July 4, 2025 • 33 mins
Today on this 4th of July edition of 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe, Jason Fitz & Buck Reising discuss why baseball doesn't have the same effect on holidays as football does on Christmas + dive into a new report out after ACC’s legal settlement with Clemson and FSU!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of two pros and a couple
Joe with Lamar Arrington, Rating Win and Jonas Knox on
Fox four Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Oh, you can feel the electricity in the air.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
The fireworks will.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Be there for us tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It is the fourth of July, and we are here
for every ounce of the fun that we are about
to have in the next several hours.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Buck Rising Jason Fitz.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Usually I'll be honest, you know what, Buck, Usually I'll
be honest. I start most shows in most hours with
sort of a monologue in a statement. But today it's
a fourth of July, man, Like you know, it just
feels like today is a day for us to peel
back a little bit, for us not to be as
serious as so many people are. Like today's a day
of glorious celebration. I feel like people driving around right
(00:48):
now that are getting to start their day need the
reminder that this is an awesome day.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
It's just there's something about the fourth.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
I'm not usually a sentimental guy or a guy that
really like gets war.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
He gives me a look. I'm not I'm not that guy,
but I don't know. The fourth hits me.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Brother, Oh please, you spent the first three hours that
we did one of these shows together talking about, oh,
we've known each other for ten years and oh this
is so special for both of us that I just.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Looked at you.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
It's like, it's seven in the morning. Leave me alone.
What are you talking about?
Speaker 6 (01:18):
What do you mean you're not a sentimental guy?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Okay, you don't have a heart. Okay, Like if we
are all playing.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Roles on the Wizard of Oz, you were definitely the
ten men, and I'm definitely the cowardly.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Oh that's so rude, so rude to greet me with
on this Independence Day. You know what I want independence from?
I want independence from fireworks. I'm so sick of this.
I tried so hard to go to bed through the
fireworks last night.
Speaker 6 (01:42):
Who the hell told you could shoot all fireworks.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
On July third? I almost I was almost at person fifty.
I almost went outside and yelled at the neighbor and said,
I have to be up at four am.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
Cut it out. I'm so close.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I once in my life when I was living in
Nashville one time and they we were lighting fireworks off
on the I think it was on the third. And
I've been gone so much. I didn't know that there
was a like a drought warning or whatever. So she
called the cops and they came and dancing at about
like eleven thirty at night.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
They came in, let us know what we can do.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I look, I respected, I respect the crotchety old man
for you. Like because look, especially in certain parts of
the country, the third of July has become this big like, hey,
we know you're gonna go downtown on the fourth, so
we're gonna do our side community fireworks. People are gonna
have people over, like the third of July it is
its own little party. And while I agree with you,
(02:37):
I think we came to the consensus.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yesterday that fireworks are overrated.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
But we figured out in that conversation that it's not
just fireworks for you, it's really the crowds. The crowds
are overrated. The third of July should be your day, brother, Like,
you can get all the fireworks you need on the
third of July. You can have all of the fun
you need, and you don't have any of the pressure
of the crowds of the fourth.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Like this feels like this is a a good thing
for you.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
The third should be your silly day.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
I'm willing to accept that.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Listen, I'm open to negotiations on this because I understand.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
That it is Independence Day.
Speaker 5 (03:10):
We get to celebrate living and working and being a
part of the greatest country in the world.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
I am one hundred percent for that.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
I am one hundred percent for everything that it stands for, except.
Speaker 6 (03:22):
These damn fireworks. I swear it's just it's the one thing.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
But you're right, it's really more about the crowds and
the celebration to me, and we have I think somewhere
in the neighborhood of one point six million people flooding
the city of Nashville where I'm broadcasting from FITZI and
Connecticut and the rest of the crew hanging out in
La this evening or I guess this morning. So we
(03:46):
always do it big, right, Nashville as a city does
it big for Fourth of July. And I'm also proud
of that because it's one of the most impressive fireworks
displays anywhere in the country, to be honest with you,
and the way that the music community here rallies around
the celebration to make sure that everybody has a great time.
It's a really cool and special thing. So I'm gonna
(04:07):
ease myself out of the crotchetiness, if that's even a word,
this morning, and we'll see if we can't have some fun.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
We got a lot that we're gonna get to over
the course of the morning.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Including why that fireworks display is not only amazing in
Nashville but also wildly difficult. I'll explain that later in
the show, but in the meantime, I had this philosophical
question for you this morning, because this is what usually happens.
I've been lucky enough, and I do mean lucky enough
to work on the fourth of July for most of
(04:38):
my adult life, music before and now radio, I'm always
sort of working on the fourth. I like working on
the fourth. I think this is an incredible opportunity to
hang out with people on a day where people just
have a good spirit. But here's the conversation so often
that happens on the fourth, so often when we start
these shows, somebody else, why doesn't Major League Baseball own
(04:58):
the Fourth of July?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Baseball hot Dog apple Pie like Total.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
America through and through?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And I got to thinking about that weirdly this morning
when I woke up and I couldn't sleep, like I
was sitting there thinking about the philosophical question of why
doesn't baseball own the Fourth of July?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And I kept thinking, it's easier said than done.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And what hits me is, you know, for three years,
I was the sideline reporter for the Hot Dog Eating Contest,
and I don't think my phone has ever blown up
more than it did for whatever reason, the Nathan's Famous
Hot Dog Eating Contest owns the.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Fourth of July, like everybody watches it.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Well, look, there's a full slate of Major League Baseball games,
like Baseball is putting things on. I don't know that
the simple concept of we're going to own this day
is easier said than done. What the NFL has accomplished
with owning Thanksgiving and now taking Christmas from the NBA
is so particularly special. I don't think we should necessarily
(05:54):
assume that anyone else can do it. Like there's no
one magical pixie dust in the air, and it's gonna
make people stop their fourth their gliant so, you know,
whatever they want to do today, I want to check
out the Red Sox game, Like.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
That isn't real.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
And I think that's there's a couple of things to that, right,
what's the biggest.
Speaker 6 (06:11):
Difference between football and baseball? FITSI one's fun to watch
and the other isn't.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
Oh, why you see you're talking about everybody having good spirits,
good energy.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
Today.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
I come in here shaking a fist at the sun,
literally at the sky, while people are shooting fireworks off
and you side swipe baseball.
Speaker 6 (06:30):
Now, the biggest difference, the biggest difference.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Good morning, by the way, We're happy to have you
here on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
We really are. We're gonna have a good time. The
biggest difference to me is the inventory.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Right There is such a premium placed on the NFL
because there are only seventeen regular season games.
Speaker 6 (06:47):
And we thirst for it.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
It's an oasis in the sports desert each and every
year where I'm you know, I'm scrolling Twitter yesterday, and
there's plenty of things going on, but the vast majority
of my timeline is consumed by football stuff because people
are craving football. Cam Ward, for example, here with the
Tennessee Titans. He's in Miami, He's throwing to his receivers.
(07:09):
People are around the country going to different places, working
out with their teammates in this dead time, and still
that is more captivating to I think a good portion
of the sports consuming audience than regular season baseball is.
Right now, it's just an inventory thing to me. There's
so many baseball games, and especially this I know it's
(07:29):
to say that. I mean it's early in the season.
It's early in the season at this point in time,
even though we are past the halfway point for all
intents and purposes, I just I have a hard time
gravitating towards things if you're just talking about me, and
maybe this speaks for other people in the audience, have
(07:50):
a hard time being captivated by something that I know
still has eighty something games to go. In principle, and
that this is not the most important time of year.
