You know, it's it's it's just the kid does the kid just sort of asserts himself. He's got that headband on and makes him look he's like he's in the world bombs or something like that.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, fond I am of headbands.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I know. He's like he's he's like you know, try to look like Andre Agassiz, because that's a real hip look for the kids today.

Iowa Stuns Florida With Poise

SPEAKER_01

I would love to see Illinois and Nebraska, you know what I mean? Yeah. I I would love that well in your home game thing real quick. And I and I have to say, if I'm gonna be surprised about something, and there are a couple things I'm surprised at, but certainly something I was surprised at how Iowa in the last seconds of the game took control and won that game and left Florida spinning because they didn't seem to be in, you know, they they weren't prepared for that moment. They let the kid shoot the three, and he says, apparently, on the interview that I saw after the after the game, they interviewed him and he said, Well, what did you say to your players? I said, Give me the ball, I got it. I love it. He had a great tournament coach sitting there and said, Did that happen? And the and the other kid goes, Yeah. I mean, you gotta say something for a kid in that moment against a team like Florida.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, and and Florida didn't know where they were. Absolutely. Well, everybody, everybody makes a big deal about Todd Golden won the national championship last year, and rightfully so, he's a great coach. But Ben McCollum is 44 years old, division two. He wrote he won four national championships at Northwest Missouri State, jumped up to Drake, took basically his entire roster with him and a few other D2 kids, then went to the Sweet 16 last year with Drake, nearly knocked off Texas Tech, and this year he gets the Iowa job. He takes a bunch of he takes he takes half the Drake roster with him, and then he he pulls up uh Fulgeris, they do with the game winning shot uh out of Robert Morris. Great player, uh great outside shooter. You got two freshmen in there. You know, he's just he's put this together out of guys who were like transfers from Wyoming and stuff like that in one year. You know, I mean I I think you see in the the beginning of a real But he had him ready to play.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they knew they knew what it was, and prepare and and you see that from time to time with these kids that they're not prepared for those big moments because they didn't have them all season. They pay and they win by, you know, the big teams they play, they win everything by 20 points, 15 points. You hear these things. They're not in that crunch moment like it's gonna happen when a team plays over their heads, if that's a real term, but you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_00

One of the things you saw with Iowa is when the game started out, the game was a very fast-paced game early. And that was what Florida was looking for. Iowa got out to a little bit of a lead, and they took the pace down significantly. They were running deeper into the shot clock and they were getting much better high percentage looks later on in the possession. Uh, the kid Banks, um, who's a six foot seven guard, who, again, he was a kid who was a JUCO kid, he was a Division II kid in Florida that went to Drake last year. And he's a guard, but he plays like a Ford, he had 20 points. He was fantastic, you know. Like they just got these great games out of these guys. But it was funny because it started out feeling like it was going to be a Florida runaway type game, but the pace really became an Iowa game as things got going, and they really controlled the tempo, they controlled the pace, they controlled the energy. And, you know, Florida made a run late, but that was Iowa's game. And it was impressive. I mean, it was really great to see a team that um, you know, won a national championship last year run into a team that was basically a bunch of mid-majors last year, and the mid-major teams win, you know.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Well, uh another team, you know, I, you know, I I spoke a lot about UConn last time, and I really thought they were gonna get bumped. And neither team they played really gave them a run for the money if the if not the opposite. And now they're coming into Michigan State.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

Coaching Edge And Transfer Portal Era

SPEAKER_01

And I'm a Michigan State guy. I like them. I liked them last year, I like them this year. And I think they're really gonna give them a run for the money, and I hope they beat them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I think we're seeing a a major effect from uh portal transfers, especially now two tournaments in a row where it's pretty much chalk into the Sweet 16. I mean, there wasn't a major upset that got anybody at you would consider a Cinderella in the Sweet 16, and the portal has a lot to do with that. You go from like you just mentioned Iowa before, you're able to bring kids in that can play right away, but also they're more mature. The average starting team is like 21 years old. They're not all freshmen like it was when you know, when I guess Calipari and Petite, you know, they had those amazing freshman teams and they would all play one year and go to the NBA. You're not really seeing that. And you mentioned on Saturday we had talked we're talking about Michigan, and you said to me the difference between them and some of these other teams, who's gonna take the last shot for Michigan? Yeah, and it's not just Michigan, it's really any team. Judge, you just said it yourself. The kids told this coach, I got this. As a coach, you you want that from your players, but you you can't ask that of them. They have to show it to you.

SPEAKER_05

Right.

SPEAKER_03

So that plus having a a coach that knows what he's doing, a good coach, will get you far in this tournament. And I think we're gonna see that as we go forward. That what what coach is gonna let his team play yet get out of them that I want the ball in this spot mentality if he hasn't already coached it into them. Because you have you still have to coach it into them. I mean, any any kid these days has got you know enough arrogance on the stage to want the ball, but some kids kind of fall into that I don't want the ball. And you can see it on their faces sometimes. You can see when they take the court late in games under two minutes, all of a sudden they look unsure of themselves. Some kids just turn it up a level. Michigan State's got a guy like that now. They're they've been on fire. I think ACUF Jr. and Arkansas is that guy. So you know what do we see in the Sweet 16? We see teams that you know, we said last week it's hard not to chalk this bracket, but you know, you have uh who who's advanced? Uh Arizona, Arkansas, you know, coaches and players that want the ball. You have uh Purdue who looked, you know, Purdue looked like they're big and long, Purdue. Texas has advanced and they had that, you know, essentially a warm-up game, which we talked about that last week. That that 11 seed playing in, it's a warm-up game, and they're playing a a a competitive team. Whoever wins that game has got momentum coming into this tournament that other teams don't necessarily have. You could talk about the Kemble Walker team from well, they had it they had to win six straight to get into the tournament. They did, and then they won the tournament, and it was all on his back, basically. I don't know that I see anybody like that in this tournament except for maybe A. Cuff Jr. But as you go through the bracket, you get down to the nitty-gritty.

SPEAKER_01

But and don't forget NC State gave Texas a run for their money.

SPEAKER_03

Oh no, I'm not, but that game could have gone either way, and we talked about heat, Keith said he liked NC State. I said I like Texas. Either way, we we felt that that 11 seed was gonna be trouble in this tournament. Here they are in the Sweet 16.

Pitino’s Late-Game Masterclass

SPEAKER_01

I'd say what might be. Go ahead. So all I'm gonna say is and move on from Michigan and Yukon a little bit. Duke and St. John's, everybody out there, raise your right hand and wants to see St. John's beat Duke. All right, so so not just us, everybody listening. We want to see St. John's beat Duke.

SPEAKER_03

There's only two places in the country rooting for Duke, North Carolina and Connecticut. That's it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I got my Rick Petino white ice cream white suit on today in honor of St. John's getting the win they got, because I was like, you know, I was at the thrift store, it had a little green tag on it, which meant it was a buck today. So here we go. In honor of Rick Petino, it probably was his. Oh, this thing's like nine sizes too big for me.

SPEAKER_03

So he probably bought it in that jacket.

SPEAKER_01

You bought it in the thrift store across from Iona, didn't you? So they so anyway, so anyway, you know, let's not forget Kansas did give them a rub for the money. Kansas is a very good team, and I think we all thought about Kansas going a little farther than that. But, you know, when you everybody talked about St. John's being, you know, peaking, that they, you know, maybe they didn't play this well during the season, but they've he's got them to that fine point. He got him enough to get in, and now he's gonna take them all away.

