Fox Sports Radio's Countdown Presented by BetMGM

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Fox Sports Countdown. We're setting you up for
the sports weekend and covering all the action from the
stadiums to the arenas. This is Fox Sports Countdown brought
to you MG the Sports be born in Vegas. The

(00:22):
Countdown starts not live from the Fox Sports radio studios.
Here's Brian no, Rich Hornberger and Jared Smith.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Oh what is going on?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Happy Saturday to you as we dive into all sorts
of good stuff. Man, we are loaded to the gills
open here plenty of ball, ball of course meeting football.
There's some weird people out there that don't.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
Consider ball to be football.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
That's just that's hot, right, that doesn't make any sense, right, Rich, Right, Jared,
Good morning to you guys.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Ball is football, not it's gotta be Ball is football.
And also on this show, I mean, if you're a
listener to Countdown, you know you know. And by the way,
every day is a good day for ball. And I
like the fact that it almost felt like a fun
surprise re remembering on Thursday, probably around noon, like you know,

(01:15):
when the coverage really started to pick up, that the
Hall of Fame was coming and ball is back. We
are going to like ball football back every single week
until February. How about that, guys, I think.

Speaker 5 (01:30):
The misconception is the shirt. Ball is life, you know,
and that's basketball. But for the purposes of this show,
if you're a countdown listener, I mean, come on, can.

Speaker 6 (01:43):
We've been down this road.

Speaker 5 (01:44):
This is our five but this it's gonna be our
fourth season doing this. Guys.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
Wow, it's crazy. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, cheers. I love hoops.
That's what I call it. I go, I go hoops.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:53):
I agree with that ball football is.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Ball, man.

Speaker 4 (01:56):
But how about this.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
While we start with ball, We've got My Parsons of
the Cowboys right now. We've got Terry McLaurin of the
Washington Commanders right now. Both have requested trades. Now we'll
dive into the layers and all that.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
Let's cut to the chase. Here's the question.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Well, either neither or both actually be traded when we
get right down to it. What do you think, Rich,
We'll start with you. Either neither or both are actually
dealt Neither.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
I in my brain neither. I just feel like a.
You know, this is very generalized. This is not specific
to these two guys. A Typically when there's contract negotiations, strife.
It does get hammered out with the principal and primary characters.
You know, it's so rare that another, like a third party,

(02:52):
gets involved. It does happen. I'm not saying it doesn't,
but it's rarer than obviously these things getting hammered out.
But I do think that there's some sincerity here. I
do think that both Terry and Micah feel wronged or
like they're they're not being represented, and I don't mean
by their agent, but but by the way the negotiations

(03:15):
have gone, they don't feel like their side is being
represented and they want out. So I'm not saying that
that they don't actually want to be traded. Maybe in
this moment, potentially they're using it just as a bluff.
Maybe both of them would be more comfortable with the
teams that they played for. But I think it's uh.

(03:39):
I think it's a negotiation tactic first, and I also
think that they'll both stay exactly where they are agree on.

Speaker 6 (03:47):
They're both under contract.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (03:48):
The Parsons thing is even crazier because not only is
he under contract this year, but he can be franchised
for the next two years. He has zero leverage absolutely
on McLaurin a little bit more leverage because it's the
last year of his deal, so he's kind of a
tradeable piece. You would think if they can get something
valuable back for him, but he's being paid a lot,

(04:11):
so how do you want to hand? Like, what are
you getting back for him? That's always the question I
have with these trade requests. If it comes from the
player or the agent, it's usually a negotiation tactic. If
it comes from the owner or the GM, it's usually, hey,
I'll offer us something. He's available. It doesn't always mean

(04:33):
he's going to get traded. It just means the phone
lines are open, give us a call. But in this situation,
like I'll take the Parson stuff because that I think
is the bigger fish to fry here.

Speaker 6 (04:43):
I think he's the better player.

Speaker 5 (04:46):
It's it's just he just doesn't like the way that
the that the vibe has been with him and Jerry,
and we talked about this. I think last week it's
difficult for Jerry. He's the GM and the owner. He's
got to wear two hats. He invited Micah in to
talk about leadership. To me, that's more of an owner
talking to his best player about the vibe of the team.
Then he sneaks on the GM hat and starts to
sneak in the negotiation tactics. And I don't think Micah

(05:09):
really appreciated it. He wanted his agent to be there
for it. Again, that's Micah's side of the story. But
he's under contract this year and they can franchise him
for the next two years. He has zero cards to
play except I hate it here. I want out, and
the Cowboys aren't trading him, like unless there's a godfather
offer like me, me an offer I can't refuse, like

(05:32):
three first rounds, maybe even four. I mean, you think
about the trades that have gone down for Bryce Young
a few years ago. The Bears gave up two first
and two seconds and djmore for Bryce freaking Young. What
do you think the Cowboys are asking for for Michael Parsons.
So I just I just don't see either of them
getting traded, but definitely not Micah.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yeah, I'm with you, guys, I say neither as well.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
It's one of these deals. It's funny.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
I was going through my notes and I just saw,
actually there was the sound bites from last week's show,
and it was the you know, the hurt feelings. The
whole saga with the Bengals first round rookie Shamar Stewart,
right like, there was language in the contract the Bengals wanted,

(06:19):
the language in the contract that Shamar Stewart and his
agent did not want. They're going back and forth. There's
a sound bite from the Bengals team owner Mike Brown,
who's clunkily speaking publicly on this, and he's like, well,
you know, if he's slapping around women, right like, if
he gets thrown in jail, like you talk about hurt feeling,
he's just willy nilly throwing those possibilities out there, like

(06:42):
our man Shamar Stuart's gonna be in the clink any
minute now, you know. And then all of a sudden,
the language or there's a half million dollars laying around,
and all of a sudden, the hurt feelings are eased
a little bit, right. And So that's what I think
in this whole situation where I thought Rich said it
very well, where yeah, maybe right at this moment, maybe

(07:04):
both players honestly want to be traded. But it's amazing
how you know the offer that you want actually gets
made and you're like, wow, I could just stay here
the team I've always known. I get all this money,
it's probably better than I'm gonna see here or there.
Because these teams they've got to give up assets, they've

(07:25):
got to give up draft picks, a bundle of them,
and then pay you on top of that. So, yeah,
I think that in the moment you might think, oh,
this could go down. I think the possibilities of both
are incredibly remote that they're actually playing for different teams.

Speaker 4 (07:41):
I just don't see that happening. Both are big playmakers.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
And think about this with Washington, if they dealt Terry McLaurin,
then Washington would be getting rid of their top three
wide receivers from last season. Jaden Daniels has this awesome
rookie season, and they're gonna get rid of their top
three wide.

Speaker 4 (08:00):
Receivers from last season.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
You know, they don't have Olimide Zakiyas who's now with
the Bears, right he left in free agency, and Diami
Brown he's with Jacksonville. Yeah, so if Terry McLaurin, he
had a great year too. McLaurin eighty two catches, nearly
eleven hundred yards, thirteen touchdown grabs, and they're just gonna
deal him and be like, you know what, they'll probably

(08:23):
work out fine, Like they're not gonna do that. Both
of these teams are eventually gonna pony up back up
the Brinks truck all that good stuff, and these players
are going nowhere. Man, I wouldn't buy into this whatsoever.
I just don't see either of them going somewhere else.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, I think that's perfectly stated about the Commanders, Brian.
The fact that Jayden Daniels this team, they're in win
now mode and so trading your top receiver right now
would make absolutely zero sense. And to be you know,
perfectly honest, making him upset also doesn't make sense. But look,

(09:00):
you're running a business. You know, not everybody can be
happy all the time, and unfortunately, your top producer or
one of your top producers can be one of those
people that you have to you know, get under control,
so to speak. You know what I mean, Like, I mean,
that's essentially what football is. It's everybody believing in one
thing together, everybody seeing things through the same sets set

(09:23):
of eyes together, and there needs to be continuity. I
mean that, there is no question the Commanders need continuity
right now as they head into the preseason. So I
think this is a negotiation strategy there in terms of
Micah and the Cowboys. It's almost externally the reason why
I believe this trade won't happen, more so than what's

(09:45):
happening internally. Like think about the massive, massive, like earth
shaking amount of assets you would need to get Micah
Parsons in trade, Like my, I mean, what team out
there is is that desperate right now for Micah Parsons

(10:05):
where they would first of all have to unearth a
tremendous amount of asset value to trade to the Cowboys,
and then on top of it pay him an insane deal, Like,
name the team who's capable of doing that? Right now,
I'm telling you there's there's.

Speaker 5 (10:21):
I think he's getting traded to the Eagles, which is
the most absurd thing. Ever, their first round pick is
going to be like the thirtieth pick in the first
round for the next three years. But you would have
to be you have to give up like four first
round picks.

Speaker 6 (10:33):
Like it's insane.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
It's just not happening. It's not for today. And I
will say this again, it's again going back to the
original thing I said, and this is more generalized. Typically,
the teams that are in a first of all, that
a player is under contract with has the best chance
of signing that player, you know, when we're even talking
about free agency looming. But then take it a step further.

(10:58):
Both of these players are under contract. Micah has he's
in the middle of his contract. He just wants more.
McLaurin has a contract year, which by the way, also
makes him a little less attractive from a trade standpoint,
So if a team trades for him, they're going to
have to imediately jump into contract negotiations with him too.

(11:19):
There's just not a ton of upside for the teams
who would be interested in these players. So in general,
these things typically get hammered out by the team that
the players under contract with because there's already familiarity between
all the role players and characters involved. Unless something changes,
like in a big way, like all of a sudden,

(11:40):
there is a moral offense taken by one side or
the other where this business relationship can no longer continue
because somebody's felt wronged. Outside of something like that, I
honestly think that Micah is gonna be a cowboy, Jaden's
gonna be a commander and everybody will be as happy

(12:02):
as they can be heading into the twenty twenty five
regular season.

Speaker 5 (12:06):
I mean, this is so to your point on McLaurin.
I think he's more tradable because he's probably gonna be cheaper,
Like he's not going to cost as much asset wise
to acquire Parsons. Again, he's under contract this year, He's
being paid like Montez sweat money this year. I mean

(12:27):
it's like he's you're getting You're getting him on the
cheap and you get two more years of franchise tags.
Like just the amount of control that you have over Parsons,
like the Cowboys should be asking for the moon. Mcclaurin,
you would expect you might be able to get him
for one first round pick, right, Like, I think he's
more tradeable, but I don't think either him is getting traded.

(12:48):
The Miles Garrett trade request is always what I go
back to. Basically, there you go to the Browns under
the bus, can't win a Super Bowl here, I hate it,
and then.

Speaker 6 (12:58):
Back up the truck and that's the freakin Browns.

Speaker 5 (13:01):
The part about McLaurin that I think is intriguing to
me and why I think he is.

Speaker 6 (13:06):
I think both guys.

Speaker 5 (13:07):
Are gonna, you know, stay, But mcclaurin has been with
the Commanders through thick and thin. Like he got drafted
in twenty nineteen, they won three games. They were a
sub five hundred team pretty much his entire career with
Washington until last year when they finally broke out and
became this great team thanks to Jay and Daniels. It

(13:28):
would be foolish, I think, personally this is me. I've
never been on an NFL team. I've never been on
a losing NFL team, So I don't know how exactly
I feel about this, But in my mind, if I
was if I went through five years of crap with
the Commanders and then I went twelve and five and
went in the NFC Championship game, I wouldn't want to
leave after that. I'd want to stay and see what
that See what that mountain might be able to climb,

(13:51):
Like can we get higher this year? Like you're just
finally breaking out of having basically five consecutive losing years.
They went eight, eight to one and twenty twenty two, but
other than that, it was three and thirteen, seven to nine,
seven and ten, eight and eight with one tigeh and
then four and thirteen before they get Jaydan Daniels and
then everything turns around like why would you want to
lose or to leave.

Speaker 6 (14:12):
Right when things are starting to get good.

Speaker 5 (14:14):
So there's also the incentive for McLaurin where he might
get traded to some crap team and now all of
a sudden, you're back in the gutter again. So I
just I think these players they want their money, I
get it. But cooler heads, I think are.

Speaker 6 (14:27):
Going to prevail in this situation eventually.

Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah, it's just a negotiating tactic, that's all. With McLaurin.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
This is straight out of the Deebo Samuel AJ Brown playbook.
Wide receivers that have said trade me, and then all
of a sudden, Wow, there's a back of cash here.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
That's amazing.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
How and coincidentally, Debo is now Terry mclaurin's teammate. Debo's
with the Washington Commanders. I don't expect Michah Parsons to
be dealt either. But the one thing in this long
tie rate on X if you will right this long
statement detailing why he does want to be a cowboy anymore,
there was one portion of it. That was pretty interesting,

(15:04):
where he wrote, after repeated shots at myself and all
the narratives, I have made a tough decision. I no
longer want to play for the Dallas Cowboys. My trade
request has been submitted to Stephen Jones personally. That part
right there, not the Jerry is fu Jerry Jones.

Speaker 4 (15:24):
There is no other way to interpret that.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
And if you think about the unnecessary drama and this
dragging out more than it needs to, the public statements
about Micah missed six games which was actually four games
last season, and all of that stuff is all Jerry Jones.
His thumb prints, his fingerprints are all over that, and
so yeah, I can see Micah being incredibly tired of

(15:47):
this whole saga.

Speaker 4 (15:48):
It's basically like, screw this guy. I am done.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
But again, it's amazing how a bag of cash can
ease those hurt feelings. And that's what I expect to
happen in both cases. But in any of it, we
are often freaking run in here.

Speaker 6 (16:01):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
We've got Rich Ornberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst, I'm Brian no use code countdown at
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(16:21):
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All right, coming up next, The Deadline produced a wild
fact and a fire sale, among many other things we'll
dive into that. It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown, presented
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Speaker 1 (16:42):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 7 (16:54):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. Here's the thing, we never
have enough time to get to everything we want to
get to.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
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time for. Yeah, you blubber list jam in me. Well,
you know what it's called over promise. You should be
good at it because you've been over promising women for years. Well,
it's a Covino and Rich after show, and we want

(17:24):
you to be a part of it. We're gonna be
talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk life
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something or we didn't have enough time, it will continue
on our after show called over Promised.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Well, if you don't get enough.

