The 2:00AM Crew

Everybody Thinks They're Right | The 2:00M Crew | Ep. 54

• Rick Hierro and Jason Enrique • Season 1 • Episode 54

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:04:06

Send us Fan Mail

The sports world has been moving at full speed, and The 2:00AM Crew is breaking it all down.

Rick and Jason discuss the biggest stories taking over the sports world this week, including the aftermath of the FIFA World Cup, the biggest storylines heading into NFL training camps, the MLB playoff race as the trade deadline approaches, and whether New York's baseball teams are built to make a serious postseason run. They also debate the hottest NBA offseason moves and ask which teams actually improved enough to challenge for a championship.

From passionate New York sports takes to heated debates that only happen after midnight, this episode is packed with opinions, laughs, and plenty of arguments.

Topics Include:

⚽ The biggest takeaways from the FIFA World Cup
🏈 NFL training camps begin—Which teams have the most pressure?
⚾ Yankees vs. Mets: Who should be buyers at the deadline?
🔥 MLB Trade Deadline predictions
🏀 NBA offseason winners and losers
🌟 Which athletes own the sports world right now?
👀 Bold predictions for the rest of 2026

Recent sports conversation has centered on the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup, the opening of NFL training camps, and the MLB pennant races as teams approach the trade deadline.

Support the show

SPEAKER_05

Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to the 2 a.m. crew. I am your host, Rick H. Obviously, joined by my heterosexual uh podcast uh partner. The one and only Jason Enrique. Yes. How are you doing, Rick? I'm good. I'm good. I had a great episode of the Rick A show yesterday with Ivan Manito. Um, it was great, you know, creating content with him again. Um, and uh that's basically it. I had a great weekend. I got to watch the World Cup final, which was um pretty good. Uh it was a weird final because I was like, if Argentina wins, my guy has two of them, but if Spain wins, that's the team I'm rooting for. So it was a weird final for me. Um and uh that's basically it. You know, life is life, you know. What about you? How have you been?

SPEAKER_06

Uh I've been okay. Uh pretty uneventful weekend for me. Um, I wanted to go to the beach on Saturday, but that didn't happen because uh, you know, Mother Nature decided to rain on the weekend when Wow, what a that was uh the rain on Saturday was something else. Yeah, and I don't know how it was on Long Island today, but uh what over here we were getting like tornado warnings. So but luckily everybody, as far as I know, is okay. Yeah, um, but yeah, it was it was actually pretty scary what you saw on social media. But other than that, uh my weekend was fine, uneventful, didn't really do anything, didn't really go anywhere. Uh usually on Sundays I take uh my dog Monty to the park uh in Hawthorne, and that's place that's a place basically where you know I basically go to have my piece, I turn off my phone, don't bother anybody, don't call anybody, and just enjoy nature and just kind of reset, get myself mentally prepared for the week.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, you the rain, now that you mention it, I was driving to New Jersey in that rain. Oh wow, okay. And everyone in Jersey had the hazards on because you can't see anything in front of you. Um that was interesting. Uh yeah, New Jersey. Uh, I went to see, so uh shout out to Violet and Vic. Uh they recently got married, so it was um yeah, we went out there to see them. Uh eventful eve day. It was kind of like one in the afternoon, and then um I was just happy to make it out there in one piece because honestly, the rain was was was a lot.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, yeah, it was not a joke.

SPEAKER_05

No. Um, so let's just let's just go with the breaking news. You know, a lot of the ESPN layoffs. Now, I don't know who was laid off. I know one name. Excuse me, because I know the person personally, so I know that layoff. Okay.

SPEAKER_06

But well, uh the there's actually been a coup uh several layoffs. Uh it's been a huge number, but the six noticeable no nota um notable talent that was let go today, uh, your man Ryan Clark, Carl Ravich, Tom Pelicero, Cam Newton, Charles Davis, and Bart Scott. Those are the six main notable talents that were let go from ESPN today.

SPEAKER_05

Couple names there kind of hurt Carl Ravich. Uh 33 years with the company. Yeah, he's been the voice of baseball tonight all my life. He's like an instant, he's like Chris Berman at this point in time. So that's kind of weird there. RC is my guy, man.

SPEAKER_06

Um I don't know why that happened, but there has been some issues going like swirling around as to why RC was uh a part of the shopping block. You know, there were some people saying that it had to do with his um his uh little spat, if you want to call it, with Peter Schrager online. Uh, a lot of people have been saying that one of the things that they didn't appreciate about Ryan Clark was he always had to bring the the race card into these conversations, whether uh uh an NFL coach didn't get a hiring because he was black to stand the third. So that's been out there. I'm not saying that, I'm not saying that that was my opinion. That's just been out there.

SPEAKER_05

ESPN was just trying to get rid of my boy, man. Like, yeah, yeah. I haven't met a person that has something bad to say about RC yet.

SPEAKER_06

Right. I haven't met RC personally, at least not yet, but uh I think he's an extremely talented person, and I am a fan of The Pivot, which is a great podcast that he does.

SPEAKER_05

His perspective, like just the the fact that he's an athlete and and he's been through an undrafted, like undrafted Super Bowl champion. Like, whatever, man. All right, Kyle Ravage, that hurts. RC definitely hurts. Um who were the other things?

SPEAKER_06

What does he cover he covers the NFL? He has actually been able to do he was he's basically like um, and I don't mean this in a slide at all, but it was kind of like a poor man's Adam Schefter. Like if Adam Schefter didn't have it, Tom Pelicero had it. If he didn't have it or Eva Connor didn't have it, you would hear from Tom Pelicero. Uh Cam Newton, uh, I wouldn't say that that's a surprise. I don't know if that was a good fit for ESPN to begin with. It wasn't.

SPEAKER_05

Uh Charles Davis. Uh okay, what does he cover? I don't you see, I don't even know who this guy is.

