Mark Willard and Ephraim Salaam are pumped for NFL action next week

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Don't get used to this.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Because this right here, what's about to happen on Fox
Sports Radio, well, this is the last time it's going
to happen.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Last time.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
This is the last time it's going to happen in 2026.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're damn right. Bye. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Say goodbye to no NFL Sundays because this is going
to be the last one. And we'll do it, by
the way, with a little college football along the way.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
It is that time of year.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Hope your Labor Day weekend is absolutely sparkling. You darn right.
I hope you're not working tomorrow. I hope you're somewhere
where it's not raining. I hear it's raining where you are.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
What the hell?

Speaker 4 (01:03):
Not raining.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
What is going on down there? All day. What are
we doing? All day. What are we doing? Hasn't it
been like 1,000 degrees down there every day?

Speaker 5 (01:16):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
And now it's raining.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
And it will be 1,000 degrees tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, it's one of those rare days where the Bay
Area can look at L.A.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
And say, we got you today.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
We got you today because it is sparkling and absolutely
just a perfect little tucked in 78-degree, 80-degree kind of
a day up here. And so it's been beautiful, man.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
It's awesome. Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
I got it all the way up. No, my high
school friends came over today. We made, we had food.
We did the fantasy draft. I had the number two pick.
My buddy had the number one pick. He lives in Georgia.
I thought for sure he'd take B. John Robinson. He
didn't do it.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
So we talked about this last week.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:56):
You threw some fillers out there. What should you do?

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
What did you do? B.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
John Robinson. Okay. I'm not trying to. Who did he take?
He took Jameer Gibbs. Okay. All right. I'm not trying
to reinvent anything over here.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
That was one or two on our list. B.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
John Robinson is going to be on the squad this year.
And so anyway, we did that and we ate and
we drank and we caught up.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
And every, I don't know, nine minutes or so, you
made a pick. You know what I mean?

Speaker 6 (02:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
We had just a beautiful day.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
And now I'm thrilled to be doing this here with
you because we have a lot to talk about.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
Before we get into it, can I ask you your team?

Speaker 2 (02:41):
You can ask. Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
Do you mind sharing?

Speaker 2 (02:44):
No, I'll share it.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
Before I share it, though, I want to be genuine
here because I come from that philosophy of nobody cares
about your fantasy team.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
No, no, no.

Speaker 6 (02:57):
Look, this is what I know. If you want to
hear it, this is what I know.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Let's ride.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
What I know is our listeners. And we talk.

Speaker 6 (03:07):
We talk about fantasy football a lot.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
We talk about the drafts that we're in.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
And some drafts are different.

Speaker 6 (03:15):
So we even had a little segment last week about
what do you do?

Speaker 2 (03:21):
What do you do?

Speaker 6 (03:21):
Depending on what pick do you have? So now that
it's all happened, I think we should let the people know.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
I'm happy to do so.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
And I don't come from the make a plan school.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
I don't. I play the board.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
I actually do what teams sort of lie to us
and tell us that they do in real drafts. We're
going to take the best player available. We don't lock
into a position too early. But I do that. Like,
I just play the board. I don't do mock drafts.
I play the board. So Bijan Robinson at the number

(03:59):
two overall pick. That gives me the number 23 overall pick.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
In round two.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
I selected Trey McBride, tight end of the Arizona Cardinals,
which I'm not usually early tight end guy, but that
felt like the right thing to do in that moment.
Early round three went with Devante Smith, wide receiver, Philadelphia Eagles.
I think he's primed to have a really nice year.

(04:27):
End of round four, DJ Moore, Buffalo Bills.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Okay. That'll be my other wide receiver.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
You may notice I have not paired a second running
back with Bijan Robinson yet.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Right.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
So early in round five, I grabbed Jadarian Price of
the Seattle Seahawks.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Good pick. So that's going to be my other running back.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
And then in round six, the end of round six,
we addressed the quarterback position and took Caleb Williams.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Okay. So that's that core. Okay.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
I got a quarterback. I got a tight end. I
got two receivers. I got two running backs. And then
we get to round seven and we start building a bench.
And I've decided that this isn't going to go well
for Josh Jacobs.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
So this one was kind of a I'm poking at
my friend pick.

Speaker 4 (05:14):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Because the guy who picks number one overall is a
Packer fan. He grew up in Wisconsin, Racine, Wisconsin. And
with the first pick of the seventh round, he selected
Josh Jacobs. That made people react. Because everyone right now, like,
what do you think is going to happen with Josh Jacobs?
They just had the court date moved up. I think

(05:35):
it will be a while. But there's also like, ah,
there's video. We haven't seen it, but there's video. And
I'm like, oh, God. I know that if the public
ever sees the video and the video is bad.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
The video is out there. It's a problem. That's a wrap.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
So anyway, but he's feeling it. So round seven, first pick,
he took Josh Jacobs. Very next pick, I'm like, I'm
taking Marshawn Lloyd. I'm taking Marshawn Lloyd. I'm going to
make you feel that. If Josh Jacobs never comes back.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Right, yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
So Lloyd in the seventh at the end of round eight.
Michael Wilson grabbed Blake Corham in the ninth. Went a
little bit early for a backup QB in round 10.
I got Kyler Murray. I think he's going to be
really good for fantasy. And then the rest of the
bench stuff, Jalen Coker, Jordan Tyson, Brenton Strange, Caleb Douglas.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
I have the Texans defense, and I have Cam Little
as my kicker. That's the squad. Fire away. I'm not sensitive.
So if you hate it, you hate it. No, no, no.

Speaker 6 (06:40):
The one thing I know about fantasy football, and anyone
who plays knows, all of it sounds good or bad
before you start playing.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Right?

Speaker 6 (06:51):
You can get your F or your D grade, like
whatever site you use to draft, they will grade you.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
The ESPN, they gave me a C.

Speaker 4 (06:59):
I've gotten an F before and won the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
And I bet you've gotten an A-plus and come in 10th. Yes. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (07:05):
So I'm not here for that because I understand how
that pendulum and needle can move. Now, the thing that
makes a good GM is being active when you see
things happening in terms of injury or someone who pops
who's not, you know. You get a glimpse of somebody
and you're like, oh, he's going to be good.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
Let me see.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Oh, he's available. Go get him.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
That's how you do it.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Well, I actually already, I sit here. Listen to me now.
This is a little bit of a hack. I've been
doing this at the end of drafts because Jordan Tyson
is a rookie wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints.
He had a wonderful camp and then he got hurt
and he's going to be on I.R., I find him
to be a nice late-round target because they like him.

(07:51):
I think in the second half of the season he
could be a thing. But I'm going to stash him,
and guess what? As soon as I draft him, what
do I get to do tomorrow morning? I get to
move him to that little IR spot and open up
another roster spot and go to free agency and maybe
grab one of my favorite undrafted free agents that might

(08:12):
still be on the board.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
There you go. You know?

Speaker 4 (08:14):
Now you're GMing.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Trying. Now you're GMing. Trying.

Speaker 6 (08:18):
And I think that's the key to having a successful
fantasy season.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Right?

Speaker 4 (08:25):
The draft is the draft. That's just the first part.

Speaker 6 (08:27):
Now if you get two of the top 12 players.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
That can carry you a little bit.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Right.

Speaker 6 (08:35):
But there's also got to look at the buys. You
don't want the week where six players are on the
same bye.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Do you know what?

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Can we talk about that philosophy for a second? Because
people always do that, and I always kind of push
back on them.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
You know why?

Speaker 3 (08:48):
I'd love it if half my team has got the
same bye.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Because what that tells me is, I'll give you that week.
Go ahead. You're going to beat me that week. But
that means the rest of the weeks, I am full strength.

Speaker 4 (09:03):
But what if it's a week you really need?

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Fair.

Speaker 6 (09:06):
That's why a lot of people don't like to Roll
the dice. At least you want to come to the
cupboard with something.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
It's a roll of the dice. There's no two ways
about it.

Speaker 4 (09:13):
But look, there are different philosophies.

Speaker 6 (09:15):
And I love that we're spending this first part of
the segment talking about fans. Because in reality, the majority
of our listeners have experienced the same thing today.

Speaker 4 (09:24):
No doubt. Or sometime this week.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
This weekend, yes.

Speaker 6 (09:27):
And so, look. We are supposed to be the experts, right?
That's what they said. That's what they said.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
Well, I mean, listen, they do call us that whenever
we win at fantasy. I don't know if you've experienced
this in your life, but when you do what we
do for a living, when you win at fantasy, people go.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
Oh, well, this is what you do for a living. So,
of course, you know more than I do. I have
a life. I have an actual job.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
Sorry that I'm taking care of my kids while you're
just staring at this stuff all day.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
But then when you lose... it's, ah-ha-ha-ha.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
I beat you, and this is what you do for
a living. And I still beat you. And I'm like,
I'm out on both of these takes. This is like,
come on, man. This is a whole lot of luck
that's happening here. There's work, but Sometimes all your dudes

(10:22):
get hurt and there's only so much you can do.
And sometimes they don't.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
So. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (10:29):
So, look, it's going to be a good season. I
think I got another draft tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yep. Good boy. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
Hey, can I throw some other stuff that happened in
the draft at you?

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Oh, please. And you tell me.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Okay. A couple things caught my eye. Jamar Chase was
not the first wide receiver off the board. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Puka Nakua, number three overall. Really? Yes. This is a
half point PPR.

Speaker 4 (10:57):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Puka is the first wide receiver off the board, number three.
And my man, my good friend Paul, with the sixth
pick in the draft, got Jamar Chase.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Oh, wow. What do you think about that?

Speaker 4 (11:11):
That's a come up.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
Right?

Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah. Do you think that the guy who picked Puka
made a mistake?

Speaker 4 (11:18):
Probably. Probably.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
Did you see that report that just came out from
Adam Schefter? What did it say?

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Well, Puka's dealing with a little bit of it. Like,
he's fighting through some injury stuff. And he is still
not clear from the whole league investigation in terms of
the personal conduct policy.

Speaker 4 (11:40):
But that he is expected to play Thursday.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
So it looks like he's good to go week one.
But maybe not week four, five, or six.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
But, right, if you're drafting him, are you going to
get a big old surprise two, three, four weeks into
the season?

Speaker 4 (12:02):
Yeah, that's a tough one. And you wouldn't take Jamar Chase.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Jamar Chase? I mean, right?

Speaker 6 (12:10):
Look, everybody has a philosophy. He probably set up all
night putting his plan together.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
And, you know, God bless him. He stuck with his plan.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
Right.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Right. By the way, I knew Puka was playing as
soon as I started seeing some of the marketing materials
from Netflix about three, four days ago. They're putting some
ads out, social media content, getting everybody ready for Niners Rams.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
And I see them talking to Puka Nakua. Yeah. and
they put it out on social, I'm like, oh, he's playing.
I'm like, you damn well bet.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
You're going to sue him for that first one, for sure.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Netflix knows. Netflix is going to be knowing if he's
not playing. So I saw that, and I'm like, he's in.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
But I can already do a 49er fan take for you,
because I'm already seeing this from some of my friends.
If you're facing discipline for the personal conduct policy, You
have had all summer.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
To be looking into this.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
If you're going to do it, why wouldn't you have
already done it?

Speaker 2 (13:26):
Get it out the way.

Speaker 6 (13:27):
The league has a funny way of doing its own time,
doing things when it wants to do it.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Right?

Speaker 6 (13:39):
So this is what I know. It hurts more. the
closer you are to the season or in the season.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
That's a good point.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
It hurts more. Even the announcement.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Sure. Niner fans want him to be gone this week.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
Yeah, like just get it over with.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Get three.

Speaker 4 (14:00):
If it's going to be three, first three games.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah. I agree with you that for the Rams standpoint too,
if it's going to happen, it would be better to
happen now.

Speaker 6 (14:11):
Yeah, they want it out of the way so they
can plan accordingly. The difference is when you don't know,
now it's like, okay, he's going to prepare this week.
And next week comes and let's go, okay, nothing yet.
We'll prepare again. And then it'll drop on a Thursday like, hey,

(14:33):
he's got to miss the next three games. But you're
in a situation where it's like, okay, so what do
we do now? Because he's been playing and he's been preparing.
You're not splitting the reps with them. You want them
to get comfortable and be ready to go opening week.
So the NFL has a way of dishing out these

(14:54):
punishments when they hurt the most.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
I mean, as I said, don't mess up. Oh, for sure.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
I mean, Josh Jacobs all of a sudden out of
nowhere gets a court date, moved up two months.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
What happened there? Yeah. Once you know.

Speaker 6 (15:11):
When they put him on that list, now the lawyers
go to work.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
The lawyers go to work.

Speaker 6 (15:18):
Okay, now you can file the paperwork, injunction, whatever that is,
move the court date up, you know, whatever the.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
Reasoning, the legal terms and all of that.

