Room Temperature
A sports podcast covering Basketball, Baseball, Soccer, Football, and occasionally Hockey.
Room Temperature
Episode 4
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NFL Storylines and a GOAT Draft
Hello, hello, everybody. Welcome
Intro and Yankees Trade Deadline
SPEAKER_00to Room Temperature. My name is Brad, and I have Maddie here with me. Say hi. Good morning, everybody. Happy Friday. Happy Friday. It'll probably be afternoon when you guys are listening to this. We have a fun show for you today. We're going to start with some mailbag questions about the Yankees and the trade deadline that we got. Then we're going to head into some stories we're each following as we continue with NFL training camp season. And then finally, we're going to do a GOAT draft where we draft which players who are the greatest of all time in their sport are most likely to still be the GOAT in 50 years. Maddie, I want to start jumping in with a mailbag question we had about the trade deadline.
SPEAKER_01I don't think the Yankees realized that.
SPEAKER_00Yankees fans don't know that. One of our most loyal listeners, Floyd, asked us. Shout out, Floyd. Why did the Yankees remain silent during the trade deadline? I feel like we are headed for an early playoff exit. World Series odds make my point. Floyd, Floyd sent in the uh Saw that sent in some of the, I think, Calci odds for the World Series, which have the Dodgers far and away ahead. Should we censor Calchi when we put this on, like bleep it like it's a curse word? No, I mean, not not until they sponsor us, you know, of course. Um, but it has, you know, the Dodgers well ahead with a 36% chance to win. And then kind of middle of the pack with the Red Sox, Yankees, Milwaukee, Atlanta, and then we get into some other teams like the Rays, for example. Yeah. Um, so yeah, why did the Yankees remain silent during the deadline? And where does that put the Yankees in terms of their positioning?
SPEAKER_01I wish I had an answer for that because it doesn't really make any sense to me that we remain we didn't remain completely silent, but like the players we traded for, Heliot Ramos, doesn't really make much sense, doesn't really move the needle. I like Luis Garcia. He's a good vibes guy. We have also a great hitter, but we have so many lefties. Like we have Cody Bellinger, uh Chisholm, Luis Garcia now, Ryan McMahon, Trent Grisham. We have like seven lefties who are starters. Um, and like when you play a team against the Red Sox, uh, like the Red Sox, for example, if we meet them in the playoffs, they have so much lefty pitching that can neutralize us. Um, and we did not answer our you know, our like most pressing needs. We still have two, like probably the two worst catchers I've ever seen play baseball. I'm not even kidding. In Austin Wells, and we somehow found a worse Sanchez um at catcher, Ali Sanchez. He's terrible. Um and then no bullpen at all was crazy because it doesn't really take much to trade for like even middle relief guys, like you don't have to give up that much. Um, and like that's something that definitely needed to be addressed. Like, we have a couple good relievers, but they are going to be overworked and overused. We see this every year, like they're gonna be overworked by October, and then we're gonna be upset when they blow you know games in the playoffs, but like you can't really blame them when their arms are shot. Yeah, Ben Darn's gonna be exhausted. He's he's also old. Like, we're putting so much um faith in him, and I like him, but like we need him more help. I um I'm already preparing for what Cashman's gonna say. Like, you know, he's gonna be like, oh, when Cody, Aaron, and Stanton come back, that's like another trade deadline that we want. I mean he maybe he already said that, yeah. But like that's the Yankees thinking, it has been that way since you know for the past like decade or so. We've been like pretty complacent when it comes to trade deadlines. The only aggressive move that Cashman has made since the pandemic has been Soto, really, for trade like trade-wise. Um and I do agree, like you know, you want to keep your prospects and you don't want to overpay, but also you don't want to you there's a middle ground, right? Because we we tend to hang on to our prospects for too long, and then they rot away in the miners or on the bench. I can name like 10 guys, like Aswald Peraza, uh Clint Frazier, Dominguez, um Spencer Jones didn't call wasn't called up until he was like 27, 26. Um high. Yeah, and then they waste away, we don't trade them, their value goes down, and then they become journeymen. You know, that's you know, tail as old as time with the Yankees. Um so yeah, I I don't know what the answer is. I don't know why they stayed so silent, but I'm not really shocked because that's that seems to be what we've been doing.
SPEAKER_00Um is fascinating, you know, we talked last week too about the impending lockout and how there might not be an MLB season next season, and a lot of our core guys like Judge and our top starters are getting older, so you should kind of go.
SPEAKER_01He might be 36 the next time you go all in on this year.
SPEAKER_00I also think, and I I saw this, and it's really it's really interesting. The another reason to kind of go all in is we have a a shot at winning the division, and the bracket in the American League is really weird. Where right now one of Chicago and the Astros are gonna be in the ALCS. Right. And then it's looking to be whoever comes out of the Tampa Bay, Boston, New York wild card in the gauntlet, man. But whoever comes out of that three from the AL East has an advantage heading into the playoffs in terms of home field advantage, getting extra rest before that divisional series. So I think the Yankees really should have made a push to try and go try and go do that.
SPEAKER_01We're only a half game up on the Sox now, somehow. They're like 31 and 3 or something during this stretch. It's an it's absolutely bonkers. Nobody could have saw that coming. Red South Voodoo. Yeah. Um, and we're four and a half games back from Tampa. We were like a game and a half, like a week ago, and we're letting it we're letting it slip away. And like winning the division would be would be very nice, but it's becoming more difficult.
SPEAKER_00Well, we have one one fun wrinkle post-trade outline is we have uh a new shortstop, George Lombard, who finally got called up. Um, and he showed some really good defensive flashes in his first two games, um, some really great plays. Uh we had we had a He's nice, man. He's nice. We have a we had a mailbag question about him from uh from Henry who asks Sure. This is a great question, Henry. I'm sure it's great. How much does George Lombard benefit from succeeding dirtbag Anthony Volpe? And Henry, by the way.