SPEAKER_06

Uh well, Charles Davis, um he uh I honestly I don't know too much about him, but I know that uh I think he just mainly covered football for the most part, but according to what I'm seeing here, he was with the company for quite some time and he was a former player.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, so I just said a couple comments. I'm not trying to um belittle anyone, I'm just saying, like Carl Ravich, you hear that name, you know. Yes, he's already intertwined to the fabric of what ESPN is, and he has been there so long, you know. Uh RC's been there for a couple years already. He's um and he's got his own thing. Cam Newton, I'm not shocked. I I think Cam has a brighter future as a podcaster, and I think his show is moving forward. So I'm not shocked by that. Some of the other guys, I've never heard of them. That does not mean that they're terrible at what they do. I just I don't, it's those aren't you know, I grew up when I grew up, there were certain ESPN people that I look forward to. Like when I saw uh you know, when I baseball tonight, Sunday night baseball. I saw uh uh uh John Miller and uh Joe Morgan broadcasting. I look forward to hearing the call in that game. Carl Ravage, baseball tonight, um Stu Scott, this this like you know, Dan Patrick was uh ESPN guy when I was growing up. So Rich Eisen, SVP, like this, like there's certain guys that I associate with ESPN, and it would be it would say every time I Carl Ravage is just as important to ESPN as Chris Berman, which I just said right now, like um and you know Linda Cohen, she retired a couple of weeks ago.

SPEAKER_06

That's another one that like yeah, and with the layoffs going on today, with the layoffs going off today, it makes me wonder if she already saw the writing on the wall, so she decided to leave on her own terms.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, you you could be right, but some of the I I I just don't understand how these things happen, you know. Yeah, and it could be salaries or whatever it is, but um I'm sure there's a way you could figure the financially you could figure things out, right?

SPEAKER_06

And listen, I uh I don't I don't I don't enjoy when people lose their jobs because people have to make a living, we're all human beings at the end of the day. But from a talent standpoint, I am oh I am okay with the fact that Bart Scott is no longer at ESPN because I loved Bart Scott as a jet, he has one of the most memorable moments as a jet in history. But if I'm being honest, and I've never met him, but he seems like a good guy, I would love to have a beer with him one day.

SPEAKER_05

I I like his comment. I like him with uh Carlin.

SPEAKER_06

But personally, anytime he was on the radio, I just couldn't listen to him. I am a huge fan of Alan Hahn. I have been for years, even when he had his own solo show uh back from 7 to 10 on ESPN radio, and then he got together with Bart Scott, and I thought that that was gonna be a good fit. But there's just something about Bart, the way he carries himself, the way he talks, and how he comes off on the radio that I just was not a fan of. He I don't think that he's cut out for it. I think the only reason he was put in that position was because of the whole can't wait thing. And um, I I I'm I'm personally just not a fan of his work. I mean, that's not to that's not to bash anything about his livelihood, about his career, or anything like that. It's just a subjective opinion that I was okay with Bar Scott not being on the airwaves anymore.

SPEAKER_05

Completely understandable, but I, for one, thought he was perfect for radio. That's one former player, Super Bowl champion, um, very opinionated. Sometimes when you get a former athlete on and they're giving you kind of feel like you're getting a peek behind the door of what's actually going on in certain locker rooms, so there is value to what he brought to the shows. Um, he was also has a great personality, and I think he was funny. Um, he fit a little bit better with Carlin, in my opinion, than Alan Hod. Um, I just I think there was room for him, but uh I I mean, you know, it's not I was shocked because they got rid of uh ESPN radio host, not like on-air television talent, right? You know, so some of the names you um spoke about, those are people who do TV, not radio.

SPEAKER_06

Right, and Tom Pelicero, who I was actually a little shocked about because he's a reporter, he's not exactly an on-air personality, he's reports on the NFL with all the insider stuff, and I always thought that he was fantastic. I've I already followed him on Twitter, and uh yeah, I to me that was a little bit of shock because it seems like he's a guy that has been doing his job the right way for a very long time.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, we we will never know. You hate to hear people losing their jobs, yeah. Um but we've been there, I've been there, you've been there. Everyone has, it's it's it's it's uh it's a part of life, and it again, Carl 33 years. Yeah, um, you mean to tell me you can figure it out with Ravage with with that fantastic voice? You you couldn't figure out how to fix things, maybe a renegotiation or or something in the works. I mean, the guy is the voice. You can't play me a baseball tonight, uh uh teaser or uh promo without Ravi's voice on it.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, and you know, one of the things that also makes me um not angry, but I think it sucks about the business, is not only when you have situations like this, but when you also have people that are pushed out for people that, in my own personal subjective opinion, again, are not even worth the juice is not worth the squeeze. Like perfect example. Uh, I do like Brandon Tierney, not the biggest Sal Lakata fan, even though I did meet him and he's a fantastic guy, but a broadcaster not. I'm the opposite. But then, but then getting edged out for a hack like Craig Carton to come back, that that that actually grinds my gears because I've never been a Carton fan. I've always I've always hated the sound of his voice. I agree there. I I think he's a hack. I don't think he deserves, I don't think he's nearly as talented as people say he is. So uh when you have something like that happen, just for somebody to put uh and I understand it's a business, he gets ratings, he gets all of the stuff and everything. I get it. Um, but it's just a shame when you actually have really good, talented people lose their jobs over somebody who I think personally is a hack.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, listen, uh, I disagree with you, man. I can't stand Baron's uh Brandon Tyranny. I think he is his takes are the worst. He's never been unbiased. Like you could clearly tell the guy's a Yankee fan and a fucking Jack fan. Could tell that.

SPEAKER_06

All right, but he he he is he hasn't given grace to Mets fans. He has given grace to Mets fans.