SPEAKER_00

And I will say this about Patino. One of the great calls I've seen in a game. You know, that game was, you know, they had a big lead in that game, and they let it really slip away. It was like, yeah, I thought it was gone. And I'm starting to think, oh, they're gonna blow it again this year. And the play he called down the end was absolutely genius. So what he does, I wish I had like the telestrator for this, but he has so so everybody in the building thinks the ball's going to Zubi, right? So he sets Zubi up for a high pick and roll. So Zubi brings the brings the defender out. So the guy who's on Darling who gets the ball kind of looks over like he's kind of, you know, wanting to help out if Zubi gets the ball, right? Or some kind of pick gets set or what anything like that. Zubi brings the pick further out, so the guy, so the defender follows him out. Darling, who's left-handed, goes right. And so they're they're all crossed up how to guard him. Darling's two steps in front of him, throws in a layup right-handed. I mean, it was a brilliant call. Like down the end of the, you know, because Darling had hit a shot. So, like, you know, putting the ball in the hand of an Idaho state transfer with everything on the line. Nobody in the gym thought he was taking that shot. And Kansas had been overplaying Zuby the whole game. And the fact that Bikino saw that edge right there, to me, that was what makes him a great coach. I mean, just seeing that in that spot was unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, there's not much to say about that. I mean, Duke's Duke. You know, they they they dominated, you know, both their games. They had to play. I mean, Siena, Sienna, Sienna, Sienna gave him a run for the money a little bit, but at the end of the day, you knew that Duke was going to come back together.

SPEAKER_03

Sienna had him on the hook. I mean, they were up 11 points at the half. They were I thought the Sienna coach made a huge, I don't want to say he made a huge mistake. I think he just took a gamble and it didn't work. He didn't sub in that game until late, late, late in the second half. And at some point, when you have a lead like that, you're playing a great team. They're gonna come back. Okay I thought that with that 11-point lead, you would know in the first three or five minutes, are we gonna stay in this 10-point range for long enough? But the reality is you gotta rest those guys. They gotta come off the floor at some point. And I guess he used halftime as that as that downtime. I thought they needed to break somewhere around the you know the 10-minute mark because if they were gonna win that game, they would have had to come back to do it anyway.

SPEAKER_01

But so But let me so we don't I I don't know, maybe you know, maybe the rabbi knows, but I don't I don't know what they did all year. Did they do like the Knicks did and never subbed anybody all year? So it wasn't their game or change. I I don't believe that that's what happened.

SPEAKER_03

I think it was just the tournament and he played to win. He went with his best, best five guys, and that was it.

SPEAKER_00

He has two best guys he uses regularly that are listen. Duke is only using the seven-man rotation, right? Well, that's what I was gonna say. Duke's still on a shorter rotation as well. For me, I I I didn't mind it because my thought was McNamara was you know was playing to stay in the game the whole time, right? They have an 11-point lead. They lose anything.

SPEAKER_03

And Duke was was out to two of their best players.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. You know, I I think he just stuck with his they did lose it though. Like at the end of the game, they didn't have any energy. But I I got where McNamara was going. I mean, he really doesn't have anybody coming off the bench besides one or two guys who could have given him serious minutes. They were gonna have to.

SPEAKER_03

He's gonna get a big time job eventually, and he's gonna be somebody to have to deal with as a coach at a big school for sure.

SPEAKER_00

That's gonna be in the next 10 minutes. Uh Syracuse just got the uh did you see the guy um what's his name? Uh oh yeah turned down Syracuse to take the Providence job. And so McNamara is all but you know, the the guy at Syracuse, which I mean, it's it's his it's his third year as a head coach and he's going to Syracuse. I mean, you know, first of all, Syracuse is getting turned down for uh the Providence job is crazy to me. But also, like, you know, McNamara, I think, should be.

SPEAKER_01

Is it really? Providence has historically been a pretty good team. I mean, Syracuse used to be part of the Big East, but the Big East ain't what the Big East is anymore, right?

SPEAKER_00

No, you're right. I mean, I I there was a time where you know Providence was like, you know, a seven seed in the Big East tournament, and Syracuse was perennially, you know, in the running port, but it it's it just it, you know, it's it's it's not that day anymore in Syracuse. I mean, that that was a really like when I saw Hodson turn that job down, I was like, I mean, he's from Buffalo, so he's from upstate New York. So it's I mean, Buffalo's not next to Syracuse, but it, you know, yeah, for him to take the Providence job was crazy. I was I I couldn't believe that, but really that is where things are at right now. Right. Syracuse just isn't that good a job for a lot of people. So Meg Murray.

SPEAKER_01

Well, you know, it could be it could be just the NIL money that's available. It could be, you know, you can use the porthole, you know. The game has changed, and NIL changes everything, right? Because when you're looking at what you're gonna get paid in the pros and you look at the money you're making now, and that money's more than you've most likely more than you've ever seen in your life, unless you're a rich kid, um, which most of them are not, right? Um, so you know, you think to yourself, you know, I'm not so bad. I'm having a good time. I don't have to work, I go to school, I play basketball. Yeah. So any anyway, to move move on to another part of the bracket, you know, we're not surprised by Arizona, Arkansas, right? We thought that from the beginning. We are surprised of what would happen with Wisconsin and High Point. I mean, that was a great game. And, you know, High Point just took it to him. Now, at the end, they started to come back, but they never they never let up and they ended up beating them.

SPEAKER_00

Best part of that game for me is the kid Chase Johnson, who was the three-point shooter. He had not hit a two-point shot all year, and he gets opened down and hits it. It's his first two-point shot of the year, and it's the most important bucket of the game. Yeah, that was great.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, it was the way to point that out, too.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, I and then, and then, you know, I mean, it was wild to see Cam Fletcher because I'm like, Cam Fletcher was on Kentucky like in the 1980s. I mean, he's been there forever. Um literally, I think he started in night in 2019. So he's like on his, I think on his fourth or fifth team. Um, and you know, he had a great game. I mean, they they they looked fantastic, you know. Um, it's just, you know, they didn't have enough, they didn't have enough, uh, they didn't have enough to not off Arizona, but they were that that was uh absolutely that program did a great job this weekend.

Purdue Peaks Ahead Of Texas

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, I thought that was good. I mean, there's not much to talk about in that part of the bracket, but certainly now we're looking at Texas and Purdue. We talked about Purdue, but you know, Gonzaga did beat your daughters or sons, Alamada, Kennesaw State, and Purdue beat Queens. Yep. And but you sp we expected a little bit more out of Miami. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And we expected a lot more out of Gonzaga. The thing that's the thing that's been impressive about Purdue is, you know, Smith has been really good, Clough has been really good all year. The guys who I haven't been sure on, who've been, you know, hit or miss, have been Lawyer and um and Kaufman Rand. Both of them had had probably their best games of the season against Miami. Uh Lawyer was four for four from three. Kaufman Rand had 19 points. He was dominant. He looked like I mean, he was a he was coming into the season, he was a national. Player of the year candidate, he has not looked right all year. He's been eight points off his average. That was what he looked like last year. And if pretty plays like that, they got a shot to beat Arizona. I mean, like, that's a team that really is starting to gel. Um, you know, and again, if Lawyer can stretch the defense and hit and hit four threes in a game like he did against Miami, all of a sudden the inside's wide open and Kaufman Wren lives in there, you know, and they got Clough in there. And then they then they got a point guard who can move the ball all over the place. So it's like, you know, the the those two guys could make a huge difference in this. I did not expect that good.

