The Sports Shake Down
Step into the back room, pull up a chair, and keep your mouth shut until Mafia Mike finishes talking. The Sports Shake Down is the weekly sports podcast where former professional American soccer player **Mafia Mike** takes a serious—but never too serious—look at everything happening in the world of sports.
With an old-world Italian tough-guy attitude, a healthy dose of Yankee opinions, and absolutely no shortage of confidence, Mike breaks down the week's biggest games, controversies, players, coaches, trades, and storylines. He brings the perspective of someone who has actually been on the field, mixes it with sharp analysis and predictions, and delivers it all with the humor and swagger of a guy who might have a "friend" who knows a guy.
No corporate sports-talk nonsense. No cookie-cutter opinions. Just Mafia Mike calling it like he sees it.
The scores may change, the players may change, and the predictions may occasionally go horribly wrong—but one thing never changes: Mafia Mike always has an opinion.
The Sports Shake Down — where sports analysis comes with an offer you can't refuse!
The Sports Shake Down
Sophmore Episode
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Mafia Mike talks about last week's opening preseason NFL Games and the upcoming debut of CFA games! He also give the inside scoop into CCU's Soccer Program.
In the alleys where the stadium lights glow. Cobblestone rhythm. The city moves slow.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to another exciting episode of the Sports Shakedown with Mafia Mike.
SPEAKER_00Hi everyone, this is Mafia Mike. Welcome you to the Sports Shakedown. Today we're going to talk about all sports all the time. Ah, there we are. We're going to start it off with Coastal Carolina men's soccer team. Since we're here in South Carolina, since I played soccer for 25 years, I think I have some knowledge on this game. I think you do too. Yeah. I figure we can get in the subject, open our podcast today. We have a new coaching staff starting with head coach Adam Perrin, who took the place of Chris Fiddler, the coach last year, and Coosa let him go at the end of the season after a dismal three, nine, and two record, barely qualifying for the Sunbelt tournament. Wow. Ouch. Yeah, that's not going to keep your job when you got a record like that.
SPEAKER_02I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00No. But Adam Perrin coached uh Virginia Cavaliers for the last four years, taking them to two NCAA tournaments in his reign as coach over there. He's going to have a tough time this year because he has all new recruits coming in with only four returning players from last year. Any of those players uh outstanding stars or anything from Yeah, we have uh yeah, we have uh one of the defender, the center fullback, he's pretty good. He's come back. Um couple of the others were subs from last year, but they're back. One of the backup goalkeepers is there.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um he's really good though. He's from England. Okay. So he's played in the English league. So he knows about he knows the game very well. I call I call him our assassinator back there. He he uh there was actually a scrimmage fight in the game, one of the game, the last game I went to go see, with about five minutes left involving him in it.
SPEAKER_02Of course, when it gets physical, you you fall in love with him. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, hey, yeah. It tells me he's out there giving his all.
SPEAKER_02Ah, there you go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it took you know with five minutes left. It took ten minutes for the referees to stop and break it up and figure out who did what and who's getting what cards, yellow cards, red cards. Uh so that was pretty wild.
SPEAKER_02What do you what do you think of the speed of this uh new crop of uh Chanticleers that's out there?
SPEAKER_00Well, the way I look at it is he's brought in players from all over. So and players that were gonna be recruited. Right. Some of them were already recruits coming in. He brought some of his own players in from transfers. From Virginia? Uh yeah, I think one of the goalkeepers was from Virginia. Okay. And he's he's pretty good. Needs a little seasoning, but the guys went to two NCAA tournaments, so he's got to know what he's doing. Right. Um, I did go, I missed the first preseason game against Wake Forest, which they won 1-0.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. Well, that's a good indication because it's new coaching staff. Okay.
SPEAKER_00I did go see the second game against Kawamba. I don't know where they're from. Okay. Yeah, it sounds like a bunch of Indians, but whatever. And they won that game 2-1.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Not bad outing for first game that I saw in preseason. I went to the saw the last preseason game at Kick Coastal against USC Upstate, which is a team here in South Carolina.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh I brought uh um I watched the warmups, and I could tell that the team was a very accurate shooting team.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00They could put the ball in the back of the net.
unknownHuh.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00So I had brought that to Coach Perrin's attention before the game started.