SPEAKER_01Say that in a Trump accent, I feel like that'd be fine. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go.
SPEAKER_00It's a very trumpy question. Henry insisted I I include the word dirtbag in there. Um I I wanted I want to get your take, but I I think Lombard definitely six like definitely benefits from this because his defensive range, the fact that he's already been able to show two games in that he's far and away better than Anthony Volpe, that's gonna give him a lot more breathing room when it comes to getting used to hitting major league pitching. Right. Because as long as you're a consistent defensive plus, which it looks like George Lombard is, I think he's gonna have the time and the grace to settle in.
SPEAKER_01That's his calling card defense. Um, and like, yes, but when when you're a young shortstop, um like the fans will definitely be way more patient with him because like the defense will keep we were upset because Volpe, he can't hit, right? And his defense also wasn't as good as advertised. Um he's a second baseman, really. Uh, and I think it looks like the Yankees are actually gonna play him there uh down in AAA. And I think what's gonna happen is Chisholm's gonna walk next year because we're not gonna want to pay him too much. And I hope we don't overpay for him. Um, and then they're gonna play Volpe at second base. That's what I predict.
SPEAKER_00Oh, but that's nice. One one fun fact for our listeners before we move on. Um, Maddie actually struck out Anthony Volpe when they were in middle school. True story, same little league. Yeah, so there's a there's a room. It's because it's the room temperature connection. Less and less impressive by the day that that happened. Yeah, when I when I first met Maddie, he loved flexing that to people. But now he he he gets a little bit awkward and uncomfortable because it feels like less of a flex every time.
SPEAKER_01No, I definitely pitched against better hitters than
NFL Training Camp Storylines
SPEAKER_01he than he than Volpe.
SPEAKER_00Um let's move let's move on to the NFL. We have um training camp is underway. Last night we had the Hall of Fame game. Uh did you did you watch the game? I did not catch that. I was at Spider-Man. It was a fun, fun, fun, silly game. Uh-huh. Good good good ending. Um, lots of scoring.
SPEAKER_01But we have Is that like a preseason game basically? Yeah, they do it.
SPEAKER_00They do it before the Hall of Fame inductions every year. They play, they do it in um like where the Hall of Fame is. Yeah, in Canton, they have the game. Um so it's just it's it's kind of a fun, a function. Shout out to Canton, Ohio. Shout out to Canton. Um we we have some good there's a there's a lot of sort of like drama and stories heading into the rest of training camp and as we get along with preseason. So Matt and I thought it would be good to go over some of the stories that we're keeping an eye on the most. Um I'm gonna start with I'll start with my first one here. Um One of the things I'm looking at is Lamar Jackson and some of the haters that are coming for him. A few weeks ago, I don't know if if any of you saw, but the the NFL does an annual players poll where they ask the NFL players to rank um to sort of vote on the top 100 players. And Lamar Jackson went from being voted as the second best player last year to the 69th best player this year. Nice dropping down 67 spots. How many? 67 spots. Um, I think as we head into the next season, I'm I'm gonna be watching about how Lamar handles the narrative that this is a big year from him. We're seeing a lot of people in the media talking about this being a fork in the road moment for him. You know, will he have a comeback year after his off year with a little bit of injuries, not looking like himself, or is he gonna, you know, is he gonna make a big push or is he gonna start to fade essentially? Um there's been a lot of talk about his rushing numbers being down. Um, and obviously Lamar, even without the rushing, he's still a good passer, but I'd like to see how he responds to the noise, um, especially the fact that it's coming from his peers. You know, a year ago, his peers thought that he was the second best player in the league. Now they think he's the 69th. What happened for them to think that? Um That's a big drop-off. It is a big drop-off. I'm not hugely in love with his receiving group, um, and I don't think that it sets him up to be in the best position. Um, I also don't love the Zay Flowers contract. So much money five million a year. That dude has bricks for hands. I I'm I'm I'd be a little bit uncomfortable with that. Um but I I do wish Lamar Lamar the best, but I I don't I think it's gonna be a tough year for him. But I'm I'm sort of looking to see how he responds to the noise. He was banged up last year, wasn't he?