Speaker 6 (15:28):
And then, yes, boom. If he's not on that list,
he's not trying to get to that court date. He's
trying to schedule that court date in March.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Right. Right.

Speaker 6 (15:42):
If they don't put him on the list and he
gets in and the court date is 2027.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Sometime, he's not going to say a word. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (15:52):
But being on that list lets you know, oh, okay, well,
we got to solve this. We got to get this
done now before, you know, we sitting over here the
whole season.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Not playing.

Speaker 6 (16:06):
So, it's, you know, look, man, when you step in
the poop, Sometimes you don't get to determine how you
take it off your shoe.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
That court date now happens on Thursday.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yep. There it is. Your best guess. We'll get some answers.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
Your best guess on what happens with Josh this year
is what?

Speaker 6 (16:28):
He'll be suspended for probably six games. Six to eight games. Now,
if the footage is released. Yep.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
He may be done the whole year. I mean.

Speaker 4 (16:45):
That's real.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
If the footage is released and it's bad, he might
be done forever. Quite possibly, yes. If it's bad. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
If it's, you know, Ray Rice bad.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Sure.

Speaker 6 (17:00):
Because they, well, you know, they saw that and he
got three games and then we saw it and then
he never played again.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
Hmm. um fascinating fascinating fox football sunday is brought to
you by underdog football is back baby and underdogs keep
your million starts you with a million dollar stack make
your picks survive 20 rounds and whatever's left is yours
underdog unleash your dog terms apply we're sitting here talking

(17:33):
all the Fantasy stuff out right now as we speak.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
What's Bijan going to do week one? All of that.
Puka in Australia.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
If the Rams ever get there, we can talk about
that whole side of it for sure. And we would
be remiss if we did not get a little reaction
on Michigan, Western Michigan as well, which we will do.
Coming up next with you from Salama, Mark Willard. This
is Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 8 (18:01):
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Speaker 3 (18:47):
Steve Desega is going to be here in a few.
That's he from Salam. I'm Mark Willard. This is Fox
Football Sunday.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Hey, Steve.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
Got some big-time college games going on right now. Notre
Dame and Wisconsin, 3-3 late first. Steve will have all
the details. Be sure to subscribe to the Fox Sports
Radio YouTube channel. Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube.
You'll see the best videos from all our shows. Hit
the thumbs-up icon and comment away. Let us know the
takes you agree with and those you don't. You search

(19:18):
Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and subscribe. Ephraim, Michigan, Western Michigan.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Go ahead. Man. Oh, my goodness. What's your take?

Speaker 6 (19:30):
The first thing that flashed back to me was Appalachian State.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Mm-hmm. That was the first thing. Yep.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
Appalachian State. Like, I was like, oh, here we go again.

Speaker 6 (19:43):
And to see how that game ended, like, I told
my wife I said Michigan's gonna go undefeated now that's
what happens when you get the bananas scared out of
you and even though college football is different now it's

(20:12):
hard to recover from that loss from western michigan like
that would be hard right to recover from and so
them pulling that out i i mean the fact that
they got the win and the coach got has you

(20:32):
know he gets to sit them down and say hey
you almost threw it away Because this, this, and that,
whatever those coaching moments are, and when you watch that
game film, I told you guys, if you do this, this,
and this, this would happen, and it almost did.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
What are we going to do from here?

Speaker 3 (20:52):
That's an interesting take. There's a lot to get to
on this game, and so this conversation will continue because–
That's an interesting way to look at it. I'm still,
I think like many, trying to figure out if this

(21:13):
call should have even happened or not.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Funniest tweet that I saw today, I don't.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
Even know who it was and I don't remember what
the number was, but they go, fun stat from college football.
Prior to the Michigan, Western Michigan game, teams were 116,782
and 0.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
When leading at the end of regulation. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
Listen, so now we got two clocks and we've released
the one clock so that we can watch what the
refs were looking at and what they were saying. And
on that one, it's like, yeah, the guy touches it
and he catches it kind of. before the clock's fully
at zero. So now we're trying to figure out why
does that clock different than the TV clock and what's

(22:12):
going on here? Bruce Feldman just sent out a tweet
that basically talks about one of our favorite rules experts
and a former ref, obviously Mike Pereira, who says the
play should not have happened. And then it's bananas, of course,
that even the fact that this play happened, that it

(22:32):
then worked. I mean, if I'm one of the refs,
I'm sitting there going, you guys got to be kidding me.
You couldn't have just dropped it like every other Hail Mary.
And so now there's that. Now we got to talk
about it. And I've got a completely different thought on it,
which is that the entire idea of reviewing things down
to the 10th of a second, to me, we're ruining

(22:56):
a lot.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
Of fantastic finishes in sports. And I'm not anti-review.

Speaker 3 (23:03):
Um, But there's something being lost here when people rush
the field and then everybody's got to stop and we've
got to go, hold on a second.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
We got to.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Go frame by frame. It's like, dude, there wasn't any
time left on the clock.

Speaker 6 (23:21):
Period.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
I don't care. Like point two.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
And then the clock was about to go to point
one and his fingernail airbrushed the ball.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
It's like, what are we doing? You're going to call
three and a half hours.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
Of football based on the eye test and human error.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
And then we're going to do that over?

Speaker 3 (23:43):
Because a hair touched a piece of leather with.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
12 tents. It's like I just, I don't know, man.
Maybe that's an antiquated thought, but that feels like a
loss to me.

Speaker 6 (23:57):
No, it is a loss. It's a loss, just like
if we don't get to Steve DeSegar on time. It's
a loss for our listeners. It's a really good point.

Speaker 7 (24:05):
You know what that game last night at Michigan was
reminding me of? Because it's Kyle Whittingham's first game with
the new team at Michigan after all those years of
success at Utah. Do you remember Chip Kelly's first game
at Oregon? It was Thursday night at Boise State. They
were atrocious. They were down, I believe, 19-0 and lost 19-8.

(24:27):
And I'm sure Oregon fans were saying, what did we
get into here? Because he didn't have the track record
that Whittingham has, obviously.

Speaker 10 (24:34):
But I looked it up. They wound up going to
the Rose Bowl that year. Odd thing.

Speaker 7 (24:38):
I will say on the Michigan schedule... They've got the
big noon kickoff with Oklahoma, so slightly different opponent. I
don't think they're going to get bailed out this Saturday.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
We shall see.

Speaker 10 (24:47):
And you mentioned the L.A.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
Weather.

Speaker 10 (24:48):
It is strange.

Speaker 7 (24:49):
It's still going to be 90 degrees this coming week,
but there's a tropical storm slash hurricane off the coast. Therefore,
a complete day of rain. Notable in sports because the
late ball game tonight is the Dodgers hosting Washington. But
because it's the holiday weekend, they scheduled it for 10 p.m.
Eastern time. And in about a couple hours, the rain
is finally due to stop for the day. So it

(25:10):
looks like there won't be a rain out tonight, which
would mean there's still not been a rain out at
Dodger Stadium since 2000, which is completely crazy. There is
a NASCAR playoff race. They've started the postseason tonight at Darlington.
They've been going three and a half hours and Christopher
Bell is in the lead. Chase Briscoe second, Kyle Larson

(25:31):
now third. They've got about 30 laps left. Meanwhile, the
season for IndyCar ended in the Bay Area at Monterey today.
Scott McLaughlin got the win. Alex Pillow had already clinched
the season series. And we can update the college football
that's going on. Fourth-ranked Notre Dame has just scored to
take the lead 10-3 over Wisconsin late first quarter in

(25:51):
a game being played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Top 25 matchup in Nashville tonight, early second quarter. Louisville
tied 3-3 against Ole Miss.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
No.

Speaker 7 (26:02):
17 Washington at home beat Washington State 24-10 today. Among
the finals in Major League Baseball, the Yankees 4-3 over
San Diego. The New York Yankees have been trying, trying,
I say, to catch up to the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Yankees, I should say, lost 4-3. Been trying to
catch up there. Four back of the race still. And

(26:23):
here we are, what, just three weeks left in the
season now. Tampa Bay. Despite that payroll, and the lack
of attendance usually, continues to be a good team. Despite
the 8-6 loss at Texas today, the Tampa Bay Rays
have the best record in the American League. Atlanta won
at Philadelphia 5-4. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell agreed to a
contract extension through the 2030 season. The Giants gave backup

(26:46):
QB Jameis Winston a two-year extension. Carlos Alcaraz advanced to
the quarterfinals at the U.S.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Open.

Speaker 7 (26:53):
And gentlemen, I don't know if you're aware, but... In
women's basketball, the World Cup started Friday in Berlin. Team
USA's roster is absolutely stacked again, and yet today, almost
an enormous upset.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
The U.S.

Speaker 7 (27:06):
Needed a late 7-0 run to beat Italy. 55-52 was
the final, the fewest points for an American team in
a World Cup game since 1967.

Speaker 10 (27:18):
Here, the U.S.

Speaker 7 (27:18):
Has won 32 straight games in that tournament over the
past couple of decades, including four straight World Cup gold medals.
Only once in this entire streak had they only won
by single digits until today. The Americans had won their
opener in largely dominant fashion on Friday, beating China 94-61,

(27:38):
and Kaitlyn Clark led with 14 points, 11 assists, no turnovers.
This is how good the roster is. They have Kaitlyn Clark,
Angel Reese, Paige Beckers, none of the three of them
start on this team.

Speaker 10 (27:52):
And the U.S.

Speaker 7 (27:53):
Is missing the injured Asia Wilson and Kelsey Plum. So
it's 2-0 so far. They'll be concluding group play on
Monday against Czechia. But can I just mention one more
thing about this China team that's in the tournament?

Speaker 10 (28:06):
They have.

Speaker 7 (28:07):
or had a WNBA player from Dallas on their team, 6'7,
who needed a replacement passport, and it got lost in
the mail, and she's out for the tournament. So they
opened against the U.S. without her, but they still have
a different WNBA player from New York who's 6'10, and

(28:28):
when she took a break in the first quarter, coming
off the bench.

Speaker 10 (28:33):
7'3, which I have read is.

Speaker 7 (28:36):
Not just the largest female in basketball, the largest living
female at the moment. And so they had those three. Granted,
only two are actually in the tournament. They had those
three on the roster.

Speaker 10 (28:49):
Still, the U.S.

Speaker 7 (28:50):
Wound up a 94-61 winner in the opener and a
55-52 winner today.

Speaker 10 (28:57):
This close to losing. Back to you.

Speaker 3 (29:01):
Steve, great stuff. And as always, whenever you talk, there's
so many things that stand out. But when you were
talking about this Notre Dame touchdown, they've taken the lead
on Wisconsin, and you said fourth-ranked Notre Dame.

Speaker 10 (29:16):
Preseason four, yes.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
It triggered me like it does every single September. Can
somebody please?

Speaker 10 (29:24):
A team is zero and zero.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
For the love of God. Stop ranking people who haven't
played yet.

Speaker 7 (29:30):
Well, at least the college football playoff committee, when they started,
they refused to rank at the beginning of the season.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
I appreciate that. That's a good thing.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
And those are the ones that count right however I
think where you start in the regular polls affects what
happens when they get to the actual polls halfway through
the season.

Speaker 10 (29:50):
I think it can.

Speaker 7 (29:51):
I think maybe less so now. And Indiana, you know,
certainly was not top 10. For sure. And Clemson was,
by the way, last year. Preseason top 10. So things
can change.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
They can. It's just a thing. It's a thing for me.

Speaker 10 (30:03):
And I'm not saying it shouldn't be, but it is marketing.

Speaker 7 (30:07):
If you had an NFL that had 320 teams instead
of 32 teams, you would probably need a ranking at
the beginning just to sort them out.

Speaker 10 (30:16):
TV people would.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Say that, I think.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
The top-ranked Rams taking on the fifth-ranked San Francisco 49ers
Thursday night on Netflix.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
Thank you, Steve.

Speaker 10 (30:28):
Got you.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
Great stuff. Um, Steve to say you're every hour Fox
football Sunday.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Yeah. That's just a me thing. Um, Oregon is number
two in the nation. They barely won. What should we
do about that? Anything? Say that again. Somebody was talking
to me. Oregon, Oregon is ranked number two and they
barely won. They barely won their game yesterday. They got scared.
That was a really good game. Look, what should we

(30:57):
do about it? What is he state?

Speaker 2 (30:59):
Yup. Now, that's not like. They can play.

Speaker 4 (31:03):
They can play. They're not ranked. They're not ranked. I mean,
it happens every year.

Speaker 6 (31:09):
Somebody not ranked comes in and like, Oh, that's in the,
by the end of our mid season, they're, you know,
ranked in the teams. And then it happens all the time. Now,
what I'm saying is Boise state. Isn't like Western Michigan.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
That's true. Right.

Speaker 6 (31:24):
They have a history of actually winning big games against
power five teams and things like that.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
So I don't know.