SPEAKER_08Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00I first half looked good for Coastal building a 2-0 lead at halftime. Okay. And then the second half, I had mentioned to Coach Perrin about why he's only using the left side of the field to inbound goal kicks. And that his players on the right side were wide open with nobody marking him and why he was using only his fullbacks to advance the ball upfield with no help from his midfielders. Did he have an answer for that? He didn't at the time. He he he said he would address it with the team at halftime in the locker room. Okay. I also mentioned that the other coach is probably going to use a trap to trap his fullbacks in the corner to try to get turnovers in the second half.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you're probably you picked that right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I picked that up right away, and he he he was on target with that. He did that one the one thing, you know, he he saw. And they did. The second half, they they started trapping. They were losing the ball. Right. You know, and and that's what happened. It came down, you know, it was it was tough for him, and I brought that uh and mentioned that to him. I also mentioned it you got the fullbacks in there. You should when we play, uh it tells me either your midfielders are weak and can't uh aren't good ball controllers. Right. You gotta have your best ball control guys gotta be your midfielders.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because they're they're the link between the offense and the defense. Correct.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_00And it tells me they must be weak because he doesn't have confidence in them to receive the ball and work the ball upfield from that point. Everything's going from the fullbacks. And you gotta you gotta understand the other team's gonna use that sideline as a third defender.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00Because the guy's running out of space where he can go with the ball.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, if you've got good handlers at midfield going left and right, that uh that kind of makes that that third defender, that sideline, be a little weaker if you've got more lateral movement downfield.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and that was the case. Um I used to tell I used to tell my defenders, when you have a guy coming in on you, always force him to the outside, to the sideline. Never let him gain possession of the middle of the field. Yeah because that opens up the goal, what he can see, what he can score on your goalkeeper. Yeah, if he's off to the side, you're using that line as an extra defender, he's running out of space, the forward that's trying to bust a move on you, yeah, and also the angle of the goal becomes a lot sharper.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00He the chance of him scoring is uh very slim. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So what do you think? What do you think of the uh the promise for the Chanticleers for this season? Very optimal? Like are they gonna be competitive, maybe even enough to compete for the uh crown for this season?
SPEAKER_00It's hard to tell. Okay. I I saw two games so far. Okay. There's ups and downs. He's got to work on, you know, when when Chris Fiddler had the team last year, it was the same problem, and I explained that to him. I said, you guys are constantly playing old English soccer ball from England, taking the ball from your fullback till goalkeepers are rolling, goalkeepers aren't kicking the ball upfield, they're not trying to gain possession of the midfield and control the midfield and control the ball from there. Yeah. Um, they're just trying to push it to their fullbacks and try to advance it forward. But I had told them your guys are too far apart. When the temperature is 95, 100 degrees out, you don't want your guys 15 feet apart passing the ball because the other team's just gonna cut through and steal the ball. Plus, it's more wear and tear on your players. I told them you got to keep five feet apart from each other in a triangle rotation, pass, give, and go. So if I pass to my my teammate, I move to the open spot, lose the guy that's marking me. And that way I give the guy who has the ball either a chance to pass back to me or to another one of my teammates that's also moving to the open space. And it's hard to defend when you're only five feet apart because you're so close, you're gonna have more chance of controlling the ball. Yeah. And and be able to move the ball and upfield without being intercepted. Another thing I saw was the coach, the uh players that were receiving the ball, they're just standing there waiting for the ball to come. I told guys, don't wait for the ball to come to you. Go to the pass. Because if you go to the pass, that's a less chance that a defender is gonna come through to steal the pass that you're receiving. Plus, you're gonna use your body to box them out to take control of the ball. Ah, okay. So the second half was a whole different story in this game. They surrendered two goals in the first 15 minutes against USC State.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That tied the game that they were dominating.
SPEAKER_03All right.
SPEAKER_00The goalkeeper made some saves towards the end, key saves towards the end of the second half to keep the score at 2-2. Colstone almost pulled it off in the final minute on a fluke shot that hit the goalkeeper. I don't even think he realized it was up in the air, but he snatched it out of the air before one of our guys can get in there and head the ball in. Wow. With about like two minutes left. Wow. So they had their chance.
SPEAKER_02Well, at the time of this recording, uh they've got a game coming on tomorrow, which is a good thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that's what I was gonna get into. Coach, so Coach Perrin is going to have his hands full as the season opener tomorrow night in Raw against the number two uh ranked team in the nation in NC State.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. And uh so by the time you hear this uh on Friday, the game will already be passed. So go ahead and look up, see what the score is, and you're gonna hear the comments on our uh post-game report next week.
SPEAKER_00Yes, we will go over that. Uh I hope I wish uh him and the team well on that. Yeah. The first game out of the box. It's looking like a Notre Dame season where everything is top heavy in the front half of the season, yeah, and the weaker opponents at the back end. Sure. Yeah, I know they have South Carolina last game of the season. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, I believe that game is going to be played here at Coastal. Yeah. Yeah. They didn't play them last year, and that was the team they had to battle for the final spot in the Sunbelt Tournament Conference.
SPEAKER_02And I want to encourage any of our listeners, if you're a soccer fan and you want to uh say meet up with uh Mafia Mike at one of the home games that he might be appearing at, just comment in the uh in the comment section below and reach out to us and we'll see if we can make arrangements where you can say hello, maybe get an autograph, and uh talk to Mike about all of his expertise. Um well that's really interesting. I mean, that's gonna be kind of fun to track the Chanticleer since you've got a kind of an inside baseball look at the at the team and you know the uh the coaching staff and so on. This is gonna be a lot of fun this season to fly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's gonna be fun. Um it's gonna be interesting to see what direction they end up and hopefully they'll improve from the record they had last year. Absolutely. Yeah. I just felt like Chris Feeler was a nice guy, but I just felt like he wasn't the coach for the team. He he was the assistant coach under uh the legendary coach that was there beforehand, and he retired and he took over as the interim coach, but I just don't think he had it in him. Yeah. I just want to see the team progress and not play this English ball. I guess, yeah. And because that's what they were doing last year, and a lot of turnovers and stupid goals that didn't need to happen.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, i you gotta play smart. Yeah, yeah, and you gotta use your strength where your strength is. Absolutely, yeah. Right now, uh their strength probably is their backfield, their fullback and their goalkeeper. Okay. So um forwards are we have one of the uh returning forwards is back, and then a lot of new guys, but we'll see where where it turns. And I I I'm gonna predict, I'm gonna pull this prediction off. It's probably unrealistic, but I'm gonna say Coastal pulls off the upset. Okay. All right. 3-1. 3-1. Okay. That's gonna be great to find out, folks. I'm gonna we'll we will find that out next week.