SPEAKER_01Lamar? He was, yeah. That's uh dude, he's still like top, he has top five, top ten in the league. 69th is crazy. Um but I don't think he really cares, right? Like all the noise. Um and maybe a new coach and a new offensive system might do him some good. Yeah, maybe he needs that fresh, fresh start. Hopefully, hopefully. But yeah, the receiving core, you could argue though that like free agent receivers don't want to go to Baltimore because like he's not gonna throw them the ball a lot because he does run a lot, so maybe that's why his receiving core has stayed pretty weak over the years. Um But yeah, they also gave Mark Andrews way too much money. They let the you could say that was some harbow um collusion a little bit. He paid Mark Andrews so then he can go to the Giants and sign the better tight end for cheaper. Isaiah likely. Um But yeah, we'll we'll see. I'm rooting for him. He's he's so fun to watch, and I hope we see a um a Ravens Bills playoff game. That would be that would be awesome. That opening game last season was always awesome games between those two. Any Bills game is always it's honestly they're always cracked in the playoffs. Always a fun team. What do you um what do you have for us, Matt? Uh yeah, so the first storyline I would have is probably the Giants overhaul. Um they have Jim Harbaugh coming in as a new coach, and they moved off Dable probably a year too late. Um, but they wanted to see him with Dart, so that makes sense. Um but yeah, excited to see. I think Harbaugh at his best could be like the Giants, Tom Thibodeau. Like, I don't think he's gonna necessarily bring you to the promised land, but I think he's gonna raise your floor a little bit and hopefully change the culture. Um, that's all I'm hoping for. Um trading Dexter Lawrence uh definitely hurts a little bit, especially that man has a Giants logo tattooed on him. So I really thought he was a giant for life. Um, but we drafted Arvel Reese. I'm excited to see Odell Beckham in the Giants uniform again. I think that will like it's it's as like the kid in me is excited for that. It's not gonna, I don't think it's gonna move the needle at all, but like seeing him hopefully score a touchdown will will bring me some happiness, and I deserve that as a Giants fan. It's been so it's been so long um suffering. Um, and then hopefully Dart learns how to slide too. I think that's like a big storyline going into the season for him. I feel like hypothetically, that should be a pretty easy thing to learn. You know, it's yeah, but clearly it's not because he took so many hits last year, he never wants to go down. Like that's his mentality, which I love. But also, do you think the strategy there is Harbaugh just has to pull him? Like, hey, if you don't slide, I'm just gonna pull you. I feel like he's gonna be a bit harder on him than Dable was. Dable was like, do whatever it takes to save save this job for me, Dart. Basically. So Harbaugh will hopefully hopefully be better on that. And then Cam Scattabu coming back. I our win over under win total seven and a half, which is like crazy to me. Um it feels very neighbors dependent to me. It's so neighbors. If neighbors come back looking good, our schedule is really hard. And I don't know, yeah, we need neighbors, obviously, but I don't know. I I still see this as like a five or six-win team. But maybe they prove me wrong. We'll we will see.
SPEAKER_00We'll see. Um, the next storyline I'm looking at is Baker Mayfield and his contract. The Bucks offered him a two-year, $100 million extension, which he declined. Um, and he's made a lot of very public comments about his frustration in negotiating this extension with the Bucs. Um, he had a really, really hot start to the season last year. He was then dealing with injuries. Um, but I I think he's been a guy for the Bucs, and I think that they should pay him. Um, the Bucs are in a risky spot here with Baker Mayfield. What if he has an amazing season, and then you basically have to pay him, um, or else you're competing with other teams who need a QB and are willing to pay him. Um but on the flip side, Baker's betting on himself, right? If he has a really bad season, that might not set him up um to get a big payday next offseason. So I think we'll we'll see what happens with him. Um the team itself is also at a bit of a crossroads. They feel like a little bit of a mediocre, middle of the line team. So we'll see if they decide to do a little bit of a reset, rebuild, or if they decide to kind of go all in with this roster. But that's something I'm I'm keeping an eye on. But it's never good to kind of go into the season with your QB in an iffy contract situation.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but also like, do you want to pay that much money for Baker Mayfield? Do you think he's worth all that?
SPEAKER_00I think he is a I think he's a really good quarterback. He proved himself to be like a uh a very like high quality, high-end NFL quarterback. Right. And that's nice just to have on your team. Not having to stress about that is it's very hard to find a good quarterback. There's so many teams where it's like, oh, is once we just get the QB, and then you mess up getting the QB. So I think once you have once you have the QB, keep keep the guy. Right. But just the reason that Kirk Cousins has made such a long career for himself, people always question the amount of money that Kirk Cousins made. But but he was able to be a top half, very, very high quality, serviceable quarterback in the league for so long.
SPEAKER_01He hasn't been really in a while, though.
SPEAKER_00I've seen in a few, you could say in the last few years he hasn't been around.
SPEAKER_01So for most Achilles, but for most of his career, that's what he was. Right. Um, but also do you want to hamstring like so much like for your salary cap towards a guy like Baker Mayfield? That's why I was saying in the city. Because like Kirk, they Kirk Cousins, similar thing, like they weren't ever able to build a good enough team, I guess, um, around him. Um, so I don't know if you want to be hamstring with a Baker Mayfield contract.
SPEAKER_00It could go very wrong. It definitely could, but that's again where it goes to the team needing to pick its direction and align its its contract with Baker Mayfield accordingly.
SPEAKER_01You need to hit on draft picks when you have like a big con big contracts like that. Um that's really where you fill in the roster spots, like in the draft.
SPEAKER_00That's true. But they they've got some good guys. They've got Ibuka, they've got Bucky Irving. When are you gonna trade him to me? That's not he's untouchable in our dynasty league. That's not happening. Yeah, Bucky Irving, Mike Evans is still going. No, he left. When he left? He's on the Niners.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's right.
SPEAKER_00You can see Matt hasn't been doing his NFL recently.
SPEAKER_01The NFL offseason is so long. Like everything happens in April, and then there's like a six-month sabbatical. Like there's other things that's going that are going on in life. Um okay. Uh, next storyline I would say is can the New England Patriots reach the same heights or greater than last year when they made the Super Bowl? Um, I think the big concerns with them going into this year, besides the whole Mike Rabel fiasco, um, is how easy their schedule was last year. And I think it was like since like 1950 something, they played the the most teams under 500. Um, like yeah, they had a cupcake schedule in the regular season. Then they honestly like had a pretty cakewalk schedule to the Super Bowl. Like they played the Broncos and the was that the AFC Championship? Um with no bonex, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was a tough, that was a tough one. And then honestly, like their first and the and the the the Broncos almost won that game.
SPEAKER_01The Broncos almost won that game in New England. Their first real test was against Seattle, where they were absolutely dominated. Um yeah, I I have a hard time believing that they're as good as they were last year, and their schedule is definitely much harder. Like they had the Chiefs, the Chargers, they have the AFC West this year. Um they have a first place schedule and the NFC North too, which is not an easy division to play against with the Bears and the Packers.