Speaker 7 (17:36):
Covino and Rich, make sure you check out over Promised
and also uncensored by the way, so maybe we'll go
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There you go, over promising. Remember you could see on YouTube,
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Speaker 4 (18:20):
All Right, So, the.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
MLB trade deadline has come and gone, and it's produced
a couple of wild things. One wild fact is that
the Twins traded almost half their team. They traded ten
of the twenty six guys on their active roster. Ten
of twenty six have new addresses. Man, that's wild. And

(18:41):
one wild fact I think is with the Mariners. So
how about this au Henny O Swarez He's got thirty
six home runs at least that the deadline he did,
and then Cal Rowley's got forty two home runs. So
the Mariners, they just became the second team in MLB
history to have two players with thirty five plus home
runs entering August. That was the stat entering August. The

(19:05):
first team was the sixty one Yankees with Roger Marris
and Mickey Mantle. Maris had forty home runs, Mantel had
thirty nine.

Speaker 4 (19:12):
That's the only other time in.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
MLB history a team had two guys with thirty five
plus home runs entering August. So those are a couple
of things that stood out to me. I know, your
boys over there in San Diego, they're making some moves.
AJ Preller doing his thing over there is the GM,
So I imagine you're pretty excited with what the Padre
has been able to do. Stockpiling some arms and some

(19:34):
talent over there.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Rich no question San Diego, the Padres. What they've done
is they've taken all the chips on their side of
the table and they pushed it to the middle and
they're waiting for a call, you know I mean, And
what I mean by that is it's it's postseason or bust.
It's World Series or bust for this team. I think
that Aj Preller probably received marching orders at some point

(19:59):
that said, hey, we need you to start producing deep
postseason runs pretty pretty often here, otherwise we're gonna really
have to valuate our next contract here. And I think
with that news he said, well, I'm gonna keep doing
what I've always done. I'm gonna cultivate a strong farm
system through a number of trades that happen either within

(20:21):
the season or outside this season, and then come to deadline.
I'm going to shore up this roster, and I would
argue they addressed every major roster hole. You know, when
you look at the bullpen, especially, they reinforced it. They
may have the best bullpen in Major League Baseball right now.
But catcher was a need, left field was in need,

(20:43):
a d h you know, a bigger bat that they
can lean on as a designated hitter. I mean, they've
checked all those boxes. So the Padres, they're they're a
team that's ready for September and they're hoping to be
ready for October.

Speaker 6 (20:57):
Yeah, and I think the Dodgers did well sneakily.

Speaker 5 (21:01):
Alex calls a guy that you know, plus defensive outfielders
under contractor under team control as they say, through twenty nine.

Speaker 6 (21:09):
And I really like the reliever they got.

Speaker 5 (21:10):
Brock Stewart, the brock Lobster, really under the radar player,
and that the Dodgers just needed a ton of help
on the other side of the Ledger. San Francisco did
their work earlier. Like the the NL West is is
absolutely loaded. You can pretty much like if you're betting
on who's gonna win the World Series this year, just

(21:30):
eliminate both central divisions from your from your vocabulary. Tigers,
huh no, I listen.

Speaker 6 (21:37):
I love to reach Google, but you can't pitch them
in every game of the series. They might try.

Speaker 5 (21:44):
I just don't know if Detroit has enough now they're
gonna be probably the number one seed, or actually Toronto
has been right there too. But I do think both
both Central divisions are just fighting uphill battles in seven
game series against teams with much deeper Philly got a
lot better.

Speaker 6 (22:02):
You love the closer they brought in. That was their
biggest hole. He came in last night slammed the door one,
two to three in a tight game.

Speaker 5 (22:09):
I think the Mets, obviously they have the voodoo, you know,
the bad vibes because they're the Mets and they've lost
four straight, but they are still very talented and very deep.
I thought the Yankees added enough. I didn't love. I
mean last night, baseball was on drugs last night. I
think the trade deadline had something to do with it.
It was absolutely whack. The Pittsburgh Pirates scored nine runs

(22:31):
in the first inning and lost.

Speaker 4 (22:33):
That's crazy to the Rockies, Yeah, to the fricking Rockies.

Speaker 5 (22:36):
Meanwhile, the Yankees had a huge lead I saw. It
was like the first time they blown a six run lead.
I don't know, some historical crazy stat. Every day in
baseball you see some kind of crazy historical stat because
that's just the nature of a high volume sport.

Speaker 6 (22:49):
But I thought the Yankees got better. I like McMahon.

Speaker 5 (22:52):
He's an elite defender, and he's got that short porch
in right field.

Speaker 6 (22:55):
He's a big lefty swinger.

Speaker 5 (22:57):
And Bednard, the Pirates closer who didn't pitch well yesterday
but has good numbers and fills a need for them.
So everyone who needed to get better got better. Now
it's just can these players deliver?

Speaker 6 (23:10):
Man?

Speaker 3 (23:11):
I just think of it from a betting standpoint. Imagine
how many cruel beats you've had. Oh I didn't have
anything on that Pirates game last night, but imagine if
you did. Imagine if you had a pretty good amount
on the Pirates winning the game. Oh my god, I
scored nine runs in the first inning against the Rockies.
You've already spent the winnings, you know what I mean.

(23:32):
It's like cash the ticket. We're good and the Rockies
come back and win the game. How many runs they scored.

Speaker 5 (23:38):
The ninth and they scored two in the eighth and
five in the ninth. They were up eight runs heading
into the eighth inning, it was sixteen.

Speaker 6 (23:50):
I can't even do the math. There's too many numbers.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
On the screen.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
Yeah, sixteen to twelve. I saw the score, and you know,
like it's funny. I thought about, yeah, maybe I'll watch
the ninth inning and I'm like, what are the chances
the Rockies are actually gonna score that many runs and
win the game.

Speaker 4 (24:05):
And then I saw the final I'm like, oh my gosh,
I can't believe that happened. Wild Stuf.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
One other thing I'll mention real fast is Carlos Korea
going back to the Houston Astros.

Speaker 4 (24:16):
How about that, Like it's it's a good move for Houston.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
He's gonna move to third base because Payne is over
there at shorts.

Speaker 4 (24:22):
It's kind of like an A Rod type.

Speaker 5 (24:24):
Pay he got banged up last night actually ironically, like
a lower leg something.

Speaker 6 (24:29):
I don't know. I saw that on my on my note.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
It does make me wonder if you could separate, Like
imagine if Korea just played for the Twins. He was
never a Houston Astro to begin with, what you would
think about that move, you'd be like.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
That's a good move by Houston.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
But with him starting his career there in the nostalgia
and winning a World Series and all that went on
over there, it's just such a different deal.

Speaker 4 (24:53):
It's just like he's going back home. Wow, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 3 (24:56):
Like, if you just separated all that stuff and looked
at the player, it'd be a good get. But the
nostalgia bumps it up a notch. I feel like, And
I always think while we're talking betting, man, I always
think of Carlos Korea years ago. I don't even know
what year it was, but it was the final leg
of a parlay. They had this extra inning game on

(25:18):
the road against the Oakland A's and it was a routine,
you know, ground ball to short and he fumbled it
a little bit and delayed his throat at first and
the guy beat it out and the A's somehow, in
the craziest.

Speaker 4 (25:32):
Fashion, won the game.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
And it screwed up all these like the last leg
of this extensive parlay bet which we probably never would
have met.

Speaker 4 (25:39):
I would have retired that day, and that sort of
thing always, it's amazing.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
I always think of Carlos Correa with that one misplayed
ball that happened to unravel a parlay, right, it works Sometimes.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
The Korea reunion, it feels like more than a trade
because the Astros don't need it to when you look
at it, I think the trade obviously boosts a lineup
that's already pretty deep and makes it a little bit
deeper there. And they're in the thick of a playoff
chase with the Ms and the Rangers in the Als especially,

(26:15):
this may be enough to edge those teams out. But
with a healthy ish roster and you know, elite pitching
in their rotation, this might just be the boost they
needed mid season or or mid to late season to
put them over the hump. Sometimes trades are you know,

(26:35):
addressing enormous potholes in the roster, and sometimes trades are
more just signifying to the team like, hey, we weren't sellers,
we're buyers. We buy into you. And this one felt
like the fans were involved too, because there's that nostalgia
effect that involved too, So this felt both like a

(26:57):
business decision on the field, but off the field too.
There's gonna be a lot of people really proud to
dust off the Karage jersey and bring it back to
the ballpark.

Speaker 5 (27:07):
Yeah, And we just got to comment on social media
from one of our loyal listeners, David s. He's like,
did Jared just say that the Dodgers, who have the
highest payroll in baseball need a ton of help? Yeah,
they did, especially in the bultbed.

Speaker 6 (27:19):
I mean, it's unbelievable how bad they've been this year.

Speaker 5 (27:22):
And they're dealing with a ton of injuries as well,
which is not something that any you know, payroll can
really account for. But Tanner, Scott Kirby Yates, I mean,
those are guys that were relied upon to be, you know,
relief pitchers for the Dodgers this year. Both guys are
on the IL. I don't really know who the closer
is going to be in October. They're still probably trying
to figure that out. But yeah, they needed a lot

(27:44):
of help. And Brock Stewart's had a good year, you know,
sub two and a half v RA with a whip
right around one. I think that's an under the radar
move that is not going to add a ton of
money to their payroll that I think will help the team.
It is kind of funny how the teams that have
the highest payrolls, Padres being another one, add the most
like the rich get richer in this league. And I

(28:06):
know we're going to talk about this later, Brian. The
you know, the salary cap situation that might be brewing
in baseball, I don't think it's ever going to happen.
It just I think the way that the sport is constructed,
these teams like the Dodgers and the Padres, and the
Yankees and the Mets, the teams that have the rich
owners and the halves, because of the way that the
revenue is constructed, with the sharing of the revenue, the

(28:28):
television revenue, It just it feels like the salary cap
is never happening in this sport.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah, we'll get to that at the top of next hour,
for sure, we'll dive into that. And Bryce Harper dropping
f bombs in the base of Rob Manfred. Wow, craziness.
But you know, listen, we started with ball, ball is
on the brain. We go back to football, and first
the initial question, are you guys a fan of the
band Allison Chains?

Speaker 2 (28:52):
Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely, you like it?

Speaker 3 (28:55):
Jared fan thumbs up, thumbs out fan, A big fan
like love Allison, especially with Lane Staley late singer fantastic U.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
But there's a different kind of change, No more chain gang.

Speaker 6 (29:07):
Right.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
I had to ask you about Alison. Change to grease
the skids for the chain with a.

Speaker 6 (29:10):
Good transition, right, Do you like that?

Speaker 5 (29:12):
Right?

Speaker 4 (29:13):
Yeah? So no more chain gang.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Basically in the NFL, they're actually going to be on
the sideline for window dressing and like emergency situations. But
we got our taste of the new virtual measurement system
that was during the Hall of Fame game. So they
literally just put this graphic on the screen and it's
like there's the ball and there's the first down line. Magically,

(29:35):
first down, move the chains even though there aren't chains,
move the virtual chains, I guess, right. So first thing
is do you like the change? You got your first
taste of it. Did you like it? Did you miss
the chain gang? How'd you feel?

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Anytime you incorporate technology into a very human experience, I
think it gets further and further away from the point,
like the point of football, the point of sports in
general is to have errors, Like you know, whether those
errors be with the players, whether those errors be with

(30:11):
the officiating. And I promise you, even when it happens
against the team that I root for or I have
interest in seeing win. Does it sting when an official
or an umpire or a referee gets something wrong? Yeah,
it absolutely does. But do I prefer that over going

(30:31):
over every single frame with insane amounts of detail and
studying slow mo? Did his foot stay in? Did his
foot go out? I mean, is there some drama with
instant replay? Yeah, but since instant replay came out, I
would argue there's more time wasted and more questions left

(30:53):
to be answered than any have been actually answered. And then,
in terms of this, I think there's going to be
flaws with this system. There already are just from the
standpoint of fan reaction and nostalgia, but there's going to
be actual flaws with this system as we move through
this regular season. And I just, I just I don't

(31:13):
like it. I think that it's anti sport to have
technology as an overlord to a very human experience. I
don't think there's room for it. And I understand there's
a lot of betters who disagree with me, and I
get that, but sports have been going on for a
long time without these type of interferences. I think it

(31:34):
slows down the game. I think it comes it up.
I think it makes us too reliant on knowing every
exacting detail, when that is by nature anti sport. I
don't like it.

Speaker 6 (31:44):
I like that take.

Speaker 5 (31:45):
I I like the new virtual measurements because I think
we like it's the very inaccurate way of like, of
all the things that we are capable of doing, I
think spotting the football is the one thing that we
really strugg like, it's just something that we've really it's
a really hard thing to do. For the refs, it's
almost impossible. And then the chain gang is just it's

(32:06):
it's crazy that that's how we determine for a billion
dollar league whether or not you're gonna move on with
your with your drive or not. But I do like
that take that that that Rich had because I do
think that there is a layer of the instant replay
where we've now gone too far. I don't know if
this specific instance is it, but I think for example,

(32:29):
in college basketball, when we're trying to figure out points
kinds of a second, you know, when we stop the
game for like every single moment the last two minutes
to make sure that the clock is right and all
these things, I think that is a little bit too far,
And I think there is some human element with the
officiating process, like subjective calls, that maybe we've gone a
little bit too far. But I think spotting the football

(32:51):
it's such an elemental part of the game. I want
to get that part right. And I think the the
inaccuracies of the chain gang can be a little bit
too much, But I do agree overall, I think we
are moving in a direction where we're getting too much
too fine with our tuning for these you know, figuring
out what's right and what's wrong.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
To me, it would be like if pro wrestling got
rid of the steel stairs, you know what I mean,
Like why why would you? We have virtual stairs, right,
and we don't need the steel stairs. All the gradial
things that happened with this he got thrown into the
steel stairs, like so and so picked up the steel stairs,
Oh my gosh, Like all these elements and drama that

(33:32):
to me was what the chain gang was. Yes, I
loved it, Like Geene Sterotur with the index card. Yeah,
just like when they're extending the chain and you're trying
to do them, is this the first they're extending it?
It just stops and then they you're starting to like
project is it gonna be a first own? I loved
all that stuff and it's just gone. Now it's just virtual.

