The Good Man Show
Dan Brewer and Josh Caceres of Bo Jackson Elite Sports talk weekly content within travel baseball and professional sports on every Monday night. They cover a variety of topics ranging from youth sports all the way up to pro sports in an informative yet casual way.
The Good Man Show
Brotherhood, Baseball, And Becoming Better
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Pressure reveals character, but smart pressure builds it. We brought in Jake Brewer—coach, big brother, and 20-year elementary PE teacher—to break down how care, standards, and thoughtfully designed chaos turn young players into tough, adaptable competitors. From Sparks North’s culture of shared knowledge to the drills that make athletes think at game speed, this conversation is a blueprint for coaches and parents who want performance without gimmicks.
We dive into the practice lab where one swing decides your job, two-strike RBI reps teach resilience, and base running chaos forces communication. Jake explains how to keep emotions steady on the field by learning from calm leaders and separating player brain from coach brain. We talk about personality management—learning the kid first, then shaping the skill—and why the youth-to-varsity path lives or dies on early standards like hustle, accountability, and owning the next pitch. Along the way, we shout out practice warriors, share snowy life hacks, and laugh about a player who brought a Santa suit because “Santa doesn’t give breaks.”
There’s more than baseball here: lessons on showing up when roads are bad, turning bad calls into teachable moments, and embracing days when leadership means being unpopular for the right reasons. We even hit NFL storylines—Bears-Packers, clutch defenses in the AFC, and the difference between highlight throws and winning habits—to show how the same principles show up everywhere. If you care about coaching culture, player development, and building teams that don’t fold under heat, you’ll feel right at home.
If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a coach or teammate, and leave a review. And if you want to rep the movement, grab a Good Man shirt—wear it to practice, wear it at home, and keep the standard high.
You're listening to the Good Man podcast with Darren Brewer and Josh Caseris. Now, over the next hour, we're going to cover a variety of topics ranging from sports, life, pop culture, and mostly sports, but we're all going to do in a way where it's going to be informative, entertaining, and in a way where you come out feeling like you know a little bit more about the world. So I need you to grab a friend, call him, text him, or a loved one, and say, hey, why don't you want to become a good man for the next hour? So strap up, listen in, put on your headphones, and enjoy the next hour with us. Here we go.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome to the good man show with Bruce Soss and Lord Puck. Do you believe in love or life after love? That's how you're starting?
SPEAKER_04:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:I was going to ask you how you were doing, and then you hit me with that to kick things off.
SPEAKER_04:Do you believe in life after love?
SPEAKER_01:After love after love. As those of you just heard, we have a special guest in the house. I'd like to welcome in not only my older brother, my best man, a good man, Jake Brewer. Welcome to the show. Thank you for the introduction.
SPEAKER_03:Good to be here. Actually, never been a guest on anything before.
SPEAKER_01:Jake is uh uh six years older than me, my oldest brother. We have two in between us. Uh we have been called twins. We are not twins. We are uh going to sound a lot alike tonight, so it'll be interesting to see if people can figure out who's talking at times. Um, but love you, bro. Always been a big part of my baseball journey, man. Always been a guy I looked up to. Definitely enjoyed watching you play the game. Love having you around, part of the Sparks North organization. Um, I'd like to just kind of bring you in right away and kind of ask you, you know, been here since we started. What's your favorite part about being with the Sparks North?
SPEAKER_03:So um I thought about that, and uh it comes down to opportunity. I find this place provides opportunity for for all different kinds of ways, opportunity to coach top-level players, um, opportunity to get uh information from just a wide variety of baseball minds. Um I I I love that this place is a magnet for that. It it just brings baseball to you, and uh it it's it's very easy to learn and get better at what you're doing around here because of the different people that come in and the different paths they've taken and just the knowledge that they have.
SPEAKER_04:You're a huge part of that.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you.
SPEAKER_04:You're like um when we go to I don't go to a lot of buffets, but if we were to go to the buffet, it'd be like the unlimited pancakes.
SPEAKER_03:You know what? That's a high compliment because I love pancakes.
SPEAKER_04:I know that's why that's why I said that. That's a good one.
SPEAKER_05:I mirrored you with the pancakes. No, I I met Jake when we first started. I actually was looking at the photo a couple days ago when we won that first tournament in Iowa. Um, first time we texted, it was um full-time ablazing after that. I mean, there was really no pauses or awkwardness or um how what's another word? I'm trying to think of another word I can't think of, but we were just smooth sailing from the beginning. Um best coaching partner I've ever had.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you. I appreciate that, dude. It was by far.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I I coached, I'm sorry to cut you off, J Guy. I coached um obviously Sparks with you, but we're way north of a couple hundred games now, I'm sure. And then um, and then I we were able to coach uh Loyola JV for how many years? Two, three. Two. We were there. Two?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, only two.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, I went for the last one. You made three. But the two years and yeah, I uh I can't speak any more higher of Jake, Mr. Brewer.
SPEAKER_01:He's a he's a great coach. The kids love him here. I know they look up to him, they they respect him. Uh when he is out there coaching and and teaching these kids they are engaged, they are locked in, they they love what he brings to the table.
SPEAKER_02:Um you've coached arguably our best class that's that's who would our who would argue left the dome. The guy across the table with Mr. Lord.
SPEAKER_01:I would I would I I would say this in high school, they were our best class put together, but there's still a lot of to be determined when they all go on to the next level and how kids develop and grow, and we'll see who kind of makes it past that point. But you have definitely been um with one of our better groups, our 24 groups that that have left this place, and you now coach the uh 27 group. Um, but who are some of your favorite players? And I know it's hard, but who are some of your favorite players you have coached?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that one is very difficult. I could like rattle off quite a few names. Um, so let's start with a team that I only coached for for a bit, and it was a team I coached with Josh, the 23s. I gotta give my guy Troy Stukenberg a shout out. Um for a few reasons. Tough nose. That dude's a dog, man.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, literal barker.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yes, he will bark. Um, some of the things I loved about that dude, other than that, is it's being just a fun guy to be around. Um, something I think when I think of him is um in our first year, me and my brother Dan over there would uh say uh Santa Claus doesn't give any breaks quite frequently.
SPEAKER_01:That's right, that's a true brew, our father uh saying from when we were kids. But yes, go on.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, so uh Stuke, it must have heard us say that a thousand times, right? So this kid, in preparation, knowing that one of us at some point in practice is going to give the Santa Claus, doesn't give any brakes line, brings a Santa suit and has it in his bag. I go, hey man, Santa Claus don't give any breaks. And this dude goes, Does somebody say Santa Claus? Runs over to his bag, puts on the Santa suit, and goes running around the gym in a Santa suit. That's pretty classic, man. I gotta say, I was like, This dude, you thought that far ahead to bring a Santa suit in your in your baseball bag?
SPEAKER_04:Always ready.
SPEAKER_03:Duke is always ready.
SPEAKER_01:I was just gonna say the same thing. Always ready. Always ready. Yeah. Love that kid. You gotta give me at least one more. Okay. One more.