July fourth is not the most important time of year
for a baseball team jockeying for position.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
In the standings. It's just simply not so.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
With that in mind, I think that the time in
the sports calendar should belong to baseball, but it's not nearly.
It's not an equivalent of the NFL and what the
NFL means when you know that even though there are
more or games spread across more days than there ever
has been, surely by the time either. You know, in
(08:30):
twenty years from now, there will be football seven days.
Speaker 6 (08:33):
A week and we'll all rejoice as a result as.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
The NFL continues to try and dominate things both home
and abroad. Right that's really the biggest difference to me.
I just don't I don't think that that baseball is
in a position to own a specific day, especially when
this specific day just happens to fall right in the
middle of their season.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I mean, I had somebody walk up to me at
a bar yesterday. I didn't know, and he immediately like
first seen he says, is forty five days until.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
College football is back. That's it.
Speaker 6 (09:04):
Like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
And his first thing he says, and he's like, I
just need something on TV that's sports. And I looked around.
I'm like, there's baseball on like three TVs right now, dude.
And maybe that's what planted the seed of this concept.
But you're right in the sense that you know, peel
behind the curtain a little bit. My first radio job
where Buck and I met was at a station there
was a flagship for the Nashville Predators, and it was
(09:27):
funny to me. I remember distinctly the first fall that
I worked, and it was October, and because we were
the flagship for the station, the broadcast partner of the
Nashville Predators, we were getting yelled at by certain people
at the Preds because we weren't talking enough hockey in October.
And I remember so distinctly looking at our bosses at
the time and saying, the third line defensive pairings of
(09:50):
a hockey game in October don't matter right now, like
people only care about college football in the NFL right now.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
And it was funny.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
You're right, It's hard to make one moment matter. And
this is part of the reason why when people say
the NBA playoffs are too long, okay, well, I mean
they're never going to reduce the NBA playoffs. They might
reduce the regular season someday if they absolutely have to,
although I don't think they will. Same with the NHL,
like the playoff inventory is the only thing that matters.
I think Major League Baseball has become that in so
(10:18):
many ways, Like we get swept up in playoff baseball,
but because there is such great drama to playoff baseball
that you simply can't replicate.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
You can't replicate the meaning of.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
That result in a sport that has so many games.
So you're right, like there's zero, there's zero sales pitch.
You can be done around Mets Yankees today. That's gonna
make Mets Yankees particularly interesting to somebody that doesn't really
care about football or baseball. But when we get to Thanksgiving,
it's super easy to say, hey, these particular games matter,
(10:50):
turn them on.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
It becomes a family tradition.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I also think we forget how long it takes something
to become a tradition.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
And that's and that's kind of that's.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
Kind of the difficult spot that baseball is in, right
because they still do refer to the sport as America's
pastime when it's not anymore right. It had its run,
it had a great run as America's pastime.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
It's having a resurgence right now with attendance.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
People are happy to this zooing what about no?
Speaker 6 (11:15):
And I don't mean this to like I feel like
this is the problem.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
The biggest problem for me is anytime we have a
conversation about baseball, it sounds like it's denigrading the sport,
and the sport is in a pretty healthy place. It
would seem there are star players across the board. There
are interesting storylines across the board, and to say that
baseball is not capable maybe of captivating the national audience
(11:41):
across the board on July fourth sounds like a shot
at baseball. But I don't mean it to be just.
I think that there are a couple of different things
working against it. I don't think it's a problem that
Baseball has to fix, right, it's just kind of this
ancillary conversation around it, and it's compounded by some that
you sent to our group text as we were kind
(12:02):
of preparing for the show yesterday evening into this morning, FITZI,
which is that a lot of these games, with the
way that the broadcast rights have been redistributed or will
continue to be redistributed, you're not seeing a lot of
these games, or as many of these games as you
might otherwise, because I think there's a disconnect between the
(12:23):
baseball audience, like the crux of the baseball audience, and
where you can actually go to find these games with
the streamers. Now, Apple TV had the Yankees last night,
if I'm not mistaken, and there were so many things
happening in that game that people probably were not aware
of because there's not that many people, but at least
(12:44):
not yet.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
The numbers don't bear it out yet.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
There's not that many people who are outright gravitating towards
Apple TV to stream their baseball games. And maybe that'll
change over time, and consumer habits will change over time,
and that'll become a more normalized thing. But as it's
still somewhat in its infancy. I know Apple's had baseball
for several years now. This is not a new thing necessarily,
(13:06):
but especially right now when the games are not at
a premium for your attention, are you really going out
of your way to seek out different streaming services to
make sure that you can catch one hundred and sixty
two baseball names. I just don't think the vast majority
of people are doing that.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
He's buck rising out, Jason Fitz. We're just getting rolling
in for two pros and a cup of Joe this morning.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
We'll break all of that down. Got a lot we're
gonna get to.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
But up next, I'm gonna help all of you degenerates
that want to bet on the hot dog eating contest.
I got inside you. You absolutely got to have. We'll
do it next on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
Be sure to.
Speaker 7 (13:39):
Catch live editions of Two Pros and a Cup of
Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and Jonas Knox weekdays
at six am Eastern, three am Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (13:53):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben
Mallor with mean a lot to have you join us
on our weekly auditory journey dress What in God's name
is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's a spin
off of it. Ben Mathershaw a cult hit overnights on FSR.
Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world
will We chat with captains of industry in media, sports
and more every week explore some amazing facts about human
(14:16):
nature and more. Listen to The Fifth Hour with Ben
Mather or the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
There's no faster way to grab somebody's attention then to
mention the words super in sports, whether you're talking about
super teams, whether you're talking about super leagues.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
It does seem.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
To bring a little extra gravitas to any conversation. Good morning,
Happy fourth of July. It's Two Pros and a Cup
of Joe. He's Jason Fitz I'm Buck Rising filling in
for the guys here this morning on Fox Sports Radio,
and there is a story about potentially a college football
power for conference trying to join a super league that
(15:00):
we're going to going to get into and break down
with you here in just a few moments. But as
we have been sitting here for about an hour and
a half at this point this morning, FITSI the Twitter
reaction has started to roll in, and I wonder what
the feedback are you. Are you worried that the WNBA
hater and detractor that doesn't actually watch the WNBA has
(15:21):
infiltrated your mentions and is telling you how stupid we are.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
No, No, see, the problem is, and this is how
you know you had a good take on something when
you don't get anybody yelling at you one way or
the other because it can't really yell like it's like, oh,
that's a prety good point. So you know, we'll see
what the WNBA haters say. But RB did ask me
to confirm that you're thirty one. He said he's thirty three,
and he said, buddy.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Sounds forty.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So I would just point out that, you know, Buck
is an old soul in a young body.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
I mean, it is a little alarming when.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
People like, if you see Buck too, he doesn't really
look like his voice. I mean it is there's a
whole thing going on here, Buck, So just confirm for
the world that you are thirty one.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
I am thirty one. I will be thirty two in
sixteen days from now. Oh, sixteen day, sixteen days. Are
we having a part, hey, I'm having several.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
I like to spread the birthday out across a couple
of different dates because it is what my birthday represents
to me, because that's of course what people want to
hear about on July fourth, as we broadcast here on
Fox Sports Radio. What my birthday represents to me is
my last weekend of freedom before NFL training camp agains.