Speaker 6 (31:32):
How Oregon prepared or walked into that game, but Boise
state was not playing with him.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
That was a really good game. It was great. It
was great.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
You know what wasn't a good game? 23rd ranked Clemson. Oh,
my goodness.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
23rd ranked. Dog walked.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
Clemson did not play a very good football game. Along
with 16th ranked Michigan.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Just annoying. That's all. It's just annoying.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
I'm looking at the rankings right now, and I know
a bunch of them did play yesterday and this, that,
the other, but I'm looking at the rankings and next
to every single school's name, it says zero and zero.
And I just, I have long felt like this is
a part of college football. I've never been able to

(32:30):
get my head around, which is the way they bring
opinions into Into ranking how the season ends up getting decided.
I think that your opinion and you expressed it on
my radio show during the week this week is that
the Rams are going to win the whole thing. But

(32:50):
your opinion that the Rams are going to win the
whole thing has no bearing on whether or not the
Rams actually win.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
The whole thing. Correct.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
Just my thoughts. They're going to have to go win
the games.

Speaker 4 (33:03):
Yeah, everybody got to play. Everybody's got to play.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
Speaking of the Rams and the 49ers, so the Niners
are already in Australia. They've been there for a few days.
They're glad-handing, high-fiving, doing interviews, doing practices, all of the things.
The Rams are in the reign of L.A. And so, A,
is that okay? that the Rams handled it that way.

(33:29):
Number one, number two, um, your body clock would want
to do which one, as far as the way these
two teams are handling it. We can get to that
coming up next. Um, Fox Football Sunday is brought to
you by Underdog. Football is back, baby. Underdogs, keep your million.
Starts you with a million-dollar stack. You make your picks.

(33:49):
You survive 20 rounds. And whatever's left is yours. Underdog,
unleash your dog. Terms apply. I think my dog is
Caleb Williams. That's my dog. Got him in a couple leagues,
and I keep getting him late.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
And, boy, that bears offense to me. That's one to watch.
That's it from Salam. I'm Mark Willard. Lots more coming
up here on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (34:17):

Speaker 2 (34:20):
All right, that's it from Salam. I'm Mark Willard. Fox
Football Sunday, the.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Last Sunday of the year that will not have NFL.
Have you taken a moment to just imagine what's going
to be happening?

Speaker 2 (34:38):
One week from right now.

Speaker 4 (34:40):
It's going to be glorious.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
Cowboys and Giants. Cowboys and Giants. During the game. During
the show.

Speaker 6 (34:53):
Man, it's going to feel good, man. Trying to fill
that gap with these two college games.

Speaker 4 (34:58):
It's not the same.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
It's not the same. It's not the same.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
We'll get into a little bit of that later on, too.
I want to talk it out with you as the
college football season gets underway in earnest.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
What do you think about this, though? And this is
a little campy, but I want to throw the question out.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
I'm starting to become surprised that the NFL let the
Rams do this the way that they're doing it. I
think for a while we've had this raging debate over, wow,
like who's doing it right? The Niners are getting there
a week ahead of time. The Rams are getting there
five minutes before kick. That's weird. And truth be told,

(35:37):
the Rams are planning to arrive and immediately hold a very,
very light practice, try to go to bed, wake up,
play a football game. That's what the Rams are doing.
The Niners have been there for four days already. And
so there's this interesting case study that comes out of it.
But as I start to see all the video that's

(36:00):
making its way to us on social media, the Niners
showing up at events, the Niners doing press availability, the
Niners out there shaking hands, kissing babies with those fans.
I thought for the NFL, these international games were about
growing the game.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
Why do the Niners have to do this by themselves?
So I don't care. I don't live in Australia.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
My point is, as I watch this unfold, it did
not occur to me until now. I'm surprised the league
is letting the Rams do it this way.

Speaker 6 (36:39):
That's a pretty good point. I never really looked at
it that way. And you're right. It should have been
mandated how they travel. number one I think it's it's
crazy to try to it's crazy right it's crazy scientists

(37:02):
that came up with this it just feels so wrong
it feels like this is about to go all bad
just as a player let me And preseason is hard
to do that.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (37:23):
Like in Atlanta, we had, you know, I think our
second year or third year, we had a game in Tokyo. And,
you know, preseason, you get there and you get out
of there. Man, that was the worst thing ever. But
when you look at a real game that counts, like
it's a big game.

Speaker 3 (37:43):
Huge game.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
It's worth a game and a half, in my opinion.

Speaker 4 (37:47):
Yeah, it's a division game.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
It's a rival.

Speaker 6 (37:49):
There's contention there. This is a rival. And to kind
of roll the dice on playing with the science of it,
all I know is a good night's sleep helps you
perform better. That's what I do know. I think you're

(38:09):
more likely to get a good night's sleep being acclimated
to the time zone opposed to not. Maybe I'm off.
Maybe the Rams know something. The world doesn't or no
one else knows. But in my opinion, it just seems

(38:34):
like I wouldn't play with that, right? Like I wouldn't,
I wouldn't. We're going to find out real fast who
had the right idea.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
For sure. Although maybe we won't because the Rams are really, really,
really good.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
And I could see it happening that way where they
get there and you're like, that probably wasn't the best decision.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
But we're good enough to. Yeah, they're the better team.
So they won anyway. Like, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
It doesn't make any sense to me. But I mean,
I think I understand what they're trying to do. I
just don't know if you can do it. In other words, obviously,
you're a professional athlete.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
You worked out a lot. Yes. Sometimes, how long did
it take before you were sore?

Speaker 6 (39:17):
Before, you know, before working out, before working, as I'm
working out, how long?

Speaker 3 (39:23):
I mean, like, if you go work out a new muscle,
sometimes it's what? A couple days before you're like, ooh,
I'm sore now.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
No, no, no.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
Immediately.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
You think?

Speaker 3 (39:33):
Well, maybe you're working out different than the rest of us.
But do you know what I mean? Like, I don't
know if it's going to work, but I think that's
the idea. The idea is the jet lag hasn't even
set in yet. It's not like the jet lag takes
24 to 48 to hit you.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
And you're right. You're right. You're right.

Speaker 4 (39:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
What if we play the game before it even hits us?

Speaker 4 (39:53):
The problem is the flight.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yep. To me, it's too excessive.

Speaker 6 (39:57):
It's 17 hours. The flight is the thing that you
can't take the flight away. The flight is the thing
that causes the problem. Some guys can't sleep on the plane.
Guys will be up. They're going to give them something to.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
Go to sleep.

Speaker 6 (40:15):
So you're supposed to sleep unless it's a lot. Everybody
got beds.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
Right. I mean, maybe they do. Everybody got beds.

Speaker 6 (40:22):
I'd love to see what type of– I wonder if
we can find out what type of plane that they're
flying over.

Speaker 7 (40:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (40:28):
I'm sure Steve DeSegre can find out what type of
plane the Rams are using to fly over there.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
I bet he could. He can find anything out.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
Well, we'll work on that with Steve coming up. We've
also got three things coming up. Our top observations from
the week out and about, that's coming up.

Speaker 1 (40:45):

Speaker 2 (40:48):
Gentlemen, how good is now?

Speaker 3 (40:51):
I feel a little bit like Jim Harbaugh, who famously
loves to say, who's got.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
It better than us?

Speaker 6 (40:59):
No.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
Fox Football Sunday is headed full steam into, you know, football.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
That's what we do around here.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
Abram and I got two hours left on our show
before the NFL season actually gets started in, count them up, one, two,
three days. The Seahawks and the Patriots will tangle. The
Niners and the Rams then on Thursday will tangle. And
then the first full Sunday is exactly seven days away.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
Happy Labor Day weekend.

Speaker 3 (41:31):
Happy fantasy draft weekend for many of you, those who observe,
of course. And that means also, I think, right now, Ephraim,
Last time in 2026 that.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
We'll do three things. So let's do it.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
Our top observations of things that are going on out
and about in the world, maybe a little bit away
from the headlines. So let's get started. And I always
go first so that you, Ephraim, can go last. And
I actually would love for you to talk me through
this one. I know it's incredibly popular. I know a
lot of you are more excited about today than you
are next Sunday. I am having the hardest time with

(42:13):
college football.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
I just am.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
And you'll be like, what part of it?

Speaker 2 (42:19):
And I'm like, all of it. All of it.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
I really am having the hardest time, and I'd love
for someone, one of you passionate college football folks, if
you could take me through how someone who grew up
in a coastal pro sports major city, I will admit that,

(42:45):
But how someone who grew up in that setting is
supposed to work their.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
Way through NIL.

Speaker 3 (42:57):
Realignment that has, I mean, where I live, it has
the two local teams, Cal and Stanford, are playing at
a conference that is 5,000 miles away from it.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
And then add in stories.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
Like what we've been batting back and forth for the
last week and a half, which is whether or not
players who make an NFL training camp and then get
cut can go back. Well, Lane Kiffin has become the
face of that. Meanwhile, he's showing up to opening football
games like he is some sort of rock star. And

(43:37):
this comes three days after a quote gets caught from
Nick Saban that's like, make sure you keep Lane Kiffin
away from the sorority girls.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
I'm like, this whole thing... Just, I know.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
There's dirt in all sports and anything where there's a
lot of money, but I'm like, this is the nastiest,
sort of like most corrupt, maybe outside of FIFA. College
football to me feels like a sandwich that got left
out all day long. And then you show up for

(44:11):
dinner and someone's like, here, you want this turkey sandwich?

Speaker 2 (44:14):
It's been sitting here for eight hours. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (44:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
No, I don't.

Speaker 3 (44:21):
And I know that maybe that's more me than college football.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
Can you help me?

Speaker 6 (44:29):
No, I can't help you. But I'll tell you this.
It depends on how hungry you are.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
That's a good point.

Speaker 6 (44:36):
If someone offers you that sandwich and you're starving, you'll
eat it. And I think that's what you get when
you come into college football. People are starving for it.
It's a big deal.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
Here.

Speaker 6 (44:50):
And it's why the NFL is so popular. It starts
with college football. So, yeah, on one hand, it's easy
to be like, you know, college football is it's definitely
different than it was. It's not our college football. It's
not your dad's college football.

Speaker 3 (45:11):
No, it feels disorganized. I don't know who's playing for what.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
It is disorganized. There are like 233 different leagues.

Speaker 4 (45:21):
The common denominator is what?

Speaker 2 (45:25):
Money? That's it.

Speaker 6 (45:27):
That is the common denominator. Well, that's true with all sports, though. Yeah,
but what I'm saying is it wasn't the common denominator
before in college sports. Now, I'm not saying the money
that's generated and made. The reason it's so convoluted now
is because the money they can pay out.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
Sure.

Speaker 4 (45:48):
Once it's coming in one way.

Speaker 6 (45:50):
There's more structure, more guidelines, more, okay, this is the
path because nobody wants to flow or mess up the
flow of that money coming in.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (46:00):
Now the guardrails have been taken off. Now the money
can go out. You can pay what you can pay.
You can get who you can get. The transfer portal,
you can buy a whole team. You can have a
whole roster.

Speaker 5 (46:12):
Right?

Speaker 6 (46:14):
Oh, what else does that do? Now, because you don't
have to give up your amateur status, now guys are like, well,
by the letter of the law, there is no more
if you're paid to play, you can no longer play
in college because you're paying college players more than you're

(46:35):
paying some NFL players. So that must mean if I
don't make an NFL roster— I can come back and play.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Right.

Speaker 4 (46:44):
If I have eligibility.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
Look, with the way that this has all played out
through the years and how players, in my opinion, have
been taken advantage of.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
I'm no prude here.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
I'm not coming down the player's road because now they've
got an avenue to make money.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
Not at all.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
I'm also no prude in that I'm not here trying
to tell you that the NFL and the NBA and
the NHL and Major League Baseball are just all squeaky clean.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
We going to get to that.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
But what I am telling you is I don't know
who's playing who anymore. Notre Dame, for example, and maybe
this is a bad example because they've been independent my
whole life.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
Why play anybody?

Speaker 3 (47:29):
But it's like they're playing their own league, which is
very different than what Wisconsin is playing tonight. And things
are getting realigned and bounced all over the country to
where a lot of what I loved about college football,
and people would always bring it up, is tradition. That's

(47:51):
a big part of college football. And it's just been
completely hucked into the trash.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
Yes, it has. And I find that to be very unfortunate.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
And as a casual, because I went to Cal Poly
San Luis Obispo, I don't have a major college football
team that I follow.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
I just used to love the whole sport.

Speaker 3 (48:11):
I now, if you quizzed me, I don't even know
what conference you're in.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Think about this. I don't know who you're playing.

Speaker 4 (48:18):
Think about this. And to make it part of a bigger.

Speaker 6 (48:23):
You know, spectrum. Tradition doesn't just live in college sports.
It starts there. But Soldier Field is now about to
be where?

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Right? Different state.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Right.