(33:55):
I'm with you, though, Jared, like this is very important
to get it right. But this what's the honest question
I have. Will virtual measurements lead to more or less
conspiracy theory?

Speaker 1 (34:06):
More?

Speaker 4 (34:07):
Yeah, it might, that's a real question.

Speaker 6 (34:09):
He's gonna be more.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
Because play that out right, let measure this's a big game.
Let's say the chiefs are involved because people love to
whine about them. Yeah, and all of a sudden, they're
playing the bills and it looks like a first down
and here's the virtual measurement and it's not a first down.
You realize what people are gonna say. I think they're
gonna be more than there used to be.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
Oh, there will be because again the assumption will be
now that we can't see the officials or I should say,
the on field members of the chain gang making the measurements,
and the officials and you know, and the striped shirts,
you know, handling the whole thing. It's gonna feel like
there's a back room somewhere and messages are being sent

(34:52):
by the league like we've already had some of those
people who would go that far with conspiracy theories circulate
around the NFL that you know, the head official has
an ear piece and he's getting directions where to spot the.

Speaker 5 (35:06):
Ball at anytime there's instant replay and he goes into
the little pooth And that's my point.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
Hey, Vegas calling, and that's my point. The instant replay
is anti sport. Is it dramatic sometimes, but it's anti sport.
Virtual chain gang or virtual measurement system, whatever they want
to call it, is anti sport. Look, I get it
as frustrating as it is to have a referee get
it wrong, or an official to get it wrong, or

(35:32):
an umpire to get it wrong, whether we're talking balls
and strikes in or out, goaltending or not a catch
or no catch. When you start putting more and more
technology overlaid onto something that's already good you, it doesn't
make you happier. My house has I don't know four
TVs in it. You know, we got one in the

(35:52):
living room.

Speaker 6 (35:53):
You gotta step your game up, right.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
We've got we've got one in two of the bedrooms.
We got one in a in a spare room. We've
got enough TVs. If I just started adding TVs and
adding TVs and adding TVs, eventually somebody would come over
our house and be like, what do you got so
many TVs? Technology? An over abundance or an over reliance
on television on technology isn't going to make something prettier.

(36:17):
In fact, it will eventually make it uglier. And I
think the NFL just took strides toward making their beautiful
game very ugly.

Speaker 5 (36:25):
Yeah, theft just quickly, the level of conspiracy will rival
the NBA Draft lottery.

Speaker 6 (36:32):
I think that's right.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
I was thinking the same thing. They don't even do
it in front of us anymore.

Speaker 6 (36:37):
Yeah, well they do it.

Speaker 5 (36:39):
But when I watched the draft lotter this year, because
I was so fascinated with the Mavericks thing, I still couldn't.
I watched it three times. I couldn't understand how they
did it, Like it was like numbers and weird things.
It's just crazy.

Speaker 4 (36:49):
It's too much, too much, no good stuff.

Speaker 6 (36:52):
All right.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
We got Rich Hornberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith FSR.

Speaker 4 (36:56):
Betting analyst, the owner of what ten TVs? I don't
know how many.

Speaker 5 (37:00):
I have two in my office now. Actually I'm up
to five. I'm up to five now, and I have
a three bedroom house.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
Okay, all right, not that I like, I like, gotta
step your game up.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
You have what I'm on TV?

Speaker 6 (37:13):
Well, I'm only one person though.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
Yeah, that's a good point right there. I'm Brian, though.
Be sure to check out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and you'll see
a whole bunch of video highlights from our shows. And
be sure to subscribe to you always have instant access
to our Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Coming up
next to parlay Platter, which have one selection for you.
I have Baseball NW a pix just in case, because

(37:42):
I need to know the mystery formula over mystery.

Speaker 4 (37:45):
Theme we'll all find out.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
Coming up with Parlay Platter here on Fox Sports Radio's
Countdown presented by Bet MGM.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by Bett MGM.
No time to waste, let's dive right into this.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
Check this out our late letter all right, we just.

Speaker 3 (38:18):
Have one selection for you. We pull it together for
a greater payout. Jared, we start with you for the
theme and the first pick.

Speaker 6 (38:26):
What do you have? Yeah, the theme. We'll go baseball
one more week.

Speaker 5 (38:30):
We are close to people, We are close to light
at the end of the ball tunnel is approaching. I
think next week we'll have preseason games, we'll have futures,
We'll have a lot more ball to discuss. So this
will be the last week of our baseball. Let's let's
end the baseball platter on a winning note. It was
not a winning note last night for the New York Yankees.

(38:51):
They blue leads of six nothing, nine to four, and
twelve ten in the ninth inning, eventually lost to the Marlins,
gave up three in the ninety, lost thirteen twelve. The
new acquisition in the bullpen, bird Bednar and Dovall, the
law firm of Bird, Bednar and Dovaal, allowed nine earned
runs in two and a third Wolf I think they
bounced back tonight against the Marlins.

Speaker 6 (39:12):
You get Cam Schlittler on the mound for New York, who's.

Speaker 5 (39:14):
Been really good, in fact, so good that the Yankees
decided to release Marcus Stroman, who had been pitching very poorly,
and I think Schlitzler's gonna take that spot in the
rotation rate prays. On the other side, the Marlins have
been fisy. They're like a five hundred team this year.
But you don't get fair prices on the Yankees very often.
I think you're getting a fair price tonight. They're essentially
flat minus one ten. We'll go Yankees money line, first

(39:35):
leg of the platter.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Okay, give me the Cardinals tonight against the Padres. There
plus one twenty five here. Padres beat them for one yesterday.
But I like the pitching matchup for Saint Louis here,
Michael McGreevy on the mound going against a bunch of
well I mean, the Padres just rely heavily on right
handed bats. Machado Bogarts obviously having a hot season this year,

(39:59):
but that's a match if that favors the Cards. And
then just in general the Padres recent home vulnerabilities. It
feels like one error can lead to the next, can
lead to the next. If the Cardinals play consistent, which
I think they will with good starting pitching today, I
think they can carry this one. So give me the cards,
give me the cards on the money line.

Speaker 4 (40:20):
Wow, look at you fading your padres. I love this
selection by you there, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now would you guys?
Would you like plus one fifteen? Juice? I like this pick?

Speaker 2 (40:32):
I like that.

Speaker 3 (40:33):
Would you like to get a little riskier? And I
still like it? Don't love it as much as the original?
But plus one fifty I'm crazy.

Speaker 5 (40:40):
I mean right now, I'll give you this right now,
based off of the pick you gave me in the text,
and Rich's play and my play and a twenty five
percent odds boost available that I'm jem.

Speaker 6 (40:50):
Today we're at ten to one on this part.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
Hey, ooh, that's that's pretty good.

Speaker 6 (40:54):
It's pretty good for three legger.

Speaker 5 (40:57):
You know.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
The devil on my shoulders says higher, what it could
be better?

Speaker 6 (41:02):
I can always get you better.

Speaker 4 (41:04):
Okay, I'll give you plus one fifteen. I do like
this big.

Speaker 3 (41:07):
Give me Zach Wheeler, Philly stud pitcher over eight and
a half strikeouts against the the Tigers today, So I'd
said plus one fifteen. And the reasons are, Zach Wheeler
is a strikeout artist. It's got the second most strikeouts
in Major League Baseball.

Speaker 4 (41:24):
And you look at the Tigers. They strike out a
lot as a team.

Speaker 3 (41:28):
They're bottom five in MLB, So I like, I like
Wheeler to get to over eight and a half strikeouts.

Speaker 4 (41:35):
Today, I see him.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
I could see him get to double digits as well.
So plus one fifteen getting to nine k's, I'll sign.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
Up for that.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
Not bad.

Speaker 5 (41:42):
Ten to one on a nice little twenty five percent booze.

Speaker 4 (41:45):
I tend to one, very nice, all right?

Speaker 3 (41:47):
Coming up next, dropping F bombs would never happen in
this league. Oh, what's going on? Happy Saturday to you?
This would not be happening in the NFL. We'll get
to that in just a couple of seconds. Hey, be
sure to check out Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.

Speaker 4 (42:07):
Just search Fox Sports.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
Radio on YouTube and you'll see a whole bunch of
video highlights from our shows. And be sure to subscribe
to you always have instant access to our Fox Sports
Radio videos on YouTube. Okay, so a story from earlier
this week is so good we have to chop it
up here real fast. So I'm just gonna read the
first sentence from an ESPN article here, and it just

(42:31):
simply reads, Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper stood nose to
nose with Rob Manfred during a meeting between the Major
League Baseball Commissioner and the team last week, telling him
to get the f out of our clubhouse. If Manfred
wanted to talk about the potential implementation of a salary cap.

Speaker 5 (42:54):
HM.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
Now the first thing I thought of was this, This
would not happen in the NFL. Not only does Roger
Goodell look a little bit more physically a lot more
physically imposing than Rob Manfred does, There's no way this
would go down. Like, imagine walk in a world for
a second. If all things are equal, there's no salary

(43:17):
cap in the NFL. Roger Goodell, the commission is in
a locker room of some random NFL team and one
of the stars gets nose to nose with Goodell and says,
get the f out of our of our locker room.

Speaker 4 (43:33):
If you're talking about a salary cap over here.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
Would not happen, And if it did happen, the team
owners in the NFL would be outraged. They would be living.
There's no way that would happen in the NFL. It
happens in Major League Baseball. I just that's the first
thing I thought of, was the team owners in the
NFL must look at the team owners in MLB like,

(43:56):
you guys are a bunch of pushovers.

Speaker 4 (44:00):
Have no stones, you have no power. You're just letting
the players dictate.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
Oh, no salary, kept no, not happening, and you're just like, Okay, I.

Speaker 4 (44:09):
Guess I'll forget that.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
What do you do?

Speaker 3 (44:11):
Like That's how team owners in the NFL must look
at MLB team owners, because they do not get pushed
around in the NFL the same way MLB team owners do.
It happens time and time again.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Well, I don't necessarily look at Major League Baseball owners
as pushovers, more as they are contractually obligated to negotiate
with a stronger entity. Yeah, I mean, if we're really,
if we're really gonna look at this in terms of
like strength on strength, weakness on weakness, the MLB union

(44:47):
is just stronger than the NFL union. So the players
in Major League Baseball, like Bryce Harper is a perfect example,
they last a lot longer. So that means they've gone
through multiple contracts, and they've been through trades, and they've
seen friends of theirs done dirty by organizations, and they've
seen injuries not be compensated for and they've seen all

(45:09):
of the slings and arrows that a worker oftentimes has
to go through when they're dealing with an owner, right,
I mean, and that is a shared experience. Most people
don't own businesses. Most people are employees of a larger
group or of a larger business, right, you know, whether
it's corporate, small business, regional, whatever you work for. Typically

(45:33):
that's the majority of people work in this country. So
this is a shared experience. It's a lot, it's a lot.
There's a lot of difficulties being a business owner, and
there's a lot of things that go into it that
are far more nuanced than I think gets discussed. And
there's a lot of risk that these owners take. But
I will say this, the side represented here by Bryce

(45:54):
Harper is the side that I often share with people
when they hear and get things and they say, I mean,
you know, that's no way to talk to somebody, you know,
these greedy players this and that. It's like, well, hang on,
let's do a quick time out. Where does that animis
come from. It comes from the fact that for Bryce Harper,
he even though he's a rich player, and he will

(46:16):
never have to work a day in his life, if
he doesn't want to. He's not saying that for himself.
He's saying that for all the other guys. He's saying
it for Yes, in factors it matters. It'll limit his
earning potential. But Bryce Harper could lay his bat down
today and generations of his family will feel his wealth forever.

(46:37):
I mean, you can almost not pan out far enough
to see where the money will run out if they
handle it and manage it appropriately. So this isn't an
argument for Bryce. Bryce's argument for the body of players
that he helps represent. And so I don't look at
the owners in that Major League Baseball and I say, oh, man,
they're really weak. I flip it around and I say, wow,

(47:01):
that's a really strong union. And when workers stick up
for themselves that's what it looks like. Then then you
can actually have some meaningful change or more fair working
circumstances for people who are showing up for jobs every day,
whether they're swinging bats for a living or swinging hammers.
I appreciate what he did there in that locker room setting.

Speaker 6 (47:24):
Yeah, I think.

Speaker 5 (47:26):
I think my hunch is that the headline was a
bit overblown for click baity reasons, like the way that
the headline made it seem is that Manford's trying to
like bust into the clubhouse and Harper's sitting there with
like two bats.

Speaker 6 (47:41):
Like cross you know, like nose to those like you will.

Speaker 5 (47:45):
What's the scene in Lord of the Rings Thou Shalt
Not pass Like?

Speaker 6 (47:49):
That's how it was laid out.

Speaker 5 (47:51):
And then Manford spoke to reporters yesterday after he announced
the All Star Game was going to be at Wrigley
in twenty seven, and he got asked about this specie
topic and the quote was much more timid. It was,
you know, I don't talk about these player meetings. Bryce
expressed his views. At the end of the meeting, we
shook hands, went our separate ways. Not all that significant

(48:11):
like it, And again maybe he's down playing it. But
if you take both sides of this, where you see
the initial story, which was jarring nose to nose f
bombs being dropped, and then you hear Manford's response yesterday,
you can kind of understand why maybe this isn't as
big of a story as it should be. Here's the

(48:34):
also kicker that I would say, in my opinion, and
I've never again, I'm not a professional athlete. I've never
been in these clubhouses besides being a media reporter, and
they take this stuff really so I once got kicked
out of a clubhouse because I took my phone out,
like you can't. It's it's like sacred space in those clubhouses,
and from Major League Baseball, I don't think discussing those

(48:56):
types of things in a baseball clubhouse is the right
at sphere for it. Like it's just not like that's
the player's space they're getting ready for the game. I
don't think Manford coming in and having these high level
discussions about salary caps is really appropriate for the clubhouse.
So I understand why Bryce is like, hey, listen, like

(49:16):
this isn't really the right time or space for it.
Like let's set up a meeting and we'll have our
people call your people and let's figure it out. I
think it was a little bit of an over exaggerated,
over sensationalized headline, which led to, of course the wow factor.
And now I think you're getting a little bit of
the walking back and a little more of the cooler
heads prevailing.

