2026 NFL QB Rankings, the Villain Dodgers, MLB Trade Deadline Lessons, and SummerSlam 2026 With Mina Kimes, Billy Gil, Anthony Dabbundo, and David Shoemaker

This episode is brought to you by State Farm

Countless hours in the gym a thousand shots before tip-off day after day in the same court with the State Farm

Stanchion right there. That's right the best players put in the work and State Farm is the same way with insurance

Experts who put in the work as well whether you get a digital quote or reach out to a local agent

State Farm is there to get to know you and

Help you select the right covers that fits your life and your budget

Putting the work is what separates the good players from the great and that's why you want State Farm on your team

So get the coverage that's right for you

Like a good neighbor State Farm is there coverage options are selected by the customer availability and eligibility of very by state

The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to by the ringer podcast network

I put up a new rewatchables on Monday. We did Karate Kid part two

It's a Karate Kid two or Karate Kid part two. I can't even remember me and Kyle Brandt had a fantastic time

And as I said before we really had to do this just to pave the way for

Karate Kid three so you can check that out

We have a lot of good movies coming up

For the rest of this month, and I think we're doing two episodes next week

It's looking like the Italian job and about last night the Roblo do me more about last night

So that's on Netflix

Italian job is on every streamer so you can go check those out

But I think those are gonna be the next two and they both could be

Next week we have an absolutely loaded podcast

Coming up for you. I wanted to do quarterbacks with Mina Kimes

I meant to do it last week, but we're doing it this week

I wanted to go through all my my QB point system and a lot of good quarterback questions

tying into the 2026

NFL season so this is like the first real

Summer pod we're moving into NFL mode. I'm in week four of prep feeling good

After that Billy Gill Anthony de Bundo we wanted to talk about the baseball trade deadline and one of the weirdest pennant races

Ever even my dogs barking about it in both leagues and all the ramfication that I've announced the soccer team

I announced by soccer team on that we talked about a whole bunch of goofy stuff and then last but not least

David Shoemaker has a new book out about a hookhogan that you should get

But we talked about a summer slam last weekend and the new hookhogan book and how we're feeling about

How weird the Hulksters last 20 years were

And why he wrote the book so that is all next we're in to break take a break Pearl Jam

And then

Meena comes

This episode is brought to you by S.A.P

Hello mid-size business. We see your big ambitions, but how do you achieve?

The wins you want when your technology is holding it back? Hmm. I wonder well how about S.A.P

Grow it's built to grow with your business no matter its size

With AI embedded at its core working across every system all ready to go from day one so you can hit the ground running

Bring it with S.A.P. Grow AI Cloud ERP for any size business

All right, our friend Meena Codz is here. She's done a lot of ranger stuff lately

She was on the history watchables. She was on the fantasy football show as they finished their rankings of the hot cubies

I guess Jalen Hertz just ran away with this wasn't even close

Well spoiler alert because some folks might not have listened to it

Although I feel like at this point anyone other than Hertz would have been a big upset

He has the crown. He has Jimmie G's crown. It was easy. It was not controversial

There was really no debate about it a kind of like Patrick Mahomes circa 2020. We were all just like yes

That's fine. It's not number two

was

Devices contentious who what who was number two who won?

Okay, I guess I'll spoiler alert. Don't get mad if you haven't listened to it Josh Allen over Joe burrow

I was surprised. Yeah, I'll have to listen to it. I'm sure I'll have thoughts at some point

This is a great topic though because one of my theories with quarterbacks which we're about to talk to talk about

Quarterbacks charisma a lot of times they're handsome. They're just the coolest guy in the room and it feels like part of the job

I try to rank the quarterbacks every year which we're gonna go through and I asked you to go through this with me

Because I have this weird point system that I ranked the teams with and in the point system quarterbacks go from one point to nine

It's the only position that's even over five because they're that important, but I had some before we go through the rankings

I had some some quarterback questions for you and no particular order

The QB you're buying for 2026 even as everyone else or most people are selling the guy you just can't quit

This is an easy one for me. I think because I

Feel like everybody's overreacting to the postseason not Drake may because I don't think anyone with an actual brain is selling Drake

CJ Stroud. I think people have gotten way too low on

Mike Sano just put out his quarterback tears, which is great. I wish ticket out of a yeary surveys, you know coaches around league

Stroud was like 21 I think below 42 year old Aaron Rogers and

I understand that it was one of the more

Dismult playoff performances not just one game right a couple games

But if you go back to the actually the regular season and not only look statistically

Strow during the regular season was like a nine through 12th rank quarterback in most metrics

Yeah, but then if you really dig into it his circumstances were a trotious

Zero run game offensive line was as bad as it's been the offense was completely hamstrung by the lack of an offensive line

Injuries constantly skill players in the postseason no Nico Collins play caller kind of still finding his legs

So I young receivers young receivers kind of an incomplete group missing tight ends. So I just think he's gotten way too much flack

Uh mainly because I feel like the postseason overreaction and then people saying well

He's not as gozy was that rookie season and kind of hung hanging onto that

He's the one I struggled with the most where to put him for all the reasons and we talked about this on your part

Because I'm really bullish on Houston especially the continuity and defense

But you got when I look at why I quarterback had a bad season

Usually it's like did your offensive line fall apart

Was your play caller a little shaky did you have a run game?

What was up with your receivers? He was like oh for four. I mean they had the worst run game in the league

Or I like Montgomery. I don't think he's a superstar, but Montgomery is at least better their receivers are gonna be a year older

Tank Del was awesome for them. We'll see if he can come back from one of the worst the injuries of all time

Um offensive line is still it's a little better, but it's not I wouldn't put it

It's probably a bottom six or seven offensive line still so that would be the question and then

It seems like people love piling on him

Like he'd been that that video last week him walking in it got like a 12 million views and everybody's back back

Yeah, and it was like look at this guy no swag at all

So I don't know I always try to put myself in January if something happened

Like something good like the Texans being really good and CJ Stroud just being good and we're looking back

We're like oh yeah, we should have seen that

So I'm open to it with that said he was awful last year

So to me he's to me he's the highest ceiling basement guy his building is like 40 stories

And you can get me to the 35th floor in his building or you can bring me down to like the bottom 10 floors

And I don't know where he's gonna land

It's a little bit of a risky buy for me because of everything you said like they remade the offensive line again

Okay, it's different. It should be better

And I do think like Braden Smith they had there's competent players

Maybe or serene let the left sides a little bit better

But it's like you said it's not it's probably still a bottom of the league bottom half at least unit

So the idea that he's gonna be in like these dramatically better circumstances. I am a little apprehensive of

I just think people are way too low and I think I really do that generally with postseason

Like I've seen that with Bryce Young a little bit who was

Awesome in that Rams playoff game after being really up and down over the regular season and everyone just keeps referencing that one game

I feel like

Generally and I know this is a hot topic for you with new England

Everybody only remembers the last two games is all or have just complete an Asia like we do with Justin Herbert where he's terrible in the playoffs

And it's nine months later. It's like did he make the playoffs? I should remember

Give me the QB that we are collectively

Most likely to quit on in 2026 last year was Kyle Murray

Okay, most likely to

We're all just like we're out

We're completely out um, I mean there's a lot of options here at the Atlanta ones. I think

This could be it for two uh, I feel like I've already quit on it. Okay. We're on to it. Okay, so you want like somebody who's a little bit divisive

Um, I can give you some candidates. Okay, give me the candidates

I'll pull up my list

Well, there's the there's Malik Wilson on Miami. Oh will is yeah, I mean, I'm sorry

Willis is such a horrible situation, right, but there was the name is that's crazy for him last year. I know

Oh my god, they might have gotten a sleeper. We might decide after four games

um

Jackson Dart

Oh, I think it's one where I I feel like there's

There's a lot of hot air coming behind him, but I'm not sure

He earned any of it and I could also seem just getting hurt in three games because he runs around like a maniac

Daniel Jones would be another one who really hasn't been good his whole career and then had

Two good months before he got hurt basically

But you look at his stats and I don't know plus coming off a major injury and then

Here's the one I was really looking at is is Daniels

Like if Daniel if he stinks again this year

He's hearders brittle like if he has another brittle Daniel season

Do we just be like whoa? This is rg3 all over again

Yeah, well, I think you did something wise which is most of his quarterbacks you picked are in

kind of if he situations yeah, and

So they're not gonna be buoyed necessarily by their surrounding cast. I mean, Jones

You could argue is the best, but Alec Pierce there they chose him to be the wide receiver one let pitman walk

He's hurt. I mean, it sounds like

He makes almost 60% as much as they flowers. I mean, he makes a ton of money

I like save flowers

That's just how much like what did I say 35 is the new 25

Ask Leo. That's an insane contract

Uh, the only other one we could mention is Jalen Hertz who I feel like people are really ready to

Yeah toss aside as in a league quarterback like this like if doesn't work out this year after the AJ Brown trade

Well, he'll always have the ringer hot quarterback right here. He has the hot quarterback title. Maybe he's got nothing us to play for

Um, okay, well you gave me a bunch of good names

I think Daniels is one to monitor because I am a little apprehensive of that situation like Terry McCloreen's your

hydra saber one after that

Major lack of wide receiver depths. I think the offense of line is pretty good, but

New play collar first time

Hello average running backs. Could we say average hello average somewhere somewhere in that they're okay like bill but

You know the offense when they talk about it. It's not totally clear to me how it's all gonna come together

It's so different from the cliff Kingsbury offense. It's more of the Ben Johnson style under center, you know condensed formation

So I just kind of

Think it might be a little bit there might be a little bit of growing pains there

Jones is an odd one because Daniel Jones

All offseason. I've been hearing I came back week one. They did the contract and I'm thinking Achilles like every quarterback

Who seems to come back from the injury is taken forever two year injury?

Uh, but those guys were old and he's young and athletic and everybody's saying he looks to save so I guess the science has evolved

Um, the one thing I'll say about him is I was just pulling his numbers because I was doing an AFC South preview

You mentioned like two months and that's some important distinction because

He was like the best quarterback in football for eight weeks

But then if you split it and look at the like five games

Started to really go off the stacks of it

So I think that's one where I do think

He's absolutely a competent starting quarterback

But I do think probably what we saw in the first two months this season wasn't you know what we're gonna see moving forward

QB

That you personally mean it comes make the most excuses for

That's everybody knows is Lamar

still

I just so we planned on doing this two days ago and I didn't know the sand oh thing was coming out today

And there was some interesting that the Lamar section in that piece was was pretty interesting where people are basically like

This this is the fork in the road year for him as a superstar because his running stats are way down

And if if he's just not going to move around in the same way then

Then are you a top five QB anywhere

I think well, okay, so there's a good distinction

I actually thought there was a little bit of nuance to some of the comments

I read where someone said he's still a very good pocket passer

So I think we've moved past the idea at least anyone who should be taking seriously that Lamar Jackson has to have

You know an ex a very strong Russian component to his game and to

Otherwise, he's not a lead a very good passer. I think the question is is he an elite like top three guy

Without that and I think that's actually

Affair debate to have in the because of the way

His rushing ability

Changes the way defenses play him and opens up opportunities and I think that's completely fair, but I would also counter

His wattersaber one is five foot nine. I know I just defended it 35 million dollars a

Uh, five o' nine also feels generous. I looked at up. I was like really five a nine. I don't know

I might have to get a picture next to him next time in Baltimore for reference um

Oh, as you know, I love nothing more than heights with athletes and actors

You're a true passion a truther. Are you? No, I love it. There's nothing

I love any any famous person. I love trying to stand next to to get a real feel

And there's some people like they're like aff like does a affix tall. He doesn't lie about it

Well, okay, you know, I'm sneaky tall. I know you're you're in the sneaky tall all stars

Yeah, right. It's the check closer than all stars

It's because of the perspective right because I work with six foot five and six foot six guys or whatever

So I leave Nash is another one. You think Steve Nash is like five five five. Yeah

I I mentioned this to the ringer the fancy guys Brock Purdy is not like

In real life if you met him on the street you'd say that's a tall man. Yeah, but because he plays in the NFL

He looks tiny

He's six foot two, right? I think right

Kyrie Irvings like this too where he might even be like a half-inch taller than me

But he plays point guard and you think of him as a little guy and he's just not

I was I think Zayf Lourdes is actually just really

He might be five years

So Lamar is still your guy

Yeah, I just think

Yes, the body of work at this point

The unique skill set the throwing ability. I've seen so many games where he's just been so electric as a passer

The one where he went toe-to-toe with Matthew Stafford lives rent-free in my mind because those quarterbacks can't

Orbide me of each other with their throwing styles. Yeah, and I just think

You know, I'm all like I so while I do feel

Whether he has diminished rushing ability is worth discussing. It's pertinent. We saw that last year

He was not as willing to run and also had a lot of trouble avoiding sacks

That matters, but I do think he was a little banged up and I think he'll be fine

The question is is that just too he is now a little banged up every year or a lap banged up or

I mean, I think it's fair. I think it's why him and Joburo are in a different year from my homes in Allen for right now the injuries

Do you think there will be a cubie resurrection this year

Along the lines of Sam Darnold's bigger may filled and Jared goth in the past and eight weeks of Daniel Jones

And the eight weeks of the end of Jones and the likely suspect candidate here is Kyloem or in the Minnesota Vikings. Yes, he is the most

most likely one

I don't really there's no one else who really jumped out to me as a contender other than Kyloem

It sounds like

He's winning the job in camp. I know it's been a little bit up and down

That's another one where I think it could look a little bit iffy early on as him and Kevin O'Connell kind of feel each other out

But the thing about Kyloem and you know this is like even in his like quote down years and

Everything that's happened since you know his like I think

2020 was when he was being talked about as if he can't it

He's been statistically an average quarterback since then there's been times where he's been higher

He's been inconsistent, but it all nets out to like average

And that's such an obvious improvement from what they had

Last year

JJ McCarthy were zooming with him every day going through the offense getting ready for next season

That's my favorite

The sandohe had a quote about McCarthy he had his brutal quotes. I think

The quote was playing football looks hard for him was one of the defensive coaches said which was maybe the meanest quote

It was a really tough hit for all the Michigan people. I know

Yeah, cuz all them were like you out of anyone will know and JJ McCarthy. He's got it

He's got the intangible he passes all the things you talk about

And then he came out and was just brutal

Michigan fans low-key like the most tribal

College football they follow their guys into the NFL and stick with them I found

Um, but yeah, Kyler's a good one. I think

I'm really interesting seeing like where the deep ball went with Kyler because you remember when he was younger like

It was so good early in his career and the neck kind of went away

But I think some of that had to do with the wider receivers or lack thereof

This is an offense in Arizona that ran through McBride the tight end

So I'm curious to see also Justin Jefferson who I maintain like

Maybe the one of the most psychologically impressive performances of the 2025 season was him not losing his mind over the course of the year

Um great leader that should be an award the Larry Fitzgerald award for I'm just completely screwed by this quarterback situation

But I'm gonna be a pro

Yeah, I it's I mean especially given like the nature of the wide receiver position and the stereotypes around it to see him like week after week

Just yeah, he wasn't perfect. I yet some drops who want to but I think he deserves a ton of credit

And it I'm interested in seeing if like Kyler can kind of get the deep ball back with Addison Johnson

I'm completely up just so just say no you're completely out on Kyler. You don't think no chance

I just think he's at best of 500 quarterback

I just don't see but this is a team that was 500 last year of a JG McCarthy. I just don't see it

um

Your top four

Bleakest quarterback situations

In order from most bleakest to fourth bleakest

What is the worst quarterback situation? I can give you the options easy easy one for one

Yep, like was just no offensive line no no receivers and

Actually improved a little bit, but I would love to go right in this man on the street in any city

Outside of Miami with the receivers

For in Miami

And ask people to name to Miami dolphins receivers Billy Gill's coming on after you

I'm gonna ask him a fake a name the wide receiver crew

Probably can it's insane

It makes me wonder and it's so weird bill because like

I think everything they're doing kind of makes sense right like they ripped it up

Click

Rebuilding they bring in the entire green bay

Halfway and the GM everybody gets it

Except me will us I feel like they signed him to like a middle class quarterback contract

And then immediately traded Jaylen Wattled like it but those right it just didn't really make sense to me like if I'm him and this is my shot to be a starter

Why not?