Speaker 4 (48:41):
Where is the San Francisco 49ers located?

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Very far from San Francisco.

Speaker 6 (48:46):
So when you're talking about You know, the Lakers used
to play in the Great Western Farm. Farm is still there.
Now they play downtown.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
Sure.

Speaker 4 (49:01):
It's still the Lakers, but I remember going to the
games at the farm.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Right?

Speaker 6 (49:06):
Now, they didn't just rebuild the farm. They moved it downtown.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
Yep. And now it would be.

Speaker 6 (49:17):
Crazy if they would have just rebuilt it because then
you would have had the form there where the Lakers played, SoFi,
and Intuit all within three blocks.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
All right there.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
And I get that, but for me that's a different
kind of tradition. If I woke up tomorrow, you mentioned
where the San Francisco 49ers play. That's a geographic traffic
issue and all of that for locals.

Speaker 6 (49:40):
Unless you were the ones having– season tickets for 40
years and that's.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
An issue but what i'm talking about is the organization
of the way your sport plays out if i wake
up tomorrow morning and you tell me that the 49ers
are now in the afc north because that's more financially
viable for them i'm gonna be like the hell are
you talking about so wait now we play the bangles
twice a year In Cincinnati?

Speaker 2 (50:08):
What are you talking about? That's what has happened.

Speaker 4 (50:12):
Listen, listen to your point. When I came into the
league with Atlanta. The 49ers were in our division.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
Well, right. Atlanta and New Orleans were in the NFC West. Right.
But they fixed it. The Rams. They fixed it.

Speaker 6 (50:31):
The Rams, Atlanta, Carolina, and the 49ers were all in
the same division.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
And before that, it was New Orleans before Carolina existed.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
Right.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
Yes. So. But they fixed it. In other words, they're like,
that doesn't make sense. Let's fix it.

Speaker 3 (50:48):
As opposed to what college does, which is, this makes sense.
Let's screw it up. That's what it feels like to me.
I'm just telling you how it feels. But money is
the reason. Well, sure, but that's the reason for everything.

Speaker 6 (51:04):
It's just more and more money coming, so it's going
to get weirder and weirder. That's all I can tell you.
Let's talk about my first one. I want to talk
about the U.S.

Speaker 4 (51:15):
Women's national team. Now, we've got the greatest players in
the world.

Speaker 6 (51:23):
But when I watched that game today.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
I was like, Oh.

Speaker 6 (51:29):
I mean, one person scored in double digits? And that
was 10 points? And I was like, this doesn't... They
shot 8% from three-point range?

Speaker 2 (51:45):
29% from the field? Yeah.

Speaker 6 (51:56):
Um, so there's been a lot of talk about, you know,
men's sports, women's sport. These are the greatest women on
the planet Earth. Our team is stacked. I think somebody
gave Asia Wilson a hard time for not being part
of this team and all this. Asia's dealing with her
own issues. She wants to be healthy. She's the best

(52:19):
player in the WNBA. I don't, you know, say what
you want. She has earned the right to sit this
one out. But when you go out and you represent,
you know, the country and basketball to the world, you
got to, I mean, and normally they do. I was

(52:40):
just watching the dynamic of this team and the makeup
of this team. And I was like, oh, it just
looked like they were just stuck together, which they were
there in the middle of their season. And I get it.
But I think the level of and I'm just speculating here.
I don't know this for sure. There's so much animosity

(53:02):
within the league. And I'm wondering, is it carrying over
onto the court? Now, I may be grasping at straws.
And so I just wanted to talk to you. But
what do you feel like? Because it looked like bad

(53:23):
basketball today.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
I don't. It was really bad.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
I don't think you're off base at all. I think
what's happened this year, the WNBA went through a transformation
over the last two and a half years, largely because
of personalities that came to light, whether that be Caitlin Clark,
Angel Reese or anyone else for that matter. Television characters

(53:47):
for the first time played in the WNBA. And what
that did was it brought a lot of new eyeballs
to And it felt like a feel-good story. The WNBA
is catching its legs. And we're going to get a
new CBA and actual salaries and all of those things.

(54:08):
And then what happened is it got politicized. And then
you have a number of people in the WNBA who
are not used to this.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
Level of attention.

Speaker 3 (54:20):
And I don't think they have always handled that very well.
You have a commissioner who thankfully is leaving because she
is the worst commissioner I've ever seen of a major
pro sports league in my lifetime. But add all those
things together and there is an emotional problem.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
The WNBA has lost its feel good.

Speaker 3 (54:44):
And I think that the players carry that around.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Yeah, that's anxiety.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
Like when you're not comfortable in your own skin and
you're not feeling free.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
Then you're apt to play tight.

Speaker 6 (54:58):
That's what I'm seeing. I was like, man, am I tripping?
Let me talk to Mark about this. Let me put
that on my list.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
I don't think you're tripping at all. I do not
think you're tripping at all.

Speaker 6 (55:08):
It's a shame because these women are dynamic and they're
great and it just feels like they're.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
Caring so much for no reason.

Speaker 6 (55:19):
It should just be go out, play, fellowship, And it's,
I don't know, it's something there that I'm noticing that
you don't normally see.

Speaker 3 (55:29):
I think you're onto it, man. Yeah, a year ago,
people were celebrating the breakthrough.

Speaker 2 (55:34):
Of the WNBA.

Speaker 3 (55:34):
It does not feel like anybody's celebrating anymore.

Speaker 4 (55:37):
No, it's almost like people are tired of it.

Speaker 3 (55:39):
Yeah, they're fighting. Now it's just a big fight. No,
that's a good observation, man. All right, here's my number two,
and it'll be fast because I've done this a lot
the last few weeks on air.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
But I want to say it one more time.

Speaker 3 (55:53):
Our new producer, Garrett, is firing on– we're all firing
thoughts to each other throughout the day when we've got
a show, right? And one of the things he says
to me is, hey, if the Rams are so dominant
and the Niners are so beat up, why are the
Rams only a three-and-a-half point favorite? And I thought to myself, well,
we could have that conversation about the line and But
the fight that I've been trying to fight for three

(56:15):
weeks now is I think everybody got got by social
media with regard to the San Francisco 49ers. Do you
know how many starters for the 49ers didn't practice the
day before they left for Australia?

Speaker 2 (56:30):
How many starters? I don't know.

Speaker 3 (56:33):
One.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
One. One. But we have run with this.

Speaker 3 (56:38):
They are so banged up because the 49ers have become
a soap opera this offseason. There are some injuries they're
coming back from.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
But that's not new.

Speaker 4 (56:48):
We knew that.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
And I'm sitting here going, so you're going to tell
me that George Kittle tears an Achilles in January, is
potentially ready to play seven months later, and we're out
here talking like something has gone wrong. That should be
the opposite. That's bananas that he might play in this game.
That is bananas. Nick Bosa torn ACL second time on

(57:11):
that leg less than a year ago, and he might play.
That's a positive to me, not a, oh, they're so
banged up. Ricky Pearsall got hurt. Michael Williams is on
the pub list. We already knew those things weeks and
weeks ago. But from an owner with solicitation to some

(57:31):
dude with a helmet on the beach impersonating the Niners
to a substation story that people refuse to let go
away to Brandon Ayuk and his dumb Instagram account and
his commander's hat. We have run around for three months
deciding that the Niners are a bleep show. And I'm
trying to tell people, yes, they may be old in spots,

(57:54):
but that doesn't make them dead. They're not a mess.
They're not.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
They got their guys. How long will they have them?

Speaker 1 (58:03):
I don't know.

Speaker 7 (58:04):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (58:05):
They got them now.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
But let's stop making up injuries before they happen.

Speaker 6 (58:11):
We're so used to the flight being turbulent for the
Niners when it comes to injuries that it's almost like
They're not telling us something. Now, that might have something
to do with them being less than forthright with a
certain someone who got injured and no one knew about it.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
Car accident.

Speaker 4 (58:35):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
That's the one I forgot. There's another one.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
Half the people here in the audience I've got up
here still think something shady happened.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
Well, I mean, it feels like something did.

Speaker 9 (58:47):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
I just, I don't know. I don't, I mean.

Speaker 6 (58:51):
I'm not saying it did.

Speaker 4 (58:54):
You know, I'm just glad Kyle is okay. He's a
friend of mine.

Speaker 6 (58:59):
But it just, you know, information is, so now you're
looking like someone's got to be hurting or not saying anything. Right?

Speaker 2 (59:11):
There's a breach of trust here.

Speaker 3 (59:13):
Well, it's as if Mike Evans is going to get
hurt and Christian McCaffrey is going to get hurt and
George Kittle and Nick Bosa, oh, this won't work.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
And Trent Williams is 38. So let's just go ahead
and call them all hurt. Yes. They're hurt. I'm like,
they're not hurt. They're struggling.

Speaker 7 (59:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:29):
Like, none of them are hurt. They all practiced. Like, okay. Okay,
they're hurt. But they're not.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
But okay. I guess they're hurt. Well, we'll see. We'll see.

Speaker 4 (59:44):
And I hope they're not because.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
Me too.

Speaker 4 (59:46):
You know, look, I like the 49ers. I know you do.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
I do.

Speaker 6 (59:49):
I like Brock Purdy. I like Kyle, John, Dajon Love.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
I like all of them, right?

Speaker 6 (01:00:00):
He's your star receiver, correct?

Speaker 4 (01:00:03):
Dejan?

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
I mean, he's a rookie, but I think that they
would like him to be eventually, yes.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
No, Dejan Love. Oh, Dejan Love. Yes, yes. Yeah. Correct.
Sign him. Might as well. Get him out of jail
and sign him. Now, he's hurt. Good Lord. Yeah. Anyway,
go ahead.

Speaker 6 (01:00:24):
My number two is I had an opportunity to last
weekend go down and speak to our boosters and the
coaching staff at a banquet on the deck of the
USS Midway in San Diego for San Diego State. Got

(01:00:44):
a lot of time, spent time with all the coaches
and the athletic director and And I was very optimistic
about the team. We have a pretty much a new
team outside of, you know, the quarterback coming back, running
back and a couple of defenders. I believe we had

(01:01:07):
something like 62 players coming in from the portal and, and, and,
and joining the team. So it wasn't quite sure what
we get. And yesterday they played their first game against,
I think it was, Portland State or something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
And I was curious. It started off a little slow.

Speaker 6 (01:01:25):
Portland State moved the ball really well, got six early points,
and then San Diego State dropped the hammer. Offensively, I
just want to say they look a lot better than before.
They're actually passing the ball down the field, not just
relying on the running game, although the running game was strong.
So it's not even what I noticed. I'm happy that

(01:01:48):
this is happening, and I'm looking forward– to this Pac-12
conference with eight teams in it, right? Like, I know
they're trying to build the Pac-12 back up to be
one of the Power Five.

Speaker 4 (01:02:04):
It's going to take a couple years.

Speaker 6 (01:02:07):
But out of the few Pac-12 teams that actually won
this weekend, kudos to San Diego State.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
Love that. Love that. Yeah, I'm glad the Pac is back.
We'll see where this whole thing goes.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
But then again, that does still fit into the college
football take.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
I just had five minutes ago. Yeah. Confusing, to say
the least. Okay, Steve's in eight minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:02:31):
I'll just say this one as my last one as
a preview for what we can talk about coming up next. uh,
Pablo Tori has had himself a week and it feels
like he is going to stay in the city of
Los Angeles and.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
Come for more. So, um, you and I should talk
about that. Yeah. I wonder how you're feeling about that. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:52):
Well, so let's, I just wanted to bring that up
and we can do that to come it up in
a little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:02:58):
All right.

Speaker 6 (01:02:59):
Uh, for me, um, I want to give a shout-out.
You know, I'm a big F1 fan.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (01:03:05):
And today I witnessed something that was miraculous in the race.
The race is in Italy, Monza. And the leader, points leader,
and odds-on favorite to win the driver's championship is Kimi Antonelli,

(01:03:26):
a newly 20-year-old Italian driver. And he had a bit
of a, you know, mishap, uh, in, in qualifying. And
he started, uh, his starting position was 19th.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:03:42):
There are 22, 22 racers.

Speaker 6 (01:03:43):
Uh, he started 19th and, um, Did something only one
other person has done who started lower than him, which
started at the 22nd spot and came back and won
the race. Kimi Antonelli is the first Italian driver to

(01:04:06):
win in Italy since 1966, I believe. And he started
the race in 19th place, which is almost impossible to do.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Yeah, it is. Like, literally....

Speaker 6 (01:04:23):
It was unbelievable driving. It was neck-to-neck, him and George Russell,
who is his driving mate. Each team has two drivers.
He's his teammate. Unlike any other sport in the world.
And F1 teammates aren't necessarily, if ever, on the same page. Yeah,

(01:04:49):
they're built to be rivals. And they were not. And
it was thrilling. So shout out to Kimi Antonelli doing
something that no one on the planet Earth could have
done and winning at Monza in Italy.