SPEAKER_05

No, no, no, no, no, no. He's full of shit, right? He's full of shit. And and and and uh Michael K I respect because he's a journalist. And Michael K will make it work, he's got a great voice. I I could watch a game being called by K, right? You don't think Brandon Tierney has a good voice? I think Brandon Tierrany is a again. I don't know him personally, but I don't think he's someone I would hang out with. I won't have a beer with him. I think he's a piece of shit human being. Honestly, that's just that's just my personal opinion.

SPEAKER_04

Right, right.

SPEAKER_05

I did feel terrible that him and Sal were losing their jobs, but Brandon seems like the high school kid that thought that he was better than everybody, and never knew really that he was not better than everybody, and it was all in his head. Like he seems like a jock type of high school kid.

SPEAKER_06

He is, he is. I mean, he's a marist guy, he plays golf, and and you know, he's a failed athlete. You know, he could have made it in collegiate sports and everything like that. So he does give off those vibes. But and I agree with you that I probably would not have a beer with him, but I would work with him because I would never work with him, never. But I think behind the mic, he is pretty talented, but that's just my opinion.

SPEAKER_05

Never work with him, and I'm gonna be honest with you, and we don't ever talk politics on our show and none of that. I it's just I know where you're going. I it's just I feel like the view, me and him, we don't match.

SPEAKER_06

Well, I understand where you're coming from because me and Joe Beningo, who are good friends, we do not see eye to eye politically whatsoever. Like, we could not be on opposite ends of the spectrum. And I think from a stand from a political standpoint, he's actually delusional. But I don't let that clout my judgment how I feel towards him overall.

SPEAKER_05

It's a completely there's a big difference between Joe Beningo and Brandon Tierney, right? Joe, I I can watch. I love his passion, his enthusiasm, yes, his takes, his voice is fantastic. It was like the man's voice exactly was built for that. Brandon Tierney seems like, oh, okay, I can't be a professional athlete. I'm a jog. What can I do now? Let me just talk about sports. Um, never been a fan of the guy. Never, never, and I'm not a huge fan of Sal La Cotta, but he's a nice guy, though. I have met him at Joken English. Very professional, and I love his approach. Love his approach. Not because he's a Mets fan, and this is why people are gonna kill me saying, Oh, you talking about no, I've never I've never liked Brandon Tyrionis, and why he always gives me this aura about him that's off, completely off aura, yes, yeah. White boy douchebag aura uh uh a high school guy that thought he was the shit in high school and still thinks he's the shit and doesn't realize he's not in high school anymore. Yeah, exactly. That that that's who he reminds me of.

SPEAKER_06

Okay, I I I can't I I won't argue with that on you because I have felt that way towards him, but you know, it it could be one of those situations where you know the saying goes, you should not meet your heroes, your heroes.

SPEAKER_05

So well, thank god. I've met the man, he's not my hero. I've never had a conversation with him. Uh so they you didn't have that context before. No, I went to Fanatics Fest. He was there. I didn't speak to him, I didn't talk to anybody from WFAN, right? The person I wanted to get to know like see and talk to was T. Barber. Um, but not interested in meeting Sal, not interested in meeting Brent. There's some, all right, so I'm gonna say this. I am a Meth fan, but there's some meth fans that just piss me the hell off, and they're made like to be the face of this fan base, and they really aren't. They really aren't like Frank the Tank, Barstool. I see what you guys are doing. You Boston uh company trying to make fun of New York, you know. I love Joe, that's my guy. He's a Yankee fan, he's a good person to have on, good representation. But then you give the Mets Frank the Tank. Like, come on, bro. Um, that's why, no, actually, he's not in Barstool's Joe. He's in uh John Boy. John Boy is much Frank the Tank. Like, seriously, that's a representation. That's what and that's what people view Mets fans to be. This old kind of C now type of person um that has lost reality, you know. And I'm not I'm not saying that that's what Frank is.

SPEAKER_06

Right, right.

SPEAKER_05

No, I I know I just know exactly what you use. And that that that's who they use. Yeah. I think the Jets fans get a similar type of fashion, except that you know, some of the popular fans that actually like uh Fire is Fire Man Ed? Is it Fireman Ed? Yep, yeah, Fireman Ed. There's there's certain like guys that you you don't see that, but the ones that they allow to talk are oh, this is what a typical jazz fan looks like. That's the thought process.

SPEAKER_06

By the way, if I were to get Fireman Ed on the show, would you be would you be cool with that?

SPEAKER_05

Completely. Anybody that is a true fan. No, I'll I'll do I'll if he wants to come on, I'll argue with him. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. You know what it is? It's like and he lives in Long Island. Uh a true he lives in XX County now. Or whatever. I don't, I don't a true fan of their team and passion. I would love to have a discussion with. I've I've never I would never turn down an interview. There's a small list of people I would never work with, and and it's because there's uh other implications that I'm sorry. I there's certain things that I I will never I will never accept or agree with. And I and you'll never catch me working with certain people that I just I I don't I I don't agree with your point of view.

SPEAKER_06

The one person I do not see myself wanting to ever work with is Skip Bayless, for one.

SPEAKER_05

I would, but it would be for the simple fact that I I want to be able to once and for all shut him down on certain you know, I'm a Giants fan, Skip is a cowboy fan.

SPEAKER_06

So yep, yep, and a Spurs fan who just lost to the Knicks in the finals, next and five.

SPEAKER_05

Who just got Tobias Harris. So let's let's ESPN layoffs, ESPN. What are you doing? Kyle Ravage is an institution that is something that shouldn't happen. I hope all those RC, um, I hope all those who are affected by this, um, this is a positive, a negative that turns into a positive for. Um, some of those people like RC's got the pivot, Camp Newton's got his pod. Uh I don't know what Barts got going on, but um Carl Ravage, that's uh travesty.

SPEAKER_06

So um I think that was the one that hit the hardest.