SPEAKER_03:So uh well, I got plenty more. Well, I know you got plenty, but I mean so 24's um a player that I just loved being around for for a lot of the same playing reasons was Dayton Murphy. Um, that dude, the thing I loved about him is his dedication to beating everyone at everything. Competitor. Yeah, dude. If if it's a sprint, he's gonna kick your butt. Um if it's who's gonna barrel more balls in six swings, he's gonna kick your butt. If it's who's not gonna make an air, a single solitary air today during uh mascot on balls, he's gonna kick your butt. Um that that is something I'm all about. Like something I try to get my teams to do is win everything. Like, I want to win pre-game. I I want to win the game, and I want to win post-game too. And uh that was a dude who really took on to that, and he was already up to it, so it was pretty easy for him to just try to beat everybody at everything.
SPEAKER_01:And and just speaking of Murph, for those who don't know, Dayton Murphy went off to Michigan State uh and ended up competing and earning the starting job as a freshman uh as a shortstop, and he's still there this year, and he's going to win the job again and hopefully have a more successful year on the offensive side. But uh Murphy is just a warrior, he's a worker. Uh, like he said, like Jake said, he he buys into everything, but um was always a fun kid to coach. I I had him a lot on the infield. I remember actually Murph coming in as a sophomore, and you know, I had coached that group when they were kids, and David Cox and uh Joshua Wicker, aka Yoshi, who I had coached since they were 11, really had nobody ever take the middle infield away from them. And now, mind you, Cox went off and played shortstop as a freshman as well. Uh, and I Yoshi went off and played shortstop where he was as a freshman as well. So all three of these kids were just competitors, and Murph walked in and just never bowed down to the challenge. Uh worked, fought, competed, like Josh and I talk on the regular on this show about just getting out there and doing the little things. So uh you got a big year ahead with the 27s uh as they go into their 17-year summer. Um a lot of talent on that team. I think we've picked up some big pieces, but what are you looking forward to do this this summer with that team ahead?
SPEAKER_03:So um I know our team strengths are we can pitch. We we got a lot of big arms, um, a lot of guys who throw strikes, who keep us in games. Um, I know my guys are gonna field it. We we glove it in the outfield, we glove it, we glove it in the infield. Um, I'm I'm hoping and I think our focus this offseason needs to be scoring runs and hitting with with guys in scoring position. If we can uh figure that part of the game out, we will be a very dangerous team.
SPEAKER_05:How do you coach that?
SPEAKER_03:Um, I've been trying to put on the MPF, like try to put pressure on swings and put guys in situations. Um, that's some of the situations we're gonna work to we haven't got there in MPF. We were early in our winter, but definitely I want to I want to put um like one swing. You got one swing to get your job done. We've been doing a lot of that over there. Like, here's your job, you get one chance. If you don't get it done, you're you're done. Get out of here, next guy. Um, so just finding different ways to put more pressure on them in their practice with their at-bats and their swings.
SPEAKER_05:What's the most frustrating thing for you on the field regards? I know bad defense gets you jacked up a little bit, but um offensively, how do you we tell players to find a focal point on the field when their day's going poorly? And talking to you over the past two years, you've had some more rough days than you've had good days. What have you you've been doing way this way longer than me, but what have you, as you've matured as a coach, have found to carb I can't even never pronounce this word, but how how have you channeled your anger while on the field or frustration?
SPEAKER_03:Um I needed as a young man to watch people who could do that, yeah. Because as a 20 and young 30s guy, I couldn't do it at all. I I was just fired up all the time. Um, my emotions would go up and down. Um just watching big league managers, okay, like uh Joe Torrey. I used to watch him and his like, is that guy even alive in the dugout? Like, bro, are you awake? Um, and and I'm like, why is he doing that? And I'm like, well, maybe he's up to something, you know, maybe there's a purpose to that. Another guy, Mike Sosha, that dude was calm as could be in the dugout. And as a player, not very calm. So I had to learn that I, as a young man, I had to learn I wasn't a player anymore and start thinking like a coach, not a player. And and when I when that clicked in my brain, then I started like building on that. And it's still, dude, I still have to work on that.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, because I know I've seen you have a couple, like obviously we've had our we Jake and I, to our listeners, Jake and I usually after every game, especially in the summer, we have a phone call after every game day. So that's probably what five, four, four phone calls a week.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_05:Usually last an hour to sometimes two hours to sometimes if we're driving away from Indianapolis at midnight from getting home, uh, three and a half hours.
unknown:Three and a half hours.
SPEAKER_03:He's not lying.
SPEAKER_05:Jake had a I hate that's not really a come to Jesus moment. Um, a couple years ago in Carmel, Indiana, I'm driving home from Indian.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think we need to bring this one up.
SPEAKER_05:But just if we're ever having a rough day, I just say, Jake, are we having walk the streets of Carmel on the mean street?
SPEAKER_01:That was a bad day. I think that might have been the worst phone call where I actually Okay. Jake and I have probably been in one argument our entire lives, and we lived together for what, four? Yes, four years. Lived together for four years, and I don't think we ever argued one time when we lived together, but that day that you speak of, we we had some other things going on in the world of the business we did that that phone call turned into a heated battle argument back and forth that was not so pleasant, but we worked it out and figured it out. And I think after I hung up the phone, he probably called you to give you the phone instantly.
SPEAKER_05:We were on the phone for two hours.
SPEAKER_01:But needless to say, that when I got back to what I needed to finish with my stuff inside here, yeah, and I called my brother back and allowed us to have a peaceful conversation. We we agreed on things, we figured some things out, we made the adjustments we had to make. And you know what's funny is last summer, 12 months after that phone call, I remember having conversations with him. He's like, hey, this group's not so bad. They really listen to me and have bought into this. And and it we've talked about it of how you guys cycle with your teams and you coach them from 15 through 17. And I always enjoy going into your guys' dugouts at 17 years old because it is so much different because your coaching you have to do with 15-year-old kids compared to 17-year-old kids is a world of difference. And it amuses me because you guys take them to the top, and when you have to cycle back down and have to restart that, it is very, very hard to reteach 15-year-olds who have either been taught the wrong things or been taught to do things differently, and we have to teach them our style or your style or or the teen dynamic, and it's hard to bring it all together in a short amount of time. So by the time they hit 16 years old, it becomes a little bit more pleasant. Well, like and you're walking into that year this year, which it was funny because I talked to Jake on that ride home and then talked to you, and it was like, here we go. Now Josh is in the in the tissue of yelling and upset about this, and it's like, call Jake, like just let you call Jake and have that conversation.
SPEAKER_05:It but that's we and I'll talk about more like a bigger talk, is the beautiful part about that 23 team and the 24 team, and a little bit of the 25 team, but more 23-24, is that they're with you for the longest, and it's 13 to 14, and that's why it is so important at the youth level at 13 and 14, and arguably 12 of you, that it's not a shockwave to the system. There's a right way to do this, and it's it's not oh, my way or Jake Brewer's way or Dan Brewer's way. It's you just you just gotta make sure kids hustle and try their hardest. That's it. And that needs to be beaten to their heads up until they get to high school, and it they need to just be held accountable, and then also like thinking outside the box, allowing them to think for themselves. They think they're thinking for themselves, but they're not thinking for themselves because you just literally brainwashed them for lack of a better term when they were younger, and then they get there, and so that's it was much easier. And so then we got to this year a lot of new faces for you, and that's and that's why you're I was gonna ask you this. Uh, how do you you're a very good personality manager? Where did you get that from? How did you develop that? And what makes you good with a variety of different personalities, Jake?