Speaker 4 (01:05:01):
20-year-old.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Love that. Love that. Love Ephraim's F1 updates.

Speaker 3 (01:05:07):
The same way that I love whenever Steve DeSegar comes
on the show, which he will do coming up in
just a few.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
That's Ephraim Salam. I'm Mark Willard. This is Fox Football Sunday.

Speaker 8 (01:05:16):
Check us out on YouTube, subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon,
and comment away.

Speaker 5 (01:05:46):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsportsradio.com. And

Speaker 2 (01:06:00):
Just a quick thought.

Speaker 3 (01:06:01):
Mark Willity from Salam with the iHeart app.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
You can stream us wherever you are. Catch us and all.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
Of our Fox Sports Radio shows live 24-7 in the
new and improved iHeart app. Search Fox Sports Radio in
the app. You can stream us live all day, every day.
Be sure to select Fox Sports Radio of one of
your presets in the iHeart app so it always pops
up right there at the top. Again, you search Fox
Sports Radio in the iHeart app to listen live. Ephraim,
you know what else you can find when you catch

(01:06:28):
us on the iHeart app?

Speaker 2 (01:06:29):
Yes. Steven DeSeda. That's right.

Speaker 3 (01:06:32):
That's the correct answer.

Speaker 10 (01:06:34):
Maybe, maybe not.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
No.

Speaker 7 (01:06:37):
Some of us make it, make the cut, and some
do not. We do have halftime in the college football
game in Green Bay tonight, by the way. Notre Dame
13-10 over Wisconsin. And halftime in Nashville, it's Ole Miss
ahead of Louisville 10-6. Today, Washington at home beat Washington
State 24-10. Monday night, it'll be No. 19 SMU at
Florida State. And this Friday on Fox TV, No. 25

(01:06:58):
Missouri will play at Kansas. As for Major League Baseball...
The game with the White Sox has concluded in Chicago.
10-1 White Sox over the Twins. So in a half
an hour, the late game will start. The Dodgers hosting Washington.
LADH Shohei Otani out again for a fourth straight game
due to his injuries. The Padres started their home contest
against the Yankees with three straight homers beat New York 4-3.

(01:07:20):
Arizona a 3-2 winner at Houston. Texas beat Tampa Bay 8-6.
Wins for Cleveland and Atlanta. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell agreed
to a contract extension through the 2030 season. Patriots running
back Travion Henderson missed practice again today with his ankle injury,
and New England plays the season opener Wednesday at Seattle.
In women's basketball, Team USA won just 55-52 over Italy

(01:07:44):
at the World Cup in Berlin. The Americans shot 29%
from the floor. Brianna Stewart, 11 rebounds, but shot one
of nine. Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the quarterfinals at the U.S.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
Open.

Speaker 7 (01:07:55):
Women's No. 1, Irina Sabalenka, won. No. 3, Jessica Pagula, advanced.
Christopher Bell has won the NASCAR race at Darlington, his
first victory this year after seven runner-up finishes. Scott McLaughlin
took the IndyCar season finale in the Bay Area, his
first win in two years. Alex Pillow had already clinched
the season title, his fifth career and fourth in a row.

Speaker 10 (01:08:16):
He's only 29 years old.

Speaker 7 (01:08:19):
And I'm glad you guys got to talking in the
past hour about the actual flights, the planes that the
49ers and Rams will be using, because it gets to
a larger issue that people really do not understand all
the advance work that has to take place for football
to be staged in a non-football country particularly. But I

(01:08:40):
did find that the Rams are flying out on a
Boeing 777 late Tuesday night, which has the lie-flat first seats.
And that was an attraction for the 49ers as the
NFL worked with the Qantas company to get an Airbus
charter flight for them that could take an NFL-sized flight.

(01:09:00):
passenger crew, you could say, over 200 passengers and their
checked luggage down to Melbourne for the game that is
going to be this Thursday night, our time.

Speaker 8 (01:09:10):
All told.

Speaker 7 (01:09:10):
95,000 pounds of cargo on that flight and four pilots
and 22 of the cabin crew and so forth. And
that's just the flight down. The advance work to get
these two teams down there and prepare what has to
be an NFL-type stadium in Melbourne is just shocking. And

(01:09:33):
by the way, on the flight down that the 49ers took,
they had to make sure because... They're going to Australia,
which is restricted for invasive species. And it's not just
you can't bring plants. They have to make sure there's
no California soil that made its way onto the flight
and makes its way down.

Speaker 10 (01:09:51):
It gets that detailed.

Speaker 7 (01:09:53):
And finally— You get down there, and all of this
NFL work has to happen in advance. Not only, I say,
negotiating with Qantas to find a place that have enough
space for this huge a traveling party and 84 lie-flat.

Speaker 10 (01:10:10):
Seats and so forth.

Speaker 7 (01:10:12):
The NFL says in these types of situations— At other stadiums,
they wind up having to knock down walls and create
more plumbing and put in the hot tubs and the
cold tubs and more space. And then what about the
press box for the assistant coaches? They have to make
it larger for an NFL-sized assistant staff to be up
there on the headsets communicating down to the field. It's

(01:10:32):
just crazy. And remember, this is the first game of
the season. Therefore, it was the State Department at the
49ers facility for a few days working on passports and
visas in advance, which means you aren't working on passports
and visas for guys who won't eventually make the team
or the trip. Because it was only recently that teams

(01:10:54):
finalized their 53-man roster and the traveling party for the
actual opening game. And the Niners then had to contact
pro teams down there. What do you do for facilities
for workouts? Who can we talk to about stuff that
we need to add to our locker room at local vendors? And,
you know, Stanford once went down there. Let's talk to them,
see who they know. On and on it goes. It's

(01:11:16):
an amazing amount of work just to stage teams. one
game and then these two will immediately fly back home
to california essentially on an empty aircraft because the cargo
is not going with them they think it would take
so long to exit in california if it were passengers
and cargo they're making that two separate flights back after

(01:11:37):
the game on thursday night it's crazy and you want
to know how crazy i talked to a producer who
who is in charge of a Dallas Cowboys game in Rio.
And keep in mind, that's a regular Sunday afternoon time
slot at the end of this month with the Ravens
and Cowboys. They had to have equipment on a cargo

(01:11:59):
ship headed to Brazil in June. or else they wouldn't
be getting it once they personally arrive down there. I
am told the Cowboys radio people are just going to
stay in Texas and call the game, because unlike the
49ers and the Rams, who have at least a week
and a half before and after this opening game, the

(01:12:21):
Cowboys are playing in Texas the week before Rio, and
they're playing in Texas the week after Rio. All these
Sunday games in a row. For this contest coming up
in Melbourne on Thursday night, the preparation started back in
March when the NFL asked the teams, what can you
send down in advance? Because there's a cargo ship leaving

(01:12:42):
from New York. And that means the NFL is sending
goalposts and the practice site equipment and the pylons and
the chains and the medical gear and the Gatorade stuff.
That left in April and arrived in August in Australia,
getting ready for a September game. It's astounding the amount

(01:13:05):
of work that goes into this. And it's for one game,
for all the inconvenience that it is for coaches and players.
It is for the league, but they clearly are willing
to go through it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
Back to you.

Speaker 3 (01:13:19):
If you are the pilot of the plane that's coming
back with just cargo, I would imagine you don't have
to tell them that you are now free to move
about the cabin.

Speaker 2 (01:13:30):
That's correct. So there's that. And then there's this as well.

Speaker 10 (01:13:37):
Two separate planes coming back.

Speaker 2 (01:13:39):
You brought up a lot of, like, very unique stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:13:42):
Did you see this quote that just came from Kyle
Shanahan about 10 minutes ago?

Speaker 10 (01:13:47):
From Australia.

Speaker 3 (01:13:48):
From Australia, holding his press availability, he was asked for
an update on George Kittle and Nick Bosa.

Speaker 2 (01:13:56):
His response? Because we are technically in the future.

Speaker 3 (01:14:02):
And the Rams are in the present.

Speaker 2 (01:14:04):
I don't have to talk about injuries. Hilarious. Until tomorrow. Hilarious.

Speaker 10 (01:14:11):
I think the Rams even said Tuesday. We'll talk about
stuff Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (01:14:14):
Here in the U.S.

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
There you go. Play that game. You want to stay home?
Update this.

Speaker 2 (01:14:21):
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:14:24):
It's Sunday where you are. And I don't need to
tell you nothing on Sunday. We're in the future.

Speaker 2 (01:14:31):
They are. Yeah. They are in the future.

Speaker 3 (01:14:35):
I'm going to try to see if somebody who's at
the game can help me bet on it since they,
in theory, would know quicker than us.

Speaker 7 (01:14:44):
It's like years ago when Arnie Spanier would be doing
the Super Bowl show and his cable system was seven
seconds ahead of.

Speaker 10 (01:14:49):
The rest of us.

Speaker 7 (01:14:51):
And, of course, he gleefully would let us know in
advance what play was coming up.

Speaker 2 (01:14:55):
Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 10 (01:14:56):
Ruining the game for all.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
How is this profitable with what you just said? Yeah. Like, how?

Speaker 10 (01:15:04):
And this has to be a day game for Australia.

Speaker 2 (01:15:07):
10.30 a.m.

Speaker 7 (01:15:09):
Because it's to make it night, prime time for TV here.

Speaker 10 (01:15:12):
That's all it is. It's a TV show.

Speaker 6 (01:15:14):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:15:16):
You say, how is it profitable?

Speaker 10 (01:15:17):
And by the way, it's not summer there.

Speaker 4 (01:15:19):
You know how much Netflix pays? That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:15:22):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 7 (01:15:23):
But they had to take winter gear also. In addition
to this, it's not supposed to be even 60 degrees.

Speaker 6 (01:15:28):
And guess what? What a part of the deal was
you have to pay for all of the stuff. Netflix
would gladly do that.

Speaker 10 (01:15:39):
Well, you saw what next we played for just the
Christmas games.

Speaker 2 (01:15:43):
Incredible.

Speaker 4 (01:15:45):
There's money out there to be had.

Speaker 2 (01:15:46):
Oh, yeah, they're going to put up a number. Thanks, Steve. Yeah, Steve,
great stuff.

Speaker 6 (01:15:49):
But to that point, so this is the thing I know,
and with travel with me as someone 6'8, 285 pounds,
it's going to be difficult for the Rams to, to
like there are 84 live flat seats in these planes,

(01:16:14):
70 business and 14 first class. Now, even the first
class live flat seats aren't big enough for your offensive,
defensive linemen, some linebackers. Like we're not talking about regular people.
I can't fully lay down and be comfortable in one

(01:16:39):
of those. So half your team is going to be
balled up in a business class seat for 16, 17 hours.
So if you think they're getting good night's sleeps and
doing all of those things, That is not the case.

Speaker 2 (01:17:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:17:01):
The Rams say Alaric Jackson's going to be playing this week,
for example. He's 6'7, 340.

Speaker 6 (01:17:05):
There isn't a seat on the plane where he can
get a nice rest. And so that's what you're up against.
And not to get off the plane and have a
couple days for your body to recoup.

Speaker 4 (01:17:21):
And I just, I don't know, man.

Speaker 6 (01:17:24):
I just, I've been to Australia on this same, very
same plane they're flying on.

Speaker 3 (01:17:29):
Well, here, so because Kyle is talking right now, we
have a little bit of data, at least what he's
passing along in terms of how long it took them
to adjust and anything. So we'll continue this conversation coming
up next. With him from Salam, I'm Mark Willard. This
is Fox Sports Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:17:46):

Speaker 3 (01:17:50):
It's Fox football Sunday on Fox sports radio.

Speaker 2 (01:17:52):
That's it from Salama Mark Willard. All right.

Speaker 3 (01:17:55):
So, so check this out more from Kyle Shanahan, who
spoke moments ago in Australia to the assembled media. He said,
it is quote, taking a couple of days to adjust.
He says, players will tell them that they're doing great.
And then a few hours later, they'll say, wait, nevermind.

(01:18:15):
I'm not feeling good now. Now, the 49er plane left
California time Wednesday night.

Speaker 2 (01:18:26):
They left somewhere in the neighborhood of 9, 930 p.m. Obviously,
they landed the next.

Speaker 3 (01:18:32):
Day on Thursday around 2, 230 Pacific time, which is
Friday there. So that's a solid. They've been there for
over three days already. And he's saying it just it.
Took a couple days to adjust. um there's still some

(01:18:53):
discussion about how people are feeling but obviously the game
is still a full four days away but the rams
will not show up for another three days.

Speaker 2 (01:19:05):
I mean, I don't know, man.

Speaker 4 (01:19:08):
That's wild to me.

Speaker 2 (01:19:10):
Me too, but it's the Rams. It's not like they're dumb. No, no, no.

Speaker 6 (01:19:15):
This is not something that was just someone was like,
you know what we should do?