SPEAKER_05

It did. I mean, call and it's like saying, Hey, uh, we're going to uh make some changes here. Um, and we're going to never associate Joe Namath with the Jets, Derek Jeter with Yankees, like it's that close to me. But I I have if you will allow me um 10 questions I want to ask you. Um some I'll have on the ticker at the bottom, some I won't. And I I found these and I thought they were fantastic to ask. And I want to know. Um after your answer, I want to know the why as well. So are you ready for this? Let's do it. Okay. Who is the most overrated athlete in sports today?

SPEAKER_06

The most overrated athlete in sports today. That is a very good question. Because not only does it pertain to the four major sports in America in North America, but we also had the World Cup and everything else that's going on that like Well, well, let's just let's just keep it to let's just keep it to we'll keep it to hockey, baseball, basketball, and football.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, all right. All right. I mean, you want to throw it in there, the World Cup, but we just did it. It's it was hosted in our uh home shooting.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, yeah, no, but I mean, but I don't want to be that guy because I do like Messian. I don't think he's overrated by any stretch of the imagination.

SPEAKER_05

I don't think he's overrated. I think Christian Christiano.

SPEAKER_06

I know, but some people think that that's the low-hanging fruit. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_05

They're just hating, but they don't know they don't know the sport. Let's start with this. Let's start with basketball. Most overrated, yeah.

SPEAKER_06

And that was the that was the sport that I was gonna lead off with anyway. Um, I would have to say that the most overrated athlete in sports right now, and it is a basketball player, I would have to say it is Kevin Durant.

SPEAKER_05

I I'm I wanna say why. I kind of I agree with you so fucking much.

SPEAKER_06

Tell me why Kevin Durant. Uh Kevin Durant, there's no denying his talent, but I feel like he is missing the intangibles and not nearly as the leader and the the and the and the and the guy that you want to lead your team to the promised land. He seems more of a follower than a leader. Okay. Um his uh his numbers, you know, uh they're they they're good, but they like they're nowhere near anywhere between like you know, Jordan or LeBron or anything like that. Um I think also when it comes to you know being an athlete, personality counts, and he is shown to be a little bit of a uh dork and and also uh you know very soft, very voiced, not not even not able to take criticism. And there's just something about him where like you know, he's only been able to get by by his talent and his size when everything else really doesn't match up.

SPEAKER_05

Can I uh give you the counter-argument for Durant fans? So uh two NBA titles, and he was a big toe away, yeah, a big toe away from the Brooklyn Nets. So, how do you kind of argue that?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. And I think we could all agree that when he was on Brooklyn, that was really more of Kyrie's team than anything. That's what it felt like.

SPEAKER_05

Um, I mean, I don't know. Kyrie was hurt for the first year, Durant wasn't there.

SPEAKER_06

The second year felt like you still felt like he was the one, he was like Captain America.

SPEAKER_05

Because he had a ring, but I don't know. I I always saw Brooklyn with them as a is Durant's team with Kyrie as is you know Batman as is uh Robin. That's how I viewed it. I could be wrong.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, another person that I um if you want to take Kevin Durant out there, uh Durant is it.

SPEAKER_05

That's perfect. Cool.

SPEAKER_06

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Let's go with uh give me another name.

SPEAKER_06

Different sport, different sport. I want to say football. I'm pretty sure there's a I'm pretty sure there's a NFL player out there that is pretty overrated.

SPEAKER_05

I could give you one. Quarterback, multiple MVPs, Baltimore. Dak Prescott that one's better.

SPEAKER_06

I I think that I think Dak Prescott. I think Dak Prescott only is what he is because the because you know we get phone calls for this, right? I don't give a shit.

SPEAKER_05

Bring him, bring him, bring him. All right, Dak Prescott. But let me give you the delusional cowboy fan, uh, which you've heard so many times.

SPEAKER_04

Look at his record, look at the stats. He's he's he's uh he's had a little bad luck, and they never put a right team around him.

SPEAKER_06

Um look at his numbers between him and Jalen Hurts.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, and regular season play, and XY and Z. He is the complete opposite of Eli Manning. Eli was Eli during the regular season. He gets you some wins. And he he'll get you, but playoff time, nobody touching him.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

But uh Dak Prescott is untouchable in the regular season, and then he is a baby's wet diaper in the playoffs.

SPEAKER_06

Um overrated player. Who would you meant who would you say before I mentioned Dak?

SPEAKER_05

I I was gonna say Lamar Jackson just because uh Lamar hasn't won the big one, but Dak is far worse than Lamar. So I'll go with your choice.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Even though it's kind of low-hanging fruit.

SPEAKER_05

No, I'll go with you. Uh, baseball. Let's see. I mean, we got a comment, Frankie Lindore, and that's terrible because the guy that made the comment, he's Puerto Rican, and he's just trying to bait me into uh yelling. Lindore is obviously not an overrated baseball player, and the guy that said it knows better than that because he knows baseball. Overrated baseball player. This shit's gonna piss some people off. I'm gonna let you go first.

SPEAKER_06

Uh um, I gotta think about this one. Uh uh. Jason's trying to like avoid. No, no, no. I'll I'll include a Yankee in there if I have to.

SPEAKER_05

No, no, you're just trying to avoid the conflict right now because no, no. I'm I'm really I'm really trying to make sure. If I had to if I had to say one, who would who do you think it would be? Aaron Judge. Bingo, low-hanging fruit. I guess no, not not low-hanging fruit, not low hanging fruit from a Mets fan perspective.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, yes, it is.

SPEAKER_05

No, it's not, and here's why, right? Brunson's been in New York for five years, and before winning the championship, people automatically put the title King of New York tied to Judge. Why? Because he won a couple MVPs. Why? Brunson, on the other hand, signed here, got progressively better every single year, and gave you something to watch. Judge has been as exciting as a I don't know, like watching paint dry on a wall during the playoffs. And the one year he did make the World Series. Guess what? He had a counterpart. He had people that took the pressure off of him. Now, I don't mean this as disrespect, right? Baseball's a completely no, no, no. It is a I do like the guy. I think he's a great ball player. I think he's out of this world phenomenal. I think he's at a critical point in his baseball career, and this might be one of those seasons he did fairly good last year in the postseason. If you guys, if you guys were actually watching, um, it's a critical point where it could be something that becomes something that's permanently in his head, or he overcomes it right now, and he overcomes it, right?