SPEAKER_03:Um, that's a good question, man. Uh some of it is just I think who I am.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um uh another piece of it is teaching elementary school. Like I teach little kids, I teach kindergartners.
SPEAKER_01:For those of you who don't know, Jake is a elementary PE teacher for over 20 years now.
SPEAKER_03:It's my 20th year of the school. 20th year. Thanks, man. So uh yeah, hav having all those different uh needs and personalities in an elementary school and with the kids I teach um really helped me with that, man. Learning learning how to um learn about the kid first and then figure out how to help them. So then I just translate to coaching. Um also listening to other coaches. I think I heard uh Nick Sabin say it one time, he said something like, they don't care what you know until they know you care. It's like, well, then I better make them know I care because I really want them to hear what I'm saying and understand I'm trying to help them. Um so I think those things are two of the things that definitely helped me with that.
SPEAKER_01:You you can correct me if I'm wrong here, but um I would also say that you are the oldest of we like I said, we were a family of four boys and being the oldest in a very crazy household, and I've always said that I I feel like the four of us had to grow up quickly uh with with things that happened in our household and our lives and experiences. And uh I would probably throw shade on that. That I I think a lot of because you being the oldest and being responsible and helping us and taking care of us and being there for us plays a part into how you also respond to these kids and help these kids because you've been doing it not only through your teaching and your profession, but I think you've been doing it for a very long time because I can say being the youngest and always looking up to you and coming to you for guidance and advice, and and not just when I was a kid, but during my play days, like I always knew, like, okay, if I was in dark places or struggling or just needed somebody to talk to and kind of bounce some things off of like my phone always dialed you, and I think that also plays a part into why these kids gravitate towards towards that experience with you. But I mean, like I said, I you could correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think I am. I I can see you nodding over there.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, thank you. That means a lot, bro.
SPEAKER_01:So I just you know, just just from a brotherly experience with you as well, dude. Like you you are helping this organization, you are helping the Kids, dude, you helped me. Uh, I know Josh, uh, you have helped him. Like, we really appreciate you coming on, man, and and speaking on on not only the players, but just what you do and and what you have done and continue to do, and we appreciate it uh uh tremendously inside of this building. So uh we gotta talk Christmas. Love my Christmas. Lights are coming. 93-9 is jamming on my daughter the other day on our way to our basketball game. Dad, can we listen to something else? I said, when we're 10 minutes out, I'll give you the I'll give you the techno, I'll get the jams going. But until we hit that, it's Christmas all day, every day. Uh Saturday, I had to drive home from from uh South Bend from a wedding.
SPEAKER_04:And I I listened to that's why you didn't respond.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, I had to drive back home from South Bend late night on Saturday. Ignoring me. I was not ignoring you. I was at a I was at a wedding.
SPEAKER_04:Um ringing.
SPEAKER_01:So as soon as the Indiana uh Ohio State Big Ten game finished, I went straight to the Christmas music. And I'm not kidding, within two minutes, the entire car, my wife, the three kids, out cold. Oh, you took all of them to the wedding? Well, they were in Michigan City at the uh my brother and sister-in-law's lake house with the cousins being watched. We continued on to South Bend on the ride home, picked them up, turned the Christmas music on, lights out. I loved it. I enjoyed my ride home. But the lights are up all over the place, man. We got lights in the dome. Jake, I know, got up on his ladder, got his lights up the other day. I got mine up. I'm a little upset. This snow is really killing me. Um, I need the snow to melt a little bit because I need to fix my snowflake up front. I need to get an elevator a little bit more. But it has it has snowed a tremendous amount in the last week. I had somebody who's a big listener.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:He sent me a message last night. He goes, I know you got your show tomorrow night. He sent me a couple pictures of people's driveways on Sunday of people driving over their snow to get in and out of their driveway and not shoveling it. And I gotta tell you, man, that it's not that hard to be a good man and get out there and shovel your driveway. I mean, clean it up. I mean, the the the the run it over and back and just create the tracks. Like what the get the shovel, get the plow, clean the driveway up, especially like if you're married, get out there, clean the driveway for the wife, clean the driveway for the family, be a good man, do the right thing.
SPEAKER_05:I uh I mean some people aren't built Fort Tough.
SPEAKER_03:You gotta do it in shifts then. Oh like every three inches.
SPEAKER_05:Some people's ax are jacked up. Hey, too much ticket. I got giving food about the tilt, oh I got a ticket for you.
SPEAKER_01:If you don't like the shovel because it's bad on the back, get the man plow. Google it, look it up. Snowblower? No, no, no. The man plow. Like man cow. Man plow. Oh check it out. It's a game changer.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's like a quadruple wide shovel with just a push. Like a handlebar, like pushing it like a walker cable.
SPEAKER_01:How much? I have no idea. I got it for a Christmas present one year. It's it's it's a it's a life changer. But with the Christmas talk, I had a breakfast with a certain individual that's part of the Sparks North Hall of Famer, Jim Tomey about a week ago. Has a has a uh farm out in Peoria, from Peoria, family farm, still has his farm. So I get together with him periodically, and he's always told me about the farmer's almanac. So big believer in the farmer's almanac. And to be honest with you, he's dropped it on me a few times, and it's like 85-90% accurate, at least from what he's always told me. So hopefully it follows true because this is what he shared with me, is is we're gonna get our biggest snowfalls between November 29th and December 4th. It's gonna tail off here. We're not gonna get much more snow. We'll get a little bit, but not the big snowfalls like we've had. And March and April, he said, is supposed to be beautiful this year, which is great for high school baseball. The only bombshell he dropped on me was it's supposed to be a rainy summer. Because it it it there's been a major drought out there for the last like three years, he said. All their their water is significantly down in the farms, and apparently it's supposed to be a rainy summer, which doesn't play well for us late, especially the high school season, like summer season. But if we have a great March and April, I'm telling you, I'm excited. We're never here. We're in the Midwest, unless you're going to Georgia for your one week.
SPEAKER_04:I love that place. Jake and I love that place.
SPEAKER_01:Jake, Georgia?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Jake only likes a train. He only likes Georgia if I drive with him.
SPEAKER_03:It's a little warm.
SPEAKER_05:I took the midnight train.
SPEAKER_03:I don't mind it, but it but man, 106 on the turf is kind of brutal sometimes.
SPEAKER_05:Are we going to Kansas City this year?
SPEAKER_01:Uh 17-year-olds go to Kansas City.
SPEAKER_05:Where are we going?
SPEAKER_01:No need for you to go to Kansas City. You can go there and sell it. That's me.
SPEAKER_04:Where would I want to go? I like Kansas City. Where do I want to go?
SPEAKER_01:Well, then I can go look at the schedules, but I don't already have your schedules done, and I don't really want to change the schedule.
SPEAKER_04:I want to go see Kansas City.
SPEAKER_01:He loves Kansas City because the Wizard won MVP in Kansas City. Hell yeah, brother. And PBR couldn't even do a write-up. I know on the Wizard.
SPEAKER_05:Eric Cologne's on the Hall of Fame by default.
SPEAKER_01:He they had to do one a week later just because they realized that the MVP wasn't getting a write-up.
SPEAKER_05:We're gonna tell that story another day.
SPEAKER_01:We will. We'll hit that on the story. But hey, definitely have to tell that story, please. All right. Listen, they should be here any minute and any day now. Any minute. The shirts should be showing up. The orders have been in. Did you order them? They're ordered. They're paid for. They're in. They're coming. What are we waiting on? We're waiting on their arrival.
unknown:Oh.