Speaker 4 (01:19:20):
No.

Speaker 6 (01:19:20):
You know what would be funny? That is not what's
happening here.

Speaker 9 (01:19:26):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:26):
But what is happening?

Speaker 6 (01:19:29):
Dedicated scientists and smarter people than me have... come up
with what they think should be the best way to
deal with this. And that's what they landed on.

Speaker 3 (01:19:50):
But have you talked to anybody who thinks that that
makes sense?

Speaker 2 (01:19:53):
No.

Speaker 6 (01:19:55):
Not one person I've had this conversation with.

Speaker 2 (01:19:59):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:19:59):
And everything you just said about the Rams, the Niners
did that too. And this is what they came up with.
And Kyle reported that the players were like, no, we
don't want to go in the day before the game.

Speaker 2 (01:20:14):
But I don't know, man. The Rams think that they're
on to something.

Speaker 3 (01:20:21):
And as I told you earlier, what's funny to me
is that someone will win this football game and then
people will go, well, that was the right way to
do it. And I'm like, I don't know if that's
what it means. I don't know if that's what it
means at all. You know, the Rams are really, really good.
They might be jet lagged and still win.

Speaker 4 (01:20:43):
It's going to make that game. I can't miss.

Speaker 2 (01:20:47):
I know that. I want to know. We want to know.
We want to know. We want to know. We want
to know. We're going to find out.

Speaker 3 (01:20:59):
Except for sort of not because someone will win, and
I don't know if that's why. All right. We haven't
quite done enough yet on Michigan and Western Michigan, so we'll.

Speaker 2 (01:21:08):
Get back to that coming up next.

Speaker 1 (01:21:12):

Speaker 3 (01:21:15):
Week away from the Cowboys and Giants playing in the
second half right about now on Fox Football Sunday. Instead,
Notre Dame and Wisconsin, though, we're following along that and
much more. College Football Week is here. Week one of
the NFL, three days away, along with Ephraim Salam.

Speaker 2 (01:21:33):
I'm Mark Willard.

Speaker 3 (01:21:34):
This is our final hour, but if you missed any
of the show today, you're going to want to catch
it up tomorrow. on podcast so you search Fox Sports
Radio wherever you get your podcast and right after the
show today's podcast will get posted so you follow the
pod you rate it a five you provide a review
those are the rules and then again you just search
Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast follow the
feed and you'll find today's full show posted right after

(01:21:57):
we get off the air but we are far from
done Ephraim, I feel like still meat on the bone
with regard to this game last night. Michigan and Western Michigan.
And the controversy is still going to keep going. I
know that it gets muted a little bit as video
gets released where you can hear and see what the

(01:22:19):
officials are talking through, the clock that they're seeing. Why
was it not synced? I have no idea. But for me.

Speaker 2 (01:22:29):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:22:29):
Know that college football or the Big Ten or anybody
can release anything that's going to turn this into a
good look. No.

Speaker 6 (01:22:44):
I mean, it's a terrible look. But it saved the
blue blood. It really did.

Speaker 2 (01:22:54):
Sure.

Speaker 6 (01:22:57):
You know, mistakes like that shouldn't happen. I think that's
the biggest thing and the most disappointing thing. That shouldn't happen.
And now, you know, you had a team that played
their butts off, literally, you know, brought the fight.

Speaker 4 (01:23:18):
And you got nothing out of it.

Speaker 2 (01:23:24):
Nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:23:25):
I've been thinking of a couple of situations out there where–
and look, this can't be what sports is about. Sports
is not just about rushing the field and the celebrations
or the ooh-ah moments.

Speaker 2 (01:23:35):
That's not what I'm saying at all.

Speaker 3 (01:23:37):
But I really do feel like something is getting lost
here when an unbelievable play happens or an unbelievable upset
takes place. And– The first thought we have is no longer, wow,
that just happened.

Speaker 2 (01:23:57):
Instead, the first thought is, well, hold on a second.

Speaker 3 (01:24:04):
Let's go look at it and see if we can
convince ourselves that this actually happened.

Speaker 2 (01:24:12):
And it's a really rough look.

Speaker 3 (01:24:13):
I don't know why this is popping into my mind,
but it's just sort of through my fandom that One
of the things that I will forever remember, do you
remember in the Western Conference NBA Finals three full seasons ago?

Speaker 2 (01:24:29):
So this is June of 2023.

Speaker 3 (01:24:31):
This is the Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks. And if
you remember that year, you remember that it was for
about a period of six weeks. Andrew Wiggins finally played
like the world has always wanted Andrew Wiggins to play.
He was a damn man possessed, and he was awesome.

(01:24:52):
At one point, he grabs the ball right around the
top of the key, takes a dribble or two, and
he takes flight. And he slams the ball on Luka
Doncic's head. And immediately the ref.

(01:25:14):
Offensive foul we're going the other way now in this
particular moment may not be a great example because this
is where review actually stopped and did get the call
right there was no offensive foul and they overturned it
but i guess what i'm getting at is the moment got.

Speaker 2 (01:25:34):
Ruined anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:25:36):
Because you get an ooh and an ah moment, and
you're not allowed to just let it rip with what
your normal reaction would be. Because immediately, this whole process
of officiating and reviews jumps in. And then either what
you do want to happen or what you don't want

(01:25:58):
to happen is going to be the final answer.

Speaker 2 (01:25:59):
But for me, either way, the experience is lost. Yeah,
I agree with that.

Speaker 6 (01:26:08):
Because when we watch sports, we're watching for those dynamic moments.
We're watching for those breath-stealing plays. And if you have
a breath-stealing play and then the review comes, it takes

(01:26:29):
away from the.

Speaker 4 (01:26:32):
Entertainment of it.

Speaker 6 (01:26:37):
And I think that gets lost in wanting to be
right all the time. It's, you know, I sit on
both sides of the fence, which I hate.

Speaker 2 (01:26:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:26:54):
I know what you mean, though. You know, it's one
of those things where you're like, yeah, but Don't you
want to get it right? Yeah, but I also want
to be entertained.

Speaker 3 (01:27:10):
Well, what if I took this sports conversation into a
conversation the world has been having about AI? I don't
know if AI anxiety is warranted or not. I don't
know how we can know that yet. But I know
that a lot of people think that humans are going
to get replaced by robots or alternate beings or whatever.

(01:27:32):
Just the technology, if you will. So I don't know
if that's going to happen. But I do think, whether
it's sports or anything else, we are the human race,
and therefore we should be allowed to continue to be human.
And here's what I mean by that. I guarantee you
relate to this one. You've seen this a thousand times.

(01:27:54):
They brought baseball review into play. Major League Baseball now
has review. And I think we've often seen, let's say
somebody tries to steal second base, and they beat the
throw there. And the umpire says, safe. And then the
defensive team says, I think we need to take a

(01:28:15):
look at that one. Hey, OMS, let's get out your headsets.
We'd like to review that one. And then in the
process of reviewing it, you notice that the base runner
steals second base successfully. But as he's arriving at the base,
his body.

(01:28:36):
Momentarily bounces while.

Speaker 2 (01:28:40):
Still being right over the top of the base.

Speaker 3 (01:28:45):
The defender will have kept the glove on that base
runner at all times. They'll come out and they'll call
them out. And I'm like, that's not why we have review.
We didn't have reviews so that you can now go
frame by frame and decide the things that human beings
do because that's what we are, are now going to

(01:29:07):
get somebody rung up or somebody's.

Speaker 2 (01:29:10):
Going to be out.

Speaker 3 (01:29:12):
I'm like, that's a stolen base. The body does what
it does because we're human beings. So it's very much
to me kind of like when you see a defensive lineman.

Speaker 2 (01:29:28):
Dying to get to the quarterback.

Speaker 3 (01:29:31):
And then right as they arrive, they may even be
targeting the midsection. And then the quarterback moves.

Speaker 2 (01:29:38):
Or the quarterback jumps.

Speaker 3 (01:29:41):
And now a 320-pound human being at full speed who's
already left the ground diving is supposed to be able
to either stop himself or maneuver in a different direction
because the target has moved. And then we penalize that person.
Like human beings can't do that. Same thing here. To

(01:30:02):
the human eye, that game was over. That clock expired.
And I actually don't care if there was 0.1 seconds
left because that's not sports. Sports takes time for that
clock operator to get their hand down there and hit
stop when the right thing happens. They don't happen simultaneously.
That's not being a human being. So this isn't me

(01:30:26):
not liking a review. This is me saying that review
has gotten a little bit too fine with now what
we're looking for.

Speaker 4 (01:30:37):
Look, that was beautifully said, and you're right.

Speaker 6 (01:30:42):
And the example you gave, I like the fact— you know what?
do you know what I love about watching sports all
sports hit me I love watching humans do things that
I can't do or that the majority of people can't

(01:31:06):
do so if I'm stealing and if I'm John from
you know office max and I'm still in second base
I can't make my body stop that makes sense sure

(01:31:26):
does if I'm Shannon from accounting I can't come down
and hit a 34 foot three.

Speaker 2 (01:31:36):
In a game.

Speaker 6 (01:31:38):
So the harder it is to do something the more
athletes separate themselves from being superhuman or being just regular
human And so I'm okay with– because if you watch
it nine times out of ten, that player still in
second base will stop his body. And you're like, how

(01:32:01):
the hell did he do that? How did he come
to a complete abrupt stop and stick to that base?
That's impossible to do. That's why I love sport, the
impossibleness of it. Because not everybody can play. At a
high level. And to see people playing at a high level.

Speaker 2 (01:32:23):
I think.

Speaker 4 (01:32:25):
Is the thing that entertains us the most.

Speaker 2 (01:32:29):
And you know.

Speaker 6 (01:32:30):
I don't think that should be undone by technology. It's
what I'm getting at. But the fact that. just pushing
back on where humans are bodies, but athletes are human,
but they're different.

Speaker 2 (01:32:43):
No doubt. They're a little bit different.

Speaker 3 (01:32:44):
No, they can do things we can't do. I just
think that there are also things that even.

Speaker 2 (01:32:48):
They can't do.

Speaker 6 (01:32:49):
And that's, and I think that part of it is okay.

Speaker 3 (01:32:53):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:32:53):
You can do all of this stuff, but not that.

Speaker 4 (01:32:55):
And I'm like, okay, I get it.

Speaker 3 (01:32:57):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:32:57):
That's, that's a hard to do.

Speaker 6 (01:32:59):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:32:59):
Miles Garrett comes around the end and leaves his feet
and he's airborne trying to tackle Brock Purdy. And then
Brock ducks. And now Miles hits him in the head.

Speaker 2 (01:33:14):
Penalty. It's like, dude, he was already in the air. Like,
he's Miles Garrett. He's not Spider-Man.

Speaker 3 (01:33:22):
Like, he can't throw a web out there and just
stop in the middle.

Speaker 2 (01:33:27):
Like, I don't know, man.

Speaker 3 (01:33:29):
That's kind of what I'm getting at.

Speaker 2 (01:33:31):
And you're right. You're right.

Speaker 4 (01:33:34):
You're not wrong. You're not wrong. But I.

Speaker 6 (01:33:41):
Love superhuman feats.

Speaker 2 (01:33:45):
Sure.

Speaker 4 (01:33:45):
That's why I love trampolining. You ever watch trampolining in
the Olympics?

Speaker 2 (01:33:48):
Good Lord. No, I have not. I have not. I've
watched my kids do it in the backyard quite a bit.

Speaker 6 (01:33:56):
Trampolining in the Olympics is the real deal. It's like, yeah,
in theory, I can go get a trampoline and do that.

Speaker 3 (01:34:04):
But no, no.

Speaker 4 (01:34:07):
No, I can't. And it's just trampolining.

Speaker 3 (01:34:10):
You might be one of the most broad strokes sports
fans I've ever met. Brother, I love it. You played
in the NFL. You like the NBA better than anything.
I have noticed this summer, and I think I credit
your wife for this. You've decided that because of the Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (01:34:30):
The baseball is cool.

Speaker 3 (01:34:33):
We know you have become America's, along with your wife,
number one F1 fan.

Speaker 2 (01:34:38):
Yes, indeed. And now you're firing at me trampolining. Just
watch it, man. I've seen it.

Speaker 4 (01:34:47):
It's unbelievable.

Speaker 6 (01:34:49):
I will get up when the Olympics are.

Speaker 4 (01:34:53):
Elsewhere.

Speaker 6 (01:34:53):
I'll get up at 3 a.m. and watch the medal
rounds of trampolining live.

Speaker 3 (01:35:00):
Remember how you just said professional athletes are different?

Speaker 2 (01:35:03):
Yeah. You're right about that. Three in the morning for trampolining.

Speaker 6 (01:35:09):
I will set the alarm, man, to get up and
watch trampolining.