SPEAKER_00Um I think their team is better, but I think that they're in a harder schedule situation. Yeah, their receiving core, you got AJ Brown, you have Dobbs. Their receiving core is actually pretty deep. Um, yeah, so I think I I think it is one of those weird situations where their team on paper is better, but they're now facing a harder situation. So we're gonna see where the degree to which the hangover from the previous season kind of.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I could see them falling flat where they end up like 500 and maybe with like the last place wild card.
SPEAKER_00I don't think it's gonna go that time I don't see a drop that precipitous. They were not that good. They're a division with the Jets and the Dolphins. That's four wins. That's free.
SPEAKER_01Four free wins to start the season. Um and they'll probably split against the Bills. Yeah. So yeah, we'll see. All right, what do you have next?
SPEAKER_00Um, next thing I have is um um Aaron Donald. Um, there's been all these rumors about you know, he went in for a workout to return to the Rams. He's been retired uh since 2023, um, but he's been trying to stay in game shape. He's now 35 years old. Is he gonna come back and join this Rams defense, pair up with Miles Garrett? Um, it feels a little bit dragged on. Like, how long are we gonna have to wait before he make he makes a decision? Um, it feels like something that's maybe gonna loom for a while. Um Sean McVay was asked about it and said, if there's an arrow, it's pointing upward. So it looks like it's super possible that he'll return, but he also hasn't played a snap in three years. He's 35 years old. Um he's obviously an extremely intelligent and I one of like the best players in his position ever. So um he definitely deserves all the credit. But it can be tough to just jump right into it. Um, I'm wondering if maybe there's potential for more of a mid-season return so he kind of hits his stride coming into the playoffs. Um, we'll see what happens, but that's something I'm just I'm just keeping an eye on. We already have this stacked top heavy Rams team. They're so good, dude. And adding Aaron Donald would just make them by far and away the favorite. So I'd love to see what they what they're doing.
SPEAKER_01They're already like I think they're like plus 350 to win the Super Bowl. And then the next team's like 700. Wow. So they're already pretty big favorites. And like Donald would be a great piece to add, even if he only played like I don't know, like 20 snaps a game or something, you know, nothing too, nothing too crazy. But to have him in like situationally would be pretty nice. That would be a pretty big luxury. That would be incredible. Yeah, because he's not he's not an every down guy anymore, I'm sure. But like big downs, big third downs, big third down.
SPEAKER_02Big third down times.
SPEAKER_01Like it'd be crazy very nice to have him. Um, do you have any other any storylines? I've I I have one more briefly. Um I would say, you know, big storyline for me, or something I'm watching. I know you you want to mention like quarterback competitions, but I'll I'll focus on one is um Francisco Mendoza, uh, rookie for the the Raiders coming into this year, and like how long it's gonna take for him to start. Um It could be like, you know, Kirk plays a few games, they lose. So they put in they put in Mendoza to try and spark the team. I'm excited to watch him play. Loved watching him in Indiana. Seems like a great kid too. Like extremely easy to root for. He seems like the nicest human, doesn't he? He like is Kirk Cousins in a way.
SPEAKER_00They've done a lot of themes about how he Kirk Cousins is. They have, they have.
SPEAKER_01Similar vibes. Immobile Kirk Cousins. So yeah, I'm excited to watch that. He's like the only only really good quarterback in this class, probably. So it'd be eager to see how that goes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I definitely think we've seen this trend of these high-end rookie QBs not starting the first few weeks. It definitely looks like that that may be where they're going with with Kirk Cousins. And obviously Kirk Cousins is going to be a good kind of mentor figure to him, helping him get uh get settled in the NFL. And yeah, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully we get to see him play soon. Um, and also hopefully their offensive line is better so he doesn't get crunched. Uh some of the we do have a lot of QB battles um kind of coming into the season. For the Browns, we have uh Deshaun Watson and Shadur Sanders, which is such a weird one. I feel like I want I want your take on this. I feel like there's like a very clear and obvious move here, which is just go with Sanders and have a clean break from Deshaun Watson. Live with the results. Just go with Shadur. If it's horrible, you can draft a quarterback next year, and that's fine.
SPEAKER_01You have to do whatever it takes to remove that stink off your team.
SPEAKER_00Just just get rid of Deshaun Watson. Why are you why are you giving him a shot here? The obvious move feels like just letting Sanders have it, get a clean break from the whole Deshaun Watson fiasco and move on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that whole situation is like maddening because he was convicted. Was he convicted or found guilty, right? He was found guilty. Um and then they give him like $250 million guaranteed, and they trade Baker Mayfield, who brought them to the playoffs. Um, and look how that's worked for them. The Browns are gonna brown.
SPEAKER_00Um I hope, I hope it, I hope they I hope they just purge themselves, Watson here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And like if Shador sucks, at least he's not a predator.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And also if and you know, if Shadur's bad, you there's a lot of media hype around Shadur, obviously. If you give him the full season and he looks really bad, then you have to answer the question, you've given him a shot, and you can move on. And that that feels like exactly what the right answer is here. I don't understand why if it's complicated.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and also if you're a Browns like fan, too, you want to root for that guy. I think teams say they don't listen to the fans, but sometimes they do. Like, I thought the fans don't really want to root for Deshaun Watson, I would think. No, they don't, right?
SPEAKER_00They definitely don't.
SPEAKER_01Like, why would you why would anybody want to root for the guy? Um, so yeah, I'm I'm in total agreement with you there.