SPEAKER_06

I'll let you finish.

SPEAKER_05

For years, Alex Rodriguez in the postseason was phenomenal. He was phenomenal for the Yankees, and then he got in his fucking head, and then he won a title. Could that happen for Aaron? Maybe. Are there signs that it's changing? I don't know. I'm I'm I'm I'm 60-40 on him, right? Um, because just because the moment seems to be bigger than what it is for him, and he doesn't have that in his DNA until he shows it to us, right? Okay, yeah, I I I don't see the killer instinct that I did in Mariano, that I did in Derek Cheater. So that's why to me, him, and I'm also gonna throw in Shohei Otani. People are gonna be pissed off.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, you were just saying those are the two greatest players in the game.

SPEAKER_05

Otani to me is LeBron James in in baseball. The league will let him do anything and everything he wants. The face of the franchise. Face of the fucking league, and he gets away with everything. Gamble. That's what I meant. I'm sorry. Face of the league. I'm sorry. Breaking the law, you know, uh, mortgage scams, everything. The dude gets away with everything, and it's because why? He's a foreign player, brings you money, uh, does two things, which by the way, baseball does not. Do you know Nolan McClain is also a fantastic hitter, but he's an American guy. You gotta pick one of the two here in America. We won't we won't let you do both. We won't let you succeed in both. You know, Jacob deGrom was a shortstop, he played shortstop. So they they're they made him, they let him be a unicorn. And now they this is we gotta tie ourselves to no tie yourselves to the world baseball because that's what you are. Watch the world baseball classic. Look at the fans of the game. You are a global game, but you're marketing it the wrong way, and you're tying yourself to Otani. Otani to me is a dirbag. The guy knows English, refuses to talk to the press in English, has committed like legitimate shit that he should answer for, but MOB was like, Yeah, yeah, it was. It was the interpreter, man. He, you know, took 10 million out of his account, but the interpreter, he it was him, we'll put him in jail. So I was like, if I comes out of jail and runs into a like 5 million, 10 million lottery win or donation to his account magically, you're gonna know where it came from. So if you ask me, that's why I also when we had the comparison about Judge and Otani, take the pitching away. Otani is a regular good pitcher, not an exceptional pitcher, he's a regular good, okay second or third starter pitcher. Okay, he's exceptional at hitting. And even Barry Bonds said it. Barry Bonds wished he would be a hitter. And when you match him and Judge as hitters, Judge is definitely a better the ball, a better ball player. Judge plays defense, and judge's numbers are better than Otani, in my opinion. So average in power from the big man from the Yankees.

SPEAKER_06

I think I got one that is certainly overrated, and it's it's crazy how sometimes we forget about because of the team that he plays for, and it's Mike Trout.

SPEAKER_05

Nah, you can't all right.

SPEAKER_06

Always always laid before Judge, he was always labeled as the best player in baseball. He won makes 12 all-stars, he's won three MVPs, he was rookie of the year, all of that stuff, but it never translated to wins. And let's not forget his injury, like the his injury has uh history has been able to sideline him from his greatness, and yet people still want to talk about how an amazing player he still is.

SPEAKER_05

Because he is, Jason.

SPEAKER_06

I'm not denying, but like it's it's not to the level of of even Otani or Judge because they've actually been able to stay on the field more than he has.

SPEAKER_05

All right. And he and he hasn't even sniffed the World Series. But can we go to baseball reference? What what do you want? What do you want? Let's let's let's talk about Trout's first 10, 11 years in the league. Give me a category you want, and I'll read you off his numbers.

SPEAKER_06

I have the stats right here as well. His batting average. I got his hits, I got his ribbies.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, so you got his seven bases. You give me a stat. Give me a stat. And I'll give you numbers. Hits. Hold on. All right, hits 182, 190, 173, 172, 173, and 123. That was 2017. It's probably a shortened injury shortened season. 147, 137. That's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. His first eight, nine years, surefire Hall of Famer. Let's go with something else. Give me another stat. Make it harder. Ribbies. RBIs 83 97 111 90 172 79 104. I'll take that any day. Stolen bases 49 33 16 11 30 22 24 11. What else you want? Walks 67, 110, 83, 92, 116, 122. And oh, by the way, he led three years in there. Strikeouts 139, 136, 184. That went up. He led the league. 154. I think he probably was. Let me see the home run numbers that year. Yeah, he's got a shit. He's hitting 291. I get all that. But the guys, obviously, his body his body gave up on him. But between 2011 and 2019, Mike Trout was a surefire Hall of Famer. And that's the bulk of his career already. And where Mike sits all the time, 422 home runs, very close to 500. He's only got 16 years in the game. The RBIs are low, which is 1,057. Stolen bases 222. That's kind of low still. And he's not gonna attempt any more steals now. Let's see where he's at. 1,823 hits. That's pretty low. So magic number is 3,000 hits, 500 home runs, and 2,000 RBIs. So he's gonna get the he's gonna get the home runs, obviously.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, well, he's not gonna help his team get over the hump, that's for sure. I'm looking at because the Anaheim Angels are a piece of shit organization. Right. I'm looking at some other notable uh players that are considered overrated. Uh, you also have got uh Josh Naylor, you also have Luis Areyas.

SPEAKER_05

Luis Arries is not over the man almost batted for uh who who's writing that? Uh I found this on Yahoo Sports. Yeah, because he's a potential target. Exactly the name of the company. Yahoo's talking.

SPEAKER_06

They're saying that he's a potential cherry target for the Yankees as well.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, Rayas is the guy the Yankees need. They need an on-base, high average, high-hitting guy to go with Ballinger, Josh, Stanton.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, as far as I'm concerned, Chisholm, the Mingas.