I don't know Atlanta. I they're just feels that maybe I would have gone to Atlanta

Atlanta yeah, I just don't I just don't get it so maybe they offered twice as much money and say everybody else I listen

I agree with you that Miami finally did the right thing

But I also can't congratulate a team for

Audible and after one of the worst contracts of all time which was the two of contracts

Which made no sense when it was happening. It was a complete disaster

It turned out even worse than everyone thought

And now you're like okay now we got it now now we've got our shit together. It's like do you you just did the two thing two years ago

When he was already on like six concussions all right, so you have Miami one who's two

Uh, I'm tempted by they're not get raiders fans are gonna like this but raiders

Wow, they're why I'd receive a wine

It's tough

Yes, I know the answer is Brock Bauer's but like at a certain point you also need water receivers and there's anything about the raiders like

Bunch of tight ends

Lots of tight ends to throw to a lot of short ones over the middle

Why would you stack the raiders offensive line last year?

Isn't it a it's it's better this year

I think that's one of the five lines that definitely got better and they're one of the five they sign lender bomb

They give a quote Miller, but the right side is the same it's but last year they couldn't block it all so they're at least better than that

So I'm apprehensive of the entire right side that offensive line and the receiving group

Raiders too

Real I mean, I'm shocked that you have anybody over I had Atlanta as the single worst situation

Drake London

Bejohn Robinson, I'm just talking about their quarterbacks are two and Penex. Oh, I thought you I thought you were asking me to rank like the situation that the quarterback is in my bad

I completely I didn't clarify that enough. I'm so sorry. Okay. No, that's fine. I like that. I like that wait the way you did it is almost a better question

Uh, yeah, you're right because Atlanta has a ton of skill guys, but they have the worst actual quarterback school guys

Yeah, if I was if I was ranking actual quarterback, I should have been Cleveland with a bullet. So you'd have Cleveland over Atlanta

Uh, yes, yes

Dude

That's time we saw just Shawn Watson play

I just think Sanders is gonna win the job

I don't think we'll see to Shawn

I honestly think I would rather have Sanders than either of the Atlanta guys

I don't think Penex can play three games in a row

And I don't think two of Kenny there and I don't know who the third string quarterback is

But I would bet that he plays more games than both of those guys

I think it's Cooper rush if I might be wrong. I think Cooper rush will play the most games in the Falcons

To us just two has like four starts left in his NFL career max

There's no way he's takes one more hit his career is over all right. Well win healthy. I would take

Both to uh and Penex over the browns for when healthy like no it's fair

It's totally fair and I want and I want to go back to what I said with offense fans if I'm actually ranking quarterbacks

I like Malik Willis. I just hate a situation. I think he's well that's a good one though

So you think the two worst situations? Okay. Yeah, where's it?

Yeah, and who'd you have for the second one? I pick Vegas. Maybe that's too harsh. I

But you still have hours for 1500 yards. You'd outside of him it is

Well, we sure Pittsburgh isn't one of the worst situations for a QB

What's good about their situation?

I think met calf pitman and then whatever who the water see the three Bernardo or whoever

Is pretty good. I think the

Okay, I'll find some on the decent the interior is really good kind of figure out the tackle position

Running game run game. I think it's a good run game. I think um

Tight ends are good. You like that more than Tennessee

Yeah, 100% do you like a more than Arizona?

Um

Yes, because of the offensive line, but Arizona is not bad

Although Arizona randomly has like every running back on earth

Yeah, it was weird when they were the coach was touting uh James Conner

It's like you guys just spent the third pick on a running back or do this jame Connor James Conner

What's he doing in this? I don't understand

I think Arizona the offensive line could be better, but they're pretty bad less here

So my bottom three just for actual quarterbacks

situations the only ones that got a minus two for me

We're in the team rankings you actually get negative points. We're Cleveland the Jets and Atlanta

Yeah, you're got Gina. I'm sorry. He was a my he has to be a minus two unless we see something different

But I don't have any other minus tits minus ones

That was it um

All right, I've one more question and then we'll take a break and go to the rankings

This is really important Eduardo get ready to cut this

Oh

I'm ready to cut this okay, no cut this for a social clip. Yeah, I know I just

Has Jordan love

Replaced

Justin Herbert

As the football nerd king of the quarterback position has this finally has has this been a subtle shift that we didn't acknowledge but it's happened

I feel like I'm walking into a trap like you laid an elaborate like sauce style

I did

Because you already know I love Jordan love

And the way you set that question up

Is makes it look like I'm falling for it

But yeah, he's he's a really good quarterback and he

Has this like reputation as being

This incredibly irresponsible interception machine. Yeah, that's not substantiated by reality

And I think and the nerds of all we had a quorum

We got together to be nerd of poliza

We had a we had a we had a little summit in the offseason to discuss

First we did our giant Justin Herbert presentation and everybody you know

I had major put up slides about how we can defend him this year now that the circumstances are better

Somebody was sobbing at the podium about he lost both of his tackles

He lost both of them

Ruiz had to take like a five-minute break

But

Jordan love and this was widely discussed at the summit. Yeah, like actually not a high interception rate

I believe bottom 10 or something and football I'd be posted this at one point

The problem is that when he does turn it over

It looks so unbelievably goofy. Yeah, that it sticks in people's minds and has a disproportionate

Impact on like the public imagination that makes people think he turns it over all the time

So you're you're talking about the concept of loud turnovers

Yes, so in basketball. I always called this the 90 10 guy where everybody's 90% really good at basketball

But they're gonna be 10% not that good at stuff

And when it's somebody like Russell Westbrook

You really noticed the 10%

And love is a 10 that love 10% for whatever reason seems just the worst

He's also like the anti-Westbrook in that all of his rate stats are unbelievable

Like when you go back and you look at everything

And I know everyone's always arguing about which quarterback stats matter and my answer to that is it doesn't you can literally take any quarter

Gvextack db8 epa qbr pass or whatever you want

He is like top five or better in all of them

Like he he is both from the film you type of the film nerds the film nerds and the statbirds both love him

Because he's been so good right and yet people talk about him like he's

I don't even I think like they kind of talk about him like he's like late stage bread for

Yeah, they don't take them seriously. It doesn't make sense to be so last year

What loses craft

So wide receivers are you know, Watson gets hurt every year

But in general like the wide receivers were a mess

Top four pressure rate against him. So all these qb stats you can go and you can overrate any of them

I think pressure rates are really good stat. It just tells you what quarterback was under duress the most

He was in the top four and epa I mean you have all these different ones, but his epa was 0.24 per play. I was like in the top four

um

Here's how I would this is why I think he took the title from her bird

Okay, I think I think the nerd community is scolding us the most about love

And I think scolding is a huge part of this

Where people are like you don't understand

Yeah, you guys are wrong. This guy's really good and here's some things you have to I feel like you're in and Vernon

Yeah, right now making some profound political commentary

And why we might be in the situation now and but I'm gonna put that to the side

Okay, so teach me

How to be a Jordan love enthusiast in a way that doesn't alienate the every man

I want you I want to be better. I want to I want to defend him in a way that's not annoying to people

So here's the thing this is just like you almost have to go overboard with the look

Either follow the NFL. We don't

If you don't see the Jordan love thing. I can't help you

Because he's that good and if you're gonna say he's not

Then enjoy your Sundays watch five games at once

Eat chicken chicken fingers

Have beers with your buddies and don't actually watch the games because that because that's where you are if you don't see it

You're you're veering dangerously close to watch the tape which people don't

Don't he was taping stats and

When you backing into being a love defender. I am a love defender to me

Love has a better case than Herbert because at least we've seen him play well in the playoffs like he's

He had a really awesome playoff when Herbert does not

Yeah, we've seen Herbert fall apart in the playoffs and love has not as I don't think has I always feel like he's in the mix

He let me ask you a question or any of his receivers better than safe flowers

Well, I think craft was the top four tight-empt four we got here. I thought he was always open and he looks like

Grakash to me. He's not obviously not drunk

Um the receivers

I like golden. I don't know what happened with him last year. I had him on two fantasy teams wondering

Why they weren't throwing it to him? Maybe he's not good

But where they drafted him and what they wanted from him feels like he's the key swing guy for them this year

They have a lot of guys I like like I think Watson's good when he's

He's yeah, I think golden as potential read is a fun

Peace but at the point I'm making and I think this is another thing we can add to our Jordan love public service announcement

That we're putting together here is like we just made a fun of Baltimore for their wide receiver one being you know, mean-as-sized

Yeah, he would be easily as receiver right in green Bay

So like why doesn't Jordan love get some credit for that as well?

Yeah, throwing a

Pukinakua and Jamar chase and

JSN you know, so I just feel I mean I'm like I have his number two

Top three against the blitz top three on third down top three on third and long like what is it take?

What does it take I don't know he's won the title. It's official. All right. We're gonna take a break. We're gonna go through the rankings

This episode is brought to you by chat GPT imagine you're running a professional sports team nice

That'll be a dream month

Imagine the player contract report is due today

Not so nice you've got performance notes from the coaching staff you got a salary spreadsheet from your analyst

Three rounds a back-and-forth emails with the agent and all that is scattered

Absolutely everywhere. Well, that's where chat GPT work comes in. It's a new way to use chat GPT for bigger multi-step projects

Give chat GBT

Work access to your apps and files and can create

Real-work documents for instance spreadsheets slides structured reports

You can bring all those to your next meeting and when you don't need answers

You need help just getting the work across the finish line. Guess what chat GPT work

Can move your projects forward while you stay in control put chat GPT to work

And your most ambitious ideas and projects get started just go to chat GPT

Daccom by selecting work mode available on plus and pro plants

All right

Hi as you can get as nine points at the QB position and it can only be one person the alpha and then we go down

And I have for the alpha the second year in a row Josh Allen as my nine pointer

um

12 plus rushing to these each year for the last three

um

I don't need to do his stats the playoff win is the one thing that people are gonna point to

And I had to say like I don't think he choked in the playoff size year

But it wasn't not a joke not great not great

It wasn't great for the Allen thing and like sand O did his QB tears and had my homes in the one spot

Which we'll talk about in a second to me

Yeah, Allen is clearly still the best quarterback in the league at least if we're just in regular season only

And if we're gonna go into who do you want from one game? That's a different category

Do you think DJ Moore changes anything?

I do okay, and that's not me saying DJ Moore is

2021 DJ Moore or that he's gonna suddenly become a top 10 receiver in the NFL

But they just have such had such a lack of receiving option

Oh good way on the boundary who could beat man cover it who give you threatened man coverage in any way

So if even DJ Moore is even like a top

20 receiver

I do think that makes things a lot easier for buff would you be scared if you're a Buffalo fan that the Bears fans

We're ready to drive him to the airport

I would be more mad about the deal like my objection to that was less training for DJ Moore and more what they gave up for him

And the contract part of it which I thought would didn't make it so two teams were he didn't seem like it went totally perfect

Behind the scenes or with everybody like two teams that seem like they were pretty happy to move on which I think to me is a red flag

Um, we'll see I mean jat the the new coach

Who is a little more offense oriented maybe that helps but I don't know Josh is just

He's the scariest guy to go against. He's the scariest guy to bet against and I don't think that's changed

So I have him at the top do you agree with that or no would you have a home sir?

No, I think that's fair. I also think Josh Allen just doesn't get hurt

And like I know that matters durability matters. I keep saying this. It's I mean he is

Literally like a linebacker yeah, and the fact that he's become unbelievably accurate and smart on top of that is ridiculous

Um, I think when you compare into my homes. It's a little tricky for me because

Even though I know I just said the bulls don't have a receiver who can be man coverage

They've had such a great offensive line and such a dominant run game and my homes is we'll talk about him

Been in such crappy circumstances. So it's kind of hard, you know to compare but I do think it's fair to put out in there now

Top seven favorite celebrity relationship for you

Uh

We had a longest side about this because you know both him and Herbert dating or married to

Hopster or Herbert's kind of married yet

I and I made the argument that I think there were big part of the reason why Allen rose so high in the ranking

They're fantasy guys rankings is because he's such a wife guy which women love good couple pictures of them too

Yeah, there was a clip of him like tearing up talking about their baby daughter that went

Around

Can't have better publicity than that

Next category is the uh the blues these are eight pointers

And I have five and I'm gonna do them in the order. I have them

Spray

Stafford I have second. I don't have my home second and I'll explain why

I want to watch is it okay if we watch a couple games with him with the repair day C.O

Just see how it looks can I just can I just see like two games before I move start moving them up the ladder

Um, especially somebody who has to

In big games when I don't love their receivers at neither do you Kelsey's just got marities in his mid 30s

Um over and over again when they play somebody good he has to

I just think that Kelsey just got married

Well, I don't know I don't know if he's as an surprise you just had a wedding of twelve hundred people

For a bunch of wedding I don't know if he cares about season almost all of these guys are married

Ah, man, it's just big wedding. I don't know. I don't know where his head's at um

Uh

But if my home says they use his legs to save games and quarters for them. Yeah more relevant

Very relevant. I don't know if he can I just want to see it. So I have him third Stafford

Stats wise was ridiculous and yeah, you know

All right, let me

Have an ask your best year since 21 and the question from you with him 38 years old. Yeah

Was that the peak? I got a question for you. Yeah

Those two quarterbacks if you switch their circumstances this year it'd be terrible for Stafford

Yeah, well, that's why I think I think

Imagine the homes

Behind the Rams offensive line with the Rams run game Shawn McVay, Pukin, Akua, Devon, Day Adams like

What would that look like?