SPEAKER_01:And you know what they're at? Where? 2999. 2999.
SPEAKER_03:Are you out of your mind?
SPEAKER_01:All you gotta do is send brew sauce an email, dbrewer at bjesbensonville.com.
SPEAKER_04:Is Jake doing that right now?
SPEAKER_01:Or a simple tweet, DM me at DE Brewer14, and listen. You get your shirt right in time for Christmas. I mean, wear it to practice. Wear it at home. Yeah. Be a good man. Yeah. Get your shirt and let's go. Sparks North baseball, though. Great week. Great week. Four practice warriors to pay the handout here. This first one, I'm telling you, I like this kid a lot. I'm excited about him. He is he is in the dome. He's spending time in the BSF. But 2029 outfielder Declan Daniels from Evanston. Big, physical, uh, hungry to learn, asks questions. Really excited about him. Uh, Thursday, we got into the infields. We got another 29 that took it down. Jake was jacked up about the kid that made two, three diving plays at third base. 29, Bobby Bamford, Montini Catholic, got after it. Bobby, Bobby, okay. Then we work into Sunday. All right. I know Josh is gonna love this one. Big Lord Puck fan on this kid. 2028 Quinn champion, Nazareth Academy. I mean, he's a champion. He works, and the name speaks for itself. Gonna have a big year. Someone once told me this kid couldn't hit. Wrong. He smashes balls. Nice. I hit with him again. He he smashes balls. And then underclassman 2028, Colin O'Brien, Maine South. Been working hard, man. The Hawks are flying high. They're flying high. A lot of talent there. Excited to see the kid. He's making some good growth progress uh uh this year. He's he's starting to buy into what we've been preaching the kids about getting in here, spending time. You know who's leading that for the Hawks?
SPEAKER_05:This kid named Luka Stoyakovich. Love you, Luca. Uh um, we got in well, Luca's the all-star of my catching camp with his mouth and with his skills. So, no, he um Luca's in here every day. I think 50% of the time is for social reasons. Um, 50% of the time is to get better at the game. But I think Luca's really spearheading that program where I know PBR already kind of hinted at a deep run for them. I I agree if they stay healthy on the mound and Luke and Luca's just leading, Luca by himself is worth five wins by himself. So I can expect a deep run. And we got Nate Serra also uh over there, too. And then uh Maddox Tobecson. Russell Hangles, Russell, big Russ, big game Russ.
SPEAKER_01:Oh big rust. Just picked up a new one, having Adam Chesky another one outfielder, first baseman, big left-hand bat.
SPEAKER_05:Uh 24 black. 27 black. 27 black, sorry.
SPEAKER_02:24 is gone, man.
SPEAKER_05:Anyone who could play? 24 black. No, that was uh for you people out there. When when anyone was good back in the day, it can be a 26, a 25. They were gonna play on the 24 black team. And it just was, it was just the nature of the beast, and you just had to accept it for what it was.
SPEAKER_01:Josh called favoritism towards Jake because I gave Jake everybody. All you do is give Jake, Jake, Jake, 24, 24, Jake, Jake, Jake. Yeah, Josh. And then all of a sudden, Josh had a team and I was giving him everybody. He's like, ooh, ooh, look at me. I get everybody now.
SPEAKER_05:I felt it, I felt it for a year or two. I felt good. I missed that.
SPEAKER_03:From my perspective, I I only got guys outside of the 24 class when we were like bombed out with injuries, man. That whole year. When I didn't have enough guys to field a team, you had to take guys off like Phillip Rivers coming back. Yeah, 40% of my team was down, man.
SPEAKER_01:You've been dying to say that. Yeah, so I read that before.
SPEAKER_05:And I had to get it in.
SPEAKER_03:Set you up, man.
SPEAKER_05:Phillip Rivers coming back to play quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts.
SPEAKER_01:There you go. So, Jake, you brought this up earlier. Uh, you mentioned the MPF on Sundays. So, for those of you who don't know our training and players who do know that are listening, uh, Jake runs the multi-purpose field uh on Sundays, where you know we could do anything from uh first and third defense, uh bunk coverages, uh situational hitting, base running, just any baseball activity that we decide to kind of put together. Um but you've been running that station for a while now, Jake. And I gotta ask, like you do a fantastic job, man. And where do you come up with the ideas of of how to run that station?
SPEAKER_03:Um so uh a lot of it is just sitting at home and thinking about how can I make this harder? Like what can I change to make them uncomfortable? What can I change to put pressure on them? So I'll I'll I I'll never be like content with my drills or um what we're working on. I'm always looking to modify it to to increase difficulty, to um, I don't know. Like last week I really I was focusing on a difficult base running situation that these guys I don't believe do very often. Like understanding when to look for your hit and run, being able to see that act and then make the right choice. Um so just so just that's a lot of just thinking in my own head, man, and and modifying and then asking like uh the new the coaches like uh Terry Banya out there with me now. Um, that is a resource. I'll I'll I'll ask him, hey man, how do I make this better? How do I make it more difficult? Or hey, I'm gonna have you do this. Why don't you show me something new? Well, what do you do if you want to work on this particular thing and then pick up from him?
SPEAKER_05:Um that's one of the best things you do. Try to learn from other people, yeah, especially for a man your age. No offense. No, I've not taken it. No, like, no, like for how long you've been doing this, and like this no shots fired. No, like this is one of the first thing when I bring up when I talk about Jake, and I brought it up earlier. I'm 20 years younger than you, yes, around there. And the first time we met, he asked me what I want to do for practice, and he was never he's never condescending, um, always asking, and I just I learned from that, and I I just it always just it's special to me that you do that, and that's why I think you're so good. I can still see your face when I said that to you. It was like, is this dude for real? Because I wasn't here's I was intimidated, man. Like I haven't talked about when I first got here, I had an imposter syndrome. I I I didn't think I belonged here, especially when I first met Bob Lasante. I really thought I was out of my element. I was like, I I'm not I don't belong here. Then I obviously spent more time with you, and then you then I thought you were the older brother. I was like, oh no, this is and I remember my girlfriend at the time. I remember going home. I'm like, I don't think I belong here.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think I belong here. See, that's weird because I don't think I've ever felt like you didn't belong.
SPEAKER_03:No, he hid that, you hid that very well.
SPEAKER_01:You did, and I I've always said it because when we started, you were how old? 22?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, just turned 22.
SPEAKER_01:You were 22 when we when we first started, and I always told everybody because I remember having conversations behind the closed doors about instructors and coaches and this, and I didn't even realize you were 22, and they were like, Well, he's too young to do this. I was like, Well, listen, he may be that age, but he does not carry himself that way. And I think in baseball, that is one of the greatest compliments a player or coach can get is that you are able to carry yourself older because all that means is you're mature, you are mature in the game, and that you will have more respect long term from guys who have been involved in it or been around it because I think there's a way about the game that guys who really see it understand that when you get it, you get it. Right? Like I had I remember my trainer in triple A, he's he was an old, grumpy dude. And Darren, this guy, he was grumpy. And when you were young, and he would just look at you and be like, you don't get it, you don't get it. And I mean, he he looked at me in the first like two weeks of the season, he never said it to me, but he always gave me that look, and then finally, like three weeks in, he's like, You get it. And I was like, Thanks, dude, because I was like the third or fourth youngest guy on our team, yeah, and he's just like those other three, they don't get it. And I was like, I totally agree with you. I also remember when I pulled my hamstring that year, I did it. We were in Syracuse and we were in the uh third base dugout, and I was playing right field, and I pulled it all the way in right center, like making it a catch off the wall. I caught it, hit the wall, hammy pulled right on my last step, and I'm laying on the ground. So he's got to get all the way to me because I couldn't get up. He gets out to me. The first thing he says is, You better be hurt. I'm like, Well, yeah, I'm hurt, man. I can't move my leg. Felt like someone shot me. But I I've always thought that about you, Josh.