SPEAKER_03

Late in a game, that's the ball's gonna be in that kid's hands for sure.

SPEAKER_01

I I look forward to that Texas Purdue game. I mean, it just looks really big.

SPEAKER_00

Charlie Miller's done a great job with Texas, too. I I don't love him. Do you remember when he when he was a kid, he used to go on Johnny Carson? He used to go on the Johnny, I he was like a little kid and he would go on the Johnny Carson show and he would dribble when he was little, seriously. He was looking up on YouTube, it was the craziest thing you ever see. And you know, and then he went on, he was the point guard at Pitt, and I used to I used to go to pit games and yell at him. I used to call him sausage fingers, which was probably a mean thing for me to say. Um, but then uh, you know, and then he's been coerced. Yeah, I was good. Well, you know, you know, I mean he he he got over it, obviously. I mean, he didn't say anything bad about me on the wiretap. So um okay.

Michigan, Alabama, Iowa State Threat

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, I'll get off showing. Uh Michigan and Alabama. I've been on many of water taps, so don't kid yourself. Michigan and Alabama, you know, we expected Alabama and we expected Michigan. You can't be that uh surprised.

SPEAKER_02

I mean Michigan's gonna have its hands full with Iowa State when they get there, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01

That's uh I know that's the next screw. About to overlook. No, no, that's exactly what I was getting to. I was gonna just blow right by them. Iowa State has my attention.

SPEAKER_00

I mine too, and I I think the Michigan-Alabama game should be a good game because Alabama can score. I I just think I think Michigan's gonna blow them out of the building. The way Michigan looked in the second half of that game the other day was fantastic. They're they defend extremely well. Alabama, so they could score, but they can't really play defense. I mean, they're they're an average defensive team at best. And Michigan's gonna be able to control the tempo of that game. I mean, they may blow them out of that game. But I think Iowa State, especially because Jefferson, when when Joshua Jefferson went down, you know, in the Kentucky game, it was looking like he might be done, but he actually might be available to play some in the Sweet 16. Even if he doesn't play, Lipsy played great in the game, Torrey played great in the game. Those guys are really coming on. Torrey's a freshman and he's shown flashes. You know, he's only like an eight-point-a-game player, but he's shown flashes of a guy who can put up 30 in a game. So you get him, you get Jefferson back and the Mamaluke, who's, you know, you know, killing it from outside. And like they really do. They have a shot at beating Michigan. I would not be surprised if they beat Michigan.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I mean, they're they could have been the number one seed, Iowa State. They're they're not good. It's not, you know. Um, I I went with my historical gut versus the two seeds. So that's that's where my bracket's getting busted right now. That in Florida. Picking Michigan I did okay in the first two rounds. I mean, I I went 15 out of 16 on the west, and I think I went uh 14 out of 16 on the on the east and the south. So not bad. But we'll see what happens this week. And I think there's gonna be a lot of red on my bracket. Who'd you who'd you have for the final four? At the end of the podcast, I had Michigan, Arizona, Michigan State, and Florida. And then I changed Florida after you talked me out of it, sort of, to Illinois.

unknown

Ha!

SPEAKER_01

Isn't that amazing, huh? Saved your butt on that one.

SPEAKER_03

I'll stick with what I what I originally said on the podcast. I I I get I'll take the loss on that one. I gave you high point, I gave you Texas, right? I uh I had uh I had I liked the nine seeds, but then I didn't follow through. So that is what it is. If Michigan wins, I'm all right.

SPEAKER_00

I I got I got Michigan.

Elite Eight Picks And Big Ten Pride

SPEAKER_03

Michigan, that that bracket though, the the Yukon Michigan State game, the Duke St. John's game. I mean, that's the file four. With all due respect to everybody else, let's talk about the Elite Eight.

SPEAKER_01

Let's talk about the Elite Eight for a minute. What do you got? What do you got for me, Rabbi?

SPEAKER_00

I'm thinking I I send Houston and Iowa. I thought I feel like Iowa, I thought Iowa had enough to beat Florida. I had that in my bracket originally, but I thought they played so well in that game. I think they got enough to get past Nebraska as well. They played Nebraska twice this year. First one um was 55 to 53, was like a bloodbath, but a great game. Second one was um, you know, Iowa, Iowa lost in overtime, but it was a very good game. I think Iowa's got enough to win there. I think they lose to Houston, and you get Houston there. I think you end up with Michigan-St. John's, Michigan State St. St. John's, in which case I like Michigan State. I just think the kid Fears is is, you know, to me, he might end up being the player of the tournament. Um, he's just a great point guard. And he's been he's been dynamite all year. I got Arizona Purdue. I'm taking I originally had Arizona. After what I saw in the Miami game, I like Purdue. I really think they're they're peaking right now. This is this is the Purdue that I was thinking might show up possibly, but like they they're here. Um so if Kaufman Ren plays like that and Lawyer plays like that, I think they're okay. And I got Iowa State, and I my final is gonna be Iowa State versus Houston, and I got Houston taking home a national championship, which is cool because I'm in a bracket where I'm in some pool where it's like a thousand dollars, and like I'm the only person who has Houston. So if Houston wins, I'm gonna be the happiest person in the world because I get everything else to get Houston right. I won the bracket. So, you know. What do you what do you have, uh Justin?

SPEAKER_03

Elite A Duke, Michigan State, with Michigan State advancing because I was uncertain of whether or not both those players were gonna come back. Now it looks like one player might come back for Duke, but I'm I'm still going with Michigan State. I think they're playing, I think they're really hot. I had Florida, Illinois, uh, and then I had Florida going to the Final Four, but then I I switched it after Monday. But I'll take the L on that one. Then I have Arizona, Purdue, and I went with Arizona, and I had Michigan and Kentucky, who really let me down. So obviously I'm going with Michigan in the final four there.

SPEAKER_01

Who's you probably gonna? I see the results this week. Michigan, Michigan State. I mean, I'm a little different. I think St. John's is gonna beat Duke. I don't care what happens, I think he's gonna get him up to there, there. And I think this is a changing of the guard week. I think Michigan State's gonna beat Yukon. I think Nebraska's gonna beat Iowa, even though I like Iowa a lot. And I think Illinois, and Illinois and Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska are gonna be uh a great uh a great uh game next time.

SPEAKER_03

And then I'll Big Ten has a great opportunity to separate itself against the country here.

SPEAKER_01

Iowa State, Michigan, Texas, and Arizona. That's what I think. Like my Texas pick. Yeah, I I like Texas the whole time. I mean, I don't I couldn't understand why they were a playing game. I thought they were better than that, but yeah, you know, really too.

SPEAKER_00

They were I think they were the the uh according to the when they seeded the tournament, they were the last team in. So, you know, yeah, but they were number 11. They have them as 11. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, because the the lower seeds are all you know conference winners. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's still crazy. Texas was that the literally was like the the last team they put in, and they've looked great. And you know, again, Sean Miller's been a fantastic coach wherever he's been. They also go on probation every two years after he leaves. But, you know, like that's uh you know, uh that's no longer a problem since there's almost no way to go on probation anymore. I mean, can you go on probation? Can you actually commit viol? Are there violations to be committed? Like if you start shooting players up with winnestroll before games, is that a problem, even? Is that illegal anymore?