That's fair. So you would have my home's second. No, not necessarily. I would. I would yes

But in and Stafford amazing

I don't think it's crazy. He's I would probably put him third right now. Can I give you a maybe you this is good for you

I went on your pod and I was saying I thought Seattle had the most talented team

Which apparently was like a hot take

Dude because the Seahawks fans were like finally somebody else said it other than us. They were like delighted

There's like no Seahawks barely any in the NFL 100

Which I know is an absurd sentence to use that as some kind of it is the players though

Devin witherspoon who's like

He didn't crack the 100

Yeah, but that can you take that top 100 list seriously because I do not

I did my rankings in Seattle had at 38 points, which was the highest I've ever done in four years

Daily NFL show and it's July

Yeah, okay

I just

He's done on it. What list is that I know it's anyways and Cooper Cooper was I think

I saw today he was like 45th

Does anybody think Cooper genes better than witherspoon at least it's like he's pretty awesome

45 and not being on the list is crazy. Yeah, um anyway. I made I looked this up. I did some research for this pod. Okay

Cubies 38 years or older 38 plus cubies

Yeah 10 wins

4,000 yards 25 TVs seven yards per attempt seem

Solid numbers for a high-end cubie, right? 4,025 seven

It's only happened nine times

Six of the guys were Tom Brady

Red farver 09

Manning in 14 on Denver and Rogers

21 on Green Bay so Stafford

Just putting up those numbers who'd be the 10th time it's ever happened at that age 4,025

And seven which isn't even remotely close to what he did last year is 4707 46 TVs

And it just I just wonder he's got a lot of wear and tear a lot of injuries knee stuff back stuff

I don't know I think he will be fine his arm strength has not diminished it all clearly

However

That Rams offense of line is not deep

And if they were to lose one of those tackles and potentially a suspension might be you know on the left side for one of them

That's when I start worrying about that you Stafford. Yeah, because that's where the age starts to show pressure

When you have a top heavy team. It's tough to be good everywhere too. We'll see

Anyway, my home's third

His peak year is now four years ago

5,250 yards

41 touchdowns and 8.1 yards per attempt

And I guess the question is was was that the peak

Well, he reached us heights ever again. He's in his 30s now

I don't think he will unless they actually find a wide receiver one

That's

Do they have a single wide receiver you completely trust

No

Never ever ride a semi partially trust

I trust Rishi rice against zone coverage

But that's such a like I think he's he's a total useful receiver. I think I trust a manifold ball field

Yes, specifically zone coverage between the two lines

Uh

I do not I know I talk like I talked about how the bills and like man coverage you never want to win one out the Abija more

Who at least is like competent. Yeah, I don't see that in Kansas City

So

I also like the the Kelsey thing. I mean, he's all fame player just got married

Just got big 1200 person wedding at mess squared garden doesn't that mean though

That's no now that's off his mind and he's his mind is clear the wedding zone

I that's how I felt after I get married. I was like I never have to think about that again football

Football has a life for death element to it that you kind of have to throw yourself into

You know sometimes these guys who knows I do think I'm right down from homes

Brady had this

After he tore the I say on oh eight

And then nine and ten they didn't make the Super Bowl there those years and he kind of moved and he's still statistically was great

But it felt like he needed like a second prime to start and then I finally started in 11 where he had like his second run

so

The question with my homes is is there going to be a second run or was it just that amazing first peak that was the story and all that

But that's going to be where we landed like almost like a pool hosting

It's the circumstances that will determine it for me and we can do the analog with Brady and what what happened

They drafted the two tight ends in 11 in 10 and that led to the second prime

The two tight ends well the one the second one was good for a couple years

They turned into a multiple murderer

No, but like

The thing it right so

It feels like Kansas City there needs to be a total refresh

I think Andy Reed and

The brain trust there

There needs to be some of what evolution on that offense particularly the run game particularly because of the injury and I'm not just talking about

I'm specifically talking about this season you talked about let's see my homes in the ACL

His ability to run was so important obviously

It's always been important and it's always been a special important the postseason

But earlier I mentioned like they can't they don't have anyone to beat me in coverage

They did have one person his name was Patrick my homes because deep defense would turn their back to him

And he would just take off on the down if you can't do that

If you're defense you're not afraid of that anymore and they don't know any receivers. You're scared of playing man

You're golden so I just and he was like they're leading

So they messed along the run game this off season

But

That's something like I feel like everything around him has to get better for a second golden age to happen

They missed a couple picks to over the last couple years

Which is always bad you met you miss first or second rounders

And this is what happened with Brady down the stretch where it was like they just missed some drafts and you can't recover from that

um

The walker thing

Getting Kenneth Walker having a real running back the running back stats were really really putrid last year

I mean some of the worst

Advanced stats for them anyway, so I have my homes third, but I'm ready to move them second as soon as I see him run around

I have drake may fourth which I think people would think is high

Um, he made the Super Bowl last year and had crazy stats

You have drake may over jobaroon Lamar Jackson. I'm gonna explain why in a second

I'm a drake may guy you're testing me okay

Meaning you know what I like results

drake may went 17 or 4 last year

And he had crazy stats it's not like it was like some sort of flute thing and they added

AJ Brown who is either the 7th 8th 9th or 10th best receiver in the league they added dobs

They improved the offensive line

Why isn't he a top 5 cubic again? I why isn't he a safer bet that Lamar Jackson

Who's like six years older than him because Lamar's done it for seven years. I just watched

One year last year. Yeah, it was one year dude

Tell that to the Texans fans

I'm I I'm all in on drake

I mean, I have taken my slings and arrows for my MVP vote which I will still stand on and defend

But like I don't think you can credibly

After just one season rank him above those guys. I just did it. He's okay. All right. I love him. I think he's so good

But Lamar 340 on yards rushing last year in 13 games

He's never been under 50 yards of game

Rushing until last year

You've seen church

EPA per play last year 0.07 just slightly better than Jackson Dart and Mason Rudolph

He needs to take away your EPA privileges

Three playoff wins career, which is the same as Drake May had last year. He's 30 years old

And uh, I don't know. I would just rather have Drake ma'am. I'm just telling you as a patreon fan

No, I think oh

Dude if we're talking about building like from ground up. I'm saying for this year, but it's one year only

I'd rather do it. I'm saying if it was more than one year only I would absolutely take Drake May

But I'm not gonna take him for one year only over the two-time

Should have been three-time MVP. You know what if Malloruban's watching and listen to this

I don't care um and I burrow last in this group. So I had I'd five in this group

Here's the thing with Joe burrow that I don't love

So I have a basically Stafford Mahomes May Jackson and burrow

So not Lamar for all the reasons. No, Lamar. I just had in there

Always supposed to sorry. So Jackson Jackson. I have Lamar fifth and May 4th burrow six

Okay

Burrows played three seasons and three half seasons and he hasn't won a playoff game since 2022

Yeah, that kind of matters and I don't know if his offensive line

It's allegedly a little bit better who does I'd maintain it's better. They're scheduled super easy

Everybody loves them. There's been a lot of action on there over and

I don't know he's had a lot of wear and tear already. He's had some real injuries

Not like flutey dumb injuries like real injuries and I just kind of want to see it

I think the injury thing is where you got to start

It's the most credible reason to doubt both him and Jackson, but more him. He's been hurt more

Yeah, sometimes I feel like it's not

talked about in the same way um

And it's a good reflection of how like

Getting injured doesn't

It's not necessarily correlated to you know being I think sometimes we'll say the duel thread quarterback

So you'll get injured a lot it's like actually your your pocket passer here. I know he has scrambling ability Joe burrow

Had some pretty weird injuries long away um

You know when he's been on the field I think

Top four or five four is probably top four is where I would put him

But he's also again to go back to circumstances has been in pretty damn good circumstances

I mean he's probably got the best one two punch a receiver in the NFL. I do think the offensive line has gotten better

Um, so I think that's fair. I think burrow versus Jackson

Is a debate most people have I'm higher on the mar personally, but I think you can argue both ways

Let's see it

Um

It's all set up for him this year

The two easiest schedules in the league are Cleveland and Cincinnati

And

If he if he's a 10 win quarterback and can stay healthy this year

I don't understand how he wouldn't win 10 games with the townhouse. All right next category is the light blue

We can move for the least fast

Prescott

Who I guess I have as my seventh best quarterback year 11 for him. He's got two playoff wins total

um, I think he's has the mantle right now of would I rather have this guy as my fantasy QB or my real QB

We have this from time to time you you wouldn't want him as your real QB. I mean if I'm trying to win the Super Bowl

Be up from seven that's pretty high. I know I know

Okay, I'm just saying it's his legacy gonna be fantasy

He wants some people some fantasy titles or he actually won some NFL playoff games. It's funny how

He used to be like the most divisive quarterback in the NFL. Yeah, he's sure he he kicked everyone away

Yeah, he remember like

cover the Dallas Cowboys were

Every time I turn his phone on they're not talking about the Cowboys at all. I don't understand. No, what I'm on NFL

Life today and we have zero Cowboys segments. So

I just did it

Start with the Ravens Zayf hours

I

But it is funny right that he now everyone just kind of accepts that he's in this tier that you have him like everybody accepts that he's in that

I would say six to nine rain six to eight and yet if we got to a playoff game and he was like a three and a half point favorite at home

I'd be nervous to bid on him. I wouldn't be nervous because of him

Yeah, I have loved right after him for all the reasons we talked about love it and then uh herburt is the last person in this group the playoff stuff is horrific

um

I really thought he was a noble season by him last year though with with how bad the line was noble and yet not noble enough for you to have him over

He's just running for his life the question for him and I think this goes for burrow too is

Yeah

Can you take too many hits? Yeah, can you can you run for your life too much? Is there residual damage from it?

Okay, that's a fair

Speaking on behalf of the greater Justin Herbert supporters film nerds alliance

I feel I'm qualified to be the emissary

That's a fair criticism

I think because I get worried

About I actually have a little theory that I've been banding around which is

When these quarterbacks have these meltdowns in the postseason him he was awful in that game. Just grow out awful

I sometimes feel and honestly like may at the end

To a lesser to some he was terrible. He was bad

I do feel like there's something to be said about the accumulation of those hits and

bad offensive line play building and building and building and then a quarterback just kind of

Imploding at the end of the year like there's only so long you can shoulder a terrible offensive line

And I kind of think and that's why I genuinely believe that's why those quarterback and some of the other quarterbacks

Like end up being the worst at the end

It's because of like you said the accumulation of all the yeah

You're talking about it could be during a season

It could also be a career like when I was a little kid we had Jim Punkett who's the first

Pick in the draft and just got the shit kicked out of him for six years

And up getting traded to San Francisco waived

And then took like two years to recover and then went to the Raiders and actually won a Super Bowl, but

You know hard

It's I mean he's on

It's not even just that they allowed a lot of pressure

It's the way they allowed pressure which was like right up the middle

It felt like a jailbreak every other play. Well good news. I had them and I had them in the top eight for offensive lines

Now that they had their tackles back their guys back the both of their guys are back and they spent they spent money on it too

I think their lines actually then the McDaniel piece he's the one that I could see I think he's the stealth MVP vote

Yeah, there's a lot of what have you considered though

That he's planning a wedding during the season. Did you factor? When is the wedding?

I don't know after the season I don't like it. Maybe it's gonna be it might be on his mind. I don't like it

He's preparing for like the Patriots game and his fiance is like oh my mom is being such a jerk. She wants us to invite my uncle

um

Anyway, I have the totally stealth MVP. I totally agree with that. So seven pointers. Press got love and Herbert

And that I like it that actually is our top nine

I like it which leads to the next question because now we're in the reds which are five pointers

And I have darnled golf party and Caleb Williams in this group

Darnled golf party and Caleb in that order

So that was the tentative order my question for you

Because one of these guys I think is clearly the 10th best quarterback in the league because I think the top nine is pretty set

Yeah, I think that's good

Who is the 10th best quarterback in the league? I can offer you darnled golf

pretty

Or Caleb Williams with six fourth quarter comebacks and

Okay, pretty kind of basic stats except for the how good he is when his backs to the wall

I would throw in another quarterback into this group

Why would I would put strad for consideration but I understand

Some hesitation we're not even close getting this strad yet

I would put Trevor Lawrence in this group personally and I got as someone who just went back and rewatch Trevor Lawrence for a podcast

Um, so I had him I had Trevor Lawrence as a four-pointer and my question for you was gonna be

Do you believe in 2026 last eight games Trevor Lawrence or what we saw in the playoff game Trevor Lawrence?

I but he wasn't even that bad first of all. I believe in it

Because

Circumstances stay the same most part. Okay, so you want me to move them up a point you want me to make a five-pointer

Okay, I'm gonna listen to you. I'm so awesome. I agree with you. I just didn't know if it was some of those get the bracket

I mean, okay, so but of the guys you mentioned um, I'm gonna parse this out

One year if it was multiple years, I would put Caleb there

But it's one year I know I know this season

I'm putting Jared I would put Jared Gother personally. Okay

I

I've Jared Goth is one of those quarterbacks where my estimation has grown over time

Uh, and I think he's gotten better over time. So that's a big part of it

I feel that like the lines obviously incredible skill players, you know, we all know that I do feel like a little bit lost last year

Was an appreciation of some of the struggles of that offensive line and what he was dealing with

And we and that's that's partially that's his

Tensitivity like that he has much better kept clean all quarterbacks are but the mobile the immobile ones

Shall we say or more?