SPEAKER_05:I I I well, credit to you and Jake and and Bob. Because like I said, never condescending, never um made me feel like that. That was just me feeling like that, and it was just the way you guys carried yourself. And I'm like, I'm in a room, and I challenge everybody, player, or whoever's listening to this, like be in a room where you feel uncomfortable, and then obviously not comfortable now, but there are days that I still feel uncomfortable here because especially some people that come rolling through here, you're like, whoa, like, no, I'm not even gonna get on that from last week, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it it here. Kanji sits with us every Sunday. Oh, yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like Kanji, 16 years in the big wear's name on our chest, huge part of this dome. Like, it's so cool that we get to sit there, and you know what's even better is that man sits and treats us like we're equals. Yeah, and I don't ever feel like I'm an equal to Kanji, but I do feel like Kanji is a good friend of mine. I would I I know that me and him talk, we holidays send messages to each other. Like, I count Kanji as a friend. I know he looks at me as a friend, but like the first time you're around him, it's it's a shockwave. Like it's it's like you said, you have to find your way with it, but it's so cool now. Like, I think it's hilarious because Kanji will come over, hang out with you, and I always to start, do his thing on the field with us, coach some of the boys, talk to him, and then he always migrates over to go hang out with Jake. Yeah, my guy, man, he comes and says hi to me every single time. He always comes back to us, he's like, sorry, I had to go, I had to go see what Jake was doing, you know, see if he needed any help and go talk to him. He's like, I love that guy. But like that's the cool thing about this place is I think all of us have those experiences and feelings, but I think we all are so respectful to each other that it's never really been that way, but we obviously we all have those feelings that we kind of go through with that. So um, listen, I know asked Jake about the multi-purpose field. Uh I want to talk to you a little bit, Josh, about what you did this past Sunday on the infield. Um, I unfortunately could not be a practice. Uh my daughter plays third grade basketball. I have to also coach her.
SPEAKER_04:Pat Riley.
SPEAKER_01:So, yes, Josh calls me Pat Riley. I sent him, you know, my daughter hit a turnaround jumper to take a two-point lead in the championship game with a minute left. She got jacked up. I sent it to one of my buddies down in Springfield. He's like, She's got some dog in her. I was like, She does, she's a she's a warrior out there.
SPEAKER_03:I didn't get that.
SPEAKER_01:I'll send it to you. But so Josh had the infield.
SPEAKER_03:Don't get on that.
SPEAKER_01:Um Josh had the infield, and we talked that day, and he was like, Listen, I threw some twist on the infield. Um, so normally we're out there, we play baseball, we throw different spins on the game, different situations, but Josh kind of came up with a new idea because after last week, you know, we talked and we had some kids who were a little bit lazy, a little bit complacent, like we talked last show. So, what are some things that you kind of spun uh this week on the field that really changed the dynamic of how these kids played?
SPEAKER_05:So, going back to our collaboration here, um, our collaboration runs deep, especially you and I, Jake and I, especially. Um, so my thing going back to Jake's point uh about what he was doing on the MPF, I started with a runner on second base and with two strikes. So you had one swing essentially. And yes, we have three strikes, but you know, I believe just like with football, just like what the Packers did yesterday, what did they do really well? They converted on third down a lot. I think it was in the 90 percentile, and it was back breaking stuff. And so Equivalent baseball is two out. We didn't do two outs yesterday, but we did two strike RBIs, the backbreaker for a pitcher mentally, and uh backbreaker for defense mentally. So I started with the runner on second base with two strikes. They had a swinger hitting off the machine, got through the first couple, but then I started noticing some guys were really jogging off of the off the infield. And I said, Would you run like that if a bear was chasing you for dear life? No. So I said, All right, they didn't get it after that. So I was like, we're gonna add a runner. So then the hitting team, because this is how we keep standings here and we keep uh run scored here, so I added a runner. So now it's first and second now. And then so, but here's the thing if the runner that I said to go out there took his time to get out the first base, and it happened, they jogged out the first base. I said, You're out.
unknown:Good.
SPEAKER_05:So now how many outs there were there was one or two outs, or sometimes three outs in the inning. And then if that runner flew on to the field, he did well. I was like, all right, pitcher made a mistake or catcher made a mistake, I added another runner. So then it'd be bases loaded, two outs, and then some teams just couldn't cash in on that. And then in between innings, um, I made catchers pay for bad throws down to second base. If they made a bad throw down to second base, I would throw a runner on first base. Obviously, if the runner took too long to get there, he'd be out. Now, some guys messed up. Mind you, I told you we were starting with the runner on second base. Some of them didn't communicate who was going to be the runner. So if it took longer than six to seven seconds on who was that runner out there, out. So, no runner on second base now, and then start out with your two strikes and your one out. And then I just kept bouncing back and forth. If there was any if the controllables were jacked up, there's going to be consequences. And they were mad at me. And also, no, I made a one whoever's listening, I I forgot which team it was. They were up nine to one.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, they were mad at you, bro.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, they were up nine to one.
SPEAKER_03:They came over to MPF and were like, this dude's unreasonable. You you were holding us accountable, but at least you're reasonable.
SPEAKER_05:This guy ain't reasonable, man. And let's double down on that. How many times we go out to Indianapolis, Kansas City, Atlanta, here, and you run into an unreasonable umpire? All the they're all unreasonable. How many times do you have to have a speech to your team to say how are we going to bounce back from this? Or are we going to let it spiral? To your point, and that so what happened in that game? They were up nine to one. They made a couple of those uncontrollable airs, uh, controllable airs, and people started getting on, blah, blah, blah. I there was a controversial double play call at second base.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that's the one they were ruling.
SPEAKER_05:I ruled it, I ruled interference on the defender. Lonnie, Lonnie was so mad at you. Here's yeah, here's the thing. I allowed the interference call, which allowed bases loaded to happen. Following at bat, double tie ball game. We had to go to extras. Now, what was their response to that? They came up one, two, three. They had to run on second. That a ghost run on second.
SPEAKER_03:Because they were too busy being mad at you instead of getting their job done and going to get in the run, man.
SPEAKER_05:That's my job. Yes, you were doing your job, they didn't do theirs. And so then the other team came up. I believe ground ball to second base. Ground ball over won the ball game. I think the score was 10 to 9.
SPEAKER_01:Move them over, get them in.