SPEAKER_02And when you're listening to this, just go on the go on the interwebs and and see how close we were. And when you find out, come back, give us a comment, or just go to LibertyCrackmedia.com and reach out to us and we'll uh be able to get into Mike's ear, either teasing him or or praising him for uh what his prediction was.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's either a pat on the back or uh pie in the face. So we're gonna go on to the NFL.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Uh we we had uh some preseason games before we had the the uh recording today. You and I are both commenting about how it's just mainly well, you go ahead and explain it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's like uh Jeremiah Love from Notre Dame. He's played for Arizona this year, he was drafted. Um he had a high ankle sprain. They pulled him out for precaution, and that's fine. I I'm okay with that. Yeah. But to you still have three more weeks of preseason football, and they're gonna cut ties for the preseason for him. He's not gonna play in any more of the games until week one. Yeah, and even if that even is the case.
SPEAKER_02Because what we're thinking is this is just all player evaluation, and if you've already evaluated the player and you want to keep them for the season, you're not gonna play them because you don't want to get them hurt. So you just cross them off and you just bag them until the regular season. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I'm okay with that. You because you gotta give the second, third stringers, you gotta see what you have on the bench. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00In case your main guy gets hurt, you gotta know who you're gonna put in there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But I do have some concerns that they don't are not developing their first team player options, uh play options, I should say. Uh because, well, one, a lot of teams have already adopted the scripting of their first five plays or first eight plays uh for every game. And they don't want the uh opposing teams to catch on to their script before the regular season. I get that. But there are a few things that they really should be working on, I think, early in the season, on their play development. I think player development is one thing, but play development is the other. And um I'm just always uh reticent on how well the NFL organizations do play development in the preseason. I think when there's gonna be a franchise that uh locks on to balancing play development with player uh development in these preseason games to really leverage them and not be so gun shy and afraid of injuries, those are gonna be the more successful teams in the future.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean the the the heat, this this year's heat out there has been is been ridiculous. So I know the guys are going through hell with the heat playing in practice and preseason here in August. I mean, the end of July, beginning of August, and into the four weeks of uh preseason, three, four weeks of preseason football games. So I understand. Usually the first week, the uh preseason, you'll get your starters to play one series. Yeah. Yeah, on the offense and the defense just to keep them fresh. Yeah. See how they're doing, see if any of them need to lose some weight because they've been chomping down and eating too much on the offseason. Sure. Um, and then as the weeks go along, by the third, fourth week, I expect the well, at least the third week, I expect the starters to start playing like maybe the first half. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then the you know, the backups come in in the second half and mop it up. Yeah, yeah. That's and the fourth week, probably gonna sit the starters because they don't want anybody hurt a week before they're gonna start playing. Right. And I'm okay, I understand that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, and and the more questionable teams, uh, especially with the newer staffs, may be playing the starters a little bit more in the late uh part of the or you know, going leading up to the season just because they want to make sure that they get their best foot forward because they want to get an over 50% you know win column for the season. And I'm talking about the teams that are gonna be struggling to stay out of the uh majority losses.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that would probably be teams like Miami, yeah, yeah, Jets. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I I would I would think that they would probably run their starters and starting teams a lot just before the season starts.
SPEAKER_00Well, you're gonna see that with teams that have a lot of new coaching staff.
SPEAKER_02Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because the the coaching staff is bringing in new playbooks, the players gotta know, especially the quarterbacks, yeah, offensive line, your center, because he's gotta read the the line. He's the one that takes charge of the blocking schemes. Yeah. People don't believe or realize that the center really is probably one of the most important guys on that offensive line.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you. I appreciate that being a former center myself. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because you guys are the ones that call the blocking schemes.
SPEAKER_02Yep, yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_00You know, you know, they always put all the the tag on the left tackle, which is true. He's very important. Yeah. Because he's protecting the quarterback's blind side. Yeah. But they gotta give some props to the center.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I've I've always well like I said, being a former uh center is my position in high school football, along with defensive end. The uh yeah, you're precisely right. I would have to know the playbook as well, if not better than the quarterback, because of uh going up on the line. You have to see uh what type of defensive alignment they have, if they're gonna have closed-in tackles or if they're gonna have wide out tackles and narrowed in their uh their uh linebackers and figure out where you want to have the uh the thrust of the first impact of blocking in the blocking scheme to come back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, see if they're blitzing or if they're calling off their blitzes. Right. See what where the pressure's coming from. Yeah. And redirect your linemen. Oh, yeah, yeah. Gotcha. So uh the Giants have just released Juju Smith Schuster. Yeah, that's that was shocking. And they replaced them with newly signed running back Najee Harris, who played for Pittsburgh. Yeah, and which and I'm not saying Najee Harris is not a good running back. He's he was terrific with Pittsburgh. I don't know why, you know, if it was just the money or what, but I thought Najee Harris. Has held his own in Pittsburgh. Yeah. And it's not like they had a great set of running backs there.