SPEAKER_05

And I'll tell you this much. Caballero's becoming the fabric of New York. I love the way the guy plays.

SPEAKER_06

I like Caballero, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Love, love the way, and that's the thing with the Yankees. It's the guys that come out of nowhere that the fans fall in love with. You know, you got all these expectations with these uh high-price free agents. Orias is underrated, not uh overrated. There you go, Dave. How incredible is Luis Arrias? Three batting titles, three different organizations. Yahoo does not know jack about baseball.

SPEAKER_06

Let's move on. Yeah, I don't agree with that, but I I when I saw that, I just had to put that out there to get your two sides. But no, I don't agree with him being overrated.

SPEAKER_05

If you could erase one championship from history, which would it be and why? Give me before you answer, I'm gonna leave you alone on this one. I kind of have a feeling which one it is. I have to stop, uh, come off camera for a bit. But if you could erase one championship from history, which would it be and why?

SPEAKER_06

That is simple. For me, the one championship that would erase from history would be the 2004 Boston Red Sox World Series win. Because that was one of the worst years that I've experienced as a Yankee fan. And I feel like that has set a chain reaction, not just with Red Sox, but also in Boston sports as well. Like now, ever since that chain reaction, you see a lot of you know all these sports uh Boston sports teams coming up, and it's been been it's been the pinnacle of championships for them, along with the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics, and the Bruins. It's been a hotbed of just winning and and and idiocy and uh just all that craziness that a New York fan hates. Uh that it and it's just magnified from Boston's success. And I feel like it all started with the 2004 Boston Red Sox World Series victory. One of the most painful memories I've ever experienced as a Yankee fan. And I feel like that championship alone led them to go on the run that they've had several years later, winning more championships in the last couple decades, and not being the laughing stock of the MLB and not the whipping boy of the New York Yankees, because that was the one that set it all. And it just seemed like everything just went downhill from there. Um, you know, from as far as my personal sports fandom. So yeah, I think of all the championships that I think about that I couldn't stand that made me angry, whether it was the Patriots win, anyone you could choose, uh whether it was the Miami Heat double back-to-backs with uh, you know, LeBron and the big three. Uh, but ultimately I have to go with the Boston Red Sox in 2004. That just was a chain reaction.

SPEAKER_05

Of course. Of course. I I I I waited to hear the response. I heard it, I walked away, and I was like, I knew it would be that one.

unknown

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Uh for obvious reasons. As much as I would love to give Alex Rodriguez another championship. Here's my pick. You ready for this one? Go ahead. 1994 Houston Rockets. Ah, I know where you're going with this. Yeah, I would have Alajwan not touch the three-point shot from Starks. The three goals in, they win in game six. Knicks NBA champions. As much as the Brunson Championship erased some pain of the past, that is one that I wish I could get back.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, that was that was a pretty good one. But um, there was just something about that 0-4 Red Sox season that just uh stuffed. Oh, come on.

SPEAKER_05

Let Mariano be human, man. That's that's that's what bothers you guys.

SPEAKER_06

No, no, no, no, no. I'm not even blaming Mo. I'm just I'm just like, because I'll admit the Red Sox were sucked. I know, but clearly the Red Sox were the better team that year.

SPEAKER_05

They were not. They were what was the score to game three? Look up game three, 2020, 2004. Uh was it ALCS? Were they in the ALCS?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Look up the score to that game.

SPEAKER_06

19 to 8. Exactly. That's uh the Yankees defeated the Red Sox 19 to 8.

SPEAKER_05

That's like anal probing numbers.

SPEAKER_06

That's like took their soul with a 3 0 lead. And ever since. Since then the Yankees have been on the dark side of the moon.

SPEAKER_05

And you know who you you know who you could blame for that? Derek Jeter. Didn't accept Alex Rodriguez as a Yankee. They had their history. It took a while for them to mesh together.

SPEAKER_06

Kind of like uh Soto and Lindor.

SPEAKER_05

No, there's a big difference.

SPEAKER_06

Big well, yeah, because the Mets are not gonna be in the World Series anytime.

SPEAKER_05

There's a big difference. My two guys are much better than yours.

SPEAKER_06

That's that's that's uh not for long, except for long, not for long because who knows if Lindy will still be a Met by the end of this year.

SPEAKER_05

There's no way they trade Lindor or move.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, you never know with Stearns.

SPEAKER_05

There is no way Lindor gets moved. Okay, and if he does, I will renounce my Mets fandom hood. I will burn every piece of Mets powerful I have. You don't trade a shortstop who is a surefire Hall of Famer because your president of baseball operations is an idiot.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, well, you guys also got rid of one of the greatest first basemans in the Mets history.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, but he's not no, no, no.

SPEAKER_06

Hold on a second.

SPEAKER_05

What Lindor is the shortstop does not equate to what Pete is in first base.

SPEAKER_06

I understand that. But what's the first thing? First base in Mets history.

SPEAKER_05

Wait, wait, wait. First base in Mets history is a small thing. One of the best shortstop in the game overall is another.

SPEAKER_06

That's where Paquito Lindor is. But I also give you getting rid of the best closer in the game up before he got hurt, Edwin Diaz.

SPEAKER_05

He was this generation. Not the not not not still not in the level of Lindor. Lindor could go down if he bounces, he had an injury this year. Lindor could be one of the top five greatest shortstops in baseball all time.

SPEAKER_06

But is it gonna be as a Met when it's all said and done?

SPEAKER_05

I'm we're not talking about whatever team he's worth. I'm just saying talent-wise, Francisco Lindore, when it's all said and done, could be in the Mount Rushmore Puerto Rican players all time, and he could be top five shortstop in baseball.

SPEAKER_06

Shout out to the chad. I said it a bunch. Lindor might be a cancer to the Mets team.