SPEAKER_05:The thing is, that's happened to me. I'm sure that's happened to you. Oh, yeah. And that's happened to you. So, yes, people, and this is people don't understand at least when they get around me or you or whoever. It's how I'm we're trying to make this real life. And well, that people, oh, he was safe. That's a strike, that's a ball. How many times are you in an actual game and this stuff happens? It happens. So we're gonna so the thing we're practicing is that you got it, you got to expect things to not go your way. As soon as you walk on that field, you got to expect the umpires are against me, the other team's against me, the fans are against me, everyone, yeah, it's me against the world here. And the only guys I got are the other eight with me. And that is gonna bring the cohesive unit together. And that's what we got to practice in here. And I told them when we started yesterday, I nearly spun out like three or four times. There were six inches of snow on the 294 at 4.30 in the morning. And I'm sure a lot of people had a difficult time. To your point, uh, Miss Rocky Vinyard texted me. She said, Is uh practice still on? I see Dan hasn't left his driveway yet. And I go, Rocky, he's not coming because he has hoops. She's like, Oh, okay, hope you get there safe. I was like, Rocky, I'm here already. She goes, Oh, okay, I'll be there.
SPEAKER_01:Love you, Rocky. Um sure. Player who lives across literally, I could throw a baseball from my front step into their front door.
SPEAKER_05:Yes. So I told the kids, you show up here, a lot of people didn't wake up this morning. Number two, a lot of people didn't get up and drive in the snow. So might as well just make this worth it right here. So let's just not waste time. So, to your point, make if any coach are listening, listening to this, make practice challenging. How do you make practice challenging? You piss them off. And let's just see how they react. And yeah, I Nick in the cages, Nick Cash and all who's been on here before. He told me they were angry in the cages. Angry with you. You gotta learn how to move that state on the field, and now we gotta move on to something else.
SPEAKER_03:It's over, man. You gotta get to the next deal.
SPEAKER_05:You're still mad at you. You blew a nine-run lead, a lot of it was controllable. Now that one play was at the tail end, but there are a lot of things that led up to that. Amen. And I was like, you know what? This is a perfect time because this happens. This has happened to me. I remember I got walked off grand slammed on because we couldn't make a couple pitches and there were a couple bad calls. And then bang, finally it was. We came back, we went to extra innings, we had a runner on second. Actually, we had bases loaded, went out, struck out pop out. Stuff happens, and you just gotta learn how to deal with it. And that's our job as coaches. You gotta get comfortable. Like a lot of those kids, I like that you talk were mad at me. I love those kids. But being point being, me liking them, I gotta prepare them. And that means, and I don't have to tell you two this. One thing that I've learned and learned as I've gone in this, in positions of leadership, there will be days when they hate you. And you gotta get comfortable going into those spots. If you're not comfortable going into those spots, you're really not gonna get the best out of them. Because here's a quote I took from a great show to mentor you, I must sometimes have to torment you. And that's what I try to do, and that's what we did. And it also just made it interesting. It all of a sudden people are flying up and down the field now. I also, if they didn't get off on four seconds, they had to go out and play no through outs. Yeah, I mean, it's like all of a sudden people want to run.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, now you find out how fast they can actually get on and off the field.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, so yeah, that's what we did. It's I love that stuff, man.
SPEAKER_01:100%. Everything you just said right there is what we do inside this dome and this organization that makes these things great. And to your point, people don't agree with what we do all the time. And they want us to do things and just make it simple and easy. And it's like this game isn't simple and easy, right? If it was it was easy, everybody would play. In the words of Jimmy Dugan. Okay?
SPEAKER_04:This is why we play the game.
SPEAKER_01:That's why we play the game. The hard is what makes it great. Okay, so we gotta move on to the next segment here with a new name. It's a little cup of brew. Sponsored by Newman's Corner Pub.
SPEAKER_05:For Newman's Corner Pub, if you ever wanna get a drink, if you ever wanna gamble, if you ever wanna get a burger, if you're out in the western suburbs, go hit my guy up, Jeff Naraki. Tell him the good man show sent you. I don't know what he's gonna give you for a discount. He probably will because if you know us and you listen to the show, he's just one of the most generous, fun-loving guys around. He's in here all the time. I call him Mr. Mayor because he knows everything that's going on in this dome like a mayor. So, for all your western suburbs food and drinking and gambling needs, go hit up Newman's Corner Pub.
SPEAKER_01:So last week, uh during this, we we talked a little bit about Ricky Henderson, which we talked to Bert, and Bert's been telling me some Ricky stories since then.
SPEAKER_03:I got his rookie card.
SPEAKER_01:Jake's a big card collector, which we can get into that at some point. But uh, we talked Ricky, and and during the Ricky Henderson segment, we also talked about Harold Reynolds, which is why I had to save this part for my brother Jake to be in attendance. So I'm gonna give you a little background here. All right. Uh 11 years old, I was playing on an all-star team in Lagrange. Right? We were a pretty good team. When I was nine, it was a nine and ten-year-old team, and then 11, it was an 11 and 12-year-old team. And when we were nine and ten in '96, we won the state tournament uh for Lagrange. And so 11 and 12-year-old, we you know, favorites to win state again. We end up winning state, so now we go to regionals. Now, mind you, this is when the Little League World Series only let four American teams in and four international teams. Now it's eight and eight. So we go to regionals in um Indianapolis and we're playing in the tournament. And my dad is our coach, and we have to stay in the barracks and uh you know, we're playing in the team or part of the team, whatever, and playing, and so we're at this tournament. And those of you who know anything or watch little league baseball, uh, Harold Reynolds is um a commentator for the little league baseball stuff.
SPEAKER_04:He was?
SPEAKER_01:Uh yes. Back in the day.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's how he got his like broadcast start. Oh, I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, well, this is where we're going. So uh we I listen, and I'm playing, so I don't really know this story, and I don't think I was really told this story because I was 11, so I was not really told this story until later on in my life. But my mom, Mama Brew, love Mama Brew.
SPEAKER_03:See you soon.
SPEAKER_01:Um was in the stands.
SPEAKER_03:You want you want me to just take over?
SPEAKER_01:Kind of. I think Jacob probably finishes this better to tell what happened.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, I I I'm in the stands. I had driven there with um some friends who also had a younger brother on on the team. Um I am I'm 18 at the time. Uh this is part of I have not found my calm yet at all in life. I I am eager, let's say eager for confrontation, okay? Um and I I get to the game and I see my mother standing by the fence. I see this guy talking to her. Kind of looks like he's hitting on her. What? Happens to be Mr. Harold Randall. No, ho ho! Well, like I said, I'm pretty eager for coming to attention. So I see how I have not been told this before. I haven't told you this before. Are you sure?
SPEAKER_01:I would remember. I brought it up to him and I said, I'm not telling you the whole story yet because I'm let Jake finish it. He's like, wait, wait, what?
SPEAKER_03:Let me keep going. It gets better. So I go, I think in my brain, I'm like, does this dude really think he's gonna hit on my mom at this little league game, man? I'm like, not when I'm around, bro. So I go walking up to him and I uh go right in between. And I stare him in the face and I go, listen, dude, you're gonna want to go away. And if you don't go away, you're gonna fight a kid. You're at a little league game. So leave my mom alone. I know what you're doing. It ain't cool with me. Make your choice, buddy. This guy looks at me like, this kid is crazy, turns and walks away. And as he's walking away, I'm giving him the that's a good choice there, dude.
SPEAKER_01:So let's go back to last week when I mentioned that my last year playing with the Braves, we had guest speakers. I told you this is a two-part series.
SPEAKER_05:Well, this is three parts.
