2 Vintage Sports Guys - Episode 23

Episode 23: Join Joe and Paul as they argue over the relevance of the World Cup in the USA and talk about how the NBA and NHL Finals wrapped up. Is it called soccer or football or just plain boring?

Watch the exclusive video on BZZR:

https://bzzr.com/creator-studio/content?tab=videos&watch=true&videoId=m3yyT93iIC2EM6Zdz3ZM

https://bzzr.com/profile/EwjIXH8NQJbDYtvgfxe27PE3BQ53?watch=true&videoId=ensp77WNG68GlDLF69FK

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome back to Two Vintage Sports Guys. I am your host, Joe Rendacci, kicking it over to my partner, Paul Gallagher. What's going on, Paul? Hello, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Paul here. Um, well, that was my Bob Euchre imitation, just by happenstance. Um a lot's going on. It's World Cup season. Uh it's England versus Croatia right now. Kane just got a penalty shot, went up one nothing.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

I'm already snoozing. So are we leading with that? Are we going? Are we gonna recap? It's the world.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Joe, it's a big world, and it's the World Cup. It happens every four years. Don't be your typical uh New York American self and and say, I don't know, soccer's boring, blah, blah, blah. It's exciting, it's fun. Nations come together, it's magical. Sometimes it ends in a tie, but that's there.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

You go. That's problem one with with with soccer slash football, as the rest of the world calls it. You cannot have zero-zero ties. You can't even the NHL fixed that years ago with the shootout.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

I say change. It's not necessarily a fix. It's it's you get a point. Everybody gets a point.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah, everybody gets a trophy. Is that what we're having asked? No, no, no. But they get a point. It's like my kid playing dodgeball in third grade. We're all winners. You're not all winners, kids. Cape Verde gets a point. Other little small countries get anyway. Why not? No, no, you brought this up, and now I'm gonna go there. So why not if after regulation take trade people off the field like they do in hockey? Open it up more.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Because some things shouldn't change, Joe. Did you think that about hockey before they did that 60 years later? As a three-on-three hockey is wonderful, it's the best thing ever invented. But that's not the point. The point is some things should never change. Much like you, as an old curmudgeon from New York, even though you're now in Florida, you know, Joe, don't change, Joe, for anybody. Just stay you. Stay.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

I am an old curmudgeon. I I wear that as a badge of honor. Well, we expect it, like a retort there.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

0-0 is fine. You know, win by two games at Wimbledon without a tiebreaker. Fine. Some things are just fine, Joe. Some things are fine.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Okay, Paul. Are we done with with with soccer slash football?

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Well, it won't be done with the World Cup until like July 10th or 15th.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

I'll be done on this podcast with that.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Speaking of done, the NHL and the NBA have come to a conclusion, and you did a perfect segue.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Tell me your thoughts, Paul.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

My thoughts are it was inevitable. I won $28 on the new New York Knickerbockers winning. I had to suffer through, you know, all the people invading San Antonio. Lovely place San Antonio was. Um, I don't know how many buildings were burned down in New York that evening, but uh good for them. I'm proud of them. I'm especially proud for the university, uh uh, which is Villanova, uh, which produced three uh the Nova league winners.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Say you got something out of it, you Pennsylvania kid.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Brunson, Brunson is fantastic. What I what the best part about it was Brunson and his dad winning. I'll give it that. Father-son moment, wonderful thing. I'm I'm happy for them. Good for them. Let's move on.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

So, you know what? Here's a little trivia there. Who was on the 1999 San Antonio New York New York Knicks uh last finals? His father played for San Antonio.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Right. There you go. That's awesome. Probably was that was that the Admiral in that too, or no?

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Admiral was there, Tim Duncan was there, and Ewing was hurt. So that was a four-to-one game beating, just like this pretty much was. This wasn't a beating because San Antonio led every San Antonio could have won the series. San Antonio could have swept them this whole series.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

So are they getting crushed in the media but for for choking? Are they are they choking, or was it are they getting off the hook because the Knicks were a good team?

SPEAKER_00 4:36

I haven't heard the choke word, but I think San Antonio was not supposed to beat OKC. So they were here early and young. Yeah. And aren't getting as killed as much as they could be just because of that. I think the coach did a horrible job of not having Wemby playing in rather than shooting base, you know, 18-foot three-pointers out there.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Right, right. Hang out under the basket and and tip it in, for God's sakes.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

I would agree. I would agree with that. And they they'll make some upgrades, good for them. They showed up, but they I I don't understand how they how they lost, like you said, every game they were they were winning. Some by a lot, some by a little.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

But uh I mean I told you at halftime of that 29-point comeback, it's not over. Go check the texts. Yeah, you're like, oh, it's a blowout. And I'm like, it's not over.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

I don't I don't have to check the texts because you remind me so often that you're right. I don't need to go back to the text very much.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

I am also I uh hang on. I was also the one who said not to you, but to many people, and I and I hated being right about this one when the uh not the not the Jets, um the Falcons were beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I don't remember.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

You remember it was like the biggest comeback when uh Brady led him back from like 28-3.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

I was probably drunk by halftime. I don't remember if the Eagles aren't in it, it's not that big a deal. So we'll close the NBA season. Um, we'll we'll talk about something else I think you were right about, which was Keynes and six. I believe you called that one as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

You were right, you were right. Oh, sorry. I called I called I called Vegas at six or seven, you called Caes in six.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Wonderful memory you have.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