SPEAKER_03

Even if it was, they could just transfer out through the portal, the school get punished, and then nothing happens to the players.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, honestly, the NCAA could use the hook code of Hammurabi right now. I mean, they they they they don't have anything to do with it. Yeah, exactly, right? Like they don't have anything else in terms of rules or anything like that. It's the wild west out there. So why not? Just go back to Hammurabi. I guess that's true.

SPEAKER_01

So we have what else? So what else? Anything else before we let you go? You know, just enjoying the pollen. I'm gonna go out and swim in it in a bit. So what uh so are you are you are you gonna come back next week so we can talk about the next? We might as well carry this all the way through to the end if you're around.

SPEAKER_00

Judge, I would be honored. Your honor, your eminence, your holiness, I would be honored to have a chance to join you again. By the way, congratulations. Justin told me that they're rebooting the uh the series The Shield that you used to be on. Um, and uh, you know, you get a chance to reply to the show. You know, I edited that shit out, right?

SPEAKER_01

You're out. The whole time, the whole time. Um I'm like uh you know, all of a sudden, you know when when you watch the final podcast, people are going like, who's Steven Justin talking to?

SPEAKER_03

The pastor, a rabbi? Big hit this weekend up in Sogadis, I can tell you that.

SPEAKER_00

All right, enough about the Magic City, fellas. I'll see you.

SPEAKER_03

Good to see you, pal.

SPEAKER_00

Have a good one. Thank you for everything.

Keith Signs Off And CTA

SPEAKER_03

Thanks again. We just got finished with Keith Spillett, talking sweet 16. Make sure you like and subscribe. Share friends.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, uh that was he's great, right? Yeah. I mean, and he gives us these players' names. I'm like, oh yeah, I know that guy. I saw him play, but I don't know his name.

SPEAKER_03

He is to to basketball what Dom is to conspiracy theories.

Sports On Streaming Now

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's true. So, you know, we're only a week away, right, from the NFL draft? Is it next Monday?

SPEAKER_03

No, it's at the end of uh end of April. NFL. End of April.

SPEAKER_04

Let me look it up. Yeah. Late late April.

SPEAKER_01

What day is that? What day? What day? 23rd April. Oh, it's April, so we're a month away.

SPEAKER_03

Major League Baseball, I think, starts next week in the middle of March again.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the Yet game is on Netflix, if you can imagine.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, what is that? I mean, come on, what are we doing here? So it's ridiculous now.

SPEAKER_01

Well, they're trying to be in the NFL and they don't have no ability.

SPEAKER_03

Even the NFL putting these games on these ridiculous streaming networks, and for what? I I just don't under you know. I mean, I know it's about money, I get it. And the people that consume it, that continue to just keep buying packages, I mean, shame on them too. As a consumer group in this country, we're, you know. Yeah, yeah. But it makes it unenjoyable and I'm watching.

SPEAKER_01

I have a lot of I have a lot of streaming services. So I don't I don't watch them because um, you know, I don't watch Netflix so I can get a baseball game. I would never do that. I watch Netflix because I want to see the Peaky Blinders movie that just came out, by the way, in case anybody Peaky Blinders.

SPEAKER_03

There's so much out there now, and the content is changing. The way you you said it with your the camera that you had to buy for this, it's Netflix compatible or compliant. Who would have thought that that would be a phrase that you would hear that you had to film a certain according to what the broadcaster wanted, not how you wanted to make your movie.

SPEAKER_01

It's so funny that there are a list of cameras and it's broad. But if your your movie, you know, your homegrown documentary and was what I was working on to film, it doesn't use one of these cameras. I mean, there are higher-end cameras, real movie cameras, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, sure. You they don't even look at you.

SPEAKER_03

So it's all digital. You couldn't make a movie like The Godfather today, the way it the way it was filmed. You probably couldn't make it Western today the way it was filmed, but it was filmed the old-fashioned way, right?

SPEAKER_01

And Stanley Kubrick and and him and others all all did it that way, you know, and that's what gives it the great view of it all.

Baseball Broadcast Nostalgia

SPEAKER_03

How you watch it, how you consume it, it's all part of it. And then things, I mean, I you know, I'll be the first to admit I hate change, but to not be able to just turn the television on and watch a ball game is criminal to me. And you know, used to be the blackouts, if they didn't sell enough tickets, you couldn't watch the game, whatever it was. They had these broadcasting constraints.

SPEAKER_01

So you had the NFL, you had the uh blame, so you had in baseball, you watched the Mets on Channel 9, Ralph Kiner, Kiner's corner, the whole thing, and then and the Yankees were on channel 11. And you just say, Are the Yanks on tonight? And then you just went to the channel and looked. Seven o'clock. That's all there was. It was it. And you had great, you know, you had Scooter when they when they when they decided not to take him back as a player, became an announcer. He's long gone, long left this world. But you know, you had Bill White, who later became the president of the National League. He was great. Two of them together were amazing.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. They were a lot of fun to listen to. I mean, obviously I'm a homer, but that was my home team. So, you know, what else was I gonna listen to? But the stories they told and you know, the feel for the game that they had as ex players, they were really good. They were very enjoyable to listen to. Today it's just a lot different.

SPEAKER_01

Did you ever hear the story of Scooter telling how he got suckered into doing the baseball thing for the meatloaf song Paradise by a Dashboard Light?

SPEAKER_03

I I read the story once, but I never heard him tell the story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

He said he got coded by a that he had no idea he did the bit, but he never heard the song. He had no idea what it was about. And then when it came out, he was shocked because he was notorious, he was a funny guy. He was notorious to leaving the game in the seventh inning.

SPEAKER_03

They would take pictures of the bridge to get up get across the bridge in time. He would you hear him say, Hey messer, how's the traffic?

SPEAKER_01

So funny he was.

SPEAKER_03

Different time, different time for sure. I mean, that was all part of it, though. It was part of the charm of watching the broadcast, was was that, you know, especially in in the lean years. You had nothing else to look forward to.

SPEAKER_01

Well, in the Mets, you had Ralph Kiner, and who else did you have? You had uh well sleeving who just left?

SPEAKER_03

Who's retiring this year? Hallie Rose.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but he was way before him.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I don't remember who was with the Mets because I didn't really watch the Met. I always watched the Yankees. The Yankees had Seaver in the booth at times. I remember that, because he used to razz Rosuto nonstop. I met Phil Rizzuto at at the stadium on my 17th birthday. That was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01

I um I met Rosuto once too. He signed a baseball for me. I I still have it, obviously.

SPEAKER_03

Signed my program or my yearbook, whatever it was.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he was a great guy. Yogi was a great guy too.

SPEAKER_03

I was in I was in awe. I shook his hand and I just stood there with my mouth open. And my girlfriend grabbed the the book out of my hand, flipped through the pages while he was talking to us, and he carried the conversation. I don't think I said two words because I was just awestruck. And she handed him the book and she's like, Will you sign our program? He's like, Oh, sure. Anything for you kids. And that was the coolest thing ever.

SPEAKER_04

Here we go.

SPEAKER_01

And Croudel, oh my god, they got the broadcasts on YouTube starting with the first game 324, 1962.