SPEAKER_02But my my question is, was there something that happened to Juju in the offseason or or at the end of last season that made him less attractive to go to hold on to?
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm I'm from my understanding. It could be that in that the um Giants uh wide receiving core is deep.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because you gotta look at who they got. They got, you know, they got they got Malik Neighbors, they got Darien Slater's, gonna be the starters. Now, Malik Neighbors, I just heard, is come back to practice, but he's not a hundred percent. Right. And he hasn't been a hundred percent since he started with them. Right. He's not durable as a wide receiver, and I'm kind of afraid he could be a bust.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And that leaves you with Darnell Moody, Calvin Austin, Odell Beckham. Yeah, as as your other three receivers in behind the starters.
SPEAKER_02And Odell's good, but he did have some key drops. Uh I think he's just rusty because he hasn't played in a while. Wow. And and it does look like it it might be salary cap considerations too, because Juju was on the high end of the that entire squad. And uh you've got high high talent, but lower, I guess you'd say lower salaries consideration for that high talent that's in there. So that might free up a little bit more in their cap to uh spread the spread the well then.
SPEAKER_00Uh then I look at the running backs they have Cam Scattable, Tyrone, Tracy, and Devin Devin Singletary. Yeah, three good quality running backs. None of them are hurting, they're all back, healthy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And like I said, and Singletary is definitely underrated. He he he he can be a beast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he played for Chicago.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And he's the third string.
SPEAKER_03I know, I know.
SPEAKER_00I mean this is so why do we need to bring in Najee Harris for a fourth running back? I don't know. Well, I I would think you want more receivers just because Malik is a question mark. Right. We really truly don't know, you know, from a health standpoint how he's gonna hold up. If he goes down, that force is, you know, I would bring in, I think Juju Smith would be a good fill in. Right. With Odell Beckham as a third wide out, and then have you also have Darnell Moody who who was uh with Atlanta.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And he he was good. Did they did they do some moves to uh bolster their safety position and defense? Because they got burned last year in the in the secondary. Yeah. Especially in the middle of the season. Yeah, I the long ball was killing them. The long ball.
SPEAKER_00Well, that that's the whole thing. With with the Giants, yeah, their secondary was banged up last year.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I think the safety position was really decimated. Yeah. Uh see and then uh and I think even the cornerback was yeah, I think you're right. I think the cornerback positions also got banged up pretty well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely on that. I would but um on the offset side, uh Jackson Dart looked fantastic.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And they got Fields from Notre Dame, the tall wide receiver.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And he killed it. Yeah, he was one of the uh leading receivers in last preseason game. Yep. Him and likely, the tight end from Baltimore, from Coastal. Yeah. Yeah, and he, I'm telling you, he he's gonna be. If you're having your uh fantasy football, he's the guy. He is definitely the guy to have.
SPEAKER_02I did take my lumps uh this week because uh people were really peppering me about how badly my Packers looked against uh the Steelers. The Steelers look like they were superstars. And um I I I just smiled because there was again, you and I talked about this as player evaluation, and uh Green Bay just does not play their their first team. They had they had all the uh, and I'm I'm not talking that they're dregs or anything, but they had the uh just the evaluation team out there early. Um, you know, it was crazy. But I I kind of liked what I saw.
SPEAKER_00Well they got they got a lot of injuries. You got Josh Josh Jacobs, your starting running back is in question.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's from last year. Yeah. Yeah. End of last year, you had that.
SPEAKER_00Darien Kennard, another question mark. Safety's hurt. Defensive man, you got a list here.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah. It's deep.
SPEAKER_00It's deep. Oh my god. I'm ready to I don't know if I want to start the injury or the starters. Who do I have more of? I mean, really, this is it's getting ridiculous over here, what I'm seeing here.
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, they uh they released Malik Willis because uh everybody wanted to pick him up. Now, he was the quarterback that we uh Green Bay picked up uh just at the beginning of the season because we were getting hit decimated at our quarterback position. And we picked up Malik, uh, who was not being used at all from the Tennessee Titans, and he was a nobody, and he ended up having a winning record with Tennessee.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, filling in when love went down.
SPEAKER_02When when love went down, and he did a brilliant job.
SPEAKER_00I I I hate to say this. I I'm just curious to see how he's gonna do in Miami. I know Miami doesn't have anything, and I feel sorry that he went there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do. I they might even be worse than the clowns.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. But uh uh it's gonna be interesting. I mean, I I think it's great that he's getting the opportunity to get in the head seat or to to compete for the head seat, but uh holy cow, you're right. Uh they I and I don't understand I really don't understand Miami uh ignoring some of their greatest gaps in their their team as far as filling it with talent. I mean, it just I I I don't know. Maybe maybe they see something on I don't see, but it just seems to me like uh uh they're gonna have the same problems exact exacerbated this season as they did last season.