It's always the last or the last week or weekend before.
(16:33):
In my case, as I'm here in Nashville, Fitzy and
Connecticut and the rest of the crew, Megan, it happened
out of Los Angeles. I cover the Tennessee Titans for
a living. Tennessee Titans coverage involves day to day training
camp coverage, and so once that happens, my nights, my
weekends evaporate until basically the NFL Combine and the rest
(16:53):
of the you know, which is enjoyable because it means
football is back. It's back in our lives. It's the
most important thing and it will. It makes life a
lot easier, especially in jobs like this when you have
actual football to talk about as opposed to the most
interesting storylines in training camp and things like that. But yeah,
so my days as a thirty one year old are
soon coming to an end. That person is correct, but
(17:14):
I will simply be thirty two.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Bri, producer extraordinaire. Did you just catch the Buck Rising
Cities having multiple parties?
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Did you catch that multiple parties?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
I also have thirty ones.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
That really stresses me out because I feel like I
sound like I'm twelve compared to Buck.
Speaker 6 (17:29):
Okay, yeah that is.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Yeah, but that's years of smoking and drinking Tila, no, no, breeze.
Brie and I haven't met in person officially, but just
based on our conversations here working together these last couple
of weeks, I would take away Bri being a bit
more wholesome than somebody like me who lives a lifestyle
(17:54):
of a degenerate here in Nashville, Tennessee, which is as
close to Vegas as anybody's comfortable getting without having to
actually go to Vegas.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Follow up question here, Mighty Mark also part of the
team and we always hang out on the Fellaws. You
can check Buck and I also tomorrow morning for the Fellaws.
Mighty Mark, did you catch Buck Rising saying something about
multiple parties? I just want to make sure we all
heard the same thing. Mighty Mark, did you hear the
same thing multiple parties?
Speaker 4 (18:18):
I think I was queueing up music. I didn't hear
the words, So.
Speaker 6 (18:22):
Okay, let me reiterate.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
I am having multiple birthday parties for myself.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
Because I like to have.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Okay, now, just follow up question, Mighty Mark, have you
m Bree both, if you could chime in on this,
have either of you gotten an invite to a single
one of these multiple parties that are.
Speaker 6 (18:38):
Happening from Buck?
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
No, No, well, of course not.
Speaker 7 (18:43):
He barely just knows us.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Why would he invite us?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Well, I just I'm just confirming because I also haven't
had an invite to single birthday.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
I've known him ten years and he doesn't have an
invite to all of these things either.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
I mean, like you, we are just sitting here working together,
and it's like.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
Yeah, I'm gonna have a dozen.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Parties all over the North America.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
In multiple different cities, one in Nashville. I'm going to
San Diego for a week. We're gonna have a couple
of nights there throughout the course of the week. And
none of this is happening on my actual birthday, which
will be a celebration unto itself. I think my birthday
falls on a Sunday this year, which is not terribly convenient,
but you.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
Know, we'll make it work.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
Here's the thing, though, I don't know you are all
over the place. This is not a justification, simply fact.
If you want to bring fact to an argument in
the way that we were shouting down WNBA detractors in
the last segment, you're in Connecticut, Bud. If you happen
to end up in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday this coming Saturday,
July the.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
Twelfth, when we are going to dinner and then.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
Taking in the UFC fight at Bridgestone Arena, you are
more than welcome to attend. If you happen to be
in San Diego for the four days that I'm spending
out San Diego with a group of friends with multiple
nights of celebration, then you are more than welcome to attend.
I will invite you to any of these things. You
are in a different part of the world. I'm not
coming to Connecticut, even though I love you dearly. There's
not really much you would do to get me to
(20:01):
the state of Connecticut, not to not to, you know,
detract from one of our great states in this mighty
union on this Independence Day.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
But Connecticut, I'm good. I'm all said.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Wow, if I said the word speedo, does that change
any of those opinions.
Speaker 6 (20:16):
For who you were?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Me?
Speaker 3 (20:18):
You tell me.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Now that we've made the.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
Entire both matching banana hammocks.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Match that's Can we make that, bree, Can we make
that the name of the show tomorrow? Matching banana hammocks?
Speaker 6 (20:31):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I don't think. Yeah, I'm gonna try not to get
us fired.
Speaker 6 (20:34):
You look up what a banana hammock is?
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Hey, you know what this is?
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Hey, We're just it's all fine. That's probably the best.
That's probably the nicest thing anybody would ever say. If
Buck and I walked into a room in speedo, is
it's it's all fine.
Speaker 6 (20:54):
Well, you know, what that's just fine college football?
Speaker 4 (20:57):
You mentioned? Is college football going to be fine?
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Buck?
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Look at that segue. Look at that sure, I mean
just that is a transition of.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
The so tickled with himself for being able to do that.
I mean, is college football going to be fine? I
don't know.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
You work with a lot of college football people in
your responsibilities for Yahoo. Obviously FITSI and SEC Country. We
talk a great deal of college football here. It is,
I would argue, it is the most important thing to
the local audience here is the tribal nature of college football.
Even though we do have a professional football team. We
have a professional hockey hockey team. We have an MLS
(21:30):
team that's won or has thirteen unbeaten results in a row,
and getting ready to play the Philadelphia Union tomorrow, which
is going to be crazy. It's crazy what Nashville SC
is doing. And Yeah, and you've played that stadium. You
have had the or at least you have been a
part of the opening ceremonies for that stadium.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
In fact, was that like the first.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, I opened that stadium, played the national anthem for
the first ever game in that stadium.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
I have videos. It was like a proud stage mom.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
I was taking videos of him Brion Mark on my
phone from the stands as he broadcasts the violin rendition
of the national anthem and the opening salvo of Gioda's
Park here in Nashville. But anyway, if you talk to
college football people and you ask them that specific question,
is it going to be fine? It depends on what
(22:18):
your entryway into that conversation is. I guess. So what
I'm trying to say is, like the health of the sport.
Is college football on the field as healthy as it's
ever been? One could argue, yes, I think that the name,
image and likeness situation. I think that the transfer portal
situation has allowed there to be has allowed there to
(22:42):
be more competitiveness top to bottom, Whereas it's not just
the top four teams that we're talking about in any
given year, and even in a twelve team playoff format, right,
you're still getting the cream rising.