But I just think he's his toughness and

His ability to keep that offense that passing game going with some pretty bad line play. Maybe was a little bit slept on

The stats are really good

Like his last three years per 17 games would be 4,634 TDs

Eight yards of pass

Johnson by the way still was good

Yeah, the question with him is always all right if he didn't have elite skill guys where are we

Right. Yeah, it's got Gibbs got Laporta

Got same brand. Everyone you mentioned though right?

Purdy

Darnal I think he has the best skill guys out of all these guys in this group

All right, so gaff I still have darnal I had him 10th, but I'm happy to move no 11

um 28 wins plus superboard of 31 and 7 the last two years

We don't talk about him you've talked about him enough, but um

Purdy is

Purdy's my guy that I defend I talked about this on your pod. I just like Purdy

Like my when Mac Jones is pretty good for the 49ers people like see Purdy

Yeah, I could be anybody and it's like I just don't agree. I think Purdy's good

Um

Question frame is the receivers and then um the electric whatever the fuck that thing is they lost in a pierce all like I

Take things out I

I don't know what you do with this so crazy

This I'm a big believer in July and August setting a tone for shoving a team one direction or the other I have not liked

But I think the shenan car accident is like just a terrible thing to happen before this season for a variety of reasons, but just a weird

Kind of strange variable to put in versus what you have with some other teams. We're like yeah things are going great

We're happy about this and this and you have the Niners who are dealing with all of I don't know

I just I was so I was so high on the Niners like offseason moves. They made yeah when we did our power hour

I was like look at this roster and then you take step back and you're like wait

All of these skill players are either older coming off an injury or have almost all of them

Have injury history. So why am I like I felt like hubris to assume

This is before pierce all that hurt that they would all be fine

So I don't feel at some point it ends for evidence. This is becoming unrealistic for the number one

Kind of a somewhere between a one and a two receiver depending on how healthy is but at some point you can't he's hitting his mid 30s

Yeah, um, but yeah

Caleb

So I think at Caleb he's the one I can see jump into a seven or

Maybe even innate this season if he's just awesome, but maybe he's the year away. I like him though. I really feel like

He really won me over last year and he's a good example of like sometimes he just need a good coach and good people around you

Like I think there's another version of his career where he's just

Basically like a more talented Kyle Burry and never happens, but I don't know. I he kind of won me over and then we talked about Lawrence

So

All right, that's the five then we move it to the light reds where I do not have CJ Strad

These are all four pointers Jaylin

Jalen hurts picker mayfield jaden daniel's and bow nix

um

Question for hurts would you bet on this being over surgeons here or a holy shit? We got to get out of this contract

You're by like December

Where is this going? I'm more positive than we got to get out of the contract. I am I do fear

That it might take a minute to look good though because it's just you know such a new offense. Yeah

in Philadelphia

And I do worry that

The criticism is going to be so intense. So it's first few weeks if it doesn't look great immediately. Right

I

This has been a tough one for me because I you know I talked about daniel's like I kind of just want to see him in it before I come to any

conclusions because again

You know when you talked with eagles fans about the fact that hurts

That's why you throw over the middle of the field and he struggled against certain zone looks and that they'll say well

You know the scheme was so bad and the scheme was bad so they're not wrong

But also you kind of want to see him do it throw with anticipation maybe make some risk to your throws

So I I'm a little apprehensive of it

But I'm never going to be totally out on him because he does have like a really legitimate and unique skill set

Like he throws a beautiful go ball. He's a really good athlete. I wish he ran more but

And he's one name. He actually won a superliver my question with him

That I can't in these 57 and 25 is a starter but my question with him is why do they seem like they're high

stuff with him

Like that like I always thought the pace of play that they played with

Where they just very deliberate like they're trying to shorten the game

You know and they they kind of talked about it. They're like yeah, we think we have better person everybody else

Want to shorten the game that shortens the variance and it's like yeah

Yeah, I don't know it feels like you're hiding hurts a little bit like you don't want him to have 10 cracks

I would defend him by saying I think they were hiding the offense as a whole last year

Like they knew that the offense was a disaster by their standards

They had a top five or six line that barkly they had two really good receivers. They'd got hurt like what are they hiding?

Why are they why did they think their offense isn't good?

Because it was bad. I mean the run game was awful. The line was hurt. It doesn't make sense

No, I know I'm just saying like I pay treads line, no

I know but I think that they were

Very aware of how bad the offense was and they they would they had to win games with the defense which by the way remains awesome

so

Mayfield I feel like should be a five but his body is just so band up

And this feels like a maker break for him. I know they were doing the basically short-term deal

Which is what they do he's played 120 games as a starter is 58 and 62

When he's healthy though, he's really good. I just

He's a he's a smaller guy and I just wonder this is who he's gonna be every or by the end of last year had like four different injuries

He was injured. He was I think they put too much on my shoulders last year like the run game was bad

Their offensive line was also really banged up and I think if they want to get things back to 2024 they need to

Com things down bring down the depth of target. Yeah, the one game going again play action

He is a quarterback you can absolutely win with. I think though

Whether he's like a quarterback you win a lot of games because of is probably what's holding them back from doing the long-term deal too and can you keep them healthy and then bone X who knows

Why do they game manage with them so much?

There's much like why were they always behind why were they was scrambling in fourth quarters to

You know why why why were they basically a 10-minute team offensively?

He's got way better weapons this year and should be better, but I have no idea

But I think he's a four because they won games of them. All right. Go in the twos quickly

Okay, the pink the pink chippers

I have CJ Stroud Daniel Jones Jackson Dart Tyler Schuck and Bryce young

And I'm happy to move any of those back and make them zero pointers instead of two pointers

Is there anyone who does not belong in that group?

Doesn't belong in that group

Stroud Jones Dart Schuck and Bryce young you could talk me in a dart the most because we really just haven't seen him play

Yeah, two months in a row

I thought so I've gone back and rewatched all the rookie quarterbacks

I thought Tyler Schuck was the best of them. I loved him

You could have taught me in right now to make him a four-point or I fucking love that guy

You came up and you were like

Touting him and you were like yeah, and Vela and I kind of they got hurt

Vela

I was like giggling and then when I went back to watch the Saints I was like oh my god

There was a game in like week

Vela was a stud for three weeks

I was like the best driver's eaters. Yeah football

um

No cam word consideration here

Not yet horrible horrible situation. Not with that. I mean just abysmal. Yeah, I'm ready to entertain it after I watch a couple games

But I think for now it's got to be a zero

I felt like watching him it reminded me of watching the different quarterbacks in some ways

But Caleb Williams is rookie season where there was something there some really exciting plays

Needed to learn how to play on time in bad situation

And then Caleb Williams got Ben Johnson and then I get Tennessee and I'm like okay. We got Ryan Dable

It's better, but is it in it's not it's not he didn't get the like Chicago glow up

So I I don't know if we're gonna see they say

quite like um

Yeah, I think he was last years

Well, what would have been a good two-minute Twitter video evolve his great throws like

Kim Warren was a problem

And as he just had like what like 10 incredible throws and that was really he was like

Weirdly unbelievable against Seattle and Kansas City. Yeah, there's something there

I'm in on camorad. I just think for the exercise of this year

No, I get it. I had I had to have I had nine quarterbacks that were zero or minus two

Because I feel like if you're getting if you if you don't have

If you're in the bottom 25% of the position with your quarterbacks. I can't give you points

Um, anyway, CJ Stroud

Here's the thing with CJ. I know

And he might be a four or five-pointer but I'm in there. Here's the thing

We talked about this when I did your pod

This is the best defense in the league. Yeah, there's a real case that they could just run through and the

If he could just can he drive the car 58 miles an hour in the highway

I don't even need you to go 60 just keep it straight

And you're gonna have the lead your defense is gonna you're gonna be up 10 nothing 13 nothing

It's a little like the Seahawks and a lot of the games last year where

For 13 entire second half of the Seahawks season 13 3

14 zero you just don't screw it up and I think he'll gain confidence as the year goes long

Because how good the defense is so my hope is that

He doesn't come back from the playoff disaster

With too much of a just ride the car mentality

Like I don't want him to be too conservative. You know what I mean because of the like ever

So you want him in the carpool lane every once in a while just airing an out

Nico Collins man, and he throws like a beautiful

Deep ball like I just think

Yes to find that balance. I mean the postseason was insane, but I don't he's not a game manager quarterback

I really don't think he is like I feel so you think he's a hitter may he's like a three-point shooter in basketball like he's

I think he checked it. I think if I was ranking him where you have 20

Yeah, I had no no I had him hired that okay

Sorry, so I would put him in

Personally, he's in my like 12 to

15 range. Wow, so you really I think he's my talented. This is good. I like this

So you you dumped Herbert for love and CJ Stroud is now I'm still I'm still

Now you're rescue QB

Yes, my right. How is that great? I've adopted CJ Stroud

I love that. Yes, I will I'm CJ Stroud's foster mom

We need to post one of those videos where there's like a time lapse video

Like

CJ Stroud

He giving him a bad

Daniel Jones

I don't know that's a hard one with the answer Jackson Dard who does

Bryce Young is he a two or a zero for you and I don't know I hate I

I hate talking about that. I don't hate talking about the banners

But they were such a psychotic team last year, right? Like

He would get it up for the Rams more than once

Yeah, and then look abysmal against divisional opponents

And I don't know where the truth is maybe the worst guy to bet on our against game to game last year

Like fucking potluck

There was a lot of buzz about him in the training camp now. I should mention the panthers training camp

It's like they moved that thing outside the Cisco practice field to move that's Carolina. They've already had like five injuries

Horrible vibes. Yeah horrible vibes that they are on my bad vibes list along with Cisco

So far

Okay, and then for the zeros cousins Mendoza Kyler

I have Rogers as a zero. I think he can fool you a couple games

But I just think over the course of 17 games. I don't see it

Could he go nine and eight and think in the play of shore

Malik Willis

Kim Ward

Breset

Who had the successful hold in congrats to him

Um, I have them all zero

I don't I can't give points for any of those and then the minus two's were Watson

Sanders

Geno Smith and then two appendix were the three someone on sandows

Thing had Rogers is a tier one core

Yeah, I don't there were just games where he couldn't physically do anything

I just it the funny thing about him is like I feel like he's he actually still can throw it down feel at times or and make difficult

Like seam throws and whatnot

He just so clearly doesn't want to get hit

So that's why you know the average of the target is like white Lewis and football

Yeah, he's gonna he's either gonna dirt it or throw it away

If pressure's coming and it's just so

It just affects the entire offense

I do think they've improved the circumstances around him, but I think you're fit that's fair

I like I told you I'm higher on ward

Willis is a bummer because if he was in a better situation, I would I could make a argument for him, but it's hard

The Rogers thing anytime they went against a good defense. It just felt like they just played

Up on the line knowing that he wanted to get rid of the ball in two seconds or less

It was a little like the two undoffins and there was no plan B if he couldn't find the

And it was so frustrating, but I remember the Pats lost to them. It's like just he's just gonna get rid of the ball in a second

I know just got tackle literally when you're what what are what Steelers games last year?

I'd like just somebody tackle and if they played it was if they played defenses that were bad at tackling

They could move the ball if they played defenses that were good at tackling

It was nothing and that was pretty much it. Who's your favorite backup QB before we go

Like the best who's your favorite

Who's your like I've been quietly stockpiling stock on this guy just in case mine is Davis Mills

I can't do that um

I mean, I know I'm not using this to track from party because I do think there's a difference

But Mac Jones was legitimately quite good last year. We played that's fair

It where are you like

Yeah, I was gonna say like did

Have you gotten over it? Are you ready to root for his success? I always root for Mac, but it's just it's

Listen, this is the problem with this position is you can be in the wrong situation

And it's like going to the wrong high school and in the 80s movie

Which just can just go horribly from day one or you can be in an awesome situation and everything's

Everything's pitching it

Defining with the nyers like I mean it was Kyle like they were losing guys too when Mac

He's out there, but it didn't matter because chanahan's so good. I think you're right. That's

One of the sneaky biggest things to maw is like how's chanahan this season because he's such

Such a difference maker for them

Yeah, that's a former Mac Mac is my choice. Is there someone you like better? Do you have a backup?

I mine David I've always been a Davis most supporter um

Sticking your neck out for Davis

There's still I still have some Tyler Huntly stock. I know he's bounced around and had some swings, but

I don't know there's there's there's there's but he's had moments where I would always wonder

There's been no account

Is it back up right now when do we see when do we see Mendoza

Sooner rather than you think it'd be like a Drake main thing

I saw a Drake main thing. It's literally every first round

Drake may was like yeah, I don't know and then it was like week four or five. Yeah, where does that not happen

Yeah, right like I just

I think my dose would be a plus two. I think he'll be better. I like him

better

Coming out of the gate because he's older and you know smart guy. All right mean of cimes

Are you doing Rams preseason games?

Not doing the Rams preseason. I am traveling some

For now the route with NFL network. I'm on the group boots on the ground

I actually going to Seattle on Friday speaking of backups. I'll see the just in Jalen Milbroe height. So evaluate that

First hand I can

Um, but I've done

Your you came on my pop with the power hour people should check that out. It was really fun. Got the Simmons bump

Uh, Simmons bump

A real legit it's it looks you can see it in the little charts

Meantime show featuring Lenny. We're wrapping up our division previews

And then we start

Starverse season coverage and then also yeah, check out the core facts making even though we spoiled it for you

Sorry, I was trying to do a rewatchables in Seattle because I love Seattle and just the theaters are taken for like three years

I don't know what's going on there. They do a lot of hey Seattle. We try we tried to do a rewatchables

But you know you have nothing available ever

So sorry, thank you happen someone. All right good to see you mean it. Thank you. I'll see you soon

For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms every choice matters

Trampaya offers self injection or intravenous infusion from the start

Trampaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks

Followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks

If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trampaya proper training is required

Trampaya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis

Serious allergic reactions increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them and liver problems may occur

Before treatment get checked for infections and tuberculosis tell your doctor if you have an infection

Flu-like symptoms or need a vaccine explore what's possible ask your doctor about trampaya today

Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit trampaya radio.com

This episode is brought to you by chat GPT imagine you're running a professional sports team nice

Imagine the player contract report is due today

Not so nice you've got performance notes from the coaching staff you got a salary spreadsheet from your analyst

Three rounds and back and forth emails with the agent and all that is scattered

Absolutely everywhere well that's where chat GPT work comes in

It's a new way to use chat GPT for bigger multi-step projects

Give chat GPT work access to your apps and files and can create real-work documents

For instance spreadsheets slides structured reports

You can bring all those to your next meeting and when you don't need answers

You need help just getting the work across the finish line chat GPT work can move your projects forward while you stay in control

Put chat GPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects get started just go to chat GPT.com

By selecting work mode available on plus and pro plans

This episode is brought to you by workday guessing is for game shows not your business

Especially when your margin for error is zero

Workday is the enterprise AI platform for HR finance 90

With a deep understanding of your organization's context and guard rails

So every AI action is permission aware

Give you accuracy 24 seven and the ability to not just get work done, but get it done right. It's a new workday

All right, we're gonna talk baseball Billy Gillis here Anthony de Bundo is here before we start Billy Gale

Just talked footballed me in a for an hour

She claims that if you went on the street Miami and asked people to name

Three wide receivers in the plans for the dolphins people wouldn't be able to do it

So I figured you're right here

Can you name three dolphins receivers who might have 30 catches this year?