SPEAKER_01:Well, no, from last week, we're coming in. Yeah, so here's where the first circles. I've known this growing up now about Harold Reynolds, and the running joke in our house was like, we weren't big Harold Reynolds fans. Like, nah. Anytime arguably still not. And anytime he would come out of TV, we'd all be like, forget this guy. Like, we don't like this dude. Dude hit on our mom, blah, blah, blah. So I'm with the Braves.
SPEAKER_05:I'm I still can't believe this is a small world.
SPEAKER_01:Spring training hits and Harold Reynolds is a guest speaker, and everybody's all applauding. I'm like, forget this dude, man. Nobody wants to listen to this guy. And they're like, What do you got against him? My buddy's sitting next to me. He's gonna get against Harold Rounds. I'm like, dude, I'm 11 years old. I'm at the Lily uh uh regionals in India. This dude's hitting on my mom. He's like, What? I'm like, I'll tell you the story when this guy finishes talking. But that is my full cycle back to the Harold. Did you talk to Harold? Uh I I refuse to. Guys are going up shaking his hand saying thanks for thanks for coming out. I was like, I refuse to say thank you to this man. Wow. So that is your cup of brew tonight on the old Harold Reynolds. Cheers.
SPEAKER_04:Cheers up wow. I I didn't expect it to take that turn.
SPEAKER_01:That's right.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, well, you wouldn't have to be able to do that. I wondered I wondered how you I wondered, no, no, you I can picture as a feisty young man. I'm just the the the cameo of Harold Reynolds. It's I it's I I I have no words because I'm like, I I'm like, how does Jake come in with Harold Reynolds?
SPEAKER_01:And eager. I think Jake's exact words were he's eager for competition. Wow. I'm just being and how old was Harold? He just just finished playing, had to have a although he was young into his broadcasting, like it was his start and like just getting going. So he mid 30s? Uh probably around there, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, I've never been fond of him as a broadcaster, but now you'll never like him ever again.
SPEAKER_03:No, no, it it I still get me a little fired up, man. Wow. So and then he had probably said it in his way, oh yeah, he was like, This ain't worth it, and just walked away. Wow.
SPEAKER_01:Moving on. No, no, we hope you enjoyed it. But moving on, last week we talked this, and I know Lord Puck, you were talking big about the Bears. And and your prediction of the three points at one point was was looking okay, and they they were fighting back. Uh Bears take a tough loss to the Packers, though. Uh went on the road. First half didn't look so great. They competed to come back second half. We're charging down. Thought we were gonna get that touchdown. I wish he would have backpassed that ball to DJ Moore, who would have just had a nice little walk in. Because I feel like even Tom Brady said he's like, if they score a touchdown here, they're going for two.
SPEAKER_05:He confirmed they were.
SPEAKER_01:And we were. You were and it it it would have been a great. I think we had if we get it, I think we get it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But last week, all you kept talking was first and monungai.
SPEAKER_05:They didn't give it to my second and monungai. He got going in the second half, and they just didn't again. I don't know why I'm fourth and one. They didn't give it to him again. They gave it to him on third and monungai. They didn't give it to him on fourth.
SPEAKER_02:But where was the fourth and manungai?
SPEAKER_05:That's what I was saying. I was watching with the Packer fan, and I'm like, Manungai, it's time. We were fourth and one, and all I kept saying, sitting on my coverage, was Manungai! Manungai! Manangai! Dude, he ran into one of them, I don't know, I think it was the second or third quarter. He ran into like three of them and just bounced off of them. And then I was like, oh, he got like two yards, but I was like, Oh, that was an impressive two yards.
SPEAKER_03:He exploded a chunk of the one dude's helmet off of his helmet in that clip.
SPEAKER_05:To Jake's credit, I remember pulling into here um, what was it, four or five weeks ago? What game was this? Um, we're on the phone, and I'm like, yeah, I'm interested to see these Bears. And he's like, Yeah, I'm interested to see this Kyle Manunga guy. Because I really like this guy. Dude exploded that game. I forgot which game it was.
SPEAKER_03:I still have yet to figure out why he wasn't highly sought after coming out of college. Because he's size, his size. His size. Who cares? Who cares about how big someone is?
SPEAKER_01:Hold on. Who's who's one of your all-time favorite running backs? Not Emmett Smith. Played on the Eagles, little short wrecking ball, dude.
SPEAKER_03:Oh.
SPEAKER_01:Played on the Chargers, too.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, who was that?
SPEAKER_01:Darren Srolls, my guy sprolls. Hey, read all about the Saints, too. Sprolls. A little bit of that was my guy. You love sprolls because we're a couple 5'10, 5'11 undersized dudes. So who do you always love?
SPEAKER_02:I like the little guys that dominate.
SPEAKER_03:But to your point, who's always overlooked? The little guys, man. And and Manongai, listen, man, he led the Big Ten in rushing out of Rutgers. Their O-line isn't a world beater, man. And they're there, he did that against a bunch of first-round draft pick defensive linemen and a crappy offensive line. I couldn't figure out why he wasn't drafted earlier.
SPEAKER_01:That's what's going to make him what he is. Oh, yeah. Is the chip on his shoulder, the hunger of you aren't this, you aren't that, you're not better than him, you're not good. You're you're a seventh round. That is what's makes these dudes thrive, man. That's what makes athletes thrive. It's it's the driving force. It's what we try to teach all these kids in here. The kid who's 15 and 16 years old and the best player is not going to be the best player unless he keeps working. You can't say ever. I tell kids all the time, you think every first round pick makes the big leagues? No. You think the first over a pick? That's why I think the draft, the way it is now, is so stupid that guy, teams, if you're the worst team three consecutive years in a row, you don't get the first pick. What does it matter? It's not saying the first pick in a baseball draft is a slam dunk big league baseball player. It's stupid, it's idiotic, it makes no sense to me. Like it's a crapshoot, and size doesn't matter. Due to due to work, have something inside of them is what makes them a monotonous. Young guy has that. He has a driving factor. He's not scared of contact. He's not scared to go in the middle. He he has a TW, TW.
SPEAKER_04:CW, TW.
SPEAKER_01:We talk about it all the time. He has the TW, TW. And we'll see. I mean, it stinks. The Bears drop. It's crazy. They went from first to seventh. Right? And if you look at the NFC now, it's like we were talking about this a couple weeks ago. You said 10 wins gets them in.
SPEAKER_04:No.
SPEAKER_01:I think 11. 11 to 12 wins is what you need now to get in. Like 11's going to be dicey. I don't know. I think they're still playing.
SPEAKER_05:They're still playing right now.
SPEAKER_01:I know they were up, but I don't know if they win. But if they lose, I think that obviously changes a lot. But I think it's going to be 11.
SPEAKER_04:The only The Eagles are winning by three.
SPEAKER_01:The good factor is that the Bears in conference are actually very good. Our losses all come in our division. Which we have two more division games left that are going to be big crucial games. We're going to get the Packers at home. The Lions, the last one of the year, I think is going to be a huge game for us. I don't think it's going to decide. Well, I should it could decide the division. We're going to take care of the Browns this week.
SPEAKER_05:We're going to get them. We're going to get the Packers. The Packers um well they had the big plays.
SPEAKER_01:The big plays came in.
SPEAKER_05:It was a player two play that we didn't get. We had Kyler Gordon to get knocked out before the game started. I think Jalen Johnson was on a snap count.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And every play that he wasn't in there, uh, they went after that guy, McLeod.