SPEAKER_00Well the dog, I I see Malik uh being the starting quarterback of Miami, because they they don't really have much they don't have much in there. I mean, you look at their roster depth, they got they could have Quentin Ires, the Texas uh Longhorn quarterback, Mark Gronkowski, Cam Miller, I don't even know where North Dakota State. Yep. Yeah, they don't have anybody other than Quentin Ayers, who's got two years of experience. Malik Willis got him beat with five. And Malik came from of all universities, Liberty. Liberty, yeah. The Sunbelt Conference. Yeah, yeah. How you like that, right? It was, yeah. Yeah. And uh, but I feel sorry because all their wide receivers either left or they got traded. Yeah, all their top wide receivers they had. Well, they did they didn't want to was in there.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, they did a whole uh revamp. Well, uh what I call uh uh cap dump. You know, they got rid of everybody that had a high salary. Yeah, I mean, just just dump them right away. But what I didn't understand is I I I I would do that as a strategy if I was a general manager, but I didn't understand why they didn't start filling those. I wouldn't care, I wouldn't be looking at my backfields, uh my backfield right away. I would look at both my offensive and defensive line first, making sure that those are the bedrocks that I have for.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's how how do you think New England Patriots became Super Bowl champions? Because that's how they started. They started with the offense and defensive line, just like you said. Fundamental. You have to start with the base. Yep. It's the foundation. Yeah, it's like building the house. Yeah, if the foundation is trying, the house is gonna collapse. Yep, yep. And that's the key.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then then I would work on the the rooftops, I would make sure that my my uh defensive depth being the uh the cornerbacks and safeties would be built up, and then on offense, I would want my backfield, not not my receiving core, my backfield to be uh uh built up. Then to fill in the gaps when you're you're progressing, then I would want to have that the the the middle linebackers and and so on on the go through and then hear look at New England back before they got Brady. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00They had uh who they have for quarterback over there. Um I can't think of his name now. Um Drew Bledsoe. Yeah. And he took him to the Super Bowl a few years before Brady came into the play there. But you look at and they knew Bledsoe wasn't the guy. They thought he was, but he he wasn't.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But you saw the progression was they got a great offensive line, they did the defensive line, good running backs, then they in, like you said, instilled the your safeties and corners.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_00And everything came, and the quarterback was the last position they filled. Yep. That was ready-made for a quarterback to come in and be successful, right? Because just what you said, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And then but and then you see the teams that don't follow that that philosophy, i.e. the New York Jets, that always lean on, oh, we gotta get we've got to get a a quarterback, we have to have a a star uh a star linebacker, we have to have a star outside receiver. And then they're so weak at all their other key foundations.
SPEAKER_00Because Joe Namath was a name in New York, yeah. He was like, I mean, the man walked around with freaking uh fur coats.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean, think about that. But uh and and you're you're right, but what they didn't what they ignored was the uh offensive line that Namath had were a bunch of I mean, these guys were studs, they were bulls that he had in there, and some of them were picked up from uh from the old uh Baltimore Colts and uh from the uh uh I want to say the Texans uh that they had in in trades just before Namath uh went behind center for them.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02And uh so they got they had some beef that that came in there, which was something that was lacking in their division when they were they were coming in the AFA.
SPEAKER_00Well they bait he I mean you gotta you gotta give them props. He did beat a legendary quarterback in Johnny U. Oh, absolutely, yeah. And you don't go in to and play a Baltimore back then. And he predicted it. Yeah, that's the other thing that was wild. Yeah. He had his own crystal ball on the table there. Oh yeah, we're gonna win by this score. Yeah, I see I yeah, I saw uh the game with Pittsburgh and Green Bay. I saw that game. Yeah. Drew Aller looked apart. The old Penn St the Penn State quarterback they drafted for them, and he was he was fantastic.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Hey, and I I thought he I always thought he was a decent quarterback.
SPEAKER_02I have to say, it it what was amazing to me is that you had for me, the Steelers and the Packers are the best developmental teams in the NFL. They can develop players, they can take average to below average players and make them into superstars in those two franchises.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_02Just historically, you could you can see that.
SPEAKER_00But it was wild that the Steelers took a Penn State quarterback in state, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's wild. I'm surprised they didn't do that with uh uh Dan Marino when he was with Pittsburgh back in the day.
SPEAKER_02I think he was kind of disappointed, but yeah, yeah, and they had the opportunity to pick him up too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, uh, Green Bay doesn't really have anybody backing up love like they had last year.
SPEAKER_02Not not uh not that they're they're being satisfied with. Um I think probably next year. Um yeah, probably next year. I think if my progression in my mind is right, uh for love's uh age in the seat of number one quarterback, they'll start looking in the uh in the draft, maybe for uh his his replacement for development.
SPEAKER_00Developing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I kind of thought they were gonna do that with with Malik Lewis, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, the the Malik was great. He came in, but he he was already a bit long in the tooth for their development process. They like to uh uh right now their formula is to find a um uh a fairly top-tier quarterback um and sit him down for three uh two two two seasons, maybe three behind the the head the lead quarterback.
SPEAKER_00And kind of what happened with Aaron Rodgers.
SPEAKER_02Aaron Rodgers and with Love himself. Right, yeah. And uh where they they got to instead of having the pressure of coming out of college and getting behind the the the uh the line getting behind center, yeah. They the these guys had a chance to get used to the speed of the NFL game, get used to the impact of the NFL game, and then also get pick up on all the other little nuances that come with it. And then um then they can knock all the rust off themselves when they they're ready to uh make their debut. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's kind of what they're doing with Mendoza over in Las Vegas.