Oh, who might have 30 catches. I was just trying to name three dolphins wide receivers. Yeah, can you name three dolphins wide receivers?

Malik Washington is on the dolphins still right

22 at well, right didn't they just say hey, yeah, they have two two right all right

Oh

Oh, man, this is debundo. This is amazing. They have completely shorted the wide receiver position in an attempt to get the number on pick

Well, here's the thing I only know because I did aFC is prep first this year. Yeah, I'm gonna get on Friday on the game

The third one give me a third one Malik Washington's on the on the dolphins. He said I'm already that's one. Oh, you said him two two at well, Tolbert

Tolbert Jalen tober. Yeah, Jalen tober. Oh

Billy's good. It's okay

My warrant sharp here that I've been doing

Steelers research earlier today. Jalen tober. Okay

All right, we're talking we're talking baseball trade deadline yesterday

This is the farewell baseball season until it comes back in 2031

Are the Dodgers ruining baseball I have thoughts on this, but this has been the big topic since the school bull trade

Um that this is now unfair and we almost have to have a lockout to to regroup after this the bundle you think no

I do think no, I think we've all gotten a little bit out of control here

I mean if you want to argue that the Dodgers have certain advantages that could be legislated out

I would probably agree with that

But why because they traded some prospects for tariff school bull

Other teams had opportunities to do that and if your argument is that they're ruining the competitive balance of baseball

Did we not watch the last two playoffs like even though they were seen as the best team

They were the three seed in the playoffs last year

They had to win a wildcard series. They want to toss up series the Philly they needed a miraculous comeback to win the world series

Two years ago

They were down to one and had to pitch a bullpen game in game four

Yeah against San Diego because they had no pitching and right now

I understand in hypotheticals. They might have the best playoff rotation of all time

But right now Otoni's not pitching glass now is not pitching snows not pitching

And they're starting Eric Lauer, you know regularly

So it's not like they didn't have a need and I understand why they might seem to just sweat them

Right

They've lost four to rose since they broke the sport. It's crazy Billy my thing with baseball. It's not like basketball where it's like oh

We signed this guy to a max deal and the guy's usually good. He's one of the top four to guys and league in baseball

Like the myths have been spending money like crazy and it doesn't matter at all and a lot of times

You get these dudes and there's somewhere between 28 and 32 you give them a ton of money and their careers are already peaked

So I mean

It's kind of what's happened with Kyle Tucker this year right like he is not worth like 60 million or whatever

It's not kind of he got booed at the game. I went to on Saturday

Well, I listen to just fans have nowhere to boo anything. Okay, like the idea that they think that they should be upset about anything

And they should be entitled to boo people is absolutely insane because what is his what is his salary actually right because like

This is also like prolonged so it's not 60 million. They're paying it probably like two million dollars

Like he's fine for two million dollar a year player and to answer your question that you didn't ask

60 they're ruining baseball. Yeah, so you so you're and you're in Florida where the marlins have

You know, you did win two world series, but you're also you've been sellers a lot

Then you've been buyers and you've been sellers again, but so you hate this you're in the same league with them too

Well, I mean, so I hated the Yankees and I thought the Yankees ruined baseball growing up as a child because they would always go again

Whatever free agent was out there and it was like, okay, this is not fun. This is not fair

They can just do whatever they want right they didn't actually ruin baseball

I mean they went on their run they had their dynasty there in the middle and then it kind of just all fell apart when George went away and

Cashman has it really been able to figure things out and the Yankees aren't really the Yankees

They were when I was growing up like the Dodgers have now become the new Yankees, but the Dodgers

The problem with the Dodgers is that they don't really have a weakness that we can find in terms of like how they're running their organization

Because they have a great farm system. They have all of the money in the world

They can throw the money at people

But if it doesn't work out then they could just trade away pieces and they're still loaded and they can go out and get more people

And politically they're looking ahead of other teams like they just there's no way around it

And I don't know if you guys have seen this so like one of the things that's been going around is because we're trying to figure out like

Well, how are the Dodgers doing clear? They're cheating one way or another

June Lee had this video that he put out in the offseason that was detailing what an advantage the Dodgers have with their TV deal that other

Organizations don't because it went it goes back to the McCourt like bankruptcy of the Dodgers

So Dodgers declared bankruptcy. They then had agreed to sell the team

And they reached a deal with Major League Baseball because they had declared bankruptcy where instead of paying the you know

Standard like 33% of revenue sharing from their TV deal

They would only pay around 10% and that would be for the duration of their TV contract

So they ended up signing a massive TV deal that was something like eight billion dollars over 25 years or something

So instead of paying you know the 33% of that which would amount to like 95 to 100 million dollars a year

They end up paying closer to 30 million dollars

So they're already having 60 million dollars that they would just go scowl Tucker

Yeah, well it goes to Kyle Tucker and they'll pay him that in like 2040 or something and here's the problem

Well, but they have some of the Japan money too because they're they're basically like a double team

They have a whole Japan fan base and a California fan base

This is going to collapse at some point right like it would be in like 2039

2040 where now their TV deal runs out they have to have a new deal

They're gonna go to the 33% instead of the 10% so they lose that extra 66 million and then by the way

I think this season have like 55% of their salaries deferred

They're gonna be paying all of these guys like 2035 to 2040 and at a certain point if there is a lockout this year

Which everyone will blame the Dodgers for if there's a lockout and then there's a salary cap impose

Which I don't see how they're actually gonna do that even though people want that

But if they do in fact impose a salary cap

This will blow up in the Dodgers face at some point in time because they're gonna

All of these people all of this money and I don't know how they're gonna be able to keep up with this because when Otani retires

Which you know is weighed down the road

Then unless they have like a pipeline where they keep bringing in Japanese talent. There's this increased

Possibility in Japan. I mean it is it is possible

They become the team you go to if you're an awesome Japanese player

But we thought that about the Mariners, you know 15 years ago when each year was there right and it didn't actually end up

Panting out that way like each year. Oh was kind of like this unique guy and then when Otani went to the angels

We thought like oh wow this is gonna be great for the angels, but it's the angels so they mismanaged that situation entirely

Including not getting anything for him and just letting him walk away like down the street to his you know cross-town team

It's it's I don't know if we're gonna get to the angels. I don't understand angels as an organization

We're gonna get to them later. I'm gonna give you my take. They're old too

The Dodgers. Yeah, they're all now. Well, I mean

So my here's my take I don't mind it

I like having super teams. We see it in soccer too. I think a lot of the times it doesn't work out. I think the only sport

Where it can really be damaging as if we had this in the NBA which we briefly had and they put in all the second apron stuff

But I think half the time these deals are too long

Um, you end up getting a guy who has all this pressure on him who's all of sudden making this crazy amount of money and he goes sideways

Like Tucker even like the Mookie trade which is the worst trade of my lifetime

Mookie has how many years left to bundle like

7 6 7 on his deal

And quite a few and he's not he isn't played well for like a year and a half right and they're they're paying him 30 million 35

Million down the road

But I in general I like having the team you have to beat

Where it's like here's the superpower we have to take them down. This was the Yankees

In the 2000s and by the way, they didn't win until 2009. I think in baseball you can beat these teams

So I'm okay with it. I like complaining about it

The thing that's not fun though is that they're so smart and they have the young talent that they can kind of just plunge or whenever they have a hole

If it doesn't work out like Kyle Tucker didn't work out and he got booed and what it doesn't matter like there still be favorites to make it's the world series

Mookie by the way is under contract with the Dodger until 2032

Like he becomes a free agent in 2033. So there's still like seven years six seven years of Mookie left

Right and then Dodgers Hall of Famer or Red Sox Hall of Famer

Dodgers

Yeah, he's one more he's one more world series with the Dodgers

Three now maybe four muckeys 33 months. He's 35 Teosca's 33 of Chinese 31

Freddie 36 by the way really fun team to go see in person

Where it's just like every guy that comes in and they're like hey that guy

Oh, that you know, um, and when we I went Saturday night

But when when the Red Sox swept them it felt like a real achievement

It's like yeah, we've the Saturday night game

Which the Red Sox kind of tried to throw away because they they thought that was the game

They're gonna get smoked and then all of a sudden because contraris was out and they beat them and it felt like a real achievement next question

The uh

The Adley trade the Red Sox made

Where you have this guy you're trading for and they gave up a bunch of prospects

There's some debate about how great those prospects actually were there was only one guy and

Keith Law's top 50

but um

You're trading for a guy who you have for this year and then next year and then he's a free agent

There might not be a next year

So you're trading all this stuff for a guy might be two months and then

Next year might not even happen would you debundo would you even have gone all in on these guys when you don't know of next seasons even happening

Uh, I talked to a couple of front office people

They said that that led to a lot more controllable guys getting dealt this off season with this trade deadline rather because they felt that those medium term deals

Might not have the kind of value they normally would have and thus they were more likely to move them and I think that was especially the case with

Ruchman where

One he's already kind of getting pressed out for playing time. Yeah, the sio coming up and maybe being better to

He hasn't been very healthy the last few years and he's played through injury and missed time and three like did he want to

Resign with the Orioles even if there was baseball next year. I'm not so sure

So I like I understand why Orioles fans are upset and I wrote about this for the ringer like yeah

It feels like they're asking us to trust the prospects again and and pushing the can down the road

But I'm not sure what Adley's actual value was to Baltimore anymore

But I think it's very clear what his value is to Boston. Well, he's but if he's healthy is a top five catcher

Which was the single worst part of the team Billy? What happens the marlins have done this a few times the rebuild

But then it's another

The rebuild supposed to pay off and it doesn't so now you're in the re rebuild. What do we call this?

I mean

This is called my life as a baseball fan. So this is how it works is you go out

You get these guys you develop them. It doesn't end up working out

So then you say you know what these pieces just don't fit together

But like we're like trust us. We're gonna we're gonna really make it right this next time around

And then it just becomes like an endless cycle where you kind of trust them and then

What in my lifetime what happens is then the you know owner eventually

Cells the team makes a giant profit. They leave the new owner comes in and says you know what none of this is gonna work out

Trust us we're new to town

We're gonna fix this situation and then they end up going and they end up trading people

Do you guys think to go back to your question that you ask about the trades and you know whether it's worth it or not

Do you think there's teams that made trades taking on contracts thinking you know what

Maybe I don't have to worry about this contract next year like I could be taking on money that I may not have to pay if there is a lockout

And it led to teams thinking like let's be overly aggressive because this felt like a very aggressive trade deadline

Compared to past years where teams were going for it or teams are saying you know what I think the weirder part where the teams kind of like right on the fringes

There of like the third wild cars but they're like ah I'm not going for it anymore like I'm gonna just take some prospects

We're two games out three games out that that was the Luis Castillo trade

because on paper

And I we're in first place in our ale keeper league so I'm

Castillo is one of the 40 pictures. We've been studying like

Castillo's kind of washed and he was making

You know, I think he was making like 22 million this year next year

They actually the mariners got a prospect back got them the dump

Got them to take the entire contract. It's like that's crazy. You're taking two years of Castillo

But then like what Billy said

And maybe you're taking two months of Castillo right and there might not be baseball next year

And then you're not paying anything well for the white socks fans too. I think that trade was more like look

We're going for it even though like Luis Castillo is not gonna probably be a different

Oh, I mean he's been on my fantasy team and has been a disaster

But like he's a guy that's a name so it's kind of like if you're a white socks fan

You're going through all these years of hell as a white socks fan. Oh wow like this is a guy that they're getting like I'd recognize this name

He was good once maybe you know a change of senior rule do it for him right

I I like the ad they trade but the

Prospect of a lockout followed by

Haven't give him like a crazy amount of money after the lockout

It's a little concerned, but you I feel like you got to push ships in though. We have to look at the American League right now

You have to this was gonna be my next question the red socks

Could go from being the worst team in the American League to being the ale champs in a four-month span right now

Unfandled they have the third best odds to win the ale

There's six to one by the way the Yankees are the favorite of plus 220

We might not see Aaron judge again this year

This is

Right and then the way they talk about it's like no no, it's it's progressing

It's like all this like goobly Duke where they were like it's just yeah, he's he should be good

He's progressing well. He's got like a major rib injury and he's a six foot seven guy who is 280 pounds and I don't

I don't think we're gonna see him again. Do you debundo

Jacko doesn't either he was tweeting about it. Jacko does that. Jacko is convinced that they're lying about this

They're hiding he's more hurt than

Then they're thinking on that. I mean the Yankees still have the three starters are

Those guys are back now and that's still the scariest thing in the American League is those three guys in a row and a playoff series

But they're bottom 10 and in offense the judge got hurt right and they didn't push any chips in right every player that they went for

They didn't do the bullpen upgrades

Which you normally would do if you were pushing in for this year

Yeah, they got two players who were gonna be on the roster next year with Garcia and Ramos

It felt like a little bit of a let's not burn our prospects chasing 2026

If we don't know that Aaron judge is gonna be back. Maybe he's back for the playoffs

But how healthy is he right and theory had missed four months by then right he hasn't done any baseball activities

So I I think the Yankees actions speak a whole lot louder than their words with

You weren't excited about Luis Garcia Jr's home run yesterday

Erning his wife first game actually slapped Ben Glixman and then five minutes later the bullpen gave up five runs

That was one of the games of the year. They're up. They were down six nothing came back took seven six lead and then gave up seven runs and an inning

And the same picture got lit up right after he was at a AAA he was terrible

Um, the Yankees read so the red socks the thing flipped when they swept the

Yankees at the end of June right and then

Contreras got into it the nationals and all the sudden it's going

I will say this because this red socks thing has made no sense as it's happening

I've actually been watching the entire time. It's been happening. It doesn't I was even I went with I took my wife to the Dodger game

And I'm like

Yeah, this guy monastery. Oh like

He'll have a big hit during this game. I have no explanation for it. This guy's 29 and this

Got like a 190 batting average career

Um

But their bullpen's really good and they they got uh the giants lefty

Would they finally gave up on Marcelo Meyer which um, I think red socks fans had already given up

But this this red socks they have this bullpen now that if they can just get to like the six seventh inning and they did this against the Dodgers

They can just keep bringing guys out that

Hold the lead if they have a one-relead I'm I'm actually billiard. I'm I'm

I'm weirdly optimistic

I can't explain it

If you still feel the way you once felt about the red socks especially like with the Yankees like do you still hate the Yankees the same way

That just with every bone in my body really yeah like I have the Yankees on I'll have the three TVs

I always have the Yankees on a TV to root hoping they lose and hoping like yesterday was a dream

Just this guy's just getting bomb they leave them out

Crafts going nuts

Another guy comes up another two run homer. It was awesome, but um

I do think matters too, Bill. You got the wild card race here. Well here. This is maybe a division race

This is one of the questions I had for you like who do you like in the American League?