SPEAKER_00The um the next one looking at is uh the Atlanta Falcons, who in a weird situation, I feel like if the Falcons had a good QB, they'd be a great team. Like what you were saying, right? Yeah, it's like Drick London, Bijan Robinson. Hard to find that quarterback. It's hard to find the QB. So they have um Michael Penix versus Tua. Um, and it's it's such a strange obviously both. Two people with handicapped parking stickers. Penix has had three ACL tears. Um, and Tua, obviously, we all know with like Tua's head injuries and everything. It's actually not that funny when Tua. It is a little bit sad at some points, but it feels like it's a weird football decision in terms of the competition because they're both extremely limited players, they both have big injury histories, um, and it feels like there's this competition for who gets it. But I presume that what they're they're gonna get replaced in the draft next year. I mean, they the Falcons used a pretty high pick to get Penix. So I I would imagine that there's a a world where they give him a shot just to again try to try to say, hey, we gave Penix another shot, it didn't work out, now we're gonna use more draft capital on a QB. I think a lot of the time we need to think about these organizations and how they function from a higher level. Like if you're the GM, you kind of need an out and an excuse if you just used your eighth overall pick on a QB that's had a ton of injuries and hasn't banned out. But if you give them another shot and it doesn't work out and it's bad, now you have the political capital to go spend another high pick on a quarterback. So we'll see what happens, but that's something I'm watching just to see what they do there. Because you know, one bad hit and two is done at this point. And we but we've been saying that for like two years.
SPEAKER_01I feel like two hits ago that was the case, and it keeps going. Uh yeah, I think like you were saying, it's such a luxury to have a good quarterback. Also, can Tua please wear a guardian cap? Sorry. Yeah, you're right. Like somebody in his quarter needs to tell him. Exactly. Um, I I don't know what's gonna happen there. I think Tua's probably gonna win that competition. Um I think he's probably the more serviceable quarterback at this point. We'll see. We'll see, we'll see how it happens. Yeah. I am there their skill group, their skill group is so like up there with the best in the league, though, right? Kyle Pitts, Drake London. Fantasy legend, Kyle Pittsburgh. Robinson. I don't know. Kyle Pitts does receive hate, but he's actually a good tight end.
SPEAKER_00He is he is good.
SPEAKER_01Um Drake London, like probably the most underrated receiver in the league right now. Really want him in Dynasty. Turtle needs to give him up if he's listening to this. They just paid Robinson a lot of money for running backs. 75 million. Uh, and then they gave Gibbs a big deal. The Lions gave Gibbs gave Gibbs a bigger deal. Um it's good to see running backs are starting to be paid their worth, right? Saquon like started that whole trend because teams weren't really paying for running backs. I think it's only worth paying for running backs if it's a high, high-end guy. And that's what Robinson and Gibbs are. Yeah, they are two of the best. Generational. Um, yeah, that'll be that'll be interesting to see. I have a few Falcons fans' friends who are like not very excited going into the season. Like they have to watch Tua or Michael Penix throw the ball. Um but yeah, they are a QB away, but you could say that for so many teams. I Penix has a good arm, it's just his body. He can't move. Um, he was mobile. You watched him in college, he was mobile, he was fast. Then you tear your ACL three times, and then you're not fast. That's it makes sense. And also you're gonna be wary because you're not gonna want to. He has no cartilage in his knees, man. I know what that's like. I'm on the IL too.
SPEAKER_00Um let's say to our last QB, um, QB battle here, which is the Vikings, uh, JJ McCarthy, aka 9 versus Kyler Murray. Um this one is looking like Murray's probably gonna win the battle. Obviously, um the Vikings have had success the last few years, kind of uh trying to resuscitate um QBs. Um I think if if if McDonnell can just get uh can get Kyler Murray to be an average, good, serviceable quarterback, then the rest of the team is looking good. You have an amazing receiver core. Like Kirk Cousins was basically. Yeah, you have an amazing receiver core. Um and you feel the bones of the team that was like one of the best in the league two years ago. Um, so I'd I'd love I'd love to see them do well. Um it's it's definitely tough because again, the team used so much, they used big capital to get JJ McCarthy. They spent so much time talking about how he was like how he was like studying and meeting with uh the coach every week to talk about stuff. But then we see the performance last season from him, which was a bit bit a bit frustrating. Don't wake up nine though, dude. I'm I know nine is listening to the game. He's a demon waiting.
SPEAKER_01He's waiting in the shadows, he's lurking.
SPEAKER_00I um yeah, so I like to see what happens there. Uh uh. I hope I hope things work out for Kyler Murray and for the Vikings too. Yeah. Because I imagine the Vikings have been a tough team to be a fan of these last few years, especially.
SPEAKER_01Uh bad news for the Vikings fans, though. There is a new Black Ops video game being released, so Kyler Murray might have some trouble with that. Um there's a there's a stat. Um he's a big gamer, and like whenever um Cod drops a new game, his stats go away. Really? That's that's really funny. Not funny, but with a new GTA being released, I'd you know, trouble for Kyler. Right in the middle of the season, too, right? Come in. Right, right when uh important football starts. Um yeah, on that, sorry, to uh one more point on that. I think like the Vikings bringing in McCarthy, or sorry, not McCarthy, Murray shows how much they believe in McCarthy. And like it's not very high.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Like if you if you believed in him, it's like he only played a year, and they're already like, okay, we should probably find somebody
GOAT Debates Across Sports
SPEAKER_01else. Not a good sign. Not a good sign.
SPEAKER_00The uh the next thing we wanted to talk about was we we have a bit of a silly, uh, silly segment here. Um Matt and I were talking about about um goateness, you know, for the greatest of all time in different sports. Um and sort of goats who are entrenched, entrenched in their status as the greatest of all time in their sport, where there's little or no debate as to their goat status, or if there is a debate, it feels a little bit forced. Um so Matt and I want to do a draft for um goats in different sports, selecting which ones we think in 50 years are most likely to still be the greatest of all time in their sports. That's kind of the parameters that we have here, right?