You're not that old. Do you still remember? I call it the way it is. You were right. I you didn't think no, you thought Montreal.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Now you actually rooting for Montreal because I love the city and the country, and yeah, it's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

But you you started to lean towards Montreal beating the Cain's, and I'm like, you're gonna be wrong, but by the end of it, you did agree canes in six in that series.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Yes, yes, yeah. So better team, good for Rod Brenda Moore, good for 37-year-old uh Stahl, good for the young folks, great for Freddie Anderson. He was a wonderful um goalie all season, didn't play the last couple of games, and then and then uh Busy came in and uh mopped it up and and wonderful close to a great season, and hockey got even better. It'll continue to be, but now it kind of if it wasn't for the World Cup, we'd be in the doldrums of summer already.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

But you know, well, at least your Phillies are above 500 and the Mets, you know, are making golf like arrangements because Schwarber leading the uh leading the baseball and home runs, I believe, at 24.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

God bless him. We're making a comeback, Braves are falling apart. We'll be there. It'll be a long summer. It's a long season. We'll catch a few more soccer games, but we'll tune in the baseball. Uh we'll go to some games. We should we should make it a point to go to some games.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Oh, Kansas City. One more stadium.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

I got Kansas City. We'll do Kansas City and in Arlington. Both. We'll do it all.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Let's you know what? Let's finish up. You started on the World Cup. Let's finish it. Tell me about Messi's uh hat trick there.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

I mean, it's just a force to be reckoned with. Um, it was even a decent team that they were playing, I think. I forget who they're playing, but um yeah, it he he's now we're getting into some some really big games. Argentina last night, Brazil was playing, England's on right now, as we said. Some big powerhouses are coming on. It'll be fun. I don't have predictions for this one. Everybody hops on France and Spain and and whatnot. I don't I don't have a prediction. I kind of just root for everybody. Uh I will I will take it.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

What the heck does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Aren't you rooting for the US? Yes, of course I am.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Okay, do you think they'll deploy a traitor? So if if the US is out, who who are you rooting for?

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Oh, that's I was just gonna say probably Germany, because uh my son is a big Germany fan, so I'll I'll go for them. How about that? Why is it made an easy like 6'1 because he's always liked them since we lived outside the country? He picked up on soccer when he was just a wee lad. Just a wee lad.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

I like that.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

But speaking of which, you gotta go on Instagram. Scotland took over Fenway Park Sunday night, like it was unbelievable, singing songs. The uh they call it the Tartan Army. They they took over Boston, they had a new tea party, dumping stuff into the uh water into the harbor. It's it's it's really I can't stress this enough. The fun that people are having, moving from city to city, following their team, enjoying this beautiful country as we lead up to our 250th. Oh, there's the other sport. Did you watch the UFC on the White House lawn?

SPEAKER_00 9:52

No, but I heard I heard it was a 10 yeah huge upset.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

I might have lost 20 bucks on some guy I never heard of. Huge upset on the number one card, but yeah, uh UFC on the front lawn. It was quite exciting. My kids love that.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

That's gonna be a movie someday because of the plot. No, no, no, seriously.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

I can't laugh.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

They terror the plot. There's gonna be a whole movie. You do you remember the movie sudden death with Jean-Claude Van Damme? Is it is some hang on. Is somebody trying to stop that blowing up the Pittsburgh Penguins Finals Cup? You don't remember that movie from like the 90s?

SPEAKER_01 10:36

No, I don't. I must admit, I don't I don't recall every Jean-Claude Van Gemini.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Like uh what's his name? Uh Luke Robotay is on the ice, and like the penguins are playing in the cup as as he's running about killing bad guys. And at one point he has to hide out in a goalie outfit and they put him out there thinking he's the backup goalie. That's gonna be the UFC at the White House while they're stopping a terrorist plot. It's gonna be diehard 87 UFC night.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Die Hard was a great night. We watched that one too. We we stayed up, we had both kids home, so we were watching UFC on the front lawn. So it was a a big sporting week when you look back on it. NBA, NHL, UFC, World Cup, and baseball. So, what what you're saying is it's only downhill from here. It's gonna be a long summer. It's really the uh the doldrums of wait till we get till uh August. August will be tough. We might have to take August off. We might not have a podcast in August.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

We might go back to I'll go back to watching my Ken Burns baseball special like I do every year.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Even that that's long, too. That's that's long. But I love that. You don't like that? Of course I like it. I'm American. Everybody likes Ken. I'll take any Ken Burns documentary, any of them.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

I can't even think of the other ones.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Well, I can't rem uh maybe I can't think of them either, but I know he has them. He's got six-part mini-series everywhere, a lot of them.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Do you know his what was stupid trivia? His brother, Rick Burns, does them too. Did a nine point new nine part New Yorker on the whole history of New York? It's pretty good, actually. I know you're not a New Yorker, but I I did not know it goes back to like the Indians of the 1600s with the corruption of 1900, uh Tamaray Hall.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

There you go. There you go. New New Amsterdam and how it was sold. I did watch a good special on Netflix, which was The Vices That Made America. So it was a documentary about alcohol, drugs, and all the vices that we have and how they came to be. And it's pretty good actually.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

What's the var what's the vars vice? Is it alcohol or drugs? Or gambling?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

They've each got their own little death knell spiral that they go down. But you gotta you gotta say drugs. But yeah, they all have their own little vice. But it's what America was built on.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Here here, we'll end it on that. All right, well, that's it. Say goodbye, Paul.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Goodbye, Paul.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

All right, everybody, thank you. And stay tuned for the next episode. Take care.