Speaker 6 (22:54):
To the top.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
The best teams will ultimately end up having the best
results and will weed out the SMUs and the Indianas
of the world, respectfully to my alma mater and all
these different things. So, like the health of the sport,
I think it's in a good spot where it's not
just one program, not just Nick Saban dominating things, even
though Kirby Smart is recruiting at Georgia is at as
(23:18):
high of a level as Nick Saban was during the
height of his powers. Right Clemson getting back into the
mixed Ohio state winning the most recent recent national championship.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
I'm a Notre Dame fan.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
If you'd have told me that Notre Dame would be
playing for a national championship last year prior to the
season beginning, I want to spittaked. I want to laughed
in your face and spit out whatever my eighteen dollars
coffee beverage was that morning. Like that's just to see
all the different things about the on field product that
still have that meaning. But the business component of this
(23:51):
can wear people down. It wears down the diehards, and
they'll still show up on Saturdays and we'll all still
make college football the second most popular sport in America
with the way that we consume it. But to get
there and all the different shift the way that the
ground constantly shifts under your feet is being discussed in
this sixty eight page agreement that was obtained by the
(24:12):
Athletic where the ACC which has been embattled or at
least some of its member programs have been embattled in
seventeenth month litigation with Florida State and cleansing at this
point where the idea of a super league being potentially floated,
not necessarily likely to happen, but just the opportunity for
a super league to be created if these member institutions
(24:35):
were to be were to be able to trigger this
clause in the agreement to leave the ACC for a
seventy five million dollars sum from twenty thirty to twenty
thirty one through twenty thirty six, which is the final
year of the contract. Those things do, I think give
college football fans and college football diehards just a little
(24:56):
bit of angst and anxiety, and you know, just a
little additional stress like why can't you just leave the
thing that we know works alone? Why can't you just
continue to let us have our college football traditions, our
traditional conferences, rather than just strip this thing down to
the studs and trying to maximize the profits on it
the way that they've clearly done, similar to an NFL model.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Well, similar to an NFL model is an important part
of this he's Buck Rising, I'm Jason Fitz. We're in
for two pros and a cup of Joe on Fox
Sports Radio. And I think part of the reason that
the NFL model needs to be part of the conversation
is that's where I believe we're headed.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
And I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Like again, this is where I don't emotionally get invested
in much of anything, right, So I'm just sort of
a person that steps back and says, Okay, this seems
fairly inevitable. I love college football. It is my favorite
sport to care to cover. I am honored to say
that I have a Bolitanikov Award vote. I get to
vote for the best wide receiver in college football every year.
My media accomplishments in college football are the proudest things
(25:55):
that I've done. I absolutely love the sport, and if
it changes, I'm okay with that. I think we just
have to look around at this ACC deal and remind
ourselves because to Bucks point, the way the clause is written, essentially,
if six teams choose to leave the ACC to go
join a super conference, those six teams would have to
pay seventy five million dollars each and they would be
(26:16):
capable of doing that. Seventy five million dollars is less
than a buyout for Jimbo Fisher, like.
Speaker 6 (26:21):
Dropping a bucket. It's like ten dollars less.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
So you know, I'm looking around and I'm saying, that's
not an outclause, that's an out invitation, right, And it
leads me more and more to this inevitability of a superconference.
And I hear it when people say, well, that stinks.
Here's the thing. If you like, I'm right down the
road from University Connecticut, if you're a Yukon football fan,
you're a Yukon football fan, but you know that Yukon
(26:46):
football ain't playing for a national championship, right, So at
some point I think we're gonna end up with a
system where the Yukons of the world can play whatever
insert other team that maybe the Indianas of the world
that may or may not even be part of this.
You know, I think we're going to have a situation
where football separates itself from everybody else, and then schools
(27:06):
are going to have the opportunity to decide do they
want to handle football like the.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Big boys in this super conference? Do they want to
be in a middle tier.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Like look, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater has a very successful
Division III program, all right, so they want a lot
of national championships and people go to those games and
they care about those games. Do we nationally sit there
and flock to a UWW game, No we don't, right,
But at some point every school is going to have
to decide do they want to be whatever this second
(27:36):
tier is or do they want to be in the
super conference?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
And if you want to be in the super.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Conference, it's going to require a huge investment in salary
caps and a collective bargaining agreement and all of these
different things. And that's complicated. But through it all, if
you are wired your entire life to be a Georgia
football fan, as long as you can still be a
Georgia football fan, you're going to be a Georgia football fan.
And I just that's the part of this that everybody
(27:59):
gets worked up. And here college football people tell me, oh,
it's the death of the sport.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
No it isn't.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
It's just the evolution of the sport. It's a change
to the sport. And you know, frankly, jarring change hurts
everybody in every sport.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
I remember growing up as a kid with.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
The Seattle Seahawks's arrival because the Seattle Seahawks were in
the AFC West, Like I rooted against the Seattle Seahawks.
They're now in the NFC West, and nobody sits there
and remembers that anymore, Like we don't remember how different
these conferences looked like when it was a Big eight,
like right, right, So I just think, as much as
everybody's running around like Kermit the Frog with their arms
(28:33):
in their ah every one of these changes in five years.
As long as you can watch your favorite football team
play for some version of a.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
Championship, you're gonna keep watching it.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
And the small audiences for the small schools will have
small audiences with small schools, and the big ones will
have big ones.
Speaker 5 (28:50):
College football is unique this way, though, because I mentioned
the tribal nature of SEC fandom and stuff like that,
and the way that traditions have have held stood the
test of time, essentially in this sport versus a lot
of other sports, where you're right that evolution has come
for a lot of different sports, be the the NFL,
(29:11):
the WNBA, like we were talking about earlier, Baseball has
had to go through changes, and that's some of the
most some of the most crimudgety, you know, reticent to
change fans that you can have who are probably happier
with the idea that they can go to a baseball
game and get out of there in under three hours
at this point in their life based.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
On the right.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
It's just like these things, they will become more ingrained
as more time passes, to your point, but college football fandom,
they feel differently about it. And maybe it's just because
I'm in the southeast part of the country and I
feel this more viscerally from the audience that I work
with on a local basis as opposed to what we
(29:52):
do here nationally on Fox Sports Radio. But that is
something that that's the most common refrain that I get
that we have been able to hold up. We've been
able to continue to do this and do it our
way and still be America's second most popular sport after
the NFL.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Why are these changes having to come?
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Now?
Speaker 5 (30:11):
This is not the college football that I know. It's
not the college football that I love, and that's fine,
and those people, there are some people who will go
to their grave with that, and some people will eventually
adapt to those changes and just be able to watch
the best games, because that's.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
I'm more like you, FITZI than I am.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
The diehard college football fan in this particular arena, because
I just want to watch the best teams playing as
many games as humanly possible, and if a super league
accomplishes that to where I can watch Texas and Michigan
on a regular basis, or Alabama and Clemson on a
regular basis, or whatever power for program versus another power
for program that you might not otherwise get unless you
(30:51):
went to a super team power conference model or a
super conference model. In this particular case, I just don't
see what the issue is because that's going to be
the best, the best entertainment value for my dollar, whether
I'm paying for YouTube TV, a cable subscription, any one
of these streaming services that now carry college football. I
(31:13):
think Peacock now has Notre Dame games on a regular
basis and things like that. It's just that you're going
to have you're going to have a harder time with
college football die hard in this particular thing. Evolution not
lost on me that you would have trouble with an
evolution theory in the South, But you know, what I'm
saying like this is.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
He's a rising.
Speaker 5 (31:35):
By the way, listen, they got me locally.
Speaker 6 (31:38):
They know what this is.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
That's it's I love you all very very much, but
you understand my point. They're just going to It's gonna
take them more time and they're you're gonna have to
drag them kicking and screaming, but eventually we're all going
to move in the same direction.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, And everybody that's sitting here resisting it at this
point is spitting in the wind. That's the thing to me.
It's wasted energy. Every single legal challenge that has tried
to thwart the player's ability at college football to get
paid and to have name, image likeness, to have transfer capability,
every single legal challenge that has been made has been lost.
(32:13):
So if you're sitting here saying, oh my god, I
want the college football that I had of old, I
will remind you that it has been challenged in court,
not the court of public opinion. It has been challenged
by actual judges, and it has been ripped apart. So
if your answer is it was great the way it was,
and scholarships work and blah blah blah blah blah, guess what.
(32:35):
The courts, the US judicial system decided you are wrong.
So you just got to hear it, acknowledge it, and
move on from it. And that's the hardest thing for
people do. So what's it mean for the future and
what's it gonna look like. We'll keep breaking it down.