SPEAKER_01Um so basically, whatever like the less the least debatable is the highest pick.
SPEAKER_00Yes, the least debatable is the highest pick. So um graciously, I'm gonna give Matt the first overall pick here.
SPEAKER_01I think I'd rather be two. I'll go one. I'll go one. I'll go one. Who do you have um who you have three for? I'm gonna go Wayne Gretzky number one. Wayne Gretzky. Like most I think he's definitely the strongest goat in like if like through throughout sports. Um his numbers are pretty much nobody's really gonna come close to, right?
SPEAKER_00Maybe goals, like Ovechkin's Ovechkin did pass him, but he has this crazy stat. If you know this Wayne Gretskin's, though, yeah. If you remove all of his goals, he still has the most points of all time. Yes. For an NHL player, which is absurd. Pretty, pretty absurd. And he's second in goals ever, right? Yeah, second in goals ever he has four championships, nine MVPs. Yeah. Um, it's pretty the only debate is like some people like my my father-in-law, the uh say Bobby Orr in terms of pure peak. But I think nobody really I think I think most of the time Gretzky is is considered to be. You have to be polite to him when he says that, right? You know my my uh my brother-in-law got into an argument with him about it once.
SPEAKER_01Is he a big Bruins fan, your father in law?
SPEAKER_00Just big, just big hot hockey fan in general. Okay, but I think it I think in general Wayne Gretzky's career output is is gonna be pretty hard to um to outmatch for anyone.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, I don't see it happening. And yeah, there's still not a debate 20, 30 years later after he retired. So and there's I don't think there's anybody else in the league right now who can come close to it.
SPEAKER_00Um my my goat that I'm I'm gonna pick here is uh Michael Phelps, Olympic Olympic swimmer, 23 gold medals, um, 28 total medals, the most in history in any sport. Um the eight golds at a single game in Beijing in 2008, um, that one is gonna be really, really hard to break. The Olympics haven't been good since then. I think no no one is within 10 gold medals of him on the on the male swimming chart. Um, and I I just think he was so so dominant in his in his peak. Um, when you think of swimming, you think of Michael Phelps, and it just feels like like a name and someone who's gonna be gonna be there in 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_01Or kick Katie Ledecki, too.
SPEAKER_00For for women swimming, definitely Katie Ledecki. Yeah, she has the most gold for female swimmers. Um yeah, and also I think she's never lost her two best events.
SPEAKER_01Like that Brad doesn't think women's sports are sports, that's why she's not included in another one.
SPEAKER_00She's she's Matt's looking at my computer, she's literally the second ranked person on this list. Um, but yeah, I I I definitely think Michael Phelps is just just unmatched over the over the totality of his career.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a good one. Um, number three, I'm going to go Tom Brady. Goodbye. Um, even though his his post-retirement career is like hurting his legacy a little bit, but seven Super Bowl rings, five Super Bowl MVPs, um, the longevity, uh, yeah, like seven Super Bowl rings. Like, I don't think I need to say anything more than that. It's pretty crazy. Like, most teams don't have a Super Bowl, and he has seven.
SPEAKER_00I also think if we're talking about the in 50 years, what's it gonna look like? We're seeing a lot more parity in the NFL now.
SPEAKER_01And I think it's gonna be that easy to come by.
SPEAKER_00It's really hard for dynasties to to be had. We're seeing you know, the the struggle the Chiefs are having just you know with this one window they have trying to keep it going, which is the way that's the same thing. It seems like that window's closing, right? It does seem like it's closing. So I think it's gonna be really, really hard to surpass Brady, especially with the longevity and how good he was.
SPEAKER_01Um, yeah, and you you could I I'm talking like completely like resumes here. Um, I would argue that maybe he's not the most talented player ever, but like accolades resume, you can't you can't match up with Tom Brady. I like that. And I don't think anybody's gonna come close.
SPEAKER_00Um well you you spoiled my second pick, which was Katie Ledecki here. Um whoops. Best female. I love the Olympics, so I'm a bit a bit Olympics.
SPEAKER_01Sure, you're not putting it in there.
SPEAKER_00Olympics, Olympics biased here. Um PR move by you. Katie Ledecky, absolutely amazing, amazing swimmer. Um, she's never lost an 800-meter or 1500 meter freestyle on the world stage um in the finals. I think that's just incredible. Um again, I think she was she 15 or 16 years old in that first Olympics that she was in. She was 15. I think she was 15 or 16 years old, and she just blew by everybody. I remember watching. I didn't know that. Incredible, absolutely incredible. Um shout out to Katie Ledecki. Um, anyways, I'll let you go.
SPEAKER_01That was number four, right? Okay, so number five. I that's tough. This is where it starts to become a bit murky. Um I'll probably go Tiger Woods.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you're gonna go over Nicholas.
SPEAKER_01Actually, scratch that. I'm gonna go. Well, he Tiger is still the greatest, but you could argue he wasn't the longevity versus longevity. Yeah, the longevity wasn't as good, but I'm gonna go lead on Messi. Um I know we might have some Ronaldo fan listeners, but I think the way the careers have ended with Messi winning the World Cup and a couple more Ballon d'Or's over Ronaldo, I don't think there's really a debate anymore on who's the greatest. Eight Ballandors Messi has pretty absurd, and all-time champion leagues records as well. Um, and obviously a world cup. Yeah, he does, doesn't he? No. Oh, is that Ronaldo? Ronaldo's. Oh, sorry. But he does have the eight Ballandors and the World Cup over Ronaldo and the longevity. I think he's aged better than Ronaldo has. So yeah, that's my pick.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I I I feel like Messi is like he I think I think he has had a better career than Ronaldo. But it's it's part, I I think it's people will still debate it. People people love a debate, so they're everyone's gonna debate it. That's why it's a bit murky now, you know, around pick number five. It starts to be tough. Um it's not murky, my next one.