I know you I know you guys are both nationally guys, but you go through and like the white socks are plus nine fifty

To win the pennant

No, Texas is 16 to one

And probably they tried to sell right

Cleveland's 11 to one Seattle's eight to one that like everybody thought they might

Completely got the team really. It's a three team race with the wild card that might come out of nowhere

Between Seattle Houston young white socks

Cleveland kind of dabbled around the edges. I don't know about them in Texas

But if you had to pick a team to Bundo who would be the out of nowhere team in August and September

It's still Seattle if you base off priors. All my Seattle buddies are giving up. They were they they kind of soft-sold with Castillo

But again, I thought they were just dumping salary there and then they they have prospects

They can call up your guy Kate is in the waiting to probably come out of the bullpen and potentially save their their middle relief and the playoffs because they're really short-handed there

This offense. I mean, it's like looking around at Josh Naylor. Hey man. You're gonna hit anytime soon

At Cal Raleigh you're gonna

Like all-time flip season

Other than you do like that's the team and the way the brackets sets up

10 Bay we're winning the division is gonna be the one seed then four five is gonna be the other two boss in New York probably

So they're on gonna be on one half of the bracket. So you have

One of the winners of the west or the central has to be in the ALCS and I'm not sure any of them are any good

I mean again, Texas tried to trade to Grom. Yeah, Grom said no

The white socks feel like a year early. They've had a great season

But I don't think their their bullpen is competitive long-term in a playoff series

It's like Cleveland baby because they've done it before

They haven't they've an ace in a closer Cleveland at least

Um, I don't like anybody. I had see out. I had see out of two

I was surprised the odds were that high at the Kade pieces a wild card

Kade's having like one of the great minor league seasons in the history baseball

Who Keith Law made him the number one prospect on his revised list last week and he said it was the first time

He's ever had a picture first which seems notable and he's gonna come in at the August 15

He's on our keeper team. We really need him

And it seems like they're just gonna use him as that

This guy that will come up every once in a while in the playoffs the young phenom guy who doesn't start

But has these big innings like you know and and just as in the mix and it seems like they're saving them for that

But they still have to actually

Get to the playoffs billy is it it's fair to be scared of Texas even though they're 16 to one

Um

Like they're bad. They've had some injuries

They have a I think they play 12 their next 19 in home Texas in August. There's always a nightmare

They have a quality they have to grow. I'm like I still have my eye on them as like a sleeper. I mean

It's hard to trust them

When they have a minus 40 run differential

You know, I mean like I guess things could turn around but

There are only a couple games out of the wild card

But not that run differential is you know and I'll be all but it is kind of telling

It's like if you're that much of a of the difference how much of this is kind of like you've been getting lucky here that you're in the position that you're in

You know, I mean like if you go down you look at a team like the tiger tiger to plus 63

There are a half game behind them

But there's so many teams. I mean the al really like you were saying has a couple teams at the top

And then it's somewhat wide open the rest of the way and it's going to kind of be like who wants it more

You see what skips you maca did the other day by the way since we're talking about Texas manager the Texas Rangers

He was going out there. It was a game against the Astros on Sunday

And it was the seventh inning. They ran out of challenges. So they couldn't you know challenge the strike zone anymore

Goes out starts arguing with the umpire

But it's the seventh inning take me out to ballgame happens whatever thank god bless America starts

Oh, so skips you maca and the umpire both you know turn take off their caps respectfully sit through god bless America

Then they go turn back around put the hats back on and go right back at it got him tossed out of the game immediately after

That's awesome. I love baseball and hope in baseball can these things happen

Yeah, I took the Phillies wanted to walk off ABS last night. It's great. Oh

Yeah, I took my wife Saturday

We hadn't been to a baseball game in a couple years and we did the take me out to the ballgame first about she had a great time

It was a great date

Um, but to take me out to the ballgame and she was just like

Is this the best tradition in any sport? She do the one two three strikes you're out. No, we did hand

We do the we do we yelled red socks when it's a and it's

You root root root for the for the Dodgers. We yelled red socks. Yeah, she did not do the hand for the one two three

Um, but I was wondering does basketball need this

Could there be at the six minute time out could there be something that unites the crowd

Didn't like their own shop, but yeah, it's something let's see could something happen there

Just be more organic though right before crunch time just something

I guess not I think it's better if it's team specific like we saw this at the World Cup even like certain teams had their songs or their moves

Are there yeah, the drumming or the rowing or the one wonder what was revived? Um, right

By the way, I really missed the World Cup was like a real boy the net the next like

When there weren't games every day it was it was like withdrawal almost

I'm getting an MLS bill knowing it for the first time in like 10 years

I'm a lot been locked in the Union of one three in a row trying to try to fill the void somehow and I'm seeing

Um, I mean, I made a decision on the Premier League by the way because I am getting back this year. Yeah

I'm doing now so now or should I save this?

Uh, I'm gonna go back to Tottenham. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah. I had my buddy David Niamen who lives out here is a huge Tottenham fan and

He sent me he's and he's like a very nice

Like gentle congenial guy never gets mad. He sent me along Texas like what the fuck you can't switch teams you picked the team

You have to come back like we'll watch games. This would be great. I was like all right. So I'm I'm I'm doing some uh

I'll be leaning on you to bundle, but I'm doing some recon. I'm I will be going back

This is my official announcement bill. I will be returning to Tottenham, I'm at spur

On or to finish the alarms baby. It's celebration time. We this is a big problem is they don't have any stars right now

Like they need another star to kind of

Galvanize around it was it was Kane. It was son. It was deli now. It's like

I don't know racharlison and uh, well, they need me this year. They need some some star power need more celebrity fans

Who else do we have? Who are the celebrity fans right now?

Uh, then

The

Dell

Steve Nash to ex a Dell is a Dell like a real fan or fake fan

That's up for interpretation. I know so I could ask who

Rich

I could ask Rich. I'll ask him does the Dell still care. I mean she she lives here now, right anyway

What's it what's their coach situation you guys happy with the coach Billy? You want to bring a coach of your own now

They go to Tottenham say you know what like I have my eye on soccer situation. I got some pull here's a celebrity fan

I'm gonna save this organization and bring in a coach. Yeah, who do I suggest the bundle

Who's sorry the coach that Tottenham fans would want back has just signed a four-year extension

The US men's national team. So we are how I saw that you know

Pogetino was our guy for many years now. We have deserving. He's an a he's a very intense Italian man

He doesn't take shit from anybody. He's been known to a cost his players and training and that has run him out of a couple of jobs in the past

But uh, he's he's a damn good coach. So we're happy about that national jobs are like full-time jobs

Like you can't go coach, you know, like in the NBA like you can't coach another team

I agree. I thought that was weird. I don't know how that's his only thing that he does like what does he do for the next year?

Yeah, it just looks at under 17 footage. That's weird

They're supposed to like travel around to see the players in person

It's like a it's like when you want to take a vacation, but you still want to get paid lots of money

You go coach an international game and so we've actually seen a lot more of the club guys

Especially since there's fewer top club jobs open. They just are like, oh, you know, go coach Brazil or I'll go coach

England or I'll go coach the USA for example

Uh, now Pogetino for a few more years

Yeah, it's

Funny going through the entire world cup and getting excited about America

And be like, and then it gets to like the last few games in the school level is so dramatically better

It's like oh my god, what were we thinking like Spain? Spain's connecting on 58 passes in a row

It's like, where were we even thinking we had a chance against anybody? Why aren't we good as a country at soccer?

Like why can't we be better the Chinese Communist Revolution Billy go I got

All right

That's which I'm close to

I got a great email that I really want to dive into at some point for real

um

And I I can't remember who sent it, but I'll give them credit when we do it about do we designate one of the 50 states

As a soccer only state

Mm-hmm all they have is soccer and like if you're good at soccer you actually so it's like

South Dakota, which is like we've designated South Dakota as our soccer state

And that's it. There's no other sports you can't play basketball

You can't play football all you have to do is play soccer from day one

And do we and then that becomes like our little mini country within the United States that's soccer Billy's

I can see Billy's wheels turning on this

I'm kind of wondering what like the ramifications might be for like you know what also no schooling

It's just soccer in this state like this is what you're gonna learn

There'd have to be a lot of money like thrown at at them right or do they not have a choice like there's just no option

Literally can't play any sport

I don't think it's a not a choice no no you it'd be soccer only but you could do it with a small state too like you just picked

Rhode Island would be tough because

The weather

Mm-hmm, but you could go smaller state just be like Rhode Island or Maine or Delaware

One of those but

We're sending kids there or are we bringing them up for this? Yeah, this is getting problematic. No, we're pretty famous

It's like hockey families are moving there

It's like in Canada how the people move to different cities, but I thought as a half-baked idea. I thought it was tremendous

um back to baseball

We must what a tangent that was great

What I had one more big baseball thing for you

Because you you talked about this in in the piece you wrote for the ringer to bundo

There's like five

Five playoff teams in the NL

And you could see there are odds for a fan do to win the pennant the Dodgers or minus one 15 goes all the way through

It's Milwaukee Atlanta Chicago Phillies 10 to one and then the six best odds are San Diego 35 to one

So we have a five team race basically in the national league is that just where we're gonna end up or is there gonna be an out of nowhere team

No, I think that's very much where we are and that's it

And that could I I think I kind of informed the deadline. It's like you know

I know Billy is is persona non grata on marlin's twitter now because he's not happy with the team is that true?

I have set

Marlon's twitter because I wanted their manager Clayton McCullough to be fired after he took out your repress during a perfect game

It was a whole thing. I really really upset them because this is like

Right when they were you know getting hot on their nice, you know

Month of June where they were kind of showing everyone like wow

This is like the real team everybody ignored the first couple months like June that's that's the real team

Then there was a 12 game losing streak that like you know kind of derailed that whole thing

In the process to getting 10 games over 500 which is not common accomplishment down here for the Miami marlin's particularly that point in the season

I was very upset at the idea of pulling Yuri Perez during an attempted perfect game when he had gone 70s

He had 92 pitches

But their whole thing was it was his third start back from injury, but it was a leg injury

and I have lived

my existence as a marlin's fan

With the excuse-making of we need to save these arms for October knowing full well

Yeah, October is not guaranteed for the marlins and like longevity of these players career as bad as this may sound

Is not of my utmost concern like I don't really care if they have a long and healthy prosperous career

That will get them traded to another team

I would like to see a no-hitter or perfect game

This is why I hate Don Mattingley and the bundle I'm sure you love Donnie baseball because he's come in

Oh, no, no, no, no, really, you hate Don Mattingley

I don't think I've ever just liked a Philly's manager because I like

Just like Don Mattingley's managerial of the photo if he fillys right now really feel the same way

We've discussed this on the Philly special. He I mean it's like a vice-president

His son is the GM sort of

Yeah, very weird power

Oh

Yeah, hold on a second. He came in and he completely turned around your season

Oh, they conveniently fired Rob Thompson the day before Zach Wheeler came back from injury

And his pitch like a Sai Young and you know all the players started playing better

I I think that would have happened with or without the great Donnie baseball you know

I was gonna say the Red Sox manager Tracy who took over for Cora

And he's like a scramble for Runs guy which we haven't had forever

Like it somebody will double and he'll bump the guy over like we're like a suicide squeeze threat

I'm about back though. It's really fucking fun because Cora

Cora was very holy or the now about all that and this guy will just be like we're bumping people over

We we've won games with like sacrifice

You three sacrifice months and you know the last four innings and it's really fun

It's energetic. I enjoy it

There's more variants in baseball now. I built Ben Lerndberg wrote about this like yeah, Brewers

Have broken clutch hitting Tampa Bay like invested in a bunch of dudes who hit the ball really hard

But on the ground or line drives not homers right and it's working them and like you know

You got the Red Sox doing this so there there's more there's more variants

The Phil is just traded for a hall for Luis Arise who never strikes out

He's really won't be your strategy. Would you be a all-line drives guy?

Would you be a home runs and strikeouts GM? What would you be I like small ball?