SPEAKER_03:He's not that good.
SPEAKER_05:He's not great. And then he they even took out that one play that did make me mad was um that offensive pass interference call. There should be a heavier penalty for that, especially on third down, because obviously we're not going to take the penalty, so there's really no repercussions for that. Like that was an obvious pick from my guy, Mr. Wright, who also got packed up yesterday. And you know he took a bad kick to the jump. Yeah. So hopefully he's okay. I mean, you can probably sit out.
SPEAKER_01:He'd be all right. He came out spitting blood. He was he's that dude's tough, man. He's a another one. Correct. A guy who came from the practice squad of the Vikings, wasn't supposed to be the star, got thrown in, and now looking at the stuff the guy's putting on film and putting together on the season.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, it's it is that was another pick. He got on the inside. It was like, all right, here it comes again. And we didn't cash in on that Jordan Love pick. We didn't cash in. Uh, we we needed to score some points there because he's always gonna give you, he's gonna give you a couple.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and that was early. Yeah. It was early and it was a momentum shifter because we did it early.
SPEAKER_05:And why the hell did we give Jake Moody a like why did we just let that guy walk? That guy, Kyro Santos, I swear to you, he is I you heard it here first. I hate to say this. I have the same feeling I had with Cody Parkey several years ago. No, no, I put this in writing.
SPEAKER_00:Don't say that.
SPEAKER_05:No, no, no, no. This guy, he can't even put it in the landing zone. And then he's on the sideline. Like, talking about the dimension. We let a super, he didn't win the Super Bowl, but he got to the Super Bowl with the 49ers, and he won us the game against the commanders. And we're like, we're just gonna let you walk and bring this guy back who already has gray hair and he's not even in his 40s. He has gray on his beard and gray hair, like he's thinking he's some silver fox or something. The only fox I got I got gray hair, man. You're over 40. You didn't hear me what I said. This guy, he can pay to have his beard dyed and not look like that. He can't even put in the landing zone and set him up at the that was huge. He set him up at the 40. Like, this guy is a clown, and we're always holding our breath. Anything over 40 yards, I'm like, this guy stinks. Yeah, he stinks. He's gonna cost us. Hopefully he does it, but he's gonna cost us. And yeah, we're gonna get them packed, we're gonna get them Browns, we're gonna get them lines, we're gonna get those Niners, all right? Uh thing is we have a coach. We do have a coach.
SPEAKER_03:The Niners game's gonna be important, man.
SPEAKER_05:Brock Purdy's throwing picks.
SPEAKER_03:That could get us in or out because that that team we need that tiebreaker against, man. We just need to go three for four. We're gonna go three for four. We're five.
SPEAKER_01:If we don't if okay, if we beat Browns, beat Packers, lose the 49ers, it's gonna come down to the Lions game.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Like that's that's the road. It's gonna be beat Browns, yeah. Beat Packers, yeah. If you beat Niners, I don't I think the Lions game then becomes possibly for the division. Or not for it will be for the division, but it could be for the conference, too. Like we might take conference champs if we take all four here.
SPEAKER_05:Here's the thing when you can't argue this, I guess for diehard bear fans. When when the Packers are clicking on all cylinders, they're the best team in the NFC. Um you can't argue that. And so we had them. Like I said, there was one play, two plays here and there. But poor Jonah Jackson was getting thrown around like a ragdoll yesterday. That that was really sad to see. And but and then Caleb, going back to the there were some layups. I mean, that could have extended a few drives, that could have shifted the the feelings of a few things, and the touchdown pass was a I mean a ridiculous. He has the whoa throws. He does. I just need the throws we're not gonna talk about.
SPEAKER_01:But hey, you know who lost last night, don't you?
SPEAKER_05:They're done. It's time. You know who's back? My guy CJ Shroud.
SPEAKER_01:Did you see the Bengals? He is back. Watch out for the Texans. They're tough.
SPEAKER_04:Tough AFC.
SPEAKER_01:The AFC is the best teams in the AFC are defense, defense, defense, defense. All those best teams right now. Broncos, defense, Texans, watch out for the Texan defense is scary.
SPEAKER_05:Dude, they're vicious. They're mean, they're vicious. The Miko Ryan plays it sometimes a little too conservatively. What about your Bengals Bills game? Dude, they were supposed to win. Joe Burrow, what was that, man? Like, you can't throw that pick there at the end. Now, mind you, they pay the defense too, okay? I know. They pay the defense too. That was a great play. But I thought the Bengals were gonna win, man. I know. I actually saw it, I was like, ah Oh, mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law. Boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom. Who was if you were listening to the last show, who said Aaron Rodgers is gonna go into Baltimore and beat them Ravens? I said it's the steel curtain is back.
SPEAKER_01:Hey.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. You were right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I was wrong.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, that Baltimore team. You were right. I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Hey, I'm sorry. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01:I actually was watching that. I was like, oh man, this guy was right. I'm gonna have to hear about this talk about the steel curtain.
SPEAKER_05:Whenever they, whenever those idiots up there start chanting, fire Mike Tomlin, always the next game they're gonna win. Always. Always the next game they're gonna win, you know. Thing is, we're not gonna be chanting that with our guy for the next 15 years. He's a thinker, that guy. And I guess he's a leader of men. That the one thing I wasn't down he was a thinker, I was just a leader of men, Parpa, you know, leader of men. He seems calm, cool, collected up there. Seems like you, Jake.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01:Uh it was it was great, man. You were uh you're a great part of this organization, man. You're a big inspiration in my baseball career. Um people have always said who's your mentor growing up, and I've always said that my brother Jake was my biggest mentor and influencer in this game. So I appreciate everything you do, dude. I love you. Um you're the best, man. Keep keep doing what you're doing, keep being who you are, keep being here for these kids. Um, we look forward to you taking care of those 27s this year. We'll definitely have to have you back, man. I think I think you bring a lot of excitement to the show. So uh when the good man shirts get in, yours is hot off the press, dude. You got it coming. Don't worry. Good man, we'll take care of you. So, Lord Puck, end us with the ending grace here.
SPEAKER_05:Before we do go, and I give the ending grace, I do got to give out a shout out to my girl JD Dowlin, who works the front desk. JD, we love you. Um, reason why I gave her a shout-out. I had a at a lesson today that JD was really pushing me for. Um, they called, they said, We really want Josh, and she said, I I got you, I set him up. Turns out, um, when they get there, they realize it's the wrong Josh. There's another Josh in the building, and they wanted the other Josh. And I'm there while they're saying this, and JD was really fighting for me saying how worthy of an instructor I was. Now, alas, didn't go according to plan, and they went with the other Josh. But I just really appreciate JD for sticking up with me there. So thank you, JD. We love everything that you do. We really appreciate you. And now for my keys to success going into this following week. I hope you got your tires from last week. Do not stand underneath gutters. Do not, they will kill you. And what I mean by kill you, those icicles come down like the fangs of it. Do not stand underneath those gutters. And my second one for this week really put yourself out there. And what I mean by that is don't be someone's background noise. You be the main actor in your life, you be the director, and you let everyone go around you and see what happens after that. And that's pretty much all I have.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for those words. Yes. And on that note, Bruce Soss, Lord Puck, out. Jake, bye. See you bye.