Speaker 2 (01:35:13):
Oh, gosh. All right. That's it from Mark there. Speaking
of those Dodgers, we need to have a couple conversations.
We do. So let's go ahead and do that.

Speaker 3 (01:35:25):
Coming up next on Fox Football Sunday on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 8 (01:35:31):
Hey, it's Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 9 (01:35:34):
Now, in addition to hearing us live weekdays from 5
to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio, we're excited to announce a brand new YouTube
channel for the show.

Speaker 8 (01:35:44):
Yup, that's right.

Speaker 9 (01:35:45):
You can now watch Covino and Rich live on YouTube
every day. All you gotta do, search Covino and Rich
FSR on YouTube. Again, go to YouTube, search Covino and
Rich FSR. Check us out on YouTube, subscribe, hit that
thumbs up icon, and comment away.

Speaker 5 (01:36:01):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsportsradio.com. And

Speaker 2 (01:36:14):
That's Ephraim. I'm Mark. This is Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (01:36:20):
And this might be the last time we talk baseball
in 2026. We'll find out. But, brother, you worried about
the Dodgers? Pablo Torre has basically already taken.

Speaker 2 (01:36:35):
Down the Los Angeles Clippers.

Speaker 3 (01:36:38):
Like, that organization is up a creek for a decade.
And as a Laker fan, I believe that you kind
of enjoyed that this week.

Speaker 2 (01:36:55):
Is that accurate? Who is.

Speaker 4 (01:37:00):
a die-hard Clipper fan for whatever reason.

Speaker 3 (01:37:02):
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (01:37:05):
Anybody who's a Clipper fan, I feel the same way.

Speaker 4 (01:37:07):
I don't know what you're doing.

Speaker 2 (01:37:11):
Well, you like who you like. Yeah, I mean, but...
Do you know what I mean? No, I don't. I mean,
why are people... You know what I mean. Like, their
parents liked them or.

Speaker 4 (01:37:20):
It's stuff like when I was a kid.

Speaker 3 (01:37:23):
Oh.

Speaker 6 (01:37:24):
You know, everybody was a Laker fan, so I'm like,
I'm going to go with the clip.

Speaker 4 (01:37:29):
That doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 6 (01:37:32):
So you mean that the height of, if you're older
like myself, the height of Showtime, the Showtime Lakers and
Magic and Kareem and all of this fantastic stuff, you
were like, hey, what about this other team over here?
Bitch won nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:37:50):
Some people like to zig when others zag. Some people
don't like to do what everyone is doing.

Speaker 2 (01:37:55):
Yeah, I get that.

Speaker 6 (01:37:56):
But in terms of being a fan, I'm a fan
of winning.

Speaker 3 (01:38:01):
They've made a poor choice. That's clear in terms of
the way it played out.

Speaker 6 (01:38:05):
But I posed a question to her, and I like
to pose that question to you, and then we'll get
back to the Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (01:38:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:38:15):
Is Kawhi Leonard the worst— free agent acquisition ever?

Speaker 2 (01:38:21):
Probably.

Speaker 3 (01:38:23):
Probably when you really start to get all the spider
legs off of this.

Speaker 2 (01:38:27):
I certainly can't come up with a comp.

Speaker 3 (01:38:30):
Of somebody who was at the center of then also
having another star.

Speaker 2 (01:38:36):
Join in this case that was Paul George.

Speaker 3 (01:38:41):
And that trade established a champion in Oklahoma City the
draft picks and Shea Gilgis Alexander that went to acquire
Paul George. So you established a different champion in your conference.
You spent millions, hundreds of millions of dollars on these

(01:39:04):
two athletes.

Speaker 2 (01:39:05):
And, you know, sure, there was one trip to the finals.

Speaker 3 (01:39:10):
You got nothing. You got nothing. You got nothing out
of it. And then on the back end, you get this,
which to me is kind of damn near a decade
long death sentence.

Speaker 2 (01:39:22):
Yes. Like the Clipper is.

Speaker 3 (01:39:24):
Going to be 2035 before the Clippers can even consider
trying to be good again, in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (01:39:33):
So my answer to you is yes. Yeah, I can't
come up. You can move on me all day.

Speaker 4 (01:39:40):
No, this is different.

Speaker 3 (01:39:41):
You can Anthony Rendon me all day. Like, bad free
agent signings happen. I've never seen one create a different
champion and cripple a team for 12 years.

Speaker 4 (01:39:53):
10 first-round draft picks.

Speaker 3 (01:39:55):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:39:56):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (01:39:56):
Is what Kawhi Leonard cost the Clippers. $ 30 million. Mm-hmm.
And according to Muncie, probably the worst clipper in the
history of any player in Paul George.

Speaker 2 (01:40:11):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:40:14):
All for one visit to the Western Conference finals.

Speaker 2 (01:40:18):
Yep. That's it.

Speaker 6 (01:40:22):
And what's about to happen for they have one draft
pick in the next seven years.

Speaker 2 (01:40:28):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:40:30):
Goodness gracious.

Speaker 2 (01:40:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:40:32):
How can you get a free agent there?

Speaker 2 (01:40:34):
You can't.

Speaker 6 (01:40:35):
So essentially, and look, I feel bad for Muncie because
she's always fighting with me. Like when the Clippers have
any semblance of, oh, they're doing well, we go back
and forth throughout basketball. So I came in early and
I sat down with her and I was like, look,
I'm sorry. I said, but you can come on over here.

Speaker 4 (01:40:57):
It's fine.

Speaker 2 (01:40:58):
Yeah, but they can't.

Speaker 4 (01:40:59):
You can't.

Speaker 2 (01:40:59):
Come on over.

Speaker 4 (01:41:01):
It's better over here.

Speaker 3 (01:41:02):
I know, but they'd have to throw their self-respect out
the window.

Speaker 2 (01:41:06):
Like, you know how it is, man. Marcellus Wiley.

Speaker 6 (01:41:09):
Same thing. I've been reaching out to him.

Speaker 3 (01:41:11):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:41:12):
I'm like, hey, man. Well, for multiple reasons. Good luck
with that.

Speaker 4 (01:41:17):
Multiple reasons.

Speaker 2 (01:41:19):
But.

Speaker 6 (01:41:20):
He's been a Clipper fan forever. So we've had these conversations.

Speaker 2 (01:41:27):
He's running around yelling Clip City, Chip City all the time.
We run LA. We do this. We do that. What
chip are you talking about, man? Nothing.

Speaker 6 (01:41:35):
Computer chip. Because of Steve Ballmer.

Speaker 2 (01:41:38):
That's it.

Speaker 4 (01:41:41):
It's not.

Speaker 6 (01:41:43):
It's funny to me, man.

Speaker 4 (01:41:45):
Because they're really done for. Like, this isn't... I agree.
They're done for.

Speaker 2 (01:41:53):
I agree.

Speaker 3 (01:41:55):
And by the way, what Pablo is now working on...
With regard to the Los Angeles Dodgers, I don't think
it's going to lead to something like that. But listen,
let me just, before Steve gets here, let me lay
out for people. This is a little bit complex, but
I'm going to do it briefly and very clear to understand.
These are just allegations slash reports at this point. But

(01:42:19):
the thought is, and we already know what Mark Walter
is going through, having sold the Lakers, and there are
federal accusations against him. But the basic idea was that
in order to purchase the Dodgers, he needed a $ 350
million loan. He took that from Equitrust. That is an
insurance provider that he already owned. Okay, so basically he

(01:42:42):
loaned the money to himself. How did he go about
doing that? Well, he transferred controlling interest of Equitrust to
Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson served as a critical asset in
this entire process, not only as a face that helped
him purchase the Dodgers, but it enabled Walter to effectively

(01:43:03):
loan that money to himself so that he could hit
the record bid of $ 2.

Speaker 2 (01:43:07):
15 billion.

Speaker 3 (01:43:10):
The deal was also heavily contingent on the $ 8. 35 billion
local television contract, which, as we already know, came at
a time coming out of the whole Frank McCourt disaster
that baseball and the courts gave them. What essentially works
out to be a waiver so that they did not
have to do the normal amount of revenue sharing with

(01:43:32):
the rest of the league that you would normally have.

Speaker 2 (01:43:34):
To do with a deal like that.

Speaker 3 (01:43:37):
So loan the money to himself, purchase the Dodgers, build
a television deal that was massive and have it not
be subject to the normal revenue sharing terms. And it
is essentially allowed the Dodgers to financially operate the way
they have. That's the accusation in the report in as

(01:43:59):
much of a nutshell as I can give you. So
I would love to hear your response. Are you worried?
The beautiful thing is, is while you think that through,
you get to listen to Steve DeSegar.

Speaker 10 (01:44:15):
Can I just add on the Clippers?

Speaker 2 (01:44:17):
Please.

Speaker 7 (01:44:18):
That Keaton Wagler guy is going to get as many
shots as he wants for his entire NBA career.

Speaker 2 (01:44:24):
Ha, ha, ha.

Speaker 7 (01:44:26):
And as you guys mentioned trampolining, I looked it up.
The Olympic trampolining in L.A. will be in the Lakers
arena downtown in a couple of years because that's where
the Olympic gymnastics are going to be. As for the— already
he's getting tickets.

Speaker 4 (01:44:41):
Sign me up. I'm going to do it right now.

Speaker 10 (01:44:44):
I think they're having the lottery.

Speaker 7 (01:44:45):
Already for buying advance tickets for 2028, by the way.
We have three college football games on the Sunday schedule,
and Notre Dame is leading Wisconsin 27-13 early in the
fourth quarter. They are in Green Bay for this one.
Louisville has tied it up 24-24 against Ole Miss in Nashville.
Louisville scoring and getting a two-point pass to even things

(01:45:08):
up late third quarter. Today at Washington, the Huskies beat
rival Washington State 24-10. Can I add on this Notre
Dame game that they had, past tense, two running backs
that were, let's just say, highly thought of in the
NFL draft in April.

Speaker 10 (01:45:24):
A couple of firsts.

Speaker 7 (01:45:25):
In fact, they were the first two running backs off
the board in the April draft. And so Notre Dame's
rushing attack... even with recent gains tonight it's 24 carries
78 yards so about three yards a carry it was
two yards a carry for much of the night and
yet they're up two touchdowns and they're driving for more
inside the wisconsin 10 right now first and goal and

(01:45:46):
it's about 11 minutes to go in that game NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell agreed to a contract extension through the
2030 season. Rams defensive end Miles Garrett practiced today after
a knee injury. Their season opens Thursday night, our time,
for Melbourne against the 49ers. No, the Rams have not.

Speaker 10 (01:46:02):
Yet left for that game. The women's basketball team of... Well,
the U.S. usually dominant.

Speaker 7 (01:46:08):
Not today at the World Cup in Berlin. Nearly upset.
Final was 55-52 over Italy. Thanks to a late 7-0 run,
the Americans on three-pointers won for 12.

Speaker 10 (01:46:18):
The U.S.

Speaker 7 (01:46:19):
Next faces Czechia to end group play on Monday. Christopher
Bell won the NASCAR race at Darlington tonight. Carlos Alcaraz
advanced to the quarterfinals at the U.S.

Speaker 6 (01:46:29):
Open.

Speaker 7 (01:46:29):
The late ball game is underway. Dodgers and Nationals scoreless
in the bottom of the second inning. Shohei Otani, LADH,
out for a fourth straight game due to his injuries,
but his manager says he should be back on Monday.
It rained all day in L.A., but still no rain
out there at Dodger Stadium since 2000. San Diego beat
the Yankees 4-3, Yanks second in the ALE, still four

(01:46:52):
games behind LSU. Tampa Bay, which was beaten 8-6 at Texas.
Arizona won 3-2 at Houston. Diamondbacks half game ahead of
San Diego for the last NL wildcard.

Speaker 10 (01:47:03):
The White Sox. This is a great story, as bad
as they have been.

Speaker 7 (01:47:06):
Alone in first in the AL Central, the two-and-a-half game
lead over the Guardians. White Sox won tonight 10-1 against Minnesota.
Cleveland over Detroit 3-2. Atlanta, with a run on the ninth,
won at Philadelphia 5-4. Cincinnati beat Milwaukee 12-8, and Boston
won its fourth straight 3-1 at Baltimore. The Orioles have
lost six in a row. And guys, as far as

(01:47:27):
college football, As you know, you can pretty much schedule
whoever you wish for the non-conference games.

Speaker 10 (01:47:33):
It's unlike the pro leagues.

Speaker 7 (01:47:35):
So we had an opening game in Orlando this weekend
where UCF won 73-6 over Bethune-Cookman. Kansas State at home
won 71-3 against Nichols. And in the Arizona State opener
against Morgan State, Sun Devils with four touchdowns first quarter,
three touchdowns second quarter, three more touchdowns third quarter. End

(01:47:58):
of three, it's 70-7, and the opposing coach asks, can
we just shorten the fourth quarter? Afterwards, Arizona State coach
Kenny Dillingham said, I didn't even know that was legal,
but when he asked to shorten it, I said, whatever
he wants, we'll do it. So apparently, not only did
nobody score in the 10-minute playoff, fourth quarter, there were

(01:48:21):
only 19 total plays, and they got out of there.