SPEAKER_01I know I know what this is, but I wanted to steal it from you.
SPEAKER_00You did Usain Bolt, Sprinter.
SPEAKER_01Oh, this is one of the pick I thought.
SPEAKER_00He still has his um his records in the uh 100 meter and 200 meter uh like since 2009. Think of how much um more athletes have started to invest in technology and shoes and all this stuff. And he still holds that record um, you know, 17 years later. Um eight Olympic golds. He won the 100 and 200 meter gold in three straight Olympics. That's incredible when you think about sprinting and sprinter's peak. Um nobody's close to him. In my mind, he's always just gonna be the fastest person. Noah Riles. Um, Usain Bolt. Do you you know you know that picture of Usain Bolt just like kind of looking back, knowing he's won with the sprint? Absolutely credible, so dominant. Um, he might be up there at the aura farming ghost as well. He's gonna it would have been aura farming goes. Different drafts. But um, I had to had to pick Usain Bolt here. Um, yeah. Any who else you got?
SPEAKER_01Um, I'm gonna go Novak in tennis.
SPEAKER_00Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01Um I feel like maybe the individual sports are a bit easy to measure because it's it's all down the titles, right? And he has is it 25 Grand Sams? He's got a lot. He has the most ever. Um, so I feel like that's a pretty easy metric to put him up there as the GOAT in tennis. Although I did I did um love watching Roger Federer play as a kid um and Rafa play as a kid too. But Novak Novak's been un unbelievable and has the most grand slams, so I feel like it's only fair to put him number one. Super, super fair.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um my next one, should I I'm continuing with my Olympics theme, Simone Biles, yep, Olympic gymnast. Good. She's the most decorated gymnast. Um and she has a bunch of- she was at like age 23.
SPEAKER_01She broke all the records.
SPEAKER_00She has she has all these moves named after her because she's the only one that can do them. That's pretty impressive. Um when you think of when you think of uh gymnasts, you think of Simone Biles. She's like, That's her really, right? The first name that comes to your head is oh yeah, Simone Biles, absolutely amazing athlete. Shout out to her.
SPEAKER_01So I think she's um when you watch her too, like even if you've never watched gymnastics, you could see how how much like a more how much better she was. Her deserves cruises off of the city. Seriously, yeah, you can you could feel it, and like, yeah, incredible. Um go go America, American gymnasts. Uh so now we're pick eight, right? Or pick eight. We can keep going. I've got a keep going. I've got a bunch of uh this is when it's even tougher now. Um, I think it's fair. I can put Tiger here, maybe. Go for it. I think he's the greatest golfer ever. You could debate Nicholas, but I don't really think so. I think like at his peak, nobody in any sport has been as dominant as Tiger, you could argue. He was so far and away above his peers. Um people were playing for second, basically, during his prime. Um yeah, un unbe unbeatable and an absolute pleasure to watch. He's also done so much for the game itself, like culturally. He's influenced it so much. Um and yeah, I really hope he can he can win one more tournament.
SPEAKER_00I I doubt it.
SPEAKER_01I doubt it. I doubt it happens.
SPEAKER_00I understand I I totally respect that like peak respecting that insane peak that he had. I think that's super, super reasonable take. Um my next one uh is Serena Williams. Um 23 Glam Grand Slam singles titles um and four Olympic golds. Um, some people would say that uh Margaret Court from back in the day, she has um technically more titles. Um but you know that's against that's in the amateur era, against thinner fields, I would say. But Serena Williams is incredible. Again, when you think tennis, women's tennis, especially, Serena Williams is the first name that pops into your head. She had such an amazing long career, um, absolutely amazing athlete. So I I think in my mind, she is absolutely up there as the as the go to women's tennis.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think I mean there's other sports too that I'm not very well versed on, but cricket, you had somebody I think for cricket, but like all the other sports, basketball, baseball, all pretty debatable. Like I'll have Michael Jordan as number one, but like you you might you have LeBron, I think, right?
SPEAKER_00I I'm a I am a I'm a Braun person. So yeah, like that's so debatable. I I would what I think is so interesting is I I actually I think the LeBron, I think Michael Jordan is the least entrenched goat, maybe. No, you think I agree with basketball and baseball, I think, have the least entrenched. That's what I'm saying, yeah. Because even in basketball, the Jordan people and the Bron people are willing to listen to the other person, even if they fake listen to the other.
SPEAKER_01They both both acknowledge that it's a debate because we are debating it.
SPEAKER_00Except for I would say the Jordan people are usually less willing to acknowledge the debate. That's not true.
SPEAKER_01I definitely I definitely believe that. The LeBron people don't acknowledge the 2011 finals.
SPEAKER_00Um but I think that's one I think shout out Archie, by the way. If we're talking about entrenchment, I think because that we have this ongoing debate, it is possible that we have someone else who has this amazing career. Um, so we'll see what happens. I think regardless, that's the one two punch when you're talking about Jordan LeBron. Yeah, you're just debating the order. Um that that I mean, people can agree those are one and two, yeah, right. I would say I think anyone that doesn't is not a serious person.
SPEAKER_01Like I actually have uh Bill Walton. Those people.