SPEAKER_03

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01

So those are all on YouTube, guys, if you want to watch them. It says well known 60s Mets radio broadcasts, that's why. Radio broadcasts back when the manager was Casey Stingle.

SPEAKER_04

Wow.

SPEAKER_03

So totally different era of baseball. It's funny. We were talking about, you know, looking at the way we grew up and how we consume sports, and we are all in agreement that here it is.

SPEAKER_01

Lindsay Nelson and Bob Murphy. Oh, Bob Murphy, right. 62 to 78.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

Ralph Connor was a hell of a player.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And Lindsay Nelson was a famous broadcaster. He used to do the bunch of home runs. The horse racing and everything.

SPEAKER_04

Different time.

SPEAKER_03

You know, th those broadcasts gave you a lot of information on the history of the game. And whereas today I feel like you don't really get that. You get the stats, right, from the producer, but like the what they talk about during the game doesn't really connect with the history of the game. And I think as kids, when we grew up, we were connected to the history of the game. And it was, I mean, you know, they taught you about Jackie Robinson in school and the color barrier and things like that. It was very important. But you knew the history of the game, you knew who the players from yesteryear were, the icons of the game, you know, the immortals of the game. And today I feel like it's it's I don't think it's it's the history of the game is being taught to younger generations. I don't think they have an appreciation of the game.

SPEAKER_01

You think the younger generation, the players don't, the coaches don't know the younger stuff. So listen, Lindsay Nelson, Bob Murphy, and Ralph Kiner started in '62, and they went on to in 77. There were still the three of them. In 78, Bob Wolf came with him. He was a uh a broadcaster, but he was no young chicken either. And then Steve Albert was with them. It was Bob Murphy, Ralph Tiner, Steve Albert. And then they added Bart Goldshaw, whoever that is. I don't know who that is. So, and then in 81, uh, they added Art Chamsky, who was a former Met from the 60s to 72. Um, he was a player.

SPEAKER_03

I met him too. I met Chant him. Where did we meet him? At the uh what did they do at the Queen's Baseball Festival? He was there.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and then then uh then so Lauren Brown came in for uh uh one year, then in 83 becomes Tim McCarver, Bud Harrelson.

SPEAKER_03

Bud Harrelson, yeah. Should have been a little bit of a.

SPEAKER_01

You know, he was one of the 69 guys. Um Ralph Connor was still there.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, he was there right up until he passed away almost.

SPEAKER_01

And then Gary Thorne, how he rose. Oh, Ralph Connor was still there in '96. Uh still going on. So he's gone in. No, he's still there when when uh Tom Seaver was in in 2005 for a year. Tom Seaver in for a few years.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and then he got sick too.

SPEAKER_01

Happens to the best of us. And Todd Zeal. Wow, I don't remember that. Jerry Blevins. Well, Tod Zeal's doing the broadcast now.

SPEAKER_03

He does SMY, Todd Zeal.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, is that what it is? It was probably I don't listen. Dale Murphy. A whole bunch of not my favorite players. So can Keith the only thing I ever had about Keith Hernandez was that people thought he was better than Don Mattingley.

SPEAKER_03

Keith Hernandez played on a turf field with three other Hall of Famers in the infield. That's all I'm gonna say. Mattingly played with uh Paul Zuvella. No, I'm kidding. And Mattingley had a lot of people. They're both great. They're both great, but Keith Hernandez couldn't play shortstop left-handed. All right, how about that? I'll say that. Mattingly's my guy. You know that. I love that guy. And he was fantastic with the glove, you know. And for somebody who, you know, did not was not fleet afoot, he was a very good base runner. On top of the fact that he was one of the best hitters in baseball for five years, prolific player who played through injury at the end, which you know you really don't know much about until you hear stories afterwards how exactly how hurt he was.

SPEAKER_01

So here we go. Here's the announcers for the Yankees starting in 47 when they started doing it on television. Mel Allen, how about that? Russ Hodges, then Bill Slater, then in 49, Mel Allen, Kirk Gowdy, then in 50, Mel Allen, Kirk Gowdy, Dizzy Dean. Dizzy Dean, wow. No kidding.

SPEAKER_03

Kirk Gowdy was great.

SPEAKER_01

He was great. I loved Kirk Gowdy. He did everything. Then Art Gleason for a little bit, Jim Woods, Joey Brown, who was a comedian, did it, and then Mel, listen 54, Mel Allen, Red. Barber.

SPEAKER_03

That had to be the greatest pair of baseball ever to listen to. I love Mel Allen. I know that much.

SPEAKER_01

They're there until Scooter comes in in 58.

SPEAKER_03

Wow, he was there that's 57.

SPEAKER_01

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because they they didn't hire him back. They told him hit the road. They just go to the booth. So then yeah, Mel Allen, Barber, and Rosuto, all the way up to when Jerry Coleman comes in in 63 and adds to that. And then it's Coleman. Jerry Coleman is a good voice. Then in 65, Joe Gragiola.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

Who then went to the Today, went to the Today Show.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So I know it was good. He was very intense. I love Joe Gragiola because he always told the story, and I think we've told it before, and I'm going to tell it again. Is that he lived around the corner from Yogi Barra? And he most most players, players that make the major leagues are not only the best player on their high school team, they're the best player on their college team. And then they go into the pros and you know everything levels off because everybody's the best player.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

He goes, Me, I wasn't even the best player on my block. Because Yogi Barrel lived around a corner from me. So yeah, so Frank Frank Messer comes in in 68. Messer was good. He was fun. Yeah. Whitey comes in, Marty Ford, 69 to 71. And Bill White comes in 71, too. And then it's Rosuto Messer White all the way up to and then 79. You have to beginning a sports channel.

SPEAKER_03

And New York sports truck.

SPEAKER_01

So you you have all them, and you get Fran Healy still there, and and it's going on and on. And Spencer Ross. And then for when was this? They had commentators added in. Listen to this. You had Bobby Mercer in 83, 84. You had Mickey Mann in 85. 67 on PIS or on the sports channel? I'm guessing it's a channel. I don't remember Mickey. Me either. Then you had It's Enough to Make Me Change the Channel. Then you had Lou Piniella.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And then you get to on the television, you still had you know the usual crowd, but the radio, you you started to get uh Sterling. Tommy Hotton, Tony Kubrick, Al Tratwig on and on.

SPEAKER_03

I really enjoyed Al Tratwig.

SPEAKER_01

Jim Catt was great. And then you get Rick Saron on the television, Ken Singleton. Ken Singleton's great. John, Tim McCarver, Susan Waldman. I love Jim Cat. He was should have been a Hall of Famer, I don't think he ever made it.

SPEAKER_03

By today's standards, he's far and away a Hall of Famer for sure.

SPEAKER_01

And you had Paul O'Neill come in and David Cohn, and you started going to the more latter-day players, but Ken Singleton and Jim Kat were very good.

SPEAKER_03

They were very fun to listen to. They told some good stories. They're very classy broadcasters. I'd say it that way. And they had good stories. They did a good job with the telling a story of the game as it was going on.

SPEAKER_01

So let's look at, since you brought it up, let me see if I could find a list of 2006 NFL streaming games.

SPEAKER_04

I'm sure there's more than that of everyone, because it's every Thursday night. Plus what's the other one they added? Oh God. Wait till you see it. I can't imagine it's the list must be incredibly long.