SPEAKER_02Exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_00Brady already s you know, I mean, they they had Mendoza in there a little longer than they wanted to in the preseason, but only because they they're they're tech or actually he was doing uh they're doing double training camp with uh Houston. Yeah, because they're gonna play Houston this week.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And the coach left Mendoza in longer because he wanted to see what he can do against uh first team defense of Houston, yeah. Being they have one of the best defenses in the league.
SPEAKER_02I think I think the Raiders are one of the teams to look at this year. I think they're gonna be a surpriser, you know, and and come in and be uh and be a little bit of a disruptive force in the uh excuse me in the AFC, in the the American Conference.
SPEAKER_00I feel so I mean I watched Mendoza quite a few games last year when he was in college, yeah, and he just impressed me. Yeah. He did not look like a cow, he looked like a professional quarterback the way he played. Yeah, he never got rattled. When he got hit and he got sacked, you gotta forget about that. You throw an interception, forget about it. Yeah, it's like it never happened. You go on the sideline, come back out, start fresh. Yeah, it didn't happen.
SPEAKER_02Now, what's your feeling about Denver? Because I don't think Denver, the I don't think the Broncos, everybody keeps building them up for this year. I don't think they're they're the team for this year.
SPEAKER_00Um, no, I well, I like Bo Knicks. I do like him. I like him. He was when he got drafted, he was one of my, believe it or not, one of my top quarterbacks in that draft.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I he was up there like second or third.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, and when he had his early season success, everybody kind of overblown overble what they were going to be doing for the entire season, I think. And and added a lot more pressure to him, too.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Well, you I look at who who's in their division, you got Kansas City. Kansas City is bouncing back. Yeah. We got we're not sure 100% where where Mahomes is in his recovery.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But they picked up uh the running back from Super Bowl champion Seattle.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And that's always been their weak spot, the running game.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Now that they're not relying on Mahomes to carry the weight, they can have Walker carry the ball, take some of the pressure, gain those three, four yards, takes the pressure off of Mahomes to have to carry the team.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I think that's going to make them more dangerous.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because they they needed somebody that could uh take them past the secondary, uh, you know, breaking through the line and past the secondary in their their running. They never had that. They always had these, you know, good bulls that could blast up and and maybe get that four-yard, three and four-yard punch, but nobody that would have that breakaway speed uh going past uh seven.
SPEAKER_00I I found that it was just the opposite. I found that their running backs weren't bulls getting three, four yards a carry. They were more of your finesse running backs catching balls out of the backfield, maybe get two, three yards. Well, I I I think they didn't have a bull like like Walker. Right. They haven't had one of the him since uh I guess I should say somebody that can the Nigeria nightmare.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, somebody that can do it between the tackles, not going outside. Yeah, and and you're right.
SPEAKER_00They did a lot of that guy.
SPEAKER_02They did a lot of running outside the tackles.
SPEAKER_00They didn't have that guy to run up the mill. Plus, Walker can't catch the ball and he blocks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So he'll help protect Mahomes when he need when needed to.
SPEAKER_02But and you have to when he can get upfield and square up against uh a linebacker, he can hit the linebacker. And and then gain some yardage, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. He he's definitely been the key pickup for Kansas City. Yeah. Their defense still looks good. Um lost a couple in the secondary, but they they're they're they're gonna be tough. Chargers have gotten better, they picked up some players. I think they'll be do better. Chargers is a weird team. You know, since they moved to Los Angeles, they have they're they don't have an identity.
SPEAKER_02Right. You're right about that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And the quarterback for uh for the Chargers, I'm not sold on him.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00He's been there long enough that he should be progression. His progression should be so much more than it is.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it isn't. And I think that that's a team that needs to start looking for a quarterback in the draft.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00To replace. And then you got Las Vegas, like you said, could be a sleeper. Denver won't have a I I say it's not gonna be a push for them to win the division. Yeah. Um, they're not gonna have an easy Kansas City will be at their doorstep. Um, I'm not saying, like I said, Mahomes, I'm not sure where where he's at in his health. Um he's healthy. They can they can make it back to the top again this year.
SPEAKER_02Now, this weekend, uh, what are the games you're gonna be looking at this weekend? I know uh you've you've expressed interest in a few of them.
SPEAKER_00You're talking about in the NFL or college? Both, yeah. Okay. Well, in the schedule for the NFL this week. Week. Um, we have matchups.
SPEAKER_01I think is uh doesn't Chicago have a big one coming up this week? Chicago, I gotta look and see what they're week two. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And um I know college is coming up on the 29th, but it's not the full schedule, and I'll go over that. Sure. Yeah, Vegas is playing Houston uh tomorrow night, eight o'clock.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, which will be yesterday for everybody uh listening to our podcast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so there you'll see what uh Mendoza can do against Houston. He'll probably play a little bit in that one to see where what he can do. Let's see who we got in the lineup. Green Bay's playing Denver. There you go. At Denver. Yeah. So I don't like I said, I don't expect too much of the first team to play. Catch the first quarter, that's where you're gonna evaluate your first team. After that, it's all gonna be uh the second team into the scrubs. But what about college? In the college side of things, yeah, the college side of things, we have um the first week is light. Like I said, it's kind of uh there's only eight teams on the twenty-ninth.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00To me, college football don't start until the fifth.