He's Buck Rising, I'm Jason Fitz. We are hanging out
with you on a glorious fourth of July edition of
Two Pros and a Cup of Joe on Fox Sports Radio.
This is the best of two pros and a couple
Joe with Lamar Arrington, Rating Win and Jonas Knox on
Fox four Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Oh, you can feel the electricity in the air.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
The fireworks will.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Be there for us tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It is the fourth of July, and we are here
for every ounce of the fun that we are about
to have in the next several hours.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Buck Rising Jason Fitz.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Usually I'll be honest, you know what, Buck, Usually I'll
be honest. I start most shows in most hours with
sort of a monologue in a statement. But today it's
a fourth of July, man, Like you know, it just
feels like today is a day for us to peel
back a little bit, for us not to be as
serious as so many people are. Like today's a day
of glorious celebration. I feel like people driving around right
(00:48):
now that are getting to start their day need the
reminder that this is an awesome day.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
It's just there's something about the fourth.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
I'm not usually a sentimental guy or a guy that
really like gets war.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
He gives me a look. I'm not I'm not that guy,
but I don't know. The fourth hits me.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Brother, Oh please, you spent the first three hours that
we did one of these shows together talking about, oh,
we've known each other for ten years and oh this
is so special for both of us that I just.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Looked at you.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
It's like, it's seven in the morning. Leave me alone.
What are you talking about?
Speaker 6 (01:18):
What do you mean you're not a sentimental guy?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Okay, you don't have a heart. Okay, Like if we
are all playing.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Roles on the Wizard of Oz, you were definitely the
ten men, and I'm definitely the cowardly.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Oh that's so rude, so rude to greet me with
on this Independence Day. You know what I want independence from?
I want independence from fireworks. I'm so sick of this.
I tried so hard to go to bed through the
fireworks last night.
Speaker 6 (01:42):
Who the hell told you could shoot all fireworks.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
On July third? I almost I was almost at person fifty.
I almost went outside and yelled at the neighbor and said,
I have to be up at four am.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
Cut it out. I'm so close.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I once in my life when I was living in
Nashville one time and they we were lighting fireworks off
on the I think it was on the third. And
I've been gone so much. I didn't know that there
was a like a drought warning or whatever. So she
called the cops and they came and dancing at about
like eleven thirty at night.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
They came in, let us know what we can do.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I look, I respected, I respect the crotchety old man
for you. Like because look, especially in certain parts of
the country, the third of July has become this big like, hey,
we know you're gonna go downtown on the fourth, so
we're gonna do our side community fireworks. People are gonna
have people over, like the third of July it is
its own little party. And while I agree with you,
(02:37):
I think we came to the consensus.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yesterday that fireworks are overrated.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
But we figured out in that conversation that it's not
just fireworks for you, it's really the crowds. The crowds
are overrated. The third of July should be your day, brother, Like,
you can get all the fireworks you need on the
third of July. You can have all of the fun
you need, and you don't have any of the pressure
of the crowds of the fourth.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Like this feels like this is a a good thing
for you.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
The third should be your silly day.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
I'm willing to accept that.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Listen, I'm open to negotiations on this because I understand.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
That it is Independence Day.
Speaker 5 (03:10):
We get to celebrate living and working and being a
part of the greatest country in the world.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
I am one hundred percent for that.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
I am one hundred percent for everything that it stands for, except.
Speaker 6 (03:22):
These damn fireworks. I swear it's just it's the one thing.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
But you're right, it's really more about the crowds and
the celebration to me, and we have I think somewhere
in the neighborhood of one point six million people flooding
the city of Nashville where I'm broadcasting from FITZI and
Connecticut and the rest of the crew hanging out in
La this evening or I guess this morning. So we
(03:46):
always do it big, right, Nashville as a city does
it big for Fourth of July. And I'm also proud
of that because it's one of the most impressive fireworks
displays anywhere in the country, to be honest with you,
and the way that the music community here rallies around
the celebration to make sure that everybody has a great time.
It's a really cool and special thing. So I'm gonna
(04:07):
ease myself out of the crotchetiness, if that's even a word,
this morning, and we'll see if we can't have some fun.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
We got a lot that we're gonna get to over
the course of the morning.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Including why that fireworks display is not only amazing in
Nashville but also wildly difficult. I'll explain that later in
the show, but in the meantime, I had this philosophical
question for you this morning, because this is what usually happens.
I've been lucky enough, and I do mean lucky enough
to work on the fourth of July for most of
(04:38):
my adult life, music before and now radio, I'm always
sort of working on the fourth. I like working on
the fourth. I think this is an incredible opportunity to
hang out with people on a day where people just
have a good spirit. But here's the conversation so often
that happens on the fourth, so often when we start
these shows, somebody else, why doesn't Major League Baseball own
(04:58):
the Fourth of July?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Baseball hot Dog apple Pie like Total.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
America through and through?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And I got to thinking about that weirdly this morning
when I woke up and I couldn't sleep, like I
was sitting there thinking about the philosophical question of why
doesn't baseball own the Fourth of July?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And I kept thinking, it's easier said than done.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And what hits me is, you know, for three years,
I was the sideline reporter for the Hot Dog Eating Contest,
and I don't think my phone has ever blown up
more than it did for whatever reason, the Nathan's Famous
Hot Dog Eating Contest owns the.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Fourth of July, like everybody watches it.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Well, look, there's a full slate of Major League Baseball games,
like Baseball is putting things on. I don't know that
the simple concept of we're going to own this day
is easier said than done. What the NFL has accomplished
with owning Thanksgiving and now taking Christmas from the NBA
is so particularly special. I don't think we should necessarily
(05:54):
assume that anyone else can do it. Like there's no
one magical pixie dust in the air, and it's gonna
make people stop their fourth their gliant so, you know,
whatever they want to do today, I want to check
out the Red Sox game, Like.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
That isn't real.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
And I think that's there's a couple of things to that, right,
what's the biggest.
Speaker 6 (06:11):
Difference between football and baseball? FITSI one's fun to watch
and the other isn't.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
Oh, why you see you're talking about everybody having good spirits,
good energy.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
Today.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
I come in here shaking a fist at the sun,
literally at the sky, while people are shooting fireworks off
and you side swipe baseball.
Speaker 6 (06:30):
Now, the biggest difference, the biggest difference.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Good morning, by the way, We're happy to have you
here on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
We really are. We're gonna have a good time. The
biggest difference to me is the inventory.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Right There is such a premium placed on the NFL
because there are only seventeen regular season games.
Speaker 6 (06:47):
And we thirst for it.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
It's an oasis in the sports desert each and every
year where I'm you know, I'm scrolling Twitter yesterday, and
there's plenty of things going on, but the vast majority
of my timeline is consumed by football stuff because people
are craving football. Cam Ward, for example, here with the
Tennessee Titans. He's in Miami, He's throwing to his receivers.
(07:09):
People are around the country going to different places, working
out with their teammates in this dead time, and still
that is more captivating to I think a good portion
of the sports consuming audience than regular season baseball is.
Right now, it's just an inventory thing to me. There's
so many baseball games, and especially this I know it's
(07:29):
to say that. I mean it's early in the season.
It's early in the season at this point in time,
even though we are past the halfway point for all
intents and purposes, I just I have a hard time
gravitating towards things if you're just talking about me, and
maybe this speaks for other people in the audience, have
(07:50):
a hard time being captivated by something that I know
still has eighty something games to go. In principle, and
that this is not the most important time of year.