SPEAKER_00Um, you mentioned you mentioned cricket. I think maybe the most entrenched guy is uh Don Bradman, Australian cricketer. Um crazy stats. I was reaching out to some of my cricket fan friends about this. Um and check out some of these statistics. So in for our American listeners who don't know or follow cricket, um, in cricket, uh uh a batter keeps scoring runs until he gets out. So imagine like you keep hitting until you get out. And your batting average is the total number of runs you score divided by how many times you you've been out. So it's not like a decimal like a baseball, you hit 300. It's a whole number. It's like 40, 50, 99, whatever. Um so in cricket, being around 50 all-time makes you an all-time great. Like the all-time greats average around 50. Um, some of the like top five guys average around 60. Um the second best career average in the history of test cricket is I look this up, 61.87. Don Bradman has a test batting average of 99.94. He's 40 points clear, 60% higher than any other person who has ever played the sport of cricket. Um, he's kind of a little bit Babe Ruthian, where he played a long time ago. His career was in the late 1920s to the late 1940s, but his stats are just so far and away better than everyone else's. You know, it would be as if Babe Ruth's stats were even better compared to his peers than they already are. Um, it seems like Don Bradman is considered completely undisputable in the cricket goat conversation. So I think that's a fun one to bring up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, and I think like on that point you were making, um, some people will discount like players in any sport who play in like older generations because they played against like weaker competition, they'll call them plumbers, quote unquote. I've been guilty, but like you can't hold that really against them. Like they played in the era they played in, they played who they played, they couldn't control their opponents. And I really think when you measure the greatest, so I'm agreeing with you, like it's how good you were against your peers. Like, you shouldn't count what era it was in and how can more or less competitive it was, quote, like, because that's all hypothetical. Like, you can look at um for a fact how good you were, like how dominant you were with like home runs, batting average, things like that. Um, and like saying like, oh, he wouldn't be as good in today's era, that's all like a hypothetical.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, hey, but he's no there's no reasoning against that kind of reasoning behind it.
SPEAKER_01So you got you can't prove that's not an argument with with like based on reason, it's an argument based on hypothetical. So um that's why you know I don't have Babe Ruth as number one. I'm a Babe Ruth Goter. Um that's not the that's not the reason that's not the reason I don't have him as number one. I have Ken Griffey Jr. because I'm a big Ken Griffey Jr. fan. Um, and I think he was on track to break the home run record if he wasn't hurt so much. And he was clean in an era filled with steroid players. Um and that swing was beautiful, right? Can't deny it. Beautiful swing. Um that's a good segment. Most beautiful swings of baseball ever. We save that. We should save that as well. Robinson canot, I can go on and on, too. Absolutely beautiful. So um but Doc Radman.
SPEAKER_00This is this is a new name for me. I've I you know think of him like Babe Ruth, but better, I guess. Which is crazy when you think about it.
SPEAKER_01This actually is crazy.
SPEAKER_00Um big Babe Ruth guy. My favorite Babe Ruth stat is the one where um I have it somewhere here. In 1920, he himself hit more home runs than every other American League team. Which is pretty crazy. Um, just in terms of how you stack up versus your contemporaries.
SPEAKER_01Um made the long ball a thing, right? Because players the way you play the game. He didn't go home. He played in the dead ball era. Players weren't really trying to hit home runs. Um, he was the only he was the first guy to really try and do that, and it completely changed baseball history.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And if you look at the advanced, not to be all advanced stats. This is what's funny about baseball is you can actually retroactively apply a lot of these advanced stats. Yeah, it is. It's like he has the um highest career war of any position player ever. Uh-huh. Um his uh career like OPS is like 1.164. It's absolutely I don't care what era.
SPEAKER_01Like doing that in like high school today is like super impressive. Like it's not, yeah. He's cool, he would have been fine in any era. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00He had this he has this other fun stat where he was uh when Babe Ruth was a pitcher. Um he you know, a lot of people make the Shohei comp, and I think Shohei, what makes him so awesome and special and fun to watch is he's able to pitch and hit at the same time at a super high level. He doesn't really do that anymore, but but when when but he could do that, right? Babe Ruth was a pitcher and then became a hitter. Um and when he was a pitcher, my favorite stat of his, which is pretty incredible, is he had a record for 43 years of 29 and two-thirds consecutive scoreless World Series innings. That's amazing. Sorry, can you repeat that? 29 and two-thirds uh-huh consecutive scoreless world series innings pitched. That's pretty crazy. Incredible stat.
SPEAKER_01And that was probably over like three straight games because they didn't get because they have no bullpen.
SPEAKER_00He pitched like three and a half really awesome games. Yeah. Um, before we sign off, I had one silly, silly gopher that I want to bring up, which I thought was funny in my research. I don't know if we're calling this a sport. But Joey Chestnut of the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. He has 18 hot dog eating contest wins out of 21 appearances. A record of 66 hot dogs. Oh no, sorry. 76 hot dogs is the record. Um he is just obviously the best eater of all time, and that's not really a sport, but it's pretty but it's pretty crazy how much better he is everyone else at competitive eating. So yeah, you could argue he's the most entrenched if you're counting that as a as a someone else is gonna win 18 of 21 hot dog eating contests. That's pretty crazy. He's he's the man, I don't care, people say. Um but yeah, that's our that's our show for you today. Please reach out, let us know if we missed any goats. Are there any goats that we that we didn't call out or ones that you would include? Thank you so much for one. We didn't do F1. We didn't do F1. We're not very well versed in that. I don't really know enough about F1.
SPEAKER_01Um not that about cricket either. Lewis Hamilton, maybe that's like the only name I know on the sport. Schumacher. Michael Schumacher, is it? I think so. I think they're both British, right?
SPEAKER_00Schumacher doesn't sound British. Does that mean Lewis Hamilton I know is a British Austrian, maybe German. Yeah. Anyways, thank you so much for listening. Please continue to send those mailbag questions in. We love getting those. And we will see you next time. See you guys. Take it easy.