I like the stolen base. I think it's fun

Like I like the idea of a triple or you know like something happens and whoa

Could we get it inside the park home run here like the home runs and the strikeouts like

They're fine, right? But like I like the it's kind of like instant gratification with the home run

Like you immediately have that feeling and then it's gone

We're like a stolen base like a triple or you know

You have a team that you know like anything can happen here like this guy's gonna be like a demon on the base path

I like that kind of baseball

That's why I don't understand why tea like why do games go beyond the 10th inning when you start with a runner on second base

With no outs like it's very easy. Just move them over

Bunting over yeah sacrifice fly and you score a run

But we have games going beyond the 10th all the time because there's no like

I said just stop teaching small ball and it's coming back now thankfully

But we had like a generation of people who are just discovering that you can steal bases and bump people over

It's incredible. You also had people when they're bunting

Looked like they had never attempted a button their entire life and this felt like it was like for 15 years

Just people would be like yeah, it's second and first no outs. They're gonna bun him out and the guy would be like

Holding the bat like it's like a broomstick

Well, I mean with the shifts you would have like everybody on one side of the field and it's like you literally just have to put it down

The third baseline and you could hit a double here and and nope sure enough you hit like right into the shift

And then there if there is a but now we have the opposite where no one knows how to feel to blunt

So like if you're gonna blunt it you're probably gonna get on because they haven't been teaching people

Freddie Freeman is the only one who knows how to

Do a button and where do you hate the arise deal the bundle

I'm very lukewarm on it really

They move breast harper in the afield so for everybody

It's gonna be amazing. It's literally it's like

I can play the afield you want to play now you'll play third play first play right field

arise ads on base value to a team that's 28th and on base percentage

So like that's exciting. I'm excited to watch him hit

He's like annoying to play against and fun to have on your team

He's gotten better defensively, but like you said

You know bris hyper hasn't played outfield in five years

He got injured last time he played the outfield. It's why he stopped playing the outfield

This is the air judge problem too

Yeah, and he wasn't a good outfielder in 2021

And I don't think he's gonna be a very good one in 2026 and some of the metrics already say the failures of the worst defense in the league

I can't wait again

They make it a TV for me. I can't wait to watch them put defense

I went down an arise rabbit hole yesterday for you to bundle

But I wanted to save it to talk to you today because I don't like what is this guy's deal that no team wants him

He's about to win he potentially could win if he keeps his average up his fourth batting title

For his fourth different team like he just is constantly moved because all he does is get on base

And that's essentially it. I was like how in the history of baseball how many people do you think have won four batting titles that are not in the Hall of Fame

Do you know off the top you wouldn't know that

No, I would be amazed if there were any used to know things like this

So there's so many of one four batting titles for four teams. I don't think that anyone has there's to be a record

So there's one guy that has three batting titles that is not in the Hall of Fame

And that's Pete Rose, but I don't think it has anything to do with his play and then there's a guy that has four batting titles

Not in a Pete Rose fuck yeah, all these guys should be in this is ridiculous. What's the point of the Hall of Fame?

I say this I like watching the history of your watching the history of baseball here by now

There's no

Put like make his plaque like wing. Yeah, make his plaque put on the plaque what he did like we want our kids to learn about the past

But pretend he didn't happen like he's in there. He just doesn't have the plaque

I like the punishment

I'm very unpopular on the situation, but like the fact that like I know this eats at very bonds

And I know the seats at Roger Clemens like I kind of like it, you know, like can we put it?

Why can't we have like a basement and it's not nice

In the lighting's not good

The

Cheaters yeah, wait a minute and Amblers. I have an idea. What if we put up their plaques like in an infirmary

You know what I mean? Like if somewhere inside the Hall of Fame

There's like a first aid station where you can go and you can get like all the drugs or whatever

And then in there there's like a whole wall with like the Palmeros and the Maguires and everyone

But like you have to go into like a place where they're gonna sell you drugs or give you like medication

Can I go one step further put them in the bathrooms?

There's like 15 guys. There's 15 bathrooms each bathroom. There's just like the Barry bonds plaque next to where you dry your hands

But like in the bathroom or like would you put a plaque like as a urinal toilet?

Yeah, over the urinal. Yeah, yeah, no, no like in the urinal like the urinal cake being that catches it

So it doesn't like splash back. It's like all of Barry bonds stats or whatever, you know

I think there's something here

Listen Barry bonds is the best left-filled. I've ever seen in person. I can't believe he's not in the Hall of Fame

He's unbelievable. There's him. It's fun. Look he he cheated right like we know he cheated

He did it. He got the stats, which is what he wanted

He got the money which he was gonna get anyways

Why not take this little thing from him knowing that it's just gonna drive him crazy to can't go in there like Pete Rose

Few roses obviously like an extreme situation because like it was literally all he cared about

And then he died

So it's like he's never gonna see this now

Yeah, and then immediately after me like you know what maybe it's time for Pete. It's like I guys

This doesn't mean anything to Pete anymore like he's gone

He's not gonna be there signing autographs anymore anyways back to what I was telling you

There's one guy that has four batting titles not in the Hall of Fame

It's this guy Bill mad dog madlock. Do you know him? Oh, yeah, the cubs. Yeah

So he wins four batting titles. He has a career 300 average. He was good

He has world series that he won with the pirates

He didn't even get five percent of the Hall of Fame vote and was gone off the ballot after one year

Because apparently he was so difficult with the media and he was such a jerk to like umpires that I guess

They sent him this point. I mean he has over two thousand his but it was like 1800 games

So it's not the best but

In a baseball season now where you have like five guys hitting over 300 the idea that you have a career 300 hitter

With four batting titles that didn't even make the second year ballot in the Hall of Fame is crazy

In 1996 so 93 was when he was up they they didn't make it past in 96 the like veterans committee or whatever the baseball writers

Association they got together in petition for him and like three other guys including Larry Boa

Who didn't make a second year after

A second year of election

They wanted to put like five guys back on the ballot who had gotten the five percent

They approved it then the ballot came out and they changed their mind. They just left them off the ballot

So they said you know what we approved this but no we're not going to ever vote you into the Hall of Fame

Garvey's the biggest miss for me

When I was a kid Garvey was the best first baseman for like a decade. I don't understand how he's not in

Well done maddenly he's not in either right he's got he didn't his peak what he had the great peak but his career

I don't think was long enough. I had another topic for you guys

I watched four Red Sox games when they put the A's in Sacramento

I love that. I kind of loved it. I love Sacramento and I love it was really fun

I love when they played a Las Vegas and everything was flying out like that

I just told you parts of the outfield were the ball would fly out and other parts where you had no chance and

It just it felt like more it felt like honestly like a double-a game

It was crazy to watch on TV on like a you know nice wide screen TV and HD and it was like

It seemed like people are at like the park

Not like a baseball game when they would hit the home run

It would be so like hilariously over the fence that is like yeah

Like this ball just went 480 feet somehow and it went to parking lots. Oh it kept you on your toes every single at bat

Because he was like literally anybody could hit a home run, but I don't know I kind of it. I kind of enjoyed the vibe

The other funny thing is that where the clubhouses are located

Yeah is different from a normal like major league setup

So last year when Katsai got thrown out of a game

He had to do like the walk of shame down the third baseline

So he like milk the walk he's like walking super slowly because he just wants to make his point clear that he shouldn't have gotten thrown out

And then he you know he went he veered off down the left field line

I guess where the the the medical story of the clubhouse is it was so funny

It's such a weird series because we had we traded for Curtis Mead

And then he got hit the second time he went up on the hand he had like a suit of armor on

It was it was like three inches of his body where a ball could have actually hit his flesh and somehow

And's a break in the rest so it turned into the Aaron Rogers Jets game

Of Aaron Rogers coming out the flag and getting that was it. He's gone

That was our big one of our big trade dead line moves

The the Sacramento crowds are also kind of great because they're not really invested like it

They're going out and they really like it

Yeah, they're hanging

A's being nothing to them so they're going out there just to have fun

The perfect game that I was telling you about your Perez that I upset Marlon's Twitter

So they take him out of the game. This is in Sacramento

The A's fan or the road team that's being no hidden and hasn't even gotten on base

Is just letting the Marlon's manager have it for the rest of the game

They're all in unison just chanting shame at him over and over again

So the game's going on and you just hear chance of shame

Shame

Shame and they're like pointing at him and he's like on the top step eventually

He's like gotta like get back in the dugout here

But they letting him have it for three straight innings because they are just there to have a good time as long as they have baseball there

I like it. I think it's been a bit Sacramento probably shouldn't have a majorly baseball team

But I do like when cities get a cameo for a year

Like yeah, here's what it's like um, I don't know who the next team would be but I think the Vegas things gonna be bizarre

It is gonna be weird

I don't think like it's not like football or it's a destination or like basketball even

Where it could be a destination or hockey where they have their own team like baseball like

You know of all the places to travel to go watch your baseball team. Are you gonna pick Vegas?

There's too many games like for even the tourists. I'm not gonna have a home field advantage at all

It'll be like a road tourism environment and then like yeah in the middle of June

Who's going to Vegas to watch their team play the ace?

All right, so before we go

Is there an ad-it-no-wear team these last seven weeks?

I

Know we we talked about a couple candidates. You know it's gonna happen. It's August 4th

We know somebody's gonna get hot. So who is it?

Mm-hmm, and it could be either leak my guess would be the NL just because the NL has the top five and then

Everybody else and everybody else seems suspicious to me

I don't think what you're saying like come out of nowhere to do what to like win the just to make a run and be like

What's going on with these guys it always happens? I don't know if they'll win a pen and but something

They're throwing their hat in the rain that we're not expecting

I mean the crazy case would be that Detroit's only two and a half games out a

Little school blue school blue viewing theory

Mm-hmm, and they metrically like they are underrated. They've got a bunch of younger players coming through that have that have popped for them of late

They you know there was a little bit of

Malay's early in the season and I do wonder how much of it

Was related to the fact that the clubhouse was just kind of pissed off that school building get paid and they were pissed at ownership and pissed at

Kind of the inability to negotiate this situation. So just getting him out of the picture

Of course it hurts their pitching staff. But he's getting him out of the picture help them now

You know you you're not dealing with a ton of starting pitching anymore

But we've seen Detroit do this before two years ago. Yeah, they were dead

Dead in the water and got hot and managed to pitch their way into the playoffs

It wouldn't be shocking just because I just don't really believe in any of the teams in the American League Central

Honestly, I would have kept them

I think for what they got

Because you get it if he leaves as a free agent you get draft picks and

It's okay. It's not not getting to top 60 prospects

But at least you get something but then it it gives you a chance for

I don't know for some sort of playoff run plus you know next year's can be a lockout anyway

I don't know I just I if I was running the Tigers I would have kept them

I mean two and a half that they're out too

It's not I have to jump like five teams right now to get into a playoffs spot because everyone's so tight

But like you did kind of punt on the whole scuba thing and and like we haven't talked about it

Doing it two days before the deadline was weird like

Yeah, I know that we don't want to say that the Dodgers have ruined phase football like something's fishy here with that situation

Because now he goes to the Dodgers and now they're already probably starting the contract negotiation

Situation and I wonder how much like he do you think he's motivated with the

Impending idea of a lockout with a salary cap to let me extend before this seasons over and just get a ton of money

Before there isn't a ton of money to be gotten so like I'm happy to be going to the Dodgers

I would have wanted to go there anyways

I'll have a lot of money they can give me like let's do this you be like during the season or right after the season and let's not risk the

idea of I can't get paid because the problem with the salary cap is the salary floor like in my thoughts

Everybody says I guess it's gonna be great all of the bad teams and they're gonna have to spend a hundred and fifty million dollars

But what ends up happening is the bad teams end up spending that money in the dumbest way possible

And you get happen in the NBA

Remember 10 years ago at the cap spike and all the sudden

Portland and the the net saw they like Alan Krabs making 71 million dollars for four years. Yeah, we saw this

No business making the money that they're making just getting thrown money because they're the free agent at the time

And the team that's bad that's not gonna reach the salary floor is afraid of getting you know like a slap on the wrist or whatever

From the league so they just throw dumb money at players

Just get all the money

Yeah, you're much better like yeah penalize me versus me having to go get

Lua dang. I so

You said it was fishy

That he went to the Dodgers

To me is there is a weird angle there too. No, but to me it's beyond fishy

I think the rest of the league just assumed he's signing he's signing with the Dodgers this way like to me

It reminded me of the honest situation when you honest said I mean they're going to Boston or Miami

Other teams could have traded for y'allness

But he had already said I want to go to these two teams. I think scuba was just

I'm going to the Dodgers like you can trade for me, but you'd be renting me basically

He must have made a note of a team of traded for rentals before

I mean the the rays and the brewers are the two teams everybody is kind of pointing the eye or at well

So the brewers were the team that's the ball like they should have been after him. Yeah

You know teams of traded for rentals the Dodgers just paid two two and a half prospect two three prospects to get him early

Right, yeah for one more playoff run

Why didn't Milwaukee do this? Why didn't Tampa do this the conspiracy that I am open to is from a pure politics angle

It feels very rare

That like the the negotiation politics not in a politics

From a pure negotiation angle like the fans are very split and very angry about this

And a lot of them are going to side with the owners because they're mad at the big bad Dodgers

So there is a theory of like if you're the owner of the rays or the owner of the brewers and you want to sign

That this happened you're thrilled everybody's face the Dodgers. It's like yeah, yeah get mad at them

So we can try to get a salary cap, which is what all of them probably want

Because they get to cap the earnings of their labor which is ideal in an environment where you have

You know the billionaires fighting against the millionaire players. So

That I am open and sympathetic to the idea that not everybody loses from the Dodgers

Being seen as this unbeatable behemoth even if they're not I'll tell you this

First of all, it's so much more fun to go to baseball games now. I just can't it can't be said strongly enough

That you're just ending out in two and a half two hours 45 and you're not just sitting there watching somebody

Grab is groin and step out of the batter's box and they have a song you get today and like it's just seen

So much more fun to go with that said

If they do have a lockout of baseball disappears

It is just not gonna like when this happened in 1981

This was I was I was 11 it was catastrophic

Like we didn't have nearly enough other stuff to do so just taking baseball away

Even in 94 when it happened and it was awful. There was slightly more stuff to do now

There's so much. I just think people move on to different things and

You know it could go away for a year and it'd be terrible

But I don't think it would have the same impact that it did 40 years ago. I just don't

But does that then benefit the players because like think it does are gonna be the ones that are gonna be more incentivized

Like we cannot have this be a prolonged lockout and lose kind of the momentum that the sport has had the basketball seasons

It's the other way though because for the owners

And these are all the people that buy teams now. We're seeing an embass mom football right now, especially

There are all these rich dudes these teams are assets to them. They're not they don't have a connection to the city or the fan base

They're these things they buy the same way they would buy companies or whatever

And if they could hold the asset for a year

Not have to spend any money they get to write off all this stupid shit for it try to break the players a little bit and get a cap

Like they're gonna they're gonna do that. They're not gonna care about the fans. I don't I don't feel like

These professional sports teams care about the relationship with fans in the same way that they used to

Where's not just fans? I mean think about how much of the local economy is is you know between stadium workers to

It's devastating employees to the the fact that it's you know smaller U.S. cities around the country have 80 plus events every year

That are guaranteed to provide local broadcast rights local TV

And it goes way beyond billionaires

You know like the one thing you'll say is like oh you're choosing the billionaires over the millionaires when you side with the owners

Which is true and like I'm pro labor but

There's labor beyond just the millionaire players that go into the entire baseball ecosystem

And people kind of leave them out of the mess like they're not the ones that are actually the most impacted out of anybody

You know if Bryce Harper doesn't get paid next year to live

But like if stadium employee number three twenty six that loses their job, you know

You're talking about massive ramifications. Well, you also think about all the bars around the stadium all the restaurants all the stores that are around there

Yeah, you're you're decimating these different locations

Well, and then people will have to turn to the Savannah bananas and we can't have that be something that it takes

Literally baseball. I will make that my mission in life to make people I feel like I had

A little bit of an impact on pickleball because it feels like people you know just a tiny bit

If I helped it anyway great, but

People are down on pickleball now, which I'm delighted by the Savannah banana bananas are next

What do you know about that bill anecdotally pickleball is alive and well

What are your biggest like

Like places where you have kind of flexed your muscles. So you got to use

You got the UCLA coach fired

Or higher I should say you yeah, you got the UCLA coach higher. I mean that's that's gonna be my legacy. Yeah

You've well hold on you've contributed in your mind to the downfall of pickleball

No, just small just a small contribution just okay, just a little if I was able to help in any way great

I think people are knowing that pickleball now

Just takes a little cut and all of a sudden the reflecting pool is green, you know

You just need a little thing to kind of get the ball rolling downhill. I think

The one thing that I feel like I

Actually really helped was Friday night lights weirdly

The TV show I

Think it was gonna get canceled and I wrote this ESP in the magazine piece about it

And they decided not to cancel it in Peterburg and I don't know if this is true or not but Peter Berg the creator

Show like genuinely believes that the column saved the show

So who knows if that's true, but I'll take that one

We never we never would have had Landry and and Tyra

accidentally killed a guy and outside the bar

You know the show just would have been gone. I don't know if you guys watch that show debundo doesn't seem like he did

Do you know I never watch it start to finish. I've seen it just watch season one. It's great

Do you know you're the impact that you're gonna have when you do these things or do you just like find out after the fact like when you go to sit down

The Friday night lighting you're like, you know what?