SPEAKER_05

You could be wrong, you could be right. And I know I've had this conversation with him. He's saying it's a far stretch. All right. You got uh let's go with the Mount my first statement Mount Rushmore, Puerto Rican players. One is the all-time great Roberto Comente. Delgado is there, and Beltron is there. I knew Beltran was gonna be there. And guess what? The positions they played. Frankie Lindore plays a premium position. There's not many great shortstops in this world. And he will be in that list for baseball, making him on that list for Puerto Rico. So um I'm telling you, it's not a stretch. It's not a what as a Dave's a Yankee fan, by the way. Would you guys like to have Francisco Lindoro on your team?

SPEAKER_06

Better than Volpe. That's for damn sure.

SPEAKER_05

Bro, he's just he just has hate against Frankie. Paquito is one of the greatest Puerto Rican players of all time. Already. And he's not even done playing. Yeah. So all time. All time. All time, Dave. Would you want him on the Yankees, Dave? And that's an absolute yes. You would love to make that Volpe Lindor trade. Any day of the week, right? Hey, David Stearns would make that trade.

SPEAKER_06

Of course he would, because he's an idiot. Not a genius. And you went to Harvard. I'm the smartest guy in the room. I grew up a Mets fan. Yeah, he's even though I sound like I'm from South E.

SPEAKER_05

Well, he's definitely the smartest guy in the room.

SPEAKER_06

I thought the door was gonna go into the Mets. I don't think he's the top five of all time.

SPEAKER_05

He is. He is top five Puerto Rican player of all time, one of the top five shortstops of all time. Prove me wrong. Well, and I'm overall, not talking defense, not talking off, not just defense, not just off.

SPEAKER_06

You're probably the only Met fan I know that as much as they appreciate Lindor, that they would be okay to see him walk. Me?

SPEAKER_05

No, I don't want to be walking.

SPEAKER_06

No, no, no. You're the no, I'm saying you're the only one that is not. Like, because I know several meth fans as much as they loved and appreciated him, because there is they would be okay if uh he walked. They are Frank the Tank Met fans.

SPEAKER_05

I'm not. I realize that Lindor might seem like he's the problem, but the real problem is David Stern.

SPEAKER_06

All right, so but let me ask you this also. Why do you believe that there is no rift between Soto and Lindor when even your own owner said it on a podcast that there was a rift between them, and they basically are in separate rooms of the of their locker rooms now?

SPEAKER_05

I don't think there's a rift, I really don't. I think but why?

SPEAKER_06

I mean, your own your own owner said it, whether we should have said it or not was it was relevant.

SPEAKER_05

Uh he said a lot of things. He said to be world champions in the first five years. Has that happened? No. Um, I don't think he knows the inner workings of the locker room, and I don't think they set it up for them to be the best friends. First of all, why would he why would he say that on a podcast? Let me explain something to you, right? First, they the first season of Soto with the Mets, they treated Soto like it was the team and Soto. That was a big mistake. Um, secondly, Cohen is the one that wants to move on from Nedor, right? Soto's much younger, he'll have better numbers, way more money. He's the one that's trying to put that narrative out there. I don't think there is. There's been several videos of these guys trying to fix this shit and put this shit together, especially now. Now, if Frankie's a problem, all right. Let's he hates by the way. If anyone calls him Frankie, if Lindor is the problem, then okay, whatever. But I refuse to give up on me having two Hall of Famers, one in a prime, again, shortstop is very difficult to come and find a star all-star shortstop. So it's it doesn't happen every day. You have one. Why would you move on from that? Right? Well, who are you gonna bring? Are you gonna bring some guy that played another position and played shortstop? So that's why you can't move on from neither of the two. And if you were intelligent, what you should have done from the beginning was have Lindor everywhere. Make Lindor feel like he's in the decision making. You should have fucking made him the captain and not walk that shit back like you did. That's why I have a problem with the owner as well.

SPEAKER_06

But none of this negates the fact that he admitted that there's a rift between him and Soto.

SPEAKER_05

Because he wants to create that narrative. He wants to get rid of Lindor now. Because Lindor, you could tell it rubbed him the wrong way. As long as I'm the owner, they won't be a captain of the New York Mets. But I've done everything else exactly how the Yankees do. Shut the fuck up, Cohen. I thought you were gonna be, I would be okay with all this Yankee shit you brought to the Mets if you would have been just like George Steinbrenner. You if George Steinbrenner would have fired Davis Stern, not at the 12-game losing streak. He would have lost shit. He would have lost his job for four Mendy. Halfway through that shit, he would have fired him first. Like this guy doesn't know what the fuck he's doing. Get him out of here. Steinbrenner was only concerned with winning. You were concerned with a casino. So I don't want to hear any of that shit. Yes, he said it because it it would it would benefit him if he could continue to baby Soto. And babying Soto is not what we want. I don't want you to baby Soto. I want you to mold Soto into a leader. That's what I need. I think he's already been babied when they gave his family the suite. No, he wasn't. And that's just something you give the player to make sure he signs on the dotted line. But when he comes in here and he's officially a man, you say, hey, this is the expectation. You have to live up to it. Because best believe every team has done that to each player. Individual stats, he has. Individually, he has. Now, has that translated to team success? No. Is that Soto's sole fault that the team is this bad? Absolutely not. No, no, no, no. Majority of that goes to David Sterk.

SPEAKER_06

If anything, he's the one that's keeping you guys above water. So far.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. That's the only reason you're tuning in.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

But you still know. Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_05

Who would you rather build a franchise around today? Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Judge, Shohei Otani, Connor McDavid, or Jalen Brunson?

SPEAKER_06

Think about that. Yeah, it's not an easy question. Think about that. It's not an easy question to ask. So you said Patrick Mahomes, Connor McDavid, Aaron Judge, Jalen Brunson.

SPEAKER_05

Who would you build a franchise today?