Speaker 3 (49:35):
I mean, I just don't see it that way. I
think that you get heated. That's why you drop an
F bomb. That's why your nose to nose in the
first place. Maybe after it, cooler heads prevail, but in
the moment it's absolutely heated.

Speaker 4 (49:49):
And I still contind that wouldn't happened in the NFL.
It wouldn't.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
And this idea that well, it's just the players union
is stronger in MLB, It's like, well, how did that happen.
It's because the MLB team owner allowed it to happen.
I'll put it this way. If you just like did
role reversal and you're like, all right, NFL team owners,
now your MLB team owners.

Speaker 4 (50:11):
They would not be like, oh, no salary cap, that's fine.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
We'll just deal with it. I guess like, no chance
that would happen. And even though they're absolutely fighting the
stronger union, they would push them around. They would throw
their weight around way more than these MLB team owners do.

Speaker 4 (50:27):
They get pushed around.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
I mean, we look at the NFL being the juggernaut
it is, and we forget, like you think about the
ninety four lockout right in MLB. Shortly before that, eighty
seven in the NFL, there's a strike, the players Association
was striking. There were replacement players there's scabs. The team
owners are like, ye, I was bringing these replacement guys.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
We don't need you, Like that's how seeing.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
Yeah, but these billionaire owners are willing to wait out
millionaire players.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
I mean that is also like completely denying the fact
that some of those scabs were actual players who were
under contract. Like the owners in the NFL were able
to flip some of the players. And by the way,
they were looked at as villains, Yeah, in the locker
room after they crossed the picket line and they went
to work for the NFL owners. And that's the point

(51:17):
I'm trying to make.

Speaker 4 (51:18):
But that's the position they put them in.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Well, and it's the point I'm trying to make. The
careers are much shorter for NFL players. It is a
much higher turnover in terms of in terms of participation
in the sport. So that is a lot less of
a time to indoctrinate players into Hey, this is the
wars we've been through as a body, as an entity,

(51:43):
as a union against these NFL owners in order to
get some of the compensations some of the rule changes
that benefit players, like practice schedules and things like that,
you know, workplace environment, upkeep like, there were a lot
lot of things that the players in the eighties were
fighting for that players of the two thousands and twenty

(52:06):
twenties benefit from. Now you know and trust me, I
was involved in during my six year career a labor
action against the players. It was a lockout that led
to an unprecedentedly long ten year labor agreement between the
NFL players and owners where the NFL players got mopped up.

(52:26):
And again it wasn't because of the strength of the
ownership so much as the weakness of the players. There
were so many guys who needed a game check in
order to keep the lights on. We had a war chest,
by the way, and there are already guys who were
getting antsy about the season not being played out. It's
just different in Major League Baseball. They've fought for more,

(52:46):
they've gotten more, and part of the reason is because
they've always been paid more. It's a smaller group of players,
it's easier to organize the type of actions that they've
taken against Major League Baseball owners. And also when you
have a players with longer careers, there's a little bit
less of a risk for them to take labor action

(53:06):
against the owners than vice versa, because players will take
care of each other, you know what I mean. Like
you'll have a player who's got a little bit more
on his plate, he may kick him to the kiddy
to make sure that they stay strong in the end.
It's almost impossible to do in the NFL. So you
can look at it as saying like the NFL's got
these stronger owners, But the truth is those owners would

(53:28):
cave just as fast if you add it as strong
or stronger a union as you do in baseball. It's
just let's put it this way. The players are shown
up to a gunfight with knives in the NFL. That
is how it goes every time they sit down at
the collective bargaining agreement table.

Speaker 5 (53:46):
Yeah, I think this the salar cap in baseball is
never happening. I just don't think it's happening. I think
there's too much There's too much sewage to clean out
from the drains. I mean, you would it would take
years to turn that battleship around. Think about how big
of a gap there is between and I can maybe

(54:07):
pull it up really quick between the Dodgers and the Mets,
cy the Padres and the rest of these teams, like,
let me see if I can find track.

Speaker 4 (54:16):
I've got something for it.

Speaker 5 (54:17):
I've got it up right now, four hundred and six
The Dodgers payroll their tax payroll this year four hundred
and six million dollars, the Marlins eighty five million.

Speaker 6 (54:24):
Like that.

Speaker 5 (54:25):
You're not closing that gap anytime soon. It will take
decades to close that gap. There are players. How much
does Otani do over the next like fifteen years? Like
it just I just don't think you can turn that
ship around. I think that ship has sailed and we
just need some kind of a way to I don't

(54:45):
want to say apron because that word's been you know,
beat the crap over the last few years with the NBA.
But we need some kind of a mesh, a net,
a safety net where you can't go below a certain level.

Speaker 6 (54:57):
And that's the key to the salary cap.

Speaker 5 (54:59):
I don't want to here any more discussions about a
salary cap until we talk about a salary floor. Because
if you're gonna cap teams like the Dodgers and the
Mets and the Yankees from spending, you have to force
teams like the White Sox and the Rays and the
Marlins and the pirates to spend up to a certain point,
you have to close the gap. It's not a cap,

(55:20):
it's a gap. That's the issue we have in baseball
right now. And that gap between the haves and the
have nots is so wide. I just don't know if
there's a feasible way to close it.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
Well, yeah, I mean, hey, that's the thing is, I
think MLB desperately needs a salary cap, and I get
that the players are gonna greatly push back and these
pushovers are gonna let them push them.

Speaker 4 (55:41):
Around, because that's the whole point here.

Speaker 3 (55:43):
They're gonna allow it, you know, And that's where you're
probably right, Jared. We're probably not gonna get that because
I just don't have faith that the MLB team owners
are gonna stand their ground and wait out the millionaires.
They're gonna be like, I've got billions, but they're probably
not gonna so okay. I mean that's essentially how it's
gonna play out, and that's why it's gonna be. Like

(56:06):
I get these players. I think it gets twisted. I mean,
we definitely differ on salary caps and MLB. I think
it's sorely needed. You got one hundred and sixty two
game season, and you have the haves and have nots,
and it's like the Grand Canyon size difference between those
and half of it is their own fault.

Speaker 4 (56:27):
Some of these teams just won't pay. And I agree,
you got to have a salary floor, not just a salary.

Speaker 2 (56:32):
Cap, and that's the reason why it won't happen.

Speaker 4 (56:34):
Yeah, but that's.

Speaker 3 (56:36):
But there take a lot of these teams at the bottom,
like the Pittsburgh Pirates. We always talk about them, and
they're just an embarrassment. They won't build around Paul's schemes.
It's just it's terrible. But like they probably look at
it and say, Okay, the landscape being what it is
right now, yeah, we could pay a little bit more
to get another outfielder or another arm or what have you.

(56:58):
But what's that really gonna do for us when there's
no salary cap. And that's a legitimate question, right, Like,
it's not gonna get us anywhere far in the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (57:08):
So yeah, they're gonna put that money.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
In their their pockets and their seat cushions, which is lame,
but that's the thought process. If the thought process becomes hey,
with a salary cap. If we get another arm and
we get an outfielder or an infielder, whatever we actually need,
and we can have a legitimate shot at making serious noise,
well that changes the equation completely. But right now, with

(57:31):
no salary cap, that's not the situation. So this idea
that it would just remain as is. I completely disagree
with that, and these players are going to push back
on it, and I get it, but it's not like
they're gonna make a dollar ninety five all of a
sudden because there's a salary cap. What's gonna happen is
you're just not gonna have the halves be able to
stockpile as much talent.

Speaker 4 (57:52):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
So you're making that same money or very similar to
the same money with a different address. You're just not
on a tea that has star after star after star.
That's what would happen. It would be more widespread talent
around the league. I would be great for the league,
but it's probably not gonna happen in MLB.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
I mean, the parody relies on talent distribution, and talent
distribution relies on scouting and development. I mean, you can't
convince me otherwise. There are plenty of teams that spend
a lot of money in Major League Baseball who don't
win World Series. Just because there's been a recent rash
of heavy payroll teams who have one doesn't convince me

(58:32):
that this is now the ultimate reason. And also imagine
the lack of creativity that the owners who are supposed
to be these insanely intelligent businessmen. The only reason why
they could perceive why there's a lack of parody in
terms of payroll at the top of baseball is becau

(58:55):
is just because of or i should say parody at
the top of baseball in terms of petition is just payroll,
Like that's the only reason. You can't think of one
other reason, not one. It's it's to me, it's it's
a lot of bluster. It's just a lot of Hey,
we're going to continue to spoon feed this time and

(59:15):
time and time again to these fans at a nauseating level,
and eventually we'll flip them. We'll get them to go
against these millionaires. Meanwhile, you're talking about billionaires. You're talking
about people who are signing the checks for these millionaires,
who are the ones complaining about the money being inequal

(59:36):
in baseball. It is so bizarre to hear a group
of thirty billionaires say, yeah, here's the problem. We're paying
them too much money. Like what what that's the problem? No,
that isn't the problem. The problem is you got a
bunch of chumps in the room who don't actually want
to kick into the kiddy and step up to the
plate and pay for stars. So either get richer owners

(01:00:01):
or get out of the room. That's it, you know.
So okay, say you're the the Rockies, or say you're
the Tampa Bay Rays, or say you're the Oakland A's
who you know? I mean that city kicked them into
a minor league ballpark while Vegas doesn't even want them.
You know, Like, say you're one of these teams who
don't spend and you're sitting in this room and you're

(01:00:23):
listening to these conversations about, yeah, we need a salary cap.
Those guys are shaking in their boots because they know
what the players are gonna do. The players are gonna
come to the table, is you want a cap. That
cap is going to be sky and you want it
to be you want it to be equitable. That CAP's
got to be sky high and guess what. A salary
floor has got to be up to ninety percent of

(01:00:43):
that cap. All those owners who don't pay right now,
they just lost their teams. So this is never gonna happen.
It has nothing to do with the players greed. It
has everything to do with the owners greed, Brian. And
it's not gonna make the game more competitive. It absolute,
at least, that's.

Speaker 4 (01:01:00):
The part where you lose me. That makes zero sense.

Speaker 3 (01:01:03):
This idea that you give the Pirates, the the Marlins
a four hundred million dollars payroll and it's not gonna
make any difference.

Speaker 4 (01:01:10):
That's ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
It makes explain to me how teams with lower payrolls
even make the postseason, even make deep runs. Talent acquisition
and player development is more important than payroll. It just is.
It always has been in baseball. It always has been.
You can go through all of the playoff runs over time,
and you can see time and time again, big market
teams like the Mets who can't compete with small market

(01:01:34):
teams like the Rays. It happens all the time. They spend,
and they spend, and they spend, they still can't figure
out they're trying to spend their way out of the
mouse trap, and they put themselves right back in it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
You can look at it both ways. We could play
tennis all day long. How many years did the Yankees
win big because they're out spending everyone. This idea that
spending doesn't matter is lunis. But also, I'm not saying
that's the only thing that matters. You're putting words in
my mouth. But to act like it doesn't matter at
all is crazy. Like you lose the point when you are.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
Yes, no, no, no, no, that's I don't lose the
point because you're arguing it from one side of that point.
You're saying it's just the salary cap and the that's
what you're saying.

Speaker 4 (01:02:14):
I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying it makes
a huge difference. I'm not saying it makes the only difference.
That's what you're interpreting.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
Okay, okay, Well, and well here's what I'm saying. I'm
saying that if you that's not your only point, that's
just your biggest point. Here's what I'm saying. You need
richer owners then, so if you think that money is
going to solve baseball, then fire the owners who don't
spend and then fix it by bringing in more money
into baseball. So if you think that money is going

(01:02:42):
to solve baseball, get the richest people in the world
to compete against each other and have a big, you know,
your nation contest over the amount of money they're paying
their players, just like they do in the EPL and
Premier League and all that. And then you'll have the
same system and then move to a system of relegation,
you know what I'm saying, Like, you can make competitive

(01:03:04):
changes and keep the same structure in place where players
aren't capped, and you can make a better sport. You
need richer owners, you don't need a salary cap. And
there's a bunch of guys, like I said in that
room amid those thirty owners, who they hear salary cap
and they go no, no, no, no, no, no. This is
a bad idea. This is a bad idea because they
know what the counter is going to be. The volley

(01:03:26):
back over the net is going to be we need
a salary floor, and that is going to lead to
owners being cast out of Major League Baseball forever.

Speaker 5 (01:03:35):
That's the only addition I'll make to this, because I
love watching and listening to you guys far like Tyson
and Holyfield the salary floor. If that's not part of
this equation, non starter, complete non starter.

Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
For me, all right.

Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
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Coming up next, they're both second year players, but one
guy has a whole lot more bells and whistles.

Speaker 4 (01:04:21):
Around him than the other guy does.

Speaker 3 (01:04:23):
It's Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It is
Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by bet MGM, and it
is time for the tire rack play of the day,
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Speaker 6 (01:04:37):
Hit Deep Corrupt?

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Is it enough? Going back, fam On Gone, It's gone.
Gotta be kidding me. Brendon Doyle with a two run
home run. The Rockies had come all the way back
to win it seventeen to sixteen.

Speaker 3 (01:04:55):
There you go, compliments of Rockies Radio Network. For over
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(01:05:17):
imagine having money on the Pirates? They scored nine ones
in the first inning they lost, and he sent me
a screenshot and he just wrote, had like I had
exactly that he had the Brewers winning.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
He had the.

Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
Pirates winning is about plus one point eighty and that
was an l because the Rockies came all the way back,
scored five and the ninth inning craziness.

Speaker 4 (01:05:40):
Man, that's that's wild right there. Yeah, Okay, ball on
the brain. Still.

Speaker 3 (01:05:46):
We talked a little bit about Terry McLaurin the Washington
Commander's wide receiver. He requested a trade not one of us.
We can't agree on this show. We all agree he's
not going anywhere. He'll get his new deal, He'll be
there with Washing. But I can't help but think, even
though we fully expect Terry McLaurin to be back, I
can't help but think about the differences between two second

(01:06:09):
year players. That would be Jaden Daniels, the Commander's quarterback,
and Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. Look at the bells and
whistles that Caleb Williams has around him supporting cast offensively
compared to what is I wouldn't go bear bones with Washington.
But it's not the same amount of bells and whistles,
right if you look what's around Caleb Williams. So he's

(01:06:32):
got DJ Moore. The Bears made that trade a year
before Caleb Williams got there, right, good wide receiver. They
also drafted Roma Doonza in the top ten. They drafted
tight end Colston Loveland with a top ten pick. They
went out and they got Luther Burden, your guy, Jared,
you love Luther Burden out of Missouri second round.

Speaker 6 (01:06:50):
Really, we made a lot of money on him in college.

Speaker 4 (01:06:53):
He did Bears.

Speaker 3 (01:06:55):
They got three new interior offensive linemen. They had all
these sack issues, so they try to strengthen the interior
offensive line. It's just here you go, Caleb, here you go.
Here's more, here's more, Caleb. You need it, here's more Caleb.
The Bears are going all out for Caleb Williams. Meanwhile,
you look at what Washington is doing doing you gotta

(01:07:15):
squint a little bit, like doing around Jaden Daniels. So
they picked up Deebo Samuel Okay, and they traded for
Laramie Tunzell. Now, I don't want to make that sound
like it's nothing, because it's not. Laramie Tunzell could help
out that offensive line quite a bit, but Debo is
banged up all the time. They drafted a fourth round receiver,

(01:07:36):
Jalen Lynn out of Virginia Tech. That's that's the list.
They lost a couple of guys in free agency. It's like,
the Commanders remind me a lot more of the Bills.
You know, the Bills look at Josh Allen and they're like,
you're a stud man, just cook.

Speaker 6 (01:07:50):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:07:51):
He doesn't have bells and whistles around him like crazy.
And that's what I think the Washington Commanders are like,
right now, you could compare Washington's supporting cast to a
lot of others in the NFL and it just doesn't
stack up, and the Bears make it. I think that's
the best comparison because both those quarterbacks went one and
two and last year's draft right and I think the

(01:08:15):
supporting casts are much different.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
Yeah, I think that they were obviously at different points
in their rebuild. I think the Commanders, I think we're
a little bit further behind the eight ball than the
Bears were. But that's okay because when you have a
special quarterback, you can still get special things done, but
what you need to count on is his health and durability.

(01:08:39):
So in the interim, you got to find a way
to keep Jaden Daniels safe. Now, Kayleb Williams and Jade
and Daniels both have this in common. They have a scapability.
They have an ability to get away from danger, but
that also can get them into danger. So the Ravens
overall with mobile quarterbacks, have had some good fortune. With
Lamar Jackson, he's been injured, but not as often as

(01:09:01):
you'd think a hyper mobile quarterback would be because he's
such a freak athlete, it's hard to get a clean
shot on him. And then just in general, his durability
has been pretty good. He's had some ankle issues, he's
had obviously some dinks and bangs on the fenders, but
overall pretty healthy guy. That's the goal. Keep the guy safe,

(01:09:22):
keep the guy healthy. You know, you don't want a
situation like the Colts where you draft Andrew Luck and
he's a generational talent, but you can't protect him for
the first five years of his career and he has
to you know, sort of extinguish the candle when he
gets over the hump of thirty. I mean, you have
some of these players like Brady and Rogers playing into

(01:09:43):
their forties. Andrew was so banged up by the time
he reached thirty he couldn't do it anymore. The wheels
were literally falling off. So that is going to be
the key. Roster construction is important. But the most important
thing is you got to protect these quarterbacks, so investing
in the offensive line and having constant conversations with them
about self preservation. I fear quarterbacks like you know, Luck,

(01:10:07):
like Herbert another example of a guy who's gotten banged
up a lot early in his career. Even though they're
super talents, they could end up having much shorter careers
because that one key factor in my mind, when you
have a great quarterback is fundamental. That guy has to
stay safe for anybody have a chance in that organization.

Speaker 5 (01:10:27):
Yeah, I really like what Washington did in the draft.
You know, he took Connorly offensive lineman with their first pick.
The Bears went more on the offensive skill position side.

Speaker 6 (01:10:38):
Right, No one expected them to take Louvelin tenth.

Speaker 5 (01:10:40):
Overall, everyone was thinking maybe Tyler Warren, maybe a running
back in that spot, and then they went Burton, as
you mentioned, Brian with that second round pick, who I love.

Speaker 6 (01:10:49):
The Washington situation is interesting this year.

Speaker 5 (01:10:52):
So I'm pretty much done with all of my win
total projections for the year. I haven't bet all of
these yet, but I definitely have the projections where I'm
leaning in each direction.

Speaker 6 (01:11:03):
I'm a strong under on the Bears.

Speaker 5 (01:11:05):
I've got the Bears projected for seven and a half wins,
their win totals eight and a half. Actually, that's one
of the ones i've already bet, is eight and a
half to the under on Chicago. I just think we're
at that point with the Bears, and I might be
there with Washington too, but not quite as much.

Speaker 6 (01:11:19):
We'll get to Washington in a second.

Speaker 5 (01:11:20):
But with the Bears, I just think the hype is
so real that there's nowhere to go but under And
I don't love their schedule. They play at a net
rest disadvantage in more games than that they're an advantage in.
And I think that first game, that Week one game
against Minnesota is a trap. I mean they're favored in
that game. The Vikings have the better roster. I think
they're more experienced. First game for Ben Johnson and Caleb

(01:11:43):
Williams together, and you got to face Flores and that
blitzing defense on Monday Night eighty. I mean that's a
tough spot. And then they go to Detroit in Week
two on a short week after playing on Monday night.
I think the Bears might start ozing two Washington in
a different boat. You get that cupcake Week one against
the Giants, everyone expects them to win that game. Then
their short week Green Bay Thursday night the following week.
That's a tough game. But then Vegas Atlanta Chargers Bears

(01:12:06):
at home. Like I think Washington has a chance to
start five and one, four and two, and then the
schedule toughens from there. Right, they have to play Kansas
City on a Monday night on the road, and then
they get Philly late on a Saturday. They played that
to pay Philly twice in the last three weeks of
the year.

Speaker 6 (01:12:20):
That's tough. That's real tough.

Speaker 5 (01:12:22):
So I'm I think I'm a little bit more neutral
on Washington. I think I have them projected for nine
point eight wins and their win totals nine and a half.
The reason why I'm not gonna run to the window
to bet the overs because their win total last year
was like five and they went way over and now
they're being projected to be a ten win team essentially,
And I think I don't I don't think sophomore slump

(01:12:43):
for Jade Daniels, but I definitely think we're in that
range of maybe the price got moved up a little
bit too high and there's not as much value to
the over for Washington to exceed expectations this year because
those expectations are very high.

Speaker 3 (01:12:57):
Yeah, man, And I think, man, some of the comparisons
between teams, if you look at you know, where Jaydon Daniels,
he and he's not gonna say this at all, but
he could go home and kind of look at the
roster at night and be like, man, we're dragging our
heels to pay Terry McLaurin, and like, what else do

(01:13:17):
we have? Like you have debo and but it's not
it doesn't stack up with some of the top teams
and what they have around their quarterback. We talk about
Philly all the time. Look at the supporting cast for
Jalen Hurts. My gosh, he's got everything. He got the
best offensive line in football. You've got aj Brown, DeVante Smith,
Dallas Goddard to throw to in this guy named Saquan

(01:13:39):
in the backfield.

Speaker 4 (01:13:40):
That's pretty freaking good, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:13:43):
Look at Cincy like they've got Jama Jamar Chase and
they backed up the brinkstruck for t Higgins. They paid
their number two receiver huge money, and Washington doesn't even
want to play their pay their number one guy huge money.
Kansas City. Listen, Mahome's got a lot around him. When
you have Rashie Rice, he's going to be suspended for

(01:14:05):
a number of games. But you got Rashi Rice, You've
got Hollywood Brown, You've got Xavier Worthy, Travis Kelce. That's
pretty good in terms of weapons to throw to. I
just can't help but look at Washington Sideways, where you
got to build upon this stud rookie season, not take
a step back. I don't know why you're dragging your
heels as much when it comes to paying Terry McLaurin.

(01:14:25):
What's the alternative? What are you doing outside of not
paying him? You have to and now he has leverage
and he's exercising it. But you have to do that,
and the commanders are like putting it off. It's like,
this is the only decision you can make right now.

Speaker 2 (01:14:42):
Well, of course, I mean they know it, we know it,
and it's just a matter of when this deal is
going to get done. Brian, I don't think anybody in
this room or most people listening to us right now,
think that mclaurin's going anywhere, because they've clearly invested bringing debo.
Obviously they had a sudden retirement on the offensive line,

(01:15:03):
but trying to shore up that gap. They're in win
now mode and they're aware of it because they have
a window with a more veteran heavy team then for example,
the team you're using as comparison the Chicago Bears, who
have much more reliance on rookie talent and a younger
roster in a lot of places, and more controllable contracts

(01:15:24):
than the Washington Commanders have. You know, the Commanders are
in that situation where you know, a lot of these
checks are going to come do and so they've they've
got to kind of make it all all all the
pieces fit before those before those bills come due. And
so I think they signed McLaurin to an extension. I

(01:15:45):
think it's going to be front loaded. I think it's
going to be putting as stuffing as many dollar bills
in his pocket to make them quiet and happy to
play for them for a couple of years with you know,
and and regardless of contract length, there's going to be
some sincere out for the ownership for the team. It's
going to be more team friendly on the back end
of this contract because, like I said, I think they're

(01:16:06):
in win now mode. Jayden Daniels is going to be
a part of the rebuild. Caleb Williams was the rebuild.
That's the difference between the Commanders and the Bears in
my mind.

Speaker 5 (01:16:18):
Yeah, the problem that the Commanders have real quick is
they play nine games this year against teams expected to
win eight and a half or more.

Speaker 6 (01:16:24):
Six of those nine are on the road.

Speaker 5 (01:16:26):
Green Bay Chargers, Chiefs, Dolphins, Vikings Eagles. They were eight
and four and one score games last year against a
very easy schedule of opponents, and they had an obscene
eighty seven percent four down conversion rate twenty of twenty three.
That's the most successful fourth down conversion rate in NFL history.
I think, as good as Jayden Daniels is, it will

(01:16:47):
be very hard to replicate all of the success with
all of those factors as a headwind in twenty five.

Speaker 3 (01:16:55):
Yeah, well, what would help is talent la round him. Yeah,
absolutely help. But they're dragging their heels to even do that.
It's wild to me, but here we are. McLaurin isn't
going anywhere. He'll be there, but they're taking the scenic
crowd to paying him. And that's like one of the
only weapons, true weapons he has. That's like me, will

(01:17:18):
he will be there? But I could do this all day.
Look at look at Tampa. Tapa's got Mike Evans, Chris Godwin,
ky Notton's a good tight end. They drafted a Mecca
Buca in the first round and they are raving about this, dude,
you know what I mean, Like they got a lot
of weapons over there and just adding to it. And
Washington they seem like, let's focus on the defense. Jaden's

(01:17:40):
he's special, you know, what does he need? That's not
how they're acting. It's wild to me. We've got rich
ron Berger, Penn State, all American. We've got Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 4 (01:17:50):
I'm Brian.

Speaker 3 (01:17:50):
No score bigger at bet MGM. When you win with
boost tokens, odds, boost tokens and more. Even if your
bet doesn't hit, we've got you covered with no sweat tokens.

Speaker 4 (01:17:58):
And that's not all.

Speaker 3 (01:17:58):
Sign up with BETMGM to day and you'll have access
to countless betting options, including new look, same game parlays, teasers,
live bets, and so much more. Coming up next, prop
it up. That's right, the prop betting market. We shall
compare notes or we going WNBA, we going MLB, We're
going off the beaten path. Who knows well compare notes?
Coming up is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM.

(01:18:23):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by bet MGM.
Use code countdown at bet mgm to receive up to
fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets if you don't
win your first bet. When you're registered with BETMGM, you'll
get instant access to a variety of parlay selection features,
live betting options, signature bets and the best daily promotions
in the business.

Speaker 4 (01:18:43):
Again, use code countdown and.

Speaker 3 (01:18:45):
You'll get up to fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus
bets if you don't win your first bet.

Speaker 4 (01:18:50):
All right, let's do.

Speaker 1 (01:18:50):
This prop it up player plays all.

Speaker 4 (01:18:57):
Right the prop betting love this month and terribly start
with you with something you like.

Speaker 6 (01:19:04):
Yeah, I love it too. You know who else I love? Today? J? T?
Gin Who is JT. Ginn?

Speaker 5 (01:19:09):
The starting pitcher for the Athletics today they are facing
the Diamondbacks. So gin tail of two seasons earlier this
year he was great in four starts, seven strikeouts, seven strikeouts.

Speaker 6 (01:19:20):
Two a little low and then six.

Speaker 5 (01:19:22):
Then he got hurt, missed the month with injury, came back,
moved to the bullpen. Now he's back in the rotation,
making his third start back in the rotation. They stretched
him out fifty eight and seventy seven pitches in his
first two starts against Texas and Houston. Good offensive today
gets the Diamondbacks. So just had a fire sale, right,
They dealt Suarez, they dealt Nailer. So vibes are low
in the desert, but strikeouts hopefully high over four and

(01:19:44):
a half strikeouts for JT GIN today, the sinker will
be big. If you haven't seen the sinker, this will
be Arizona's first look at Gin. I think that is
advantage pitcher over four and a half case very reasonably
price minus one oh five at that mgm okay.