SPEAKER_02Sure, sure, I get that.
SPEAKER_00Because then that then's when you get the full array of the teams. The schedule's a little light the first week, no big home run hitters, head-to-head. Um, I look Saturday, the August 29th, the first week. There's eight eight teams, eight games going on. I like uh the North Carolina at TCU. And that's on the 29th? That's Saturday, September 20, uh August 29th.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so that's that's not this weekend, it's the following weekend.
SPEAKER_00The following weekend. Yeah. And TCU is a seven and a half point favorite. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Anything this weekend, though, that people should be looking at?
SPEAKER_00Uh not in college football. Okay. Yeah. Um that's next week. Like I said, we're we're still another week a week off getting into uh college football. I was looking at your team in Major League Baseball. Ah. The Milwaukee Bros got the best record in baseball.
SPEAKER_02They do, they do. And uh it's uh they're our bats went a little cold, but they they warmed up again. But our pitching staff, holy cow, Ms. Rowski is again burning up the stadiums across this country. Uh the Le Miz is fantastic. Uh I don't know if you've ever had a chance to watch him pitch, but uh his fastball is a blur. It is an absolute blur.
SPEAKER_00Hey, and you're talking about their bats when cold? Uh they did just uh last night they won 22 to nothing.
SPEAKER_02No, I was gonna say about three three weeks ago they started getting a little when with our little five and seven yard or seven uh run games started dwindling down. We're starting to win three to two and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00Post games with the pitching coming through.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. And then we just had we dropped a few games, which kind of shocked me.
SPEAKER_00Well, they played a football score last night, 22 to nothing against the Mariners, 22 hits.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but they they got bombarded uh about three games ago. Um they they they took it up the rear end uh almost the same way, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because right now they lead the league and uh wins.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and yet all they talk about are the Dodgers, the Dodgers, the Dodgers.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, they keep talking about the Dodgers two games behind them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh not that they're not good, right? But um yeah, they everything is the Dodgers.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because the Japanese guy over there hits home runs and pitches. That's right. It's either that or the Yankees they talk about, or the Red Sox.
SPEAKER_02You know, I mean I I will give the a lot of grace to the uh to the Red Sox and the Yankees because they deserve it. I mean, those those two franchises are the gold standard of in sport in American sports.
SPEAKER_00They always put on a competitive team year after year.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And you go play when George Steinbrer was alive, you played for him, you better be in first place because he paid all the money.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And then I I will say uh what some of the franchises that I think follow them. Um I'm always I've always been, you know, another Milwaukee franchise that's now in Atlanta, the the Braves. Um, you know, and that and that was the progression when Boston Braves, Boston, Milwaukee Braves, and then the Atlanta Braves. Yeah, yeah. Uh but they're but every place they've gone, they've always had something historically.
SPEAKER_00I think Babe Ruth played for the Boston Braves.
SPEAKER_02I believe you're right. I believe you're right.
SPEAKER_00Or was how how many how many uh moves did they make? You had Boston, Milwaukee, Atlanta. Was there somebody in between? Nope, that was it. Okay. When did they when were they the Milwaukee Braves?
SPEAKER_02Uh they were up until 1965?
SPEAKER_00He might have played for the Milwaukee Braves. Might have been the Milwaukee Braves. I don't know. I don't know when Boston, when the Braves left Boston. I'm not sure. Okay, it's one of those two, but I remember that because that was like the last team he played for, and he wanted to be the manager, and they didn't allow it.
SPEAKER_02I wish I kind of was like, I I I don't know if it's packed up or if I've lost it, but I used to have an old Milwaukee Braves uh baseball cap.
SPEAKER_00Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. Wow, that that's a collective game.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and as a matter of fact, I wore that ball cap uh after my parents moved to Atlanta and I went to an Atlanta Braves game.
SPEAKER_00I have I have a Brooklyn Dodgers hat.
SPEAKER_02Ah, there you go. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Now we're going back.
SPEAKER_02There you go.
SPEAKER_00Back in the 50s. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I also have I have the 79 Pittsburgh Pirates hat. Yeah. We are family. Remember when the Pirates won the World Series? Yeah. And the Super Bowl that year with the Steelers. And think about they had the flat top hats. I have I have those too.
SPEAKER_02And think about some of the teams that have franchises that have traveled around quite a bit, like uh the Chicago Cardinals.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That became the St. Louis Cardinals and then became the uh Arizona Cardinals. Was there anything in between that? I guess not. No. Um basketball. We had the uh Minnesota Lakers that became the Minnesota Lakers. Yeah, or the Minnesota Atlanta Lakers, uh, that became the uh LA Lakers.
SPEAKER_00Um gosh, you know, they're one team missing out of here? What's that? Remember the Montreal Expos.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. They don't exist. Yeah. In any form.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they just disappeared.
SPEAKER_02I used to have a Montreal Exposure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they had a funky hat. It was like all the look look like you need a windmill on one of those dunce hats.
SPEAKER_02The blue, the white, yeah, it looked like a dunce hat.
SPEAKER_00Put a little propeller on there.