SPEAKER_06

I would have to say Jalen Brunson because over Mahomes. I think so, yeah. I think so. Because I feel like Jalen is the leader that I would want in my locker room besides Mahomes, because as much as Mahomes has been a winner and he's and his statistics are crazy, and he's won multiple championships and so on and so forth, there's also the baggage that comes with him, with his family, with the girl. He doesn't seem as humble enough. This past season. Oh, Jesus Christ, James. I I understand that. I understand that. But you know, hey, come on. I'm shooting far enough. All right. But overall, Jalen Brunson, because for him, it's just strictly business. It's strictly basketball, no nonsense. I love the mentality when they were up three to one, and he still was like 0-0, no controversy. Uh, you know, extremely likable guy, not involved in the politics, not involved in controversy. He's the guy that has been molded to really be a leader, and he doesn't have to prove it for anybody, not even to himself. It's just naturally who he is. It's just 100% authentic. And he's been able to do it with his actions more than his words. So and also from a guy myself who has always prided myself as an underdog in the general sense, seeing a guy like this who just basically came out of the woodwork and proved all the naysayers wrong, and you still see him uh winning more championships in the future and being able to take this drek of a franchise out of the abyss until elevated to where it is now and have everybody surrounded by him and now being the king of New York officially, I would have to say it's Jalen Brunson.

SPEAKER_05

Uh, I a hundred percent agree with you, and it's just his approach, his leadership, it's a lot. Um Patty Mahomes got some Super Bowls, but football is a different animal. Um, sometimes the coach can have a say in how a game is played and executed and done. Sometimes it could be the quarterback that wins it. Um, I to me, what I'm looking for in my leader is what Brunson has. Now, here's gonna be the more difficult question, right? And this is gonna be the last question of the episode. You could take all the time you want. Um, I'm not trying to trap you. As a New York Yankee fan, as a New York Knicks fan, does Brunson's one ring hold more weight than Derek Jeters five?

SPEAKER_06

Think about that. Yes. I think that Jalen Brunson's ring holds more weight than Jared Jeters 5 because of how they've been able to build a team, how true leadership he has displayed. And I don't know if you count this at all, but due to the fact that the Knicks are New York's team, like you don't you don't really acknowledge Brooklyn or anything like that. Because you know, with the other sports teams that we have in this town, Yankees and Mets, Giants and Jets, uh, all that stuff, the Knicks really have unified this city. And uh Jalen Brunson has been able to spread that all over, help spread that all over, where you have a fellow Yankee fan and a Met fan, a fellow Giant fan and a Jet fan actually being proud of having this team and this leader and being able to build it the right way and to get this franchise that has been a misery out of the abyss after all this time. I I and I feel and I feel like the expectations of the Knicks were like kind of there, but you still had your doubt. Whereas when you're a Yankee, I feel like the brand and the franchise is always gonna be bigger than you, and I feel like in some way, and this may sound ridiculous, but Jalen Brunson has elevated himself to where he's easily the most important Nick right now, where Derek Jeter wasn't always the most important Yankee on his team.

SPEAKER_05

I think that final point makes it the point. Also, uh again, Kaban is Dave is a a a just the fact he took less. Yeah, that's the money shows the type of person he is. Shout out to David for that. I a hundred percent agree with Dave, and I agree with you. But the last point, the point Dave made, and the last point you made, like Derek has five ranks, but out of those five, there's a couple you feel like he was heavily involved in, but then he had a great supporting cast, great team. Like 2009 is Godzilla A-rod all over it. Yeah, um, 2000, where they beat the Mets, that's Derek's all over it. But before that, I attributed to Bernie, Posada, O'Neal, those veteran players.

SPEAKER_06

Um Martinez with a couple of grand slams.

SPEAKER_05

Even Martinez. I I don't want this to come off as disrespect to Derek. Because to me, when you tell me New York Yankees, the first face that comes to mind, and I've said this numerous times, is not Babe Roof, it's Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera. Those are 1A, 1A, 1A, and 1B. In my mind, because I've seen them and I know how great they were. Um, but Brunson is on another level. I I never liked Kobe Bryan when he played. I loved his mentality and his competitiveness. And there is a piece of Kobe in the DNA of Brunson and just the way Brunson carries himself. I've never heard a single negative about the kid and just the mentality of wanting to, you know, put your head down and work, and that's what every New Yorker does. And I think the the city identifies with him so closely that that's why you see that. It wasn't a trap question, it wasn't me trying to hate on the Yankees, it was just sit on that thought. So thank you for tuning in tonight. I had a fantastic and wonderful time. Jason, do you have any parting words before we put this one to bed?

SPEAKER_06

Uh, yeah, uh, this is not really related to anything sports, but I just wanted to give a happy, happy heavenly birthday to one of the greatest of all time, Robin Williams. Probably the only celebrity that has ever passed away that I felt genuine sadness and depression from.

SPEAKER_05

Most of the world did.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, well, the only thing that I will say is it's amazing how this was a guy who was able to have all the success in the world bring so much joy to so many people. The only person that he couldn't bring joy to was himself. And it goes to show that money isn't always everything, and you make your own destiny. And uh if you just be a good person, good things will happen to you regardless of what life will throw at you from time to time. Um, so yeah, uh, I just want to say uh, you know, that in honor of uh you know mental health awareness, as I I don't I don't necessarily look at this on a month-to-month basis, I look at it as an everyday basis. And uh just you know, I was watching Jumanji the other day, and it just made me think uh great uh a great deal about Robin. And today just happened to be his birthday, and uh thank you for all the laughs and all the wisdom that you've displayed on all of us.

SPEAKER_05

Uh I'm gonna echo those same sentiments. It really affected me when he passed away. Same way uh the Chadwick Boltzman thing kind of hit me different as well.

unknown

That was rough too.

SPEAKER_05

We'll see you guys next week. Same time, same channel. What's your 2 a.m. moment? Let us know. But for now, Brunson's one versus Jeter's five. Ask yourself. We'll see you guys next week.