SPEAKER_03

I just can't imagine it's not.

SPEAKER_01

I made I made it 2006 instead of 2026. I was like, what? Alright. Tea streaming games. Super Bowl on Peacock, but I think it's also broadcast. Sunday night football on Peacock, but I think it's also broadcast on Channel 4. Monday night is gonna be on ESPN Plus. Thursday nights are on Amazon Prime.

SPEAKER_03

Sunday night afternoon games are gonna be ESPN Plus is streaming too, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And then what about Apple? Apple's gotta have games.

SPEAKER_04

Let me put streaming only games. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

NFL early playoffs. The wildcard game is exclusively on Amazon Prime.

SPEAKER_03

All playoff games?

SPEAKER_01

No, just the first wildcard game.

SPEAKER_03

Think about what you just said. It's on YouTube, it's on Amazon, it's on Apple.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, what NFL will carry games as part of it. NFL's expanding rights following their 2004 Christmas Day debut will extend into the 26th season. So there's gonna be there's gonna be games. Peacock has the Sunday night games, and the Super Bowl will be available on Peacock Premium, but I think those are also carried on NBC Monday Night Games, NFL Games, and international games are exclusively carried uh ESPN Plus. I don't know that.

SPEAKER_03

We talk about the game being different, different game than we played when we grew up and watched as fans, and even the way you view it now is different.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so what it says is as far as Paramount Plus, it streams all the aired CBS games. That's okay.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I have no problem with that.

SPEAKER_01

That's more than necessary. So Prime Video has exclusive rights to all Thursday night games and one playoff game. We know that already. We just read that. Peacock required for Sunday night football. I don't know if that's if that's true.

SPEAKER_02

It's I'm glad I don't work Sunday nights anymore. I'd be livid.

SPEAKER_01

ESPN, ESPN Unlimited need Monday night football and exclusive games. Netflix for the Christmas special and holiday games.

SPEAKER_03

Is that because Christmas falls on a friendly NFL day? Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Hold on.

SPEAKER_01

I will pull up the calendar. Or is it I'm looking at it? December 20th is on uh Friday. And I know this year there's a start-off Wednesday game. So it'll be Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, because they do a special Friday game where when the season starts. Saturday, Sunday. So the first week is five five days of football. Five days of football.

SPEAKER_04

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, that that actually doesn't bother me, but if it's streaming, I'm not watching it.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, uh, you know, I'll probably I'll have I mean I'll have to watch it for the podcast, but but I want to say notice to local access. The league rule is all streamly only games are still broadcast on free over-the-air television in the local markets of the playing teams. Is this still subject to blackout? I don't think they do blackout anymore, but I think they could you imagine?

SPEAKER_03

My God.

SPEAKER_01

I remember going to turn the game on and not being there.

SPEAKER_03

And you said you saw Yeah, that's that used to happen when we were in uh my freshman year in college up in Buffalo. The game is blacked out, and they and they would fill the stadium.

SPEAKER_01

I know I couldn't and the Giants back then, you would say to yourself, what is it, two seats, ten seats? There'd be no, the team would buy the seats. People would buy the seats so they could watch it on television. They could watch on TV. Because the seats back then, the upper decks were really going for it.

SPEAKER_03

I wonder what the average cost is for the average NFL fan to not only watch their favorite team, presumably if it's in their market, but to watch all the other highlight games. You know, but Monday night football was a treat back in the day. Now it's like it's like a chore to have to keep track of this stuff and watch these games. The Thursday night product has been putrid for the most part. I know it got a little better, but the Monday night games used to be big games. You know, it was it was always two teams that were relatively good, or at least playoff teams, or you know, big divisional matchups, whether it was Giants, Cowboys, or, you know, Packers, 40 Bears, or you know, whatever back in the day. But I know they got away from that schedule because they wanted to have, you know, Jacksonville on a Monday night. Who cares? I I you know, it just makes it less enjoyable to watch these games if there's no real vested interest other than your fantasy football team. You know, who does the rest of the country really care about, you know, teams out of their market that aren't playoff teams? Or is it they're just trying to get exposure to help them sell more jerseys?

What Tickets Cost Now

SPEAKER_01

Okay, here. Let's look at the ticket prices. So here we go. The average ticket prices, the most expensive ones. All right. So the most expensive average ticket price for 2005 was the Eagles, were$514 a ticket.

SPEAKER_03

That's the go-to the game.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Average. So there's lesser price and more, right? Detroit Lions,$485. Wow. Las Vegas Raiders,$463. Chicago Bears,$458. I'm cutting out the change, and Kansas City Chiefs,$389. The lowest cost.

SPEAKER_03

New York Jets.

SPEAKER_01

Oh. The lowest cost. So the five lowest ones are the Cleveland Browns, it doesn't say how much they are, the Tennessee Titans, unless it's the same,$167. The Saints,$177, and Jacksonville Jaguars$177.

SPEAKER_04

A fair shit, I pushed. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_01

Here we go. And I got all the teams. All right. So we left off with the Chiefs. Buffalo Bills are, and now they give you a range. Average ticket price of Buffalo Bills is 284 to 408. Uh Denver 317 to 387. And it goes Vikings, Cowboys, 330 to 333, Patriots 260 to 330. This is average now. Seahawks 277 to 323. Dolphins, Niners, Texans, Chargers, Jets, 249, Commanders, Giants, 237, Rams, Ravens, Bucks, Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, 207, Falcons 197, Colts, Jaguars, Saints, Cleveland Browns 158.

SPEAKER_03

That's lowest average cost. What were the Jets and the Giants?

SPEAKER_04

200. Giants. The Giants are 237 and and the Jets were 249. Worth every penny, right?

MetLife Stadium Misery

SPEAKER_03

I gotta tell ya, it is a that place is not a fun place to go. It is not a fun place to leave. So it's not a fun place to watch a football game.

SPEAKER_01

No question about it. I used to go there all the time, and I hated it. I mean I hated it I don't mind what it was.

SPEAKER_03

I didn't leave Meadowlands. This new stadium sucks. And it still sucks leaving.

SPEAKER_01

Leaving is horrible. No one directs the traffic. There are no roads to it or aft. None of the things lead anywhere. And the facility is so big.

SPEAKER_03

How do you screw that up? How is it possible to screw that up? Who's designing these things? And what you consider what they paid for it. And look at what they're building now, all these new stadiums in Kansas City, Tennessee, Chicago. Who else? There's one more I'm missing. They're all getting new stadiums.

SPEAKER_01

Plus Vegas, you know, is Yeah, but you hear these rumors that they're gonna put a dome on giant stadium and that kind of stuff. They're gonna redo the whole stadium for another billion. I don't know how they're getting that passed.

SPEAKER_03

Can you imagine? I mean, someone should do a forensic accounting of where the money went for that because whoever paid for it got robbed.

SPEAKER_01

Because You're looking at them. We both paid for it.

SPEAKER_03

I know, I know. I didn't want to go there, but every time I go, I say I'm never coming here again. Even the mall is failing, the American Dream Mall. They're right on top of one another, and you can't get from one to the other. It's just what other cities have built for their teams is vastly superior to what they built there. I mean, it's not it's it's like they went backwards when they built that thing.