SPEAKER_02My dad was uh he got that, he picked up the hat from me when he was uh just went across the border and um for business and and he caught a game. And uh and of course, you know, the uh he and I are both francophones, we speak French, but he uh he was saying that it was it was so funny to watch people eating pom frites, which are are French fries, and dipping them in um uh mayonnaise watching the game.
SPEAKER_08Oh, really?
SPEAKER_02I was like, I don't think I would do it in Canada. Yeah, eating French fries with uh mayonnaise and watching a football game, but crazy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um but uh yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well it we it ain't American unless you have a hot dog. Here in America, it's a hot dog. Up there it's French fries with mayonnaise. Well, you're a sports guy. Did you ever watch uh Canadian football and the Great Cup? Yeah, I watched when Doug Flutie won it. Ah, there you go. There's a name from the past. Oh, yeah. And Doug Flutie like played for like everybody. Yeah. From the Canadian League to the NFL.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And uh growing up in Wisconsin, a lot of people in the Northeast will always catch Canadian football because uh Canadians do have what they call the import rule. You can only have so many from outside of Canada on your team. And uh, but yeah, a lot of a lot of American players got to break their teeth in that that league. And a lot of good coaches came out of Canada to uh coach in the NFL. Yeah, like Bud Grant for the uh for the uh Minnesota Vikings.
SPEAKER_00Vikings. Yeah. Well, who who was he coaching for up there? Uh I believe uh he was with the Toronto Argos, Argonauts before he came out. Well, God, Bud Grant's probably the most famous coach Minnesota ever had. Oh yeah, yeah. God, they they were always in the playoffs for Super Bowls, couldn't win it, but and and a good friend of mine was Wayne Fonse.
SPEAKER_02Uh, I got to know him after his NFL career, but he was the uh quarterback for the Chargers. Well, no, Wayne Fonse was the head head coach of uh the Detroit Lions.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, I got the wrong fonts. Yeah, yeah. F-O-N-T-S. Fun. Wayne Fonse. And uh he is a character. I absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_00Well, I met I met Doug Flutie when he was playing with the New England Patriots.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I met him, he had a brand, he bought a brand new Corvette, drove it up, pulled it up to the marketplace, and I got to sit down and have lunch with him. Did you have Fruity Flakes? Fruity Flakes. Remember the fruity, remember he was on the Wheaties box?
SPEAKER_02And then his own cereal of Fruity Flakes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And he I remember, and he's only like five foot eight. He's like my height.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And that was I think that was after guns. After he came back from uh uh from the Canadian League.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because he had won a couple bowl games up there and then came back and joined the NFL team because he played there. He didn't last, he kind of started a couple games, then ended up a backup. But I have his autograph jersey from Boston College.
SPEAKER_02Whoa, that's incredible.
SPEAKER_00BC. Yeah. The guy who beat Miami. Yep. Miami just doesn't have a good record against teams I know. Boston College. Everybody I know has beaten Miami Hurricanes. It's just amazing. Yeah. So it ought to be fun. Yeah, the baseball scene, we still got about 40 more games. There's there's still it could be a lot of shuffling. Oh, yeah. I think a team that could be a surprise is the Pirates. I think they could come up.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Maybe sneak in there. Their their uh run score runs against differentials pretty high. Yeah. For a team that's in fourth place and maybe six games out, four to six games out of getting in the playoffs.
SPEAKER_02Oh, and that that uh shortstop they have, I think. He's up for a golden glove this year, isn't he?
SPEAKER_00Uh I believe so, yeah. They got they got some talent on the team. Oh, yeah. It just gotta put it together. I mean, the the American and League East is just that's a bloodbath. Oh, got it. Between Tampa, the Yankees, and Boston. And you can't even count the Blue Jays out. No. Tampa Bay is two teams that beat the shell up, beat the shit out of the Yankees is Boston and and Tampa.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's always a bloodbath with those teams. It ought to be interesting where the playoffs lead in this. Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna follow it when we get closer to that. By the end of September, playoffs start getting going. We're gonna talk about that, see where what teams who we're gonna predict to win it all.
SPEAKER_02Fantastic. Well, yeah, it's uh it's coming toward the end of another excellent, excellent episode. Uh, this is our uh, let's see, freshman sophomores. This is our sophomore recording of uh the sports uh shakedown, and I think it's gone really, really well. Next week, we should have an even more incredible episode because we've got the actual college games coming to a head.
SPEAKER_00We do have eight games on on the schedule. We'll talk about those and we'll break it down. I know uh um former coach for the New England Patriots, Belichick, is coaching North Carolina. We'll see if they get it on track this year. There you go.
SPEAKER_02There you go. And uh we'll also have another recap and update for the soccer situation here at the stadium. So tune back up with us every Friday for the sports checkdown.
SPEAKER_07The city moves slow.
SPEAKER_06My fair Mike and a fedoran suit. Whisper names on the street, a dispute, ticket, tape, dreams, black suit, silver chrome, old world Italio with a Hollywood home. Tonight the scoreboard hides a secret or two. The crowd holds its breath for the next big coup. This is the sports. Take down, listen close when we speak, Mappy and Mike on the mic. Secret spill every week, the weekly check down the hit list, takes the state paying protection in the interrogation room.
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