July fourth is not the most important time of year
for a baseball team jockeying for position.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
In the standings. It's just simply not so.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
With that in mind, I think that the time in
the sports calendar should belong to baseball, but it's not nearly.
It's not an equivalent of the NFL and what the
NFL means when you know that even though there are
more or games spread across more days than there ever
has been, surely by the time either. You know, in
(08:30):
twenty years from now, there will be football seven days.
Speaker 6 (08:33):
A week and we'll all rejoice as a result as.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
The NFL continues to try and dominate things both home
and abroad. Right that's really the biggest difference to me.
I just don't I don't think that that baseball is
in a position to own a specific day, especially when
this specific day just happens to fall right in the
middle of their season.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I mean, I had somebody walk up to me at
a bar yesterday. I didn't know, and he immediately like
first seen he says, is forty five days until.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
College football is back. That's it.
Speaker 6 (09:04):
Like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
And his first thing he says, and he's like, I
just need something on TV that's sports. And I looked around.
I'm like, there's baseball on like three TVs right now, dude.
And maybe that's what planted the seed of this concept.
But you're right in the sense that you know, peel
behind the curtain a little bit. My first radio job
where Buck and I met was at a station there
was a flagship for the Nashville Predators, and it was
(09:27):
funny to me. I remember distinctly the first fall that
I worked, and it was October, and because we were
the flagship for the station, the broadcast partner of the
Nashville Predators, we were getting yelled at by certain people
at the Preds because we weren't talking enough hockey in October.
And I remember so distinctly looking at our bosses at
the time and saying, the third line defensive pairings of
(09:50):
a hockey game in October don't matter right now, like
people only care about college football in the NFL right now.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
And it was funny.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
You're right, It's hard to make one moment matter. And
this is part of the reason why when people say
the NBA playoffs are too long, okay, well, I mean
they're never going to reduce the NBA playoffs. They might
reduce the regular season someday if they absolutely have to,
although I don't think they will. Same with the NHL,
like the playoff inventory is the only thing that matters.
I think Major League Baseball has become that in so
(10:18):
many ways, Like we get swept up in playoff baseball,
but because there is such great drama to playoff baseball
that you simply can't replicate.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
You can't replicate the meaning of.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
That result in a sport that has so many games.
So you're right, like there's zero, there's zero sales pitch.
You can be done around Mets Yankees today. That's gonna
make Mets Yankees particularly interesting to somebody that doesn't really
care about football or baseball. But when we get to Thanksgiving,
it's super easy to say, hey, these particular games matter,
(10:50):
turn them on.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
It becomes a family tradition.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I also think we forget how long it takes something
to become a tradition.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
And that's and that's kind of that's.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
Kind of the difficult spot that baseball is in, right
because they still do refer to the sport as America's
pastime when it's not anymore right. It had its run,
it had a great run as America's pastime.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
It's having a resurgence right now with attendance.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
People are happy to this zooing what about no?
Speaker 6 (11:15):
And I don't mean this to like I feel like
this is the problem.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
The biggest problem for me is anytime we have a
conversation about baseball, it sounds like it's denigrading the sport,
and the sport is in a pretty healthy place. It
would seem there are star players across the board. There
are interesting storylines across the board, and to say that
baseball is not capable maybe of captivating the national audience
(11:41):
across the board on July fourth sounds like a shot
at baseball. But I don't mean it to be just.
I think that there are a couple of different things
working against it. I don't think it's a problem that
Baseball has to fix, right, it's just kind of this
ancillary conversation around it, and it's compounded by some that
you sent to our group text as we were kind
(12:02):
of preparing for the show yesterday evening into this morning, FITZI,
which is that a lot of these games, with the
way that the broadcast rights have been redistributed or will
continue to be redistributed, you're not seeing a lot of
these games, or as many of these games as you
might otherwise, because I think there's a disconnect between the
(12:23):
baseball audience, like the crux of the baseball audience, and
where you can actually go to find these games with
the streamers. Now, Apple TV had the Yankees last night,
if I'm not mistaken, and there were so many things
happening in that game that people probably were not aware
of because there's not that many people, but at least
(12:44):
not yet.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
The numbers don't bear it out yet.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
There's not that many people who are outright gravitating towards
Apple TV to stream their baseball games. And maybe that'll
change over time, and consumer habits will change over time,
and that'll become a more normalized thing. But as it's
still somewhat in its infancy. I know Apple's had baseball
for several years now. This is not a new thing necessarily,
(13:06):
but especially right now when the games are not at
a premium for your attention, are you really going out
of your way to seek out different streaming services to
make sure that you can catch one hundred and sixty
two baseball names. I just don't think the vast majority
of people are doing that.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
He's buck rising out, Jason Fitz. We're just getting rolling
in for two pros and a cup of Joe this morning.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
We'll break all of that down. Got a lot we're
gonna get to.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
But up next, I'm gonna help all of you degenerates
that want to bet on the hot dog eating contest.
I got inside you. You absolutely got to have. We'll
do it next on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
Be sure to.
Speaker 7 (13:39):
Catch live editions of Two Pros and a Cup of
Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and Jonas Knox weekdays
at six am Eastern, three am Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (13:53):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben
Mallor with mean a lot to have you join us
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(14:16):
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Speaker 5 (14:22):
There's no faster way to grab somebody's attention then to
mention the words super in sports, whether you're talking about
super teams, whether you're talking about super leagues.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
It does seem.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
To bring a little extra gravitas to any conversation. Good morning,
Happy fourth of July. It's Two Pros and a Cup
of Joe. He's Jason Fitz I'm Buck Rising filling in
for the guys here this morning on Fox Sports Radio,
and there is a story about potentially a college football
power for conference trying to join a super league that
(15:00):
we're going to going to get into and break down
with you here in just a few moments. But as
we have been sitting here for about an hour and
a half at this point this morning, FITSI the Twitter
reaction has started to roll in, and I wonder what
the feedback are you. Are you worried that the WNBA
hater and detractor that doesn't actually watch the WNBA has
(15:21):
infiltrated your mentions and is telling you how stupid we are.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
No, No, see, the problem is, and this is how
you know you had a good take on something when
you don't get anybody yelling at you one way or
the other because it can't really yell like it's like, oh,
that's a prety good point. So you know, we'll see
what the WNBA haters say. But RB did ask me
to confirm that you're thirty one. He said he's thirty three,
and he said, buddy.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Sounds forty.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So I would just point out that, you know, Buck
is an old soul in a young body.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
I mean, it is a little alarming when.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
People like, if you see Buck too, he doesn't really
look like his voice. I mean it is there's a
whole thing going on here, Buck, So just confirm for
the world that you are thirty one.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
I am thirty one. I will be thirty two in
sixteen days from now. Oh, sixteen day, sixteen days. Are
we having a part, hey, I'm having several.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
I like to spread the birthday out across a couple
of different dates because it is what my birthday represents
to me, because that's of course what people want to
hear about on July fourth, as we broadcast here on
Fox Sports Radio. What my birthday represents to me is
my last weekend of freedom before NFL training camp agains.
It's always the last or the last week or weekend before.