Speaker 2 (01:19:57):
Pirates drew the Rockies today and Paul sk Ians is
on the mound for the Bucos. He's averaging nearly ten
strikeouts for nine innings, so I'm also taking an over
pitcher strikeouts. He has to clear six and a half
and I think Paul Skins does. He's recently fanned nine
against the d Backs. Also, the Rockies ranked near the

(01:20:17):
bottom in Major League Baseball and strikeouts at a twenty
six percent clip. This is a dream matchup for the Pirates.
It's a dream matchup if you're looking for the over
to hit on pitcher strikeouts, So give me, Paul Skins
over six and a half.

Speaker 3 (01:20:31):
Yeah, they need a combined strikeouts prot then.

Speaker 2 (01:20:34):
Right, Yeah, that'd be awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:20:38):
I'm surprised we don't have that now that I think
about it. Right, Like Tarrek Schobel and Zach Wheeler.

Speaker 2 (01:20:43):
Oh my gosh, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:20:45):
They're both at I think eight and a half, so
you combined what you put it at maybe seventeen and
a half? Low, right, something like that. I want to
be fun, right, it's true the root for both guys.
You know, people have fantasy teams. They do it all
the time. Right, we have a combined prop vet here.

Speaker 4 (01:21:01):
Let's be kind of cool.

Speaker 6 (01:21:02):
I like that market we.

Speaker 2 (01:21:03):
Have, but we also have some inroad Jarre, I mean
literally bet MGM is all over there. Maybe we could
create that.

Speaker 6 (01:21:09):
I can send a message you are there, you go,
people in the know.

Speaker 4 (01:21:13):
Okay, we should make that happen. I kind of like that.

Speaker 3 (01:21:17):
All right, I'm gonna go with Andrew McCutcheon. I'll stick
with your same game here. Rich So McCutcheon, who my
dad is a big fan of, by the way, loves
the Saint Louis Cardinals. Always been a McCutcheon guy. But
he's done really well against Austin Gomber, who is not
exactly you know Zach Wheeler or Trek school Ball out there.

(01:21:37):
He's hit a homer double and limited played appearances, but
five hundred batting average.

Speaker 4 (01:21:41):
I like McCutcheon over one and a half total.

Speaker 3 (01:21:44):
Basis is why I'm doing with today plus one fifty. Oh,
good morning, happy Saturday to you. Have your thoughts changed
even a bit? We'll get to that in just a
couple of seconds. Hey, shortly after the show, our podcast
going up. If you missed anything on today's show, be
sure to check it out. Just search Fox Sports Radio

(01:22:04):
wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 4 (01:22:06):
And be sure to also follow, rate and review it again.

Speaker 3 (01:22:08):
Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts,
and you'll see the show posted right after we get
off the air. Okay, so we've talked about the trade
requests of Micah Parsons and Terry McLaurin and the same
division coincidentally, right NFC East players right now, But if
they've requested trades, quick recap. All three of us agree

(01:22:32):
that they're probably not getting traded, not going anywhere. This
is just part of the negotiation tactics, you know, players
are exercising their leverage.

Speaker 4 (01:22:41):
We don't think they're going anywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:22:43):
But my question is, have you changed your opinion at all,
even a smidge about what you expect from the Cowboys
and the Commanders this season, Because even though we don't
expect these guys to be traded, you could think, hey, man,
especially in the Cowboy case, this is another chapter and
the long, extensive book of unnecessary drama right Distraction City.

(01:23:08):
You're supposed to be focused on improving, you know, tightening
the screws, all that stuff. In the offseason, we're talking
about a contract and got all these players weighing in,
you know, seee Lamb is tweeting.

Speaker 4 (01:23:20):
And it's just this whole soap opera.

Speaker 3 (01:23:23):
So does this kind of like soap opera vibe with
both players? Does that cause you to look differently at
the Cowboys or the Commanders and what you expect from
them this season?

Speaker 2 (01:23:35):
Does it change my expectations for the season? Not really.
The expectations are the expectations. I think that they're both
going to be competitive in the conference, certainly competitive in
the division they share. But what I will say is,
you know it, does it does it twist how your

(01:23:57):
your feelings may be about the start of the season,
well yeah, like you know, and that can that have
overall ramifications or ripple effects for the rest of the season, certainly,
But we're talking about veteran players. We're talking about guys
who have played for a single franchise who arguably probably
are going to land exactly where they are, and the

(01:24:19):
the I don't know the the in these two specific
situations with McLaurin and with Micah, I don't I don't
really see either of the two of them not playing
or holding out, So I don't know. I don't know
if it really disrupts in my mind's eye what the

(01:24:39):
future looks like or the forecast looks like.

Speaker 5 (01:24:42):
Yeah, I heard a good case on social media yesterday
because you know, I posted my analysis of the Micah
Parsons deal and it was essentially, the Cowboys aren't trading him,
this is really the only card he can play, and
he's under contract for the next you know year, and
then two franchise tags after that. I did get some
pushback that, yeah, morale might be lower, but the team

(01:25:05):
is galvanized around Parsons, Like I think every player on
the Cowboys roster has changed their ex profile picture to
a picture of Mike. So it could let me make
the other side of this. It could galvanize that Cowboys
locker room wow, and it could bring them together. And

(01:25:28):
because we're all in agreement, this is the only thing
we can agree on today that neither one of these
guys gonna get traded. So if they're all gonna be
their week one and the Cowboys players are all rallying
for Parsons, Now I'm not in the locker room.

Speaker 6 (01:25:41):
I don't know what the actual vibe is.

Speaker 5 (01:25:42):
But but who's to say that it doesn't make them
more a bigger chip on their shoulder, like it could
go in the other direction, I think.

Speaker 3 (01:25:50):
Now it's an interesting take. I will say that we
did agree on Allison Chains. Okay, oh that's true.

Speaker 4 (01:25:55):
That's what you can't get lost in translation. But I
like what you're thinking here.

Speaker 3 (01:26:01):
Well, okay, well, maybe put it to the side if
you will, or include it whatever you want to do
with Michael Parsons, Terry McLaurin the trade requests. But what
are your expectations for the Cowboys and Commanders this season?
The Cowboys win total at BETMGM is seven and a
half Commanders at nine and a half?

Speaker 4 (01:26:20):
Do you buy that?

Speaker 6 (01:26:20):
Rich?

Speaker 3 (01:26:21):
Are you more likely to take the Cowboys over seven
and a half because of what Jared's saying right there, like, Hey,
all these players are supporting Micah Parsons, their teammate Ceedee Lamb.

Speaker 4 (01:26:34):
He tweeted, never fails, dog.

Speaker 3 (01:26:36):
Just pay the man what you owe him, no need
for the extra curricular, which is right on point.

Speaker 4 (01:26:42):
It's completely true, and Jared's right.

Speaker 3 (01:26:45):
A lot of the players have changed their their ex
profile picture to Michaeh Parsons.

Speaker 6 (01:26:51):
What do you think funny?

Speaker 3 (01:26:52):
Actually, are you more likely to buy over seven and
a half wins for the Cowboys? And maybe this could
actually help instead of hurt them?

Speaker 2 (01:27:00):
I think I don't. I don't think it changes again
the paradigm for me if I were interested in putting
my money on there. I don't think X profiles are
going to make the biggest difference. But I will say
this continuity with your team and your program matters, and
clearly this is an important player to that locker room,

(01:27:20):
to that team's culture, and so it's almost another brick
in the wall, or I guess you could say another
brick in building the argument that the Cowboys really just
need to get this deal done and make Micah as
happy as they possibly can, to get this season underway
without any interruptions, which I think is essentially what's gonna happen,

(01:27:42):
because I mean, also look at the Cowboys track record.
They pay their stars, CD Lamb, Dak Prescott multiple times,
Zeke Elliott, Zach Martin. It's gonna happen. It's an inevitability.
Jerry Jones just understands two things. He understands that at

(01:28:03):
the end of the day, money talks, BS walks, and
all of this right now is BS. He knows that
as soon as Michael gets his big fat check and
that guarantee, he and Mike are gonna be fast friends again.
He's seen it a million times. He knows what a
negotiation is, and he knows what a good negotiation does
for the Cowboys. It gets everybody talking about the Cowboys. Yeah,

(01:28:24):
and that is exactly what Jerry Jones wants. He's a
marketing genius. Does he spend his money somewhat frivolously, Yeah? Sometimes.
Does he make a lot of money? Absolutely? The Dallas
Cowboys routinely are in the Forbes Top five Richest franchise
in the world list. So Jerry Jones gets two things
very right. He keeps his stars fat and happy and fed,

(01:28:48):
and he gets his name and his team's name in
the media constantly. This is good publicity for the Cowboys
ahead of a season where like you said, I mean,
the the prospects in their own division are fairly low
in terms of who they're competing against. Commanders, they look
completely rejuvenated with Jaden Daniels. The Eagles just won a

(01:29:10):
Super Bowl for crying out loud, Like, there's a lot
of work to do, even in your own divisions, So
they're trying. He's trying to get as much buzz around
the team before they start this season. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:29:21):
I mentioned this yesterday.

Speaker 5 (01:29:22):
I thought this is basically like, who needs Love Island
when we have the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, I mean, we
don't need reality shows. Sports is the best reality show
for Dallas. So here's your context. Would you agree or
disagree that Dallas is essentially the same team as last
year entering the season, right, like, pretty much the same

(01:29:43):
core guys. I know they're running games a little bit,
you know, off the beaten path, but it's pretty much,
especially Parsons.

Speaker 6 (01:29:50):
Comes back and we expect him to be on the
field week one.

Speaker 5 (01:29:53):
It's pretty much the same core as last year, right,
agree or disagree?

Speaker 3 (01:29:57):
I mean, like Zach bart And retires, that's a big deal.
DeMarcus Lawrence now with the Seahawks, right Like, So there
have been some guys that I don't want to make
it sound like it's a carbon copy. You know. What
I mean is the first round rookie Tyler Booker is
expected to start. So I'm not saying you're saying that.
I'm just saying there.

Speaker 5 (01:30:17):
Have been relatively the same Because you mentioned a defensive
lineman that's a.

Speaker 6 (01:30:20):
Tailor in his career at a guard and sorry, Rich,
but guards don't move the needle.

Speaker 3 (01:30:24):
Well yeah, I mean you traded for George Pickens. Okay,
that's not the only thing to mention, Like, they have
a whole rookie class.

Speaker 4 (01:30:30):
So it's it's.

Speaker 5 (01:30:31):
Relatively speaking, we have similar expectations for Dallas as last
year to this year, right, relatively well, their win total
last year was ten and a half, this year at
seven and a half. That's hey, yeah, so what's changed?
That's my point. What's changed from last year to where? Now,
granted it was juice to the under heavily. It was like,
really ten point twenty five, like ten and a quarter

(01:30:54):
wasn't quite ten wasn't quite ten and a half. It
was kind of in the middle, but it was still
ten and a half. Like I bet under ten and
a half last year and I won convincingly. They only
won seven, but this year it's seven and a half.
So it's kind of like the Yankees, where we rarely
get a fair price on the Yankees. We're kind of
getting one tonight because they blew a hallacious lead last night.

(01:31:15):
We're getting a fair price on the Cowboys this year.
Seven and a half feels very fair. So eight point
four is where I've gotten projected. That's a sub five
hundred season. That's eight and nine, and they're going over
their win total. So I feel like over seven and
a half is the bet. Here, guys, I feel like
I agree with you. It sounds like I don't, but
I do, because here's the thing with the Cowboys. Man,

(01:31:38):
whatever type of season they have, it's going to be overstated.

Speaker 3 (01:31:42):
I mean, that's just if they have a good They
had three twelve and five seasons in a row, and
that was overstated at the time, and now they just
fell on their face. They had a seven win season
last year and it's overreaction city.

Speaker 4 (01:31:57):
Their win total is only seven and a half.

Speaker 3 (01:31:59):
Now, some of that is two teams in their division
ended up in the NFC championship team right in the
Eagles and the Commanders. So it's a tough division. But
they won their win total seven and a half. Just
like Jared said, they won seven games last year. Dak
Prescott played eight games. Yeah, he missed half the season. Like,

(01:32:21):
what do you think most teams would do if they're
starting quarterback missed half the season, they'd probably be in
the seven win territory or worse. Right, they probably in
seven win territory or worse. And yeah, I think if
blessed with better quarterback health, which is most likely going
to be the case, I think the Cowboys are absolutely

(01:32:42):
live to get to at least eight wins.

Speaker 4 (01:32:44):
They still have a lot of talent.

Speaker 2 (01:32:46):
It's also the environment they're in in the NFC East.
You know what's changed, Jared to that point you were
making is Washington has their franchise quarterback. You know, they
have a ten year player at quarterback, where last year
we had no idea who Jayden Daniels was, if he
was going to be a complete bust or somewhere between

(01:33:06):
what we saw on you know what the worst case
scenario is. And then you look at the Eagles rolling
off a super Bowl. You look at the Giants who
seem somewhat rejuvenated after moving on from Danny Dimes and
you know, in their opinion, getting better at quarterback. It's
just a different looking division. And so I do agree

(01:33:26):
with you. Do I think that their number was overinflated
last offseason? Yeah? Do I think this number is slightly
underinflated this offseason? Also? Yeah, you know, I'd be much
more tempted obviously taking the over this year than I
was last year, because relying on the Dallas Cowboys to
hit their over on a win total in the preseason

(01:33:48):
when they have a double digit win total is crazy
business because they are heartbreakers. If they're anything, that's just
typically what they do to their fan base. It's maddening.
But in this case, I do think the pendulum has
swung in that division and it's offering a price that
people will bite at to take the over, and I

(01:34:09):
think many will.

Speaker 5 (01:34:10):
Yeah, like, so their buys in Week ten so they
get nine games before the buye.

Speaker 6 (01:34:15):
Now, the back half of the year is brutal.