Speaker 10 (01:48:24):
70-7, Arizona State wins.

Speaker 7 (01:48:27):
This Saturday, it'll be Arizona State at No. 8, Texas
A & M. But the cupcakes continue for some, like Georgia,
this coming weekend. Georgia Bulldogs at home will be 35-point
favorites over Western Kentucky.

Speaker 10 (01:48:40):
Notre Dame will be back home on.

Speaker 7 (01:48:42):
Saturday, 45-point favorites over Rice. Programming notes, Fox TV this
Friday will have Missouri at Kansas. And Saturday's big noon kickoff, No.
10 Oklahoma at, quote, No.

Speaker 10 (01:48:54):
16 Michigan. That'll be noon Eastern time. back to you.

Speaker 3 (01:48:59):
You know where my head goes on this short in
the fourth quarter thing.

Speaker 2 (01:49:04):
I'm sorry. What was the spread in the game?

Speaker 10 (01:49:07):
Believe me, that has been discussed.

Speaker 2 (01:49:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:49:10):
So they didn't play the sometimes requisite.

Speaker 2 (01:49:14):
What?

Speaker 10 (01:49:14):
Fifty six. Fifty eight. They didn't play 60 minutes, certainly
of a game.

Speaker 7 (01:49:18):
And people were talking about what about Kalshi and all
that with the way that in Michigan. What about games
that don't even go 60 minutes? Yeah, I'm glad I'm
not involved in that.

Speaker 3 (01:49:29):
Me too, but if I was involved in it, you
damn well better believe I'm walking up to them. Oh, yeah,
I'm asking for my money back. If I lost that,
I'm asking for my money back.

Speaker 2 (01:49:40):
You can just shorten the game?

Speaker 10 (01:49:43):
The answer is yes.

Speaker 2 (01:49:44):
That's wild.

Speaker 7 (01:49:45):
And the answer to all questions involving college athletics, or
at least the explanation for it, is, oh, because nobody's
in charge.

Speaker 2 (01:49:54):
Well, ain't that the freaking truth.

Speaker 3 (01:49:57):
I mean, even the way you just said that, this
has been true forever, so I don't know why this
didn't come up when we were talking about college football earlier.
The idea that you can get on the phone and
negotiate a contract and therefore decide who's on your schedule,
like I just– If we took what we've accepted as

(01:50:22):
normal in college sports and transferred it to the pros,
we would riot.

Speaker 7 (01:50:27):
Ohio State yesterday paid Ball State $ 1.

Speaker 10 (01:50:30):
9 million to come lose.

Speaker 6 (01:50:32):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:50:33):
Like, I want the Niners to play the Cardinals Thursday.

Speaker 3 (01:50:37):
There.

Speaker 2 (01:50:38):
Let's do that.

Speaker 10 (01:50:40):
But imagine if your league was.

Speaker 4 (01:50:41):
And then next week as well.

Speaker 1 (01:50:43):
All of them.

Speaker 2 (01:50:43):
17 of them.

Speaker 7 (01:50:44):
Imagine if it was not a 32-team league. If it
was like college football, more like 132 teams, you really
would have the dregs to choose from and just pay.

Speaker 4 (01:50:54):
I mean.

Speaker 7 (01:50:55):
We'll go back a lot of years to childhood, but
I mentioned last night that Cal State Fullerton in Southern
California used to have a football team.

Speaker 2 (01:51:02):
Right.

Speaker 7 (01:51:03):
And one year they scheduled LSU in Florida because even
back then they could make an extra half a million
dollars for the athletic department by going to lose those
two games.

Speaker 2 (01:51:13):
So they did. Incredible. Thanks, Steve. Great stuff. As always,
can't wait to hear from you next week.

Speaker 7 (01:51:23):
Oh, I do have NFL duties the next couple weeks.
I'm not sure if I'll be back in time.

Speaker 2 (01:51:27):
Okay. Steve, don't start that foolishness.

Speaker 10 (01:51:30):
He decided.

Speaker 2 (01:51:31):
Steve, do not start that foolishness.

Speaker 7 (01:51:34):
Well, actually, you've been in the suite. I'm with the
real people and trying to exit.

Speaker 2 (01:51:38):
With real cars. Oh, don't give me that.

Speaker 4 (01:51:40):
Don't give me that.

Speaker 7 (01:51:41):
I'm not getting my car detailed during the game.

Speaker 2 (01:51:43):
Oh, boy. We all had choices. And some of us don't.

Speaker 10 (01:51:50):
I chose not to be 6'8, 300 pounds.

Speaker 2 (01:51:52):
Exactly. We all had choices, man.

Speaker 6 (01:51:56):
And those choices can go all the way back to
our parents, just so you know.

Speaker 2 (01:52:00):
Just so you know. Okay. Look at it. All right.
Everybody got a choice. All right.

Speaker 6 (01:52:07):
I looked at it and saw my wife across the room.

Speaker 2 (01:52:09):
I was like, yep.

Speaker 6 (01:52:10):
Yep. I'm signing up for that. And here we are.
I got two giant boys now.

Speaker 2 (01:52:19):
Who apparently chose you to be their dad. They chose me.

Speaker 3 (01:52:23):
The great Steve Desegar, everybody. We will speak to him
again soon, one way or the other. All right, I
want to leave some space for this. Coming up next,
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Dodger thing,
for sure, and if there's any anxiety there or any
of that. And there's a little bit more news on

(01:52:45):
the Otani front as well while we're talking about this.

Speaker 2 (01:52:47):
So we'll do that coming up next with Ephraim Salam.
I'm Mark Withers. This is Fox Football Sunday on Fox
Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:52:55):

Speaker 3 (01:52:59):
That's it from Salam. I'm Mark Willard. Fun show. Thank
you for being with us tonight. Plank and span, you're
up around the corner. When you next hear from us
next Sunday, football, football, NFL, football, wall-to-wall. Dave Roberts certainly
insinuated today that Shohei Otani will not pitch anymore this year.

(01:53:23):
He did say that Otani should be back in the
lineup tomorrow. That's kind of the baseball part of all
of it.

Speaker 2 (01:53:28):
But a few minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:53:29):
Ago, we laid out the latest Pablo Torre investigative report.

Speaker 2 (01:53:35):
Not going well for.

Speaker 3 (01:53:39):
One of the Dodger owners, Mark Walter, and quite frankly,
the Dodger financial situation as a whole.

Speaker 2 (01:53:46):
I'm anxious for your thoughts. What are you thinking? I'm nervous.

Speaker 6 (01:53:51):
I'm nervous because that's two of my teams, you know,
that would be on the wrong side of, you know, of.

Speaker 4 (01:54:07):
Fandom for me.

Speaker 2 (01:54:08):
Yeah, wrong side of the law.

Speaker 4 (01:54:10):
Yeah, I didn't want to say that, but yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:54:14):
Well, what I want to ask you is, and I
guess these are, look, I guess these are just accusations
at this point.

Speaker 2 (01:54:23):
But there are also the reports.

Speaker 3 (01:54:25):
We already know that Mark Walter has, you know, federal
charges that have been brought.

Speaker 2 (01:54:34):
We already know that he's acting in a way that that.

Speaker 3 (01:54:40):
Is attempting to take care of those debts with what
he's done with the Lakers, with what he may do
next with the Dodgers. I mean, am I out of
pocket to say that we can look at this and
already in a reasonable place say that the Dodgers did
create a financial advantage for themselves?

Speaker 2 (01:55:02):
They did. Okay. And so my question to a Dodger
fan who– And again.

Speaker 3 (01:55:09):
I very pokingly brought this up, realizing that it's not
the same thing. But a Dodger fan has been very,
very vocal through the last decade or so because of
what happened in Houston. And so there is, I think,
an argument to be said that. Extra advantages are extra advantages.

(01:55:34):
There is a difference. One of them is on the
field of play and one of them is not.

Speaker 6 (01:55:37):
One of them is done by players and managers on
the field of play.

Speaker 2 (01:55:42):
100%.

Speaker 3 (01:55:43):
And I will submit to you that that's worse. However,
advantages are advantages. Like, I mean, do you think that
this stains in any way what has already happened the
last two years? And that pause is good enough for me.

Speaker 4 (01:56:03):
I'm trying to see. Like, I'm a stickler for.

Speaker 6 (01:56:09):
Yeah, I know you are. My saying was always, I
don't have to cheat you to beat you. And I
hold firm to that.

Speaker 3 (01:56:20):
I like that a lot better than if you ain't cheating,
you ain't trying.

Speaker 2 (01:56:23):
I hate that. So do I.

Speaker 6 (01:56:25):
That's such a terrible message. As a youth basketball coach,
I'm like, no, that's not. Who's dealing with double holdbacks
and triple holdbacks and 15-year-old eighth graders?

Speaker 2 (01:56:39):
Come on, man.

Speaker 6 (01:56:41):
Can't be 15 in the eighth grade. Are you kidding me?
Are you kidding? That's a real thing. It's a 15-year-old
in the eighth grade right now dunking on 13-year-olds. Yep.
happening right now. You can go on Instagram and type
something in and you'll see it.

Speaker 3 (01:56:59):
I get why fans and media members bring it up
though because it does at times it feels like this
is on some level everywhere. Like look at the way
we've talked about college sports today. It feels overwhelming that
there is a pushing of and a challenging of the

(01:57:20):
rules and the lines at all times and At a
certain point, if that's what everyone's doing, you better do
it too or else you have no chance. Not agreeing
with it, but I'm telling you, like, I get why
people feel that way.

Speaker 2 (01:57:38):
Yeah, I'm not feeling all that, man. I'm with you.

Speaker 6 (01:57:41):
It doesn't have to be like that. And I just
think there is a difference between, you know, manipulating the
the rules and the structure without breaking the law or

(01:58:02):
breaking the rules like the deference of money that's not
a they didn't break the rules doing that right like
they didn't they didn't it's not a rule saying you
can't defer money is it.

Speaker 2 (01:58:18):
No so you know.

Speaker 3 (01:58:22):
No, I mean, I think that baseball would like to
have a conversation over whether it should be.

Speaker 2 (01:58:27):
Right. No, not at this point.

Speaker 6 (01:58:29):
But on the flip side of that, on the sale
and the TV rights deal negotiating, you know, a judge ruled.

Speaker 2 (01:58:39):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 (01:58:41):
Did they break the rules there?

Speaker 2 (01:58:44):
Well, um. I think where this is headed is that
we could argue yes. Okay, well, then that's a different conversation. Like,
did the judge have all of the correct information?

Speaker 3 (01:58:59):
When making that decision, based on what we are at
least learning is being reported about the way Mark Walter
got to that point. It's a TV deal that was
struck potentially under false pretenses. So that's certainly a debatable one.

(01:59:19):
And it may not end up debatable.

Speaker 2 (01:59:21):
It is right now.

Speaker 6 (01:59:24):
So I'd love to see how that thing shakes out. But,
you know, I don't like cheating at all.

Speaker 4 (01:59:31):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:59:33):
I mean, yeah, good for you. You shouldn't. You shouldn't.

Speaker 4 (01:59:39):
And I don't like my teams to cheat. Darn it.

Speaker 3 (01:59:44):
Yeah, I wouldn't think so. This season has gotten really weird.
And to the point you made about the WNBA earlier today,
which I thought was a really good one, I think
kind of if I really want to get at what
you were saying, it was that, you know, something's just

(02:00:04):
not right. And so people aren't playing up to their
full potential, and there's just a bad vibe to this.
And I know the Dodgers have now won three games
in a row, but when they lost that game on
Wednesday in St. Louis, the extra innings game, 8-6, I
believe that was a 52-game stretch where the Dodgers were 26-26.

Speaker 2 (02:00:25):
Like, they're not playing great baseball. They're not playing great baseball.

Speaker 3 (02:00:29):
And I wonder if some of all of this crap–
is is part of it like it's just it just
ends up being a lot on guys shoulders the expectations
are you have to win all the time you have
to win three world series in a row you have
to live up to your billion dollar payroll and then

(02:00:49):
this stuff is happening below the surface.

Speaker 2 (02:00:54):
I mean i don't think it's crazy to ask if
this is affecting their.

Speaker 6 (02:00:58):
Play no it's not it's not You know, all those
things that go on outside and off the field and
the court and the pitch and the diamond, yeah, it matters.

Speaker 2 (02:01:12):
It trickles on in. My man, that was fun.

Speaker 4 (02:01:17):
Football.

Speaker 2 (02:01:18):
What do you say we do some football next week?
You want to do some football next week?

Speaker 3 (02:01:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:01:22):
I think we should do some football next week.

Speaker 1 (02:01:25):

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