(16:33):
In my case, as I'm here in Nashville, Fitzy and
Connecticut and the rest of the crew, Megan, it happened
out of Los Angeles. I cover the Tennessee Titans for
a living. Tennessee Titans coverage involves day to day training
camp coverage, and so once that happens, my nights, my
weekends evaporate until basically the NFL Combine and the rest
(16:53):
of the you know, which is enjoyable because it means
football is back. It's back in our lives. It's the
most important thing and it will. It makes life a
lot easier, especially in jobs like this when you have
actual football to talk about as opposed to the most
interesting storylines in training camp and things like that. But yeah,
so my days as a thirty one year old are
soon coming to an end. That person is correct, but
(17:14):
I will simply be thirty two.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Bri, producer extraordinaire. Did you just catch the Buck Rising
Cities having multiple parties?
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Did you catch that multiple parties?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
I also have thirty ones.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
That really stresses me out because I feel like I
sound like I'm twelve compared to Buck.
Speaker 6 (17:29):
Okay, yeah that is.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Yeah, but that's years of smoking and drinking Tila, no, no, breeze.
Brie and I haven't met in person officially, but just
based on our conversations here working together these last couple
of weeks, I would take away Bri being a bit
more wholesome than somebody like me who lives a lifestyle
(17:54):
of a degenerate here in Nashville, Tennessee, which is as
close to Vegas as anybody's comfortable getting without having to
actually go to Vegas.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Follow up question here, Mighty Mark also part of the
team and we always hang out on the Fellaws. You
can check Buck and I also tomorrow morning for the Fellaws.
Mighty Mark, did you catch Buck Rising saying something about
multiple parties? I just want to make sure we all
heard the same thing. Mighty Mark, did you hear the
same thing multiple parties?
Speaker 4 (18:18):
I think I was queueing up music. I didn't hear
the words, So.
Speaker 6 (18:22):
Okay, let me reiterate.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
I am having multiple birthday parties for myself.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
Because I like to have.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Okay, now, just follow up question, Mighty Mark, have you
m Bree both, if you could chime in on this,
have either of you gotten an invite to a single
one of these multiple parties that are.
Speaker 6 (18:38):
Happening from Buck?
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
No, No, well, of course not.
Speaker 7 (18:43):
He barely just knows us.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Why would he invite us?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Well, I just I'm just confirming because I also haven't
had an invite to single birthday.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
I've known him ten years and he doesn't have an
invite to all of these things either.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
I mean, like you, we are just sitting here working together,
and it's like.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
Yeah, I'm gonna have a dozen.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Parties all over the North America.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
In multiple different cities, one in Nashville. I'm going to
San Diego for a week. We're gonna have a couple
of nights there throughout the course of the week. And
none of this is happening on my actual birthday, which
will be a celebration unto itself. I think my birthday
falls on a Sunday this year, which is not terribly convenient,
but you.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
Know, we'll make it work.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
Here's the thing, though, I don't know you are all
over the place. This is not a justification, simply fact.
If you want to bring fact to an argument in
the way that we were shouting down WNBA detractors in
the last segment, you're in Connecticut, Bud. If you happen
to end up in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday this coming Saturday,
July the.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
Twelfth, when we are going to dinner and then.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
Taking in the UFC fight at Bridgestone Arena, you are
more than welcome to attend. If you happen to be
in San Diego for the four days that I'm spending
out San Diego with a group of friends with multiple
nights of celebration, then you are more than welcome to attend.
I will invite you to any of these things. You
are in a different part of the world. I'm not
coming to Connecticut, even though I love you dearly. There's
not really much you would do to get me to
(20:01):
the state of Connecticut, not to not to, you know,
detract from one of our great states in this mighty
union on this Independence Day.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
But Connecticut, I'm good. I'm all said.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Wow, if I said the word speedo, does that change
any of those opinions.
Speaker 6 (20:16):
For who you were?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Me?
Speaker 3 (20:18):
You tell me.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Now that we've made the.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
Entire both matching banana hammocks.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Match that's Can we make that, bree, Can we make
that the name of the show tomorrow? Matching banana hammocks?
Speaker 6 (20:31):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I don't think. Yeah, I'm gonna try not to get
us fired.
Speaker 6 (20:34):
You look up what a banana hammock is?
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Hey, you know what this is?
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Hey, We're just it's all fine. That's probably the best.
That's probably the nicest thing anybody would ever say. If
Buck and I walked into a room in speedo, is
it's it's all fine.
Speaker 6 (20:54):
Well, you know, what that's just fine college football?
Speaker 4 (20:57):
You mentioned? Is college football going to be fine?
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Buck?
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Look at that segue. Look at that sure, I mean
just that is a transition of.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
The so tickled with himself for being able to do that.
I mean, is college football going to be fine? I
don't know.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
You work with a lot of college football people in
your responsibilities for Yahoo. Obviously FITSI and SEC Country. We
talk a great deal of college football here. It is,
I would argue, it is the most important thing to
the local audience here is the tribal nature of college football.
Even though we do have a professional football team. We
have a professional hockey hockey team. We have an MLS
(21:30):
team that's won or has thirteen unbeaten results in a row,
and getting ready to play the Philadelphia Union tomorrow, which
is going to be crazy. It's crazy what Nashville SC
is doing. And Yeah, and you've played that stadium. You
have had the or at least you have been a
part of the opening ceremonies for that stadium.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
In fact, was that like the first.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, I opened that stadium, played the national anthem for
the first ever game in that stadium.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
I have videos. It was like a proud stage mom.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
I was taking videos of him Brion Mark on my
phone from the stands as he broadcasts the violin rendition
of the national anthem and the opening salvo of Gioda's
Park here in Nashville. But anyway, if you talk to
college football people and you ask them that specific question,
is it going to be fine? It depends on what
(22:18):
your entryway into that conversation is. I guess. So what
I'm trying to say is, like the health of the sport.
Is college football on the field as healthy as it's
ever been? One could argue, yes, I think that the name,
image and likeness situation. I think that the transfer portal
situation has allowed there to be has allowed there to
(22:42):
be more competitiveness top to bottom, Whereas it's not just
the top four teams that we're talking about in any
given year, and even in a twelve team playoff format, right,
you're still getting the cream rising.
Speaker 6 (22:54):
To the top.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
The best teams will ultimately end up having the best
results and will weed out the SMUs and the Indianas
of the world, respectfully to my alma mater and all
these different things. So, like the health of the sport,
I think it's in a good spot where it's not
just one program, not just Nick Saban dominating things, even
though Kirby Smart is recruiting at Georgia is at as
(23:18):
high of a level as Nick Saban was during the
height of his powers. Right Clemson getting back into the
mixed Ohio state winning the most recent recent national championship.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
I'm a Notre Dame fan.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
If you'd have told me that Notre Dame would be
playing for a national championship last year prior to the
season beginning, I want to spittaked. I want to laughed
in your face and spit out whatever my eighteen dollars
coffee beverage was that morning. Like that's just to see
all the different things about the on field product that
still have that meaning. But the business component of this
(23:51):
can wear people down. It wears down the diehards, and
they'll still show up on Saturdays and we'll all still
make college football the second most popular sport in America
with the way that we consume it. But to get
there and all the different shift the way that the
ground constantly shifts under your feet is being discussed in
this sixty eight page agreement that was obtained by the
(24:12):
Athletic where the ACC which has been embattled or at
least some of its member programs have been embattled in
seventeenth month litigation with Florida State and cleansing at this
point where the idea of a super league being potentially floated,
not necessarily likely to happen, but just the opportunity for
a super league to be created if these member institutions
(24:35):
were to be were to be able to trigger this
clause in the agreement to leave the ACC for a
seventy five million dollars sum from twenty thirty to twenty
thirty one through twenty thirty six, which is the final
year of the contract. Those things do, I think give
college football fans and college football diehards just a little
(24:56):
bit of angst and anxiety, and you know, just a
little additional stress like why can't you just leave the
thing that we know works alone? Why can't you just
continue to let us have our college football traditions, our
traditional conferences, rather than just strip this thing down to
the studs and trying to maximize the profits on it
the way that they've clearly done, similar to an NFL model.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Well, similar to an NFL model is an important part
of this he's Buck Rising, I'm Jason Fitz. We're in
for two pros and a cup of Joe on Fox
Sports Radio. And I think part of the reason that
the NFL model needs to be part of the conversation
is that's where I believe we're headed.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
And I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Like again, this is where I don't emotionally get invested
in much of anything, right, So I'm just sort of
a person that steps back and says, Okay, this seems
fairly inevitable. I love college football. It is my favorite
sport to care to cover. I am honored to say
that I have a Bolitanikov Award vote. I get to
vote for the best wide receiver in college football every year.