SPEAKER_01

So this is what it says. So I asked it, uh I asked the internet, you know, the powers that be that aren't real people. Are the New York Giants building a new stadium? The answer is no. The New York Giants are not getting a new stadium. They are staying at Matt Life Stadium, which is undergoing a significant renovation to enhance the fan experience. There is no fan experience there, by the way.

SPEAKER_03

But that's what they tried to sell you the first time.

SPEAKER_01

Tiggers will leave their home according to reports. So let's see what it is.

SPEAKER_03

They built how long ago they built Foxborough when they said fan experience was going to be an ergonomical seating situation so that you would move around, get to the concessions easier, spend more money, but still be able to watch the game. And then they built that concrete chipbox in the jersey.

SPEAKER_01

Here's the renovations. Audio system, who cares? Who cares? Digital signage, who cares?

SPEAKER_03

They already have that.

SPEAKER_01

Luxury suites, who cares? You should know that the lease for the Jets and Giants have options to opt out of their lease.

SPEAKER_03

They're not going anywhere.

SPEAKER_01

2030.

SPEAKER_03

They're not going anywhere. They're gonna let it sit and rot and fall down around itself before they do spend any of their own money to do anything. Unless Woody Johnson drops dead and his son sells the team to somebody who knows what they're doing. They're not going anywhere. That's a crime. That's a crime. And you know, here I am for years joking around. The Jets should sell the team, the Jets should move to LA, and we're in the precipice of Kansas City moving out of Kansas City, the Bears are moving out of Chicago. So why wouldn't the Jets move? Why would they stay there? It's all gonna change anyway.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, they ruined, they ruined the track. They built the new grandstand on the other side that's just horrible. It's tiny, everything's like they made it smaller. The restaurant, when there's big events like like um, I don't know if you know it, but what's it called? They have standard bred horse races in September. Sometimes it's Liberty Weekend or something like that.

SPEAKER_03

We're getting close to uh Kentucky Derby Time. We're gonna start have looking at horses pretty soon.

SPEAKER_04

Okay. We can't talk about football every week.

SPEAKER_01

No, what I was talking about standards.

SPEAKER_03

We'll get into that.

SPEAKER_01

Hamiltonian, that's what it's called. The Hamiltonian. And they have a million-dollar race, so that's really it. What else do you want to cover before I call it quits today?

MLB Automated Strike Zone Debate

SPEAKER_03

I I wanted to mention the strike zone thing with the automated strike zone because we've got a little further clarity on that today with the so Major League Baseball is asking players to get measured for their height. So I I'm not gonna pretend to know how these automated systems work, other than that if the ball passes through its measured strike zone, it's a strike. Obviously, every player has a different strike zone based on their length of their torso to their knees. So I still question how they measure that because you remember Ricky Henderson used to crouch? Yeah. Right? A lot of guys used to crouch. That's not as popular anymore because now they swing with the stupid launch angle. But how they measure the strike zone and where they measure the strike zone is my concern. Is the strike zone just the frontage of the plate in that little box that you see on TV? Because the plate is a, you know.

unknown

I guess.

SPEAKER_01

So here is the official blurb from the Major League Baseball strike zone. The official strike zone is the area over the home plate from the midpoint of the batter's shoulders. Midpoint. Midpoint. What the hell is the midpoint of the shoulders? Midpoint of the shoulders. Shoulders to the rest bone. And the top of the uniform pants. Top of the uniform pants? When the batter is in a stance and prepared to swing to a pitch ball. Top of the uniform pants pants. And at that, and at a point just before the kneecap, in order to get a strike call. Can you imagine this is exactly word for word? I'm reading it there. Part of the ball must cross over the plate while in the aforementioned area. Strikes above the coat by the air umpire, and every pitch is passed by the batter.

SPEAKER_03

So the area or airspace over the entire plate, the ball must pass through that at some point.

SPEAKER_01

The current it was implemented in 1996. So let's go. From 88 to 95, the strike zone went from the midpoint between the shoulders to the top of the uniform pants to the top of the knees. How could there be three things?

SPEAKER_04

Why are there three things?

SPEAKER_03

I don't understand that.

SPEAKER_01

In 69 to 87, the strike zone went from the batter's armpits, which I guess is mid-chest, to the top of knees. That's always what I believe it to be.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

The strike zone was implemented along with lowering of the mound from 1560 to 10 inches in response to the 68 season and the dominance of hurlers. Bring it back. We know who that is.

SPEAKER_03

Bring it back, Bob Gibson.

SPEAKER_01

Bob Gibson was just in 63 to 68. It was the top of the batter's shoulders to the knees. In 50 to 62, it went from the armpits to the knees. And six um and the ver that version of the strike center was used from 63 to 68, which was the shoulders to the knees, was utilized prior to 1915 and go back to the late 1800s.

SPEAKER_03

So they implemented this new system the last two years in the minor leagues. They've been using all-spring training, and they're going to use it this year, and they're going to give teams two challenges. So you're going to have nine guys with egos trying to decide who's going to challenge what. Then after the last, I don't know, six years about how do we speed up the game and you implemented the pitch clock and blah blah blah. Now you're going to give two challenges, which is just going to slow the game down. And I know it's instant. Can we just automate the strike zone and leave it at that? It's so simple.

SPEAKER_01

It's automatic. And the umpires are, you know, no matter how much you try to break them, the egos are just out of control.

SPEAKER_03

It's ridiculous. They what do they have egos about? You're a freaking umpire. Call balls and strikes. Now you don't even have to do that. Just call safer out. That's it. Implement the rules. I I don't know. I feel like little leaguers could have done a better job when I was a kid than some of these major league umpires today. But the strike zone thing to me, it's again, I keep thinking the gambling is going to play a part in this because you could literally bet on every pitch, whether it's a ball or strike. So I can't see how it won't go that way. I think it's going to be automated. You know, as soon as they figure out the kinks in the system, if there are any, it's just going to be guy throws a pitch and something either buzzes or lights up green, ball or strike, and you move on. And I'm okay with that. I don't need to see the umpire and all those antics. I don't need Enrico Palazzo. I don't need all that nonsense. You remove somebody like Angel Hernandez from ever getting into anything and when controlling a game.

Baseball Movies And Culture

SPEAKER_01

When you're in that movie, and one of the guy in his test goes, hey, look, it's Enrico Palazzo. I mean, that has to be a joke that they set up from the beginning of the movie all the way to the end. And I thought that was some of the most funny thing I ever saw. You know, if you want to talk about baseball movies for a minute, I mean, listen.

SPEAKER_03

Um I think someone I I think someone whoever wrote that in must have had an affiliation for the three tenors. Do you remember the three tenors? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04

So I because his name.

SPEAKER_01

See, baseball movies goes Field of Dreams, Pull Dorm, and what's the other one he did? No, the other, the three that Coster did.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, the Love of the Game.

SPEAKER_01

Love of the Game.

SPEAKER_03

With I saw that in a preview before it hit theaters.

SPEAKER_01

So good. Kelly Preston. Kelly?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, Kelly. Kelly Preston?

SPEAKER_01

Preston, um, John Travolta's wife who who who passed away. She was so sweet and so beautiful and so likable. Um, she we played a great player, and Costor was so good in that part. Um and I love that. But listen, Major League is great. The only thing is that in the promo, the promo had something in it that cut out of the movie when the guy hits the ball. That ball wouldn't be a big thing.

SPEAKER_03

Name one.