Speaker 5 (01:34:17):
The back half is tough Week twelve, Philly, Week thirteen,
Thanksgiving game against Kansas City. I mean that game is
going to be absolutely bonkers, Kansas City Thanksgiving in Dallas.
Then you go to Detroit the following week, then Minnesota,
then you finish. You got Washington and the Giants the
last two weeks, Chargers in the sandwich spot in between.
So that's a tough back half of the schedule, but

(01:34:38):
the first nine games very manageable.

Speaker 2 (01:34:40):
Right.

Speaker 5 (01:34:40):
You got that tough game at Philly Thursday night, Right,
that's the opener with the Eagles raising the banner. But
then it's Giants Bears, Packers. That's tough, but you're at
home primetime Jets Panthers, Commanders at home at Denver.

Speaker 6 (01:34:52):
Tough game.

Speaker 5 (01:34:53):
But then you get Arizona at home on a Monday
night before the buye. So no short week after the
Monday night game against Arizona, you're going into your bye week.
I want to say, in those nine games, five and
four is very winnable. They're favored in four of them,
and then you get the toss up at Chicago. We
don't know what the Bears are going to be yet,
and then you get the home game against Washington, which
I think is winnable at home. Really the only games

(01:35:14):
that I think are not guaranteed, but you know, probably
losses at Denver week eight, although who knows, maybe Denver
takes a step back this year and that game is winnable.
And then of course the opener against Philly, and I
think Green May is going to be really good this year,
so I think I'm gonna give them a loss there.
So I'll give them five and four the first nine games.
If everything is healthy. Yeah, I think they can win
three out of seven down the stretch. I think that

(01:35:37):
is very possible. Just me three out of three out
of eight down the stretch to go three and five
down the stretch to get to eight wins if they
go five and four before the bye. So I like
the fact that the Buys smack dab in the middle
of the year. In Week ten, I like the fact
that they do get some early wins that they can bank,
and seven and a half feels like a very reasonable
price for a team with as much talent and expectations

(01:35:58):
as Dallas.

Speaker 4 (01:36:00):
I'm with you.

Speaker 3 (01:36:00):
It's funny though, man, Like, that's what I love about
season win totals is there are times where the adjusted
line works. You take an adjusted under and adjusted over.
But man, there are a lot of times it is
down to a game whether it's going over or under,
and so that the more favorable first half of the schedule,

(01:36:22):
Jared the Cowboy. If you're on the over, the Cowboys
have to take care of business, yep. Or else you're
looking at a stretch where it's like I need a
win and we're looking at four games in a row
against the Eagles, Chiefs, Lions on the road in Vikings.
That's like whoa right, Like the walls can close in
on you fast if they don't get off to a

(01:36:42):
good start. But I think they will. I think that
they are absolutely live for over.

Speaker 6 (01:36:46):
Is that game Philly? Hmmm?

Speaker 4 (01:36:49):
Yeah, it's a divisional game. Absolutely, it's winnable.

Speaker 6 (01:36:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:36:53):
I mean, I'm not running to the betting window to
say I think I'm taking seven.

Speaker 6 (01:36:58):
In my mind, I've already bet Dallas plus.

Speaker 5 (01:37:00):
Oh wow, just in your mind though in my mind
not in reality yet, because you know it's Michael Parss
could be on a beach in Acapulco somewhere.

Speaker 6 (01:37:10):
You could be an Jared.

Speaker 3 (01:37:14):
All Right, we got rich Oroiinberger, Penn State, All American
Jared Smith, FSR betting Analyst, I'm Brian. No score bigger
at bet MGM. When you win with boost tokens, odds,
boost tokens and more. Even if your bet doesn't hit,
We've got you covered with no sweat tokens.

Speaker 4 (01:37:27):
And that's not all.

Speaker 3 (01:37:28):
Sign up with BETMGM today and you'll have access to
countless betting options, including new look same game parlays, teasers,
live bets and so much more. Coming up next. How
often are athletes actually getting away with it? It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown presented by bet MGM. It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown presented by bet MGM. Use Code Countdown

(01:37:52):
at bet mgm and receive up to fifteen hundred dollars
When you're registered with bet MGM, you'll get instant access
to a variety of parlay selection features, live betting options,
signature bets, the best daily promotions in the business. Again,
use Code Countdown and you'll get up to fifteen hundred
dollars back in bonus bets if you don't win your

(01:38:13):
first bet. By the way, shout out to our technical producer,
extraordinary Chris Purfet.

Speaker 4 (01:38:18):
Little depeche Mode. Yeah, like one very nice.

Speaker 2 (01:38:23):
One of the best albums of all time.

Speaker 8 (01:38:25):
I've been going back and trying to do like my
favorite albums all time and like I'm partially you know,
softer stuff like Simon and garfunkle Bridge or Trouble Water,
but like talk about albums back to back, Violator is
like one of those perfect albums you listen to no fat.

Speaker 3 (01:38:41):
My girlfriend is a huge depeche Mode fan. We saw
them at the United Center in Chicago. So I've gone
to see depeche Mode. You guys have any like concerts
that you'd be we'd be like, wow, Wow, I didn't
know you went to go see that artist there?

Speaker 4 (01:38:56):
You got anything on the list?

Speaker 1 (01:38:57):
There?

Speaker 2 (01:38:57):
Rich who actually coming up next week week I'm going
to be seeing Creed in Cheulib. Wow. Yeah, yeah, I
actually might be on stage with them at one point.
It's like through the radio station we work, Oh, you're
announcing them. Huh, it's possible they're playing with Mammoth and
uh it should be. It should be a good, good show.

Speaker 3 (01:39:19):
Have you practiced, how would you what would be your
energy while introducing Creed?

Speaker 2 (01:39:25):
It would it would be? It would say it would
I I would absolutely at some point drop the reference.
You know, if you're six feet from the edge of
your seat, I want you to get a little bit closer. Great,
if you want to be taken even higher. This next
act is really gonna blow your doors off. It's I'm
working it out. I'm working at.

Speaker 6 (01:39:45):
He's a professional. Folks, Does Backstreet Boys at the sphere count?

Speaker 4 (01:39:49):
Have you gone to see them?

Speaker 3 (01:39:51):
No?

Speaker 6 (01:39:51):
But it's on the list.

Speaker 5 (01:39:52):
I mean, listen, the millennial women are just going to
be out in droves every time that they're they're they're there,
So I feel like it's it's it's.

Speaker 3 (01:39:59):
I'm sure you s any people all over Vegas, Jared,
where you know there's this whole group of people and
everyone's decked out in all white.

Speaker 4 (01:40:08):
Yeah, and you're like, I know where they were.

Speaker 6 (01:40:09):
Earlier this evening, where they're going.

Speaker 2 (01:40:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:40:13):
I love the millennial vibes here in Vegas.

Speaker 5 (01:40:15):
Although Vegas has been it's been quiet, right, that's been
the vibes here in Vegas. The you know tourism has
been down, but I mean still I don't notice it.
Whenever I go to the strip, it's always jammed.

Speaker 3 (01:40:24):
Yeah, yeah, uh okay, So there's another MLB investigation. All right,
we will get to something I think is interesting here
because you know, you do these stories enough and you
can just feel how other people feel when you're talking
about something, you know what I mean, And I could
just I can feel a lot of the audience like,

(01:40:46):
oh my gosh, another betting investigation.

Speaker 4 (01:40:49):
Here we go again, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:40:51):
So this time it's Guardians picture Emmanuel Classe, who was
a really good closer, and this threw a wrench into
the trading plans for the Aready Ins. Right, So he's
thrown twenty two pitches outside the strike zone this season
when it's a zero zero count and the bases are empty,
and at least half of those pitches have been uncompetitive, right,

(01:41:13):
so red Flag City is there? Is he communicating information
like all right, yeah, it's gonna be a ball the
first pitch when I get into the game, you know,
because half these pitches aren't even competitive. He's bouncing them.
They're way high way outside catchers Like, holy cow, class
say that wasn't even close that sort of thing. So
maybe there's something improper going on here. I don't know,

(01:41:34):
but here's the question that it leads me to. And
I never really thought about it like this, but I
want to see what you guys think about it. How
often do you think an athlete is actually doing something
improper related to sports betting and getting away with it?

Speaker 6 (01:41:51):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:41:51):
Like we have these stories where it's like there's more oversights,
there's more greed. How how often do you think it
could be where there's a tennis player that's like, yeah,
I'm gonna double fault to start the second set or what,
and is.

Speaker 4 (01:42:05):
Sly about it. They're not greedy about it.

Speaker 3 (01:42:08):
It's not raising red flags when you go from sport
to sport. How often do you think that's happening these
days and they're getting away with it, right, because all
we do is like this is like the cops stopping
people for speeding. Imagine if you just heard that all day,
another ticket, another ticket, someone's getting away with speeding, like

(01:42:31):
so rich. How often do you think this happens in
sports where an athlete is doing something that's shady in
the name of sports betting and getting away with it,
getting a little bit extra scratch on the side.

Speaker 2 (01:42:43):
Not okay, So not as often when we're talking about
you know, point shaving or lowering your prop you know,
like things like that, you know, where you're actually putting
yourself or your team at a competitive disadvantage in order
to make money. I don't think that happens very often

(01:43:05):
at all, and I think that's why these are so
egregious when they come out and they're so thoroughly investigated.
But in terms of like making a side bet with
a friend on a different team, like, hey, we'll put
stakes on it who wins tonight. You know a couple
of running backs who played college football together, maybe a
couple of years apart. You know, one place for I

(01:43:27):
don't know the name, the team's in division, one place
for the Jets, one place for the Buffalo Bills, and
all of a sudden they're facing each other, and you
know they're gonna put stakes on it the next time
they face each other on who has more rushing yards
that game? Like I don't think. I don't think very

(01:43:48):
many athletes can make it to the professional ranks in
any sport and completely debilitate themselves competitively in order to
make some money, because it's it's against every single thing
you've done your entire life. It's so it's so morally
obligatory to try your hardest to win that it almost

(01:44:12):
goes against your identity as a person to do something
like that. So in terms of like a side bet
on yourself to have a failure, I would say that
is very low. But in terms of a side bet
for you to have some success, I would say that
probably happens more more than we think, and it's happening
all the time.

Speaker 6 (01:44:32):
I don't think it happens at scale.

Speaker 5 (01:44:35):
What do I mean by that, like the class A
stuff and the ortis stuff where you have other people
betting on it, right, because I think the system is
in place now to weed this stuff out. And the
micro prop markets and what I mean by micro prop
like short time horizon, like the next pitch will be

(01:44:56):
a strike.

Speaker 6 (01:44:58):
That stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:44:59):
I think we need to look at as are we
really helping or hurting the game here? And I know
we want the more, we want more markets. I think
betting is a net positive for sports. It raises interest level,
it makes the average fan more engaged with the game.
But I think there's a there's too much like everything
in moderation, Like I think we're starting to push the

(01:45:21):
envelope of how many markets are too many markets? Like
do we really need to have a market on whether
or not the first pitch of the inning is going
to be a ballish strike?

Speaker 6 (01:45:27):
Like I don't. I don't think that's necessary.

Speaker 4 (01:45:29):
Yeah, we need what do you tell kidnapped Jared Smith
in this take?

Speaker 6 (01:45:35):
What's happening?

Speaker 5 (01:45:35):
Those are the things I think we can look at
as highly manipulative, like they can be easily manipulated and
have no impact on the actual result of the game.
I think that's the stuff that we can examine and say,
do we really need this?

Speaker 6 (01:45:50):
But if you're asking me if.

Speaker 5 (01:45:53):
There are tons of players out there that have bet
against themselves to do something in a gain, no, especially
individual sports, like that's it. That's all you've got, Like
you don't have any teammates to pick you up, like tennis, golf,
that I don't think it happens at all in those sports.
Now they bet amongst each other, I would imagine a lot,

(01:46:13):
But there aren't any scandals. There aren't any groups of
people that are getting insider information that Hey, Louise aren't.

Speaker 1 (01:46:20):
They's gonna throw a ball and everybody.

Speaker 5 (01:46:23):
Like, I think those are very isolated incidents, and when
they do happen, the red flags go off because we
have entities like US Integrity to monitor these markets, and
we get these alerts.

Speaker 6 (01:46:34):
I get them all the time.

Speaker 5 (01:46:35):
I get sports sportsbooks sending me alerts all the time
from this stuff. Usually it's lower level Division two games
like that you don't really care about or heard of,
but when it happens at the major league level, these
markets are monitored so closely it's very hard to slip
something between the cracks these days. But the richest point,
I'm willing to bet that the player to player gambling

(01:46:56):
is extensive and that.

Speaker 6 (01:46:58):
Rabbit hole I don't even want to know how deep
it goes.

Speaker 3 (01:47:01):
Well, And I don't have a problem with that because
you're just betting on the overs essentially, right, like I'm
gonna have more rushing yards than you, like whatever, You're
not throwing anything, you know like that, That to me
is different.

Speaker 4 (01:47:15):
If it's just you know, player to player type thing.

Speaker 3 (01:47:18):
I don't think this happens a lot because listen, the
way it typically goes is you're in trouble, you know
what I mean, Like, you owe a good amount of
money and now you're gonna do something really shady and
you're gonna give information and you're gonna just coincidentally hit
the unders all across the board, you know what I mean.
So you're doing that for a big payday, like you're

(01:47:41):
in trouble it So this isn't a couple hundred bucks
here and there. And the other part why I don't
think this happens often is because greed exposes almost everybody,
and you're like, hey, I just I made a cool
one thousand bucks. What if I made a cool eighty
five thousand bucks, you know, and then it raises red
flags and you don't get away with it. I'm not
naive enough to think it doesn't happen at all. Like,

(01:48:04):
is there someone somewhere who's smart enough about it and says, hey,
I can just earn some free money and I'm not losing.
I'm double faulting to start the second set. I'm still
aiming to win the match, but I get an extra
you know, five hundred bucks on the side.

Speaker 4 (01:48:21):
Okay, yeah, shrug your shoulders, sign me up.