My media accomplishments in college football are the proudest things
(25:55):
that I've done. I absolutely love the sport, and if
it changes, I'm okay with that. I think we just
have to look around at this ACC deal and remind
ourselves because to Bucks point, the way the clause is written, essentially,
if six teams choose to leave the ACC to go
join a super conference, those six teams would have to
pay seventy five million dollars each and they would be
(26:16):
capable of doing that. Seventy five million dollars is less
than a buyout for Jimbo Fisher, like.
Speaker 6 (26:21):
Dropping a bucket. It's like ten dollars less.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
So you know, I'm looking around and I'm saying, that's
not an outclause, that's an out invitation, right, And it
leads me more and more to this inevitability of a superconference.
And I hear it when people say, well, that stinks.
Here's the thing. If you like, I'm right down the
road from University Connecticut, if you're a Yukon football fan,
you're a Yukon football fan, but you know that Yukon
(26:46):
football ain't playing for a national championship, right, So at
some point I think we're gonna end up with a
system where the Yukons of the world can play whatever
insert other team that maybe the Indianas of the world
that may or may not even be part of this.
You know, I think we're going to have a situation
where football separates itself from everybody else, and then schools
(27:06):
are going to have the opportunity to decide do they
want to handle football like the.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Big boys in this super conference? Do they want to
be in a middle tier.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Like look, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater has a very successful
Division III program, all right, so they want a lot
of national championships and people go to those games and
they care about those games. Do we nationally sit there
and flock to a UWW game, No we don't, right,
But at some point every school is going to have
to decide do they want to be whatever this second
(27:36):
tier is or do they want to be in the
super conference?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
And if you want to be in the super.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Conference, it's going to require a huge investment in salary
caps and a collective bargaining agreement and all of these
different things. And that's complicated. But through it all, if
you are wired your entire life to be a Georgia
football fan, as long as you can still be a
Georgia football fan, you're going to be a Georgia football fan.
And I just that's the part of this that everybody
(27:59):
gets worked up. And here college football people tell me, oh,
it's the death of the sport.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
No it isn't.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
It's just the evolution of the sport. It's a change
to the sport. And you know, frankly, jarring change hurts
everybody in every sport.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
I remember growing up as a kid with.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
The Seattle Seahawks's arrival because the Seattle Seahawks were in
the AFC West, Like I rooted against the Seattle Seahawks.
They're now in the NFC West, and nobody sits there
and remembers that anymore, Like we don't remember how different
these conferences looked like when it was a Big eight,
like right, right, So I just think, as much as
everybody's running around like Kermit the Frog with their arms
(28:33):
in their ah every one of these changes in five years.
As long as you can watch your favorite football team
play for some version of a.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
Championship, you're gonna keep watching it.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
And the small audiences for the small schools will have
small audiences with small schools, and the big ones will
have big ones.
Speaker 5 (28:50):
College football is unique this way, though, because I mentioned
the tribal nature of SEC fandom and stuff like that,
and the way that traditions have have held stood the
test of time, essentially in this sport versus a lot
of other sports, where you're right that evolution has come
for a lot of different sports, be the the NFL,
(29:11):
the WNBA, like we were talking about earlier, Baseball has
had to go through changes, and that's some of the
most some of the most crimudgety, you know, reticent to
change fans that you can have who are probably happier
with the idea that they can go to a baseball
game and get out of there in under three hours
at this point in their life based.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
On the right.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
It's just like these things, they will become more ingrained
as more time passes, to your point, but college football fandom,
they feel differently about it. And maybe it's just because
I'm in the southeast part of the country and I
feel this more viscerally from the audience that I work
with on a local basis as opposed to what we
(29:52):
do here nationally on Fox Sports Radio. But that is
something that that's the most common refrain that I get
that we have been able to hold up. We've been
able to continue to do this and do it our
way and still be America's second most popular sport after
the NFL.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Why are these changes having to come?
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Now?
Speaker 5 (30:11):
This is not the college football that I know. It's
not the college football that I love, and that's fine,
and those people, there are some people who will go
to their grave with that, and some people will eventually
adapt to those changes and just be able to watch
the best games, because that's.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
I'm more like you, FITZI than I am.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
The diehard college football fan in this particular arena, because
I just want to watch the best teams playing as
many games as humanly possible, and if a super league
accomplishes that to where I can watch Texas and Michigan
on a regular basis, or Alabama and Clemson on a
regular basis, or whatever power for program versus another power
for program that you might not otherwise get unless you
(30:51):
went to a super team power conference model or a
super conference model. In this particular case, I just don't
see what the issue is because that's going to be
the best, the best entertainment value for my dollar, whether
I'm paying for YouTube TV, a cable subscription, any one
of these streaming services that now carry college football. I
(31:13):
think Peacock now has Notre Dame games on a regular
basis and things like that. It's just that you're going
to have you're going to have a harder time with
college football die hard in this particular thing. Evolution not
lost on me that you would have trouble with an
evolution theory in the South, But you know, what I'm
saying like this is.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
He's a rising.
Speaker 5 (31:35):
By the way, listen, they got me locally.
Speaker 6 (31:38):
They know what this is.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
That's it's I love you all very very much, but
you understand my point. They're just going to It's gonna
take them more time and they're you're gonna have to
drag them kicking and screaming, but eventually we're all going
to move in the same direction.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, And everybody that's sitting here resisting it at this
point is spitting in the wind. That's the thing to me.
It's wasted energy. Every single legal challenge that has tried
to thwart the player's ability at college football to get
paid and to have name, image likeness, to have transfer capability,
every single legal challenge that has been made has been lost.
(32:13):
So if you're sitting here saying, oh my god, I
want the college football that I had of old, I
will remind you that it has been challenged in court,
not the court of public opinion. It has been challenged
by actual judges, and it has been ripped apart. So
if your answer is it was great the way it was,
and scholarships work and blah blah blah blah blah, guess what.
(32:35):
The courts, the US judicial system decided you are wrong.
So you just got to hear it, acknowledge it, and
move on from it. And that's the hardest thing for
people do. So what's it mean for the future and
what's it gonna look like. We'll keep breaking it down.
He's Buck Rising, I'm Jason Fitz. We are hanging out
with you on a glorious fourth of July edition of
Two Pros and a Cup of Joe on Fox Sports Radio.
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