This is gonna do it and you sit down you say this is how we say the show

That was it happened

The column was I need to help save the show. This is the best show on TV

That was 12-moons of words of me playing like please please watch this show

Um, yeah, so so what is my new what's my new thing now?

The Savannah bananas. Yeah, you gotta stop the span of bananas from taking over major league baseballs

You know if they if they go into a lockout. It's really dark. I'll go to the bananas. It's really it's really one

I was at a bar there tonight and I was tempted to ask the bar to just put something else on

Because it was on

But I literally went through the guide and I was like there's nothing else that I could even recommend right now

Like the Phillies weren't playing I was like man. This is this is dark

Not the manable. I will say ESPN

Feels like it's reverting back to the 1980s with some of the stuff they're showing they've had they had the Pillow fight

Championships last weekend. I don't know if you guys saw this is the summer this summer

But there's like look like football on the other day flag football. Our friend Kyle Brandt was was the color guy and the flag football really

Under 18 championships, but it feels like I don't know whether they lost rights to different stuff

But it feels like they're definitely throwing stuff against the wall lately

What's the basketball league with the trampolines?

slam ball

That was on last summer and my buddy's not a bar like kind of getting into it for a second. Yeah, it's back

My question for any sport is my question with all of these things is will the bundle bet on it?

Will the bundle on sal actually think about wagering on this? That's when you know you've arrived

I don't see that with the Savannah bananas

Saturday night I was in an

Airport delay in Dallas for two and a half hours getting home from Montana and my friend and I sat down and there was

USL which is second division

American soccer on it was

Louisville versus

Tampa Bay and Louisville was up three know at the half and Tampa Bay had this crazy comeback

They won five before and I will say I did check to see if they had

betting odds up they did not so there were no haters placed but it was it was a curiosity thing but uh

Yeah, I have never been on slam ball never been on pitch ball this is the dark days of gambling August no

Yeah, I take some time off. It's nice. Yeah, because we have no

No golf majors yet the FedEx playoffs is here all the tennis stuff is done

There's just you open's coming up. We got the next coming up

No, but I mean for right now. There's nothing. Yeah

There's some season football, which is like

Preseason football is a clear indication whether you have a gambling problem or not

Well, you see that bill the sharp people will tell you that's where they find their big edges

Exactly. That's just a lot of work and it's they off has never been clear to me. So even I don't bet

Preseason football like that's like yeah, that's like a next level thing. Um, all right guys. This is fun

baseball

I'm actually paying attention and watching and I care so we'll do we'll have to do this again Billy Gale. How's college football tailgate going

Ah, we're gearing up for a couple weeks away, right? We're like less than a month at this point

For we have actual games going on. So exciting stuff exciting times the bundle. We'll talk more about Tottenham

Come on you spurs bill. Come on you spurs. We are

17 days till the opener. All right. Thanks guys. Good to see you

This episode is brought to you by Mikalo Baltra

Whether you're racing to build the biggest sandcastle seeing who can throw the fastest pitch or competing

In a championship match. It's always better when there's a prize on the line

Like Mikalo Baltra a smooth refreshing and so satisfying after all that hard work

Superior is worth playing for

Mikalo Baltra superior light beer

Enter for a chance to win superior soccer basketball golf prizes at Mikalo Baltra.com slash

Superior access

Enjoy responsibly copyrighted 2026 in Heizerbush Mikalo Baltra light beer St. Louis, Missouri

For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms every choice matters

Trampaya offers self injection or intravenous infusion from the start

Trampaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks

Followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks

If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Trampaya proper training is required

Trampaya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease

And adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis

Serious allergic reactions increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them and liver problems may occur

Before treatment get checked for infections and tuberculosis tell your doctor if you have an infection

Flu-like symptoms or need a vaccine

Explore what's possible ask your doctor about Trampaya today call

1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit trampayaradio.com

All right my friend David Shoemaker is here. We've been working together for literally 15 years

Since year one grant land all the way through the ringer. Um, do you go summer slam last week? You must have I didn't go

I didn't go as my first one I missed in a while, but I've been moving and doing all this kind of stuff and you know

No miniapolis for you. Yeah

I spent a couple of summers and miniapolis growing up

So I don't I'm not anti-miniapolis

But it probably I heard it was one of the most fun summer slams in a while in terms of just you know

The hanging out and the vibe and stuff. So yeah, I wish I'd been there, but I didn't go this year

Did we definitely need a two-night summer slam just curious

Oh, I appreciate the shorter shows, you know like each night

I appreciate that my like seven-year-old can stay up and watch the main event

You know, and it's not be three in the morning or whatever when it finally drags out because they were getting to a point

Some of those wrestle manias before they went to two nights were just slawped

The New York one was the longest one. I actually think I might still be there with my son. Yes, I think I don't know if we've ever left

I think we entered the seventh circle of hell and they well and they had like four really

dramatic main events in a row at the end

So like and they were all long

The big thing this year is there was just a ton of ads and the matches weren't that long and and if you were just there for the wrestling

You know, you it was a nice fast moving show or whatever, but

There is just a lot of other content. They could have fitted on the one night

I don't know if they could have fit all the ads into one night

But they could have fit for the content and there were a couple of matches like I'm a big Danhausen fan

But that Danhausen Don match would have worked a lot better as like

The third to last match in a in a really long show, you know kind of the popcorn match

As opposed it sort of trying to hold its own so anyway, they could have done with maybe a little less time

I

I zoom through both of them

After the fact after they happened and the ads were an issue

Which I get we all have ads like but it was just different than the old pay-per-view experience

I'm just being able to rip through it

But though the one I cared about the most was the Lesnar match which was you know in the on the first night and one of the

You know, I thought was the main event. Yeah, yeah, I thought it was the single most compelling

Storyline like how many times can Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns have to have some sort of reckoning

This was like a clear torch pass. They have a new guy in this whole legacy of

You know going back to Andre the giant

The Undertaker

Lesnar now the family like the big unstoppable force so it feels like they finally found that right

It does. I mean, I was going through the list myself and I mean it's not there's a little bit of a

You know blurry line between the the next big thing monster edition and just sort of the next big thing

You know like where do you put diesel in this conversation? I guess but like you know

You can definitely put Sid Vicious in that category. Oh, that's a good one. Dressels good too. By the way

Yeah, when Drew McIntyre debuted this was his gimmick. He was the next big day was the chosen one

You know, he was Vince's thing but he was really slight like he wasn't the same Drew McIntyre he is today

Right

But but it's been you know, and you can put a little bit of Bobby lashley a little bit of Randy Orton a little bit of even John

See in a Roman Reigns, you know, those guys are in that category is like we have our eye on you

We know like you know contract negotiations be damned. We're gonna say out loud that you're our next star

You know

um, and it's it's a really it's a huge moment, you know, I've known Oba Femi to talk to him to say hey to him since his next

C. Day is obviously and

And he's just a really great dude man. I mean just really he's like he's a true believer

He's the exact kind of guy you'd want in that spot and it's really amazing to see

How quick his rise has been and how justified it's felt

Well and from a real-life standpoint

six foot five

Six four he's a big dude six six

Uh, yeah, he's probably six probably six like legit six five like he was he was you know

Notisably bigger than me and that's not usually the case when I'm hanging out with wrestlers

Well wrestling is sem for three

sem for two

Exactly sem for two five hundred pounds

I said the NBA agent should send their players just to go hang out with wrestlers all the time during the pre draft stuff

Let me check it out. According to the according to the tape. They're all like seven and a half feet tall now

What a hogan was

six six six five

Sure hogan in his prime was probably a legit six five six six me. He was a really really big guy

um, and

by the time that you know

I interviewed him on

cheap heat back at Grantland by the and certainly by the time that we interviewed him for the vent stock

He was he was declining in size a little bit. Yeah a lot of

The both hip surgery is I think both hips replaced a couple of times and I think some back stuff too

I mean he and and that's just you know in just general shrinkage, you know

He had he had come down quite a bit

Andre was listed at seven four was probably like six ten six eleven at his peak

and then

Pre after like the vertebrae started going on and we probably ended up it around six seven

But yeah, but the big show

Probably six nine six ten

And he's keeping it together for the most part a lot of these big guys have leg have have not just knee surgeries

But like Kevin Ashtis had a corrective leg situation a couple years ago

We got a lot of like blood patlet plat whatever's like shot up into his knee in Mexico

He's a whole new man

I mean obviously Andre turned down some surgeries that could have prolonged his life right

Pretty significantly along the way. So I mean, and that's a medical condition as opposed to well

I think big show has it a little bit

But but there's a lot where you can do to keep the keep going you know to like stop from

curving over whatever

The more finance when they try to annoy the next

Giant unstoppable guy, but the guy's terrible like giant Gonzalez

Oh my god, I mean even all the way to like I was

Vladimir Cosloff like there's so many just like weird gigantic like scary dudes who we just thought we're gonna be but

You know during the whole Kogan era there were so many feuds

It was just Hogan versus a monster and you had to keep finding people who looked physically imposing next to a guy who was already the biggest dude

You know in the business all you know one of the biggest dudes in the business. So yeah, there were a lot of

He I think the whole Kogan is responsible for skewing

The the size charts for a for a whole generation, right? You know you like like in any other promotion Hogan

So guy of Hogan size would have been the heel

They would have kept the five 10 guy that they were crawling six one as the hero you know and and it but it all got thrown

Well, that was the RNA as Hogan was one of the best like when Hogan was heel

He was one of the best heels ever big John stud was kind of the underrated one from that. Oh, yeah

I'm I love different runs that was it was yeah, he was but he he was legitimate like if you saw him in person

He seemed like a legitimate six 10 6 11

Yeah, I think with a lot of these dudes

It's you get the impression of their size even in person even if even if the size is fake like John Cena and Stone Cold Steve Austin

I'm probably an inch taller than both of them, but both of them feel twice as big as me in person, you know and and you know

Giant Gonzalez. I'm sure did not feel like as tall as he was he's a very wispy seven footer

Um, and then you like the same punk guys who are like shockingly

Not as big as you think they are

Yeah, but punk is also tall. I mean like he strikes you as tall in person too

He's been he's gotten into crazy good shape over the past you know several years or whatever

Um, but yeah, it's just that it's when you've just carried around on that muscle forever

And then it just sort of congeals into asphalt as you become an old man, you know those those guys are like I don't think

I think I could work out for five years and not be able to pick up Steve Austin off the ground

You know, he's just he just the guys like that are just so intimidating where

W W is it's this is right after the hot streak

Which has happened a few times in history where it's like we had this incredible run everything's going great

And then it's like

It's right after you're still sustaining it, but you kind of know it's not the same and it feels like a little bit of a low right now

Right, so I wrote my book quite a why Hogan matters. I have to wave it around that my job

But this is but but Hogan was the like for people of our generation Hogan was the original

Apex right it was that the rock and wrestling the whole commandia era was so big

And at the time it seemed like it'll be like this forever

But of course we know now what every wrestling promoter prior to Hogan knew very well

Which is the wrestling's incredibly cyclical right and it's about it's like it's like boxing where you got to have the right fight

But it's just it's a broader almost like it's hard. It's inexplicable

You know, it just goes up and down and up and down and I think that for if you're running a wrestling company the real

I mean, there's basically like two knobs that you can control one is delay gratification put it off as long as you can

The way Cody Rhodes lost his first WrestleMania of match against Roman Reigns, right?

Right and two is just keep try to drag out the top for as long as you can

That's why we had Hogan Andre at WrestleMania and then Hogan Andre again at the first summer slant

You know, they found ways to keep the thing going and going and going

Well, then they made match them in the champ but Hogan was still the biggest draw

Yeah, that's

Where comes in

Get him that they did the squash matches with Andre the giant all over the place to build him up

Mm-hmm

But yeah, by 91 that kind of ran out of moves

They yeah, there's not there's only so much you could do and so right now

Yeah, I think we're in the post peak from the moment that we were all saying I can't believe it's this big again with Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes

Relatively knew that to WWE and see him punk very new to WWE. That was the real peak

Um, and then and and I'm sure that I guarantee like, you know the folks at the TKO headquarters are not saying

Well, we all know it's a cycle, but you know that they're saying

How do we stay this big forever? How do we get bigger? Yeah, but

It's just now a man you're kind of riding the wave and it's really we're gonna be interesting to see like how far it goes down

And how far and how quickly can start going back up? It's not a bad spot right now at all