Speaker 3 (01:48:24):
Is there someone somewhere doing that and getting away with it. Yeah,
I think absolutely there is, but I don't think it
happens very often because I think the main reason someone
does that to begin with is they're in extensive trouble.
And then the way they get busted is they get
way too greedy. They can't keep it small. They can't say, yeah,
I did that last month, let me get a couple

(01:48:45):
extra one hundred bucks, and they think bigger than that,
and that's what gets them in trouble.

Speaker 2 (01:48:50):
Yeah. Yeah, And also just think think about, like what
the amounts we typically see are wagered here. You know,
these are you know, thirty thousand dollars, And I mean
that sounds like life changing money for most people around
the country. If all of a sudden, thirty grand dropped
in your bank account. I mean, there's a lot of
good you could do, maybe clear some debt, maybe pay

(01:49:12):
down you know, a car or whatever it is, you
know what I mean. Like, obviously we're talking, but in
the realm of professional sports, where the contracts, especially some
of the contracts of some of the players who have
been investigated for these things, are so high, it's like
why even bother So to your point, Brian, this is
part of a bigger story getting involved with the wrong people,

(01:49:32):
having you know, maybe trying to impress the wrong people,
having a group who's not looking out for your best interests,
who can convince you of things that you know maybe
you you, I mean, your basis for naivity is higher
than other people, even though you're instructed not to do

(01:49:53):
these things, like I mean, the big bugaboo what five
not just five years ago, but always has been, you know,
performance enhancing drugs. There are, legitimately and I played with
some of them, naive players in the league who trusted
somebody who said, oh, yeah, this will get you stronger, faster,
better take it. It's one hundred percent safe, and they

(01:50:14):
did zero of their own research and got busted for tests.
And it's just like, well, I trusted the guy, and
they're like, well what guy, Well the guy who told
me to take it. And they're no, no, no, that's not
how this works. We told you not to do that.
But there is a certain level of naivity. But I'll
say this, this being the new ped debate in all sports,

(01:50:36):
the fact that there are hard, you know, very obvious
boundaries around betting on sports, betting on your sport. I
think we're gonna hear a lot more about it. It
doesn't mean it happens all the time, but we're just
gonna hear a lot more about it because there's so
many more eyeballs on it.

Speaker 5 (01:50:54):
Yeah, and I'll break it down with some basic math,
Like the average NFL salary is about three and a
half million per year, which means your game checks about
one hundred and seventy five two hundred K. You can't
get down that much on a game. You know. Harder
is to get down one hundred and seventy five thousand
dollars on a game, and then you got to split
it up amongst all the other people in this group

(01:51:15):
that are you know, this syndicate that are making these
bets with, Like, it's almost impossible for an NFL player
to throw a game. That's why the whole NFL is
rigged argument. It's just like the dumbest thing ever. Because
these players make so much money, the odds of them
being able to make more money getting down on games

(01:51:36):
that they are allegedly throwing or rigging, it's impossible. It
just doesn't make sense. And you'd have to throw the
money through such a large web of networks of games
like someone will break rank and spill the beans.

Speaker 6 (01:51:51):
There's just too.

Speaker 5 (01:51:52):
Many cameras, too many smartphones, there's too much money that
these players make with their salaries for them to make
this kind of Dumbo mistake. Now you want to talk
about the lower levels, You want to talk about minor leagues,
You want to talk about the Vision two, Like, yes,
I can get behind those games being rigged, but if
you're also betting on those games, you have other issues

(01:52:14):
that you need.

Speaker 6 (01:52:14):
To sift through.

Speaker 5 (01:52:16):
So I never take anything seriously when someone comes at
me with, well, the games are rigged, these players are
betting on the games, and then they're throat like, it's
just no, Like you don't understand the dynamics of how
hard it is to get down that much money on
a game and have it go completely under the radar.
So I think that's what we need to really address

(01:52:36):
when we're talking about the gambling scandals. It's really hard
to bet these days without all these eyeballs on you,
and if you're betting large amounts of money on really
random props or really random markets, you are going to
get caught, just like Ortiz and class A have gotten caught.

Speaker 6 (01:52:51):
Their lockers were cleaned out, like this.

Speaker 5 (01:52:53):
Is serious stuff, and they were probably not making that
much money because of the micro marks that they were,
you know, rigging with these first pitch strike, first pitch
ball props.

Speaker 6 (01:53:05):
It just doesn't The juice ain't worth the squeeze.

Speaker 3 (01:53:09):
By the way, a quick shout out here, because on
Fox tonight, I think it's gonna sound like an advertisement.
It's really not. I think it's a cool idea. It's
Braves against the Reds. It's the MLB Speedway Classic. They're
gonna play a game at Bristol Motor Speedway. It's the
first ever game in Tennessee. That's wild first MLB game

(01:53:29):
in Tennessee. And so they've sold over eighty five thousand tickets.
It's gonna break the MLB single game attendance record. They
got the nostalgia you at the first pitch thrown out
by Johnny Bench and Chippard Jones.

Speaker 4 (01:53:42):
It's a great idea. Like I just wanted to mention it.

Speaker 3 (01:53:44):
Real fast in passing because I feel like a lot
of what we do in sports radio is like.

Speaker 4 (01:53:49):
Can you believe this? What the hell is this?

Speaker 1 (01:53:52):
Why this?

Speaker 4 (01:53:52):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (01:53:53):
Like there's not that much celebrating of stuff. But I
think an idea like this. Listen, I'm the first one
that's like, why the hell are they starting the MLB
season in the middle of the night in a different country.
What are you thinking? But fair is fair and I
gotta give them props for this. I think it's a
cool idea. It's something that's different. It's gonna get some attention.
They already sold it out. A ton of tickets have

(01:54:15):
been sold. When you do something outside the box like this,
I think it's great. I think it's great for baseball,
breaks up the monotony of one hundred and sixty two games.

Speaker 4 (01:54:24):
Shout out MLB.

Speaker 3 (01:54:25):
I love this idea with the Speedway Classic tonight, Yeah,
that is cool.

Speaker 2 (01:54:29):
I like novel ideas like that where it gets people excited.
I mean, having a random, one off experience like this,
I think you can. You can collect fans for life
that way, you know, because all it takes is one
kid in Tennessee who gets an opportunity that otherwise he
wouldn't have, and depending on what team or player has

(01:54:50):
a big night. I mean that could be it many
how many stories start out that way. It's like, hey,
you're a you know whatever, a Seattle Seahawks man, you
live in Tampa Bay. What happened to you? And then
you know well it all started back in Tennessee, you
know whatever? You know what I mean? Like it is cool.

Speaker 6 (01:55:09):
I saw the pictures of the high level.

Speaker 5 (01:55:11):
I'm not a fan of all of the ran like
when they played the stupid basketball game on.

Speaker 6 (01:55:15):
The aircraft carrier. That was a little bit too much
for me.

Speaker 5 (01:55:18):
But I do like the unique locations because again, you're
bringing in an audience that wouldn't And that's this is
why I love gambling, Like gambling has brought in audiences
to new sports. For example, I have become a much
bigger fan of the WNBA gambling. And it's not that
I don't like basketball, it's just it's a time in

(01:55:40):
the sports calendar when I'm just usually either occupied or
doing other things. But now, because it's a sport that
I feel like can be beat, I pay more attention
to it. And you bring in You're gonna bring in
a lot of NASCAR fans. I probably never watched a
baseball game before, and that's gonna be pretty cool, I think.

Speaker 6 (01:55:55):
To tell that story.

Speaker 3 (01:55:56):
Yeah, no, cool idea, I think, all right, We've got
rich ron Berger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith FSR
betting analyst. I'm Brian No. You can stream the show
and all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty
four to seven in the new and improved iHeartRadio app.
Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream
us live. And one of the newest features in the

(01:56:16):
app is that you can select Fox Sports Radio as
one of your presets, just like the presets on a
radio dial. So be sure to preset Fox Sports Radio
in the iHeartRadio app and it'll always pop up at
the top of your screen. Coming up next, rapid Fire.
We each have a bushel of picks for you and
we'll compare notes. Maybe WNBA included if you're a man

(01:56:37):
of your word.

Speaker 4 (01:56:38):
There Jared Smith.

Speaker 6 (01:56:39):
Only one game on the slate tonight and it's not
a great number.

Speaker 3 (01:56:41):
So no, I think we're getting three baseball picks from
Jared Smith.

Speaker 6 (01:56:46):
Correct.

Speaker 3 (01:56:47):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It
is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM.

Speaker 4 (01:56:56):
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Speaker 3 (01:56:58):
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Speaker 4 (01:57:04):
That's not all.

Speaker 3 (01:57:04):
Sign up with bet MGM today and you'll have access
to countless betting options, including new look, same game parlays, teasers,
live bets, and so much more. Props to the crew.
Our producer today, Patty sweeka crushing it. It's the only
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Chris Purfett, outstanding job as always and crushing digital. That

(01:57:28):
would be our man Sager posting our clips on social media.
Appreciate his hard work. Top of the hour up on game,
LaVar Arrington, TJ. Hushman, Zada Plexico, Burris. Less than ten
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a muscle, keep it locked right here on Fox Sports Radio.
All right, we've got some picks to make.

Speaker 4 (01:57:46):
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:57:50):
Rapid fire.

Speaker 3 (01:57:52):
All right, mister Jerrett Smith, we'll start with you for
your non WNBA picks.

Speaker 5 (01:57:57):
Yeah, we'll go baseball here, and I think next week
we'll be back to the ball. But Rangers Mariners nerfy
exciting game last night. Seattle's really making that push for
the American League West. They wanted a walk off last
night with Crawford hitting a two run homer in the ninth.
Hopefully a sleepy start today, Let's go nurfy. Luis Castillo
Merril Kelly. Castile has been great in this category fourteen
straight nerfe's strikeouts down this year, but the era also

(01:58:19):
very low. In fact is Lois since twenty two when
he got traded from Cincinnati to Seattle. First start from
Merril Kelly with Texas. He's been also good lately. Four
straight nurfe's one point eight two er and that span
and the NURFE thirteen and four in day games at
Team Mobile Park will go nurfy. In Seattle, Paul Skeen's
under five and a half hits allowed. We're fading the
explosion we saw last night between Pittsburgh and Colorado. I

(01:58:40):
know it's cores Field, but Sken's has gone under this
hits a loud prop in thirteen straight Colorado. Alrighty's in
the lineup right, he's hitting one sixty seven against Skeien.
So the Pirates probably a little more conservative with Skeen's
innings down the stretch. They're not playing for anything under
five and a half. It's allowed, and we'll finish with
the Athletics on the money line facing the d Backs
fading Arizona after their fire sale.

Speaker 6 (01:59:00):
I gave you JT. Gin Over strikeouts earlier.

Speaker 5 (01:59:02):
I think he's a little bit under value, so I
think the A's get the win today against Arizona.

Speaker 2 (01:59:06):
Okay, Dodgers given one and a half runs to the
Raids today. They start Blake Snell. He's been sensational in
his start. Their slight favorites. I think they're well equipped
to win by more than a run and a half,
So give me the Dodgers minus one and a half. There,
Phillies Tigers, great pitching matchup Wheeler Schooble, but Philadelphia's offensive

(01:59:28):
firepower is the reason why I'm going to take the
Phillies on the money line, and the Yankees against the Marlins.
I don't love the pitching matchup for the Yankees, but
I think they have more offensive potential and depth to
get the job done, so I'll take the Yanks on
the money line. So Dodgers minus one and a half,
Phillies money line, Yankees money line. That's my rapid fire today.

Speaker 4 (01:59:49):
Alrighty, I'll start with baseball.

Speaker 3 (01:59:51):
I'm not going to overthink this one. We got Trek
Scuball against Zach Wheeler. Give me the under six and
a half. I know six and a half is pretty
low for an MLB game, but could you see three
to one?

Speaker 4 (02:00:05):
Could you see four to two?

Speaker 2 (02:00:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (02:00:07):
I absolutely could, So give me the under on that game.
I'm gonna take a couple of WNBA props on you, huh.
If nobody else, well, I'll be the one. Give me
a lot of Smith of the Links. Give me over
five and a half rebounds. She's done a great job
on the boards against the Aces in particular in two games.
And I like Jackie Young over four and a half

(02:00:28):
assists again, same thing. She's done a really good job
against the Links in particular, and then all she's been
hot lately with this prop just you know, dump it
down to Asia Wilson.

Speaker 4 (02:00:38):
Let her do her thing.

Speaker 3 (02:00:40):
So I think Jackie Young over four and a half
assists makes a lot of sense as well. So there
you go, a couple of WNBA picks. I wanted to
get schemes in there, man, it's they make it so difficult, right, Like.

Speaker 6 (02:00:51):
You got to get creative. That's why it went hits
all out.

Speaker 4 (02:00:54):
I like that one thirteen straight where you've been good
with the under there.

Speaker 1 (02:00:58):
Huh.

Speaker 5 (02:00:58):
Well, Also, like you think down the stretch they're gonna
limit his innings, like like, why are you going seven
eight innings with him? Unless he really wants the cy Young,
which he's gonna win anyway, if he just kind of
does his you know, pitch his average down the stretch.

Speaker 3 (02:01:10):
You want to hear a couple of crazy scheme stats
before we get out of here.

Speaker 6 (02:01:13):
Yeah, that's what he did in July.

Speaker 3 (02:01:15):
His era was zero point sixty seven, unbelievable, and he
had thirty six strikeouts and only three walks.

Speaker 4 (02:01:22):
That was a five starts freaking yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:01:25):
Watch him give up ten hits in the first two
innings to night because he's at cores.

Speaker 6 (02:01:28):
But hopefully he goes go. I think six innings, five hits,
eight strikeouts, feels like the right line for skin.

Speaker 3 (02:01:34):
That's a good sweat too, if you're right on the cuspah,
keep it up five.

Speaker 4 (02:01:38):
You can't allow another hit, you know, it could be
a good sweat.

Speaker 3 (02:01:41):
Nice, good job, good team effort, one too, three, two,

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