SPEAKER_01

Yellowstone. And it's too bad they took that out of the movie because it was in the promo. It's a great line.

SPEAKER_03

And yeah, and they took it out of the movie.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they took it out of the movie. So, but you know, obviously, the Lou Garrick, you know, the Lou Garrick movie, of course. Uh Yankees. You know, Pride of the Yankees is is something. And sad as it may be, I mean, he's a New York guy. You know, his parents were immigrants. His mother wanted him to be uh, I think, uh um, not an architect, but something engineer. And he goes to Colombia. And imagine that he goes from Colombia to the Yankees.

SPEAKER_03

It's incredible.

SPEAKER_01

And, you know, just an incredible player, total beast of a physical specimen.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I mean, it's funny you mentioned that. I mean, sorry, continue. No, that's it.

SPEAKER_01

I was letting you say it.

SPEAKER_03

Yankees optioned Dominguez to AAA to start the season. So this kid's 24 years old, Spencer Jones, 24 years old, also not gonna be on the starting roster or opening day roster. At what point are they gonna stop with this? Because they're clearly just and then the the kid who's been lights out all spring. I'm gonna mispronounce it on purpose, Lagrange.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_03

I think it's Le Granier. He's lights out. This kid's ready to pitch in the majors. Okay, is it an innings thing? Why isn't he ready to pitch 200 innings? The kid can pitch at this level. You see other teams constantly, young arms, young talent, 20, 21, 22 years old. The Yankees, uh, maybe when he's 27, we'll full, we'll, you know, we'll put him on the full-time roster. Now we're looking at the possibility of the most, I mean, it's it's entirely likely. Everybody says it's gonna happen. We're gonna have work stoppage. So there's no baseball 2027. So these two kids that are 24 years old, gonna be 25, are sent back to the minors where they're tearing it up with no major league experience, and then a full year out of baseball. What's gonna happen to them? You could say, oh, well, there's still only B. They're missing the prime years of their baseball lives because the Yankees are playing games with analytics and these ridiculously long, you know, veteran contracts that expire in 10 years, and and I'm not that's not a knock on Aaron Judge. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01

I'm gonna just say it out loud. It's the owner's fault. I'm the owner, and you know what? Maybe they should just sell the team if they don't. They don't really want to run it like a baseball team. Yeah, I I think they should sell the team.

SPEAKER_03

They don't want to, they don't want to pay. They don't want to they don't bring these guys up. I mean, even Judge was they you know started late compared to other players of this generation. But let these kids play. I don't want to see Grisham. He's not what is Grisham? He that's what he what he is, what we had, that's who he is. That's the best he's ever gonna be, and you gave him 22 million dollars. Why? If Dominguez can't play, trade him. If you don't want him, he's 24 years old. Either let him play every day and fail, and and that's it, that's the end of your career, or trade him. But play him or trade him. It's ridiculous now. Spencer Jones, it's another log jam that they've created. And I'm again not knocking anybody that's on the current roster, even though I could, and I'll save it for when we after first pitch. But what are they doing? Bring these guys up and let them play. In 2017, when they went to the LCS and lost to the cheating Houston Astros, no one thought the Yankees were gonna go to the playoffs. No one thought they could win the division, no one thought that they could go to the LCS, and they were probably a better team if Houston didn't cheat and would have gone to the World Series. Whether or not they beat the Dodgers, I don't know. But that team was good and it was full of young players. All the young kids were playing. What happened to that? They got away from it, and they want to tell you, you know, we're spending money here, we're bringing this, we're gonna run it back. We got this guy, that guy, we got all these arms. It's eight years of judge now, and you've done nothing since his rookie season to elevate this team to the next level because you don't spend money where they used to spend money.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, they're really they but the hype of these players, I guess is my point that if you're not gonna play them, then you should have traded them for for pieces that were gonna get you a championship already. You could have done that. Let them if you don't want to let them play because you're afraid they're gonna mature and you have to pay them, let them go play somewhere else and then sign them back as free agents later. No, we gotta have Goldschmidt. I mean, come on, you couldn't put Spencer Jones at first base and just let him play or what's the kid, Rice and and get rid of Grisham and let him play center field. And you know John Carlos Stanton's only gonna play a hundred games a year, if that. So let Dominguez DH and put Stanton on the bench so he stays healthy. That's what we used to do. You used to have guys like Strawberry and Cecil Fielder, Tim Rains, right? All these bats on the bench that didn't play every day. Yeah, go back and look at that what those guys, how many guys, how many games those guys played at the back end of their career, and they got paid as veterans and they deserved it.

SPEAKER_01

Guys from Oakland, guys from Oakland, uh Scott Brochers. But there was another another guy too.

SPEAKER_03

Charlie Hayes.

SPEAKER_01

Charlie Hayes, yeah, it's good, a tall, thin guy married to Justice?

SPEAKER_04

David Justice? David Justice. Yeah. So they abused him when he came back.

SPEAKER_01

He was good though.

SPEAKER_03

But he was listen, he he got them to a World Series. He won them a World Series.

Umpires, Automation, And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_01

So we'll wait to see what this looks like when they implement this in the league. Um, I'm not really sure. I'm I'm not really sure about it. I mean, I I I think the umpires are a big problem in baseball. I always did. I always think.

SPEAKER_03

I don't know when that became a lot, but certainly in the last 25 years, 30 years, the egos of the umpires is outrageous.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and they that's not my strike zone. I have a different strike zone. Everybody's got to deal with it. Well, guess what? I mean, certainly, you know, the league, Major League Baseball, I mean, broke them when they struck last time, which was a big deal in unified American and National Leagues. But it goes back farther than that. And these guys are just out of control. And if you can replace them with electronics, go right ahead.

SPEAKER_03

I agree. I I don't see why we don't, it's silly to me. And then what just imagine this. Imagine a guy, I'm I imagine a guy striking out, using the the challenge, he loses the challenge. On a close pitch. Maybe it's he thought it was a strike. Because they're not allowed to look, right? Like they don't have access to call it on the fly. Which is another kink in the armor. Who cares? So this guy calls uh a challenge, it's the third, it's the fifth inning, maybe the seventh inning, he loses the challenge. Now it's the ninth inning, and he's up again out of challenges, and he strikes out looking on a pitch that's out of the strike zone. I mean, that guy's gonna get crucified.

SPEAKER_01

There's never gonna be enough challenges.

SPEAKER_03

Right. So just let the machine do its thing. It's a strike. Ding, green light. We'll see how it is.

SPEAKER_01

Red light. We'll talk about it again. We didn't talk about F1 this week because it's not till next week in Japan, which is a great track. The biggest news is that Lewis Hamilton's been seen walking around Japan with Kim Kardashian.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, it's the end of his career. Sorry, sorry, Judge.

SPEAKER_01

No, he's had some amazing girlfriends, of course, of his career, and he's a nice guy, and you know, she'll probably destroy him like she destroyed everybody else. But you know, he has listen, at least she's dating somebody that makes a hundred million dollars a year, you know. So having said that, we'll see you next week. We'll have Keith back talk about where we are NCAA. We'll talk more. We'll talk more about football and what a disaster it was to watch the Yankee game on Netflix, and we'll whine and complain like we always do. Please like and subscribe. Thank you, Justin. Always a pleasure.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you, Your Honor.

SPEAKER_01

Talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_03

See you next week.